Zhu Tao rushed forward in tears. "My lady, I heard you're about to move out of the Cold Palace. Please take us with you. I've always been your palace maid."
Green Radish immediately added, "Yes, my lady, please take us with you. I'll serve you just as I always have."
"My lady... please, I beg you. Let me go back with you. I've suffered so much here alongside you."
Zhu Tao and Green Radish huddled beside Shen Qingqing, weeping as pitifully as they could.
Shen Qingqing had always been softhearted, and these two had served her for so many years. She was just about to agree.
[Sigh, my darling mommy really is a beautiful woman with a kind heart. Should I tell her that the reason I've been eating dry steamed buns all these years is that Green Radish and Zhu Tao kept all the good food for themselves? Look how fat they've gotten. Don't they look like pigs? Hahahaha.]
[But... if I say that, I don't have any proof. What if Mommy doesn't believe me? What do I do? What do I do!]
Shen Qingqing stared at the two women before her. Until Tang Tang mentioned it, she hadn't noticed that Green Radish and Zhu Tao really had gained considerable weight over the years. Their faces were covered in fat.
So Tang Tang must have been telling the truth. Zhu Tao and Green Radish had actually withheld all her daughter's food.
Anger flashed across Shen Qingqing's face. She didn't care what happened to her, but why did they have to hurt her daughter?
"No need, Green Radish, Zhu Tao. It seems the two of you have been eating quite well here. You've spent more than ten years here and even put on plenty of weight. You've been sneaking quite a lot of food behind my back, haven't you?"
Zhu Tao's expression shifted slightly, but she kept crying. "My lady... I haven't. How would I dare steal food? I've saved all the good food for you and the little princess. We've been eating nothing but grass roots."
"Yes, my lady, I've eaten nothing but grass roots here. How have I gotten fat? I've clearly lost a great deal of weight. Look at me."
Shen Qingqing gave a soft laugh. They really could lie with their eyes wide open. That face had been stuffed into a pig's head. Her daughter couldn't have been more right.
"Enough. My mind is made up. The two of you will stay here."
She had never needed disloyal servants.
Zhu Tao's expression changed drastically. She knelt and knocked her head against the ground several times, hard enough to draw blood from her forehead, then pleaded miserably,
"My lady, I... I've served you since I was eight. It's been twenty years now. Can you really bear to leave us in this Cold Palace? They'll bully us."
"My lady, please, take us with you. Please, I beg you."
Zhu Tao and Green Radish knelt before Shen Qingqing, desperately banging their heads against the ground. Blood streamed from their foreheads and dripped onto the floor, making a rather horrifying sight.
Shen Qingqing's heart softened again. These two had served her back when she still lived at her family estate. They had been with her since they were eight, and now... twenty years had passed.
"Please, my lady, take me out of the Cold Palace with you. I haven't had enough food or warm clothing here, but that doesn't matter. I only want to go out and serve you and the little princess properly."
"My lady, I'll serve you and the little princess well. I've been with you for so many years. No one knows your tastes and the little princess's better than I do."
Ye Tangtang propped her chin on her hand, a lollipop in her mouth. Watching their masterful performance, she almost clapped and cheered!
[My beautiful mommy is going soft again. What should I do? Should I tell my beautiful mommy that Green Radish and Zhu Tao hid all the good food and drinks?]
[They also stole Mommy's jewelry and the jade pendant I was wearing. They put them under the tree in the southeastern corner.]
[But I still don't have any proof. How will Mommy believe me?]
Shen Qingqing lightly slapped the table and rose to her feet, anger spreading across her gentle face.
"Zhu Tao, Green Radish, I'll ask you one last time. Were the jewels and ornaments His Majesty gave me really taken by the consorts in the Cold Palace?"
Green Radish and Zhu Tao exchanged a glance, then nodded without hesitation.
"Yes, my lady. You know how spoiled, willful, and deranged those consorts are. They must have stolen your jewelry, along with the little princess's things."
Shen Qingqing gave up on them completely. She left the hall, found a hoe somewhere, and headed straight for the tree in the southeastern corner.
Ye Tangtang was squatting in a corner, poking an anthill and happily eating her lollipop. When she looked up, her mommy was gone. Where had her mommy gone?
｡◕‿◕｡
"Little princess, p-please go persuade my lady. I've treated you quite well too, haven't I? Surely you don't want us to be left in this Cold Palace."
"Yes, little princess. I even brought you flatbread before. Have you forgotten?"
Ye Tangtang rolled her eyes dramatically. Flatbread?
These two had kept all the good food for themselves and given her flatbread as hard as rocks. It had almost knocked her teeth out.
Pah!
Child abuse!
Ye Tangtang smiled innocently. "Big Sister Zhu Tao, I know you've been very good to me. If you can count how many ants there are here, I'll help you."
Zhu Tao looked at the cluster of anthills on the ground. "..."
Still, for the sake of a happy life ahead, if Lady-in-Waiting Shen regained the emperor's favor, they would surely bask in her reflected glory too.
So Zhu Tao and Green Radish lay on the ground and began counting ants. They looked like such dumbasses that Ye Tangtang almost applauded.
There were simply too many ants. They crawled all over Green Radish and Zhu Tao, making the two women twist and rub themselves against the ground. Beside them, Ye Tangtang clutched her stomach, almost laughing herself breathless.
[Hahahaha! That's what you get for bullying my beautiful mommy. Go on, count! You couldn't finish even if you kept counting until next year. Bite them to death! Hahahaha.]
Ye Tangtang couldn't hold it in any longer and burst into wild laughter. Only then did Zhu Tao and Green Radish realize she had tricked them.
The two rose to their feet, ready to teach Ye Tangtang a lesson. Lady-in-Waiting Shen wasn't around anyway. Even if they beat this little fool to death, she wouldn't dare tell on them.
There was no way Ye Tangtang would obediently take a beating. Besides, she still had the power from her previous life. Whoever dared come at her would get beaten into a pig's head.
"What are you doing?"
Before Ye Tangtang quite registered it, someone was already standing in front of her, enveloping her in a warm presence.
Shen Qingqing didn't know how she had moved so quickly. In a single instant, she had shielded her daughter behind her.
Before you continue