Marrying the Sweet Story’s Melodramatic Villainess [Transmigration] - Chapter 23

“One should enjoy life to the fullest while one can…”

Meng Yishu leaned against the table, her brow flushed with a dashing drunkenness. She lazily toyed with a white jade cup before suddenly turning her head to look at Cui Yi, who sat upright beside her with a gentle and calm expression. She teased, “Lady Yi, seeking pleasure in the moment is the Great Dao, wouldn’t you say?”

“I wouldn’t know.” Cui Yi’s posture was somewhat relaxed. Her hair was as dark as ink, and her lips were stained with sweet yet tart fruit wine. Her eyes were slightly tinged with red from being unable to handle her liquor, and her lips were moist and vivid—a truly beautiful countenance.

Meng Yishu liked looking at beauties, but her gaze lacked any lewdness; it was the kind of look one reserved for beautiful objects. Cui Yi did not find it offensive. After a long silence, a soft chuckle broke the air.

“Lady Yi, you are far too serious.”

Cui Yi: “…”

Cui Yi’s health was poor, so after drinking two cups of fruit wine, she didn’t touch it again. Today, they had met at the small courtyard Meng Yishu was renting. The courtyard was cramped and narrow, with only two rooms partitioned off specifically to rent to examinees to supplement the owner’s income. Even so, it cost three cents of silver a month. Despite this environment, Meng Yishu was not at all constrained when visited by a high-born lady; she was perfectly at ease.

Meng Yishu drank another cup. Cui Yi advised, “Drink less; you’re drunk.”

Meng Yishu propped herself up, her face showing a hint of pride. “My tolerance is quite good.”

As she said this, the flush on her face was as thick as heavy rouge. Cui Yi couldn’t help but laugh. The small courtyard wasn’t soundproof, and one could hear the faint rustling from next door. A persimmon tree by the gate was hung with green fruit. They chatted intermittently, saying whatever came to mind. After a long time, Cui Yi spoke softly: “I should go.”

Meng Yishu didn’t get up to see her off. She leaned lazily against the table, her voice drawing out: “I won’t see you out, then.”

“Very well.”

As Cui Yi reached the courtyard gate, a loud voice carried from behind: “The wine gifted by Lady Yi is truly magnificent!”

Cui Yi’s lips curved. She gathered her silk wrap and walked away.

Gu Jing and Dongzhi exchanged a look and followed silently. Passing through the rugged, winding alleyway built of rubble, they reached the clamorous, bustling market. Cui Yi did not linger and stepped into the carriage.

It just so happened that Gu Yue saw her. She had just emerged from a teahouse and was on her way to see Pei Mingjiao. She looked toward the alley, wondering why Cui Yi had come out of such a place. Her maid explained, “A lot of examinees live in that area; it’s a good spot for them.”

Gu Yue understood immediately; Cui Yi must have gone to see Meng Yishu. She shouldn’t have known who Meng Yishu was, but last time Pei Mingjiao saw a strange woman following Cui Yi, she had awkwardly asked Gu Yue to investigate, fearing Cui Yi was being plotted against.

Thus, as soon as she arrived at the Commandery Princess Mansion, Gu Yue casually mentioned seeing Cui Yi. Pei Mingjiao was unhappy and felt aggrieved. It was always she who took the initiative to find Cui Yi, yet Cui Yi rarely invited her. This Meng Yishu had only known her for a few days, yet Cui Yi liked her enough to visit her personally.

Whether it was Meng Yishu or her cousin Tang Wensi, in short, Cui Yi simply didn’t welcome her.

Pei Mingjiao clenched her fists, and a sudden outburst of gloomy, violent aura filled her brow. “Don’t mention her name again. I don’t want to hear it.”

Gu Yue was startled and stole a cautious glance. The corners of Pei Mingjiao’s eyes were red, and her eyelashes were moist. That look wasn’t one of anger; she looked aggrieved to the extreme.

Commandery Princess Yongjia never suffered slights; to care about Cui Yi to this extent was truly too strange.

Abruptly, the image of the hickey-covered neck Cui Yi had hidden flashed before Gu Yue’s eyes. Her fingertips trembled uncontrollably. She tested the waters: “Princess, if the person who entered that day had been the Heir of Weiguo, would you…?”

Cui Yi—Pei Mingjiao—frowned in disgust, without a hint of hesitation: “I would have killed him.”

Gu Yue pressed further: “But you were drugged?”

