How can I bow my head and serve the powerful officials?

Kunning Palace.

Cao Qingran knelt on the cushion, intermittently fingering the peach wood Buddhist beads. Her eyes were slightly out of focus and it was unknown what she was thinking about. Until one moment, Nanny Qing hurried in from outside, which made her suddenly come back to her senses and clench the Buddhist beads in her hand.

It's time to come, it's coming.

"My lady, Lord Cao is here."

Nanny Qing stepped forward and carefully helped Cao Qingran up. "I'm afraid Lord Cao will nag you again. Please don't take it to heart. Your health is the most important thing."

Cao Qingran lowered his eyelashes, said nothing, but just snorted softly, as if mocking something.

When they arrived at the main hall, Cao Lingde, dressed in the uniform of the commander of the imperial guards, was already sitting on his seat, repeatedly opening and closing the lid of the teacup in his hand. He already had a lot of white hair on his head, but his domineering and majestic aura still made people dare not underestimate him.

When Cao Lingde followed the emperor, he was still a teenager and was a pioneer in the army. Most of his and his father's founding military achievements were earned by him. This shows that he had killed countless people, and his momentum and status were naturally not comparable to those of ordinary children.

Cao Qingran walked up to him and stopped, lowering his brows and said, "Father."

"Hmph." Cao Lingde snorted coldly. He slammed the teacup in his hand down on the table. Then he stood up abruptly, swung his arm and slapped Cao Qingran in the face!

Cao Qingran closed his eyes subconsciously.

"Snapped--!"

Cao Qingran covered his burning cheeks, and the look in his eyes became increasingly obscure.

"Sir! What are you doing?" Nanny Qing beside her shouted anxiously, and hurriedly supported Cao Qingran, saying with great distress, "She is your biological daughter! How can you be so cruel!"

"Get out! It's not your turn to speak here, a lowly servant!" Cao Lingde raised his foot and kicked Nanny Qing in the stomach, knocking her to the ground!

"Father!" Seeing that Cao Lingde was still trying to hit Nanny Qing, Cao Qingran dodged and stood in the middle, stopping his action, "Why bother to embarrass a servant? If you have any anger, just vent it on your daughter."

"You still know that I'm your father!" Cao Lingde raised his hand and slapped her again, completely knocking her face off. He then took out a handkerchief and wiped the palm of his hand that had just slapped her cheek clean, saying with disgust: "How could I have such a stupid daughter like you! You can't even learn to compete for favors, and you can't teach your sons well! You even delivered the wrong message when I asked you to, and you can't even defeat a fool. You actually caused the Cao family to lose so many people in a short time!"

Cao Qingran covered his face, lowered his eyes to look at the ground, and laughed at himself, "My daughter really has no ability."

Even if she was so strict in teaching the prince, she would never be able to raise a child better than Xie Chengze. As soon as he came back, everyone else was overshadowed and could only serve as his foil. Even the prince could not hide his dazzling brilliance.

But can she be blamed for this?

She has worked hard enough!

She even tried so hard as to use witchcraft to replace Xie Chengze's soul. She knew the truth but watched Hua Ning go crazy little by little. She had already erased the existence of these two people from this world. What else could she do?

What else do you want from her?!

Let her just kill Xie Chengze to eliminate future troubles!

Not to mention how crazy Jin Yu would be, that child, that child - how lovable he had been! So lovable that she liked and was jealous of him, so lovable that after she lit the soul incense, she dreamed of him crying and asking her mother why she wanted him to become a lonely ghost!

She did all these dirty things!

What else is there for the Cao family to be dissatisfied with? !

The elegant woman covered her burning cheeks and suddenly laughed softly, "I handed you a letter saying that the Second Prince has set his sights on the Imperial Guards' Ma Junsi. Father only knows how to clean up the dirt of the Imperial Guards, but doesn't know how to clean up other places as well... It seems that father is getting old and useless."

Cao Qingran slowly turned her head, staring coldly at Cao Lingde with her black eyes, "Do you really have to let your daughter chew up the news and feed it to you, saying that the Second Prince is targeting the entire Cao family, so that you know that you should clean up the Cao family from top to bottom?"

"How dare you! How dare you talk to your father like that!" Seeing Cao Qingran's expression change, Cao Lingde became furious and raised his head to hit her again.

Unexpectedly, Cao Qingran suddenly took a step forward and clamped Cao Lingde's wrist with his right hand. His strength was surprisingly strong. "Father is indeed old, and even his strength is not as good as that of a woman. It seems that the position of the commander of the imperial guards will soon be unstable. It is better to give it to my brother as soon as possible."

"Ah, my daughter forgot." Cao Qingran burst into laughter and looked at Cao Lingde mockingly. The smile on her lips was extremely sarcastic. "Brother is an incompetent waste. Otherwise, why can father only rely on me and the prince to gain power in the court? Right, father?"

"You, you!" Cao Lingde looked at his suddenly unfamiliar daughter in front of him, and was somewhat horrified. His daughter had always been obedient, doing whatever he said. She had helped him eliminate dissidents in the court over the years, so why would she -

"Who are you? You are not my daughter at all!" Cao Lingde took a step back and looked at Cao Qingran warily.

"Father, what nonsense are you talking about?" Cao Qingran fiercely shook off his hand, then picked up the cup of boiling hot tea on the table and poured it into her palms to rub them, as if to wash away the filth she had just touched. She smiled faintly and said, "Of course I am your daughter, who else could it be?"

"Instead of getting mad at me here, you should think about what to do about the Spring Martial Arts Test. As far as I know, many of the Second Prince's men will participate in this year's martial arts test. If the Second Prince's men are mixed in the Imperial Guards, who will have the power of the Imperial Guards in the future? Who knows."

"After all..." Cao Qingran looked down at the old man who had been eroded by time and sneered, "You are indeed old, and it is time for you to step down."

"You!" Being mocked like this, Cao Lingde was furious. "The Cao family is your backer! If I step down, do you think you and the prince will have a good time?"

"So, father, you should go back and think about how to help the Cao family secure this position." Cao Qingran lightly let go of the teacup, which fell to the ground and broke into pieces. This teacup had been broken in front of her many times before, but this was the first time she knew what it felt like.

The feeling of control and shock is truly wonderful.

She walked slowly towards the main seat in the main hall, then turned around and sat down, sitting heavily in the center.

With her hands on the cold handles, she looked down with cold contempt at the father who had imprisoned her all her life. For the first time, she realized that this man was nothing special.

Apart from having martial arts skills, he was not even a step ahead of her in terms of strategy and strategy. Instead, he was as clumsy as a baby.

How ridiculous it is that she was imprisoned by such a warrior for half her life and had no freedom.

Whatever.

It’s time for the Cao family to change for her.

"Madam Qing." Cao Qingran spoke calmly. Looking at Cao Lingde's embarrassed figure leaving, she said coldly, "Go tell Cao Que that the Cao family should change the master. He knows what to do."

"Yes! Madam, you finally figured it out!"

Hearing this, Nanny Qing's eyes lit up with joy, and in an instant they were filled with tears and relief.

Who would have known that the most scheming person in the palace was not Emperor Jian or Shen Yuan, but her queen, Empress Cao!