CHAPTER 559: 558

Yan Wanqing looked at the face that had once been simple and unadorned, now it seemed smug and malicious with petty triumph.

She couldn’t help but laugh.

It was an angry laugh.

"Liao Cuihua, are you threatening me?" Yan Wanqing called her by her full name, "After three years away, I am still Dawei’s Empress. What are you, to dare to be so insolent before me? Indeed, you did help me in the past, but haven’t you also lived a life under my protection that you could never have even dreamed of before? Or is it that you are so addicted to clinging to Xiao Pingfeng’s thighs that you have forgotten who was the benefactor of all these favors?!"

The nanny had changed her own name three years ago, as she didn’t want to be called Liao Cuihua anymore.

"What is Your Majesty talking about? This servant is now called Liu Rushi, I do not know any Liao Cuihua, and all this is by His Majesty’s command, how could I dare to disobey? Please, Your Majesty, do not make things difficult for this servant," she immediately said.

Yan Wanqing’s lips curled with scorn.

"Not only has your appearance changed, but even your name. You have truly leaped through the dragon’s gate and risen above others, how interesting, truly interesting," she mused at the extraordinary diversity of human life.

"Liao Cuihua, stop playing these sly tricks before me," Yan Wanqing said, staring at her straight on before suddenly raising her hand and slapping her across the face.

Looking at the nanny holding her face in disbelief, Yan Wanqing spoke without lifting her eyelids, "That’s for the pain you just caused me."

She wasn’t particularly capable, just had a strong vengeful spirit.

Liao Cuihua was slapped in front of everyone, causing all the palace maids to bow their heads even lower.

The person before them was clearly not someone to be trifled with.

Even the favorite in the Emperor’s presence could be struck without hesitation, bullying these lowly underlings would be all too easy for her.

The water in the bathtub was not warm.

Yan Wanqing touched it with her hand, it was ice-cold.

She looked at Liu Rushi with a mocking smile, the slap mark on her face stark and red.

Liu Rushi instinctively shrank her neck, "Your Majesty, please bath and change."

She emphasized her words.

"Are you sure?" Yan Wanqing raised an eyebrow.

She lifted her hand causing a splash of water that fell mercilessly upon those present, prompting them to let out involuntary shrieks.

"Empress, what do you mean by this!" Again and again subjected to humiliation, even the enduring Liu Rushi was struggling to hold back.

Yan Wanqing saw her finally tearing away the mask of hypocrisy, a calculating gleam flashing in her peach blossom eyes.

She glanced out of the corner of her eye towards the direction of the tent entrance.

Her lips, tinged with pallor, curled into a hook.

"I’m injured and you have me bathe in cold water?" Yan Wanqing looked at her coldly, "Was one slap too light for you?"

Liu Rushi had a bellyful of anger, daring to be angry but not to speak. The Emperor had always missed the Empress, and although he did not talk about it, every time he drank too much, his study was filled with portraits of the Empress, one after another. In the morning, the eunuch cleaning up would see them scattered all over the floor.

She could not compare to the Empress in the Emperor’s heart, there was no comparison.

But since Yan Wanqing had been away for three years and a gap had formed in her relationship with the Emperor, and he had left in anger just now, it gave her a little space to maneuver.

With this in mind, Liu Rushi forcefully suppressed the fury in her heart and squeezed out a humble and warm smile, "Your Majesty’s instruction is right, this servant has not managed well, allowing these insolent lowlifes to insult Your Majesty."

Then, looking around she said, "What are you standing around for? Did you not hear the Empress’s words? Hurry and boil water, if it’s not ready within the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, you’ll have me to answer to!"

Frightened, all the palace maids immediately ran out.

Leaving only Yan Wanqing and Liu Rushi in the bathhouse.

"Please wait a moment, Your Majesty, the hot water will arrive shortly," Liu Rushi said, foregoing all formalities as she turned to leave since there was no one else around.

Yan Wanqing watched her turn her back, her expression one of amused disdain.

After a short while.

The maids returned after boiling the water.

