Chapter 126: Great Joy

Outside Jingren Palace, Wan Tang's sedan slowly came to a halt.

She sat upright, wearing a lake‑blue brocade palace robe, a golden phoenix Step Shake pattern in her hair unmoving, her brows and eyes exuding calm dignity.

The palace attendants behind her lowered their brows and softened their gazes, even their breathing was exceedingly light.

Meanwhile, Xu Luoyan was seized by two rough old women and tossed directly onto the stone steps before the hall.

Her hair bun was in disarray, her lavish dress smeared with dust, the powder on her face blurred by tears, looking as disheveled as a street‑wise shrew.

"Yan'er!" Wang Jingyi sprang to her feet, the noblewoman's poise collapsing instantly.

She staggered down the steps, snatching her daughter in her arms, "How did this happen to you?"

Cai Wei shouted "Aaah", desperately gesturing with both hands.

Xu Luoyan, however, kicked her aside with a foot, leapt into her mother's arms and wailed, "Mother! The Emperor has abandoned me! He said… said we'll never meet again!"

"And let that scum Wan Tang handle me!"

"Hahaha!" Li Pin suddenly burst into loud laughter, eyes full of delight, "The Emperor has finally opened his eyes! Xu Luoyan, you have your day too!"

She clapped her hands mockingly, "Back when you flaunted your family's prestige, did you ever imagine Retribution would come so swiftly?"

Wan Tang gently raised her hand, and the sedan set down steadily.

She walked down slowly, not even giving Li Pin a glance, "Li Pin, step back."

Those three brief words made Li Pin's laughter abruptly cease.

She bit her lip in resentment, yet finally stepped back out.

"All persons of Jingren Palace, withdraw," Wan Tang's voice was neither light nor heavy, yet it made the courtyard's palace attendants feel as if granted a pardon, and they instantly retreated completely.

In the vast courtyard, only Wan Tang, Xiao Shunzi, Li Ping'er, and the Xu Family mother and daughter embraced together remained.

Wan Tang stood on the steps, looking down upon them from above, her eyes filled only with indifference.

Wang Jingyi straightened her back, forcing a calm sneer, "Wan Tang, I think your wings have hardened."

She clenched the veil tightly between her fingertips, yet her voice was terrifyingly steady, "Dare to treat my daughter this way, is it because you don't want your mother entering the Xu Family ancestral hall?"

Wan Tang simply stared quietly, a smile at the corner of her lips, her eyes as cold as ice.

Wang Jingyi, seeing her silent, grew even more furious, "That little bastard is still in Black River City, on my son's territory."

She suddenly sneered, "Imagine, if my son learned of today's events."

She deliberately elongated the tone, savoring imagined revenge, "That little bastard, could he still live?"

Wan Tang suddenly laughed.

That laugh was bright and pleasant, yet made Wang Jingyi shiver all over.

She laughed head‑to‑toe, tears streaming, laughing so hard that Xu Luoyan leapt like thunder, "What are you laughing at! Spit it out!"

Wan Tang lightly brushed away the tears at her eyes with her fingertips, her voice light as if discussing the weather, "Wang Jingyi, I came especially to tell you some good news."

She suddenly leaned close, her red lips barely parting, "Xu Mingde—dead."

Wang Jingyi's pupils contracted sharply.

"By Yan Chuan," Wan Tang raised her hand mimicking a sword slash, her brows curved, "Ka! A single slash cut off the head!"

Xu Luoyan let out a scream, stumbling backward.

Wan Tang smiled with curved brows, her voice light to the point of eerie, "Xu Mingde died terribly."

Tilting her head, she lightly tapped her chin with a fingertip, "When the head was cut off, the blood spurted high, and the eyes were still wide open."

"You're talking nonsense!" Wang Jingyi shrieked sharply, her meticulously maintained face contorting, "My husband is a noble lord, wielding military authority; who dares to oppose him?"

"My son is a valiant general, who would dare kill him!"

"Nonsense, to put such vicious words on my son!"

She lunged forward to tear at Wan Tang, "You slut! I'll tear your mouth to shreds!"

"How dare you!" Xiao Shunzi suddenly shouted sharply, and someone rushed up at once, directly blocking Wang Jingyi.

Protecting Wan Tang properly.

