My Sin

Blood Circulation Exercise

"Daddy is fine what about you?" The emperor asked while bringing Tao'er to his lap.

"Tao'er iws also fwine," Tao'er responded.

The two talked to each other for the whole banquet. Many were surprised by the close bond between the emperor and his third son. The concubines, especially Noble Lady Shu were very worried. They knew that the emperor was trying to get closer to his legitimate children, but he was getting rejected every time, so to see the emperor like this with the third prince made them worry.

Many noble families were invited today and one of them was Duke Ning and his wife.  When the empress was inviting the families into the palace, he made sure to invite the two of them, and specifically told them that Imperial Wife Ying missed her siblings and mother and that he should come with them. Many were confused about the empress's nice gesture but, the empress didn't love the emperor no more he didn't see the reason to make things hard for another woman in the harem.

The empress also managed to obtain information about the siblings and mother of Imperial Wife Ying. From the report that the empress sent Duchess Ning was planning to marry her ger brother, Ning Wenqian to the second son of Marquis Lin, who was a well-known playboy with many concubines. As for her mother, though she hadn't tried to kill her, she had refused to let her see a physician. 

"We greet Imperial Wife Ying, may you stay healthy," The Ning family greeted as they greeted her. 

They were very respectful to her, as they knew that she had the favor of the emperor and the empress. Duchess Ning had always been scared that she would take revenge on her, but seeing her stay so quiet even though she was favored by the emperor all these days made her feel that Ning Mo Yingtai knew her place as a shu-born daughter, but seeing that she and her family were called into the palace today they were a little scared.

"Xiao Lu, prepare a seat for Qianqian and mother they look very pale and sickly." Imperial Wife Ning ordered as he side-eyed the Ning family.

"Yes, your highness," Xiao Lu answered and then went to look for a seat.

"You're not going to let us seat?" A ger on the side asked arrogantly. The ger was non-other than Ning Qingge. He was the only child of Duchess Ning that had yet to be married. While all his sisters and brother are married and in established homes, he was still living at his parent's house because he was too young, or at least that's what they say. Since Ning Qingge was the youngest child of the main wife and was born in a moment of prosperity he was greatly favored at home thus he always bullied his other siblings but he especially hated Ning Wenqian. They were both gers but Ning Wenqian's beauty and talent surpassed his by leaps and bounds. He never even stood a chance again Wenqian so he couldn't even compete with him. So he had always bullied Wenqian to make himself feel better and nobody had ever stopped him, but how he was treated today was like he was a nobody and he hated that.

"Do you have a problem standing? Duchess Ning had always taught me that standing was good right?" Imperial Wife Ying said as she sipped tea, her eyes lightly glancing at Duchess Ning.

Duchess Ning felt her eyes and couldn't help but feel goosebumps. When Imperial Wife Ying was still a young miss at the Ning's mansion, she used to torment her mother in front of her. One of her favorite punishments would be to make Concubine Li stand while holding hot tea cups in the palms of her hands. One of her favorite sentences she used to say to Imperial Wife Ying when she begged to let her mother go was, 'Standing is good, it helps blood circulation.'

"It helps blood circulation right?" Imperial Wife Ying asked with a smile as she tilted her head making Duchess Ning even more nervous. "Get Duchess Ning some hot tea, make it extra hot. She likes it hot," Imperial Wife Ying instructed a nearby maid. Hearing Imperial Wife Ying say that she felt her knees go weak.

"Who do you think you are to treat my mother like this?!" Ning Qingge demanded, angered. Making many heads turn toward their seat.

"Do you want to join your mother in her blood circulation exercise?" Imperial Wife Ying asked gently as she put her teacup down.

"No! Qingge is immature, I apologize if he offended you," Duchess Ning apologized as she bowed.

"Mom!" Qingge whined, as he pulled his mom's clothes.

"Shut up!" Duchess Ning warned.

"Yingtai why are you doing this to your mother?" Duke Ning asked sternly as his eyebrows furrowed.

"I am not doing anything wrong to mother, I am just making her do the blood circulation exercises that she always made my mother do. Since she was so nice as to even help my mother with her health, how could I be an ingrate and refuse to help her?" Imperial Wife Ying explained.

"What? What do you mean every day?" Duke Ning asked confused as he looked at Duchess Ning.

Imperial Wife Ying really had to give it to this man. Among many men and fathers, he wouldn't be considered a bad one. He only took in two concubines when he had the option to take in dozens. Even though he wasn't in love with his main wife, he made sure to give her the respect she deserved. His concubines were treated equally no matter who was favored or not. His children were also treated the same no matter legitimate or illegitimate. 

Because of his job, he was rarely at home and the whole house was under the control of Duchess Ning. When he did come home, Duchess Ning made sure to cover up her tracks of abuse towards the concubines and dressed them up as if nothing happened. She also came to threaten them every time Duke Ning would come back home. Duke Ning would sometimes investigate household matters but he tended to trust his wife. So for him to hear about this abuse was a surprise to him.

Question Of The Day.

Vegetable Or Fruit?