Reborn Into The Harem Of A Prince From An Enemy Country - Chapter 2

After quite a while, A-Wang finally brought back news regarding the State of Qi:

“The State of Qi is still around. After their defeat, they agreed to our demand to increase their annual tribute, and now they have made peace with us. Why did you suddenly start caring about this, Young Master?”

“Nothing much.” Qi Xiaoyun let out a long breath, collapsing limply into a chair. “I was just reading a vernacular story earlier about a forbidden romance between a man from Chu and a man from Qi, which is why I thought of it. You may step down.”

The State of Qi was a vassal state of Chu, required to send annual tribute to the State of Chu. Back then, Chu had demanded an increase in the tribute, which Qi Xiaoyun’s imperial father had firmly rejected. Consequently, Chu had angrily launched an aggressive war against Qi.

Qi Xiaoyun knew how deeply humiliating it must feel for someone as proud as his imperial father to be forced into accepting such terms just to preserve the nation after losing a son and tens of thousands of soldiers to the people of Chu.

Right now, a wave of humiliation also surged within Qi Xiaoyun, causing him to clench his fists tightly as he wished he could crush every single person in Chu into tiny fragments.

It was bad enough that they had previously insisted on Qi Xiaoyun being sent to Chu as a political hostage. Even after he managed to return to Qi upon reaching adulthood, just four short years later, they had only grown increasingly bolder and utterly shameless.

While Qi Xiaoyun was still lost in a tumultuous stream of thoughts, someone suddenly pushed open the door and walked straight in without knocking.

This person was adorned with glittering jewelry from head to toe, wearing a low-cut green sheer robe. Although he was a man, his face was caked with thick layers of powder, and his long fingernails were painted a dull greyish-black.

Yet Qi Xiaoyun could not help feeling that, aside from that obnoxious, seductive aura, if all the powder were washed clean from this person’s face, his facial features might actually resemble his own and Zhou Yun’s even more closely.

According to the original owner’s memories, Qi Xiaoyun recognized this person as Consort Yin, Yin Mei, whom the maid had mentioned earlier. Because the custom of taking male concubines had only recently gained popularity in Chu, many households still carried over the traditional titles used for female mistresses. However, Qi Xiaoyun felt that rather than calling him Consort, it would be better to just let him drop dead.

Yin Mei walked toward Qi Xiaoyun, who was seated by the table, with a beaming smile. “It seems Younger Brother Yun’s health has improved a lot! Before this, you had a high fever for three whole days and remained unconscious the entire time, which truly scared your elder brother to death. If you had just died like that, I would have been very sad indeed.”

At a single glance, Qi Xiaoyun could tell that Yin Mei’s smile was filled with malicious intent.

Although he had never taken a wife or concubine himself, growing up as an imperial prince meant he had witnessed plenty of jealous bickering in his father’s imperial harem. With just a little thought, he easily figured out that Yin Mei had intentionally called Chu Lianmo away from his room earlier.

“Did you not claim earlier that you were not feeling well? How did you recover so quickly? Did His Highness stay in your room to keep you company?”

With a single sentence, Qi Xiaoyun pierced through two distinct facts. First, Yin Mei had most likely been faking illness earlier. Second, although Chu Lianmo had gone to check on him, he had left almost immediately. There was truly nothing for Yin Mei to strut around and flaunt.

“His Highness was merely finishing up some official business! How dare you speak to me in such a manner!”

Yin Mei’s face turned pale. He snatched a cup of tea from the bedside table and hurled it straight at Qi Xiaoyun’s face.

Qi Xiaoyun easily sidestepped to avoid it, then raised his hand and slapped Yin Mei squarely across the cheek with a sharp crack.

“Are you insane?!” Yin Mei was struck with an even greater wave of shock and fury. He could not understand how Zhou Yun, who had always been the most timid, cowardly, and submissive person, had suddenly turned into this after falling ill. “I am a secondary consort while you are merely a concubine. How dare you lay a hand on me? Have you grown tired of living? I am going to find the Prince right now and see how he deals with you!”

“By all means, go ahead.” Qi Xiaoyun let out a cold laugh, lazily leaning back in his chair as he let out a yawn.

Furious, Yin Mei turned around and stormed off.

A short moment later, he returned, dragging Chu Lianmo along with him.

“Your Highness, look at what that wretch did to my face!” Yin Mei whimpered, gently touching his red, swollen cheek in front of Chu Lianmo and crying tears like pear blossoms in the rain. “He has surely lost his mind and gone completely mad! Quick, have him beaten to death with clubs!”

