Chapter 252: Dignity Trampled into the Dirt

Chapter 252 Dignity Trampled into Mud

The sounds of silk and bamboo music filled the air, cups clinked, and the spring banquet was in full swing.

Wang Bishan sat upright at her seat, but her gaze never left Xiao Lingchuan beside the main seat.

Calculating the time for the drug to take effect, she shot a covert glance at the maid who had long been bribed.

The maid understood, and with a flick of her wrist, the entire pot of amber wine splashed right onto Xiao Lingchuan's dark brocade robe.

"Ah!" the maid let out an exaggerated cry, then dropped to her knees with a thud, kowtowing repeatedly. "Forgive me, Your Highness! This servant is guilty! I didn't mean it!"

"You clumsy fool!" Wang Bishan immediately stood up and scolded in feigned rage. "How dare you offend the Prince? Get out of here!"

The maid, as if granted amnesty, hurriedly retreated, clutching the pot of drugged wine—the evidence of her crime.

Only then did Wang Bishan turn around, her expression shifting to one of tender solicitude. Gazing at Xiao Lingchuan's soaked collar with concern, she said, "Your Highness, your robe is wet; the smell of wine is hardly fitting. There is a side hall nearby for changing clothes. How about... this concubine accompanies you to change into something clean?"

"No need." Xiao Lingchuan's voice was as cold as ice. He did not even look at her. "Let Ling Feng come with me."

Rejected so flatly, the smile on Wang Bishan's face froze for a moment.

Fortunately, she had already prepared a backup plan.

She turned as if by accident, and her elbow "accidentally" bumped her wine cup on the table. The full cup spilled all over her, leaving large dark stains on her skirt.

She let out a well-timed soft cry and looked up with tearful, innocent eyes, looking at him pitifully. "Your Highness... you see, now this concubine must also change clothes. We can go together, then."

Xiao Lingchuan cast her a glance. His eyes were unfathomable, revealing neither joy nor anger.

Without another word, he rose expressionlessly and walked straight toward the side hall.

Thrilled, Wang Bishan quickly picked up her skirt and hurried after him.

Inside the side hall, candles blazed brightly, but it was utterly quiet.

As Ling Feng was about to enter the inner chamber with Xiao Lingchuan, Wang Bishan stepped ahead, trying to follow them in.

Ling Feng immediately blocked her with his arm, his face stern. "Secondary Consort Wang, the Prince is changing. You may wait outside."

"How dare you!" Wang Bishan's face darkened. She raised her chin, putting on all the airs of a Secondary Consort. "I am the Prince's woman; naturally, I should attend to him while he changes. What, a mere guard like yourself dares to defy this Secondary Consort?"

"You..." Ling Feng was furious but, mindful of the difference in their ranks, was momentarily speechless.

As the two were at a standoff, Xiao Lingchuan's emotionless voice came from the inner chamber. It was calm, yet carried an irrefutable authority. "Ling Feng, let Secondary Consort Wang come in."

Thrilled, Wang Bishan immediately put on a coy, shy expression, pushed open the door, and called out in a voice that could melt any man's heart: "Your Highness..."

However, the moment she saw the scene inside the chamber, all her tenderness and affection froze on her face.

In the inner chamber, Xiao Lingchuan had already changed into a brand-new ink-black cloud-pattern brocade robe, standing upright and straight in the middle of the hall.

He stood with his hands behind his back, staring at her with an icy, penetrating gaze as if looking at a corpse.

There was not a trace of the passion or flush she had expected from the drug's effect; only a biting cold that could freeze anyone.

Why wasn't it as she had expected?

Wang Bishan's heart sank.

Had the drug not taken effect yet? Or... had she not used enough?

Seeing her expression of shock and uncertainty, Xiao Lingchuan slowly smirked with utmost mockery.

"Stop guessing." His voice was colder than the air in the hall. "If I were so easily plotted against by women, my mansion would have long been filled with wives and concubines. What chance would you have had to become my Secondary Consort?"

These words were like a hard slap, striking Wang Bishan's face fiercely!

The shame and embarrassment of being exposed on the spot made her face turn red, blood rushing to her face.

But she was after all from an Aristocratic clan, with deep cunning. After a brief panic, she quickly regained her composure and began to feign innocence. "What is Your Highness saying? This concubine... doesn't understand. I was only worried about you and thought to help you change clothes. I had no other intentions!"

"Refuse to admit it?" Xiao Lingchuan gave a cold laugh and slowly uttered two words. "Guards!"

As his words fell, the hall door was pushed open from outside.

