Chapter 76

Chapter 76: Was Hoping to Give the Heir a Chance

But what awaited Huan Zhu tonight was nothing like the tender and lingering intimacy in those storybooks she so adored. Qi Shu Xian saw her only as a vessel for release—no tenderness, no gentleness, not even the courtesy of foreplay. He took her with a harshness that tore through her.

A sharp pain surged through her.

The cold stone table in the courtyard rattled as the food box and porcelain bowls crashed to the ground. Huan Zhu hadn’t even time to cry out before a hand clamped over her mouth.

Qi Shu Xian had already guessed—it was Huan Zhu who drugged him. And since she was merely an outlet for lust, why would he let word of what happened here spread?

So not a sound escaped Huan Zhu’s lips as she endured the brutal act, her face growing paler and paler under the weight of his violence.

But it was worth it—she told herself that. Everything was worth it.

As long as she could become the Heir’s woman, then what did pain matter?

After tonight, she would no longer be the servant girl from Pinglan Residence whom anyone could trample. She too would be a master.

Clenching back her tears, Huan Zhu tried her best to move with him.

As the night deepened and the cold dew thickened, Qi Shu Xian finally found release, then cast the woman in his arms to the ground like discarded refuse.

Huan Zhu’s body bore fresh, raw marks.

She looked up at him with eyes full of fragile longing, hoping for a trace of pity. But all she received was a voice as cold as winter frost.

“Someone come. Dispose of her.”

Wha—what?

Huan Zhu’s eyes widened in panic. “No—no, Heir! Please, spare this maidservant… this maidservant was only momentarily possessed!”

A cloth was shoved into her mouth by the shadow guard, and all her pleas melted into muffled sobs.

As she was being dragged away, her heart filled with despair, Qi Shu Xian suddenly called out coldly, “Stop.”

The shadow guard obeyed at once.

Qi Shu Xian walked over, his face dark, and pulled the cloth from her mouth. “Was it Sheng Zhi Wan? Did she put you up to this?”

“No… no…” Huan Zhu shook her head furiously. She dared not lie.

Qi Shu Xian’s gaze bore into her, catching the genuine fear and confusion in her eyes. He paused. “Where did you get the drug?”

“It… it was a gift from Han Residence to the Princess… this maidservant overheard the Princess say she hadn’t decided whether to forgive you… so… so I secretly took one.”

She was terrified. She’d never imagined Qi Shu Xian could be so merciless.

Just a moment ago, he had ravaged her like a man starving for flesh. The next, he had ordered her death without a flicker of remorse.

Under such dread, she couldn’t even summon the will to lie.

Qi Shu Xian, seeing no deceit in her eyes, waved his hand. The shadow guard stuffed the cloth back into her mouth.

But at that moment, the gate to Mountain Mist Courtyard swung open.

Sheng Zhi Wan stepped in, her gaze sharp with scorn.

Her eyes swept over the disheveled Huan Zhu, and Qi Shu Xian instinctively moved to block her view.

“Zhi Wan, I—”

“Didn’t you say your heart held only me? That no matter what happened again, you’d rather die than betray me? Then what is this scene before my eyes?”

“Princess, don’t—don’t blame the Heir! It was all this maidservant’s foolish longing, it’s my fault alone…” Huan Zhu trembled like a leaf.

She knew she was finished.

If the Heir wanted her dead, she could still feign pitifulness. But the Princess… the Princess who so loved the Heir—how could she ever allow a lowly servant to covet him?

Huan Zhu’s face turned ashen. At this point, she could only cling to one hope: that the Heir might spare her, if only because she had given herself to him wholeheartedly.

But that hope shattered in the next instant.

Without a trace of hesitation, Qi Shu Xian strode forward, raised his foot, and kicked her hard. Huan Zhu screamed as blood spurted from her mouth.

Sheng Zhi Wan’s laugh was bitter cold. “So the Heir finishes and pulls up his pants like nothing happened? Or is it that you’re going to kill her to silence her?”

Qi Shu Xian, his Cold Poison beginning to flare again, stared at her. “You knew?”

How else could she have walked in just after it happened?

“Yes,” Sheng Zhi Wan answered without hesitation. There was no point denying it—Qi Shu Xian wasn’t a fool.

But admitting it… there were ways to do that.

Qi Shu Xian’s eyes burned red. “Why would you do this?”

“Didn’t you say it yourself?” Sheng Zhi Wan’s fingers, stained with pepper oil, gently touched the corner of her eye, reddening it with a vivid flush.

“You swore that even if the same thing happened again, you’d rather die than betray me,” she said. “When I found a pill missing, I immediately ordered a search. Just as we discovered it on Huan Zhu, word came that she had entered your courtyard. I truly meant to give the Heir a chance…”

She paused, then smiled frostily. “After all, the list said the drug was only for stimulation. Strong in effect, yes, but harmless. If one’s will is firm, it can be resisted.”

“But I didn’t expect…”

She lowered her eyes, as if deeply disappointed, and her voice grew soft. “I didn’t expect that as soon as I stepped outside, I would hear such vicious sounds.”

Her final words fell with a quiet sadness, and a faint smile touched her lips.

When she lifted her lashes again, the tears clinging to her eyes shimmered like fragile crystal in the moonlight.

Qi Shu Xian stood frozen, wanting to explain but unable to form the words.

Sheng Zhi Wan no longer wished to hear him. She turned to glance at the bloodied figure of Huan Zhu.

“Since she is now the Heir’s woman, then in a few days, let her be brought in through the side gate with Miss Meng. Let her be made a concubine.”

The moment those words fell, it wasn’t only Qi Shu Xian who was stunned. Huan Zhu stared in shock.

The Princess… was sparing her?

Even letting her become the Heir’s concubine?

Why?

Before she could puzzle it out, Sheng Zhi Wan had already turned and walked away.

Back at Pinglan Residence, Ting Lan still hadn’t recovered from the shock. “I never imagined the Heir would be so ruthless, that he’d really try to dispose of Huan Zhu. Princess… why did you save her?”