Chapter 105

Chapter 105

Jiang Baobao stared at Xie Run with dark eyes. "Are you laughing at me?!"

Xie Run smiled but said nothing.

Jiang Cefei fumed, "Xie Run shows no respect for her elders, showing me no respect..."

Her eyes dropped to Xie Run's swollen belly, and she let out a cold laugh.

"Since you're pregnant, I won't punish you."

Jiang Cefei's eyes suddenly turned sharp, her gaze falling on Dan Tao, who stood nearby. "Your maid will take the punishment for you."

She called out, "Li Zhi, give her twenty slaps!"

Dan Tao's eyes widened, her face a mask of shock.

In all her time in the mansion, she'd never met anyone so arrogant and unreasonable.

Even the former Cefei Ning never casually ordered slaps on maids of other consorts.

The maids beside Jiang Cefei seemed to have plenty of experience in doing dirty work, without a flicker of surprise, they rushed to slap Dan Tao.

Xie Run rarely got angry, but now she spoke up, "Zi Hu! Stop them!"

Zi Hu, who had been keeping a low profile, suddenly stepped in and blocked the two maids.

Seeing this, Jiang Baobao was furious. "Shufei Xie, you dare defy your betters for a maid?!"

"You and your mistress are out of control!"

Jiang Cefei drew a whip from her waist.

The whip seemed to be made of some special material, and it cracked loudly against the ground.

The sound made everyone's skin crawl.

Jiang Baobao said, "Anyone who dares to stop me, don't blame my whip for being blind!"

Xie Run said coldly, "Zi Hu, you block them as you please!"

"Blocking Jiang Cefei is protecting your mistress, and I'll stake my life on your safety."

"If the Prince and Princess come after anyone later, I'll take the blame as your mistress!"

Everyone in Songya Courtyard was stunned.

They never expected the usually gentle Shufei Xie to have such a spine.

Jiang Baobao had thrown down the gauntlet, but Xie Run's defiance only made her lose face.

How could she not be furious?!

"Are you all useless?!" Jiang Baobao fumed. "If your mistress can't even lay a hand on a maid, won't the women in the back courtyard laugh at us?!"

Xie Run swept a cold gaze over the people behind Jiang Cefei, her bearing carrying more weight after days of being pampered.

"Jiang Cefei is noble and untouchable, but you lot aren't!"

"If you so much as disturb my child, can you and your families afford to lose your heads?!"

Xie Run's words actually scared quite a few.

Only four senior maids and a matron had come with Jiang Cefei into the mansion.

The matron wasn't here today, and only two senior maids showed up; the rest were arranged by the mansion.

These people naturally didn't dare to defy their betters.

Seeing her people cowed, Jiang Baobao glared. "Who do you think you are? Threatening my people!"

The moment she spoke, her whip snaked out viciously toward Xie Run.

Everyone there gasped.

Dan Tao and Zi Hu both stepped in front at the same time.

Zi Hu caught the whip with one hand, but the tip whipped across her arm, leaving a bloody welt that was hard to look at.

Zi Hu said coldly, "Mistress, get out of here!"

Xie Run nodded. "Chun Juan, take two people to help Zi Hu, don't let her take any more."

Xie Run, being pregnant, didn't dare linger.

Seeing Xie Run about to leave, Jiang Baobao got even angrier. "You fools!"

"Go after her now!"

Zi Hu moved her arm, twisted the whip, and wrapped it around Jiang Baobao's neck, pinning her against her chest.

Jiang Baobao screamed, "You dare?!"

"You lowly slave, who gave you the nerve to defy your betters?!"

"Naturally, this Prince gave it to her!"

A cold, deep male voice suddenly cut in, like a blast of winter wind that chilled everyone to the bone.

The maids and matrons, seeing Prince Jing, all knelt in greeting.

Jiang Baobao's eyes reddened at the sight of Prince Jing. "Your Highness, Shufei Xie defied her betters, she's utterly detestable!"

She wanted to run to Prince Jing to complain, but Zi Hu didn't let go.

Furious and frustrated, she whined to Prince Jing, "Your Highness, see how bold this girl is, humiliating your concubine right in front of you!"

By then, Xie Run had already taken her people back to Chunshan Courtyard and even shut the main gate.

So she had no idea what was happening outside.

Prince Jing shot Zi Hu a glance. "Let go."

