Reborn as the Regent's Beloved

Upon hearing this, Xiao Ye bowed to Xiao Fengyi and said, "Congratulations, elder sister! I wish you a happy marriage. When will I be able to share in your joy and find my own wife soon?"

Xiao Fengyi was a little overwhelmed by his teasing, which sounded sarcastic and as if he wouldn't be satisfied until she blushed deeply.

She walked to Xiao Ye's side and bowed, saying, "Brother, I will keep an eye out for suitable candidates for the position of royal consort, since I will soon be the one to find a princess."

Seeing that Xiao Fengyi had taken the initiative, Xiao Ye was somewhat overwhelmed and speechless.

Princess Zhao, Xiao Fengyi and Lady Shen felt uncomfortable upon hearing this title.

Xiao Qishan sensed that his youngest daughter was unhappy, so he said to Xiao Fengyi, "What's so great about the Princess Consort Zhao? Don't keep talking about it all the time, okay?"

“Princess Zhao is indeed not very good, but the Emperor himself bestowed the marriage upon her,” Xiao Fengyi retorted deliberately, and then gave a light snort.

Upon hearing Xiao Fengyi's words, Madam Shen was also furious.

Xiao Fengyi is already destined to be a phoenix. If she becomes the Princess Consort of Zhao, wouldn't she be even more superior to Yin'er? She would definitely be lawless and bossy, bullying Yin'er.

"Fengyi, the Emperor's decree of marriage has not yet been issued. Isn't it a bit premature for you to say that you are the Princess Consort of Zhao?"

She didn't want to listen to Xiao Fengyi's nonsense, so she came out to teach her a lesson.

Xiao Fengyi retorted, "Although it is the Emperor's decree, the Emperor's word is law. Aunt, you must understand that, right?"

These words left Shen speechless, even somewhat embarrassed, "I..."

Originally intending to retort, she failed, which made things quite unpleasant. Shen deliberately made a gesture of appeasement, and Xiao Qingyin followed and helped her up.

“Mother, don’t be angry. My sister didn’t mean to say that. She just really wants the title of Princess Consort of Zhao and doesn’t want to be looked down upon.”

Seeing that Madam Shen and Xiao Qingyin had been wronged, Xiao Qishan knew he wouldn't let Xiao Fengyi off the hook. He stepped forward and, unexpectedly, slapped Xiao Fengyi, causing her to fall directly into the old lady's arms.

When Xiao Qingyin and Madam Shen saw Xiao Fengyi being beaten, their faces were filled with schadenfreude, as if they were watching a good show.

Seeing her father's furious expression, Xiao Ye couldn't speak up for her stubborn younger sister, and could only feel sorry for her in her heart.

Inside the main hall of Changyi Courtyard, Xiao Qishan was furious and kept berating his innocent daughter, "Fengyi, how can you speak to your mother like that? Besides, she is now your legal mother. How can you call her aunt?"

Xiao Fengyi didn't speak, but covered her face and leaned against Shen's chest, looking at her father with hatred and tears in her eyes.

Looking at his daughter's stubborn yet resentful eyes, Xiao Qishan looked at the hand that had hit her and felt as if he had said something wrong.

"Fengyi, if you weren't so domineering, I wouldn't have hit you."

Xiao Fengyi remained silent, her eyes filled with anger. Xiao Qishan's remorse vanished. "You unfilial daughter, it's one thing if you don't admit your mistake, but how dare you look at your old man like that? I should beat you to death."

Having said that, he picked up the hilt of the newly forged Lingyue Sword, preparing to strike Xiao Fengyi fiercely.

Hitting someone with a sword hilt can hurt a lot. Xiao Fengyi had experienced this when she was young. Her father never liked her and hated her. He would hit her without saying a word, but she just didn't like to give in.

Seeing her granddaughter being beaten, Madam Shen, who had remained silent until now, could no longer stand it.

She held her eldest granddaughter affectionately in her arms and struck her son with her dragon-headed cane.

"Get out of here! What kind of father are you? Your daughter is about to be betrothed, and instead of congratulating her, you're going to hit her with a sword? Go ahead and kill her. When King Zhao comes looking for someone, let's see who he finds to give him a bride."

“Mother, look how she speaks to Madam Shen! She doesn’t respect her at all! Mother, you can’t let Fengyi get away with this! Otherwise, who will cover for her if she gets into trouble in the future?” Xiao Qishan was once again pushed far away by his mother, and he said indignantly.

Speaking in the name of Xiao Fengyi's well-being caused Liu's anger to surface.

Xiao Fengyi sneered in Liu's arms, but Liu pointed at Shen and said, "Qishan, ask this woman, ever since her sister died and she married into our Xiao family, has she ever treated Fengyi well? Hasn't she always treated her own daughter better than anyone else? Luckily, this family has this old man like me, otherwise Fengyi wouldn't have grown up, and who knows how badly Shen would have treated her. Doesn't she feel sorry for her own sister after treating Fengyi like this?"

"I'm sorry, sister," Shen said, then collapsed into Xiao Qingyin's arms, seemingly unable to support herself.

Sister, sister, her poor sister, if it weren't for Xiao Fengyi, that jinx, how could she have lost her life?

When Shen thought of her sister, she was overcome with grief and wept uncontrollably.

Xiao Qishan, however, thought that Shen was crying because she had been wronged by Liu, and immediately wanted to argue for his wife.

"Mother, Madam Shen treats Fengyi and Qingyin very well. It's clearly Fengyi who's too assertive and makes her seem unapproachable. Ye'er isn't even her biological son, so why are the two of them so close?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Ye also said to Liu Shi, "Grandmother, Mother is very good to us. Fengyi also wants to be close to Mother, but there has always been a misunderstanding between them, which is why people think they don't get along."

These words infuriated everyone. Xiao Fengyi felt that her brother was not helping her. Shen Shi felt that she was good to Xiao Ye because he was her sister's pride, but she really didn't like Xiao Fengyi. Xiao Qingyin felt that her mother really didn't like her sister. Liu Shi heard her son speaking up for Shen Shi, that vicious woman, and felt that she had no conscience.

Liu pounded her dragon-headed cane on the floor repeatedly, shouting, "Get out of here! I don't have a son like you, and Fengyi doesn't have a father like you either. My granddaughter and I depend on each other for survival in Changyi Courtyard. We don't need people like you."

In the end, Liu almost screamed, with a kind of hysterical frenzy.

Shen didn't hear what she said at all. Instead, she remembered how good her older sister had been to her when she was a child, and the tragic sight of her sister covered in blood when she died in childbirth. At this moment, she hated not only Xiao Fengyi, but also the man who caused her sister's difficult childbirth, her husband Xiao Qishan.

If it weren't for her sister's dying wish to take care of Xiao Ye and Xiao Fengyi, she would never have married this good-for-nothing.

She originally wanted to treat Xiao Fengyi well, but when she thought of her sister, she hated this child, hated her very much, hated her to the core.

Xiao Qingyin didn't know why her mother was crying, so she could only comfort her from the side.

When Liu drove this group of people out of Changyi Courtyard, people from the palace came.

When Eunuch Zhang saw Xiao Qishan's angry face and the weeping Shen Shi, he was taken aback. "Duke Xiao, Duchess, Miss Xiao has a happy occasion, why are you crying?"