Chapter 55: The Beauty’s Attempt at Kinship Ends in Humiliation

She had always enjoyed smooth sailing in her life, favored by the Fourth Prince, destined to be his future consort, and perhaps even the future empress. Every time she provoked others, she would always emerge victorious. She was the one who insulted and scolded others, never the one to suffer humiliation herself. How could she now be the one insulted? This was, for the first time in her life, an indignity she had never known.

Yet Hua Niaozi did not realize that, now that she had met Baili Tianzhang, the smooth course she had always taken was about to become a journey against the wind and tide.

“Little junior sister, teach her a lesson! Let this useless girl see the vast gulf between heaven and earth!” Hua Niaozi’s senior brothers eagerly cheered her on from the sidelines.

“Very well!” Hua Niaozi responded with a triumphant smile, and the spiritual energy at her fingertips surged menacingly toward Baili Tianzhang.

Baili Tianzhang was about to dodge on her own when, suddenly, she felt her feet leave the ground and her body fall into a warm, powerful embrace.

A gentle voice followed, “Little fairy, leave such insignificant matters to me.”

“Mm, all right,” she replied.

Baili Tianzhang smiled softly, her heart overflowing with willingness. If she had been forced to withstand Hua Niaozi’s attack alone, she would surely have been defeated!

“Ninth... Ninth Prince? Are you truly the Ninth Prince?” Hua Niaozi’s senior brothers and sisters were struck dumb, as if thunderstruck, at the sudden appearance of Nalan Di Jiu.

“Ninth Prince, do you know this useless, ugly girl?” Hua Niaozi covered her mouth in disbelief, her mind reeling as she tried to recover herself.

Nalan Di Jiu did not spare them a glance. In a soft, caring tone, he spoke instead to Baili Tianzhang: “You must be thirsty after all that talk. I brought tea especially for you—come, have a sip to soothe your throat.”

With that, he brought the white porcelain teacup he held in his other hand to Baili Tianzhang’s lips. Even amidst all the commotion, not a single drop of tea had spilled from the cup—it was as still and undisturbed as a mirror.

Everyone in the grand hall was left utterly astonished. They had sensed from the start that this young man was extraordinary, but they had never expected him to be the Ninth Prince!

“Ninth Prince, this useless, ugly girl bullied me…” Hua Niaozi, having regained her wits, adopted a pitiful and captivating expression and stepped forward to stand before the Ninth Prince.

After all, the Ninth Prince was the emperor’s brother, making her and the prince relatives by marriage. Besides, she was a beauty with talents far above the useless, ugly girl—surely, by showing her most pitiable side, the Ninth Prince would cast that ugly girl aside and comfort her instead?

But Hua Niaozi could never have dreamed how wrong she was.

With a sharp crack, a sudden gust of wind swept through the air. The Ninth Prince remained motionless, but half of Hua Niaozi’s delicate face was left red and swollen as if struck by a slab of tofu.

She had never imagined she would walk straight into Nalan Di Jiu’s punishment.

Baili Tianzhang could not help but let out a laugh.

“That useless, ugly girl dares to mock me!” Hua Niaozi cursed inwardly, but on her face she wore an even more pitiful expression, hoping to elicit sympathy.