SLAP—
A sharp slap struck Song Xilan across the face.
"Kneel!"
Mrs. Liu pointed at her daughter, fuming. "Do you have any idea how that old witch treated me, your mother, in front of all the servants?!"
Song Xilan bit her lip and knelt, one side of her face already red and swollen.
"She humiliated me! She looked down on me! She kept calling me 'mistress,' completely disrespecting my position as the lady of the General Mansion!" Mrs. Liu trembled with such rage that she swayed on her feet. Nanny Tian quickly helped her to a seat, from which she pointed at Song Xilan and screamed, "Your mother was being shamed by an outsider, and where were you? I sent people everywhere to find you, but you were nowhere to be seen! Tell me, what was the point of raising you?!"
"Mother, why must you take your anger out on me?"
Song Xilan suddenly stood up. "Why was the Marchioness Xuan Chang humiliating you? Was it my fault?"
"What did you just say?"
