Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Anping finally returned to the public eye.

Yet, she remained disliked by King Liang.

Simply because Anping’s voice was too low and her demeanor too timid when she called him “Father,” King Liang couldn’t help but frown.

Upon hearing how she and Sun Hanzhou had met, he became even more displeased, questioning her sharply: “Since you are not a mute, why did you not come to see Us when your life was so difficult? Or go to see the Consort? Do you think We would simply watch Our own daughter suffer?”

King Liang’s face was flushed with anger.

Kneeling on the ground in silence, Anping looked cowering and small.

Sun Hanzhou knelt beside Anping, pleading for His Majesty’s forgiveness.

Whether it was a stroke of luck or misfortune, King Liang’s distaste for Anping was so great that he didn’t give the matter much thought. Wanting her out of his sight to save himself the headache, he granted Sun Hanzhou’s request for marriage, betrothing his daughter to a mere guard.

Standing among the officials, the Vice Director of the Ministry of Rites nearly fainted.

He knew all too well that the promotion which had once been within his son’s reach was now likely gone forever.

Sun Hanzhou, however, looked as if a great weight had been lifted. At that time, he and Anping were deeply in love, and he likely felt incredibly fortunate to have “gained the person he sought.”

In any case, from that day forward, Anping temporarily moved into a side hall of Princess Anning’s palace.

This was Consort Shu’s arrangement.

Although the marriage between Sun Hanzhou and Princess Anping was set, the wedding date still had to be selected and proposed by the Directorate of Astrology.

Consort Shu did not think much of Anping. Having managed the inner palace for years, she was a busy woman and had long since put someone like Anping out of her mind.

Now that they had met again, she didn’t even bother to make things difficult for her.

She didn’t even bother to arrange a proper princess’s residence for Anping, thinking only to let her stay in Princess Anning’s Jingyi Palace for the time being before marrying her off and being done with it.

Consort Shu looked down on Anping, but her daughter, Princess Anning, was different.

Princess Anning actually had no memory of Anping, but after hearing the instigations of the palace servants around her, she learned that the late Deposed Queen was a wretched woman who had once poisoned her Imperial Consort Mother, Consort Shu. This had caused her biological brother to be born prematurely, nearly costing him his life.

Young and aggressive, Princess Anning began to bully Anping, both subtly and overtly, after she moved into the side hall of her palace.

First, she directed the servants to use indirect insults, trampling on Anping with vicious words.

Seeing that Anping did not react, she then ordered a servant to pour tea over Anping’s bedding, publicly joking that Anping, despite being a princess, had actually wet the bed.

Anping remained silent, letting the servants laugh together in a heap.

But I couldn’t stand it. I trembled with rage and poked my head out from her arms-

“Hit her! Give them a few slaps! Slap their faces hard!”

Anping pressed my head back down.

I poked out again: “You are a princess! The servants won’t dare to hit back! Go up and hit them! Let Princess Anning know you’re not a pushover!”

Anping pressed my head down again.

I poked out once more: “Do it! Don’t endure it anymore! The more you yield, the more arrogant they become! Your wedding date with Sun Hanzhou isn’t even set yet; how long are you going to let them bully you!”

“Aaaaah! Stop pressing my head! You coward! If you won’t hit them, let me do it! I’m going to pee on their beds! I’ll spray venom in their faces!”