Seeing the Empress leisurely reclining on the soft couch as if napping, they bowed their heads and proceeded to pour in the hot water, only to be stunned.

Liu Rushi was tied up with her clothes on and thrown directly into the cold water of the tub, a cloth stuffed in her mouth. Now, she trembled with the draft brought in by the people entering one after another.

"Mmmph!" Liu Rushi angrily gestured at the palace maids.

The Palace Maids immediately scrambled to get her out, and by that evening, Liao Cuihua had developed a high fever and was confined to her bed, unable to rise.

Meanwhile, Yan Wanqing was unapologetically demanding. She had someone replace the bath tub and took a comfortable hot bath before sleeping soundly without a care in the world.

No one loved her, so she could only love herself.

Right?

A good sleep was more important than anything else.

She was awoken by an intense glare.

It was as if the person wanted to pierce two holes into her face with their gaze.

Yan Wanqing couldn’t pretend any longer and slowly opened her eyes to meet that pair of dark pupils.

Before, she would have been lost in those eyes, but now she looked at them calmly.

She propped herself up on the bed and slowly sat up, "Is there something you want?"

"She caught a chill, contracted a wind-cold. If not for the accompanying Imperial Physician, she would likely be dead by now." Xiao Pingfeng stared at her intensely, relaying Liao Cuihua’s situation, trying to elicit any hint of fluctuation on her face.

However, there was none.

Yan Wanqing looked at him, "So what?"

"Truly befitting of the killer you have been for three years, Yan Wanqing, you now truly regard human life as nothing." The sarcastic words spilled from his thin lips.

Which elicited a round of delicate laughter from Yan Wanqing.

After a night of good sleep, a touch of red had returned to her lips, and now she laughed seductively, "The master of the eighteen levels of hell, the reigning Emperor of Dawei, who pays no mind to the lives of his subjects and wages war on the Chu Kingdom for three years, what right do you have to mock me, Yan Wanqing, as a killer?" She tilted her head innocently, "We are quite alike, you and I."

When it came to being ruthless, they were equals.

What right did Xiao Pingfeng have to accuse her of cruelty?

"Do you know she has a three-year-old son in the palace waiting for her to return!"

Yan Wanqing didn’t ignore the flash of disappointment in his dark eyes, "Since she can’t let go of her own son, then she shouldn’t have joined the army. Since she did, she should be prepared to die at any moment, right?"

She looked at Xiao Pingfeng, "You can stand up for her all you want, I don’t mind."

They too had a three-year-old son between them, whom he probably had completely forgotten by now.

If she had meekly accepted the cold water, then she would be the one lying in that bed right now.

Moreover, Liao Cuihua had threatened her life with her uncle’s safety, and she wasn’t one to be pushed around.

Not taking her life on the spot was already showing mercy.

"Good! Yan Wanqing, you really are something!"

"I know I’m good, Your Majesty doesn’t need to flatter me especially."

Xiao Pingfeng had come early in the morning, only to leave angered after exchanging a few words with Yan Wanqing.

She didn’t care at all and lifted the covers to get clothes from the wardrobe.

Xiao Pingfeng hadn’t provided her with a Palace Maid, and Su Bai had not had anyone serve her for three years, so Yan Wanqing adeptly picked out a suit of dark-colored clothes to wear.

Once her shoes were on and she stood up, the world started to spin.

She felt her soul being expelled from her body in an instant, but the next second, it was sucked back in.

The feeling of her soul losing its gravity made Yan Wanqing lean on the table, unable to stop herself from dry heaving.

Song Huaxu, that old man, what had he actually done to her!

She now felt like neither human nor ghost, clearly in her own body, yet there lingered another cold-blooded soul!

She had to return to the Chu Kingdom to get some answers from Song Huaxu.

But before that, she needed to rescue her uncle from Yan Jing first.

Just as she was thinking, a soft and familiar voice came from beyond the curtain.

"Miss..." The voice was very familiar, and Yan Wanqing instantly looked over, "Cong Ge!"