Chapter 337: Unexpected appearance of the Serpent Frui (2/2)

Gui mama was very familiar with such words. After all, the empress dowager had quoted the same line to Han Yunxi at the Palace of Heaven and Earth. She immediately regretted her outburst. Unfortunately, it was already too late.

“Someone come, take this audacious servant and drag her out. She’ll be punished with 50 canings!” Han Yunxi said coldly.

When one hit a servant, one looked at their master first. Before the empress dowager could begin her nightmare, Han Yunxi was going to slap her old face!

“Esteemed wangfei, have mercy! Esteemed wangfei, this servant was wrong!”

“Esteemed wangfei, this servant doesn’t dare to act like this again! I’m begging you, please have mercy on this servant! Just this once!”

… …

Gui mama’s cries followed her as she was dragged out of the hall. Eventually, her pleas turned into warnings.

“Qin Wangfei, this old servant has served the empress dowager for over 30 years. If you dare touch a hair on this head…”

Before she could finish, a pageboy struck her with a wooden plank, changing her cries into ones of pain.

“Ahhhh…!”

Inside the hall, Imperial Physician Chen trembled with terror from his kneeling position. He didn’t dare make a peep. The beatings left Gui mama half dead before Han Yunxi threw out out of the estate with Imperial Physician Chen.

By dawn of the next day, news of the affair had spread throughout the capital. It raised an uproar just like last time, when the Duke of Qin had punished the emperor’s most favored Eunuch Xue. Although the news wasn’t as big as Eunuch Xue’s punishment, plenty of people still found out that Qin Wangfei wasn’t someone easy to provoke. By the time news reached Long Feiye’s ears at the Tang Clan, he simply nodded in satisfaction.

“It was a well-deserved beating.”

Of course, he also sent people to secretly tell Chu Xifeng to keep an eye on Gu Beiyue!

The empress dowager was so angry that she lost her breath. It took three cardiotonic pills before she recovered. She wished she could tear Han Yunxi to pieces, but the woman had sufficient reason to beat her servant, so there was no way for her to find fault.

In the end, the empress dowager ended up waiting for three entire days. Because she was preoccupied over this problem, her insomnia grew worse. Typically, it’d only take her half the night before she fell asleep, but she spent the next three days unable to sleep even after day broke. Although she was exhausted, she couldn’t fall asleep. The longer she lied down, the more her head ached, and yet she had no energy when she did sit up. It was agony to the extreme.

Finally, on the fourth day, she couldn’t bear it anymore. “Someone come, prepare a carriage! I want to go to the Duke of Qin’s estate!”

That hateful Han Yunxi. Does she really think the reigning empress dowager is so easy to bully? Wait ‘til I show her!

And yet, the empress dowager hadn’t even left the palace when Han Yunxi arrived. She only wanted to make the empress dowager mad. How could she really wait until Long Feiye came back to give her the Medicine Fan? Everything had its own degrees. She had to pace herself when it came to tormenting this old thing, walking a fine line between leaving her hanging and completely pissing her off. More importantly, she had to give her the Medicine Fan. Otherwise, how could she make sure the empress dowager would have unending nightmares?

The empress dowager returned to her rooms as soon as she heard the eunuch announce Han Yunxi’s arrival. She sat on her warm couch and straightened out her robes, then adjusted her expression so she looked calm and unperturbed. In truth, she was rather surprised by Han Yunxi’s arrival. Still, she soon reasoned that it made sense because she was still the empress dowager while the other was only a wangfei.

“Heh, so she finally knew to came! I’ve been waiting!” the empress dowager said, before Han Yunxi entered the room.

As before, Han Yunxi appeared cool and indifferent, natural and at ease. “Chenqie pays greetings to Esteemed Empress Dowager. May Esteemed Empress Dowager be well.”

“Hurry and rise,” the empress dowager said with a loving smile.

Regardless of age, women competed with each other in the same things: ruthlessness, self-possession, and patience. Whoever could endure to the end would be the winner. As soon as Han Yunxi straightened up, the empress dowager had her sit down.

“I thought you wouldn’t come until the Duke of Qin returned!” said the empress dowager.

“How could I do that?” Han Yunxi smiled slightly. “Is Esteemed Empress Dowager doing better now?”

Weren’t her words jabbing the empress dowager’s sore spot? The empress dowager’s heart burned with rage, but she kept her genial expression. “Much better.”

“Have you slept well?” Han Yunxi looked concerned.

The hands hidden in the empress dowager’s sleeves balled into fists, but her expression was still affable. “Much better than the past few days.”

Han Yunxi was very satisfied. “Then that’s good. Yunxi was organizing His Highness’s clothes last night when I came upon a certain something. Would Esteemed Empress Dowager like to guess what it is?” As Han Yunxi spoke, Zhao mama stepped forward with an object wrapped in red cloth resting on a plate.

The empress dowager knew that Han Yunxi had come to deliver her coveted Medicine Fan, but despite it being within arm’s reach, she was still excited. In the end, she was still human, after all!

“This…” the empress dowager was moved.

“Esteemed Empress Dowager, have a look,” Han Yunxi said, still wearing a smile.

The empress dowager impatiently lifted up the red cloth…