In the eyes of the people of Chu, someone who lost their mind was considered to be possessed by evil spirits, and such a person deserved to be beaten to death. Thus, Yin Mei blurted out those very words without hesitation.

Chu Lianmo frowned, remaining noncommittal as he merely gazed suspiciously at Qi Xiaoyun.

“I have lost my mind?” Qi Xiaoyun stood up from the chair with a cold smile, turning his gaze toward Chu Lianmo. “Your Highness, do you know why I had a high fever for three days straight that would not break? Because Yin Mei insisted on framing me for stealing his hairpin, forcing me to kneel outside in the rain for an entire day and night without allowing me a single bite to eat or drop to drink. Heh, even the courts require evidence before meting out punishment, so by what right did he abuse his private authority against me without a shred of proof?”

Hearing these words, Chu Lianmo’s expression turned as frosty as ice, and he shifted his cold, piercing gaze toward Yin Mei. “Is what he said true?”

“No, it is not, it really is not!” Yin Mei shuddered violently under that terrifying gaze, shaking his head frantically like a rattle-drum. “He is truly out of his mind and just making things up! Look at him, Your Highness, does he not look completely different from before? He must have been possessed by a malevolent spirit!”

“That is simply because I have reached the absolute limit of my patience! Have you ever heard the saying that even a cornered rabbit will bite?”

Qi Xiaoyun conjured up an excuse for his drastically altered temperament, taking the opportunity to continue exposing Yin Mei’s numerous crimes:

“On the very second day I became the Prince’s concubine, you cursed me as a shameless vixen, shoved my head into icy winter water, and only let go when I was nearly drowning before repeating the entire process all over again.

“Later on, you stripped off my clothes and stabbed me all over with silver needles, not even sparing the most sensitive skin beneath my fingernails. You did this because you knew such a method would cause me excruciating, soul-crushing agony without leaving a single trace of evidence.

“As for throwing scalding hot tea onto my body or directly punching and kicking the parts of me covered by clothing, those matters pale in comparison and are not even worth mentioning. You always managed to find an excuse to make trouble for me, and sometimes you could not even be bothered to invent an excuse at all.

“With so many people coming and going through this estate, I refuse to believe no one witnessed these countless transgressions. Do you still dare to deny it?”

“Your Highness!” Qi Xiaoyun suddenly dropped to his knees right in front of Chu Lianmo. “I implore you to thoroughly investigate these matters and return justice to me!”

By this point, Chu Lianmo was already listening in a state of profound shock.

This seemingly fragile and harmless Yin Mei had actually taken advantage of his absence to commit so many heinous and atrocious acts?!

The logic behind Qi Xiaoyun’s words was airtight; how could this possibly be the raving of a madman? Coupled with Yin Mei’s deathly pale complexion at that moment, these accusations had to be entirely true!

Seeing Chu Lianmo’s stunned and furious reaction, Qi Xiaoyun knew he had won his gamble.

Based on his past understanding of Chu Lianmo, the man was at least somewhat decent, being the only one among the entire bunch of Chu imperial royals whom Qi Xiaoyun held any relative tolerance for.

Even though he still believed that every single person from Chu was utterly odious, and that even the best among them was not really good at all.

“Why did you not report these matters to this Prince sooner?!”

In truth, Qi Xiaoyun also longed to ask the original owner of this body why he had silently endured so much bullying instead of rising up to fight back much earlier.

Zhou Yun’s memories told him that it was because Zhou Yun had been a timid and cowardly concubine-born son since childhood, remaining entirely submissive when faced with the bullying of his primary mother and brothers back at his family estate, while his father completely neglected him and never once intervened.

Much like how Chu Lianmo had essentially neglected him as well.

With so many consorts and concubines in his household, it was simply impossible for Chu Lianmo to lavish affection on every single one of them, and the person he cared for relatively the most was only Yin Mei.

It was no wonder that Zhou Yun had never dared to cross Yin Mei.

However, this so-called no wonder was merely an attempt to understand the situation from Zhou Yun’s submissive mindset. Qi Xiaoyun’s own philosophy of life had always been straightforward: if others do not offend me, I will not offend them; if they dare to offend me, I will return it tenfold.

“Your Highness, I know I was wrong!” Realizing he could no longer deny his actions, Yin Mei dropped to his knees before Chu Lianmo as well, kowtowing repeatedly. “I only did all of that because I loved you too much and was blinded by jealousy! I beg Your Highness to spare me this once!”