However, what happened next was truly gratifying. When Jiang's mother and Jiang Ling were brought over by the guards, Jiang's mother's legs went weak at the sight of them.
As if walking on cotton, he couldn't take a single step steadily. His eyes revealed obvious panic, and his pupils darted around, looking left and right, trying to find a way to escape.
But when she looked closely, she saw that it was the eldest princess who had ordered her to be arrested. Relying on her status as her mother-in-law, she suddenly felt emboldened.
With a glare in his eyes and a puff of his cheeks, he tried to put on that superior, domineering air again.
This time, the eldest princess didn't tolerate her anymore. Her pent-up anger erupted instantly, like a dormant volcano suddenly erupting, with surging lava pouring out.
With a raised hand, a solid slap landed, the force of the blow making a whooshing sound.
The blows were so severe that Jiang's mother's cheeks turned red, her vision blurred, and she was completely stunned. She swayed on the spot and almost fell to the ground.
Jiang Ling, who was standing to the side, caught a glimpse of the gleaming silver needles on the prayer mat. His heart skipped a beat, and he was somewhat flustered.
His face turned deathly pale in an instant, fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and his lips trembled slightly, but he tried to remain calm.
But when he saw his mother being beaten, he didn't care about anything else. His inherent male pride kicked in, and he started yelling at the princess.
The voice was high-pitched and shrill, completely devoid of its former pretense, as if the last veil of shame had been torn off, revealing its ugly true face.
The princess looked at Jiang Ling and felt that the person in front of her was completely unfamiliar, as if she had never really known him.
He secretly pondered that the life-saving grace he had received over the years had been almost completely worn away by Jiang's mother's repeated harassment. He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
As if swallowing all the grief and grievances, when she opened her eyes again, her gaze was icy cold, devoid of any warmth, just like the deep sky of a cold night, profound and cruel.
Immediately afterwards, he raised his hand and slapped Jiang Ling across the face again. The crisp sound of the slap echoed in the room, startling the birds on the branches outside the window into scattering away.
This startled both of them. They were probably used to the princess's gentleness, and her sudden outburst left them momentarily speechless.
But after a short while, the two of them realized what was going on, and relying on the princess's usual good temper, they started cursing loudly, using foul language and spittle flying everywhere.
The princess was utterly heartbroken and showed no mercy, ordering her guards to give the two men a good beating.
The guards obeyed and began to beat Jiang Ling with fists and feet. The room was filled with the sounds of blows and screams. After the beating, a letter of divorce was thrown in front of Jiang Ling.
The letter of divorce, though light as a feather, seemed to carry a thousand pounds of weight, signifying a resolute rejection of him.
Jiang's mother was getting on in years, and after such a beating and seeing her son being abandoned, she belatedly became frightened.
He collapsed to the ground, trembling, his hands covering his head, muttering words of begging for mercy.
Jiang Ling, naturally unwilling to be abandoned like this, tried to use the same trick again, putting on that pitiful look in an attempt to gain sympathy.
Unfortunately, the princess didn't even give him a second glance, as if he were invisible, and went straight back to her residence.
Jiang Ling was unwilling but helpless. Hatred spread wildly in his heart, and he even started spreading rumors and causing trouble outside.
He fabricated stories about the eldest princess disrespecting her mother-in-law and abusing her power as a princess, and even slandered the eldest princess for frequently beating him and her mother-in-law.
The eldest princess didn't take these slanders to heart at all, treating them as mere barking of mad dogs and ignoring them.
But how could the Emperor tolerate this? Although the Princess didn't say anything at the time, the Emperor sensed that something was wrong.
In the imperial court, he repeatedly found excuses to target Jiang Ling, and warned him with his words.
Jiang Ling didn't react at first, but when she came to her senses and saw the coldness in the Emperor's eyes, she realized that the Emperor cared about the Princess very much.
The thought of the sordid things he and his mother had done filled him with panic and cold sweat. To protect himself, he voluntarily resigned from his official post and, that very night, slunk back to his hometown with his mother.
After Jiang's mother returned home, she lived in constant fear, always worried that the emperor might settle scores with her for offending the royal family.
The mental torment combined with physical pain ultimately led him to his own death from fright.
Although Jiang Ling brought back quite a bit of valuables, it was still nothing compared to before. He sighed constantly, and no one around him wanted to talk to him anymore, ultimately leaving him all alone.
The ministers were stunned, as if struck by lightning, and they were all speechless with astonishment.
After a short while, they seemed to wake up from a dream and came to their senses, looking at each other.
As they looked at each other, their eyes met, and what surged in their eyes was shock, realization, and uncontrollable anger.
The rumors that had been circulating so widely and vividly in the streets and alleys, as if witnessed firsthand, were now as if an invisible hand had ripped away their disguise.
It turned out to be the result of Jiang Ling, that insidious and cunning villain, who painstakingly orchestrated and deliberately spread the rumor behind the scenes.
Jiang Ling truly resorted to any means necessary, employing despicable methods that were utterly outrageous. She fabricated a series of absurd yet easily believed lies out of thin air.
The rumors said that the eldest princess was arrogant and disrespectful to her mother-in-law, and would beat and scold her at the drop of a hat; or that she used her status as a princess to squander money and act arrogantly, causing chaos in the Jiang family.
Every single incident was a distortion of the truth, all designed to ruin the Princess's reputation, make her the subject of gossip and misunderstanding, and turn her into a laughingstock in the capital.
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