The words hit Mei Lang like a dagger, and her fury surged. Her hands clenched instinctively on the edge of the carriage, ready to snap the curtain shut. Before she could, the boy's mother spoke loudly, her voice cutting through the street noise…
"Little Kai, you must stay away from such an ugly pig-faced aunty, or else you'll grow up looking just as hideous!" the boy's mother sneered, her mocking gaze fixed on Mei Lang.
Mei Lang's hands clenched at her sides. For a moment, she nearly ordered the carriage to halt so she could teach the insolent woman and her brat a lesson. But then reality struck—her identity as a concubine of the Son of Heaven, and the fact that the emperor's carriage, along with De Fei's, Mei Liang's and Wen Fei's, rode just ahead of hers.
One wrong move, and she would dig her own grave. Grinding her teeth, she swallowed her fury, muttering curses under her breath as she yanked the carriage curtain down, unwilling to look at the mother and child any longer.
