Return of the Swallow

Chapter 422.1: Severe Punishment

Li Helan almost broke her teeth from how hard she was gnashing them!

The nerve of that chit, claiming her lack of ability to show off! Her snagging Pang Xiao as her husband and claiming ownership on the man was wherewithal enough!

That bitch was doing all of this on purpose! She knew full-well that Li Helan had her heart set on marrying Pang Xiao all along. Now that she had what she wanted, she was taunting a noble princess in a roundabout way!

Li Helan had grown up in the lap of luxury and pampering. There wasn’t anything that she’d want that she failed to get her hands on. She had been given much in this lifetime, and was used to laying claim on all she desired; she’d always taken for granted the doting of her mother and elder brother.

Yet despite all the good fortunes in her life, her marriage was her only and greatest disappointment. It was so heartbreaking that it roused the eldest princess at midnight, crying from her sleep.

Prince Consort Ji was extraordinarily handsome, but he was simply too cold. Being with him was no different from facing an ice statue, a wooden dummy!

He fulfilled his duty as a prince consort only once after their wedding, and that was on their wedding night! Since then, he’d been respectful, courteous yet emotionally distant. He barely even gave her a glance after discovering her visit to Madame Lu’s harem for a tryst.

And apparently, he’d dressed up in full pageantry for Pang Zhixi’s grand wedding, and even brought all of his manor troops to add to the occasion. In other words, he treated his friend better he did his own wife!

What good was this kind of marriage for?? A prince consort of this kind would only add to her troubles.

She’d failed to win the man she wanted, and she failed again to win the heart of an extraordinary man she’d managed to snag. Prolonged festering of frustration and grievances was ready to explode.

Eyeing Qin Yining, who wore a married woman’s hairstyle and radiated unrivaled beauty as she gushed about her marital bliss with Pang Xiao, Li Helan just about had enough.

Her rage burned and flared, the empress dowager’s admonishment to her just a moment ago cast aside.

“Bitch! You just signed your death warrant!” The eldest princess reached out to throttle Qin Yining’s swan-like neck.

Startled, Qin Yining rushed to evade the crazed woman’s attack.

Li Helan was charging her in front of the empress dowager? Perhaps she’s banking on her mother’s backing should something happen in the palace??

Qin Yining’s mind raced. She’d consistently shown tolerance to a woman who lusted after her husband. Am I being too easily pushed around?

“Hurry! Someone stop her! The eldest princess has had too much to drink! Stop her before someone’s hurt!” Appalled by her daughter’s aggression, the empress dowager didn’t think of summoned help until she recovered from her stupefaction.

However, Qin Yining inadvertently stepped on her hem as she tried to scramble away from the snarling princess and fell backwards.

The floor was covered with a thick, heavy carpet, which cushioned her fall, so there wasn’t much pain to speak of. But to her back was an eight-sided table and four rounded, intricately-carved stools.

As Qin Yining’s luck would have it, she didn’t crash into the table or the stools, yet there was quite a thwack as she dropped to the ground. She yelped from the pain.

But Li Helan failed to check her charge, and she tripped on the girl’s leg. “Ah!” She screamed and tumbled onto a stool. Her elbow smashed against the edge of the table as she fell.

The Qin fourth miss laid on the floor, mewling in pain.

But Li Helan was in so much anguish that she couldn’t even speak. Her elbow throbbed from the crash so much, it didn’t look like it could bend; her knee was in even worse shape.

Eyeing Qin Yining by her side, the eldest princess pounced again. “You bitch! Keep bragging, huh?! I let you have Pang Zhixi because I didn’t want him! What right do you have to flaunt around like this?! You vicious harlot! Shameless slut!”

Li Helan would’ve had been half-dead had Qin Yining decided to really fight back. But the younger girl had made up her mind to stay put and thoroughly play the role of a subject’s fragile wife bullied by the eldest princess.

The maids and mamas staffed in empress dowager’s palace were stunned by eldest princess’s shrew-like, hissy fit. Everyone secretly denounced such behavior. It was absolutely ludicrous that Li Helan’s unrequited love had curdled into so much hate that she behaved so repulsively towards the man’s official wife.

The servants bustled forward to untangle Li Helan from the mess she’d created. They felt a tinge of sympathy for the princess consort in a heap on the floor. Her hair was undone and her hairpins askew.

“Stop pulling on me! Let go of me!” Li Helan shrieked, her voice unyielding.

The empress dowager stalked forward and bent to grip her daughter’s chin. The elderly woman’s face was only an inch away. She lowered her voice and hissed, “You need to come to your senses! This is the Palace of Serene Piety, where the empress dowager lives! This is not some princess manor where you can fly into a drunken rage as you wish!”

Li Helan’s chest heaved violently. The pain on her elbow and legs was agonizing, yet her fury was hardly quelled by this much distress.

“Royal mother, do even you not love Lan’er anymore? You always want me to listen and obey, listen and obey! Fine, I did that! But look what I got! I’ll never be able to get what I like! Every aspect of my life is dictated by someone else! I can’t get the man I love! What kind of princess does that make me!”

“Shut your mouth! Look at the nonsense you’re sprouting after drinking a bit of horse urine! You like Prince Consort Ji, so your royal brother decreed a marriage for you. What else do you want?! You flew into a drunken rage after having a little to drink, your head’s so muddled that you mistook the princess consort for a palace servant! I’ve coddled you too much and made you into the spoiled girl you are today!”

Qin Yining lay on the floor and took in every subtle facial cue on the faces of the empress dowager and Li Helan.

The empress dowager kept flashing the eldest princess meaningful looks, anxiety writ all over her face. Yet all those passes were lost on Li Helan, who continued her ranting and raving.

Now that everything had blown up in their faces, she might as well stir it up some more.

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