"Poisonous woman!" Prince Regent He Gu roared in fury. "Still playing dumb?! Guards, immediately fetch the Princess Consort's *! To cure Rou'er!"
Everyone present was utterly shocked.
"Your, Your Highness?" Bai Rou'er's tears were still welling in her eyes. "What… what did you say? Excrement?"
He Gu's face darkened like the Demon King himself, baffled as to why he had said such a thing. He opened his mouth to correct himself, but due to some mysterious unknown force, he was compelled to complete this Plotline: "Yes! Hurry up, or I'll have your dog heads chopped off!"
After saying this, he grew both anxious and furious, and opened his mouth again: "No, it's excrement! Excrement! Excrement!"
His face flushed red with rage as he swept a tableful of bottles and jars to the floor: "No, it's excrement! Bring me the Princess Consort's excrement!"
The servants were so terrified they dropped to their knees.
"Your, Your Highness, please calm down, calm down! This servant will fetch it right away. Please don't be angry!"
Princess Consort Ning Ruyue was stunned, but scrambled to her feet and rushed to the privy to relieve herself.
When the thing was brought in, Bai Rou'er's face turned yellow. She clung to He Gu's pant leg, sobbing: "Your Highness, what are you doing… How could your concubine possibly… possibly…"
The stench was overwhelming. Bai Rou'er clamped her hands tightly over her nose and mouth, mortified beyond endurance.
He Gu was so furious his eyes nearly bulged out of his head—until the object was set down on the table. Suddenly his facial muscles relaxed, and a sense of control returned. He charged forward and viciously slapped Ning Ruyue.
"Poisonous woman! What have you done to me?! Who permitted you to relieve yourself without my leave?!"
"Your Highness! Have you gone mad?" Ning Ruyue was shocked, tears falling like beads from a broken string. "It was you who just forced me to use my * to cure your concubine…"
Shu Yan quickly steadied the swaying Ning Ruyue and pulled up the Plotline.
[He Gu was furious, believing Ning Ruyue must be using demonic arts. He suddenly snatched up the bowl of * and forced it down her throat: "I'm telling you, you think you can use this method to get my attention? Not a chance!"]
Shu Yan chuckled softly and changed "her" to "himself."
He Gu was furious, and suddenly snatched up the bowl of * and forced it down his own throat: "I'm telling you, you think you can use this method to get my attention? Not a chance!"
Ning Ruyue's eyes flew wide open.
"Your, Your Highness?! Your Highness!"
Ning Ruyue rushed forward to stop He Gu, but he shoved her away, still snarling coldly: "I'm telling you, you think you can use this method to get my attention? Not a chance!"
"Your Highness! What are you doing? It's all Rou'er's fault, wuwuwu…"
Bai Rou'er's delicate frame swayed as she sobbed and stepped forward to snatch the bowl away, but He Gu shoved her back hard, clutching the bowl protectively: "Rou'er, don't grab it!"
He pushed too hard by accident, and Bai Rou'er cried out in pain as she tumbled to the ground.
He Gu's face filled with distress as he hurried to help her up, while Ning Ruyue quickly shouted: "Quick, quick! Take that bowl away… feed it to the dog! Quick, feed it to the dog!"
A quick-witted servant snatched the bowl and sprinted out.
He Gu suddenly felt a tremendous force propelling his legs forward. With a howl, he took off running after the servant.
The servant ran ahead, He Gu chased behind, racing across the entire manor until he finally spotted the bowl in the mouth of the big yellow dog by the corner wall. He lunged forward to snatch it.
The big yellow dog was enjoying its meal and grew furious. Clamping down on the bowl with its jaws, it refused to let go, and soon it was tussling with He Gu.
Ning Ruyue came chasing after with a large group of servants, panting heavily. Seeing the prince wrestling with the dog, she was dumbfounded.
"Who—who said the prince doesn't love the princess anymore?" a servant murmured. "He won't even waste…" even that, isn't this madly in love?
"No, a love like this, I'd rather not have…" Ning Ruyue clutched her head and backed away three steps.
How had the prince become so disgraceful…
He Gu, while battling the dog, roared furiously: "Ning Ruyue, put away your delusions! I tell you, this prince would rather love a dog than love you!"
