The eldest daughter's scheming, the crown prince's exclusive favor to the venomous concubi

"Attention! At ease! Chest out, head up! Your butt's too big, pull it in a bit, so it doesn't affect the city's appearance. Wutong, how did you grow up like this? Aren't you supposed to have a perky butt like a little girl? How come all your fat is on your butt?"

puff!

A burst of laughter came from the side. Wutong blushed and tried to pull her buttocks back, but she still couldn't get the hateful whip to hit her buttocks. Instantly, her whole face turned a liver color.

Hua Xiangrong squinted at the side and said with a wicked smile, "Laugh? What are you laughing at? Be careful, or I'll hang you on a tree. You'd better stand still and wait for me to teach you a lesson one by one."

Shangguan Ruxing immediately shut her mouth, placed her hands neatly at her sides, and tried to straighten her small body. When she saw Hua Xiangrong looking at her little bottom, she quickly pulled her little bottom back.

Hua Xiangrong then turned her gaze to Lu Nianzhe, who had been standing motionless to the side. After watching him for a while, she couldn't help but praise, "Not bad, not bad, much better than those two rascals."

Shangguan Ruxing was immediately displeased and said, "Who is the rascal? Aunt, how can you describe your lovely niece like that? You'll lose your lovely niece if you do that."

Hua Xiangrong immediately sneered, "Lose? How can you lose? Are you going to run away from home? Pshaw! When I was playing this game, you weren't even in your mother's womb yet. Lose? I'd like to see how you manage to escape my grasp."

As she spoke, she lashed Shangguan Wutong's bottom with the whip again. Shangguan Wutong couldn't help but fart. Hua Xiangrong was stunned by the fart, but Shangguan Ruxing couldn't help but burst into laughter. This time, Lu Nianzhe also couldn't hold back and joined in the laughter.

Wutong was a little embarrassed, standing there awkwardly, looking at Hua Xiangrong cautiously and timidly saying, "Mother..."

Hua Xiangrong rolled her eyes and looked enviously at the two mischievous kids laughing together next to her, saying, "Why am I so unlucky? Why didn't I end up with a lively child? Wutong, can you not be so obedient? I'm getting tired of watching you."

Wutong rubbed his head, puzzled, and said, "Isn't being obedient what makes a good child? Dad said that in our family, everything is based on what you say, Mom, and we must follow your orders in everything. I think Dad is right." Hua Xiangrong sighed and waved her hand, saying, "Alright, alright, rest for a quarter of an hour. We'll go to the 100-meter race later. The loser has to find stones in the latrine. If they can't find any, they'll have to stay in the latrine for three days."

Upon hearing this, Shangguan Ruxing immediately stopped smiling and sat down on the ground with a sorrowful expression. Seeing this, Wutong quickly stepped forward and said, "Sister, don't be sad. You can just stand outside for a while, and Nianzhe and I will go in to look for her."

Lu Nianzhe snorted coldly and said arrogantly, "I don't want to. The latrine is too smelly. I really don't know why my aunt likes to use this method. It's disgusting."

As he spoke, Lu Nianzhe covered his nose and left. Seeing this, Wutong hurriedly called out, "Nianzhe, what are you doing? If you leave now, your mother will punish you."

Lu Nianzhe said, "If we don't leave, are we really going to go pick stones from the latrine? Only an idiot like you would do something like that. I don't want to. Ling'er, do you want to come with me to the street to buy sugar figurines?"

Shangguan Ruxing immediately stood up, her eyes crinkling with a smile, and said, "Okay, let's go get some sugar figurines, but Nianzhe, do you have any money?"

Lu Nianzhe said proudly, "Of course there are. A few days ago, Aunt Yunniang's silkworms got sick, and I took a look at them and they were cured. Aunt Yunniang gave me money for the treatment, which was enough to buy three sugar figurines. Wutong, do you want to go? If you do, we can each have one."

Wutong hesitated for a moment, his mouth watering at the thought of candy, but when he thought of his mother's gaze, he shrank back. Shangguan Ruxing immediately said with disdain, "Wutong is so useless, so afraid of his mother, shame on you."

Wutong immediately shook her head, and after a long while scratched her head and said, "But isn't Ruxing also very afraid of her aunt? We seem to be in a similar situation."

Upon hearing this, Shangguan Ruxing immediately retorted, "How can that be the same? I'm not afraid, it's just that my mother has only been at home for a short time. If I'm disobedient when she comes back, she'll definitely be sad."

Father said that Mother is someone my brothers and I are responsible for protecting; we can't let her be sad.

Wutong hesitated: "But if I leave, my mother will be sad!"

Shangguan Ruxing pouted: "How could that be? My aunt only makes us pick stones in the latrine or climb trees to pick beehives. She's never sad. She'd love for us to make mistakes so she can watch us embarrass ourselves."

As Shangguan Ruxing spoke, she pouted and said, "I'm already ten years old, and I've grown up nicely. How can a young lady like me do such dirty things? I just don't want to pick stones in the latrine. Let's go eat sugar figurines."

"Want to go eat sugar figurines? Why didn't you bring your aunt? Ruxing isn't cute anymore, your aunt is very sad."

