Reborn as a concubine's daughter and entering a noble family: Xie Lang, don't be too seduc

Hawthorne hesitated and still couldn't make up his mind.

I'm thinking about whether I should discuss it with Xie Lin again...

Let's see if we should attend this "Feast at Hongmen".

Sitting in the garden, feeling troubled...

Going there would be tantamount to admitting in front of everyone that His Majesty and Consort Qi had never mistreated her, nor had they wronged General Huo. But what if His Majesty truly felt guilty towards General Huo...?

What right does she have to forgive His Majesty on behalf of General Huo? What right does she have to use the tragic deaths of so many members of the Huo family to cover up for His Majesty?

But if I don't go...

This would arouse His Majesty's suspicion, and once His Majesty suspects that she already knows some things from back then.

How could they possibly let her live to the end?

Not to mention that His Majesty's frequent "shows of goodwill" towards her may have aroused the suspicion of Consort Qi.

If Consort Qi knew that His Majesty had designs on her, she probably wouldn't even need His Majesty to do anything; Consort Qi would have a thousand and one ways to take her life.

So this is exactly the kind of predicament she's in now—caught between a rock and a hard place.

Feeling utterly bored yet filled with melancholy, I stood up, wanting to do something to change things, and looked at the pebbles in my way—

She lifted the hem of her skirt and kicked it.

The pebble was kicked away and landed in a puddle on the road, splashing up a cloud of dirty muddy water.

"Ah!—" came a scream.

Hawthorne realized he had made a mistake and immediately hid behind the artificial hill, peeking out...

As luck would have it, it was Nie Huayuan!

"Who's there! Come out!" Just before Huo Sanghua hid, Nie Huayuan's maid had already spotted her hastily hiding behind the artificial hill and immediately pointed at the hill, shouting sternly.

Nie Huayuan followed the maid's finger and indeed saw a corner of the skirt behind the artificial hill.

There really is someone?!

For a fleeting moment, she felt the color of the skirt was quite familiar, as if she had seen it somewhere before. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was Hawthorne.

She secretly gave instructions to the people on either side, and four maids stealthily stepped forward, taking advantage of Hawthorne's lack of awareness, and shoved him into the bushes behind the artificial hill—

Nie Huayuan rushed over and said angrily, "I want to see which blind fool dares to kick pebbles around in this yard and soil my skirt!"

Before she could escape, Hawthorne was dragged over by the maids.

Nie Huayuan gave the maid a look, and the maid pressed Huo Sanghua down, forcing her to kneel on the muddy, puddled ground.

Hawthorne struggled but was unable to break free, and was held down firmly by four people.

Forced to bend his knees, he fell to his knees in the puddle with a thud.

The muddy water quickly soaked her skirt, and the pebbles in the puddle hurt her knees, causing her to break out in a cold sweat.

“Miss Nie…” After much deliberation, Huo Sanghua decided to apologize first before Nie Huayuan could reprimand her. “I’m so sorry, so very sorry! I was thinking about something and didn’t notice you coming over. I really didn’t mean to soil your dress. Please… change your dress and give it to me. I’ll wash it clean, like new…”

"Snapped!"

Hawthorne hadn't finished speaking.

A sharp pain shot through my cheek in an instant.

It took her a while to realize... ...that Nie Huayuan's maid had raised her hand and slapped her. "You... ...why did you hit me?"

"You've dirtied my young lady's clothes, and you're still trying to justify it. What, is my young lady trying to cheat you out of a piece of clothing? You even dare to ask me to change her clothes for you? Doesn't our Nie family have any maids who know how to do their jobs?"

Nie Huayuan's maidservant shouted arrogantly.

She pointed out Huo Sanghua's "mistakes" and emphasized them, glancing at Nie Huayuan intentionally or unintentionally, as if waiting for her young mistress's next order.

"Yes...it's all my fault." Huo Sanghua, minding her own business and avoiding conflict with Nie Huayuan, immediately swallowed her anger after being reminded by a maid from the Xie family. "It's my fault, Miss Nie, I'm so sorry..."

"Huo Sanghua, do you know how much this dress is worth?" Nie Huayuan looked around to make sure no one was watching before saying, "Wash it? Do you know that this is the incomparably luxurious Chongyun brocade? It's something that no amount of money could buy. And you actually think you're worthy of it? This thing can't be washed. It will deform after one wash... Of course, you've never worn it, so you naturally don't know the value of this dress."

Nie Huayuan deliberately mocked her in public, which caused the maidservants in their dresses beside her to burst into laughter.

"Who do you think you are? You've never even seen Chong Yunjin before. Stop with your petty schemes and stop playing the victim in front of others!" Nie Huayuan grew increasingly angry, wiping the mud stains from her skirt before walking up to Huo Sanghua and pinching her face to examine her closely...

He smeared mud on his hands onto Huo Sanghua's face, completely ignoring Huo Sanghua's desperate struggles, and ordered the maids to hold her down firmly.

We cannot allow her to escape in the slightest.

Today I'm going to see what kind of tricks she can pull!

Her flawless face was now covered in layers of mud and water from Nie Huayuan's fingers, making it look filthy.

Hawthorne bit her lip and struggled fiercely, but she was no match for the combined strength of the many maids in the backyard who pressed her head down, trying to shove her face into the filthy mud and water—

"Wash your face."

"Miss Nie, what do you mean by this!" Huo Sanghua didn't want to be pressed into the mud like this, so she shouted desperately, trying to attract the attention of the people around her.

Nie Huayuan dared to "ruthlessly harm" her, the wife of the second young master, in the Marquis of Anding's mansion. Even if she was polite, she still lost her manners.

She refused to believe that the Xie family was afraid of Nie Huayuan!

Are we just going to stand by and watch her be tortured by Nie Huayuan and forced into this filthy situation?!

"What do you mean? I'd like to ask you what you mean... Huo Sanghua, my mother said you are an extremely intelligent person. I'd like to know, do you really not see what my mother and I mean? Or do you clearly see it but don't want to help me?" Nie Huayuan was furious when she returned that day.

Especially after hearing my mother say that Hawthorne was no ordinary woman, but extremely intelligent.

I knew what they meant all along, but I kept pretending to be stupid.

Thinking about how she had been tricked by Huo Sanghua at the Xie family, and how she had even given away her beloved carved bracelet to this woman who was pretending to be crazy, she was furious.

"I don't know, Miss Nie. What do you mean I don't want to help you? I've been waiting for your and the old lady's instructions. What do you mean?" Huo Sanghua's face was only a fingernail's width away from the mud...

My heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was about to jump out of my throat.

She didn't know how these maids working in the inner quarters had such strength.

that is... ...

With so many people holding her captive, even if she wanted to, she was powerless to change anything.

"Wait for our instructions?" Nie Huayuan wanted nothing more than to snap her neck with her own hands. What a scoundrel Huo Sanghua! Watching her make such a fool of herself, yet still able to feign innocence—how could she not be angry? "Then I'll tell you what my next instructions are!"

"Your face..."