Chapter 11: That Was a Satisfying Thrashing!
In the blink of an eye, Xiao Li tore through to his inner shirt. With another forceful tug, she exposed his fair chest.
Lu Yanzhi struggled backward with all his might, but Xiao Li dropped to her knees between his legs and viciously kneed him.
"Ugh!"
The color drained from his face, and he crumpled in agony.
Xiao Li pinned him down, holding him still. Her fingertips traced a path across his handsome face and down his neck, seeming to head for his chest, but then they shot back up and clamped viciously around his throat.
Lu Yanzhi arched his head back in pain. He knew some martial arts, and he was a grown man, yet he was stunned to find he couldn’t break free from Xiao Li’s grasp.
A mad glint filled Xiao Li’s eyes. She was smiling, yet the pressure from her grip only grew stronger.
At that moment, Lu Yanzhi finally realized it. ’I’ve driven her insane. She’s actually trying to kill me!’
He desperately tried to pry her hand away, but her grip was like stone. He used enough force to break her bones, yet he couldn’t move her an inch. All he could feel was the hand on his neck tightening, the air growing impossibly thin.
Just as Lu Yanzhi was about to black out, Xiao Li released him.
She remained looming over him, her smile both chilling and regretful. "I really want to just strangle you to death, but that would be letting you off far too easily."
Clutching his throat, Lu Yanzhi gagged painfully, choking on the blood that filled his mouth. He couldn’t form a single word.
Xiao Li grabbed his chin, forcing him to look at her. "Lu Yanzhi, you hate me. What right do you have to hate me? Is it just because I was the one the Emperor decreed you would marry?"
"Hah! How absurd!"
"Princess Xuanyang didn’t ask the Emperor for this marriage because she liked you; she came to like you *because* the Emperor decreed you would marry."
"Princess Xuanyang simply fell in love with her own legitimate husband. What crime is there in that?"
"You were forced to marry a princess, forced to marry a woman you didn’t like. But you don’t resent the Lu family for failing to refuse on your behalf, nor do you resent the Emperor for crushing you with his authority. Instead, you resent a woman who had no control over her own destiny, yet loved you with all her heart. A pure and noble gentleman? Pah! You’re nothing but a coward who preys on the weak and fears the strong."
"Princess Xuanyang lost her mother and was raised under the Empress’s care from a young age. Her life was never her own to control; she had no choice. But you? You’re telling me you had no choice?"
"If you were so opposed to this marriage, why didn’t you refuse it? The Lu Family supposedly loves you so much, so why did they still choose to wrong you and sacrifice you?"
"You’re so proud, so high and mighty. Is this your ’nobility’? Not daring to vent your frustrations on anyone else, but having the guts to throw a fit at Princess Xuanyang, the one person who truly loved you!"
"For three years of marriage, she poured her heart out to you. All Princess Xuanyang wanted was a sliver of your affection, to be a real husband and wife with you. But you? You just saw her as a shameless woman desperate for a man, so you sent a guard to humiliate your own wife."
"Lu Yanzhi, what about your sagely books? Your sense of propriety, justice, integrity, and honor? What happened to your morals?"
Lu Yanzhi stared at Xiao Li, stunned and speechless.
Xiao Li stood up, but still seething, she couldn’t stop herself from slapping him viciously across the face again.
"Your entire family wants to use this as an opportunity to get rid of me, but you know perfectly well that the Emperor would never decree a divorce. So you pinned all your hopes on me, hoping I’d grow to despise you and finally set you free."
"Hah! Did any of you stop to think? If the Emperor forbids our divorce, am I supposed to go head-to-head with him?"
"Is it that you don’t know? You all know perfectly well, you just refuse to think about it! You’re all just cowards who prey on the weak! That’s why you knelt in the palace, not daring to let out a peep, yet you have the guts to get drunk and come here to make a scene!"
"Consummate our marriage? Do you think I still give a damn about a scumbag like you?"
In the end, Lu Yanzhi was dragged from Xiao Li’s room, disheveled and half-dressed. His left cheek was swollen and red, with beads of blood trickling at the edges—a clear sign of how viciously he had been hit.
The entire Chaoyang Courtyard was deathly silent.
Everyone methodically went about their duties—tidying, sweeping, and mopping the floors—but they all moved with extreme care, not daring to make a sound. They hardly even dared to breathe.
