Chapter 156: Li Ping'er's Vengeance

Li Ping'er knelt heavily on the blue‑brick floor, their forehead pressed against the cold ground.

Her voice shattered: "I (serving woman) entered the palace, it was always to seek death."

They quickly lifted their head, tears mixed with blood at the hairline streaming down, "That day we met, truly a coincidence."

"Nubi originally intended to get close to Li Defu, and kill him at any cost."

"I didn't expect to meet the Empress, and even less that in this cold harem, someone would risk their own safety to save an unrelated person."

Xiao Shunzi's complexion changed abruptly, and they immediately slipped to close the hall doors.

Their back pressed tightly against the carved door panel, fingers unconsciously picking at the door crack.

The amount of information is just too great; it must not be heard by anyone else.

Wan Tang sat upright on the soft couch, fingertips gently stroking the warm jade brazier: "Continue."

"I (serving woman)'s given name is indeed Li Ping'er."

Li Ping'er suddenly tore open their collar, revealing an old burn on the neck, "I was born a lowly slave in the Laundry Bureau. Until the year I turned twelve, when a palace uprising, the Nine Princes' Struggle for the Throne, occurred."

"Nubi's mother only then led Nubi with the chaotic troops, away from the Imperial Palace."

"We blended into the refugee crowd, heading to Fengdu."

Wan Tang slightly frowned, tone complex: "Having already left the Imperial Palace, why return?"

Li Ping'er let out a bitter, cold laugh: "For revenge!"

Wan Tang's heart tightened; although the answer was already known, they still couldn't help feeling alarmed upon hearing it.

Li Ping'er suddenly frantically scratched the floor tiles with their nails, producing a harsh scraping sound: "Master, do you know who my father is?"

Wan Tang remained silent.

"It's Li Defu!"

"That old beast is nothing good at all; from the start, he never did anything decent."

"That old beast never fully cut off, there's still a piece of flesh. He deceived my mother into eating the same food, and also forced my mother."

When mentioning these, Li Ping'er's voice trembled.

Wan Tang's eyes widened, equally surprised.

She thought of herself being given to Li Defu; had she not managed to escape, that fate…

"So, Li Defu, is he a false eunuch?" Wan Tang could feel her own fingers trembling.

"Now it's true."

Li Ping'er's eyes filled with hatred, they said coldly: "My mother, back then, followed Concubine Su, and after being harmed, reported the matter to Concubine Su."

"Concubine Su ordered someone to completely cleanse Li Defu's body."

"Who would think Li Defu, bearing a grudge, would use even more terrifying means to hurt my mother."

When thinking of these, Li Ping'er trembled with anger.

"Later, Li Defu, together with the current Emperor, was thrown into the temporary palace. My mother, upon discovering me, secretly gave birth to me."

"I thought that as long as I honestly served the Concubine, I could survive."

"Who could have imagined that Yan Wang became implicated, and Concubine Su, to protect Yan Wang, requested a fief and fled quickly. When the current Emperor returned from the temporary palace, Li Defu discovered my mother, and actually had dozens of eunuchs take turns serving my mother."

At this point, Li Ping'er's face was already wet.

She said in pain: "After the rebel entered the Imperial City, chaos again, my mother, hanging on her last breath, took me to Fengdu."

"When I saw Concubine Su, my mother's life also reached its end."

Li Ping'er's whole body trembled violently: "Concubine Su said… my mother could no longer live."

"Those beasts actually left a severed root inside my mother's body; if it weren't for the Fengdu snow disaster, it might have grown a flesh tumor."

The warm brazier in Wan Tang's hand clanged and rolled away; embers splashed onto the skirt, yet she didn't notice.

"I will kill him."

Li Ping'er suddenly gave a dazed smile, blood‑stained fingers shaped like knives, "Using the hairpin he gave my mother, from here…"

The fingertip thrust sharply toward their own throat, "Stab it in!"

"I begged Yan Wang to send me into the palace, for this very reason."

Outside the window, a cold raven cried mournfully, reflecting a terrifying blood‑red glint in her eyes: "But that day I saw the Master confront the slave to protect me, and later lived day after day with the Master."

"I, the serving woman, suddenly wanted to live."

"Nubi thinks that the Master cannot be without a considerate person by his side."

Wan Tang suddenly leaned down, pulling her into her arms; the silk‑lined sleeves wrapped the two trembling bodies.

"I, the palace, know," Wan Tang's voice choked, "the taste of being hurt by one's own kin is more gut‑piercing than arsenic."

Xiao Shunzi had long knelt at the door, forehead pressed to the panel, silently wailing.

How can a person be fated to such misery?

Li Ping'er suddenly clenched Wan Tang's collar, bones flashing a pale blue: "Master, let the serving woman do it with her own hands…"

Her teeth chattered, "Kill him!"

Wan Tang lifted her chin; in the candlelight, the two shadows merged in the pool of blood: "Fine."

She tightly grasped Li Ping'er's fingers, "I, the palace, will make you end this cursed debt with your own hands."

"From now on, your vengeance is the palace's vengeance."

"Li Defu's life, I, the palace, grant to you."

Outside, the wind and snow surged, making the window shutters clatter.

【So tragic, so tragic, I didn't expect Li Ping'er to tell the truth so directly to Wan Tang.】

【All are doomed, yet the two of them are good; though there are doubts, there has never been mistrust between them.】

【I wish Li Defu would die; now Li Defu has allied with the Empress, intending to deal with Wan Tang.】

Yes, the woman on the Dog Emperor's bed tonight was personally selected and inspected by Li Defu and the Empress, and presented to the Emperor.

