What kind of woman would willingly share her man with her sister? People always said that a wife who let their husband have a concubine was virtuous. However, in the end, the battles were always fierce inside the residence. No one would want to be put in that pit of fire by suggesting concubines to her future husband.
That would be ridiculous.
On the side, Wei Yijun glanced at Wei Zilin for a moment. His dark brown eyes seemed to be thinking of something, but he didn't voice it out loudly. There were some thoughts inside his mind as he watched them. Somehow, he felt that all of his sisters were very ambitious.
"Let's just go back and rest."
Wei Zilin pouted. She turned around and trotted back to Wei Xiao Hua's quarter.
The others chose to pretend that they didn't see them as they returned back to their own quarter. Wei Liuying was not an exception as she no longer had any interest in meddling with Wei Xiao Hua. But if the latter wanted to mess with her, she would definitely not stay quiet.
"Miss," Xiao Qing greeted when she saw Wei Liuying.
Wei Liuying nodded. "Where's Xiao Yu?"
"Xiao Yu is taking some food from the kitchen for your lunch, Miss."
"I see."
Hearing that, Wei Liuying walked back to her room and picked up the book again. She still wanted to read the content again because there were some things that she felt confused about. With her brother growing, the topic of the books become even more diverse and comprehensive.
Well, that was the basic for the scholars, so she should have expected that she would have to read and understand everything eventually. Looking at the content, she felt that she understood why most scholars were already over 20 years old. To be able to recite so many words without mistake meant that their memorization had to be good.
'Well, Second Brother is good at memorization, but when it comes to improvement, he sucks.'
In the examination, they would have to recite the paragraph just from the examiner giving them a sentence. Thankfully, not all books have to be memorized completely like that and only some. As for the rest of the examination, they have to be able to implement their knowledge to solve some problems.
For this part, Wei Liuying wasn't sure that her brother would be able to pass with flying color. He was pretty bad at it.
"Miss! There's a problem."
Wei Liuying had just read a few sentences when she saw a servant come in. Her panicked expression made her heart drop, but she maintained a calm expression. "What is it?"
"Xiao Yu is caught when she's watching."
Watching?
Wei Liuying had already retracted the order for Xiao Yu to watch over Wei Xiao Hua's movement. How come she got caught now? Thinking about Wei Zilin, Wei Liuying had the feeling that she might have a hand in this.
"I'll go there."
"Please hurry, Miss."
Wei Liuying quickened her pace, but she still didn't use her martial art. Her expression didn't change in the slightest even after she entered the courtyard. Xiao Yu was kowtowing on the ground while Wei Zilin was wailing while holding onto her servant. Ji Shu was sitting with Wei Xiao Hua standing beside him like an obedient young girl.
"Third Daughter in Wei Residence, Wei Liuying greets His Highness the Fourth Prince," Wei Liuying gave formal kowtow and greetings.
However, Ji Shu didn't let her rise. He was looking at her with ruthlessness in his eyes. "Ben Wang* heard that you have been pulling strings to interfere with Xiao Hua. Is that true?"
Wei Liuying calmly analyzed Ji Shu's way of addressing. She knew that he had already put Wei Xiao Hua as part of his men, so he would surely care for her greatly. "This one is innocent, Your Highness."
"Do you think I'll believe your lies?" Ji Shu snorted. "Ben Wang is not stupid. If you didn't try to interfere with Wei Xiao Hua, why would you send your servant to watch over her like this?'
"Subject Wei Liuying didn't send her to spy on First Sister, Your Highness."
"Your Highness, it's true!" Wei Zilin almost screamed. "I only came here because the Third Sister wanted to see you!"
Wei Liuying kept her expression intact. Even though she was looking down, which naturally meant that they couldn't see her expression, she still didn't want to show anything out. Her weakness had to be buried deep within her heart.
"Did Ben Wang ask you?" Ji Shu sent a glare to Wei Zilin, terrifying her to shut her mouth instantly. By now, Wei Zilin didn't have the courage to do anything under Ji Shu's glare. He was too frightening in her opinion.
Ji Shu averted his eyes back to Wei Liuying. "Raise your head."
Wei Liuying lifted her head. Her black eyes were staring back calmly to Ji Shu, who was looking down at her. He looked at her eyes, which was completely pitch black. It was different with others who were mostly dark brown, close to black but not quite too.
"Can you still say that you're innocent?"
"Subject Wei Liuying is innocent, Your Highness. I have never asked Second Sister to come here," Wei Liuying replied.
Ji Shu looked back at Wei Liuying, his expression was still as cold as ever.
Ben Wang is a way to say “I” in Chinese used by Imperial Family members, usually by princes.
The temperature in the courtyard was chilling cold. Even though it was the middle of spring, it felt as if it was winter there. No servants dared to speak up in fear that they would get implicated. Everyone knew how ruthless and unreasonable Prince Ji Shu was when he was dealing with those lower officials who dared to cross him.
As Prince Ji Shu's mother is the Emperor's favorite concubine through the years, it gave the impression as if the Emperor wanted to give the throne to him. However, no one could say for sure as they would never point it blatantly in front of the emperor. They still wanted to keep their neck intact.
"Second Miss Wei naturally has her own legs. Why would she listen to her younger sibling?" Ji Shu said rhetorically.
