tallest building

Chapter 180 A Word of Retreat
"I wonder what wrong my maid has done that warrants Your Highness to use torture on her?" Wen Mingqian walked forward calmly, wearing a cloak of twilight purple brocade. Her lotus-like steps were light and graceful, and the jade pendant at her waist was faintly visible.

Liu Huanchun was stung by the attack and sneered, "Your good servant dares to be so disrespectful to me. Of course, I, the county magistrate, must teach her a lesson."

"Oh? I wonder if she insulted you, County Princess, or if she physically assaulted you?" Wen Mingqian asked with a smile, his tone carrying a hint of cynicism.

“What are you saying? How could our dignified county princess allow her to beat and scold us? It’s just that your maid refused to greet our county princess when she saw her, and she wouldn’t respond when we called her,” said the maid beside Liu Huanchun.

"So that's all there is to it." Wen Mingqian said knowingly. "Is it really worth getting angry over such a trivial matter, County Princess? Besides, this is a sacred Buddhist sanctuary. Wouldn't such punishment be beneath the County Princess's good fortune?"

"You masters and servants are all the same, so sharp-tongued, frivolous and seductive!" Liu Huanchun had been spoiled since childhood. She was the only daughter in her family and was extremely pampered by her parents. Even her sister-in-law always gave in to her after she married into the family.

From childhood to adulthood, apart from Ying Wuchou, whom she admired, who gave her the cold shoulder, no one had ever treated her like that.

“The county princess is truly well-mannered,” Wen Mingqian said, his face turning cold. “It is impolite of my maid not to greet you, but is it not impolite of you to insult us like this?”

Besides, the gifts the county princess chose were truly unreasonable. We are merely lodging here, not the owners; what responsibility do we have to welcome guests?"

"You, surnamed Wen, don't think you can do whatever you want just because you've gained the favor of the Princess. Our Liu family are made up of military men. When it comes to empty talk, we're no match for someone as sharp-tongued as you. But if it comes to a fight, someone like you can take on three of us at once," Liu Huanchun said menacingly.

“The county magistrate has brought a large number of people, and we are no match for them. You are determined to bully us with numbers, so I can only accept my bad luck,” Wen Mingqian said. “However, I think you have all heard of me. I have nothing to lose and nothing to be afraid of.”

If you go too far today, I will definitely seek justice.

I know you have waited for the Prince of Changliu for so many years. Perhaps your devotion can move him, or perhaps he can issue an imperial decree to officiate your marriage.

"But if you use your power to coerce me today, I will definitely go to the Princess and the Prince of Changliu and complain. Even if they don't do anything to you out of consideration for their reputation, they will definitely lose all goodwill towards you. If you're not afraid, then come on!"

"Fine, fine, you surnamed Wen, you really are a female shrew! Don't think I don't know what kind of person you are," Liu Huanchun's lips twitched with anger, "The death of Concubine Song of the Gong family was mysterious, it must have been your doing. You vicious woman with a heart of stone! You will never have a good end!"

Although she continued to berate him, her momentum was noticeably weaker than before. Wen Mingqian's words had struck at the heart of her problem.

She fell in love with Ying Wuchou at first sight when she was fifteen, and from then on, she was deeply in love with him and could not extricate herself.

She remembered that year's palace banquet in the first month of the lunar calendar, when her father was granted the title of Prince for his meritorious service in capturing and killing Shen Shi and Bu Yuegui, who had escaped from the palace.

She was thus able to enter the palace to attend the banquet, and she still vividly remembers the scene.

Ying Wuchou performed a sword dance in front of everyone at the banquet, displaying such elegance and charm while exuding a murderous aura.

With her final move, she thrust her longsword straight at her father, Liu Heng.

She was sitting right next to him at the time, and she felt her blood rushing backward and her mind going blank.

The sharp tip of the sword was only half an inch away from her father's throat. Ying Wuchou's tense face suddenly broke into a smile: "Please don't be offended, Your Highness. I accidentally drank too much wine and lost my aim."

Liu Heng broke out in a cold sweat, but Liu Huanchun was flustered by Ying Wuchou's smile. She had never seen such a dashing and clean smile before; it was neither the gentle elegance of a pale-faced scholar nor the slick arrogance of a playboy.

That smile must have been washed by a clear spring in the vast desert, caressed by the fierce wind that lifts the wings of an eagle, a smile unique to a general with an iron will.

Eight years have passed, and that memory has only become more vivid with the passage of time.

Prince Changliu did not return to the capital for a long time, and only came back at the end of last year.

She had waited too long and didn't want to wait any longer.

Therefore, she longed for a good outcome to fulfill her deep affection.

Wen Mingqian's words made her realize that if her reputation was ruined, it would be irreparable.

"Princess, we have other matters to attend to, so please excuse us." Wen Mingqian pulled Sang Er aside, glanced at Liu Huanchun indifferently, and then calmly left.

“Princess, shall we…” the wet nurse asked softly.

"Go back!" Liu Huanchun said irritably. "Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough?!"

She came in a rage, intending to teach Wen Mingqian a lesson to vent her anger, but she didn't expect that a few words from him would trap her.

She increasingly felt that Wen Mingqian was a dangerous person, and that she definitely couldn't be his match on her own.

Liu Heng's first wife, Jiang, went back to her parents' home these past two days to be with her niece-in-law who had just given birth. She only returned today.

When they arrived home and couldn't find their daughter, they asked the housekeeper and learned what had happened.

When Liu Huanchun returned home, Jiang asked, "Did you manage to gain any advantage?"

Liu Huanchun looked dejected: "That guy surnamed Wen is shameless and has sharp teeth. I'm no match for him."

“I guessed you couldn’t handle them either.” No one knows a daughter better than her mother, and Jiang knew her daughter’s temperament very well. “I told you long ago not to act rashly. You should discuss things with your family more often, why don’t you listen?”

"I'd like to talk to someone, but you and my sister-in-law aren't home. Who am I supposed to talk to?" Liu Huanchun said unhappily. "Don't lecture me. Anyway, if that Wen guy gets what he wants, I'm not going to live anymore!"

"Don't threaten to kill yourself at the drop of a hat. Wouldn't that be letting down your father and me? How many people in the whole capital are as willful as you? You said you wouldn't marry, and you just said you wouldn't. We've never forced you. I was thinking of forcing you to marry someone you don't like, so you'd be unhappy for the rest of your life."

"Since that's the case, we might as well keep him at home; it's not like we can't afford to." Jiang said. "Over the years, we've tried countless methods to fulfill your wish. But neither the Princess nor the Prince of Changliu will budge. And those two are beyond the Empress's control; only the Emperor can intervene."

Jiang was at her wit's end with this daughter; how could she bear to see her daughter suffer like this?
But this child seemed to be her nemesis. He was a stubborn child from a young age. While others could turn back after hitting a wall, she would knock herself unconscious at the foot of the wall, and after waking up, she would keep hitting it until she died there.

Jiang knew that sooner or later she would have to go to the south wall to collect her daughter's body.