"Your Highness, even loving a dog would be better than loving that…"
He Gu was both furious and frantic, utterly exasperated. At that moment, the Emperor, traveling in plain clothes to visit the Regent Prince, witnessed this scene—his pupils dilated with an 8.0 magnitude shock!
"He—He," he pointed at He Gu, unable to believe his eyes: "Xiao Dezi, is the Regent Prince fighting a dog over food?"
He Gu's tiger-like frame trembled violently!
"No, no, Your Majesty, this minister didn't…"
He shook off the dog and stood up, trying to prove himself, but felt a powerful force pulling his head back down.
He strained with all his might to lift his head, but it moved involuntarily, inch by inch, toward that bowl.
Unfortunately, his movements enraged the big yellow dog. With an angry bark, the dog lunged at him again, and they tumbled into another scuffle.
The Emperor stared in shock, stumbling backward: "Ah—this—this, the Regent Prince is ill! State affairs, no need to trouble you, ahem, with them anymore, hehehe…"
[The Emperor was overjoyed—he had long wanted to strip this young man of his power.]
[The Emperor left the prince's residence and said to Xiao Dezi: "Not a word of today's events is to leave your lips. You understand my meaning, don't you?"]
[Half an hour later, every brat on the street knew that the Regent Prince had been fighting a dog over excrement in his residence.]
Only after the Emperor left the residence did this great battle finally end—and He Gu had still lost. The excrement was snatched away by the dog and devoured completely.
["Ning! Ru! Yue! You witch, this prince will kill you!" He Gu's eyes burned red with rage. He ordered servants to bring out clubs, grabbed one, and swung it viciously at the princess.]
Shu Yan, quick-eyed and sharp-handed, hastily changed "princess" to "secondary consort."
He Gu charged with his club toward the princess, then suddenly spun 180 degrees and struck Bai Rou'er, who was crying and rushing over to mediate: "Wench! This prince will beat you to death today!"
"Ah!" Bai Rou'er shrieked, her face full of disbelief: "Your Highness, you're hitting me?"
He Gu's heart ached so much his eyes turned red—aching even as he beat her mercilessly: "Rou'er, I didn't, I don't want to hit you, I don't want to hit you!"
"Ah! Ah! Ah!" Bai Rou'er wailed under the blows, crying heart-wrenchingly, and soon fainted from the pain.
He Gu finally stopped, pouncing forward to embrace Bai Rou'er, crying out in anguish: "Rou'er, my Rou'er, how—how could this have happened…"
He looked up at Ning Ruyue, terror flashing in his eyes: "Guards! Lock her in the courtyard! Summon a Taoist—summon the most powerful master there is!"
"Your Highness!" Ning Ruyue was nearly driven mad by him: "You beat your own secondary consort—why are you locking me up?"
Ning Ruyue stepped forward, and He Gu, terrified, leaped back ten paces: "Don't come near me! Get out! This prince—this prince is leaving!"
He scooped up Bai Rou'er from the ground and sprinted off as if his rear end were on fire.
"Mad—mad! What do we do, what do we do, the prince has gone mad…"
Ning Ruyue's body suddenly trembled, tears streaming down her face. Shu Yan quickly helped her back to the room: "Your Highness, please don't be so sad. Actually, the Prince isn't really mad at all!"
"Not really mad?" Ning Ruyue was startled, then hastily grasped Shu Yan's hand, filled with relief: "Really? That's wonderful! But if he's not really mad, then how do you explain it?"
"Your Highness, this servant has a guess."
"What guess? Tell me quickly!" Ning Ruyue pulled the jade hairpin from her hair and pressed it into Shu Yan's palm: "Good girl, you're the only confidante I have left now. Please help me save the Prince…"
Shu Yan was stunned for a moment.
"System, is this the random antique you mentioned?"
[Uh… no, this is unexpected, a small bonus by accident.]
Shu Yan looked at the jade hairpin, and a line of small text floated up: "Three-hundred-year-old antique jade hairpin, worth 5 million."
"Oh my god, a small bonus is worth 5 million? Can I take it back with me?"
With that much money, even in Tuchuan City where land was at a premium, it would be enough to buy a cozy little home!
She had never seen this much money in her entire life!
[Of course you can.]
Shu Yan suddenly raised her head, looking at Ning Ruyue as if she were a gold nugget, radiating the most loyal light.
"Your Highness, actually, what the Prince did today was to protect you."