With this sentence, Wei Zilin's face paled drastically. She knew that it meant Prince Ji Shu wanted to hold her accountable for peeking into his business. Even if her father pleaded for lenience, it didn't seem that anything could happen.
"However," Ji Shu's next words were even colder. "It didn't explain why you would send your servant to watch over Xiao Hua. Do you really think that the main daughter's position is so low to the point that a concubine daughter like you can pry into her business?"
Ji Shu ruthlessly directly used their status as a means to oppress her. No one could pick their birth and status, which was especially restraining when it came to women. Their position would always be low as only those who were the main daughter and main wife would enjoy better treatment.
Someone like her was simply treated worse than dirt.
Wei Liuying kept her eyes locked on Ji Shu. There was no emotion on her face nor eyes, as if whatever Ji Shu's said only landed on her ear to come out from the other one. Even if she was thinking something, her expression never changed. It remained placid throughout the entire time Ji Shu was talking.
"Are you going to punish this lowly servant*, Your Highness?" Wei Liuying asked faintly.
Ji Shu crossed his hand. "Xiao Hua is my fiancée, so naturally I'll be the one who will protect her."
"This servant understands. If Your Highness wished to, who can possibly stop you?"
Hearing that, Ji Shu's eyes flashed. He felt that the young girl in front of him was too cunning. She twisted her words so that she wouldn't need to admit that she was watching Wei Xiao Hua. Before this, he had already seen Xiao Yu not far from them when he came to visit.
"Do you admit that you try to pry into Xiao Hua's business despite being in much lower rank?" Ji Shu asked again.
Wei Liuying was still staring back expressionlessly. "If that's what Your Highness said, who can say that it's wrong?"
She knew. Even if she denied it countless times, they would never believe her. If only her position in the household was a bit higher, she would be able to act braver and not completely at the mercy of the prince.
However, it was impossible. Such were the laws of this world. Only the strong and influential had the right to speak. Someone like her was nothing in front of the prince's eyes.
The Imperial Family's words were irrefutable.
Ji Shu was still looking at Wei Liuying coldly. He waved his hand and his servant came out. "What's the punishment for stepping on authority, peeping into important people's business, and not willing to admit?"
The servant cupped his hand. "It's 20 beatings for the first one and 10 beatings for each of the two, Your Highness."
The servant girls around them were all surprised. It would be 40 beatings if they counted it all. Normally, even just 10 beatings were already more than enough to send noble ladies crying because of pain. Now that it was upped by four times, would Wei Liuying die because of the punishment?
Ji Shu nodded his head in satisfaction. He looked at Wei Liuying. "Do you have any objection, Third Miss Wei?"
"This servant didn't have any objection Your Highness," Wei Liuying replied placidly. It didn't look as if she was about to face harsh punishment as her expression didn't change in the slightest bit. If anything, she was so calm and unperturbed that it was the audience who felt uncomfortable.
But her attitude didn't affect Ji Shu in the slightest bit. He had seen a lot of people similar to her. He looked over to Xiao Yu. "Since the servant is the one at fault, she should also share the punishment. 40 beatings for two people meant 20 beatings each."
Xiao Yu's face paled almost immediately. Unlike Xiao Qing, she didn't learn martial arts, which meant that she might die if she had to endure 20 beatings. However, if she dared to refute, she knew that she would be punished again.
"There's no need."
"What do you say?"
"This servant said there's no need," Wei Liuying repeated. "The servant didn't do anything wrong, so naturally I'm the one who had to bear the punishment."
Ji Shu arched his eyebrows. "Are you telling me that if the servant is the one who makes a mistake, the master is the one who had to bear punishment?"
"If the servant made a mistake because of the master, wouldn't it mean that the master is the one who made the mistake?" Wei Liuying asked back. Her eyes were staring straight at Ji Shu without any hint of fear.
Ji Shu snorted. He had heard from Wei Xiao Hua that his two sisters were annoying. It was especially true for the third miss because she had such a cunning mind that even Ji Shu had to respect. Even when she was at an utter disadvantage, she still showed a brave front and stayed calm.
Unfortunately, she stood on Wei Xiao Hua's way. Because of that, Ji Shu had to eliminate her first. Could a frail young lady even survive 40 beatings? If she didn't die or bedridden for months, it would be a miracle.
"Stand up."
Wei Liuying stood up and a servant placed a chair near her. it was intended to help her keep standing even under the severe punishment.
"You can start the beating now."
The servant was stunned, but he quickly obeyed. "This servant understands."
Wei Liuying was watching without a hint of fear. She understood why Prince Ji Shu wanted them to beat her up here. There were so many servants around and if news about her being beaten up in front of servants were to go out, many people would mock her. After all, noble ladies cared for their reputation the most.
But for Wei Liuying, did it even matter?
Because of her mother, she didn't have the time to study arts that women have to learn, making her the second laughingstock. With her status, it was already impossible for her to marry a high ranking official unless she became a concubine.
With this beating, would it be possible that her father finally gave up trying to match her with someone high ranking?
Wei Liuying was more curious than worried.
As for the beating, it didn't matter much for her.
"Begin."
Pak! Pak!
Wei Liuying changed the way she was calling herself to the lower terms, which was actually closer to slave. Previously, she still used a normal way that regarded herself as a subject.
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