After Transmigrating Into A Love-Brained Scumbag Villain - Chapter 11

When the administrative and financial authority of the prince’s manor was handed over to Wang Yaoshuang, she still had some doubts. Authority had come too easily. Was His Highness deliberately testing her?

She had originally wanted to refuse, but thinking of her previous life and the future that had already begun to change, she knew she had to possess more trump cards to protect herself and others.

This time, His Highness had ordered the Chief Clerk to divide the authority over the manor’s accounts and personnel allocation with her. It was a very good opportunity to take control of the prince’s manor.

For this reason, even knowing there were tigers on the mountain, she still had to “head toward the tiger mountain.”

She said, “This concubine understands.”

Zhao Shangrong reminded Wang Yaoshuang, “The people in the prince’s manor may be assigned by you as you wish. And I will still say the same thing: within the limits your body allows, act according to your ability. Do not overwork yourself.”

“Thank you for your concern, Your Highness.”

Zhao Shangrong nodded in satisfaction.

Although she inwardly complained that women’s ability to manage internal affairs was a skill society had forced upon them, she did not deny that women should participate in managing money and other household affairs.

What she hoped for was that while women could hold power, they would also have more choices and could decide, according to their own will, to do what they liked.

She had to remain here until everyone could truly break free from their cages.

Of course Wang Yaoshuang had things she wanted to do. The things she was interested in were not inside the prince’s manor, but outside it.

Zhao Shangrong asked with great interest, “Then aside from this, is there anything else you want to do? After all, the days are long. You cannot stay in the prince’s manor every day. What do you want to do? What are you interested in? What do you like?”

Could this also be one of the spies the male lead had planted in the prince’s manor?

At that instant, Wang Yaoshuang hesitated. Her thoughts could not help following Zhao Shangrong’s words and spreading outward.

Since the heavens had allowed her to be reborn to stop His Highness’s atrocities, she could not flee alone in a sorry state.

Her lips moved slightly for a moment. Wang Yaoshuang put away her confusion, shook her head, and revealed a gentle smile. “Your Highness, may this concubine ask Your Highness for a few people to use?”

Her gentle tone carried a faint hint of coquettishness. It was the kind of tone that made even Zhao Shangrong, who was also a woman, go wildly weak at the heart.

Since His Highness had already agreed to release people to her, Wang Yaoshuang had no need to guard against His Highness at every turn anymore. In a pleasant mood, she said, “A maidservant by Your Highness’s side named Bihe.”

But whatever she gained, she would have to pay something in return.

Perhaps Wang Yaoshuang had done it deliberately, or perhaps she had revealed it unintentionally. But in Zhao Shangrong’s eyes, at this moment, her eyes were faintly bright. Though it was only a trace, it was like the tungsten filament inside a lightbulb—only a tiny strand was needed to illuminate a patch of night sky in one’s heart.

His Highness quietly shifted her gaze back and asked gossipingly, “Who do you want?”

Thinking of this, Zhao Shangrong dismissed Chief Clerk Chen and planned to speak sincerely with Wang Yaoshuang. “Princess Consort, did I make things difficult for you by suddenly handing these matters over to you?”

Wang Yaoshuang sensitively noticed the change in His Highness’s way of referring to herself, but because her heart was full of matters concerning the nation and family, she did not pay much attention to it.

To hide the abnormal beating of her heart, Zhao Shangrong said in a muffled voice, “I said that the people in the prince’s manor may be assigned by you as you wish. There is no need to ask me.”

Zhao Shangrong did not remember having a maidservant named Bihe by her side.

Wang Yaoshuang thought she was about to go back on her word and hurriedly said, “Not at all. This concubine is willing to share Your Highness’s worries.”

Zhao Shangrong felt as though, for a brief moment, her brain had been deprived of oxygen. She felt dizzy and did not know where to put her eyes. She could only guiltily turn her face away, pretending to look at the scenery beside her.

Wang Yaoshuang did not need His Highness to send someone to look, because she recognized which maidservant was Bihe.

In her previous life, although she had been the princess consort, let alone external affairs, she had never even managed to take control of the internal affairs of the prince’s manor. Chief Clerk Chen was a subordinate official and also an outside man, so he could not interfere in matters of the inner residence. Therefore, many internal affairs had been handled by a maidservant named Bihe.

Bihe had originally been a laundry maid in the manor’s laundry courtyard. Her daily work included, but was not limited to, preparing His Highness’s changes of clothing and washing His Highness’s clothes.

