When the Deposed Crown Prince Was Reborn as Troublemaker - Chapter 101

Li Xiyue had been luring You Yuyi to her bed for several consecutive days. She had already used up more than half of the ten Zhufang Pills. She had originally wanted to move faster, but she feared that increasing the dosage would cause You Yuyi to grow suspicious, so she could only proceed gradually.

You Yuyi, for his part, only felt that Li Xiyue had become gentle and captivating of late. Nourished by his attentions, she had grown even more breathtakingly beautiful — like a camellia in full bloom, its delicate petals covered in dewdrops, tender and endearing, with seductive charm dancing at the corners of her brows and eyes.

The servants outside, whenever they caught sight of Li Xiyue, could not help but privately call her a vixen in their hearts. The principal consort bore none of the dignity that befitted her station — instead, she resembled a concubine who relied on her looks to curry favor.

“But her good days are nearly at an end. It won’t be long before Secondary Consort Yang enters the household. Who knows, she might not even be able to hold onto her position as principal consort.”

“You’re right. Isn’t she doing everything she can to cling to His Highness? While she’s still young and has her looks, she’d better get as much of his favor as she can.”

“When she’s old…”

When they finished speaking, the palace maids who had been assigned to Prince Yan’s household from the Imperial Noble Consort’s palace exchanged glances and burst into laughter.

Li Xiyue had taken in every bit of this scene. Xiao Lian beside her was so furious she could barely contain herself. “My Lady, they — how could they say such things!”

Li Xiyue reached up to adjust the kingfisher-feather hairpin on her head, then said languidly, “There’s no rush.”

Almost no one in this Prince’s household liked her. The rumors that would inevitably spread about how she had been luring You Yuyi into her bed were sure to be all manner of malicious talk. They all looked forward to her miserable end, looked forward to another woman coming to take her place as the Princess Yan.

But even if her end was to be miserable, she would ensure that You Yuyi and his mother would be filled with daily regret and unbearable anguish.

Li Xiyue curled the corners of her lips. Before she died, she would reveal to him the truth about You Yuyi’s inability to father children.

“Let us go, Xiao Lian. His Highness will be coming to my chambers again today.” Li Xiyue turned and said.

Four more times. After four more times, this man would lose his ability to father children forever — and without the Zhufang Pills to rouse him, he would become impotent entirely.

Xiao Lian at her side was delighted to hear this and quickly fell into step behind Li Xiyue. “Let that pack of wretches talk all they like,” she said. “No matter what, the Princess Consort is the mistress of this household.”

Li Xiyue curved her lips at these words. She too had once believed she would become the mistress of this household — yet now, she saw that she was nothing more than a prisoner.

****

Elsewhere, Imperial Noble Consort Su Hewan had already, with the assistance of Ruqiu, sent a marriage proposal to the Yang family.

Ordinarily, taking in a secondary consort involved few formalities or rituals, but Su Hewan, in order to demonstrate her regard for the Yang family, had conducted the entire process according to the standards of taking a principal consort.

Throughout Prince Yan’s household, lanterns and decorations had been hung up everywhere, and large red double-happiness characters had been pasted on the windows — all in preparation to welcome the secondary consort into the household within a few days.

“What is all that noise outside?” Mo Shanshan, who was resting in bed, spoke up and asked.

“To answer Secondary Consort, the household will be welcoming a new secondary consort in a few days,” the maidservant nearby replied.

“A new secondary consort?” Mo Shanshan was stunned.

“Yes, I’ve heard she is the daughter of Minister of Rites Yang. The Imperial Noble Consort personally sought this match for His Highness,” the maidservant said, with an air of careless mention. “I’ve also heard the Imperial Noble Consort has decreed that if she gives birth to the eldest son, he will be the heir of the household.”

In an instant, the hand Mo Shanshan had resting on her abdomen clenched into a fist. So that was it.

She had been wondering — why had the Imperial Noble Consort killed her child for no apparent reason? It turned out it was to make way for someone else — to clear the path for another to replace her and the child she had been carrying.

“Secondary Consort, please do not grieve. You can always have another child. It would be the Princess Consort who has cause to dread the future,” the maidservant said hurriedly in consolation.

Mo Shanshan coughed a few times and told the maidservant to hold her tongue.

By now, Mo Shanshan had already begun to contemplate how she might silently and without trace do away with the Imperial Noble Consort, and lead herself and her family out of this cage.

****

Three days later, the Imperial Noble Consort forced herself to her feet and presided over the wedding ceremony on behalf of Prince Yan. The Yang family’s daughter was welcomed into Prince Yan’s household with the title of secondary consort — a sight that drew many a sigh of wonder from onlookers, for had the secondary consort’s ceremonial red not been one shade lighter than a principal consort’s crimson, no one would have known it was anything other than a wedding for the principal consort.

