After Transmigrating Into A Love-Brained Scumbag Villain - Chapter 17

After temporarily escaping the “plot-mandated death flag” and closing the doors to shut out all prying eyes, Zhao Shangrong could finally relax a little.

Having decided to lie flat—no, having decided to properly enjoy life—she also gradually began to remove her disguise and no longer acted entirely according to the Prince of Yingchuan’s character setting.

This time, asking Wang Yaoshuang to fulfill her promise of feeding her medicine was a bold attempt.

Being fed medicine by the princess consort—how exciting!

Zhao Shangrong thought happily.

Wang Yaoshuang’s hand trembled slightly as she held the bowl. His Highness’s thoughts were becoming harder and harder to guess.

After lowering her eyes and mentally preparing herself, she said, “Your Highness, drink the medicine.”

As Zhao Shangrong drank the medicine brought to her lips, she pondered:

Mm, why does this line feel so familiar?

Wait a minute, wasn’t this like the vilified Pan Jinlian and Wu Dalang?!

“Cough—” The medicine she had just swallowed was immediately choked back out.

“Your Highness?!” Wang Yaoshuang’s heart panicked.

She could choke on such a tiny sip of medicine? His Highness couldn’t be planning to frame her, could she?

Zhao Shangrong said guiltily, “I thought about it. I should probably drink it myself.”

Thinking about it carefully, this was another happy thing. She immediately said joyfully, “After drinking this bowl, I won’t have to drink any more!”

Although Wang Yaoshuang did not understand her intention, she still handed the bowl to her with relief.

Wang Yaoshuang felt that she was not quite normal.

Wang Yaoshuang decided to go back and calm down.

It was said that people could not be too bored, because once they were bored, they were prone to causing trouble for no reason.

Zhao Shangrong had felt great while pretending to be ill, but when she discovered that she was trapped in the prince’s manor and could not go out, she regretted it and said, “I was careless!”

She burped and asked, “How much longer do I have to drink this medicine?”

Ever since she promised to help the Prince of Yingchuan kill Yuan Si, she had indeed no longer had that nightmare of being torn apart by five horses.

“Mm, but it’s fine now.”

Clearly, this was not normal.

Zhao Shangrong held the bowl and downed it in one breath.

Zhao Shangrong said, “I feel much better. I haven’t had nightmares at night either.”

But Wang Yaoshuang had still fallen for it, and she had done so willingly.

It seemed rebirth also came with side effects.

“Nightmares?” Wang Yaoshuang, who had also had a nightmare once, was very sensitive to this.

After transmigrating here, aside from accompanying Wang Yaoshuang back to the Wang family on the day of the return visit, Zhao Shangrong had spent all her other time cooped up in the prince’s manor and had not gone out to look around yet.

Although the prince’s manor was large, it was rather boring.

She clearly knew that His Highness had a violent, deceitful, and suspicious personality. Even if His Highness occasionally revealed a kind and cute side, it had surely been shown to her on purpose.

Yet Wang Yaoshuang had still found His Highness, who became happy just because she no longer had to drink medicine, unexpectedly a little cute.

“Three to five days, perhaps. If Your Highness still feels unwell, then you will have to keep drinking it.”

Was this normal?

And so, because Zhao Shangrong was too bored and thought of how there were so many beautiful maidservants in the Prince of Yingchuan’s rear courtyard whom she had not really met yet, she asked Bihe for a roster and decided to summon them all to get acquainted.

Bihe: “…”

The way she looked at His Highness seemed as if she were confirming whether His Highness was the original goods.

From that gaze, Zhao Shangrong remembered an incident from the Prince of Yingchuan’s past:

Because the Prince of Yingchuan’s appearance resembled Grand Consort Yun, people had questioned her gender since childhood.

But questioning was only questioning. Ever since the “southern migration of the elite,” this kind of delicate, feminine, and beautiful bearing had become extremely popular among the noble clans. Many sons of noble families had exactly this sort of aesthetic.

Some great households also had the habit of keeping male favorites with “beautiful appearances.” Even some dukes and marquises, when choosing guests of their inner chambers, specifically sought this type.

For example, during the previous dynasty, one of Wang Yaoshuang’s granduncles had once held power. His nephew was described as having “a face like peach blossoms, fair skin flushed with pink,” and the granduncle played out the whole domineering CEO forced-love routine. Later, when the nephew tried to escape him, he developed murderous intent. In the end, the matter was exposed, and only then did he fail to succeed.

Because of this, there had been someone bold enough to recommend himself to the Prince of Yingchuan, wanting to become her bedchamber guest.

At the age of thirteen, the Prince of Yingchuan was still very ignorant about sex and had not expected the other party to have designs on her. Fortunately, Chief Clerk Chen advised her against it, and only then did she understand his intention.

Furious, the Prince of Yingchuan ordered the man beaten half to death, had his male root broken, and then threw him to the private retainers to be “taken care of.”

This action was impeached several times by ministers at court, but because the deposed emperor did not attend to affairs, the matter eventually ended without resolution.

However, from then on, let alone men, even women rarely caught the Prince of Yingchuan’s eye.

Zhao Shangrong’s current action broke the principle the Prince of Yingchuan had held before, so it was no wonder Bihe looked at her that way.

