Chapter 144 Audacious Behavior

As she approached the palace gate, she saw many palace maids in gorgeous clothes whom she didn't know at all standing guard at the entrance. From the courtyard came several dull sounds, including the sound of the board hitting the flesh and the cries of pain that were stifled in the mouth. Pan Yueqing stood at the gate and hadn't had a chance to enter when she was stopped by the two leading palace maids: "Miss, please don't go in."

Pan Yueqing raised her eyes and looked at these two palace maids with stony faces: "Why?"

A palace maid who seemed to be of a higher rank just raised her eyes indifferently and glanced at Pan Yueqing: "His Majesty said that the people around you are not obedient. This servant thinks that there is no point in keeping an unruly dog."

Pan Yueqing nodded: "I haven't asked yet, who are you?"

"This servant is Ping Shang, a second-class palace maid beside His Majesty."

After learning her name, Pan Yueqing nodded thoughtfully, stood by with her hands in her sleeves, and saw several guards patrolling not far away. She raised her hand and waved to them. The guards probably heard that there was a noble person living here, so they didn't dare to be negligent and quickly came forward. But the leading guard just knelt on one knee. Before he could introduce himself, Pan Yueqing reached out and directly pulled out the long sword from his waist.

"Noble One!" The guard was a bit flustered, but it was already too late. Pan Yueqing raised the sword and put it directly on the neck of the palace maid: "Get out of the way." Then she turned her head and cast a stern gaze at the guard who stood up to take back the sword: "Don't move!"

This unexpected turn of events made the palace maids guarding the palace gate a bit flustered, but the leading Ping Shang was unyielding: "Please be obedient, Miss. Once the things inside are taken care of, this servant will naturally let you in."

Pan Yueqing probably vented all her dissatisfaction on Ping Shang: "Are you the master or am I the master? Don't they even know how to teach servants in the imperial palace?" After saying that, she kicked the other's knee bend. She turned the sword and knocked it on the shoulder of the senior palace maid Ping Shang with a clang: "How can His Majesty still keep you by his side, you unruly dog?"

Ping Shang's expressionless face finally showed a trace of panic: "This servant has the permission of His Majesty!"

"Heh, I don't allow it." Pan Yueqing released her, carried the long sword on her shoulder, and swaggered into the palace gate. Ping Shang quickly stood up. But Pan Yueqing turned around at the threshold. Her gaze stopped the palace maid who accompanied His Majesty in her tracks. The moment Pan Yueqing crossed the threshold, the eunuchs inside who were holding up the boards slowly stopped their movements.

Pan Yueqing didn't bother to pretend to be a refined lady anymore. She threw the sword in front of the stool where Eunuch Wei was lying. There was a clear sound when the iron weapon hit the blue stone bricks. Pan Yueqing said with a solemn face to those eunuchs: "Are you all dead? Don't you know you should greet me when you see me?"

"Greetings to Miss Yue." The eunuch who was executing the punishment looked a bit resentful, but he knew very well that in front of that person, this young lady was the apple of his eye. So he stopped everyone with a flattering smile and knelt down to pay his respects to Pan Yueqing properly. Pan Yueqing took two steps forward, grabbed the heavy board, and started hitting the eunuch in charge of the punishment.

"Ouch! Ouch! Noble One, be careful with your hands!"

Pan Yueqing stopped: "Who told you to touch my people?"

How dare the eunuch in charge say it was His Majesty? So he slapped himself: "This servant has no eyes! This servant deserves to die!"

Pan Yueqing sneered: "Your life is precious, Eunuch. How dare I bear your words of 'deserving to die'? Go back and tell him that if he has something to say, tell me. There's no need to lose his temper with these small fry."

"You're really audacious."

A familiar voice suddenly came from behind. It seemed that every time she saw Qi Tai's figure by accident. His Majesty the Emperor was wearing a sandalwood-colored casual robe, and there were several fish tokens and sachets pinned to the jade hook belt around his waist. Pan Yueqing turned around and looked at Qi Tai with a solemn face. She stood alone in front of a row of palace maids and eunuchs who were pressed on the stools and almost fainted from the beating. She involuntarily looked away: "This subject has overstepped."

"Come with me." Qi Tai let out a long sigh and still didn't blame her with his good temper.

Pan Yueqing didn't move and just stood there staring straight at Qi Tai.

Qi Tai was surprised: "Didn't you just say that I should tell you directly if I have something to say?"

Pan Yueqing spoke slowly, as if borrowing courage from the sky: "His Majesty sent these servants to serve me. Logically speaking, they are my people. Now you want to beat or kill them without my consent. For the sake of fairness, there's nothing for me to talk about with His Majesty."

"Fairness?" Qi Tai seemed to have heard such words for the first time and couldn't help but smile: "You're talking about fairness with me? I am the Emperor of the Northern Qi Dynasty, ruling over the whole country..."

But Pan Yueqing sneered: "I can't even be the master of this small place. I'm afraid I'll suffer a lot of grievances in the future."

Qi Tai fell silent. Looking at Pan Yueqing's stubborn appearance, a similar face involuntarily emerged in his memory. Under that face, there was the person he had loved for more than ten years, his little sister, Su Lan whom he had sent off for marriage.

It was the same back then.

Qi Tai ascended the throne at the age of five. The Northern Qi Dynasty was in a precarious situation. For the sake of the Northern Qi Dynasty, the old Marquis Dingyuan died on the battlefield. The entire northern border front line collapsed. The Northern Qi Dynasty had no generals available. Even the Grand Madam Zhao, who had just given birth to a daughter less than three months ago, had to go into battle. His little sister came to his side under such circumstances and became the adopted daughter of Empress Dowager Su.

Empress Dowager Su once said that the Qi family owed the Su family. The reason why the Qi family ruled over the whole country was not that his father left him a prosperous and peaceful world, but that the head of the Su family and thirty-seven generals fought desperately for it. If it weren't for protecting the Qi family, the Su family wouldn't have been severely weakened, leaving only orphans and widows, and the Shen family in the capital wouldn't have become so dominant.

But for the sake of the Northern Qi Dynasty, the former glory of the Su family was hard to repeat.

The Qi family owed the Su family, so they would definitely raise the Su family's child as their own. At that time, the young Qi Tai had two brothers and a little sister by his side all at once. He was taken away from his biological mother and brought to his adoptive mother. He was trembling with fear, afraid that one day his adoptive mother would be unhappy and replace him.

But he really liked his little sister.

After all, Empress Dowager Su was Empress Dowager Su. When she married into the royal family and supported the young emperor through the turbulent times filled with blood and death, in her eyes, it wasn't just about blood ties or love between men and women. Therefore, she didn't allow Qi Tai to marry his childhood sweetheart, Su Lan, but hoped that he would marry into the Shen family. The Su family would never betray him, so this important position should be used to gain the support of the Shen family.

That night, at the age of seventeen, Qi Tai knelt in front of the tablets of his ancestors for a whole night. Then he stumbled to find his little sister. The best solution he could think of was that he would marry the Shen family's daughter and make his little sister a noble concubine at the same time.

"Does Your Majesty know about Emperor Taizong of Tang and Concubine Yang?" Su Lan's faint gaze still lingered in his heart: "Emperor Taizong of Tang also loved Concubine Yang, but although Concubine Yang was a noble concubine, she was still a concubine after all. How could I, Su Lan, be a concubine?"

"I can't even be the master of this small place today. I don't know how many grievances I'll have to endure in the future. How can I, Su Lan, endure grievances so easily?"