Cold-faced Empress

With her brows furrowed, Fu Siying looked like she was in a bad mood, as if she had just had a hangover. It was fine that she didn't see Mo Canglan; she couldn't be bothered to deal with him anyway.

On the way home with her mother, she gradually regained consciousness and realized that she had almost no memory of the previous night. She could only vaguely remember getting into Mo Canglan's carriage and going to the Mu Prince's mansion with him. While sitting in the carriage, she must have complained about the heat, and then... then she couldn't remember anything else.

That cold-blooded bastard won't take advantage of the situation to do something to her, will he?

Just then, Madam Li asked, "The steward of Prince Mu's mansion said that you had a long talk with Prince Mu all night. What did you talk about with Prince Mu?"

Fu Siying was taken aback, and casually made up a few words to get by: "It's just asking about the events surrounding Consort De's attack on me last night. This matter involves too many things, so it's best to leave it to Prince Mu to decide in the end."

“Yes, yes, you should not get involved in this matter anymore.” Li Shi still felt lingering fear when she recalled the palace banquet last night. “Your feud with Consort De and the Grand Princess Sumin’s residence is now established. Everyone knows that Prince Mu is ruthless, so let Prince Mu handle everything in front of you. Be more obedient in the future, and you should provoke fewer people, so that others will provoke you less.”

"understood."

Before they even got off the carriage at the mansion, the coachman announced from outside, "Madam, there is a family carriage parked at the gate."

Li's spirits lifted, and she instinctively asked, "What brings people from our family here?"

"Of course we've come to return the money." Fu Siying said nonchalantly, lifting the carriage curtain and getting out first, then turning around to help Li Shi.

Madam Li straightened her clothes, sighed, and said with a grim expression, "I'm afraid it's more than that. Last night, first you stole Fu Fangwei's thunder, then Miss Hu Er revealed the two IOUs you had left behind, and finally the palace guards arrested Wei Lanling, who was traveling with our family. Any one of these incidents would be enough to cause resentment, but with these three things combined, our family is probably going to go crazy."

Fu Siying sneered: "It would be best if they went crazy. I'm more afraid they won't. It would save me from having to put up with their deliberate attempts to annoy me every day."

The mother and daughter entered the mansion and had just passed the screen when they saw the courtyard. Their eyes were immediately drawn to several boxes placed in the courtyard.

Opposite the silver box were Madam Fu's second and third wives, their expressions stiff.

When their eyes met, even in broad daylight, they could see flashes of lightning.

Madam Fu said coldly, "Three thousand taels, not a penny less, I'll return it to you. Bring me those two IOUs."

Li brought the IOUs to Madam Fu, who glanced at them and immediately tore them into pieces in front of her.

"It's just borrowing three thousand taels of silver from my elder brother and sister-in-law's family. Sister-in-law, you have some tricks up your sleeve. You're going to ruin our family!" Madam Fu showed no intention of apologizing and spoke bluntly, "Using our family to climb to the top, my elder brother and sister-in-law's thoughts are truly unfathomable."

Accused of scheming against her own family, Li was very unhappy: "I hope my sister-in-law will be careful with her words. Which of the things that happened last night was something my family initiated? There is a cause for every effect. If my sister-in-law hadn't forced us to borrow money in the first place, last night's events wouldn't have happened."

Li had never been so assertive in front of Madam Fu!

Madam Fu may have said some things wrong, but she was absolutely right about one thing: the Fu family did indeed rise to power by stepping on their own family!

Last night, the Emperor's lavish praise on Prime Minister Fu's family contrasted sharply with his scathing rebuke of his own. Now, which family in the capital would still consider Prime Minister Fu's family a worthless, pseudo-noble family?

Madam Fu the Second didn't take Li Shi seriously at all, and turned to Fu Siying: "Siying, you made Fangwei look bad in public last night. Your aunt and Fangwei will remember this kindness."