Dugu Jingyao is reborn as Li Chu's beloved

Chapter 381 Greetings

After Li Chu and Dugu Jingyao finished their breakfast, Dugu Jingyao escorted Li Chu out of Wangyuexuan to attend court. When they reached the entrance of Wangyuexuan, Li Chu asked Dugu Jingyao to go back first, and Dugu Jingyao did as she was told.

As a result, Li Chu had just taken two steps out of Wangyuexuan when he bumped into Cui Caiping.

Last night, Cui Caiping was left alone in the house by Li Chu. She went to Li Wanqing's room. Cui Caiping was furious and wanted to smash things to vent her anger. However, she calmed down after a while. After all, she was not at home now. She was not the pampered daughter of the emperor. She was just a concubine. How could she have the right to throw things around? What if something was broken and the princess didn't repair it? Thinking of this, she forced herself to calm down.

Finally, she decided to find a way to meet Li Chu by chance and let him see her more often. What if one day he likes her? Not only that, she also wanted to create a situation where Li Wanqing was spoiled and arrogant, so that Li Chu would dislike her, so that she would have a better chance.

But this collision was not planned by her. It was just because she couldn't sleep last night and got up a little late today, so she was afraid of missing Li Chu. As she walked forward, she looked back from time to time to scold Lian Xin and Mo Xin, which was why she bumped into Li Chu.

Fortunately, Li Chu still caught her. However, when he saw Cui Caiping in his arms, he didn't give her a chance to act coquettishly. He frowned and said, "How can you be so flustered?"

Cui Caiping also came back to her senses and said in a gentle voice, "Your Highness, I woke up late today and was afraid that I would be late to pay my respects to the princess. That's why I was scolding them for not waking me up, and that's why I accidentally bumped into you."

Li Chu felt that this was not something Cui Caiping would do, but his brows relaxed a little. However, his voice did not change at all. He just said, "Haven't you laid down enough? Get up quickly."

Cui Caiping knew it was inappropriate to stay any longer, so she quickly left Li Chu's arms and bowed, saying, "It's all my fault for being too careless. I will be more careful next time."

Li Chu didn't offer any soothing words upon hearing this, but instead said, "Alright, I'm going to court. Aren't you going to pay your respects to the princess? Why don't you go?"

After saying this, Li Chu ignored Cui Caiping without waiting for her to say anything else.

Despite this, Cui Caiping was still a little excited. After all, she had just had physical contact with Li Chu, and he didn't throw her to the ground directly, which meant that if she tried harder, she would still have a chance!

With this feeling, Cui Caiping stood up and went to Wangyue Pavilion. When she entered Wangyue Pavilion, the maid in the courtyard saw that it was Cui Caiping who came and came forward to greet her, saying, "This servant pays respects to Cui Liangdi."

Cui Caiping was in a good mood at the moment. She smiled and asked the maid to stand up and ask, "Is the princess here? I'm here to pay my respects to her."

The maid bowed her head and said respectfully, "Dear Concubine Cui Liang, the princess is here. I will take you to the flower hall to wait." After that, she made a "please" gesture and led Cui Caiping to the flower hall.

Cui Caiping was originally in a good mood, but when she saw the decoration and furnishings of Wangyuexuan, all of which were better than her Linglong Pavilion, and Wangyuexuan was also much larger than her Linglong Pavilion, she began to feel jealous again.

She sat at the lower left, and a maid came to serve her tea. However, she was unhappy with Wangyuexuan, so she wanted to take it out on the maid.

So she gave a look to Mo Xin next to her. Mo Xin understood and deliberately tripped the maid with her foot. The maid lost her grip on the tea bowl, and it fell to the ground, splashing tea onto Cui Caiping's skirt.

Cui Caiping immediately stood up and shouted, "How do you do things? Are you going to burn this concubine to death?"

The maid immediately knelt down and saluted, saying, "Please understand, Lady Liang, this servant did not do it on purpose. It was..."

