CHAPTER 249: CHAPTER 247 I SHOULD CLEARLY BE THE NUMBER ONE BEAUTY

Luo Wanzhao pulled out a golden hairpin and stirred the powder in the teapot evenly. "Do you think Shen Yinning came back from that hellish place, Gan State, so easily? I heard the Prince say that on the night before her exile, she climbed into the Crown Prince’s bed. In just one night, she made the Crown Prince remember her fondly for three years, which is why he arranged for her to marry Gao Zheng. Then, using Gao Zheng, he brought her back to the Capital. After her return, she served as the Crown Prince’s Forbidden Fruit for an entire year. The Crown Prince protected her, and despite the Crown Princess Consort’s efforts, she couldn’t catch her!"

She covered the teapot, inserted the golden hairpin back into her coiffure, and continued, "Back when the Shen Guogong Mansion hadn’t yet collapsed, Shen Yinning and the Prince were childhood sweethearts and destined to marry. Who would have thought the Crown Prince would step in and steal her away? I think the Crown Prince might indeed feel something special for Shen Yinning. This ’climbing into bed’ affair might not have been her acting alone—it’s likely the Crown Prince went along with it as well."

Luo Wanxiang listened, growing more and more dumbfounded.

The Crown Prince—someone who appeared as cold, lofty, and unattainable, a figure of staunch integrity and self-restrained propriety—just looking at him filled her with both reverence and unease.

Yet such a Crown Prince secretly did something as despicable as stealing another man’s wife?

And the woman in question was none other than Shen Yinning...

The one who was even more beautiful than her and also one of Xue Mianmian’s closest friends.

Recalling how, at tonight’s banquet, the Crown Prince finished Shen Yinning’s half-empty glass of wine, Luo Wanxiang was almost seventy or eighty percent convinced.

Her tone took on a note of bitterness: "But Shen Yinning has done all these things. As the daughter of a condemned official, her reputation is utterly ruined, and her unclear entanglements with other men make her incomparable to us—noble, spotless girls of good families. Surely the Crown Prince just sees her as a passing dalliance, doesn’t he?"

"Xiang’er, don’t forget that four years ago, given our status, we wouldn’t have even been able to meet her. It was her father and brothers’ rebellion that made us seem noble compared to her. Now, though she’s a fallen orphan, her connections with the Princes remain. Do you remember how the Princely Heir of the Duke Mansion protected her?"

Luo Wanxiang scoffed, "What can she do besides enticing men with her face?! Spending all her time among men, she has no semblance of a proper lady! I, for one, look down on her!"

"Enough, let’s leave quickly before she returns."

Luo Wanxiang’s eyes darted thoughtfully. "Sis, you go ahead. I’ll put the teapot and cups back in place to avoid arousing suspicion."

After Luo Wanzhao left, Luo Wanxiang pulled a small packet of powder from her sleeve and poured its entire contents into the teapot.

She picked up the teapot and shook it, her dainty face taking on a sinister expression in the dim light. "It should’ve been me as the foremost beauty, me as the beloved of all Princes, Princely Heirs, and noble sons. You’ve stolen what should’ve been mine. Die already! What’s so special about being the Duke’s daughter? Now you’re nothing but a plaything beneath a man’s crotch! Bah!"

She spat into the teapot before swaggering away.

A quarter-hour later, Shen Yinning returned from Xue Ling’s residence.

With the room lit by candlelight, she noticed the teapot and cups arranged differently on the table.

In a place like Liang Garden where she lacked trusted aides, Shen Yinning remained cautious about everything, including which direction the teapot’s spout was pointed when she left.

Now, its position had changed.

She opened the teapot lid and saw something resembling saliva floating on the surface of the tea.

Disgust welled up within her as she began to suspect who was responsible.

She grabbed the teapot and hurled it to the ground without hesitation.

...

Luo Xibai rushed over with his men, only to find Shen Yinning sitting curled up on the canopy bed, her hair disheveled and her tears glistening like raindrops on pear blossoms—fragile and pitiable.

He stepped forward hurriedly. "Sister Shen, I heard something happened here?!"

"Brother!" Shen Yinning sobbed as she threw herself into his arms. "Someone wants to kill me!"