【Oh dear, you can't take it anymore? Too bad, that's the truth.】

【Wan Tang still arrived early; the messenger sent by Xu Chengyuan had just arrived, crouching at the gate, too late to inform Wang Jingyi. If they had been a moment later, they could have seen Wang Jingyi in utter heartbreak.】

【Nonsense, this is exactly how it should be, they must hear it from Tangtang herself. After all, they made Tangtang suffer so terribly?】

Wan Tang's face remained calm.

She gestured a wave to Xiao Shunzi.

Xiao Shunzi's complexion changed sharply, and she immediately led people quietly to the gate.

She grabbed the sneaking young eunuch in the corner, "Who allowed you to eavesdrop?"

The eunuch, terrified, turned ashen, was dragged into the courtyard to be executed.

Wan Tang lazily raised her hand, "Hold on."

She curved her red lips, "I, the palace, am here to deliver a message; they must hear it clearly, right?"

Wang Jingyi trembled all over, her voice already tinged with sobs, "I won't listen! Get out!"

"Now I don't want to see anyone!"

Wan Tang's eyes turned cold, her imposing aura suddenly released, "Bring them in."

The eunuch was hauled before her, trembling like sifted chaff.

Wang Jingyi hysterically threatened, "If you dare utter a single word, I'll tear your mouth to shreds!"

"Mother!" Xu Luoyan suddenly pushed her aside, "Let him speak! Could we really believe this slut's nonsense?!"

The eunuch collapsed in a broken kneel, "Lord… Lord sent this servant to deliver news, the eldest son has met an accident."

He bowed abruptly, "He was beheaded by Xu Yanchuan!"

"The eldest son, dead!"

"Impossible!" Wang Jingyi's mournful scream tore through the sky; she staggered backward, toppling the incense table.

The tribute clattered and smashed across the ground, like her world collapsing at this moment.

Xu Luoyan stood dumbfounded, her lips trembling: "Brother... dead?"

Suddenly, as if gone mad, she grabbed the eunuch, "You're lying! With my father here, who dares to kill him?"

Wan Tang leaned against the corridor column, laughing so hard her whole body trembled.

She gently brushed the crabapple by her temple, a morbid delight flashing in her eyes: "Now... believe it?"

Wang Jingyi collapsed onto the floor, her elegant dress soaked with incense ash.

She mechanically shook her head, tears mixing with makeup smearing her face; no trace of a noble lady remained.

Xu Luoyan stood like a puppet, murmuring nonstop, "It won't... it won't..."

Wan Tang admired their misery, truly exhilarating.

Wan Tang laughed loudly, yet her face was covered in tears.

Her fingertips brushed her cheek, feeling a chill, and she laughed even more wildly.

"Hahaha…" she tilted her head back, her laugh shrill, but tears fell like beads cut from a string, clattering to the ground, "Did I cry?"

She touched her face, fingertips damp, "How strange… I was so exhilarated, yet I still shed tears."

She should be happy.

She wanted to laugh out loud.

Wang Jingyi lay collapsed on the ground, fainting several times, each time jolted awake by intense heartache.

She clutched her chest, her complexion as pale as paper, as if even breathing cut her with a knife.

Wan Tang laughed, her whole body trembling, a stone lodged in her throat, her laugh turning hoarse.

"Master…" Li Ping'er and Xiao Shunzi stepped forward, faces full of worry.

Wan Tang raised a hand to stop them, staggered to Wang Jingyi's side, then suddenly seized her hair, forcing her to lift her head.

"So… you too feel heartache!" her hoarse voice dripped with deep hatred, "When you and Xu Mingde sliced off each of Yan River's fingers, did you ever think of today?!"

She violently slammed Wang Jingyi's head onto the ground, then pulled it up, demanding sharply, "Speak!"

"He cut fingers," she snarled with a grim smile, "We beheaded him; what's Bushi?"

Wang Jingyi's eyes reddened, she roared like a madwoman, "Bastard! You plotted his downfall!"

She struggled, lunging at Wan Tang, "You think killing my son would make me spare you?! Would my lord spare you?!"

"Our Xu Family and Wang Family joining forces, even the Emperor would fear us."

"Besides, you two are useless!"

Her gaunt fingers suddenly clamped Wan Tang's throat, the force astonishingly great.

"Bastard! You truly deserve to die!"

A suffocating pressure hit instantly, Wan Tang's vision blackened, yet the corner of her mouth still bore that mad smile.