Shangguan Ruxing immediately shrank her neck, turned her head and saw Hua Xiangrong's smiling face. She immediately smiled back and said, "Auntie, you're joking. What sugar figurine? Where is it? We're just playing a game, pretending there are sugar figurines here."

As she spoke, Shangguan Ruxing nudged Wutong and Lu Nianzhe with her elbow. Lu Nianzhe quickly nodded and said, "Yes, Aunt, we didn't say we were going to buy sugar figurines. We don't have any money."

Wutong scratched her head and looked at Lu Nianzhe, saying, "Didn't you just say you had money? Are you trying to trick us? That's not good. Children aren't allowed to lie."

Shangguan Ruxing rolled her eyes, and Lu Nianzhe was also furious. But when they met Hua Xiangrong's half-smiling gaze, this child who had always been feared suddenly turned into a cowering quail.

Hua Xiangrong smiled and walked towards Lu Nianzhe step by step, saying, "Oh dear, are you rich or poor? I heard that the other day, handsome young Nianzhe was practicing medicine all over the village and made quite a bit of money. How come you say you have none when your aunt asks? That's really not cute!"

Lu Nianzhe was so frightened that he took two steps back, glanced at Shangguan Ruxing, and finally gave in to Hua Xiangrong's sharp gaze. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small money bag, which was bulging and clearly contained a lot of money.

Hua Xiangrong took it and weighed it, then clicked her tongue and said, "Not bad, it's more than an ounce. But if you don't have the skills to practice medicine, you shouldn't go out and take on jobs. Although you cured the silkworms of the Yunniang family, you made the little dog of Xiaoshitou's family almost dead. Xiaoshitou even cried for a day and had a high fever. How do you think that counts?"

I'll take this money to pay Little Stone's consultation fee. Since you don't like carrying stones through the latrine, then go to the back mountain! Give me ten catties of mushrooms each; that'll be our dinner tonight. If we can't find any more, we'll go brush the horses.

After saying that, Hua Xiangrong turned to leave, but then she turned back and smiled at the little people, saying, "Don't try to escape. When you come back, I will punish you with even harsher punishments. And don't try to take advantage of the situation and cheat or swindle people in the village. I will have your Uncle Chaoyue follow you."

After saying that, Hua Xiangrong left without looking back, leaving her third brother looking at each other, a ten-year-old boy who seemed utterly hopeless.

After nightfall, the three of them dragged their tired bodies back with all thirty pounds of mushrooms, only to find a family enjoying dinner together. Hua Xiangrong was even watching them with her legs crossed, holding chopsticks with a tempting piece of braised pork on the tip.

Shangguan Ruxing couldn't take it anymore and rushed over, shouting, "My aunt is bullying me! She made us pick mushrooms, saying it was for dinner, but by the time we got back, we were already eating! Waaah! I'm just a child, how can I do such difficult work and be bullied like this? My aunt is so mean!

Seeing his aggrieved great-grandson, Shangguan Ting immediately picked him up with heartache, wiped his dirty little face and said, "My good grandson, your great-grandfather feels sorry for you! Come on, your great-grandfather will feed you some meat."

Wutong drooled as she watched Shangguan Ruxing eat the first piece of meat by herself. She then glanced at her mother and murmured, "Great-Grandpa, what about me? I'm your lovely great-grandson too."

Upon hearing this, Shangguan Ting immediately smiled and looked at Wutong, saying, "Oh my, my little Wutong has actually learned to speak nicely! Not bad at all. Come, come, little Wutong did a very good job today. Great-Grandpa likes it, so Great-Grandpa will give you a piece of meat too."

Wutong immediately ran over happily. Lu Nianzhe stood to the side without moving. Although he still looked handsome and cool, his wide-eyed stare at the meat betrayed his emotions.

Shangguan Ting looked at him with a smile and said, "Come on, Nian Zhe is also a great-grandfather's good grandson. Let's eat meat together. Come over here."

Lu Nianzhe hesitated for a moment, took a step and then stopped, lowering his head and shuffling his toes on the ground. Shangguan Hongwei couldn't stand it anymore, so he went up and picked Lu Nianzhe up and threw him onto a chair next to the table, saying, "What are you dawdling for? The men of the Shangguan family are all tough men. If you're hungry, just eat. What are you being so coy about?"

Lu Nianzhe blushed as he was being talked to, and was about to stubbornly get up and leave when Hua Xiangrong grabbed him and put a piece of braised pork in his mouth.

Lu Nianzhe was stunned. Hua Xiangrong didn't even look at him and said, "At such a young age, where does all this stubbornness come from? Learn from Ruxing. There's nothing shameful about acting cute with your family. You've been in this family for more than a day or two, so why are you still copying your mother?"

"What's wrong with what I'm saying? Sister-in-law, you'd better explain it in detail, otherwise, I, Lingyu, will find fault with it."

Hua Xiangrong smiled and said, "So you know you're going out to eat? I thought you weren't going to eat."

Qiu Lingyu sat down, picked up her bowl and chopsticks without changing her expression, added more food for Lu Nianzhe, and then said, "It's only natural for me to eat my sister-in-law's food, why would I make such a fuss? It's just that there were some things that needed to be resolved just now."