I am the sole principal wife of the regent, a man whose power holds sway over the entire court.
Yet whenever the Grand Princess is displeased, I am sent to Ganlu Temple to reflect on my mistakes.
Sometimes for a month, sometimes for two or three years.
The first time, the Grand Princess woke from a nightmare in the middle of the night and shouted that there was something evil in my palace, and that I had offended her.
The second time, I accidentally broke her favorite vase.
The third time, the Grand Princess caught a cold, and Xiao Yan Heng took it upon himself to send me to Ganlu Temple and punish me by making me copy 99,999 volumes of scripture to pray for her recovery.
The fourth time, the fifth time, the eighteenth time...
I no longer remember the reason for each one.
At first, I felt wronged. Later, I grew furious and tried to fight back, but Xiao Yan Heng ordered his men to tie me behind a carriage and drag me all the way to Ganlu Temple in front of everyone.
Afterward, he ignored me for a full two years.
That time, all of the capital learned that the so-called regent’s wife, whose title was nothing but a sham, was a laughingstock.
Even the nuns at Ganlu Temple looked down on me. They dumped all the filthy, exhausting work on me and insulted and beat me whenever they pleased.
Whenever I was brought back, my body was covered in ghastly bruises.
Xiao Yan Heng only lectured me coldly.
“Next time, you must not offend Wan’er again!”
Little by little, my humiliation turned to despair.
The eighteenth time, Xiao Yan Heng was furious with me again over Xie Wan’er.
I said without expression,
“Understood. I’ll pack my things and go to Ganlu Temple right away.”
