Harem Daily Life

Chapter 1037 Showing Attentiveness Requires Observing the Princess's Mood

At Prince Jing's residence, Consort Liu's people were already waiting in the front courtyard, ready to summon the prince to the west courtyard upon his return. However, upon Prince Jing's return, he immediately ordered the steward to surround the west courtyard without saying a word.

The princess sneered, too lazy to care about the affairs of the manor, and led her people straight back to her east courtyard.

In the west courtyard, Aunt Liu was already in a bad mood because she couldn't accompany the prince to the banquet today. Now, seeing a large group of people arrive and lock her courtyard gate, she couldn't help but feel uneasy.

Prince Jing entered with a dark face. When Consort Liu tried to greet him, he kicked her to the ground.

The sudden force kicked Aunt Liu to the ground. She clutched her stomach, her forehead covered in cold sweat from the pain.

"I don't know... I don't know what I've done wrong? Why is Your Highness punishing me like this?" Aunt Liu's eyes were filled with tears, feeling extremely aggrieved.

Prince Jing raised his hand, and the steward led his men to begin searching, turning every place upside down. Aunt Liu's eyelids kept twitching, and she couldn't help but tremble.

After a long while, they finally found a delicate little box, inside which was half a box of small pills. The physician stepped forward to examine it, and his complexion grew increasingly grim.

"Your Highness, this pill is colorless and odorless. It dissolves instantly in water. Just one pill can keep a man going for two hours. The medicine inside is potent and will greatly damage a man's essence. If you use it for more than half a year, you may have to use it for life, otherwise... that part will be completely ruined."

As the physician spoke, he glanced at Prince Jing's genitals and clicked his tongue in amazement.

"This medicine is usually only available in brothels, and it is very expensive. This small box would probably cost five hundred taels of silver."

Prince Jing's face was already clouded with gloom. He stared intently at Concubine Liu, who was kneeling on the ground trembling like a leaf: "You wretch! I treated you with sincerity, and you dare to harm me like this! Guards, drag her away and give her thirty lashes."

"Your Highness, spare me! Your Highness, spare me! I am too weak to endure thirty strokes of the cane!"

Aunt Liu wailed, her beautiful face contorted with fear and trembling.

The steward stepped forward and, with several maids, dragged the person away. Soon after, the sounds of beatings and cries could be heard.

Prince Jing gritted his teeth so hard they almost ground to powder. Looking at the small box of medicine in front of him, he said in a deep voice, "Go and find out where she bought it. Take some men and smash it up!"

Even this failed to quell his anger. He stood up and said, "Madam Liu's behavior was unjust. After beating her, she was dragged out and sold off. All the maids who served her in the West Courtyard were to be sent to the estate to do rough work and were not allowed to return to the Prince's Mansion. Tonight, no one is to be allowed to reveal the matter of the pills. Otherwise, they will also be sold off."

The steward agreed and asked, "Then, shall the household affairs be returned to the Princess?"

Prince Jing nodded: "Go and deliver all the account books and keys to the East Courtyard. I'm tired, so don't bother me unless it's absolutely necessary."

After punishing everyone in the West Courtyard, Prince Jing passed by the courtyard and saw Consort Liu lying on the ground, barely alive. He glared at her angrily and then went to the study in the front courtyard without looking back.

It wasn't that he didn't want to see the princess, but he was too ashamed to do so today, and thought it wouldn't be too late to see her later.

The steward had the entire west courtyard cleaned up. Seeing that Aunt Liu was lying alone on the couch with only a maidservant by her side, he said indifferently, "Considering that you are injured, I will let you rest for three days. After three days, the slave trader will come to take you away."

Thirty strokes of the cane would have seriously injured his bones and muscles, and it would take at least a hundred days to fully recover. But the steward was just a servant and had no right to keep someone in the mansion to recover. Giving her three days to catch her breath was already a consideration for their friendship over the past few months.

The west courtyard was deserted. Aunt Liu lay on the couch, almost fainting from the pain. She was barely clinging to life, unable to understand how she had fallen from grace in just one day.

In the east courtyard, servants carrying account books and keys were stopped at the door.

“Granny Zhao, His Highness has ordered that the Princess Consort take charge of the household affairs. This… it’s not appropriate for us to just stand outside the door. Why don’t we send the account books in first?”

Granny Zhao sneered, "My princess said before that since the day she handed over the power to manage the household, she has never interfered with the household affairs again. You should go back. The princess will not allow you to send back the accounts that the ignorant concubine has made unclear."

The servants looked at each other, truly caught in a dilemma.

"It's getting late, let's hurry up and leave so as not to disturb the Princess's rest." After saying this, Zhao Mama ordered someone to close the courtyard gate.

"What do we do now? The prince said not to disturb us unless necessary, so does that mean we're in trouble or not?"

One person said, "Let's go find the butler first and listen to him."

The group hurriedly left with their belongings, but the housekeeper was also in a dilemma.

“It’s understandable that the princess is angry,” the steward frowned, thinking that the prince had brought this upon himself and had no one else to blame. “Never mind, I’ll go and ask the prince when it’s light. First, lock up the account books and keys and put them away.”

The commotion in the west courtyard was quite loud. The Crown Prince and his wife had no idea what had happened. They sent people to inquire and learned that after the Prince and Princess returned to the mansion, they went to the west courtyard and the east courtyard respectively. Concubine Liu in the west courtyard had been completely defeated. She was not only beaten but also threatened with being sold off, and the Princess, who was in charge of managing the household affairs, refused to take her in.

The Crown Princess sat in her room, frowning, and said, "I wonder what she did to deserve such a severe punishment." The steward silenced everyone, preventing any information from leaking out.

"Hmph, ever since that Concubine Liu entered the manor, she has made things difficult for Mother Consort at every turn. If you ask me, she deserves her fate."

The Crown Princess turned off the lights and went to sleep, thinking that she would go to pay her respects to her mother in the morning and inquire about the news.

Prince Jing, who had tossed and turned in his study all night without a good night's sleep, got up very early the next day. Seeing that he looked alright, the steward told him about how the account books had been refused.

"Your Highness, the Princess Consort is still angry. Why don't you go and coax her? You've been doing this for over ten years, so you're very experienced."

It wasn't that Prince Jing didn't want to coax her; it was just that after the incident with Consort Liu, he felt that he and the Princess Consort were truly drifting further and further apart.

“It’s my fault for hurting her feelings. Here’s what we’ll do: have someone prepare a sumptuous breakfast and send it over first. Also, bring the account book with you later and come with me to have breakfast with her.”

The steward immediately went to do it, thinking that it had been more than half a year since he had seen the prince have breakfast with the princess. Today's breakfast had to be ten times more lavish than usual to show the prince's respect for the princess.

As soon as the gate to the east courtyard opened, a dozen maids rushed in carrying food boxes, saying that the prince would be coming for breakfast soon. The front gate hadn't stopped them; in the blink of an eye, the table was laden with all sorts of delicious food.

Hearing the noise, Granny Zhao came out unhappily. She looked at the various delicacies on the table and said indifferently, "How can you all be making such a racket and disturbing the Princess? Hurry up and leave, the Princess is not up yet."

The maids dared not raise their voices and immediately took the empty food boxes and went out.

Granny Zhao sneered. Now, even if she wanted to curry favor, she had to consider the princess's mood.