Seeing Chang Ah wailing and creating a scene, Yang Ning wasn't even surprised because this woman had no shame. Not only did she dare to crash her party, but she also accused Yang Ning of disrespecting her and creating such a scene.
The reason Yang Ning didn't invite Chang Ah wasn't just because she didn't like her but also to avoid a significant incident from happening, as per the events in the novel. There was a scene in the novel where, on the day of the Emperor's lunch with the ministers, their wives also came to the palace to greet His Majesty.
After lunch, the ladies visited Yang Ning at the Empress's residence, where Yang Ning arranged tea and snacks for everyone.
Among the ladies, Chang Ah was also present and boasted about her position as the Mistress of the Yang Household and the mother-in-law of the Emperor. She completely ignored Yang Ning, who was still sitting there and kept talking about herself.
At that time, Hou Wei, who came to the Empress's residence to give her a tonic to strengthen her weak health, was stopped by Chang Ah and asked to serve her tea.
Knowing about the close relationship between Hou Wei and Zheng Liang, Chang Ah wanted to teach her a lesson. Yang Ning didn't intervene and allowed Chang Ah to do whatever she wanted, as saying anything wouldn't have changed anything. She couldn't stand up for herself, more less for Hou Wei, who was just a mere nurse.
While serving her tea, Chang Ah deliberately made Hou Wei spill the tea on herself, and in anger and to teach her a lesson, she slapped Hou Wei and even threw the hot tea on her face, causing her facial burns.
Upon hearing about the incident at the Empress's residence, Zheng Liang was enraged and, thinking that Yang Ning was behind it, punished her further and made her apologize to Hou Wei, believing that she was involved with her father and planning to ruin him.
Yang Ning was humiliated in front of everyone for something she didn't do. However, when she was about to apologize to Hou Wei, she was stopped by Yang Luoyang, creating a huge scene.
This was all a part of Yang Luoyang's plan to go against Zheng Liang and portray that instead of caring for the nobles and supporting his wife, the Empress of the Empire, Zheng Liang had a soft spot for a mere nurse and could go against them for her. It was an attempt to create a rift between the nobles and the Emperor, who supported the commoner nurse more than the nobles and the Empress.
Therefore, while arranging the tea party, Yang Ning wanted to avoid that scene and chose not to invite Chang Ah to the party. Thankfully, she protected Hou Wei from getting slapped by Chang Ah. However, who would have expected that things would still escalate to something like this? But this time, she will not let Chang Ah, this crude woman get away with her actions.
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Yang Ning scoffed at her words and started, "Is that so? Mrs. Yang, looks like you have truly forgotten how you treated me at the Yang Household. From a young age to the age when I was at the age of getting married, I lived in the chamber worse than the servants.
I was the eldest daughter of the Yang Household, but even your personal maid had better quality clothes than mine, while I only had ragged, cheap quality clothes."
"Since my own Father and the Mistress of the household humiliated me, and looked down upon me, even the servants never respected me and humiliated me. I wasn't allowed to go outside to meet others and was locked in the household for years, portraying me as a rude and vicious woman who didn't want to mingle and blend in with society like the other women.
Not only that, even the food I was served was the remains of everyone."
"You almost killed me by not allowing the physician to come and treat me, and I almost died from the high fever. You even made me attend His Highness' birthday banquet when the night before I was burning with high fever and went through hell."
"Is this what you say that you treated me like your daughter and expect me to repay you for your kindness for feeding and providing for me for years? Aren't you too shameless for expecting me to respect you like my mother when you treated me like a beggar in my own household? That's quite shameless of you, don't you think so?" Yang Ning said in a clear voice, her voice was not low or high.
Her emotions were stable, but her sharp words were like a sword, slashing Chang Ah's plan one by one.
She hadn't expected Yang Ning to say all of this in front of everyone. How can she portray their family's dirty laundry in front of everyone? That's ridiculous.
Chang Ah's face turned crimson in embarrassment and humiliation. She looked around and saw ladies whispering among themselves. She gritted her teeth and lost her cool to see Yang Ning's indifferent expression and shouted, "You're lying! You're a shameless, liar bitch. When did I do that? Stop your nonsense and apologize to me.
You're slandering me."
"I did not do anything. Truly, I am innocent." Chang Ah turned to the ladies to explain herself.
"She is lying. She was the one who used to disrespect me and is now framing me. She even used to beat me and grab me by my hair if I didn't do as she said. She is the vicious one, you all know that, right?" Chang Ah said to others, but everyone simply frowned at her embarrassing behavior.
"Who is framing who, there is a way to find that out." While Chang Ah was pleading to the ladies about her innocence and explaining her side, a familiar, male voice interrupted her.