Lady Zhang, seeing that the situation was indeed irreversible, struggled feebly while pleading with Ye Xinyan, wailing, "Ye Zi, Ye Zi, the Third Aunt was wrong, the Third Aunt will definitely change, please forgive me this once. Congwen and Congwu will never offend Brother Jia again, for the sake of Huahua’s young age, please spare the Third Aunt this one time, lest she be frightened."
Ye Xinyan’s expression remained unshaken, "My Qi Jiaer also grew up from a child. When he was as young as your daughter, who would hold him and cherish him ? If your daughter is a person, is Qi Jia not a person?"
Lady Zhang seemed to suddenly find the crux of the matter, pointing with her free hand at Madam Pang and saying, "It was her doing, it was all her doing, it has nothing to do with me. Ye Zi, you should go after her, her."
Madam Pang watched as the old woman servant and the guards dealt with the Zhang couple. Hearing Lady Zhang trying to push the blame onto her, Madam Pang’s face turned ashen, cursing Lady Zhang in her heart for her shamelessness, only seeking to save herself without any concern for family loyalty. Yet her heart was also in her throat, fearing Qi Ye would be unreasonable and dig up past incidents.
Yet Ye Xinyan did not look in the direction Zhang was pointing; she just sneered, "If Madam Pang still dares to bully Qi Jiaer, she certainly won’t get away with it. Let’s resolve today’s matters first, and we can discuss the future later." With that, she waved her hand at Nanny Liu.
Nanny Liu barked sharply, "What’s all this noise during the New Year’s? Slap her face."
Those from Anshun’s Household had already rolled up their sleeves. Watching Nanny Jin eager to try, she sneered, "Nanny Jin, you might as well just watch; this is not something you can handle."
"..." Everyone in the room fell silent. Was there really something in such a matter that couldn’t be done? Who wouldn’t know how to slap a face?
Yet Ye Xinyan knew that those from Anshun’s Household, being often by the side of the Duchess, had no shortage of experience in slapping faces; they truly excelled in this.
With a strong grip from Nanny Ding, Lady Zhang grimaced and knelt on the ground.
The woman from Anshun’s Household delivered a slap, sharp and resonant. Accompanied by the crisp sound was Lady Zhang’s wail, a harrowing scream that struck fear into those who heard it, yet there was no mark of a slap on Lady Zhang’s face.
Lady Wang and the others were stunned. They had thought that, with such a loud smack, Lady Zhang’s cheek would swell red immediately. Yet to their surprise, accompanying Lady Zhang’s screams, there was hardly any sign on her face.
As Lady Zhang screamed in agony, not only did Huahua’s crying grow louder with tears streaming down her face, but Qi Congwen and Qi Congwu also started to cry. Qi Congwen wanted to move forward to help Lady Zhang but was firmly held back by Madam Song, only able to watch helplessly as her mother was hit.
The woman from Anshun’s Household followed with another slap.
Ye Xinyan said to Qi Jiaer, "Watch carefully, it’s this person. In the past, she stood by and watched you being abused by your stepmother, did nothing to stop it, and even helped her own children bully you. These evildoers are actually not scary at all. They only bully the weak, but they are nothing when faced with someone powerful. Qi Jia is no longer that child who can be bullied by others. You don’t need to fear her anymore, nor those people from the third branch."
Qi Jiaer’s eyes shone as she watched Lady Zhang get slapped again and again. She no longer cowered but occasionally glanced at Madam Pang with her dark eyes, turning Madam Pang’s already pale face to an ashen green.
Anshun’s Household hand seemed rather adept, and to the side, Nanny Liu would occasionally remind, "Do not hit until it bleeds, be careful not to frighten our young master."
Anshun’s Household employee responded, "As for what I do, is there a need for Nanny Liu to remind me?" Saying so, he paused and glanced at Qi Jiaer, then continued, "Nanny is overly worried. According to what the old servant woman has heard, our young master has seen plenty of blood before and is not afraid of his own, so why would he be scared of someone else’s? In the future, when the young master grows up, if anyone bullies him, he should take action himself and settle the score."
"..." Ye Xinyan was speechless. Nanny Qiao, upon leaving the capital, seemed to have become very different from before. She spoke without fear of setting a bad example for children.
Twenty slaps didn’t take much time, and it was soon over. Lady Zhang’s wails were heartrending, but her cheeks only seemed slightly reddened. To those unaware, it might appear as if Lady Zhang was feigning injury, suffering little harm. However, to Ye Xinyan, whose memories of Duke An’s Mansion were fresh, it was this seemingly innocuous redness that truly hurt unbearably, swelling grotesquely within half a day and not an exaggeration to liken it to a pig’s head. The recovery was also slow, and, more importantly, once the injury healed, there were no lingering effects, making it extremely effective for disciplining servant women.
Anshun’s Household servant’s allegation that Nanny Jin couldn’t do this wasn’t wrong at all. It seemed the Duchess had indeed sent Anshun’s Household servant to Clear Water Village because the Duchess herself was not adept at punishing people.
With the slapping session over, Nanny Ding naturally didn’t bother to exert more strength holding Lady Zhang. As soon as Nanny Ding let go, Lady Zhang collapsed to the ground, her continual wailing accompanied by drool uncontrollably dripping from the corners of her mouth.
Lady Wang was shrewd. Hearing what Anshun’s Household servant said about Nanny Jin’s inability and seeing Lady Zhang’s barely reddened cheeks alongside her uncontrollable drooling, she knew that this servant woman from Duke’s Mansion had been underhanded.
Even though Lady Wang thought Lady Zhang deserved it, she still felt compassion when seeing it happen before her eyes. She gently scolded Qi Dong, "What are you standing there for, help your wife up!"
Lady Zhang had always been astute, and Qi Dong, seeing that she couldn’t even control her drool, was shocked. He hurried forward to help her up.
Although the slapping had ceased, the pain in Lady Zhang’s cheeks was still intense, and her vision was blurry. When Qi Dong reached to help her, she instinctively flinched before recognizing his voice, "Come on, get up, I’ll help you."
The tension in Lady Zhang’s mind eased, and tears flowed like a fountain. She wanted to cry out but felt as if her mouth and jaw weren’t her own, completely uncontrollable, unable to articulate even a single word properly.
Ye Xinyan surreptitiously rubbed her forehead, thinking of the sheer wickedness of this feudal society. To reach such a level of expertise, Anshun’s Household servant must have slapped countless people. Lucky for Lady Zhang, she had only ordered twenty slaps—if she had inadvertently said forty or fifty, who knows what state Lady Zhang would be in now.