505: incompetent scumbag woman

The pink-and-purple-haired girl lowered her head even further, almost burying it in her chest.

Meng Jiang lifted her arm slightly and pinched the girl's chin, forcing her to look up. Her gaze lingered on the smudged lipstick, the moist eyes, and the sweat-dampened collarbone.

"You are quite pretty," Meng Jiang remarked. "And the makeup is done with care. Is this lip color that 'rotten tomato' shade popular in the mortal realm lately? It suits you."

The pink-and-purple-haired girl's face went pale, and her lips trembled: "Lady Meng, Lady Meng..."

"Why call me Lady?" Meng Jiang released her, took out a plain white handkerchief, and leisurely wiped the fingertips that had just touched the girl's chin.

"Just call me Sister. After all, you're already capable of sitting on Her Majesty's bedside to serve wine, so why stand on ceremony with This servant?"

After wiping, she tossed the handkerchief onto the lid of the incense burner nearby.

The white cloth covered the curling wisps of smoke, like a veil of shame cast over this farce.

Shang Wan Ning could no longer sit still.

She rose from the soft couch, smoothed her slightly open collar, and walked over to Meng Jiang, adopting a well-behaved posture. "Sister Meng, don't be like this. They just came to dance..."

"Dance." Meng Jiang turned her face to look at her. The warm light of the palace lamps reflected in her peach-blossom eyes, yet they lacked any warmth.

"Does dancing require pressing this close? Does it require sitting on Her Majesty's body? Does it require..."

"Does it require rubbing your body with that cloying scent?"

Shang Wan Ning instinctively looked down.

Beside her collarbone, sure enough, there was a trace of cloying fruity fragrance, likely picked up when the pink-and-purple-haired girl had leaned in too close earlier.

Her scalp tingled.

It's over.

Now, even if she jumped into the River of Oblivion, she wouldn't be able to wash this clean.

Meng Jiang didn't look at the Empress again. Her gaze swept calmly over the girls standing in a row behind her, starting from the pink-and-purple-haired one, to the black-haired young lady with a popped shirt button, and then to the others.

"The dancing..." she mused, as if weighing her words, "was very energetic."

The pink-and-purple-haired girl's eyelashes fluttered like butterfly wings.

"But the etiquette was lacking."

"Has Olexia not taught you what you should and shouldn't do when meeting Her Majesty?"

"She, she has taught us..." the pink-and-purple-haired girl's voice was as thin as a mosquito's hum.

"Taught, yet you still committed the offense?" Meng Jiang smiled lightly. To the girls, that laughter was more unsettling than a stern rebuke.

"It seems your daily practice is insufficient, and your minds have grown restless."

She turned and walked back to Shang Wan Ning's side, tilting her head to ask: "What does Her Majesty think?"

Little Four, who had been hiding in the System Space playing dead, finally couldn't hold it in any longer.

The ball of light bounced excitedly up and down in Shang Wan Ning's Sea of Consciousness, projecting a line of bold, flashing text:

[Is this it??? Is this it??? Host! Sister Meng's temper is too good! What happened to the promised Shura Field? What about the promised thunder and lightning, raging storms, and kneeling on a washboard?]

[I even took off my pants (crossed out) I even cleared my data cache, and this is all I get to see?]

[A gentle Older Sister Type tolerating a philandering (fake) girlfriend? This plot is wrong! Bad review! I want to see blood flowing like a river!!!]

Shang Wan Ning's temples throbbed from the electronic noise that suddenly exploded in her mind, and she immediately roared back in her heart:

"Shut up and watch the show quietly. If you make any more noise, I'm deducting next month's snacks."

Little Four: [Sob, Host, you're bullying the system again. I'm just worried for you! The atmosphere wasn't built up properly; it was lacking a bit of heat!]

[Sister Meng's behavior is clearly the calm before the storm. Let me tell you, Host, this kind of gentle blade is the most terrifying—it kills without showing blood, and every strike is fatal to a 'God'.]

Shang Wan Ning couldn't be bothered to pay attention, directly blocking most of the noise from the System Space and leaving only the basic monitoring function.

She refocused her attention on the present.

Shang Wan Ning understood and put on a stern face: "Sister Meng is right. Your behavior was improper, and you offended the Monarch... For your combined offenses, each of you will have three months of performance points deducted. Go back and practice your basic skills. If you fail the next assessment, there will be no place for you in the Cultural Propaganda Department."

The nine young ladies' faces turned pale, but hearing that it was only a deduction of performance points and extra practice, with no severe punishment, they secretly breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly bowed: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your mercy. Thank you, Lady Meng, for your guidance."

Meng Jiang nodded slightly, but then added: "However..."

The hearts of the nine, just put at ease, rose again.

"I may have frightened you earlier; it was a bit of a twisted sense of humor on the part of This servant." As Meng Jiang spoke, she took a small token from her sleeve and tapped her fingers on it several times.

"I will reward you with 500,000 incense points to divide among yourselves. Consider it compensation for the fright, and also a reward for..." She paused, her gaze sweeping across Shang Wan Ning's face, "the effort you put into your dance earlier."

Shang Wan Ning: "..."

This technique of giving a slap and then a sweet date is truly masterful!!!

The young ladies were stunned. They were punished, and then rewarded? This... was this anger or pleasure?

But the 500,000 incense points were real!

They looked at each other, their eyes filled with disbelief and surprise. They hurriedly bowed deeply again, their voices much clearer this time: "Thank you, Lady Meng, for your generous reward."

"You may leave." Meng Jiang waved her hand.

The nine, as if granted amnesty, almost tiptoed out of the warm pavilion quietly and orderly, at the fastest speed possible, and carefully closed the door behind them.

Finally, only the two of them remained in the warm pavilion.

The atmosphere suddenly became quiet and subtle.

With no outsiders left, the flawless "Older Sister Type" mask on Meng Jiang's face seemed to fade slightly.

She walked back to the soft couch but didn't sit down, instead standing and gazing down quietly at Shang Wan Ning.

Shang Wan Ning looked up at her and reached out to hook her wrist: "Sister, are you still jealous?"

[(ꈍ ʚ ꈍ)]

Sister Meng let the Empress pull her, remained silent for a few seconds, and then sighed.

"What is there to be jealous of? How could I not know what kind of God Her Majesty is?"

"It's nothing more than being idle, bored, and looking for some amusement."

"What I am jealous of... is that before I came, I was full of joy, wanting to give you a surprise. After arriving, what I saw was..."

Shang Wan Ning hurriedly buried her face in her palm and rubbed against it, her voice as soft as cotton candy: "Sister, I was wrong. I won't dare do it again. If you are still jealous, punish me by having me massage your legs and shoulders for three months."

"I'll be at your beck and call, and I absolutely won't slack off."

Meng Jiang's fingers brushed over the top of her head, her tone as calm as a pool of still water, as she played a game of retreat to advance: "Her Majesty is not wrong; it was This servant who was being unreasonable."

"Even ancient courts had the Office of Music! Her Majesty just wanted to watch some songs and dances; what is wrong with that? Perhaps it is because I just came out of seclusion and my cultivation state is unstable, which in turn affected my state of mind."

Shang Wan Ning's heart went cold in an instant~

[Wuwuwu, when it comes to scheming, she really can't outplay Sister Meng, this ten-thousand-year-old schemer.]

[As expected, gentle Older Sister Types are all lies from fairy tales!]