One of the two women wore a bright red cloak with white fur trim, tall and graceful. The other wore a silver fox fur vest paired with a light green cotton skirt, holding an apple-sized delicate hand warmer, appearing as lovely as jade and snow.

Both were around seventeen or eighteen years old, with maids and matrons following beside them—quite an impressive entourage.

Qin Yining stopped to observe the group. Without much thought, she knew that such young beauties in Prince Zhongshun’s residence could only be the concubines bestowed upon Pang Xiao by the Emperor.

Qin Yining had no desire to associate with these people. Even if they might live under the same roof in the future, that was a matter for later—there was truly no need to rush into acquaintance. So she merely nodded slightly to the two women and led Lian Xiaozhou around them.

The tall, graceful young woman’s watery eyes fixed on Qin Yining, narrowing with undisguised hostility.

Qin Yining could see that these two ladies had intentionally waited here to provoke trouble.

As the two groups passed each other, the graceful young woman spat at Qin Yining.

“Ptah! Slut! Shamelessly seducing His Highness!”

Qin Yining looked at the spit on her skirt hem, then stared in shock at the graceful woman.

The lovely green-clad young woman seemed not to have expected this and hastily said: “Rou Niang, don’t cause trouble!”

“What do you know.” Rou Niang sneered: “If you don’t dare, then get lost and go back. No one asked you to follow me here.”

A nearby maid supported the green-clad young woman: “Miss Xinche, let’s quickly return.”

Rou Niang glanced sideways at Xinche with undisguised mockery.

Qin Yining held Lian Xiaozhou’s hand to prevent her from acting rashly, and said coldly: “Miss Rou Niang, is it?”

“That’s me. What of it?”

“Lick it clean for me.” Qin Yining pointed at the spit on her skirt.

Rou Niang looked at Qin Yining with great surprise for a moment, then suddenly laughed mockingly: “If I spat on your face, would you also ask me to lick your face clean?”

“If that happened, do you think you’d still be alive?”

“Bullshit!” Rou Niang roared angrily: “What are you? Nothing but a bitch His Highness picked up! In the future, His Highness will definitely kill your whole family, including you! You can only use that pretty face of yours to beg His Highness not to slaughter you. In front of us sisters, what face do you have to dare be so arrogant!”

Seeing Rou Niang shouting so loudly, Xinche quickly grabbed her arm: “Let’s go quickly. We are, after all, His Highness’s concubines—we shouldn’t quarrel with a girl of unknown status to such an extent. Acting like this makes His Highness lose face and also tarnishes the Emperor’s grace.”

Xinche’s seemingly gentle words were actually telling Qin Yining, sentence by sentence, that they were noble concubines bestowed by imperial decree to Pang Xiao, with distinguished status, naturally different from a lowly woman like her who was forcibly brought in. This was reminding her to know her place.

It seemed Miss Xinche was more than one level cleverer than Rou Niang.

Qin Yining couldn’t help but find it amusing.

She hadn’t even entered the Pang family yet, but the concubines were already bristling, actually blocking her path to intimidate her. This scene was probably thanks to Pang Xiao’s thorough performance outside.

Just as she thought of this, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck Qin Yining’s mind. She forcefully grabbed Rou Niang’s collar, violently pressed her to the ground, and thrust the spit-stained part of her skirt near Rou Niang’s mouth.

“Lick it clean for me!”

The ten women, including Rou Niang, were beauties Li Qitian had specifically found from among the people and trained for years, hoping they would serve a great purpose later. Thus, besides learning how to serve men, these ten lived privileged lives with almost no one daring to treat them this way. Now, being so roughly handled by Qin Yining, how could they remain as composed as before?

Rou Niang screamed in shock and fury: “Let go of me! Poisonous whore! Cheap hoof! When His Highness returns, he’ll definitely punish you severely! You bitch!”

“Punish? Then let him punish me however he wants! I’m already in this state—what else is there to fear! I’m at least from a distinguished family, yet now even someone like you dares to bully me. Do you think I’m afraid of you!”

Qin Yining grabbed Rou Niang’s hair, cursing while pressing her firmly to the ground, not caring whether her struggling hands might scratch her.

Seeing a fight had broken out, Xinche quickly directed the maids and matrons to intervene.

Lian Xiaozhou couldn’t care about the rules Qin Yining had taught her anymore. Like a small cat with fur standing on end, she pounced forward, charging left and right to knock down the maids and matrons one by one, sending these women tumbling with cries of “Ouch!” and “Oh my!”

Even Miss Xinche was pushed back two steps by Lian Xiaozhou and fell sitting on the ground, her apple-sized hand warmer also smashing to the ground with charcoal scattered everywhere.

Rou Niang’s face was pressed to the ground, her back firmly stepped on by one of Qin Yining’s feet, and she was already screaming and crying.

When maids and matrons tried to get up and approach, Qin Yining slapped them dizzy and sent them tumbling back to the ground.

Qin Yining and Lian Xiaozhou, just the two of them, had overturned all seven or eight maids and matrons brought by Xinche and Rou Niang.

The chaotic scene with flying chickens, running dogs, and continuous screaming alarmed Ma Shi and Yao Shi in nearby Songhé Hall, who quickly threw on cotton clothes and rushed out to investigate.

Seeing Qin Yining with one foot on a disheveled beauty while lifting a maid by the collar and throwing her aside like a tremendously strong female general, Ma Shi and Yao Shi were both stunned.

Heavens, was this still the intelligent and gentle refined young lady they knew?

The commotion here also alerted people at the hanging flower gate.

Pang Xiao and Yao Chenggu hurried in, seeing only Qin Yining and Lian Xiaozhou, one tall and one short, standing imposingly while the rest lay scattered on the ground sitting or prone. They couldn’t immediately comprehend the situation.

“What happened here?” Yao Chenggu couldn’t help asking.

Hearing voices, Rou Niang quickly cried out: “Your Highness, save me! This mad woman wants to kill!”

Qin Yining pressed down hard with her foot: “Dare curse once more and I’ll take your life!”

“Ahh!” Rou Niang was stepped on until her voice went hoarse, breathing more out than in, her eyes rolling back.

Ma Shi watched with bright, sparkling eyes, her heart already overjoyed. She had long found those ten affected women displeasing, never expecting that Yining would be so domineering, defeating them all in just a few moves. Truly worthy of being the woman her precious great-grandson had chosen!

Yao Shi, however, looked thoughtfully at Qin Yining’s “female bandit” appearance.

After their initial shock, Yao Chenggu and Pang Xiao exchanged glances, showing the same expression as Yao Shi—they somewhat understood.

Pang Xiao suppressed his amusement, coughed once before sternly rebuking with a straight face: “What are you doing! This is this prince’s residence—can it tolerate your wild behavior? Release her immediately!”

Qin Yining’s body trembled as if in disbelief, looking toward Pang Xiao. Her voice shook but remained stubborn: “She clearly provoked first, spitting on me and speaking insults. I…”

“Enough! They are noble concubines bestowed upon this prince by the Emperor—how could they do such things! You dare to fabricate stories?”