Yongning was speechless for a moment, and Yongping came over to smooth things over.
"Don't be angry, Queen. There must be a misunderstanding here. How about this, everyone sit down and talk slowly?"
Luo Lan frowned coldly and ordered again in a stern voice:
"A Cai, didn't you hear what I said? Drag this girl out, chop off her hands, and then banish her from the palace."
Hearing this, the girl's face suddenly turned pale. She turned around and grabbed Yongning's clothes, crying loudly,
"Princess, help me! Princess, help me!"
Yongning looked at Luo Lan with a guilty look on his face.
"Well...even though she was wrong, she shouldn't have had her hands chopped off. That's...too cruel. How about this: let Hong fight back the way she beat her?"
Luo Lan looked up at her and replied word by word:
"Hit back? Ah Hong is a fourth-rank court lady. Hitting a girl? I'm afraid of hurting her hands. Besides, if I don't teach this ignorant girl a lesson today, everyone will think that I, the queen, am easy to bully."
Seeing that there was no sign of compromise in her tone, Yongping also hurried forward to plead for mercy.
"Queen, please calm down. This girl is from Nanping Kingdom and doesn't understand the rules of Daning Kingdom. She also doesn't know Ah Hong's identity. Please, Queen, forgive her this time because this is her first offense. Otherwise, she will lose her hands and become a cripple in the future. Queen, you have always been kind, so please forgive her this time!"
Princess Xingnan saw this and also came forward to plead for mercy.
"Empress, chop off her hands? That's too cruel. Why not let her slap herself until you're satisfied, or make her kneel down for a long time? Anything is fine, just don't cut off her hands..."
Prince Daji also stepped forward to persuade him.
"This girl hit Miss Ahong, which was indeed a bit excessive, but she is a native of Nanping Kingdom after all. Please, Queen, for the sake of Princess Xingnan and this prince, two outsiders, please don't chop off her hands and deal with her differently!"
Seeing these people come forward to plead for her, Luo Lan's goal was achieved. She looked at the girl and said in a stern voice:
"Since so many people have pleaded for you, I will forgive you this once. I will punish you by slapping yourself a hundred times, and immediately expel you from the Daning Kingdom's palace and send you back to Nanping Kingdom. You will never set foot in Daning Kingdom again."
After leaving these words, the girl looked at Yongning with tears in her eyes. Although Yongning was quite dissatisfied with the result, she thought that the punishment of having her hands cut off was light, so she naturally had no reason to speak again.
In fact, Luo Lan didn't really want to cut off her hands. She just wanted Yongning and Yongping to know that she had the final say in the harem, and no one else could dominate here.
Yongping turned around and looked at the girl, and scolded her harshly:
"Why don't you thank me now?"
The girl gritted her teeth, kowtowed, and muttered softly,
"Thank you for your grace, Queen."
Luo Lan then turned around and looked at Ah Hong.
"Does this result relieve your anger?"
Ah Hong pursed her lips and nodded.
"Thank you, Queen."
Luo Lan nodded in satisfaction, then looked at Princess Yongping.
"Da Ning has its own rules. You are honored guests of Da Ning. If any of the ignorant servants in the harem have displeased you, you can come to me directly. I can punish them, but please do not lynch them lightly. No matter what the rules of your Nanping Kingdom are, lynching is absolutely not allowed in Da Ning."
Yongping knew that she said this on purpose to warn them that they would always be guests here.
Yongning stared at her unwillingly.
"Your Majesty is wrong. This is my and my elder sister's family home. It is also our home. Therefore, we are not guests."
Luo Lan knew she would say that, and she immediately chuckled disdainfully.
"Second Princess, you can consider this your home for now, but you'll eventually have to return to Nanping Kingdom. After you go back, it's uncertain when you'll be able to come back again. So, it's best to leave a good impression on your family. Don't be like a hedgehog, pricking people everywhere. That way, when people mention you, they'll remember your kindness, rather than being unwilling to even mention you."
"you……"
Yongning's face flushed red at this moment. She gritted her teeth and snorted coldly, speechless for a moment.
"I don't need anyone to read it to me. I heard that the Empress spent the night in the Yangxin Palace again last night. Are you deliberately trying to prevent the Emperor from turning over someone else's name? As the head of the harem, if you don't even have this kind of magnanimity, how can you be the mother of the country? How can you earn the respect of the people of Daning Kingdom?"
Luo Lan's face suddenly turned cold, but she still looked back at her with a smile.
"Princess Yongning, you're wrong. The Emperor has already granted me his favoritism, and I'm willing to spend the rest of my life with him. This kind of affection shows that the Emperor is a deeply affectionate and loyal person, unseduced by beauty. Only such a ruler can focus on governing the Daning Kingdom, and not indulge in the gentle pleasures of women. This is a blessing for the people and the Daning Kingdom. As for whether I can truly serve as the mother of the country, that's the decision of the people of Daning Kingdom, not Princess Yongning alone."
"Hmph! That sounds nice, but do you want to be like Empress Dowager Gao of the Northern Song Dynasty, ruling from behind the curtain, dominating the harem, and making the emperor a puppet?"
"presumptuous."
Luo Lan looked at her fiercely and scolded her harshly:
"Princess Yongning, your words are becoming increasingly outrageous. I've repeatedly allowed you to cause trouble in the harem, considering you've returned home to visit your parents. Yet, you've only gotten worse. If you continue like this, don't blame me for reporting to the Emperor and having you expelled from the harem."
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