**[System Notification: Congratulations on completing the “Playing with Fire to Tease the Feudal Lords: Prologue” pre-quest.]**
**[Quest Objective: Arrive at Lishan Palace + Complete interaction with King You (including guiding elements of a smile)]**
**[Quest Evaluation: Excellent (Exceeded requirements; interaction duration exceeded standard, interaction content was rich and diverse, effectively increasing the Assistance Character’s satisfaction)]**
**[Special rewards of Assistance Points and Game Coins have been issued: 100]**
**[Current Assistance Points: 100]**
**[Current Game Coins: 100]**
**[System Reminder: A special reward period is currently active. Detected that the Assistance Character “King You/King Zhou” is in a special player state. To ensure the positive mindset of the Support Character (you), the System has temporarily activated the Comfort and Incentive Mode. During this period, your interactions with the Assistance Character will receive extra bonus rewards.]**
**[Special Reward Period Duration: 71 hours and 58 minutes remaining.]**
**[After the countdown ends, rewards will return to regular standards.]**
Luo Tiantian blinked several times.
‘I see. Sponsor Mom is about to leave, so the System is panicking and using me as a tool to coax her.’
**[System Notification: Playing with Fire to Tease the Feudal Lords: Chapter One has been unlocked]**
**[Quest Name: Punishing Servants]**
**[Quest Background: Baosi has just entered Lishan Palace. Although she enjoys the favor of King You, the servants in the palace are snobbish, and neglectful behavior is inevitable. As a favored consort, you must establish your authority. Appropriate punishment can both intimidate the servants and show King You that you are not merely soft and charming.]**
**[Quest Requirements: Within Lishan Palace, perform a punishment on at least one servant (any form), and express appropriate sorrow and melancholy during the process.]**
**[Quest Reward: Assistance Points x 50, Game Coins x 150]**
**[Quest Hint: Punishment is not the objective; emotion is the key. Letting the Assistance Character see another side of you will better stimulate their desire for protection and possession.]**
Luo Tiantian stared at that “50 + 150,” and her eyes went wide with joy.
That added up to 20,000.
A few more times and she would be able to scrape together enough for the medical fees.
As for who to punish…
Xiao Tao was standing next to the carriage, her head lowered and her two legs pressed tightly together. Her body was fidgeting in a strange posture, and her cheeks were flushed.
Without a doubt, Xiao Tao was the best candidate.
Luo Tiantian looked at Xiao Tao.
Sensing her gaze, Xiao Tao looked up, met her eyes, and then quickly lowered her head again.
“My Lady, what are your orders?”
**[System Reminder: The form of punishment is not limited. You may use your creativity :)]**
‘Creativity?’
“Xiao Tao.”
“Your servant is here.”
“Come here.”
Xiao Tao walked over quickly, knelt before Luo Tiantian, and tilted her head up.
“Xiao Tao, do you know your crime?”
Xiao Tao dithered for a moment, her eyes brightening slightly.
“Your servant… your servant does not know. Please enlighten me, My Lady.”
Right, what crime did Xiao Tao have?
Luo Tiantian thought for a long time before squeezing out a sentence: “Since you do not know, then you shall be punished.”
Xiao Tao’s face turned beet red.
“Your servant knows her crime! Please punish me, My Lady!”
After speaking, she sprawled across the ground, her backside tilted upward.
In ancient times, punishing a servant required no justification, let alone in the Shang Dynasty.
Shen Xixi watched this scene from the side, her lips pursed, feeling somewhat curious about what would happen next.
She vaguely understood something.
Luo Tiantian picked up a soft whip from inside the carriage, walked behind Xiao Tao, and raised it.
Xiao Tao’s breathing quickened and her body tensed, waiting for the whip to fall.
She swung the whip down.
*Snap.*
It wasn’t very loud, and the force wasn’t heavy.
As a punishment, it was certainly too light.
Luo Tiantian struck her once more.
*Snap.*
“Ngh…”
Xiao Tao whimpered, lying flat on the ground as her shoulders heaved violently.
“Get up,” Luo Tiantian said, coughing a few times.
Xiao Tao slowly crawled up, the gaze she directed at Luo Tiantian becoming even more obsessed.
Then, she suddenly threw herself down again, hugging Luo Tiantian’s calf and rubbing her face against her foot.
Because she had run out too quickly before, Luo Tiantian wasn’t wearing shoes; she was currently in white socks.
She had been covered in sweat by Shen Xixi just now, and the same applied to her feet.
The thin, white socks were soaked with a bit of sweat, mixing with Luo Tiantian’s faint body fragrance…
Xiao Tao’s eyes were hazy as she took a deep breath. “My Lady, Xiao Tao forgot to put your shoes on just now. Please punish your servant again.”
Luo Tiantian pursed her lips, her expression nearly breaking.
Wait.
Was that not enough?
“Please… kick me, My Lady.”
Luo Tiantian covered her face and lightly kicked Xiao Tao’s mouth, which finally seemed to satisfy her.
“Thank you for the punishment, My Lady. Xiao Tao will remember it well.”
Luo Tiantian waved her hand, signaling for her to withdraw.
Xiao Tao backed away to the side, her gaze remaining glued to Luo Tiantian, her breathing still not back to normal.
Shen Xixi’s eyes flickered with curiosity.
Does it taste good?
Xiao Tao seemed to notice Shen Xixi’s gaze, but her expression had not yet recovered.
Shen Xixi saw several expressions on her face.
It seemed quite nice.
She could try eating them directly herself in the future.
Luo Tiantian turned around and patted her cheeks to regain her composure.
The System’s quest required her to show appropriate sorrow and melancholy during the punishment process.
Cold and lonely people always looked very distressed.
Luo Tiantian stood there and began to empty her mind, letting her expression naturally fade into something faint.
Shen Xixi was still thinking about what would go well with Luo Tiantian’s small feet when she noticed the girl looking at her.
The girl was already unimaginably beautiful, and every frown or smile carried pieces of sorrow. Now that her expression had calmed, she looked even more mournfully moving.
Those eyes gazed at her as if separated by thousands of mountains and rivers — as if separated by a thousand years of time.
So beautiful.
Shen Xixi’s heart felt enchanted as she watched.
Her mood improved a bit.
However, Baosi… seemed to have never smiled.
From the first time she met this woman, Baosi’s expression had always been like this: slightly knitted brows, slightly drooping corners of the eyes, and the occasional curve of the lips, but it was never a true smile.
Even when she tried to please her, working hard to put on a well-behaved expression with her eyes curved like crescent moons and her lips turned up.
Even that didn’t look like a real smile.
She wanted to see the kind of smile that came from the heart.
“Wait?”
Shen Xixi slapped her own forehead.
Baosi… In history, wasn’t it because King You wanted to see Baosi smile that he played with fire to tease the feudal lords?
If she lit the beacons, would Baosi smile?