Wan Tang felt a coldness in her heart.

Is Li Defu also taking action?

The Emperor's favor truly makes one come and go without a trace!

Wan Tang and Li Ping'er calmed their emotions for a while.

Wan Tang said in a deep voice, "By the way, Xiao Shunzi, what were you about to say?"

Xiao Shunzi at this moment also wiped away her tears.

She stepped forward and said, "Master, Lord Qi expresses profound gratitude for your rescuing of Lord Qi's Lady of Grace."

"Lord Qi brings a message that the shopfront you wanted has been found; I wonder what should be done next?"

Doing business?

Wan Tang, having been confined to the manor and the Imperial Palace all her life, truly knows nothing about it.

She took out all the reward money she had just received.

Just as she was about to have Qi Qi handle it, a voice in her mind sounded again.

Qi Qi can make money, but how much? It's still less than what can be earned from the Emperor's gifts.

I like Tangtang's ambition; since she wants to make money, she must play big.

It would be best to link the Imperial harem with the Former Dynasty; I'll search Baidu right away.

Haha, no need for Baidu; I actually have an idea…

The voice in her mind kept increasing.

The ideas being suggested made Wan Tang's heart race with fear.

These contents are things Wan Tang would never even think of.

Wan Tang dared not delay; she immediately recorded the contents from her mind.

With her fingertips lightly tapping the desk, Wan Tang drew sharp lines on xuan paper with a charcoal pencil: "Tell Qi Qi, invest all this money; I intend to open a Yunxiang Pavilion."

Xiao Shunzi stared at the strange grid on the paper, stunned: "Master, what kind of business is this?"

"Selling information," Wan Tang said, a cold curve at the corner of her mouth. "First venture: anyone who purchases ten taels of rouge and powder will receive complimentary account verification services."

To help them verify the authenticity of their husbands' concubine accounts.

The tip of the pen heavily circled the words "account verification": "Have the Qi Family locate some destitute accounting houses to specifically investigate the revenues and expenditures of the 'Embroidered House' in the southern part of the city."

Seeing Xiao Shunzi gape in astonishment, she smiled lightly, "The most profitable thing in this world is the silver born of women's suspicion."

She drew another odd symbol: "Second venture: launch the 'Prosperity Voucher'. Deposit a hundred taels to obtain a credit of one hundred and twenty taels, but three new customers must be recruited."

"Isn't that just recruiting heads?" Xiao Shunzi blurted out.

"Smart." Wan Tang tossed the charcoal pencil, "More importantly, every noble lady who deposits silver must register the official positions of her father and brothers."

Her fingertip lightly tapped the Imperial City map, "In three months, I want to see a complete roster of the families of officials above the sixth rank."

Outside, the Fēng xuě intensified; Xiao Shunzi clutched the sensational business plan, her fingers trembling so much she could barely hold the page.

Wan Tang, however, gazed toward the direction beyond the palace walls, as if she already saw a massive net of money and intrigue slowly enveloping the entire Forbidden City.

"Anyone who makes a one‑time purchase of ten taels will be given a gold‑threaded pouch."

Wan Tang drew a design of a fragrance pouch embroidered with gold thread, "With this pouch one can enjoy three secret services."

Her pen tip, like a knife, swished as she wrote three lines:

"First, verify the husband's concubine accounts; second, investigate the future in‑laws' details; third, test whether the concubine avoids the child's medicinal soup."

The charcoal pencil snapped, "Tell Qi Qi to find those veteran officials expelled from the Ministry of Revenue for their superb arithmetic; they know best how to extract scandalous matters from ledgers."

Xiao Shunzi gasped, "This will offend the officials' families throughout the city."

"Afraid of what?" Wan Tang smiled lightly, pulling out another sheet to draw another odd voucher design.

She suddenly used cinnabar to draw a phoenix pattern, "Members will receive a Luan Mirror."

"We can ask the retired palace hairdressers to teach them how to style hair."

She suddenly flung the cinnabar brush at the capital map; the red ink spread on the xuan paper like blood, "Within three months, I want a complete roster of the families of officials above the sixth rank, including the intimate preferences of their personal maids!"

Outside, a startling thunder cracked; Xiao Shunzi's hand clutching the paper trembled violently.

The paper prominently displayed a snarling "relationship tree", each official's name annotated with concubine birthdates, external residence addresses, and private proclivities…

"The best part is here."

Wan Tang pulled out a Jīn zān from her hair, the tip prying open the layer of xuan paper.

Inside lay a miniature ledger style, "All silver‑depositing officials' families will receive this 'Intimate Ledger', used to secretly record husbands' expenditures."

She sneered, "In the end they will be consolidated into a genuine Ministry of Revenue flow ledger."

Xiao Shunzi fell to her knees, "This is a scheme to confiscate families and annihilate clans!"

"Afraid now?" Wan Tang smeared charcoal ash on his forehead, "Remember, the most lethal thing in this world is never arsenic, but the ruthless determination of a woman whose suspicion drives her to trade her entire family's lives for the truth."

The heavy rain hammered the window lattice as she looked toward the night sky split by lightning.

Her path has only just begun.

The emperor is merciless.

She need not be compassionate.

At least, Wan Tang will never hand over her destiny to a man's hand.