Her appearance was not outstanding. It could even be called extremely ordinary. Therefore, after the Prince of Yingchuan was disfigured and the pretty maidservants around her all met with cruel fates, Bihe was transferred from the laundry courtyard to serve before the Prince of Yingchuan, thereby taking charge of the manor’s internal affairs.

Others might not know it, but Wang Yaoshuang knew that her identity was not ordinary.

Bihe was steady, handled matters with decisive methods, was literate, and had excellent handwriting. If Wang Yaoshuang could transfer her to her side to help, she would definitely get the hang of internal affairs much faster.

More importantly, in her previous life, Bihe had once extended a helping hand when Wang Yaoshuang was in difficulty, making her life in the prince’s manor less unbearable.

Bihe also had one virtue that Wang Yaoshuang especially admired and trusted: her loyalty to the Prince of Yingchuan. After the Prince of Yingchuan died, she, along with all the manor’s subordinate officials, advisors, and maidservants, were originally supposed to be executed. But before that, while everyone else was terrified and weeping over their impending deaths, she boldly begged the emperor to allow her to collect and prepare the Prince of Yingchuan’s corpse, which had been left exposed in the wilderness, before she died.

The emperor was moved by her loyalty and allowed it. After she collected the Prince of Yingchuan’s body, before the emperor’s blade could fall, she took her own life.

Wang Yaoshuang had not been able to save her. But in her heart, she also knew that even if she had appeared in time, Bihe might not have been willing to live on.

For someone whose background she knew so well, Wang Yaoshuang could use her with peace of mind.

Zhao Shangrong had someone summon Bihe.

Before long, a plain-looking woman in her twenties, dressed in coarse clothing, arrived before the two of them.

Seeing her face, Zhao Shangrong finally found her in a corner of the Prince of Yingchuan’s memories.

Zhao Shangrong suspected that Bihe was one of the few people who knew the Prince of Yingchuan was female, because she was an “old servant” who had served by the Prince of Yingchuan’s side ever since she lived in the palace. Originally, she had been a young palace maid in Grand Consort Yun’s palace. After the Prince of Yingchuan left the palace and established her own manor, Bihe was assigned to the prince’s manor to handle work related to the Prince of Yingchuan’s personal belongings.

The most direct evidence was that when the Prince of Yingchuan was fifteen and had her first period, staining her trousers, Bihe discovered it and calmly brought her a menstrual belt to change into, then went to wash her trousers. From beginning to end, she never questioned why the Prince of Yingchuan had menstruated.

After that, she even placed menstrual belts among the Prince of Yingchuan’s changes of clothing on schedule, allowing her to change them in time.

The Prince of Yingchuan had already grown used to Bihe’s existence, but had never thought about what her name was.

The Prince of Yingchuan also did not particularly care whether the maidservants around her discovered she was female, because they all belonged to her. Not only their own lives, but even the lives of their families were tied to her alone. The maidservants did not dare speak too much, much less pry into their master’s privacy. Even if they knew, they would pretend not to know, and they would not dare betray their master.

Zhao Shangrong thought that perhaps it was precisely because of this that the male lead had been unable to find a breakthrough from within and could only arrange for the princess consort to become an undercover agent.

In that case, Bihe was not a spy arranged by the male lead.

Then here came the question—why had the princess consort, who had only just entered the manor, accurately called out her name and specifically requested her?

Zhao Shangrong had questions in her heart, but she did not ask the princess consort directly. Instead, she said to Bihe, “The princess consort personally asked me for you. Are you willing to go serve by the princess consort’s side?”

Bihe’s posture was respectful and humble. “I am grateful for the princess consort’s favor. But this servant is only a rough labor maid and only knows how to do rough work. I fear I will not be of much help to the princess consort.”

These words were equivalent to refusing Wang Yaoshuang’s promotion. A normal master would feel offended, angry, and embarrassed at being denied face. But Wang Yaoshuang did not feel that way at all. Instead, she appreciated Bihe even more.

Familiar with Bihe’s temperament, Wang Yaoshuang suddenly felt the urge to tease her. Smiling, she said, “How do you know I did not take a liking to your skill at washing clothes especially cleanly, and that is why I asked His Highness for you?”

Bihe: “…”

Zhao Shangrong looked at the two of them with the gaze of someone watching gossip unfold.

So in the princess consort’s eyes, washing clothes especially cleanly could also count as a specialty?

Author’s Note:

His Highness: The princess consort’s way of discovering talent is truly unique!

Bihe: No emotions.jpg