Zi Hu let go without a word.

Hearing this, Jiang Baobao beamed, thinking Prince Jing was defending her.

The moment she was free, she spun around and slapped Zi Hu across the face.

The sharp crack of the slap echoed across the snowy yard, even the newly planted plum tree seemed to tremble.

Prince Jing's eyes were dark and terrifying, his oppressive aura making it hard for anyone nearby to breathe.

Prince Jing: "How bold of you!"

Zi Hu knelt in a bow with a blank expression.

Jiang Baobao, still unafraid, whined to Prince Jing with a pitiful tone, "My lord, this servant girl is indeed too presumptuous!"

"She dares to use Shufei Xie's influence to bully me. In my opinion, even death wouldn't be enough to pay for her crime!"

Prince Jing looked at her coldly, "Oh? Does Cefei Jiang often have maidservants executed in her own household?"

Only then did Jiang Baobao catch on that something was off, and quickly said, "Of course not."

She softened her voice and said in a sweet, pleading tone to Prince Jing, "My household would never have such insolent maidservants."

Prince Jing said unhurriedly, "I think it's because Cefei Jiang thinks I and the princess are both dead, that she's gotten so full of herself?"

Jiang Baobao's expression changed slightly, her body stiffening as she knelt in salute, "I wouldn't dare!"

"Oh, I think you dare plenty." Prince Jing's voice suddenly turned cold, his gaze sharp: "You should be grateful that Shufei Xie and my child are unharmed."

"Otherwise, your position as side consort would be over!"

Jiang Baobao's knees went weak, looking at Prince Jing in disbelief: "My lord, it was clearly Shufei Xie who disrespected me and stepped out of line..."

"What about you is worth respecting?"

Prince Jing looked down at Jiang Baobao, and when his gaze fell on the five-tailed phoenix hairpin on her head, his eyes grew more disgusted.

"Who gave you permission to wear a phoenix hairpin that only the princess can wear?!"

Shaken by his words, Jiang Baobao nearly burst into tears.

Just as she was about to explain, Prince Jing cut her off coldly, "Shi An, remove the hairpin and send it to Qingsong Courtyard for the princess to deal with."

"Yes!"

Eunuch Shi'an immediately stepped forward and quickly and smoothly removed the phoenix hairpin from Jiang Baobao's head.

His movements were not rough, and he didn't try to humiliate her on purpose.

But Jiang Baobao's face turned bright red.

She felt she had suffered humiliation like she'd never known, her teeth chattering softly.

Prince Jing continued, "Since you don't know the rules, you will be confined to your courtyard for three months to learn some manners."

Then he glanced at the maidservants behind Cefei Jiang, "So you're the ones who attacked Shufei Xie?"

Lizhi and Yingtao immediately knelt and started begging for mercy.

Prince Jing ignored them and said coldly, "I suspect you've done plenty of bad things following your mistress."

"Each of you will get thirty lashes, and then be sent back to where you came from!"

"Keeping you in my mansion would only mean continuing to stir up more trouble with your mistress!"

Prince Jing sneered: "Kneel here and take your punishment, so everyone in the inner courtyard can see the consequences of disregarding the mansion's rules!"

When Prince Jing heard the news that Cefei Jiang had brought her people to Chunshan Courtyard to pick a fight, he was both angry and shocked.

No matter how the infighting in the mansion played out, it was all behind closed doors.

On the surface, everyone in the inner courtyard still had to follow the rules.

Prince Jing himself took rules very seriously.

Someone like Jiang Baobao who came to pick a fight had never appeared in his inner courtyard.

Such behavior was more common in the emperor's harem.

But Prince Jing despised the conduct of the emperor's concubines, often secretly criticizing the emperor for being lustful and dissolute, and the empress for being weak and incompetent.

The very thing Prince Jing despised most had now appeared in his own inner courtyard—how could he not be furious?

If Jiang Baobao hadn't just entered the mansion and been personally bestowed by the emperor for her meritorious service in disaster relief, Prince Jing would have directly demoted her!

Although she wasn't demoted, Prince Jing would no longer show her any favor.

Hearing Prince Jing's punishment, Jiang Baobao stared in disbelief.

She cried out, "My lord, I am wronged!"

"It was clearly Shufei Xie who was arrogant because of your favor and showed no respect for her superiors..."

"You must have been misled by her people's slander and misunderstood me!"