Xiang Ling pulled Fu Xiao to a corner of the kitchen, putting as much distance between them and Master Xin as possible.
"My Lady?"
Fu Xiao was confused by her lady's actions and looked at the latter with questionable eyes.
"Who is he?" Xiang Ling asked in a hushed tone while signaling at the man who had started working in the kitchen.
Before Fu Xiao could have even opened her mouth to speak, the man spoke up from the other side of the kitchen. Despite Xiang Ling's attempt at keeping the discussion secret, he seemed to have heard her question loud and clear.
"What a surprise. How much did you drink last night that you can't even recall my identity? Or is this a new way of your entertainment?" The anger, contempt, and mockery were so clear in his voice and eyes that it almost scared Xiang Ling. She hurriedly turned toward Fu Xiao for help.
The young girl noticed the shift of her lady's gaze toward her and felt a chill running down her spine. Why she had to be the one dealing with these two people at the very same time?
"Master Xin, please don't misunderstand. My Lady had an accident this morning and she bumped her head. Ever since then, her memories have become slightly fuzzy." Fu Xiao provided Xin Cheng with the exact story Xiang Ling told her and the other servants.
While Xiang Ling quickly nodded her head to show that Fu Xiao was speaking the truth, Master Xin only chuckled as if he found the entire thing humorous. He once again turned his cold gaze at Xiang Ling and spoke in a malicious tone - "Since when did you become this creative? You even know how to create foolish stories."
"You...!"
Xiang Ling was perplexed by the hate and anger she saw in the man's eyes as he glared at her as if she was the person he hated the most in the entire world. She opened her mouth to speak but never got the chance.
"It's alright. I will punish myself for ruining your mood." Saying that, the man turned away and walked out of the kitchen, leaving behind a very shocked Xiang Ling.
What punishment? When did she even punish him?
She turned her gaze toward Fu Xiao and asked - "What punishment?"
Fu Xiao looked as if she wanted to be anywhere but with Xiang Ling. Whether the lady actually forgot some of her memories or not, it was not Fu Xiao's favorite job to tell her lady about all the cruel and audacious things she had been doing to her husbands.
"Every time Master Xin did something that displeased you, he was punished to skip meals. After a while, he began punishing himself without you telling him to whenever he made you angry." She finally revealed.
Xiang Ling felt like her head was spinning from all the nonsense she kept finding out about the previous owner of the body. Just how cruel the previous Xiang Ling was?
She let out a sigh and asked, "Who is he?" The fact that Fu Xiao addressed the man as a 'Master' meant that he was not a servant and his identity was important. Yet, she found him working in the kitchen while dressed as a servant. Not only that but the previous owner of the body used to punish him. Whatever was the identity of this man, it wasn't anything normal.
Fu Xiao remained silent for a while but then eventually answered - "My Lady, he is your third husband."
"Oh!" Xiang Ling nodded her head in understanding but the very next minute, her eyes went wide as she cried out in shock - "He's what?"
Third husband?
The words kept repeating in her brain as she tried to understand what was going on. Was the previous owner of the body married to three men?
"How many husbands do I have?" Xiang Ling found herself asking as she looked at Fu Xiao with hopeful eyes. She was expecting that the girl would start laughing out loudly and say that she was just joking and there was no such thing as a third husband.
However, what Fu Xiao said next was different from what Xinag Ling desperately wanted to hear. "My Lady, you are married to five men."
Five men?
The world around her came crashing down as Xiang Ling stared at Fu Xiao in shock. Not even a day had passed since she arrived in the Mortal Realm and she had been receiving shock after shock every other minute. It was only at this point that Xiang Ling started realizing just how cruel her punishment was. It seemed like the Heavenly Empress chose this particular body on purpose to traumatize Xiang Ling for the rest of her life.
"My Lady, are you alright?" Fu Xiao asked as she noticed how pale Xiang Ling was suddenly looking.
Xiang Ling shook her head, not trusting her mouth to even be able to speak. She struggled to sit down on a nearby table and buried her head into her hands while she struggled to come to terms with the unexpected revelation.
While it was common for a man to marry multiple women, the same was hardly seen in the case of women. Throughout history, there had been very few instances when a woman married more than one man. While it was not illegal or punishable, it was still not something ordinary, especially in the Mortal Realm.
But that was not the real issue for Xiang Ling. She was just shocked to find out that five strangers had suddenly become her husbands. Even if they were initially married to the original owner of the body, she was now living in that body. Now all these five men were her husbands!
She raised her head and looked at Fu Xiao who had been silently observing her. Taking in a deep breath, she asked, "What about the other three? Where are they?"