inspire-indiana Chapter 192 Punishment
Chapter 192 Punishment
After saying that, she gave the order to Hongcha: "Slap this princess thirty times, then give her thirty strokes of the cane, and throw this audacious woman out of the Chrysanthemum Garden!"
Upon hearing this, Ma was terrified.
Oh my god, this is going to kill me! If Princess Yulin succeeds today, I'll lose all face! In the future, where will I have a place in the capital?
"You dare! My husband is also a high-ranking official of the third rank, and I also have an imperial title!" Madam Ma shouted uncontrollably.
Zisu snorted coldly: "You have committed insubordination, humiliated and verbally abused the Imperial Concubine Dowager without cause. If Prince Duan were here, you probably wouldn't even be able to keep your head! I have only given you a slight punishment. You should be grateful and thank me for showing mercy!"
Turning to Hongcha, she said, "What are you still looking at? Take action now! Don't be afraid, I, the Princess Consort, will take this matter to the Emperor! How can the dignified Princess Consort of the Duan Prince's Mansion allow such a shameless person to trample on her like this? I, Shangguan Zisu's mother-in-law, will not allow anyone to trample on me either! Today, I will definitely vent my anger, otherwise, I am not Shangguan Zisu!"
My principle in dealing with people has always been: I will not offend others unless they offend me, and if they offend me, I will retaliate! Today, Madam Ma first insulted the Dowager Consort, and then physically assaulted her. If I, the Princess Consort, were to take this matter to the Emperor, the Dowager Consort would be in the right! Even if the Dowager Consort were just an ordinary elderly woman, let alone my mother-in-law, I would resolutely support her! Moreover, the Dowager Consort is still my mother-in-law; there is absolutely no reason for her to be bullied!”
As they spoke, Hongcha and Hongdou had already grabbed Madam Ma, and Hongye stood in front of her, slapping her hard across the face. One slap after another, each one delivered with all her might.
After only five or six slaps, Ma's cheeks swelled up. After thirty slaps, several of her teeth were loose, and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
After being slapped, Madam Ma was forced onto the bench, and the paddle landed heavily on her buttocks, one blow after another. Fortunately, Zisu didn't order her pants to be pulled down and beaten; otherwise, she would never have been able to face anyone again!
Even so, Madam Ma felt deeply humiliated. She wailed and cursed through gritted teeth, "Shangguan Zisu, how vicious you are! I will never forgive you in this lifetime!"
Zisu: "Insulting the royal daughter-in-law is an act of insubordination, an unforgivable crime! Ten more strokes of the cane! Remember that, one more stroke and ten more strokes!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Hongcha replied loudly, raising the board high before bringing it down heavily, leaving no trace of moisture. If she had only used seven-tenths of her strength before, she was now using ten-tenths.
With just one stroke of the paddle, Madam Ma felt an excruciating pain that she could not bear. She pleaded, "Your Highness, I was wrong. I shouldn't have scolded you. I deserve to die. I was wrong. Please, don't hit me anymore. Please forgive me this time!"
Zisu: "Since you yourself said that you deserve to die, then giving you only forty strokes of the cane is a lenient punishment! Just now, you even cursed me, saying that you would never let me go! Now, you beg for mercy and I will let you go. If the world sees this, won't they think that I am easy to bully?"
"It's alright if I bully you, just beg for mercy and I'll let you off easily? No way, that won't do! I, Shangguan Zisu, am not someone who's easily swayed, nor am I someone who's easily bullied, and I'm certainly not a fool! You think I'll let you go just because you beg for mercy? You wish! Too bad I'm not a fool. You'll be disappointed!"
Just then, the eldest princess also came over.
As if seeing a savior, Madam Ma hurriedly cried out, "Your Highness, help me! Please save me! I dare not do it again! I will never dare to do it again! Please, please plead with Princess Duan!"
The eldest princess's people had already explained the whole story to her. The eldest princess looked coldly at Madam Ma and rebuked her sternly: "Madam Ma, how dare you insult and beat members of the royal family at my banquet! Even if the Princess Consort of Duan doesn't punish you today, I will absolutely not let you off easily! Thirty strokes of the cane is too lenient. If I order the punishment, there will be no less than fifty strokes!"
The princess is kind-hearted and ordered you to be flogged thirty times, yet you dared to threaten and intimidate her, uttering words of utter defiance! For just that one sentence, a hundred strokes of the cane wouldn't be excessive! How dare you insult and threaten a member of the royal family? If the Emperor were present, he might very well have you beaten to death on the spot!
Upon hearing this, Madam Ma immediately fainted.
By this time, about twenty blows had already been delivered.
Zisu waved her hand and said, "Forget it, since she's already fainted, let's not fight anymore! If she really dares to fight me to the death in the future, then we'll settle all the old scores together! Don't blame me for being ruthless then!"
The princess glared angrily at Madam Ma's terrified daughter and her maids and servants: "Take Madam Ma away from here immediately. From now on, I will no longer welcome anyone from the Niu family!"
Ma's husband's surname is Niu.
The stern shout startled Miss Niu out of her terror. She quickly said to Madam Ma's servant, "Mama Du, carry Madam on your back, let's go home!"
At this moment, fifteen-year-old Miss Niu was filled with fear and humiliation. As for resentment, she dared not. One was the Eldest Princess, the other the Princess Consort of Duan—neither of them were people she could afford to offend. Moreover, her mother had truly gone too far today; how could she possibly dare to offend the mother of the Prince of Duan?
At this moment, besides fear, she also felt resentment towards her mother. After this ordeal, her future marriage prospects would be extremely difficult; marrying the eldest son of a powerful or noble family would be absolutely impossible!
