Chapter 572 Consort Liu

The middle-aged woman smiled and replied, "Madam, you jest. Princess Qi has not yet been laid to rest, so how could Prince Qi possibly elevate Consort Liu to the position of principal wife at this time?"

"It was only because the Prince of Qi saw that there was no one to manage the household affairs that he allowed Consort Liu to temporarily take charge of the household affairs."

"The people below are only acting on the King of Qi's orders, and that's why they are flattering him."

Qiao Qinghe glanced at the woman; she recognized her. This woman was the matriarch of the second branch of the Liu family, essentially the legal mother of Consort Liu.

"According to Lady Liu, it's all King Qi's fault?"

Qiao Qinghe chuckled, "That's right. If it weren't for Prince Qi's tacit approval, the servants in the Prince's mansion wouldn't dare to call Consort Liu 'Princess'."

“If it weren’t for the King of Qi’s tacit approval, Consort Liu wouldn’t have dared to have someone stop me at the door.”

"If it weren't for the King of Qi's tacit approval, you wouldn't have dared to take advantage of the fact that the Princess Consort's family was weak and murder her while she was giving birth!"

Upon hearing this, Madam Liu's expression changed drastically, and she hurriedly asked, "What do you mean by that, Madam?"

"Why are you suddenly talking nonsense?"

"Princess Qi clearly died in childbirth, so how did it become a case of murder?"

“The maids, old women, midwives, and doctors present at the time were all Princess Qi’s own people. They can all testify that Princess Qi did indeed die in childbirth.”

"Madam, please don't spread rumors based on mere conjecture."

At this point, Madam Liu paused, then said cryptically, "The young prince will still be raised by Consort Liu's side in the future. It would be bad if these baseless rumors damaged the relationship between mother and son."

This is a blatant threat!

No one there was a fool; everyone understood.

But Qiao Qinghe didn't care at all.

She scoffed and said disdainfully, "Whether Consort Liu can still hold onto her position after today is still uncertain, yet Second Madam Liu dares to threaten me with the young prince."

"What? Madam Liu, are you convinced that Prince Qi will side with the Liu family?"

"Do you still think I'll be worried about the child, or about King Qi?"

Madam Liu's heart skipped a beat. How could she have forgotten that Qiao Qinghe was no pushover!

If this person gets really angry, he's done plenty of things like publicly humiliating others.

However, just as Madam Liu the Second remembered this, Consort Liu, already furious, began to curse: "Who do you think you are? Do you think you can just say whatever you want in the Qi Prince's mansion?"

"Out of respect for Princess Qi's recent death, I'll address you as 'Old Madam,' but do you really think you're someone important?"

"She's just a heartless, ungrateful old hag who has forgotten her roots, abandoned her husband and children, and betrayed her benefactors!"

"If you hadn't gotten involved with the Duke of Jin's mansion and the Seventh Princess, do you really think you could have kept your title?"

"Pah!"

"How dare you so brazenly say that you won't let me be a concubine?"

"Heh, you think you can take that?"

Qiao Qinghe smiled and gestured to Zhu Xi, "Slap him!"

Upon hearing this, Zhuxi was about to step forward.

Madam Liu was startled and quickly shielded Consort Liu behind her.

She stared at Qiao Qinghe in disbelief, suppressing her anger, and coldly questioned, "Madam Qiao, do you really intend to lay a hand on the concubine?"

This slap wasn't just aimed at Consort Liu's face.

It's also a slap in the face to the Liu family and the Qi Prince's Mansion.

Qiao Qinghe didn't even blink, coldly uttering a single word: "Hit."

Then, Madam Liu watched helplessly as Zhu Xi bypassed her, pulled you out, and then raised her hand to slap Consort Liu across the face, leaving a clear handprint.

"Excellent! Excellent! Madam Qinghe, what a magnificent display of power!"

Just then, an old lady was helped out of the mansion.

The person supporting the old lady was none other than Consort Liu, the mother of the King of Qi!

Who else could Liu Huifei personally help up besides her mother, Old Madam Liu?

Qiao Qinghe thought that coming here today might cause trouble for Consort Liu and her family, and she even thought that she might be troubled by Prince Qi.

But to everyone's surprise, instead of the King of Qi, Consort Liu from the palace showed up.

Although surprised, Qiao Qinghe was not entirely without manners. Upon seeing Consort Liu Hui come out, she smiled and curtsied to Consort Liu Hui, saying, "This old woman greets Consort Hui."

The people behind him also followed suit and paid their respects.

Consort Liu smiled and raised her hand, "Everyone, you may rise."

As she spoke, Consort Liu looked at Qiao Qinghe and asked calmly, "What happened? Why did you make Old Madam Qiao so angry?"

Qiao Qinghe couldn't discern Consort Liu's attitude, so she feigned surprise and said, "Your Majesty didn't know?"

Consort Liu was taken aback. "What should I know?"

Before Qiao Qinghe could say anything more, Old Madam Liu, her face dark with anger, said to Consort Liu Hui, "Why are you wasting your breath talking to her? Didn't you see her have someone beat your niece?"

"The handprint is still on his face!"

"You're being polite to them, but they're not being polite to you at all!"

"You beat your daughter-in-law in your son's house. Instead of standing up for your son and daughter-in-law, are you just going to let the whole capital laugh at you and your son?"

Old Mrs. Liu was forcing Consort Liu and Qiao Qinghe to break off their relationship.

Consort Liu feigned a bewildered expression, looking at Old Madam Liu, then at Consort Liu, before finally fixing her gaze on Qiao Qinghe.

But before she could say anything, Qiao Qinghe scoffed and looked at Old Mrs. Liu with a mocking expression: "Daughter-in-law?"

"If I remember correctly, Consort Liu was just a concubine of Prince Qi, right?"

"I had no idea that a concubine could be called a daughter-in-law?"

"Am I just ignorant, or are there special rules in your Liu family?"

"Or perhaps, Consort Hui has already secretly accepted this daughter-in-law?"

"So, in order to officially recognize this 'daughter-in-law,' they tacitly allowed the Liu family to murder the Princess Qi?"

Consort Liu gasped.

Why did this old lady immediately label her?

However, considering the old lady's illustrious past achievements, it's not surprising.

She quickly replied with a smile, "Madam, you are joking. My daughter-in-law is naturally Princess Qi. My mother was just making a slip of the tongue. Please don't take it to heart, Madam."

No sooner had Consort Liu finished speaking than Old Madam Liu glared at her with disdain, then turned fiercely to Qiao Qinghe, "Qiao, Consort Hui is kind and won't hold it against you. Don't push your luck!"

"Today you struck Consort Liu, you must give the Prince Qi's mansion and my Liu family an explanation!"

"Otherwise, this matter won't be over even if it reaches the King of Qi!"

Qiao Qinghe scoffed, "Liu, what kind of explanation do you want from me?"

When Old Mrs. Liu heard how Qiao Qinghe addressed her, she was almost furious. This Qiao family really wouldn't suffer the slightest loss!

However, now is not the time to get angry about this. She quickly brought her mind back to the main topic and said solemnly, "Either Old Madam Qiao should apologize to Consort Liu in person, or Consort Liu should be handed over to deal with the two maids who did the dirty work."

Consort Liu immediately perked up, her venomous gaze sweeping over A Shuang and Zhu Xi.

If you insult her like that, she'll cut out her tongue!

If someone slaps her, she'll chop off all of her fingers one by one!

Then they put their tongues and fingers in a brocade box and sent it to Old Lady Qiao as a gift!