Chapter 52

52 A MESSAGE

Yang Ning could see through Chang Ah’s petty scheme and could only chuckle at her silly behavior.

By playing her pitiful stepmother game, she was trying to put all the blame on Yang Ning and wanted to show everyone how Yang Ning is misusing her status as the future Crown Princess and bullying her mother. Stepmother at that.

She wants to show the world that Yang Ning is a vicious, unfilial daughter, meanwhile, she is a pitiful mother who is being disrespected by her child.

How childish can she be?

She is the Mistress of the Household and yet plays petty schemes like such with Yang Ning, whom Yang Luoyang does not favor anyway.

Why is she even jealous of Yang Ning? What for? Fang Li can never understand.

That girl is already so pitiful. She lost her mother at a young age. Her father does not spare her a glance.

She was betrothed to the Crown Prince and is a strong candidate to become the Empress of the Country. It does come with high status and title but it has its cons as well.

The never-ending responsibilities and restrictions and the pressure to give birth to the royal heir as soon as possible. Most importantly, to do all of that, she needs the support of her husband, which is nearly impossible in this case since Yang Ning already has a bad reputation among the masses.

.....

Does she have to play petty games with such a girl, whose fate is already miserable enough?

___

Yang Ning looked around and noticed the judgemental gazes of the maids and all the other servants who had dropped all of their work and came out to see the drama after hearing the commotion.

Hah! Did they buy Chang Ah’s fake sobbing story? How stupid can they be? She sighed and can only conclude that the mind of people in the real or fictional world works identically.

No one believed her in her world when she was framed wrongly. Similarly, no one believes in Yang Ning either.

However, she did not back away from this complicated situation either and confronted Chang Ah, who had a smirk of triumph on her face.

” Mother, How can you say that? You are my mother. How can I disrespect you? You might not have birthed me, but I have always treated you as my mother. ” Yang Ning said with a heavy heart. It ached her heart so much for her to say such words that she does not even mean.

” I came here because I wanted to have tea with you. We are mother and daughter yet we never had a chance to have tea together.”

” I only wanted to spend some time with you, but it seems like you do not like my presence here. If you dislike me that much then I will return to my room as you ordered.” Yang Ning said while looking down, her voice even choked by the end of the sentence as if she was hurt by Chang Ah’s mean words.

” However, I thought that Father would be delighted if we could spend some time together and get closer. We are family, after all.” She said while looking at Chang Ah with puppy eyes.

‘Family, my ass!’ Fang Li wanted to scoff but control her devil urges to make such noises.

Even though she wanted to puke upon hearing the words that she was saying, she wanted Chang Ah to get the taste of her own medicine.

If she can play the pitiful mother game, then she can play the role of the pitiful daughter as well.

She can do that. Because she is Fang Li, not Yang Ning.

In the past, Yang Ning used to hear all the insults and provocations thrown by Chang Ah at her and leave the place quietly, without retaliating.

That girl was too nice to be true. How can she keep a poker face even in blood-boiling situations like these and then cry miserably after going back to her room?

She truly had the patience of a saint. It’s good to have a nice character and be patient but if that patience starts to become a reason that allows people to step on your self-respect, then one should become shameless and throw that patience out of the window to protect their own self.

It was because of her nice character and submissive attitude towards Chang Ah and Yang Luoyang that she died miserably and did things that she never intended to under their influence.

Chang Ah was caught off guard when she heard the words of Yang Ning and couldn’t help but wonder, since when did this girl start to talk so much?

Rather than quietly returning to her room, she dares to stand up against her and tell such shameless lies.

She was waiting to have tea together with her. Hah! These are all lies.

There is no way Yang Ning would have come here for such a reason. Even if she had wanted to, why would she, the Mistress of Yang Household, have tea with that bitch?

If she can, she would throw the scalding tea on her face and disfigure her for life. Only then will she be at peace.

Since she is the daughter of her mother, she looks exactly like her. An ethereal beauty, whose goddess looks are unmatchable in the capital.

If not for the rumors against Yang Ning, that she ignited and spread around the capital, then Yang Ning would have been known as the ethereal beauty of the Zheng Empire rather than the cunning and vicious woman.

Chang Ah’s face turned crimson in embarrassment and she gritted her teeth in anger before she said, ” HAHA! IS THAT SO? IF YOU HAD WANTED TO HAVE SOME TEA WITH ME, THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE SAID SO BEFORE.” She was burning in anger from the inside but had no choice but to play along with the drama that Yang Ning had started.

” SINCE YOU’RE THAT EAGER TO HAVE TEA WITH ME, THEN LET ME SHARE MY ‘FAVORITE’ TEA THAT I DRINK FREQUENTLY WITH YOU.” Chang Ah said meaningfully with a smirk on her lips and commanded Xiao Bao to bring out the ‘special’ tea for Yang Ning.

Since she is acting so cocky with her, then she should also treat her to a cup of tea. A SPECIAL TEA.

Xiao Bao understood the meaning of Chang Ah’s gesture and bowed to her politely before going to the kitchen to bring out the tea.

” Then...shall we sit down and talk?” Chang Ah said and urged Yang Ning to sit down to join her to have a cup of tea with her.

Yang Ning pursed her lips and could see that she was planning something but could not reject her words.

With no choice left, she joined Chang Ah for a cup of tea and could feel her legs shaking in nervousness as the anticipation of what she was planning to do next overwhelmed her.

__

” Here is your tea.” Xiao Bao said as she served Yang Ning, the special tea that Chang Ah had requested.

Yang Ning fake grinned at the Senior Maid, whom she got punished the other day, and could feel the animosity from her piercing gaze.

Yang Ning looked at the teacup in front of her eyes and could not help but get worried about it.

Special tea? There must be something in it. But...What is it?

A poison? Drugs? Or....pieces of glass? She imagined all the worst possibilities and grew even more anxious to see the calm and relaxed expressions on Chang Ah’s face, who was sipping on her tea in leisure.

” Yang Ning, why aren’t you drinking your tea? Didn’t you want to have some tea with me? Why are you not drinking it when it’s in front of you?” Chang Ah urged Yang Ning to take a sip of her tea and tell her how she liked it.

Yang Ning glanced at Xiaowei who was standing next to Xiao Bai for help but the young girl looked helpless and terrified herself.

She took a deep breath and picked up the cup in her hands. ‘Should I spill this tea? Even if I spill it, she will refill it and the result will be the same anyway.’ Yang Ning sighed heavily and decided to take this risk to save her self-respect.

She cannot bow in front of Chang Ah. Dying is a better option. At least she will return to her world then.

Just as she was about to take a sip of the tea, a maid came running toward them and said, “MADAM!”

Chang Ah frowned at the sudden interruption by the maid and snapped at her in irritation, ” What are you doing? Can’t you see that we’re having tea right now? Do you want to be whipped 100 times or what?”

Yang Ning scoffed upon hearing Chang Ah’s words and eyed Xiao Bai who already got whipped 100 times for mistreating her.

At least she will remember this lesson forever.

The maid trembled in fear to see the loud reaction of Chang Ah and immediately reported, ” MADAM, PARDON ME FOR THE INTERRUPTION. HOWEVER, THE PERSONAL GUARD OF HIS HIGHNESS HAS BROUGHT A MESSAGE FOR THE LADY YANG NING.”

” WHAT? A MESSAGE?” Chang Ah exclaimed in puzzlement.

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