“Hongzhu, whatever is the matter?”
Nanzhi turned her head, watching as the young girl’s innocent face filled with boiling indignation, her cheeks puffed out like little steamed buns and her brows knotted tightly together.
“Who has managed to upset our little Hongzhu?” she teased, a light note of amusement coloring her tone.
Stepping forward in a hurried rush, Hongzhu planted her hands firmly on her hips and spilled everything she had just overheard in one unbroken, rapid-fire stream, much like beans tumbling out of a bamboo tube:
“Miss, you have no idea how utterly despicable those people down at the kitchen are! They actually had the audacity to maliciously gossip about you, claiming that you cast Young Master Wen aside and went crawling into the Crown Prince’s bed last night just to latch onto his high-ranking coattails!”
“Miss, how could they possibly say such horrible things about you?! You are nothing like the kind of person they’re making you out to be. Hearing them talk like that made my blood boil—I wanted nothing more than to tear those gossiping mouths to shreds!”
Hongzhu’s face flushed a fiery red with agitation, her nostrils flaring as if steam might billow out at any second. She felt an overwhelming sense of grievance on her young miss’s behalf; her beloved miss was entirely innocent of the slander those wretches were spewing—it was pure, malicious defamation!
In her blind fury, she had completely forgotten about fetching the morning meal, choosing instead to trade sharp barbs with the gossips before storming back in a huff.
Mid-rant, a sudden thought struck Hongzhu, and her voice instantly dropped to a cautious, hushed tone:
“Miss… His Highness the Crown Prince didn’t actually… take you last night, did he?”
She had caught wind of the chatter from a few loose-lipped kitchen matrons who whispered that the young miss had spent the entire night quartered with the Crown Prince. Only then did it dawn on her that her miss indeed had not returned for the entire evening. Could it really be true?
Right as the words left her mouth, Zhuyan shot her a sharp look, silently signaling her to stop talking. But Hongzhu’s mind had lagged a beat too late, and the question was already out in the open.
Observing the subtle exchange between the two maids, Nanzhi couldn’t help a quiet, amused smile. She knew Zhuyan was simply trying to shield her from painful reminders, but what was done was done; there was no sense in treating it as a taboo subject.
Sooner or later, everyone would know anyway.
Even so, she couldn’t simply allow people to run around wagging their tongues unchecked.
With that thought, Nanzhi’s expression turned stern: “Zhuyan, go speak with the steward later. Have those gossiping busybodies driven straight out of the estate. If anyone asks, tell them it was my explicit order. Should anyone else dare to spread idle talk hereafter, deal with them the exact same way.”
Zhuyan nodded without a moment’s hesitation: “Rest assured, Miss, this slave will see it handled properly.”
Nanzhi shifted her gaze back toward Hongzhu, asking with a gentle smile: “Well, Hongzhu? Are you satisfied with that?”
Pausing for a brief moment before Hongzhu could fire off a reply, she continued in an even tone: “I suppose you are both curious about where I went last night, so I see no reason to keep it from you any longer. My father drugged me and delivered me straight to the Crown Prince.”
She tossed the revelation out so casually, wearing a mask of supreme indifference as she turned her gaze back toward the birds flitting outside the window. Her expression remained blank and distant, her thoughts deeply masked.
Zhuyan had already guessed as much—she knew the Master must have had a hand in it, yet she never could have imagined that he would stoop so low as to drug her own miss and hand her over.
Hearing the confession slip right from her young miss’s lips sent a sharp, agonizing pang straight through Zhuyan’s chest. How deeply must her miss be hurting right now? How profoundly betrayed and disillusioned must she feel?
Zhuyan stared fixedly at Nanzhi’s back, searching for words of comfort, before Hongzhu’s piercing shriek of shock and outrage cut through the room:
“How could the Master ever do such a thing?! That is utterly unforgivable!”
“And how could His Highness the Crown Prince go along with it?!”
Nanzhi’s blunt disclosure had left Hongzhu with dilated pupils, utterly incapable of processing the nightmare she was hearing.
How could this possibly be? Wasn’t the young miss supposed to be married off soon? How on earth could she ever marry anyone now?!
Hongzhu’s face shifted through colors like a painter’s palette, her lips protruding in a pout as her brows arched high, opening into an immediate, fierce defense of Nanzhi:
“The Master is simply subhuman! And the Crown Prince—for all his noble, refined appearance, how could he stoop to taking advantage of someone in such a vulnerable state?!”
Her righteous fury and indignation drew a genuine chuckle from Nanzhi.
Softly smiling, Nanzhi turned around and raised a finger to her lips in a silencing gesture: “Hush now, say no more. It sounds as though someone is approaching outside.”
The moment the words faded from her lips, the distinct sound of footsteps echoed from the corridor beyond.
Shortly after, a sharp, effeminate voice drifted in from outside the doorway: “Is Miss Nan inside?”
“Zhuyan, go invite our guest in.”
Recognizing the voice before even seeing its owner, Nanzhi instantly identified the visitor as Chief Eunuch Chen, a close attendant who served directly by the Crown Prince’s side.
