After Transmigrating Into A Love-Brained Scumbag Villain - Chapter 2

Zhao Shangrong calmly went over the Prince of Yingchuan’s memories again and suddenly remembered that when she had transmigrated and woken up, it had been the day of the prince’s wedding.

Only a handful of people knew about the Prince of Yingchuan’s identity as a woman. Coincidentally, at seventeen, she had reached marriageable age, so the Minister of Ceremonies, who was also in charge of imperial clan affairs, arranged a marriage for her, ordering her to wed the female lead, Wang Yaoshuang, who came from a famous noble family, and make her the princess consort.

Wang Yaoshuang came from the aristocratic Wang clan—the Langya Wang clan, the very same Wang clan that was mentioned in the same breath as the Chenjun Xie clan as “Wang and Xie.” Wang Yaoshuang’s father, Wang Ru, was a Guanglu Daifu, an official of the third rank, and a true pillar of the court.

In order to consolidate the status of the noble clans, the Wang and Xie families often intermarried. By Wang Yaoshuang’s generation, Wang Ru had also arranged her engagement early on to Xie Shizhi, a son of the Xie clan.

Xie Shizhi was the nephew of Xie Mian, the Secretariat Director and one of the regent ministers. Originally, he had a bright future ahead of him. However, “an all-powerful regent minister” represented the threat of ministerial power against imperial authority. Since they could easily depose the previous emperor, they could naturally depose the next emperor as well. So after the male lead secured his throne, he began dealing with the three regent ministers who had participated in deposing the previous emperor.

After Xie Mian received the news, he felt he had reached a dead end and went home to commit suicide. The other two regent ministers were unwilling to wait quietly for capture and decided to raise troops in rebellion. But their forces were insufficient, and the male lead had prepared in advance. The rebellion was quickly suppressed by the male lead, and in the end, they were exterminated along with three branches of their kin.

Although the Xie clan itself was not exterminated, the sons of the Xie family were either killed or exiled. Only a small number of distant, insignificant collateral branches escaped being implicated.

Before the Xie clan fell, Wang Ru received the news. He no longer dared to have any connection with the Xie clan, so he had Wang Yaoshuang break off her engagement with Xie Shizhi.

However, breaking off the engagement still did not guarantee safety. As long as Wang Yaoshuang remained at home, there was no guarantee the male lead would not remember that the two families had once been connected by marriage.

Coincidentally, the Court of Ceremonies was arranging the Prince of Yingchuan’s marriage. Wang Ru somehow found a way, and the Minister of Ceremonies submitted Wang Yaoshuang’s name.

The emperor had no objection, nor did he care whether the Prince of Yingchuan had any objection. Just like that, the marriage was settled.

Perhaps because he felt guilty toward his two younger brothers, the new emperor mostly took an indulgent attitude toward their behavior in the capital. As a result, their reputations in the capital were truly not very good.

First was the Prince of Yiyang. Though still young, he had picked up all the bad habits of an idle dandy who spent his days teasing cats and dogs. He was also extremely overbearing in the capital. Whenever he encountered the children of powerful families who did not get along with him, arguing was basically routine. If he became angry, he would even resort to violence. If he won the fight, he would feel smug; if he lost, he would go complain to his imperial elder brother. He had become one of the most hated people in the capital’s circle of nobles.

Having grown up in a peaceful era since childhood, and having no particular scheming ability, Zhao Shangrong was absolutely certain she could not outplay the male lead. Forget the fact that she had not finished reading the original novel—even if she had transmigrated while holding the original text in her hands, she still might not be able to topple the male lead.

The Prince of Yingchuan did not have that particular problem, but her reputation was not much better. That was because she had a violent temper and treated the servants and attendants in her manor extremely harshly. In truth, this sort of thing was very common among the powerful and noble. Servants whose lives were tied to their masters could be beaten or killed, and outsiders would not say anything, much less stand up for them. The Prince of Yingchuan’s failure lay in the fact that she rarely interacted with the noble clans, so no one spoke well of her or covered things up for her.

To the Prince of Yingchuan, Wang Yaoshuang was her princess consort, but the two of them were destined to be a fake couple in name only for the rest of their lives. She would not show Wang Yaoshuang any pity or tenderness. She had not even performed the most basic wedding rites, such as personally welcoming the bride or bowing in the marriage ceremony. She had simply cast Wang Yaoshuang aside and gotten dead drunk in the main hall while hugging a wine jar.

Moreover, this female lead, who had endured humiliation and hardship while going undercover beside the Prince of Yingchuan, had the purpose of helping the male lead keep watch over her… One had to say, the male lead truly deserved to be the male lead. In order to consolidate his throne and prevent the younger brothers beneath him from usurping power, he had begun planting chess pieces so quickly!