“Being drugged doesn’t mean your brain is unclear,” Pei Mingjiao sneered. Talking about this topic made her arm start to ache; that was where Cui Yi had pinched her, and there were still green bruises. But besides the pain, there was also a lingering heat that made her itchy and sweaty. Her throat felt parched, so she quickly took a large gulp of cold tea, her heart full of restless irritability.

The drug effect still hadn’t completely cleared even now.

She really should call an imperial physician from the palace to take a look.

Gu Yue was stunned for a moment by the phrase “being drugged doesn’t mean your brain is unclear.” She closed her eyes.

Princess, were those hickeys on Cui Yi’s neck bitten by you while you were ‘clear-headed’?

Gu Yue swallowed these words; she didn’t dare ask.

Furthermore, the Princess was still ignorant; she likely hadn’t even noticed her own undefined feelings.

Gu Yue thought tiredly: I’ll just act as if I don’t know. I’ll involve myself less in the affairs of Pei Mingjiao and Cui Yi from now on.

Since the conversation had reached this point, Pei Mingjiao was waiting for Gu Yue to continue, but Gu Yue looked like her soul had wandered to the horizon. Pei Mingjiao shifted her body and gave a cough. Gu Yue was indeed drawn back. Seeing Pei Mingjiao’s expectant expression, Gu Yue’s brain felt a bit insufficient. She asked in confusion, “What is it?”

“…” Pei Mingjiao only felt that Gu Yue was being stupid today. She lowered her eyelashes, looking somewhat bashful. “After all, Cui Yi saved me that day. How do you think I should repay her?”

Gu Yue’s eyes went blank. She wanted to say: Princess, do you remember you just threw a tantrum and forbade me from mentioning Cui Yi’s name? It’s only been a few sentences; how can your memory be so poor at such a young age?

She babbled some nonsense in response.

“Um… a life-saving grace… after all, it’s a life-saving grace…”

Pei Mingjiao frowned, asking with concern, “Yue-niang, are you feeling unwell?”

Gu Yue followed the lead; her head was throbbing with pain. “Yes, I should return to the mansion to rest. I won’t disturb the Princess further.”

She practically fled in a panic.

Pei Mingjiao: “…” Why does everyone seem so strange?

However, as soon as the other person left, the sound of soft gasping and swallowing automatically rang out in Pei Mingjiao’s head, the sound amplifying infinitely as if with an echo.

She clutched her head, her face full of bashfulness.

Why did Cui Yi have to gasp like that?

That night, the bright moon hung high, and all was silent.

Under the hazy bed curtains, Pei Mingjiao rested on a porcelain pillow. Her closed eyelashes trembled, a rosy flush bloomed at the corners of her eyes, and her red lips were slightly parted. Her legs under the thin gauze rubbed against each other, and several murmurs escaped her lips.

“Cui Yi.”

The scent of the soul-calming incense pulled Pei Mingjiao deep into a dream.

[The annoying Cui Yi personally came to her door to apologize. Her voice was soft and gentle, her coldness vanished, replaced by intimacy: “Princess, those people are merely passing acquaintances. In my heart, only the Princess is most important.”

Pei Mingjiao sneered clearly: “You’re lying. You don’t care about me at all.”

Cui Yi let out a helpless sigh: “How can I make the Princess believe me?”

“Break things off with them from now on,” Pei Mingjiao thought, I am truly generous.

But the other woman pursed her lips in a silent refusal.

Pei Mingjiao’s eyes turned red with anger. She glared at her with hatred, her gaze falling on the other’s moist lips. She bit down with a fierce determination, thinking: Since even your lies are so half-hearted, I will bite these lips until they are ruined so you can’t deceive me again.

“…Mng… Ah…”

Pei Mingjiao bossily covered Cui Yi’s lips: “Why are you gasping?”

“Princess, it hurts.”

Looking at the other’s shimmering eyes, Pei Mingjiao dizzily pressed closer, whispering a sticky comfort: “I’ll lick it, and it won’t hurt anymore.”

Slowly, she became hotter and hotter. Pei Mingjiao started taking off her clothes and even kindly helped Cui Yi take hers off too…

Damp, sticky sweat covered them both… ]

The next day.

Pei Mingjiao’s spirit was listless; she couldn’t muster any energy at all.

Caizhu asked worriedly, “Princess, are you unwell somewhere?”

How could Pei Mingjiao possibly mention that absurd dream? She felt incredibly awkward in her heart, thinking that the culprit who caused her to be drugged was truly detestable, causing her to be unable to escape the drug’s effects even in her dreams.

