The Rebirth of the Vengeful Empress from a Military Family

Chapter V: An Eye for an Eye

Volume I: The Spring Breeze is Only a Stranger

Chapter V: An Eye for an Eye (针锋)

"Unfilial granddaughter, why have you not knelt down yet?!"

Despite the Old Madame's words, Shen Miao remained unmoving.

Everyone stared at Shen Miao, shocked. Shen Xin's generalship kept his family away from the Capital all year, which left Shen Miao's upbringing to Old Madame Shen. The Old Madame treated Shen Miao harshly and raised her to be timid and fragile. The young girl has never went against the Old Madame's words before, but she actually dares not to kneel this time?

Will Shen Miao really became fearless as long as the matter is related to Prince Ding?

Shen Miao calmly questions, "Paternal Grandmother, what wrong has the Fifth Young Miss committed?"

"Has the fever confounded Fifth Younger Sister?" Shen Yue asks, her face uneasy. "Paternal Grandmother is merely angry and does not truly intend to give Fifth Younger Sister any punishment. This is Fifth Younger Sister's opportunity to repent for her wrongdoing and apologize. Why must she be intransigent?" 

With this sentence, Shen Miao is accused not only of refusing to admit and correct her mistakes, but also of offending her elders. 

"Insolent! You have gone too far!" Old Madame Shen stands up in rage, her voice shrill. Shen Yuan Bai is so scared by her sudden movement that he accidentally drops his bowl of Steamed Sugar and Milk Pastry. The child breaks down crying.

Ren Wan Yun sees her weeping son and calls to him, saying, "Seventh Son must not cry any longer." She immediately rushes towards the boy and envelops him in her arms. She looks at Shen Miao with disdain. "The Fifth Young Miss has gone mad, who taught her to disrespect her elders?"

Shen Miao stares at Ren Wan Yun.

Red-faced and white-skinned, the plump Second Madame, Ren Wan Yun, is dressed in long blue silk clothes embroidered with clouds. Perpetually smiling, anyone who sees her thinks of her as warm and good-natured. A worthy wife and daughter-in-law, Ren Wan Yun holds the power of running the residence, and everyone commended the fairness and sense of justice she displayed when handling matters.

That had been how Shen Miao regarded her until the day she got married. Shen Xin included almost half of his fortune into her dowry, but when she arrived at Prince Ding's Residence, the dowry she brought in had only been a fraction of what her father intended it to be. Why? Of course, Ren Wan Yun had gobbled up the rest.

Ren Wan Yun took away the valuable items in her dowry. Even the shops her father gave her also changed owners. Shen Xin had been away from the Capital, and Shen Miao married into Prince Ding's Residence seeming like an idiot. The problem with her dowry made everyone in Prince Ding's Residence look down on her. All of this can be credited to her good Second Aunt's 'fairness' and 'sense of justice'.

"Does Second Aunt mean to say that the Fifth Young Miss is wrong?" Shen Miao whispers, "But the Fifth Young Miss does not know what wrong thing she has committed."

"Idiot!" Old Madame Shen cannot hold herself back, thus she curses Shen Miao at once. "You may be young, but you have no shame! You peeped at His Imperial Highness Prince Ding and brought dishonor to the Shen Residence! You dare to talk back to me, who taught you good manners? You truly cannot be shown in public!"

Shen Miao sighs in her heart. Old Madame Shen puts on such an arrogant air, but when she starts speaking, she still talks like a lowly songstress. Which noble family has an Old Madame who speaks like this? She resembles the prostitutes mentioned in the Three Doctrines and Nine Philosophies. Shen Miao had not thought this way in her previous life, but after living as an Empress, she now feels as if talking to Old Madame Shen has lowered her own status.