“Is Prince Yan really slapping the Li family in the face like this? Does the Li family even know?”

“The Li family has already disowned this daughter of theirs — why should they care about being humiliated?”

“I’ve heard that Secondary Consort Mo was his savior, and yet she was carried into the household on a plain litter with barely any ceremony at all, let alone all this grand fuss.”

“You don’t know the story then. Prince Yan was practically the one who married into Secondary Consort Mo’s family — why would he need a litter? It was already generous enough that they didn’t carry Prince Yan into Secondary Consort Mo’s family home on the litter instead.”

As the crowd watched the wedding and chattered among themselves, You Yusui, seated in the courtyard adjacent to Prince Yan’s household, asked Cui Yan in earnest, “Are you certain Li Xiyue has used up all ten Zhufang Pills?”

Cui Yan silently retrieved a bottle of medicine from his medicine chest. “This is already the third time Princess Yan has come to me asking for more Zhufang Pills.”

You Yusui stared at the medicine bottle in front of him in astonishment. “That many? Is she eating them like candy?”

“Ten uses of this medicine are enough to render a man permanently sterile. Several dozen uses can render a man impotent without the aid of the Zhufang Pills,” Cui Yan said. “However, the more it is used, the greater the harm to one’s own body.”

He then turned his gaze toward Prince Yan’s household and said, “Princess Yan does not have many days left.”

At these words, everyone present felt their hearts sink.

Yet this was the path Li Xiyue had chosen for herself. She could have asked Cui Yan to cure her poison, but she had chosen the most extreme path instead.

Her family had abandoned her. The man she had loved did not love her in return. All that remained to her was despair and hatred. Even if she survived, there was no foothold left for her in this world — and so she had chosen this manner of vengeance.

****

Amidst the festive music and celebration within Prince Yan’s household, Li Xiyue suddenly appeared before Mo Shanshan.

“Princess Consort!” Mo Shanshan looked at Li Xiyue, at something of a loss.

At this moment, Li Xiyue’s lips were red as cinnabar, her complexion fair and rosy, luminous with a healthy glow, her color radiantly splendid — dressed in a red gown, she was a beauty beyond compare, yet she also resembled a female ghost come to steal one’s soul.

Li Xiyue dismissed the servants, and in an instant, only the two of them remained in the room.

In the dim and shadowy light, Li Xiyue resembled a wandering spirit, and Mo Shanshan could not help but shrink back in fear.

Li Xiyue spoke. “I asked His Highness to send your family back to Dayang County in Hedong Commandery.”

She had told You Yuyi that she found the Mo family members living in the household irritating, and suggested she would fund their departure so as to be rid of them — otherwise, they might cause trouble for You Yuyi in Chang’an.

You Yuyi had agreed, and that very night had ordered his guards to send the Mo family away. Those who refused to go were knocked unconscious and sent off regardless.

Mo Shanshan’s eyes welled with tears at these words. The family members she had been most worried about were finally safe.

“Thank you, Princess Consort, thank you so much. I truly do not know how to repay you,” Mo Shanshan wept.

Li Xiyue’s hand — fingers tipped with red nail color — reached out and touched Mo Shanshan’s cheek. Those slender, beautiful fingers brushed against the tears streaming down Mo Shanshan’s face. “There is no need for thanks,” she said. “I merely wished to accumulate a little virtue before I die.”

May the next life bring me birth in an ordinary household — and may I never again cross paths with a faithless man like You Yuyi.

Mo Shanshan stared wide-eyed at Li Xiyue’s devastatingly beautiful face, unable at that moment to tell what it was Li Xiyue intended.

“Whether you can escape this cage will depend entirely on how far you are willing to go yourself. Also — please take Xiao Lian in.” With that, Li Xiyue withdrew her hand and turned to leave.

Mo Shanshan watched Li Xiyue’s silhouette disappear beyond the doorway. The thick darkness of night seemed to swallow Li Xiyue whole, and a wave of unease instantly swept over her.

A moment later, Mo Shanshan struggled out of bed and asked the maidservant outside the door, “The Princess Consort — where did the Princess Consort go?”

****

At this moment, You Yuyi was in the midst of his wedding night — and yet he was greatly vexed, for he found that he could not rise to the occasion at all.

As he stood before the beauty before him, at a loss for how to proceed, a servant outside called out. “Your Highness, the Princess Consort requests your presence at the Moon-Gazing Tower.”

You Yuyi exhaled, glanced at the Yang family’s daughter lying in bed with tear tracks on her face, and said, “Rest first. This prince will go and see what the Princess Consort wants.”