Stepping outside, Zhuyan adopted a respectful demeanor: “Whatever brings Chief Chen here? Please, do come in.”
“Have a seat and enjoy a cup of tea first; the young miss will be right out.”
Taking advantage of the brief interval, Nanzhi quickly slipped inside to change into a proper, presentable set of garments. Securing her hair casually with nothing more than a simple wooden hairpin, she stepped out to meet him.
“What important business brings Chief Chen here today?” Nanzhi asked with a faint smile, her tone remaining completely natural. Keeping all turbulent emotions hidden beneath a serene exterior, her voice sounded as melodious and crystal-clear as pearls tumbling onto a jade plate, striking straight into the listener’s heart.
With sharp observation, Nanzhi noticed a young servant standing right behind Chief Chen, holding a bowl resting upon a wooden tray.
Though they stood a short distance apart and she couldn’t clearly make out the contents of the bowl, a sharp intuition allowed her to instantly guess what it held. That bowl undoubtedly contained a contraceptive decoction, didn’t it?
Seeing her emerge, Chen Ruhai rose from his chair and swept his gaze up and down her frame. Inwardly, he let out a silent sigh of awe: she truly was a peerless beauty. Her grace and poise surpassed even the third young miss of Prime Minister Lu’s household in the capital. It was little wonder the Crown Prince had broken his own rules and taken her for his own.
Countless noble maidens had previously thrown themselves at the Crown Prince’s feet, yet he hadn’t spared a single one of them a second glance. This Miss Nan, however, was clearly the sole exception.
Pulling his thoughts back, Chen Ruhai offered a slight nod toward Nanzhi, speaking with practiced courtesy: “Miss Nan, this slave comes under orders from the Crown Prince to deliver something into your hands.”
“Present it here.” Chen Ruhai arched a brow and beckoned to the attendant behind him.
The servant stepped forward with the tray. Chen Ruhai picked up the porcelain medicine bowl himself, handed it directly to Nanzhi, and chuckled warmly: “Miss Nan, this is the contraceptive decoction bestowed upon you by His Highness. Please drink it down right here in front of this slave.”
Though he wore a smile, Hongzhu felt a creeping sense of terror in his presence. The chief eunuch’s face was drained of any trace of healthy color, starkly contrasted by lips stained a vibrant, unnatural crimson that looked as though they had been painted with rouge. An inherent, icy aura radiated from his entire person, making her too frightened to risk a second glance.
Perhaps sensing Hongzhu’s stealthy, appraising looks, Chen Ruhai let his gaze shift toward her. After giving her a brief, deeply meaningful look, he pulled his eyes away.
The weight of his stare left Hongzhu with slightly constricted pupils, frightening her into hastily dropping her gaze to the floor.
A wave of guilty panic washed over her as she couldn’t help but wonder: Could Chief Chen possibly have overheard the things I was saying about the Crown Prince just moments ago? Harboring a guilty conscience, Hongzhu buried her head even lower.
Withdrawing his attention from Hongzhu, Chen Ruhai turned back to Nanzhi, squinting slightly with a smile playing across his lips.
Expecting her to put up a struggle or offer a round of resistance, he was entirely caught off guard when Nanzhi simply reached out and accepted the bowl from his hands. Without a single second of hesitation, and without even knitting her brows, she downed the bitter contents entirely in one go right before his eyes, executing the motion in a single, fluid sweep.
“Is Chief Chen satisfied now?” Nanzhi tilted the empty bowl toward him, displaying it to prove it was clean.
The contraceptive decoction was notoriously bitter and punishing to swallow, yet Nanzhi’s expression hadn’t shifted once from start to finish. As she spoke, a faint, gentle smile still hovered at the corners of her lips, making her feel as warm and refreshing as a spring breeze.
The Crown Prince occupied a position of supreme nobility. For someone of her standing—the daughter of a minor official who had essentially been delivered to his doorstep—being barred from bearing his child was entirely within the bounds of reason.
In truth, the Crown Prince’s precaution actually saved her the trouble; she had no desire whatsoever to carry his child.
A flicker of genuine surprise crossed Chen Ruhai’s features before he recovered and chuckled: “Thank you for your cooperation, Miss Nan. His Highness also instructed this slave to pass along a message to you: His Highness stated that he will not treat you poorly, so you may set your mind at ease. Now that the matter is settled, this slave will take his leave.”
Not treat her poorly? It was an offer she wanted nothing to do with. Nanzhi sneered inwardly while keeping her exterior expression soft and welcoming: “Safe journey, Chief Chen.”
After exchanging formal farewells, Chen Ruhai turned and strode out the door. The moment his back was turned to Nanzhi, a flash of deep, fathomless calculation flickered across his eyes.
This Miss Nan is truly a strange one, he thought. Everyone else in her position would be desperate to conceive the Crown Prince’s child. Yet look at her—she didn’t offer a single word of pushback when handed a bowl of contraceptive medicine.
The moment Chen Ruhai’s figure vanished from view, Hongzhu let out a long-pent-up breath of relief: “Miss, that Chief Chen is absolutely terrifying! While he was standing here, this slave didn’t even dare to take a full breath.”