Mother, if you want to court death, fine, but why drag your innocent daughter into it? To be honest, before, Mother was wholeheartedly devoted to making her a concubine of Prince Duan, even just a maidservant. However, her thoughts were different from Mother's.
You must understand, Princess Consort Duan was the renowned Princess of Yulin, her idol, and a remarkable woman whom she deeply admired. She was absolutely unwilling and lacked any confidence to compete with such a woman for a man. However, her mother completely ignored her advice and insisted on getting close to Consort Qin.
Later, even Consort Qin was reprimanded by the Empress, and the possibility of her becoming a concubine of Prince Duan was completely gone. Her mother, in a fit of rage and shame, committed such a heinous and disgraceful act today; it was truly a huge disgrace! After returning home, she didn't know how to tell her father and grandparents.
Will Father be implicated? Perhaps he'll even lose his official position? You must know, Prince Duan is the regent now! How can he let this go after Mother has so humiliated his mother?
Mother, you have killed your daughter and your father!
After dismissing Madam Ma, the eldest princess smiled and said to everyone, "Everyone, please continue. Don't let that rotten apple spoil the mood! How about this, let's go somewhere else to have tea and chat. The scenery in the back garden is quite nice, let's go there!"
The crowd responded in unison, "Yes, Your Highness!"
Then maids, servants, and guards quickly moved the tables and chairs away, presumably to the back garden.
Led by the princess, everyone strolled leisurely along a beautiful tree-lined path towards the back garden. When they arrived, tables and chairs had already been set out, and fresh tea, fruit, and snacks were laid out on the tables.
The scenery in the back garden was indeed beautiful, with various varieties of orange blossoms blooming in profusion, filling the air with a delicate fragrance. Taking a deep breath was truly refreshing.
Zisu did not follow; instead, she accompanied Consort Qin to the guest room.
The Princess's residence sent over a special medicine to reduce swelling, and Zisu personally helped Consort Qin apply it. The medicine was taken from the palace, and its effect in reducing swelling and relieving pain was indeed very good. Not long after applying the medicine, Consort Qin felt that the pain had lessened considerably, and the handprint also appeared to have faded a lot.
Zisu then asked, "Mother, shall we go home, or stay here?"
Consort Qin: "Let's go home. I'm not in the mood to admire chrysanthemums anymore!"
Zisu: "Alright, Mother, please wait a moment while I go to say goodbye to the Princess."
Consort Qin: "Hmm, no rush. I'll just rest in this room for a bit. You can chat with the Princess and the other ladies for a while; there's no need to rush back!"
Zisu: "Hmm, that's fine. Then please wait for me for half an hour, Mother, is that alright?"
Consort Qin: "Hmm, that's fine. I'm tired anyway, so I'll rest a bit more."
Zisu then instructed Hongcha: "You stay here and protect and take good care of the Dowager Consort!"
In the guest room, the Eldest Princess left three of her personal maids, specifically for Zisu and Consort Qin to use. Zisu said to one of the maids, "Please lead the way, I need to say goodbye to the Eldest Princess!"
Upon seeing the Princess, Zisu said apologetically, "Your Highness, the Dowager Consort was frightened and wanted to return home early, so she came to say goodbye! I'm very sorry for disrupting Your Highness's flower festival today."
Princess Eldest: "Don't say that. How can I blame you? It's all those shameless people's doing. I won't let today's events go unpunished. Tomorrow I will submit a memorial to the Emperor impeaching the Niu family! Don't worry, just try to comfort the Dowager Consort and cheer her up."
Zisu: "Okay, thank you for your understanding, Your Highness. I'll take my leave now!"
******
In the evening, Prince Duan returned from his official business and, upon hearing of the Ma family incident, was furious: "Outrageous! How dare they humiliate and beat my mother!" He had already made up his mind that he would impeach Ma's husband at the morning court the next day.
Zisu: "If possible, we should kidnap Ma's husband and send him home to farm!"
Prince Duan: "That's exactly what I meant. Otherwise, any Tom, Dick, or Harry could bully me in the future!" She's just the wife of a third-rank official, yet she dares to treat the mother of a prince like that. She's incredibly audacious!
After dinner, Prince Duan went to Rongrui Hall.
Consort Qin held her son's hand, sobbing uncontrollably: "My son, your mother has been humiliated like that, you must avenge your mother! If I don't vent my anger, I can't bear to live like this!"
Prince Duan quickly comforted him, "I understand. Tomorrow at the morning court, I will impeach that woman's husband and make sure he can't hold office and has to go home to farm!"
Consort Qin: "My child, you don't know, if it weren't for Zisu today, I probably wouldn't be alive. Fortunately, Zisu stepped in and slapped that woman thirty times and gave her twenty strokes of the cane. Otherwise, I would have been driven to my death by anger. That woman is so crazy!"
Prince Duan shook his head helplessly: "Mother, next time you encounter something like this, just put on the airs of a Dowager Consort and have your maids and servants beat them up! Don't be afraid or sad. Your son is a dignified prince. You don't need to be afraid of those shameless villains!"
Sigh, his mother is a bully at home. Otherwise, how could she be so intimidated by the wife of a third-rank official? In his eyes, crushing a third-rank official is no different than crushing an ant. However, he's not a bloodthirsty person and won't easily resort to violence unless the other party is truly despicable.
Consort Qin nodded vigorously: "Yes, Mother understands. Zisu was very impressive today, truly wonderful! My son, you made the right choice in marrying her, she's a good one!"
Prince Duan couldn't help but feel both amused and exasperated.
Not long ago, she seemed to be at odds with Zisu, but now that Zisu has protected her, her attitude has completely changed. Sigh, I hope that after this experience, Mother has truly let go of her resentment towards Zisu, will stop making things difficult for her, and will live in harmony with her.