"Your Majesty, it's not mine." Chen Jinyu said as she tried to defend herself one last time.
"Chen Jinyu, do you take me for a fool?!" The Emperor said and Chen Jinyu trembled like a leaf in the wind.
"Not only did you send someone to steal an incomplete disaster relief plan but you paraded it as yours for months and when a problem was found you immediately looked for someone to pin the blame on!" The Emperor said in anger.
"What a vicious woman!" Shen Xiatang mocked and Chen Wenjin covered her smile.
"Is this the wife that your good son chose?" The Emperor asked the Marquis in disbelief.
"Ask him again!" Shen Xiatang said and Chen Wenjin covered her smile with her sleeves.
"Your son is thereby barred from taking any official position." The Emperor said and Shen Xiatang whistled.
"And he is to be whipped twenty times in place of his wife." the Emperor declared and as Madam Liu screamed in despair the star above Chen Jinyu's head broke and launched itself at Shen Xiatang
Gritting her teeth, Shen Xiatang shivered in pain as the chaos in the banquet hall continued.
"Your Majesty, have mercy. Your Majesty have mercy." Madam Liu begged the Emperor
"Liu Tiancheng has always been pampered and has never done any hard labor, he can't possibly handle twenty lashes." Madam Liu cried as she tried to shield her son.
"Your Majesty, I have nothing to do with this," Liu Tiancheng said, desperately as he did a proper kowtow.
"It was her," Liu Tiancheng pointed to his wife.
"It was all her, she planned it all by herself without including any of us!" Liu Tiancheng said as he tried to plead with the Emperor.
"Liu Tiancheng is abandoning yet another woman, what a surprise?" Shen Xiatang asked in shock and Chen Wenjin had to stop her shoulders from shaking in laughter.
"For failing to be a good judge of character and not being responsible enough to shoulder the blame for his choice, Liu Tiancheng's lashings are to be increased by ten and he is to be whipped at mid day!" The Emperor commanded and Liu Tiancheng fainted.
"And as for you." The Emperor said as he looked at the Marquis.
"For failing to control your daughter in law, you are stripped from your position as the Marquis and your lands confiscated." The Emperor said before walking away and the Marquis sat down in despair.
"You useless girl!" Madam Liu screamed as she began to hit Chen Jinyu in front of everyone.
"It seems my time is up." Shen Xiatang whispered as the pain overwhelmed her and Chen Wenjin turned alert.
"Are you going back to where you came from?" Chen Wenjin asked aloud but no one was paying attention to her.
"No," Shen Xiatang said, as she shook her head.
"To be honest with you, I don't know where I am going." Shen Xiatang said as she tried hard to fight off the pain.
"But If I must guess, I am going to help someone like you." Shen Xiatang said with a genuine smile.
"I will never forget you and I will pray everyday for your well being." Chen Wenjin said with a bow.
"Thank you for saving me and may your journey be victorious." Chen Wenjin said as she did a proper bow and Shen Xiatang disappeared.
"Who is it going to be this time?" Shen Xiatang thought as she materialized in an unfamiliar place.
"What is this?" Shen Xiatang asked as she turned around in a room that light didn't pass through.
"What is going on?" Shen Xiatang thought as a woman with the darkest star that Shen Xiatang had ever seen walked into the room with two maids behind her.
"Sister, I hope you don't blame me for this." the woman said as she shoved a steam bun in a woman's mouth.
"The maids said that you haven't been able to eat so I decided to help you." the woman said as the other woman struggled pitifully.
"After months spent in this dark room, I am sure you have come to your senses." the woman with the dark star said with a smile before grabbing the woman's hair harshly.
"If I see you step an inch over the line I have carefully prepared for you, I will make sure that the accident this time will require your head." The woman said viciously as she let the other woman go.
Looking to the maids, the woman with the darkest star Shen Xiatang has ever seen said "Why don't you give the young mistress something to keep her warm tonight?" with an evil smile and the maids nodded as they approached the woman with a strange liquid on a small circular plate.
"Please," the other woman said as she gripped onto the clothes of the woman with a dark star above her head.
"I have learned my mistake," the other woman said desperately.
"I won't ever go against you" the other woman said pleadingly.
"I don't believe you have" the woman said as she walked away and the maids forced the liquid into the woman's mouth.
After the maids finished administering what Shen Xiatang assumed to be a drug the woman started convulsing and Shen Xiatang began to panic.
"Who is this?" Shen Xiatang thought as she hurried to see the face of the woman who was barely breathing.
"If she dies before I get my revenge, am I stuck here." Shen Xiatang said in panic.
"No! No! No!" Shen Xiatang yelled in anger.
"If I know what will trigger her then I can get into her head and use her spite to get her to fight." said Shen Xiatang.
"But how do I do that?" Shen Xiatang asked as she hovered over the rapidly weakening woman.
"I didn't do anything special with Chen Wenjin, all I did was take a look at her face and-" Shen Xiatang said before she stopped talking.
"I can't see her face!" Shen Xiatang yelled as she tried to get a glimpse of the woman's face.
"Come on, come on" Shen Xiatang said as she tried to see the woman's face.
The woman suddenly coughed weakly and her long black hair flew back. Taking her chance, Shen Xiatang locked eyes with the woman who was barely breathing and memories of the woman's past began to flood through her mind.