Zhao Shangrong did not panic at all. In a cold tone, she asked, “What, do you have objections to my decision?”

Bihe’s expression grew stern. “This servant does not dare.”

“After you call them here, go to the princess consort’s place and work there. You need not serve me here.”

Bihe looked as if she wanted to speak but stopped herself.

Zhao Shangrong said, “Someone else can wash the clothes. As for my personal garments… I will handle them myself.”

The moment she thought of someone else helping her wash menstrual belts, she was so embarrassed she could curl her toes into the ground.

She could avoid other rough and heavy work, but washing chest bindings, underwear, and menstrual belts was something she should do herself!

Bihe could no longer maintain her composure. She looked at His Highness in shock, seemingly completely unable to imagine why His Highness had suddenly become a different person.

No, it was not a sudden change. The change had appeared only after she met the princess consort.

And then, thinking of the princess consort…

Bihe had once heard that the princess consort had a gentle and generous temperament, but because she was one of twins and had not been as strong as her younger sister in the womb, she had been frail and sickly after birth. She had the heart but not the strength for worldly matters, so she rarely interfered or paid attention to them.

Yet only five days after entering the manor, she had taken over the management authority of the prince’s manor from His Highness. Clearly, her schemes and methods were quite brilliant, and her temperament was far from what the rumors said.

Of course, rumors were not necessarily true. But very clearly, the change in His Highness’s mentality had something to do with the princess consort!

Thinking of this, Bihe became less resistant to working by the princess consort’s side.

“This servant dares to ask, whom does Your Highness wish to have serve closely?” Bihe asked.

Zhao Shangrong said, “Call them all here and let me interview them. Then I’ll know.”

“Interview?”

“Mm. Examine their abilities face-to-face and see whether they are qualified for the work I arrange.”

Bihe understood.

Before His Highness stated this purpose, she had thought His Highness was purely selecting beauties, which was why she had been so shocked.

As expected, His Highness was still the same cold and desireless His Highness. She had overthought it.

According to His Highness’s orders, aside from the maidservants brought by the princess consort, all the maidservants in the prince’s manor were brought in batches to the Middle Study to meet His Highness.

They did not know why His Highness had suddenly gathered all of them together. One maidservant said, “In my hometown, there was once a person who had been ill for a long time and could not recover. The shaman said the illness had to be cured by drinking human blood, especially women’s blood. Could His Highness be planning to drink our blood to cure her illness?”

As soon as these words came out, the maidservants were so frightened that they cried out to heaven and earth without stopping.

Wang Yaoshuang was alarmed by the commotion. In a daze, she thought His Highness had begun a massacre in the prince’s manor just like in her previous life.

“What happened?” she asked Jiumo, who had hurried over.

Jiumo had not yet figured out what had happened either. She only knew that when trouble occurred, she had to stay by the princess consort’s side. Hearing the disturbance in the distance, she had returned hurriedly without another word.

Another maidservant said, “I heard His Highness summoned all the maidservants in the prince’s manor. I do not know why.”

Wang Yaoshuang stood up with a start and hurried toward the Middle Study.

She was far too familiar with this kind of thing.

In her previous life, after the Prince of Yingchuan was disfigured, she shut herself in her room for more than half a month.

One day, she suddenly walked out and expressionlessly announced that all maidservants were to be gathered before her.

After that, she picked out the prettiest maidservants, deliberately found fault with them, and ruined their appearances.

They were the first group of women to suffer at her vicious hands.

At that time, the Prince of Yingchuan still found excuses for her behavior, and everyone only thought that those disfigured maidservants had truly done something wrong… They had not yet realized that the Prince of Yingchuan simply could not tolerate these beautiful and refined women wandering in front of her because her own appearance had been ruined.

By the time they understood, it was already too late. The Prince of Yingchuan’s manor had become a hell on earth.

Had His Highness not avoided disfigurement?

Then why were the events of the previous life still unfolding?

Wang Yaoshuang’s mind was in complete chaos.

When she hurried to the Middle Study, she saw more than two hundred maidservants crying together. Some had even cried themselves unconscious, while around them stood the guards responsible for watching over them.

Wang Yaoshuang’s entire body turned cold. The nightmare buried in her heart once again leapt out, baring its fangs and brandishing its claws. By the time she walked to the entrance of the Middle Study, her legs had even begun to go weak.

At that moment, she encountered Bihe coming out from inside.

The two looked at each other.

Without waiting for Bihe to bow, Wang Yaoshuang asked, “Why has His Highness gathered the maidservants of the prince’s manor?”

Bihe glanced toward the hall helplessly and said, “The princess consort may ask His Highness personally.”

She turned back to report. Zhao Shangrong saw her and asked, “Did you find out why they’re crying?”

Bihe said, “Reporting to Your Highness, the princess consort has arrived.”

As soon as her words fell, Wang Yaoshuang strode in quickly with Jiumo’s support, looking as if she were full of imposing anger—though in reality, she was overly nervous.

Zhao Shangrong was stunned by the princess consort’s overwhelming aura.

Even though she did not feel she had done anything wrong, she still felt a trace of guilt.

Author’s Note:

Princess Consort scolding someone: Look what mess you’ve caused.

His Highness, wronged: The Prince of Yingchuan’s bad reputation hurt me!!!