Inside the Prince of Qin's manor, rumors circulated daily. The other princely manors reacted differently. The Crown Prince, with his favored concubine Madam Xu in one arm and official documents in the other, was signing papers.
"Men," the Crown Prince said, kissing Madam Xu's cheek, "are all lustful wolves. My fourth brother always claimed he didn't like it, that he'd remain chaste for his princess. Now that he's tasted it, he's surrendered."
"Your Highness, you're so wicked," Madam Xu pouted. "You always bully me."
The Crown Prince pinched her waist. Madam Xu gasped and snuggled into his embrace, her body boneless and soft, captivating the Crown Prince. He stopped attending to his papers and carried Madam Xu to a small room behind the study.
"Your Highness, the official documents..."
"What are official documents compared to you?" the Crown Prince pounced like a wolf. "I truly love you, my enchantress."
Madam Xu giggled, "Your Highness, please be quiet. If the Crown Princess hears, she'll scold me again for disturbing Your Highness's work."
"Work? You are my work," the Crown Prince declared. Though he indulged in women, he was usually discreet for his reputation. However, ever since Madam Xu entered the manor, she had become his sole favorite. He was utterly captivated by her.
After a bout of passion, the Crown Prince dressed and emerged, satisfied. To his surprise, the Crown Princess, Xue Ning'er, was sitting by the desk, appearing as calm as ever. "Why has the Crown Princess come at this hour?"
"Your Highness, this is the study, a place of importance. How could you bring Madam Xu in here to fool around?" Xue Ning'er had considered finding fault with Madam Xu and dealing with her, but the Crown Prince protected her too fiercely. After suffering a few setbacks, she had resigned herself to it.
The Crown Prince frowned slightly. "When did you learn to be like Mother, constantly lecturing?"
The Crown Princess gritted her teeth. "This concubine does it for Your Highness's own good."
"Enough. I know who truly wishes me well," the Crown Prince said, his annoyance evident. From childhood, the Empress had lectured him, and after he grew up, the Crown Princess continued. He was tired of such dignified and uninteresting women.
The Crown Princess gritted her teeth. She knew he disliked being lectured, but as Crown Princess, her duty was to urge him to fulfill his role, to avoid missteps and giving others an excuse. As she was about to speak again, Madam Xu emerged, her robes slightly askew, her hairpins loose, looking alluring and flirtatious.
"Greetings to the Crown Princess."
Seeing her seductive and shameless appearance, Xue Ning'er's anger flared. She dug her nails into her flesh, forcing herself to remain calm and not fall into this vixen's trap.
"This is the study, a place of importance. Madam, your current state is an affront to decorum."
Madam Xu bit her red lip and cast a wronged glance at the Crown Prince, but said nothing. Instead, she bowed lower. As she did, her clothes slipped further, revealing a large patch of marks on her neck and chest. With her head bowed, she replied, "The Crown Princess is right to admonish me."
Xue Ning'er felt blood rush to her head. This wretch was deliberately provoking her. Although the Crown Prince was supposed to spend the first and fifteenth of each month in her chambers, ever since Madam Xu arrived, he would only sleep in her room, and they hadn't been intimate for a long time.
"When Your Highness is attending to state affairs, Madam must not enter the study to disturb him."
The Crown Prince frowned, clearly displeased with Xue Ning'er's actions. He reached out and pulled Madam Xu, who cried out and fell into his arms. Her loosely tied clothes promptly came undone, revealing the embroidered undergarment beneath. While other undergarments were embroidered with flowers, grass, or mandarin ducks and bluebirds, Madam Xu's was embroidered with an explicit scene of lovemaking!
Xue Ning'er's face turned pale. She stepped forward, pulled Madam Xu from the Crown Prince's embrace, and without thinking, pushed her to the ground. "Shameless whore! What kind of thing do you dare to wear? You're trying to ruin..."
"Presumptuous!" The Crown Prince, enraged that Xue Ning'er dared to pull someone from his arms, raised his hand and slapped her. The blow rang in Xue Ning'er's ears, and she covered her face, unable to speak.
"Your Highness, you struck me?" Xue Ning'er was shocked. She could tolerate him scolding her for Madam Xu's sake, but now he had resorted to violence!
"You increasingly show me no respect. How dare you act so wildly in my presence!" the Crown Prince raged. "Guards, escort the Crown Princess back to her chambers. She is not to leave her room without my command!" Su Dan Novel Network.
"Your Highness, this vixen cannot be kept. If she remains, she will surely cause great disaster. Your Highness..."
Madam Xu, while adjusting her clothes, wept. The Crown Prince, heartbroken, helped her up. "That shrew. I've spoiled her too much, that's why she's so lawless. My dear, are you hurt from the fall?"
"As long as Your Highness pities me, I will not feel pain," Madam Xu whispered, leaning into the Crown Prince's embrace. A smug smile flickered in her eyes. The Crown Princess's appearance here was thanks to her having someone leak the news to her.
Her gaze fell on the incense burner. The fragrance burning within was exceptionally pleasant but easily led to irritability and anger. Coupled with the Crown Prince having taken medicine, he was in no state to listen to reason. Anyone who opposed him at this moment would suffer.
"Very well, I dote on you. I dote on my dear Lian'er the most."
The study was filled with love and affection, a picture of perfect harmony. Meanwhile, the Crown Princess was heartbroken and wept uncontrollably.
A young maid brought an ice pack to Xue Ning'er to apply to her face. "His Highness the Crown Prince is truly something, to hit you for a mere concubine."
Xue Ning'er sobbed. She and the Crown Prince had grown up together. She had always known that she would be his official consort and later the Empress. She had been taught to be dignified, virtuous, and knowledgeable, but she never expected her dignity to make her seem wooden, her virtue to make her seem weak and easily bullied, and her knowledge to make her seem annoying.
"I did it all for his own good, yet he treated me like this. If that Xu Xianglian were a respectable woman, it would be one thing. But Xu Xianglian is a married woman. I covered for him when he snatched her away. It was one thing for him to be with Xu Xianglian every night, but now he indulges in public displays of lust and wears such vulgar attire."
"The Crown Princess's anger is understandable, but His Highness the Crown Prince is merely infatuated at the moment. Once his novelty wears off, he will cease to favor her, and then the Crown Princess can deal with her as she pleases. Why ruin your relationship with the Crown Prince now?"
"Novelty?" Xue Ning'er sneered. "I understand now. When he needs me to clean up his messes, I am his Crown Princess. When he doesn't need me, I am a slut!"
"How can the Crown Princess speak of herself that way?"
"Am I not? Do you know what the Crown Prince said about me?" Xue Ning'er cried and laughed. "He said looking at my loose skin and shapeless figure disgusted him, that my skin was not as smooth and delicate as those concubines! Has he forgotten I bore him three children? Yet he despises me for ruining my figure by giving birth and says I am as uninteresting as a block of wood, unlike his concubines who are more charming! Fine. I won't interfere anymore!"