With that, he straightened his robes and left.

Li Xiyue had already been waiting at the Moon-Gazing Tower for a long while. Dressed entirely in red, her brows and eyes delicately outlined with dark pigment, she stood on the tower as the wind lifted the hems of her robes — a sight of devastating, otherworldly beauty.

Having come to know the intoxicating pleasure of Li Xiyue’s body, You Yuyi caught the fragrance drifting from her and felt that perhaps he could manage after all.

“His Highness has arrived.” Li Xiyue poured a cup of wine and offered it to You Yuyi.

You Yuyi drained the cup in one swallow, then pulled Li Xiyue into his arms.

Li Xiyue smiled and asked, “Has His Highness found that he has no interest in other women?”

The woman before him smiled serenely — and yet deep within her eyes lurked a venom that brought You Yuyi abruptly to his senses.

“What have you done?” You Yuyi seized Li Xiyue by the throat.

Li Xiyue, with difficulty, produced a medicine bottle. “Why, of course I have been slipping Zhufang Pills to His Highness. Without the Zhufang Pills to rouse him, His Highness naturally cannot perform.”

“Zhufang Pills?” You Yuyi had never heard of such a medicine.

Li Xiyue smiled. “Much like the Xiji Pills — except that in addition to harming the one who takes it, it also harms the other. After ten uses, it renders a man permanently sterile.”

“His Highness would do well to count up just how many times we have slept together these past days.”

You Yuyi’s face drained of all color. He raised his hand and struck Li Xiyue across the face. “Wretched woman!”

Struck as she was, Li Xiyue only laughed all the louder. She hurled the medicine bottle in her hand to the ground.

The porcelain bottle shattered instantly, and pills scattered rolling across the floor.

“Does His Highness wish to restore his virility? Then go and pick them up — go crawl on all fours and pick them up like a dog!” Li Xiyue cried out.

Once the Imperial Noble Consort and You Yuyi’s people had humiliated her without restraint — and now she would return every last bit of that humiliation.

“If you don’t pick them up, His Highness will spend the rest of his life as a eunuch.” Li Xiyue said gleefully.

“You dare seek death!” The hand You Yuyi had around Li Xiyue’s throat began to tighten.

“I have long since been dead. What remains is nothing more than a walking corpse.” Li Xiyue said with great difficulty. “You deceived me, you betrayed me — you murdered your own children with your own hands! You and your mother have committed every manner of evil! You deserve to die without an heir! May Heaven’s wrath descend upon you! May you face divine retribution!”

“Little did you expect, did you, that the two children you and your mother killed with your own hands would be the only two children you will ever have in this lifetime,” Li Xiyue murmured into You Yuyi’s ear in a voice of infinite tenderness. “This — is retribution!”

You Yuyi’s eyes turned bloodshot. “I will kill you, you wretched woman!”

With that, he closed both hands around Li Xiyue’s throat and squeezed with all his might, as though he wished to strangle her on the spot.

What You Yuyi had not anticipated, however, was that Li Xiyue suddenly produced a dagger and cut him.

Li Xiyue was thrown to the ground, but she grabbed hold of the Moon-Gazing Tower’s railing and pulled herself upright.

“There is no need for His Highness to dirty his hands killing me.” Li Xiyue smiled. “In any case, I do not have long to live. When all is considered, it is better to die today.”

On the very night the secondary consort entered the household, the principal consort would plunge to her death from a tower — a day of celebration turned into a day of mourning. Such a secondary consort — all of Chang’an would regard her as an ill omen. She rather wanted to see how that old demoness of an Imperial Noble Consort would manage to elevate Secondary Consort Yang to the position of principal consort once public opinion had turned against them.

Her death tonight was destined to sever the Imperial Noble Consort’s and You Yuyi’s ambitions of raising Secondary Consort Yang to principal consort — and would ensure that the Yang family, bound to You Yuyi by ties of interest, would never obtain what they sought.

You Yuyi seemed to realize something as well, and quickly reached out to grab hold of Li Xiyue.

By the time Mo Shanshan arrived in a panic, all she saw was a flash of red as a figure leapt from the high tower — and then landed with a heavy crash before her.

Crimson blood spread out from beneath the fallen figure, while across her face was an expression of complete and utter satisfaction.

“No — Princess Consort!” Mo Shanshan crumpled to the ground. Every fear she had harbored had come true. She fainted on the spot. 

…..

At that moment, in the garden adjacent to Prince Yan’s household, Cui Yan looked at You Yusui and said, “Princess Yan is dead.”

You Yusui could not quite put into words what he felt in that moment, and only said, “Carry out her last wishes.”