The story of a bullied daughter's rise to power

"As a concubine in the Crown Prince's Mansion, you watched the Princess of Wu Kingdom disfigure the Crown Prince's concubines, but you remained indifferent and did not try to stop them. And you even said that you were not guilty?" Situ Yaorao raised her voice, filled with anger.

Mu Lingwan had long anticipated Situ Yaorao's rage, so she said, "The Crown Princess is wrongly accusing me. I'm just a concubine. There are six concubines in this mansion. Why do you blame me for everything that happened?"

"Oh! The person in power in this mansion is you, Concubine Mu. If I don't blame you, who else should I blame?" Situ Yaorao sneered.

Upon hearing this, Mu Lingwan looked aggrieved. "I do hold power, but it's only within the household. The Wu Kingdom princess is coming with such force, and she's the future Crown Prince's Consort. She's on equal footing with the Crown Princess, so how dare I stand in her way? If I have to blame someone, I can only blame these sisters for their bad luck."

Mu Lingwan argued cunningly. She had drafted these words in her mind countless times. If she analyzed them, they made sense. It was understandable that Mu Lingwan didn't dare to resist.

Of course, this is just the general case!

Those who knew Situ Yaorao thought she was easy to talk to and rarely got angry. Those who knew her a little better thought she had a bad temper but was reasonable. But those who truly knew her understood that Situ Yaorao was the epitome of unreasonable egocentrism.

Looking at Mu Lingwan, Situ Yaorao said coldly: "I am almost convinced by Concubine Mu's sweet words."

"I am just telling the truth, without any sweet talk." Mu Lingwan gritted her teeth, but she didn't know why she felt something was very strange in her heart.

"Really?" Situ Yaorao sneered.

"Yes!" Mu Lingwan said firmly.

"Oh, that's really unfortunate. Whether you're talking nonsense or telling the truth, I've determined that you're guilty, and you're guilty!" Situ Yaorao's tone was cold. After she finished speaking, she said to the outsiders, "Come here! Concubine Mu, as the person in charge of all matters in the Prince's Mansion, did not know how to protect the concubines in the mansion. She allowed outsiders to harm the concubines, resulting in all of them being disfigured. She is severely punished with fifty lashes of the cane. Execute now! Anyone who dares to plead for mercy will be punished as well!"

After these words, Mu Lingwan was stunned.

She had calculated everything, but she had never expected that Situ Yaorao was completely unreasonable!

Fifty lashes? Isn't that life-threatening?

"Crown Princess, I respect you as the Crown Princess, so don't go too far. Qian Shui'er is the princess of the Wu Kingdom and I dare not resist. You want to beat me with fifty lashes, but you want to take my life. This punishment is unfair! I want to see the Crown Prince! I want to wait for the Crown Prince to come back, and you are not allowed to touch me!" Mu Lingwan struggled, trying to stop the guards from dragging her out.

Situ Yaorao looked at her coldly and said, "One more word of quibbling, and it'll be one hundred. I'm serious."

Situ Yaorao's words were like gum, which made Mu Lingwan shut up instantly.

The guards dragged Mu Lingwan out. Soon, only screams could be heard from outside.

"Crown Princess, you're perverting the law!" Mu Lingwan shouted from outside the door. Those cries, as if she had suffered a great injustice, were deaf ears to Situ Yaorao, who looked at the women kneeling on the ground, their faces covered in blood.

Because Qian Shui'er had previously disfigured these women, their eyes were lifeless, like puppets. But think about it. These women married the Crown Prince based on their looks, hoping that he would one day take a second look at them. Furthermore, for some of these women, the Crown Prince had directly promised to release them in the future. Although they had been married before, they were virgins. Marrying them would be easy.

What's more, the prince is here to uphold justice for them.

So, even though they hadn't been favored in these years, they were all content. They all had a way out. But now, Qian Shui'er's actions had simply cut off all their escape routes!

These women, any one of them would be stunningly beautiful if released. But now?

Each of their faces was etched with ugly marks that would last a lifetime. It was likely that even marrying would be difficult. How could these women not despair? Thinking of this, Situ Yaorao grew even angrier at Qian Shui'er. That woman, she would probably never know, had ruined the futures of these women. No, perhaps her sole purpose was to ruin others.

From what happened in Luocheng last time, it was clear that Qian Shui'er had no compassion at all. To spread the word of her healing abilities, she had spread the news. Countless people had died on the roads, and countless more had fallen into deeper despair in Luocheng. And all this was simply because of her selfishness. Thinking of this, Situ Yaorao frowned.

Looking at these women again, Situ Yaorao felt more pity than anything else. She sighed, "If you want to cry, then cry. You've suffered this calamity because I, as the Crown Princess, failed to protect you. Later, I'll do my best to remove the scars on your faces. But you still need to be more open-minded. For a person, what matters most isn't appearance, but the very fact of being alive."

Situ Yaorao persuaded softly.

Finally, a woman in the crowd couldn't hold it in any longer and burst into tears: "Ahhh... my face."

As the woman cried, everyone else began to sob. The woman kneeling in front grabbed Situ Yaorao's dress and collapsed: "Crown Princess, for me, without this beauty, I'd rather die."

"Crown Princess, you have to make the decision for us."

The cries of the many women were like daggers piercing Situ Yaorao's heart, cutting off her flesh bit by bit.

She was also deeply distressed. She helped the women up one by one, looked at them, and said, "As the Crown Princess and your sister, I will naturally seek justice for you. But everyone, the most important thing now is to treat the wounds on your faces. You can't live like this forever."

"Crown Princess...I, I am unwilling to accept this." A woman threw herself into Situ Yaorao's arms. Situ Yaorao froze for a moment, but then she soothed him, "I know, so I will help you."

"Come here! Send all the concubines back to the courtyard, and then call the doctors to bandage them. All expenses will be taken from the treasury. Remember, try your best to heal their faces."

As soon as Situ Yaorao gave the order, the guards outside immediately followed suit and took the crying women away one by one.

When everyone left, Situ Yaorao rubbed her eyebrows weakly.

There were sixty-three disfigured women in total, and each of them had a brighter future. But now? Situ Yaorao felt the burden on her shoulders had grown heavier, and the culprit behind all this was Qian Shui'er.

When talking about Qian Shui'er, Situ Yaorao really wanted to tear her apart.

The doctors spent an hour bandaging the concubines, and Situ Yaorao sat in the main hall for a full hour, until all thirty doctors arrived.

This was also Situ Yaorao's order.

Looking at the strange expressions on the faces of the thirty doctors, Situ Yaorao asked, "Doctors, is it possible to completely remove the scars on the faces of the women in my house?"

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. One of them, a bit bolder, said, "To answer the Crown Princess, the facial wounds of these concubines in your mansion are extremely difficult to heal. After scabs form, they even turn a deep red color, ruining their original appearance. As for scar removal? That's just wishful thinking."

"What do you mean?" Situ Yaorao's expression turned cold in an instant.

"Replying to the Crown Princess, the wounds on these women's faces have been smeared with a kind of medicine. This medicine will not kill people, but it will make the wounds difficult to heal. Even if they heal, they will leave scars, and the color of the scars is vermilion." Another doctor took over.

Situ Yaorao's expression became even uglier now.

"We have already discussed and written a prescription for the medicine that will heal the maid's wound. We are just waiting for someone to come and get it. As for curing her, we cannot do that."

The doctors finished their words and left one after another. Situ Yaorao sat in the main hall in a daze. A raging rage was boiling in her chest. After a long pause, she said, "Someone come here."

Outside the door, the captain of the guards walked in.