Chapter 1402 - 1409: Father-in-law and Father-in-law (1)
Ning Huaixiu had been utterly disheartened since she was injured that night. Although she was grateful that the Empress Dowager did not kick her while she was down and was willing to lend her a hand, she could not hide her own disappointment. After all, the man who loathed her like vermin was the one she had deeply loved for many years—loved with all her heart, her liver, and her very marrow.
Since her injury, she had been lying in the room recuperating every day. In just a few short days, she had already experienced the warmth and coldness of the world.
The palace maids living in the same room all knew of her original status and looked down on her self-inflicted degradation with disdain. Though they did not trample over her, each one of them treated her like she was air, unwilling to engage with her.
Throughout these days, not a single person had spoken to her. Whenever people saw her, they showed mocking and contemptuous expressions, something she, as a young lady who had been pampered from childhood, had never experienced.
The attitude of those around her made her feel so ashamed she could find no place to hide, and her heart was filled with sorrow. If not for fear of causing her parents grief, she would have rather dashed her head to death than endure such contempt and disgust!
When Huan Qiu came to summon her, she was lying on the kang, staring blankly at the beam above.
Her identity was no longer that of the thousand-gold daughter of the Chancellor’s mansion; she was just an ordinary palace maid, forced to sleep on a communal kang with more than a dozen others, without a private space to bathe, change clothes, or even relieve herself. Everything had to be done under the watchful eyes of everyone else, making her feel extremely ashamed. But, helpless and filled with shame, she also deeply regretted her rash decision to enter the palace.
"Ning Huaixiu, the Empress Dowager summons you to see her!"
Upon hearing this, Ning Huaixiu quickly scrambled up from the kang, hurriedly changed her clothes, and combed her hair. The Empress Dowager was her only hope. If she wished to leave this place alive, only the Empress Dowager could make it happen. As such, she had been eagerly anticipating a summons from the Empress Dowager these past few days.