The Plan to Raise a Poisonous Woman - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Fu’an was noisily devouring a roasted sweet potato, getting it all over her hands and mouth.

This child was nothing like that affected mother of hers.

As I recalled, Xie Shuran had always been ridiculously fussy. Even when she ate a tiny pastry, she had to cut it into little pieces and spear them with a skewer.

How had she raised her child to be so… feral?

I had no intention of raising Fu’an.

At the end of the day, she was trouble, and I had no desire to invite trouble for no reason.

I planned to send her away first thing tomorrow morning.

No, I would dump her directly on the Empress.

That woman was the best at putting on a righteous front, after all. A master of sanctimonious hypocrisy.

When the time came, I would take Fu’an to the gates of her palace and cry.

Yes. That was exactly what I would do.

But the next day, as if Fu’an knew what I was thinking, she refused to leave no matter what.

“Does Consort Wan not want Fu’an anymore?”

“If Fu’an did something wrong, Fu’an will change. Please, Consort Wan, please don’t not want Fu’an.”

The little girl sobbed until her voice went hoarse.

Cuizhu, standing beside us, was fanning the flames.

“Your Highness, the little princess is so pitiful. Let’s just keep her.”

“When this servant changed the little princess’s clothes last night, I saw that the poor child was covered in injuries.”

“In this palace, people are always fawning over the powerful and trampling on the weak. Consort Xian has been gone less than a month, and the princess has already suffered all manner of cold treatment and abuse.”

As Cuizhu spoke, she looked ready to start crying too.

My head throbbed from the racket the big one and the little one were making, so I had no choice but to agree for the time being.

Xie Shuran, even in death, you refuse to let me live in peace.

Chapter 4

To put it plainly, the Xie family and mine were generational enemies.

To summarize, her grandmother and my grandmother had both taken a fancy to the top scholar of their day.

From the moment we entered the palace, we were at odds.

She thought I was arrogant, lawless, and looked down on everyone. I thought she was fake, sanctimonious, and hypocritical.

In short, we could not stand each other.

The harem itself was one enormous battlefield.

A group of noble young ladies, each raised with endless pampering, had to fight and scheme over a single man.

They racked their brains trying to snatch what little favor there was from one another’s hands.

Xie Shuran feigned illness and stole the Emperor from me eight times.

I twisted my ankle in the Imperial Garden and intercepted him halfway to her five times.

Compared with all those open and hidden struggles, the two of us were truly like fire and water.

Everyone in the palace could see that Xie Shuran and I did not get along.

So when word spread that Princess Fu’an was staying in my palace,

the entire harem settled in to watch the show.

And the Empress was the first one who could no longer sit still.