The Fake Heiress Strikes Back

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[How dare a lowly maid spill tea on the imperial robes?]

A ragged maid knelt between the green bricks of the Hall of Three Sovereigns.

The Shen matriarch’s teacup crashed at her feet. “Lin Xiyue, your elder sister’s memorial tablet is barely cold, and you dare to steal her embroidered shoes?”

She wiped the tea from her face and curled her lip. “Did you put chinaberry seeds in your tea, Stepmother? Is that the same flavor as the tea you used to trick Father into marrying into your family?”

Who could have imagined that this illegitimate daughter, trampled into the mud, would become the new mistress of Fengyi Palace just three days later?

That day, she saved the emperor when he was attacked while traveling incognito. To escape the Shen matriarch’s attempt to silence her, she had no choice but to carry her elder sister’s memorial tablet into the palace in her place.

She had only hoped to get a meal out of it, but the cold-faced emperor kept staring at her. “When you saved Me that day, you mentioned ‘CPR.’ What sort of secret art is that?”

At a palace banquet, her younger half-sister served her a thorny date cake. “Have a taste, Sister. It was our late sister’s favorite.”

She picked up a date and bit down. “This date pit has the words ‘brings misfortune to her husband’ carved into it? Your handiwork is nowhere near as good as Stepmother’s was when she added musk to Father’s ginseng soup.”

The man on the throne smiled, lightly tapping the table with the jade thumb ring hidden in his sleeve. “My empress, do you have to get involved in household intrigue yourself? Starting tomorrow, the Imperial Household Department is yours to manage. If you want to punish anyone, have them dragged to the imperial garden to pull up tea seedlings.”