She trembled as she pointed past Luo Xibai toward the redwood floor. "Look..."

Luo Xibai quickly glanced over to see the teapot shattered into several pieces, its spilled tea having corroded the floor!

There was no doubt—the tea was poisoned!

Shen Yinning shivered uncontrollably. "After the banquet, I took a stroll in the garden and felt thirsty, so I came back intending to drink tea. But when I picked up the teapot, it slipped and broke on the floor—that’s when I discovered the tea was poisoned... Brother, I don’t know what I did wrong or who offended me so much that they’d try to harm me! Could it be that they couldn’t stand to see how kind you are to me?!"

Luo Xibai was outraged. "You’re my sworn sister! Whoever dares hurt you is disrespecting me altogether! Someone, conduct a full search of Liang Garden! Make sure you uncover who planted the poison!"

By now, the Luo sisters had returned to their respective quarters.

Luo Wanzhao brushed Lu Shiyan’s hair and laughed softly, "By now, I’m sure Sister Shen has drunk that tea. Once the aphrodisiac takes effect, she’ll give herself willingly to anyone. Though the method is a bit crude, I’m willing to do anything for the Prince. If the Prince is happy, then I’m happy too."

Lu Shiyan’s gaze fixed on the copper mirror, his feelings conflicted.

Back when he was in the Capital, he had been a gentleman of virtue and grace.

Never had he imagined he’d one day resort to drugging someone to force them into compliance.

He felt he had no choice.

Lu Ying’s sudden arrival had him worried—was Lu Ying reconsidering taking Zhaozhao back, planning to snatch Zhaozhao away from him once more?

He could only use this method to make Zhaozhao conceive his child, binding both her and the child to him in Jiangnan.

He truly believed it was for Zhaozhao’s own good.

Lu Shiyan inhaled deeply to steady himself, attempting to suppress the anxiety brought by Lu Ying’s presence.

He gently patted Luo Wanzhao’s hand. "You are my lawful wife, and even if Zhaozhao bears my child in the future, it won’t change your position in my heart."

Luo Wanzhao’s eyes reddened with emotion. "My Prince..."

Just as the couple was talking, Luo Xibai’s private soldiers suddenly barged in with authority, announcing, "Lord Luo has ordered that the Princess and the second miss accompany him to Zhaoyue Tower immediately!"

Zhaoyue Tower.

When Prince Wu and his wife, along with Luo Wanxiang, arrived, they saw Shen Yinning reclining delicately on the bed, her raven-black hair flowing smoothly over her chest and down her back. Her small face seemed veiled by a faint mist, her long lashes damp, giving the appearance of someone who had recently cried.

Luo Xibai sat beside her attentively, consoling her while holding a bowl of golden bird’s nest soup in his hands.

His gaze shifted toward the newcomers, and he scolded angrily, "You have such gall to disregard me! Daring to poison Sister Shen under my nose—do you think I’m dead?! If I hadn’t stationed extra patrol guards around Zhaoyue Tower, I wouldn’t have known you two sneaked in tonight!"

Wu Wanzhao’s heart sank.

She exchanged a glance with Lu Shiyan, surprised at how quickly their plot had been exposed.

Lu Shiyan blushed deeply at the thought of Zhaozhao discovering he had drugged her with an aphrodisiac, wondering what she must think of him.

His brows furrowed as he said in a low voice, "This was my doing, it has nothing to do with them. Zhaozhao was meant to be my concubine, but my brother-in-law lusted after her and wrecked my concubine ceremony, crossing a line. This evening, I simply thought to use the aphrodisiac to have a night of intimacy with Zhaozhao, but my brother-in-law interfered again. He seems to forget that the Ninth Princess is already at Liang Garden and is the proper wife he will wed in three days! As for Zhaozhao, her future matters are solely my responsibility, and I ask my brother-in-law not to meddle further!"

Aphrodisiac...

Shen Yinning’s eyes flickered.

So not only was the tea poisoned, but it also contained an aphrodisiac...

Her gaze swept over the Luo sisters, already identifying which one had added the aphrodisiac and which had planted the poison.

"Aphrodisiac?!" Luo Xibai was incredulous and flew into a rage, the muscles of his face twitching violently. "Are you even a man, brother-in-law, to drug a defenseless woman like that?!"