“Go invite an imperial physician to see me.”

Caizhu didn’t dare delay. Taking the token, she went to the palace to invite a physician.

The imperial physician didn’t dare delay either. After a detailed pulse check, he gave the result: “The Princess’s body is fine.”

“How can I be fine?” Pei Mingjiao questioned. “I constantly feel parched and restless.”

“Your internal fire is too strong. I will write a prescription. If the Princess drinks some cooling medicine to lower the fire, she will be fine in a few days.”

Pei Mingjiao was skeptical. “Really?”

The physician didn’t speak in absolutes. “I will return for a follow-up in three days.”

Pei Mingjiao felt temporarily at ease.

Caizhu politely saw the physician out. When Grand Princess Yan Linlang heard that Pei Mingjiao had called for a physician, she sent someone to inquire. Upon hearing the diagnosis, the messenger breathed a sigh of relief and reported back. Once she knew, the Grand Princess instructed the kitchen to prepare lighter meals from then on. It wasn’t that Yan Linlang didn’t care about Pei Mingjiao; it was because she had already uncovered the true culprit.

If the Grand Princess knew, Emperor Qi naturally knew as well.

After seeing the evidence presented by the Inner Guards, Emperor Qi remained silent for a long time before rising and going to the Lizheng Hall.

After Empress Zhao finished reading the evidence, she knelt and performed a grand salute: “I beg Your Majesty to leave my family a path to survival.”

Emperor Qi looked at the kneeling Empress and asked only one question: “Empress, did you participate in this?”

Empress Zhao’s eyes flickered, but she remained silent.

Emperor Qi let out a long sigh. They were husband and wife since their youth; he never expected they would reach this point. “I will give the Zhao family a path to survival.”

The Empress’s stiff back finally bowed. Her eyes filled with tears. “Your Majesty is merciful.”

Emperor Qi didn’t look at her again as he rose and left the hall.

Once the Emperor was gone, Xiazhu quickly helped Empress Zhao up. Xiazhu had served her since childhood; seeing this, her eyes filled with tears. “How did it come to this?”

The Empress murmured, “Indeed.”

She had been a wife of the royal family for nearly twenty years and had never made a mistake. She and Emperor Qi were a couple since their youth, but somewhere along the line, they had drifted apart. It truly lived up to the saying: “The highest and brightest are the sun and moon; the closest yet most distant are husband and wife.”

In truth, she had a faint realization. Emperor Qi had drifted from her because she was too close to her maiden home. But that was the home that gave her life and raised her; how could she sever it? And… Empress Zhao touched her stomach. She had been pregnant twice, but neither child had survived. No sound of a child’s cry had been heard in the palace for a long time; she had to make some plans.

But in the end, her move was one step too short…

Now that the truth was uncovered, Emperor Qi did not announce it publicly. Instead, he used a pretext to strip the Duke of Chengen and the Duke of Weiguo of their titles, confiscated their properties, and forbade their descendants from entering officialdom. In contrast, the Prince of Liang was stripped of his princely rank for “intent to rebel” and was confined to his mansion, unable to leave without a summons. Many other officials had their homes searched and their families executed.

With descendants forbidden from officialdom, the Duchess of Weiguo wiped away her tears. To not have the family executed was already the Emperor’s mercy. She threw the divorce papers she had prepared onto Zhao Ming’s face and took her biological children back to her maiden home.

Zhao Ming sighed, bending down to pick up the papers. The Zhao family’s wealth and status had been extreme; in the end, it was greed that blinded them. That night, he and the former Duke of Chengen hanged themselves in their homes.

Suddenly losing his father, the former Heir Zhao Xuan was terrified, feeling his future was bleak.

Pei Mingjiao never expected that the Prince of Liang was the one plotting behind the scenes. The Prince of Liang had courted the Empress’s faction to gain the support of the Zhao clan. To make the plan smoother, he also needed the Grand Princess’s assistance. If the Zhao family married Pei Mingjiao, they would be in-laws; the Grand Princess would have to board that ship whether she wanted to or not. The Middle Commandant of the Shence Army was also the Prince of Liang’s man—the Shence Army controlled the palace guards. She truly didn’t know when the layout had started; it was like a venomous snake…

The Grand Princess was extremely dissatisfied with this punishment. Her brother was truly too soft-hearted. An Emperor being soft-hearted was not a good thing.