Two guards escorted the bribed maid inside, while another guard held the wine pot the maid had taken away.

"Your Highness, the evidence and witness are both here. Whether this wine was drugged can be verified immediately!"

The maid instantly crumpled to the ground, sobbing and begging for mercy. "Please forgive me, Your Highness! Please forgive me! It was all done on Concubine Wang's orders! She told me to drug the wine and also signaled me to spill it on Your Highness!"

Xiao Lingchuan's gaze returned to Wang Bishan's pale face. He asked, word by word, "Secondary Consort Wang, what do you have to say now?"

The evidence was ironclad; there was no room for excuses.

Wang Bishan's body went limp. She fell to both knees, tears pouring down her face like rain on pear blossoms. "This concubine admits she was wrong! Your Highness, I truly know I was wrong! I shouldn't have been so foolish as to drug you, but I... I am just too in love with you! Ever since marrying into the mansion, you have ignored me completely. I had no way to meet you, and I was lovesick to the point of sickness, so I did this desperate thing!"

"Infatuation?"

Xiao Lingchuan let out a low laugh, a laugh full of bitter coldness and mockery.

"I still remember that year when I was just a neglected, powerless Fourth Prince. Which noble daughter of an aristocratic clan sneered at me in front of everyone else."

He walked slowly toward her, looking down at her with eyes as sharp as knives, as if he could strip away all her masks and reach her filthiest heart.

"At the Grand Princess's birthday banquet, you said, 'What use is it even if that Fourth Prince has a good-looking face? It cannot change the fact that he has half the lowly blood of the Nanyue People flowing in him. He will never be presentable.'"

He repeated her harsh words word for word from back then.

Wang Bishan's face instantly turned from pale to ashen.

She never imagined that a mocking remark she had long forgotten about a down-and-out prince would be remembered so clearly by him!

This man was horrifically vengeful to an extreme!

"Your Highness..."

"Shut up."

Xiao Lingchuan's icy voice cut through like a knife, cutting off all her apologies, excuses, and pleas before they could leave her throat.

He looked down at her, kneeling and disheveled on the ground, his eyes filled with undisguised loathing and contempt.

"Someone like you—even if I were drugged, I would never accept your advances! After returning to the mansion, you are confined to your quarters for two months. You'd better mend your ways! Now, get out of my sight!"

Wang Bishan was after all a spoiled, legitimate daughter of an aristocratic clan, used to getting her way. How could she endure such crushing humiliation?

Her scheming and pride were torn to shreds by him, and even her last shred of dignity was ground into the dirt.

Tears immediately streamed down her face; she sobbed uncontrollably and fled in shame.

She rushed out of the side hall and hid in the silent shadow of the corridor behind the hall, crying quietly.

Just then, a shadow silently fell over her.

"Who is it?" Wang Bishan looked up like a startled rabbit, her eyes brimming with tears. When she recognized the person's face, she blurted out without thinking, "C-cousin-in-law?"

The visitor was none other than the current Princess Rui, her cousin-in-law, Jiang Yaozhen.

Jiang Yaozhen's face showed just the right amount of pity. She took out a silk handkerchief and gently wiped the tears from Wang Bishan's face: "My poor little Bishan, if you want to win Prince Jing's heart, how could you use such a crude method as drugging him?

There are at least eighty, if not a hundred women who have tried this method to get into his bed. He has long been on guard against this. Every time he attends a palace banquet or any occasion where he might come into contact with women, he takes an antidote in advance. No matter how powerful the aphrodisiac, it has no effect on him at all."

"What? He takes an antidote before every banquet?" Wang Bishan was utterly shocked.

So, her smug scheme was nothing but a worn-out trick that had long been seen through by others.

She was just another in a long line of foolish women who had come before.

She instantly felt humiliated.

"Cousin-in-law, this Prince Jing is impervious to reason. I... I really don't know what to do!" Wang Bishan grabbed Jiang Yaozhen's hand and cried, "I saw that good sister of yours in the main courtyard the other day! She is clearly a fugitive who has committed murder, yet Prince Jing protects her as if she were the apple of his eye! I refuse to accept this. Why should I lose to a murderer?"

"Silly cousin," a faint, dark gleam flickered in the depths of Jiang Yaozhen's eyes. "Your method wasn't wrong, just... you targeted the wrong person. You shouldn't have drugged Prince Jing. You should have drugged Jiang Shuning. Only by completely driving a wedge between them and making him utterly disgusted with Jiang Shuning will you have a chance to enter Prince Jing's heart!"