Of course the Prince of Yingchuan was unwilling. Unfortunately, she had heard that after she got married, the emperor would allow her to go to her fief. Only then did she reluctantly marry Wang Yaoshuang.

In male-oriented novels, the male lead’s romantic rivals were usually villains who got brutally humiliated!

She did not believe that the male lead only learned of the Prince of Yingchuan’s treason after the lost cities were recovered. The male lead’s trusted subordinate had reclaimed the cities far too quickly. If they had not made arrangements in advance, with sufficient troops and provisions, things definitely would not have gone so smoothly.

Among Emperor Wu’s nine sons, the Prince of Yingchuan was one of only three princes who had not gone to their fiefs to command troops and guard their assigned territories. The other two were the fifteen-year-old Prince of Yiyang and the eleven-year-old Prince of Luling.

In other words, before the Prince of Yingchuan’s garrison was lost, the male lead’s forces had already been lying in wait nearby.

It was not that the new emperor had never considered sending them to their fiefs. However, the new emperor had only ascended the throne the previous year. He had just cleansed the court in blood, eliminated powerful ministers, and the situation was still somewhat unstable. He truly did not have the time to settle his two imperial younger brothers.

Therefore, one absolutely must not look down on the original male and female leads just because one had a god’s-eye view. That was the greatest taboo of transmigration.

After getting drunk like that, the Prince of Yingchuan never woke up again, because the person who regained consciousness had already become Zhao Shangrong.

At this moment, the maid outside the door glanced uneasily at the woman beside her, not knowing whether she should speak again.

Perhaps Wang Yaoshuang knew that the Prince of Yingchuan did not like her, so she had not appeared for the past two days. By the third day, had she finally been unable to endure it?

“Hiss—” Zhao Shangrong felt a headache coming on. If only she had transmigrated a little earlier, she definitely would not have wanted to get involved with the female lead!

Who did not know that the female lead was part of the male lead’s harem? By marrying her, Zhao Shangrong’s position had become that of the male lead’s romantic rival, okay?!

What she did not know was that Wang Yaoshuang was currently feeling extremely anxious and conflicted as well.

Although Zhao Shangrong did not know how the male and female leads had arranged all of this in the original novel, judging by the male lead’s character setting and past experiences, he was someone with deep schemes, far-reaching plans, and great talent and ambition.

When the Prince of Yingchuan married Wang Yaoshuang, her failure to complete the Six Rites of marriage was practically a slap in the Wang clan’s face. It was not that Wang Ru had not gone to complain to the emperor, but Wang Yaoshuang had already entered the prince’s manor, and the marriage was fixed. Even the emperor could no longer easily interfere in the affairs between the Prince of Yingchuan and his wife.

In reality, the Prince of Luling was not yet thirteen, so it was normal that he had not gone to his fief to command troops. The only ones in awkward positions were the Prince of Yingchuan and the Prince of Yiyang.

For three days after the wedding, Wang Yaoshuang had not seen her “husband.” In two days, it would be the day she returned to her maiden home for the customary visit. She was not sure whether the Prince of Yingchuan would accompany her. Yet if she returned home without saying a word, she feared it would anger the Prince of Yingchuan, so she personally came to ask.

Amid the strange, silent atmosphere, Wang Yaoshuang spoke. “Your Highness, this concubine has a matter to request an audience for.”

There was no movement from inside the room. Wang Yaoshuang’s willow-like brows furrowed slightly as she asked the maid, “Why is there no sound inside? Has something happened to His Highness?”

The maid was also a little confused and answered honestly, “Recently, aside from eating, His Highness has been sleeping deeply. Could he have fallen asleep?”

Wang Yaoshuang’s thoughts shifted, and she said, “What if the water has cooled and His Highness catches a chill? I will go in and take a look.”

As she spoke, she was about to push the door open and enter.

Just then, she heard the sound of water from inside, as well as Zhao Shangrong’s slightly panicked voice.

“Wait! I’ll come out. No one is allowed to come in!”

The maid’s eyes widened in surprise. For a moment, she even suspected that the person inside was not the Prince of Yingchuan she had served for years, because in her impression, the Prince of Yingchuan was moody, always wore a cold expression, and it was difficult to imagine her ever showing such a flustered,失态 side.

However, years of survival experience in the prince’s manor reminded her to firmly remember: do not think blindly about things one should not know. She suppressed her astonishment and lowered her head to wait at the side.

Inside the side hall, after Zhao Shangrong accepted the reality that the female lead had already entered the manor, she heard Wang Yaoshuang say she wanted to come in. Afraid that her disguise would be exposed, she immediately forgot to maintain the Prince of Yingchuan’s cold character setting. She got straight out of the pool and went to find her clothes.

