younger brother

In addition to the main house where Zhao Fanghua lived, Fanghua Garden also had left and right wing rooms and a back room. The back room was the residence and storehouse of the maids in Zhao Fanghua's yard.

Shuyu was lying on the bed at this moment, and the maid beside her had just applied medicine to her.

Zhao Fanghua looked at her with red eyes. She watched the little maid bring out basin after basin of hot water stained with blood, and her clothes soaked in blood. She didn't dare to think about how serious the wound was, and how painful it would be to be beaten with twenty boards.

"Your Highness." Instead, Shuyu leaned over and held Zhao Fanghua's hand. "I'm fine."

Zhao Fanghua burst into tears when she heard this. She wiped her tears with the back of her hand and said, "How can it be okay? That was twenty strokes of the cane. I just saw it. There was so much blood."

Shuyu smiled and consoled him, "Your Highness, you don't know that the guards responsible for the punishment are all shrewd people who act according to circumstances. I am Your Highness's maidservant, how could they really use all their strength to hit me? They are all holding back. If they really used all their strength, I'm afraid my body would be broken. But look, Your Highness, I'm still lying in bed with you, aren't I?"

"It's a pity..." Shuyu's face showed a trace of pain, "I can't serve Your Highness during this period."

"I'm fine!" Zhao Fanghua held Shuyu's hand with his backhand. "You take good care of your injuries. I will definitely avenge you!"

Zhao Fanghua thought of the two villains' powerful faces and immediately felt hatred. She whispered, "Shuyu, do you have that kind of medicine? Medicine that can make a man childless?"

Shuyu was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said, "Yes, yes, yes, but..."

Shuyu hesitated for a moment, "If Shen Tanhua can no longer have children, what will Your Highness do in the future?"

Zhao Fanghua was a little confused: "It's him who can't have children, not me. I'll just do what I have to do."

They both looked at each other and blinked. After a moment, Shuyu chuckled softly and said, "This servant is short-sighted, but has Your Highness really decided to give up on Chen Tanhua? This medicine is very powerful. If Your Highness ever... Chen Tanhua will never be able to recover."

"How could I possibly regret it!" Zhao Fanghua said subconsciously, then realized she was too excited and lowered her voice. "He dared to treat me like this today. Am I a lowly person? I still regret it. I only regret not beating them up and throwing them into a beggars' den before entering the palace."

If he had to say regret, Zhao Fanghua really regretted it at this moment. He regretted his recklessness and his kindness.

As a modern person who's never even killed a chicken and would turn away when asked to have blood drawn at the hospital, so-called punishments are nothing more than being made to stand in the corner or copy homework as a teacher in school, or at most being spanked twice on the palm of the hand. Or parents whipping me on the thighs or back with belts or bamboo strips, which at most would leave red marks, nothing so serious.

Therefore, when she was angry, she just slapped Ruan.

But man proposes, God disposes. Zhao Fanghua thought so, but others didn't think so. They wouldn't be kind to her, nor would they show mercy to her.

Shuyu is her personal maid. It is said that when beating a dog, you have to look at its owner. Ruan and Shen Xiujing want to use her to establish their authority in the Princess's Mansion. It is ridiculous. Obviously, she is the Princess and the owner of the Princess's Mansion.

Before leaving, Zhao Fanghua repeatedly told the maids to take good care of Shuyu, and returned to her room with a heavy heart.

That night, Zhao Fanghua slept very uneasily. Sometimes he dreamed of Shuyu's screams when she was tortured, sometimes the smug faces of Ruan and Shen Xiujing, and sometimes the scene of Ruan Jiaojiao with her big belly.

What was even more difficult for her to accept was that breakfast consisted of only a bowl of brown rice porridge and a plate of pickles.

Zhao Fanghua had already been having trouble sleeping, and seeing this shabby breakfast so early in the morning, she was furious. She put down her chopsticks and questioned the serving maid, "Is this breakfast for beggars? I never knew that my dignified Princess's Mansion had fallen to such a state that they had to eat brown rice porridge and vegetables!"

The little maid fell to her knees with a plop, kowtowed to Zhao Fanghua, and said hurriedly: "Your Highness, please forgive me, Your Highness, please forgive me. When I was getting the food, I asked the kitchen maid how could you give Your Highness such a meal? It's not even as good as the food we maids prepare. But the kitchen maid said that this was the old lady's order. The old lady said that Your Highness, a princess, has never suffered hardship. How can you understand the suffering of the people if you don't suffer hardship? That's why..."

Zhao Fanghua snorted coldly: "What did Ruan eat this morning?"

"This..." The little maid hesitated for a moment and said, "Four more side dishes have been added to the princess's original portion..."

"Why does she?" Zhao Fanghua stood up angrily.

The little maidservant said, "The old lady said that if Your Highness wants to eat well, then you should learn how to be a good daughter-in-law and serve your mother-in-law... and then eat after your mother-in-law has finished eating..."

Let her eat that old woman’s leftovers? Dream on!

"Okay, okay." Zhao Fanghua waved her hand, knowing that a little maid could not decide anything.

Seeing the red mark on the little maid's forehead, Zhao Fanghua couldn't bear it and said, "Go to the back room and ask Shuyu for some money to treat the wound on your forehead."

Zhao Fanghua sat dejectedly on a round stool, staring blankly at the porridge and pickles. Was she going to have to live by relying on others and pleasing them in the future?

She is the eldest princess, the emperor's only sister, and she is actually...

Zhao Fanghua slapped her thigh suddenly. How could she have forgotten this? The Queen Mother was not her biological mother, but the Emperor was her biological brother!

Since both of them were raised by the Empress Dowager, and she was her only sister, and as a girl she posed no threat to the Emperor in feudal society, the relationship between them could not be too bad.

The more Zhao Fanghua thought about it, the more excited she became. She wished she could fly to the palace immediately, kneel on the ground and hug the emperor's thighs.

That's why people are sometimes confused. She claimed every day that she was second to none and above ten thousand people. She was just hit by the Queen Mother, but she was unable to recover from the blow and let these two bastards bully her. She forgot that the Emperor was the biggest ruler of this feudal society and he was the thickest thigh!

If she had to please someone in order to survive in this feudal society, compared to Shen Xiujing who worked hard all his life to reach the highest position in the government, she would feel more at ease with Zhao Qinglan, the emperor.

Not to mention that the two of them have a blood relationship bonus.

Besides, to please Shen Xiujin means swallowing one's anger and pleasing his entire family, but to please the emperor, one only needs to please him.

As for Shen Xiujing, the top scholar in the imperial examination who is outstanding in both literary talent and appearance, he is just a man. Once she becomes a favorite of Zhao Qinglan, there will be all kinds of men around her. Maybe Zhao Qinglan will directly give her thirty male favorites.

Zhao Fanghua felt relieved immediately after he figured it out. He waved his hand and said, "Let's go to the best restaurant in Beijing!"