Chapter 31

When the youngest prince was three years old, Sheng Lingwu was five. She cried less and less because during this time, her four older brothers and one older sister took good care of her.

It seems that she also has family members who love her.

Her eldest brother, the Crown Prince, would gently teach her to read; her second brother would make her happy; her third brother would coldly chase away those who bullied her; her fourth brother, although he looked scary, was the one who understood her the most and cared about her the most; and her fifth sister liked to dress her up beautifully.

Unfortunately, the happy days soon left her.

After an autumn hunt, her second brother died there, causing turmoil in the court. As a result, the General of the North became estranged from Sheng Yu, and the situation in the harem also became tense. With the death knell of the struggle for the throne to fall, no one would care about her.

In her second life, she was young and powerless, still unable to change things, but she lived longer and witnessed the internal and external troubles of the prosperous dynasty and the suffering of its people.

The only thing that remained unchanged was that when Bai Mihan discovered that her daughter had finally become a normal person, all she had left was scheming.

On her birthday, Bai Mihan personally made her a bowl of longevity noodles.

"Wu'er, would you like your mother to hug you too?"

Sheng Lingwu shifted her gaze from the longevity noodles to Bai Mihan, her eyes filled with both light and sadness. "I want to!"

"Then be good and drink this cup of tea. If you drink it, your mother will love you."

Sheng Lingwu smiled sweetly as she held the cup of bitter tea, sipping it slowly. But Bai Mihan impatiently snatched it away and poured it into her mouth!

Sheng Lingwu choked so badly that tears welled up in her eyes, but Bai Mihan looked down at her and said, "I remember the Crown Prince came to see you this morning. Tsk, you've been of some use after all."

Sheng Lingwu couldn't hear clearly. The burning pain in her mouth and nose from the choking hadn't subsided when another piercing pain came from her stomach. But she didn't make a sound, just like she had for five years.

Her mother had deceived her again.

Even after Sheng Lingwu arrived in the underworld, she was still never hugged by Bai Mihan.

It's a pity that she never got to eat the longevity noodles she was meant to have in her life, even until her death.

The spirits in the underworld told her that her mother never loved her.

She didn't argue, but thought to herself: Every time her mother beat her, she would apply medicine to her, and when she made Longjing pastries for her father, she would give her a piece to taste.

Although the food was often not very tasty, she still thought her mother was amazing.

Whenever her mother held her younger brother, she would eat the Longjing pastry in her hand with tears in her eyes, which would make it a little salty.

So she also longed to be held in her mother's arms like her younger brother.

Just once is enough.

In total, he was only a little over ten years old across both lifetimes, and apart from the years when he closed his mind, he only had less than five years of life left.

No one taught her about love, hate, anger, and infatuation. She only hoped that those who were good to her could be safe, and that she could receive the love of her parents that she had never received in two lifetimes, as well as the embrace of Bai Mihan.

Lingwu felt no emotion whatsoever. Mortal emperors are all heartless. In places unseen by Sheng Lingwu, these older brothers and sisters who were kind to her were more of a joke than a genuine friend.

Meanwhile, in the outside world that Ling Wu sensed, Yu Bai got up again.

He frowned and said seriously, "Your Majesty, the young prince is of noble birth. I am worried that there may be any external injuries on his body, so I need to examine the young prince's body."

Sheng Yu hesitated for a moment, then looked at Zhang Delu.

Zhang Delu understood, then swept his whisk and said, "Head of the Imperial Academy, although the young princess is young, she is still a princess. If we want to check if there are any injuries on her body, why don't we let a palace maid take a look?"

Yu Bai frowned, wanting to say that doctors don't distinguish between men and women, but after glancing at Sheng Yu, he numbly nodded, "That's fine too."

After Sheng Yu stared at the palace maid who stepped forward again, he glared at Zhang Delu and Yu Bai.

As Sheng Yu turned around, the two people who had been subjected to glares and torture also silently turned around.

After the palace maid helped Lingwu change into new clothes, the maid's face was filled with tenderness.

"Your Majesty, apart from the skin exposed outside the swaddling clothes, the little princess's body is covered in bruises!"

Before the words were even finished, Sheng Yu had already turned around and stepped forward, this time disregarding any segregation between men and women.

Considering His Majesty's words and actions just now, the palace maids also left Lingwu's limbs exposed.

At only two months old, coupled with its weakness and inability to speak, it made it even easier for the perpetrator to vent their anger.

Just from this, it's clear how vicious the person who did this was!

Sheng Yu's heart tightened suddenly, and he could no longer hide his anger. He didn't even dare to touch Ling Wu, for fear of hurting her.

Zhang Delu only just saw Ling Wu's appearance, and seeing the bruises all over her thighs, he was furious.

Although His Majesty has never met the young prince, the blood of the imperial family still flows in the young prince's veins.

To put it bluntly, apart from the emperor, empress, and princes, what difference is there between the other concubines and these servants in the entire palace?

Ling Wu's eyes were fixed upwards, giving him no glance whatsoever.

Yu Bai was also seeing such a scene in the palace for the first time. Regardless of whether they were of noble birth or not, anyone with a shred of humanity would feel heartache upon seeing this.

Moreover, which of the princes and princesses in the palace is not cherished like a precious jewel?

He silently took out ointment from the medicine box and stepped forward to carefully apply it.

This made it even clearer; the two sections of pale legs were covered in a mixture of blue and purple, with new and old wounds merging together, a sight that was heartbreaking to behold.

The thought of how painful it must have been when the injury first occurred made his movements even more meticulous.

Sheng Yu reverted to his usual indifference, but the chill in his eyes made Zhang Delu dare not look directly at him.

"By imperial decree, Bai Mihan is stripped of her title and demoted to... Beauty, confined to Hanxi Courtyard, never to leave again." Sheng Yu said coldly, "Besides that old bastard who is now begging for death, all other palace maids, eunuchs, and anyone else in Bai's palace who knows about this shall be beaten to death."

"Your servant obeys the decree."

"You go and keep an eye on her yourself. If she dares to cause trouble again, demote her by another rank."

"This servant understands."

After Yu Bai and the others left, Sheng Yu gently stroked Ling Wu's head and said, "Jiao Jiao, your mother and her wet nurse have committed grave sins. Your father will not let them off the hook. Your father will torture her in the same way he treated you before. Once you are well, your father will hand them over to you. You can decide how to deal with them as you see fit."

He pursed his lips, then looked at Ling Wu with a hint of guilt, "Father has also failed Jiao Jiao."

He hung his head, his mind filled with complex emotions.

That year, he met Bai Mihan when he left the palace, and the reason he brought her into the palace was precisely because she was naive and easy to control...

But ultimately, this whole affair started because of him.

If he hadn't stayed away for two months, he wouldn't have only now learned how much Jiaojiao had been tormented by her.

Just then, he saw Ling Wu looking at him.

"Jiaojiao agreed?" Sheng Yu was surprised for a moment; this was the first time Jiaojiao had responded.

Ke Lingwu blinked but did not answer, only staring intently at Sheng Yu.

Thinking that Ling Wu was responding to him, Sheng Yu's heart softened even more.

Meanwhile, Bai Mihan, upon receiving the imperial decree, went limp. It took her a long time to recover before she cried miserably. She tried to step out of the palace but was stopped by a group of palace maids.

"How dare you! I am the First-Rank Imperial Concubine Rou! I'd like to see who dares to stop me!"