Firing Back

Though puzzled, Hua Meng remained unhurried as she paid her respects to the empress dowager seated at the head of the hall.

Only when the empress dowager told her to rise did she take the opportunity to look up and study the people seated near her.

Once Hua Meng saw who was sitting below the empress dowager, she understood exactly why the woman had said those two things just now.

Given her temperament in her previous life, even if she had been targeted like this, she would only have swallowed her anger. But now, she would never do so again.

At the thought, Hua Meng curved her lips into a smile, but her tone was unfriendly as she addressed the Elder Princess seated below the empress dowager. "My father studied under Minister Lin, and I was raised under strict rules. I would never engage in illicit relations without a matchmaker." Seeing the Elder Princess's smile freeze, she smiled again and continued, "I presume those two remarks just now were not about me, Elder Princess?"

The Elder Princess had not expected the second daughter of the Hua family, rumored to be soft and meek, to have such a sharp tongue.

Especially those words she had just spoken: "illicit relations without a matchmaker."

Each word truly cut into her heart like a knife.

Seeing Hua Meng meet her gaze without flinching, the Elder Princess was so angry that her chest hurt, but she could only restrain herself, not daring to speak again.

She was afraid—afraid that if she said one more word, the seemingly meek woman before her would make it clear that the one who had engaged in "illicit relations without a matchmaker" was her beloved daughter.

Although she could not hide the matter from the empress dowager, she knew that the empress dowager and the others who knew about it did not dare mention it to her face.

That was enough.

Seeing that the Elder Princess dared not make another sound, the empress dowager, seated in the principal seat, looked at Hua Meng in an excellent mood. "Good child, come closer and let me have a look at you."

At the empress dowager's words, Hua Meng naturally stepped forward at once and raised her head slightly, allowing her to look her over.

Hua Meng dared to deny the Elder Princess face so openly before the empress dowager because the Elder Princess's birth mother had been a noble consort favored by the late emperor for many years, while the empress dowager, who had borne an imperial son, had originally been a mere attendant from the ranks of the palace maids.

In those years, the empress dowager, who had been elevated to the rank of consort after giving birth to a son, had suffered more than enough at the noble consort's hands.

After finally giving birth to the late emperor's only son, she had seen the noble consort forcibly take him away to raise.

The reason was that her background was too lowly and she could not raise the imperial son properly.

Only when the imperial son had grown up healthy to the age of three, and the late emperor wished to appoint a crown prince because of instability at court, did the former attendant, by then a consort, leap to the position of empress.

Yet the empress, with neither favor nor family support, did not escape the bullying of the noble consort and her daughter until the late emperor passed away.

Now, the late emperor had been dead for many years, and the noble dowager consort had also passed away. Yet their daughter seemed to have forgotten that she was only an Elder Princess. Not only did she frequently enter the palace to point fingers and give orders to the empress dowager and the imperial harem's consorts, she also used her prince consort's family connections to make things difficult for Emperor Jing'an at court.

Hua Meng knew this clearly, so she was not the least bit afraid of the Elder Princess now.

Hua Meng had angered the Elder Princess so much that she dared not speak again, worried that Hua Meng would drag her beloved daughter into it once more.

With the Elder Princess silent, the atmosphere in the hall was quite pleasant.

Once the empress dowager had finished looking Hua Meng over, she turned to the people seated below her and said, "I have said these words several times already. Today, for the sake of Great Yue's realm, I must say them once more."

With that, the empress dowager continued without waiting for them to react. "The most pressing matter in the harem now is to bear His Majesty offspring. Whichever of you bears a child will have rendered great service to Great Yue. As such, His Majesty and I naturally will not treat her unfairly." She paused, then went on, "But if I learn that any of you has harmed his offspring, there will be no need for His Majesty to intervene. I can make her regret it for the rest of her life myself!"

The empress dowager's voice was stern as she finished. When her words fell, not only Hua Meng and the others, but even the consorts who had entered the palace earlier rose to their feet and answered in unison, "Yes."

Hua Meng joined everyone in answering, "Yes," but as she lowered her head, she unconsciously glanced at the Elder Princess seated below the empress dowager.

As expected, she saw a cold smile at the corner of the Elder Princess's lips.