Hong Yue went to brew a fresh pot of calming herbal tea, while Lan Yue and Nanny Qian, their faces etched with distress, applied medicine to Xiao Li’s arms and wrists.
She had used lethal force trying to kill Lu Yanzhi, and in his desperate struggle, he had left countless deep, bleeding scratches on her hands. The sight was gruesome.
The two women looked on in fear, not daring to apply too much pressure as they tended to her wounds.
’The Prince Consort and the Princess... their fight was far too vicious.’
Having thoroughly vented her frustrations, Xiao Li was in high spirits and didn’t feel much pain from her hands.
Back when she was trapped in the original owner’s body, forced to watch events unfold, Xiao Li had been filled with a burning hatred. But that hatred always ended in the helpless feeling of being unable to reach through a screen to slap someone.
Now that she was finally in control of this body, that beating had felt incredible! ’So satisfying!’
’Bottling up your anger only hurts you. Letting it out on others makes them suffer instead.’
’The internet truly never lies!’
News from the Princess Mansion spread as if it had wings. While not widely circulated, it reached everyone who was meant to hear it.
The on-edge Emperor: ’...’ ’Just as I thought. I celebrated too soon.’
’Still, Lu Yanzhi got drunk and tried to bully her. He deserved a beating!’
The Empress Dowager, who had just started to think Xiao Li was becoming sensible: ’...’ ’This is completely lawless!’
’Unacceptable. Tomorrow, I must send someone to properly teach her some etiquette.’
The Lu Family: ’...’ ’The last of their hopes was finally extinguished.’
’What have we done to deserve this?!’
「Chen Prince Mansion」
Liu Xueyin clutched the blanket tightly around herself. Her exposed shoulders and arms were covered in bruises, both old and new. The room was thick with the scent of sex, but the man was long gone, leaving her battered and alone in the silent chamber.
She wept silent tears for her life.
Amid her sorrow, the thought of Lu Yanzhi struck her, and the grief became unbearable.
’Princess Xuanyang went back on her word... and she’s so vicious. What’s going to happen to Brother Yanzhi now?’
---
Xiao Li couldn’t have cared less what anyone outside was saying. The first thing she did upon waking the next morning was to have Yang Jun round people up.
The news had spread so quickly last night, and she had the spies in her own mansion to thank for it.
Messenger pigeons filled the sky, turning her residence into a place as porous as a sieve.
"Beat every single one of them. Once they confess who they’re spying for, throw them out and send them to their masters. If they can’t talk, sell them off."
Xiao Li thought her orders were ruthless enough, but some people just had to test her.
"I was gifted to you by Her Majesty the Empress Dowager. If the Princess intends to sell this old servant, she should first ask if the Empress Dowager agrees."
"I was a gift to the Princess from His Majesty."
’No wonder they’re so defiant,’ she thought. ’Their backers are indeed people a mere princess like me can’t touch.’
But they had made one crucial mistake. The only people Xiao Li didn’t dare to touch were the Emperor and the Empress Dowager. She couldn’t care less about anyone else.
"Beat them!"
Xiao Li not only had them beaten, but she sold them off immediately afterward.
Once they were all dealt with, she sent a message to the Emperor, claiming it was all for the sake of the Royal Family’s honor.
She was a woman who intended to keep male consorts. If news from within her mansion was constantly being leaked, wouldn’t that bring shame upon the entire Royal Family?
Furthermore, it was best that the Emperor and the Empress Dowager remained ignorant of her affairs with said consorts, lest the details dirty their ears.
The Emperor: "..."
This bizarrely twisted yet strangely logical argument left him speechless.
’Should he praise her for being so considerate?’
Not only had Xiao Li left him speechless, but she was also brazenly ordering him around. She not only wanted him to help explain things to the Empress Dowager, but she also claimed she had suffered a "work-related injury" and demanded that the Emperor send an Imperial Physician and grant her medicinal herbs and tonics.
The Emperor’s vision swam. He was in disbelief. No one had ever dared to order him around so brazenly, let alone extort things from him.
But at the very end of the letter, Xiao Li had written that it was now a fight to the death between her and the Lu family. She was going to eradicate the Lu family, make them disappear completely!
The Emperor knew it was an impossible task, but he couldn’t deny that he was pleased by her words.
"Someone, summon the Imperial Physician!"