Although she was a modern person with the Prince of Yingchuan’s memories, she still could not dress herself properly in these clothes. She could only hurriedly wrap her chest—which had not been very large to begin with—then put on her upper garment and trousers. Only after making sure there was nothing that would expose her identity did she steady herself, slowly walk over, and open the door.

The instant she opened the door, all the maids bent at the waist and lowered their heads, not daring to overstep in the slightest.

Even the princess consort, Wang Yaoshuang, did not dare to look directly at Zhao Shangrong. She could only lower her head slightly, cast her eyes down, and bow. “This concubine of the Wang clan greets Your Highness.”

Zhao Shangrong intended to raise Wang Yaoshuang’s favorability toward her, hoping that when Wang Yaoshuang reported to the male lead, she could put in a few good words for her. But Zhao Shangrong was worried that if her character setting collapsed too badly, it would make people suspicious. After struggling internally for a while, she awkwardly replied, “Mm. You… what is it?”

Seeing that she was not angry, Wang Yaoshuang quietly breathed a little easier. Her courage also increased by a few degrees, and she quickly raised her eyes to glance at Zhao Shangrong.

That glance made her freeze for a moment, because although Zhao Shangrong was fully dressed, her clothing was somewhat messy.

It was true that among the noble clans nowadays, this kind of disheveled, free and loose appearance was fashionable. Some even took Five Minerals Powder to achieve a certain transcendent state of mind. But Wang Yaoshuang felt that the disorderliness of Zhao Shangrong’s clothes was not the result of deliberately pursuing an elegant, carefree look. It was purely because she did not know how to dress herself.

Naturally, the Prince of Yingchuan had close maids who served her and helped her change clothes, but most of the time, she did it herself. Therefore, there should not be a situation where she did not know how to put on clothes.

It was probably because Wang Yaoshuang’s sudden arrival had made her lose composure, causing her to reveal a flaw.

Wang Yaoshuang spoke in a humble tone. “This concubine has come to beg Your Highness to accompany me when I return to my maiden home.”

Zhao Shangrong was also stunned.

She felt uncomfortable all over. Accompanying one’s newlywed wife back to her maiden home—was that not something a husband was supposed to do? The female lead, as the princess consort, was being far too humble!

In the original novel, this female lead seemed to have had very little presence in the prince’s manor, because the Prince of Yingchuan did not like her, and she also never wandered around in front of the Prince of Yingchuan.

At the same time, she was one of the few women in the prince’s manor who had not been disfigured by the Prince of Yingchuan. Naturally, this was not because she was unattractive, but because her status as princess consort and the Wang noble clan behind her made the Prince of Yingchuan somewhat wary.

In addition, her body was weak. The Prince of Yingchuan was afraid that if she so much as touched her, Wang Yaoshuang would die on the spot.

Neglecting Wang Yaoshuang during the wedding rites could only be called the Prince of Yingchuan being rude. But if the Prince of Yingchuan dared to kill her, that would be a provocation against the Langya Wang clan. Although the Prince of Yingchuan had a violent temper, she was not brainless.

Never mind whether the male lead would use this as a reason to blame Zhao Shangrong for humiliating his woman in the future. Even without an external threat, as a fellow woman, Zhao Shangrong could not bear to see Wang Yaoshuang lower herself like this.

“What the princess consort requests, I have no reason to refuse.” Zhao Shangrong maintained the Prince of Yingchuan’s character setting. “When?”

Previously, the Prince of Yingchuan had not even appeared for the personal welcoming or the wedding ceremony, causing Wang Yaoshuang to be pointed at and gossiped about, thoroughly disgracing the Wang clan. So at first, Wang Yaoshuang had not held much hope.

She had not expected this person to agree to her request so easily.

While Wang Yaoshuang was puzzled, she was also afraid that the Prince of Yingchuan was brewing an even greater scheme. Thus, she answered cautiously, “The day after tomorrow.”

Zhao Shangrong nodded. At least there were still two days to prepare.

However, this was the Prince of Yingchuan’s first time marrying a wife, and she had no experience accompanying a princess consort back to her maiden home. Zhao Shangrong, this guest from beyond the heavens, also had no information to refer to. After thinking for a while, she asked sincerely, “Do I need to prepare anything?”

Wang Yaoshuang was even more surprised. She could not help wondering whether Zhao Shangrong had drunk for several days and was still too drunk to think clearly. Otherwise, why would she so patiently ask what procedures needed to be followed?

Author’s Note:

Princess Consort: Just how many jars did you drink? You’re seriously drunk!

Your Highness: …