Cui Caiping continued, "What is it? Someone who does things roughly and clumsily. Is this the person the princess is training?"

Dugu Jingyao was in her bedroom. Hearing that Cui Caiping had come to pay her respects, she couldn't help but laugh, "It's really the sun that's rising from the west. She's actually here to pay her respects to me so early. Let's go and take a look."

As she reached the door, she heard Cui Caiping's powerful voice scolding her maid. Dugu Jingyao smiled inwardly, "As expected, I knew it wasn't a good thing for her to come so early."

So she walked in and asked, "What happened? Why the noise?"

Everyone turned to greet Dugu Jingyao upon hearing her voice. Cui Caiping also bowed reluctantly: "Greetings to the princess."

After Dugu Jingyao sat down, she called out, "It's Cui Liang Di who's here. I heard her voice from afar. What happened?"

Cui Caiping then sat down and said, "I came to pay my respects to you, but this lowly slave threw tea at me. Please, Princess, take action."

Upon hearing this, Dugu Jingyao looked at the kneeling maid and said, "I remember you, Chunfen, right? Why did you throw tea at Cui Liangdi?"

Chunfen had never expected that the princess would remember her, even though she was the lowest-ranking maid in Wangyue Pavilion. So she kowtowed and said, "My princess, I am Chunfen. However, I did not intentionally spill tea on Cui Liangdi. It was the sister next to Cui Liangdi who tripped me, and I was not paying attention and broke the tea bowl."

Mo Xin immediately knelt down and saluted, "Princess, how could I let someone throw water on our Concubine Liangdi?"

Dugu Jingyao didn't jump to conclusions after hearing this, but instead asked, "Did anyone else see what happened?"

Two maids outside the door heard this and decided to help Chunfen. So they came in and one of them bowed and said, "Princess, I saw that it was the sister next to Cui Liangdi who tripped Chunfen."

Another maid echoed, "Yes, Princess, I saw it too."

Mo Xin was a little panicked at this time, so she said, "Princess, they are slandering me, I didn't do that!"

Lian Xin also knelt down and said, "It's the Princess, Mo Xin would never harm her own master."

Dugu Jingyao was overwhelmed by their arguing opinions, and she didn't want to waste any more time talking to them. So she slammed the table and said, "Alright, all of you, shut up! You're making such a fuss! Do you think you're street shrews?"

Dugu Jingyao slammed the table, and the crowd fell completely silent. Dugu Jingyao continued, "Since you both insist on your own opinions, Mo Xin belongs to you, my sister, and Chunfen belongs to my court, then both of you will be punished. Chunfen broke the tea bowl and nearly burned Cui Liangdi, so I'll give her ten lashes on the hand as a warning to others. Mo Xin, you failed to protect your master, so I'll fine you one month's salary. Do you accept the punishment?"

Chunfen knelt down and kowtowed to admit it, and even if Mo Xin didn't want to admit it, he had no choice but to agree reluctantly.

Cui Caiping was about to say something, but Dugu Jingyao said in a menacing voice, "Shijian, you will personally carry out the Spring Equinox punishment. It will be carried out right here."

Cui Caiping said nothing more, and Shi Jian walked up to Chunfen with a ruler and said, "Chunfen, I'm sorry." Then he began the execution.

Just at this time, Li Wanqing arrived late and saw Chunfen being slapped with a stick. So she stayed outside for a while. After Chunfen finished being slapped with a stick, the maid in the courtyard led Li Wanqing to the flower hall.

Although Li Wanqing didn't know why, she still wanted to pay her respects to Dugu Jingyao. So, she endured the discomfort and walked forward to Dugu Jingyao and bowed politely: "Your concubine pays her respects to the princess."

Seeing Li Wanqing trying to be polite, Dugu Jingyao couldn't help but sigh: It seems that Li Chu was quite cruel to Li Wanqing last night... But she still kept a decent smile on her face and said, "Get up, sit down."

So Li Wanqing, with Cuizhu's support, stood up and walked to the right and sat down.

Cui Caiping was already feeling unhappy, so she said sarcastically, "Oh, Li Liangdi is so arrogant! She only slept with the princess once, and she's already late paying her respects to the princess. If this continues, she'll become arrogant."

Li Wanqing heard this and didn't expect that Cui Caiping was targeting her again. She felt so ruthless in her heart that she stood up and saluted again, saying, "Princess, I didn't do that. It was just when I went out that a servant was splashing water on me. I went back and changed my clothes, and now it's too late."

Upon hearing this, Dugu Jingyao glanced at Cui Caiping and Li Wanqing below her, and she knew that this was not an accident, but someone had done it deliberately.

So she said, "It's okay, it's just a little late. It's good that you're here. Please sit down first."

Cui Caiping became even more angry and asked, "How could the princess tolerate such an act of disrespect?"

Dugu Jingyao ignored her and asked, "Sister Li, do you still remember what that servant looked like?"

Li Wanqing was stunned, but she quickly realized that this wasn't an accident, and that the princess was going to settle accounts. So she nodded slightly and said, "I remember."

Cui Caiping's face showed a slight panic for a moment, but soon returned to normal.

Dugu Jingyao also nodded and said, "Then please stay for a while after paying your respects."

Li Wanqing agreed, and the matter was over for the time being.

Then, Shi Jian said, "My two concubines, it's time to serve tea to the princess."

So she and Si Jian each brought a cup of tea. She handed the tea to Li Wanqing first. Li Wanqing took the tea, walked lightly to Dugu Jingyao, knelt down and offered the tea: "Princess, please have some tea."

Dugu Jingyao took the tea, took a sip, and said, "Shijian, give it to Li Liangdi." Shijian then took out a red envelope and handed it to Li Wanqing. Li Wanqing took the red envelope and bowed, saying, "Thank you, Princess."

Then Si Jian brought the tea to Cui Caiping. Cui Caiping reluctantly took the tea, walked to Dugu Jingyao, and knelt down to serve the tea: "Princess, please have some tea."

When Dugu Jingyao was about to receive the tea, Cui Caiping deliberately held it loosely. Fortunately, both Dugu Jingyao and Si Jian were martial artists, so Dugu Jingyao caught the cup steadily. Feeling bored, Cui Caiping said indifferently, "Princess, be careful not to get burned."

Dugu Jingyao took a sip of tea and said, "If you want to take the position, you must bear the responsibility. Don't worry, Cui Liangdi, this tea won't burn me. But Cui Liangdi, you don't seem to be in good health. You should take care of yourself first so that you can give His Highness more children."

Cui Caiping was so angry that her teeth were itching, but she couldn't get angry either. She could only grit her teeth and say, "I understand, Princess."

Dugu Jingyao also asked Si Jian to give Cui Caiping a red envelope, and Cui Caiping then returned to her seat.

Dugu Jingyao then continued, "Since both of you have already offered me tea, we are now a family. However, I have to say this: if anyone causes trouble, I will not let them off."

They both agreed, and Dugu Jingyao then asked Shi Jian and Si Jian to give each of them a portion of the ointment and said, "This is a gift from me to you two sisters. It's not worth much, but I think it's good, so I prepared a portion for you two sisters as well."

Li Wanqing opened the small jar and sniffed it, then exclaimed in surprise, "This is from that popular cosmetics store in West City. It smells so good."

Cui Caiping initially scoffed at the words, thinking that Dugu Jingyao was petty, but when she heard that it was something called "My Beauty Secret", she took a look at it.

Dugu Jingyao smiled and said, "As long as you two sisters like it. Well, I don't have anything else to do. If it's okay, I don't have so many rules. You can just come and pay your respects on the first and fifteenth day of each month. If there's nothing else, please leave. Sister Li, please stay for a while."

Cui Caiping didn't want to stay here any longer, so she performed an awkward salute and walked out of the flower hall with her slender waist twisting.