Chapter 19: Princess Consort’s Incredible Acting (2)
[How dare she speak badly about Mei Lu like that?] Lin Xueyi protested inwardly.
Lin Xueyi knew that Gu Yao was a spoiled brat and a very rude person. However, that didn’t mean she could insult someone just because they had a lower status than her.
And Lin Xueyi knew that Rong Shuyan was not someone who would turn a blind eye to something like that.
"Physician Gu!" Rong Shuyan snapped. His loud voice startled Gu Yao. "First, you tried to deceive my wife. Now you’re insulting her personal maid. Have you no shame?"
Ever since the day he was born, Rong Shuyan had lived under constant oppression. Because of that, he hated seeing people look down on those who had less power than them. To him, a person’s status was never an excuse to treat others with disrespect.
Rong Shuyan might be a little broken in the head, but at least he wasn’t the kind of person who looked down on others when they hadn’t done anything wrong to him.
Whether someone was a servant, a commoner, or a noble made no difference to him. As long as they treated him with basic respect, he would return that respect without hesitation. But if someone used their status to bully those beneath them, he had no intention of staying silent.
Gu Yao’s face turned pale.
"Y-Your Highness, this is all a misunderstanding!" she cried as she dropped to her knees. Tears quickly filled her eyes. She had dreamed of one day ending up in Rong Shuyan’s bed, but now it seemed far more likely that she would end up in prison instead.
"A misunderstanding?" Rong Shuyan asked coldly, narrowing his eyes as he looked down at her. "Even if you didn’t personally tell the Princess Consort what to do, you still handed her the wrong medicinal herb."
"Physician Gu, your family has run a medicine business for generations. I refuse to believe you can’t tell the difference between two herbs, no matter how similar they look." His voice grew even colder. "I gave you a chance to work here, yet this is how you repay me? By betraying my trust?"
Gu Yao’s eyes widened in panic. "Your Highness, I never betrayed you!" she shouted. She quickly pointed at Lin Xueyi. "If anyone deserves to be called a traitor, shouldn’t it be the Princess Consort instead?"
"Your Highness, she has treated you terribly ever since the day she came here!"
Lin Xueyi honestly couldn’t understand why Gu Yao had brought that up.
[Does she really think Yanyan will forgive her just because she’s comparing one bad person to another?] she wondered. [Besides... didn’t Yanyan already know from the very beginning that his wife was a terrible person?]
The truth was, Rong Shuyan had never been shocked to learn that the original Lin Xueyi wanted to kill him.
In fact, he had simply been waiting for the day she actually tried to carry out her plan. Once she did, he would finally have a good reason to throw her out into the forest.
In other words, the original Lin Xueyi had never betrayed Rong Shuyan because he had never trusted her in the first place, not even a little.
Moments later, Lin Xueyi lowered her head, her shoulders trembling slightly. "Your Highness..." she said in a shaky voice. "I know I did many terrible things in the past. I won’t deny that."
She slowly looked up, her eyes already glistening with tears. "But... I’ve changed."
The words left her lips with complete sincerity, even though the truth was that it wasn’t her personality that had changed, but it was the soul inside this body.
She pressed a hand against her chest and bit her lower lip. "I know no one has any reason to believe me. After everything I’ve done, I understand why everyone still doubts me." Her voice became softer, almost breaking. "But... does that mean no matter how hard I try, I’ll always be seen as the same person?"
Lin Xueyi’s words immediately touched the hearts of everyone in the room.
Some of them even began to cry, believing that the Buddha had blessed the Princess Consort and changed her into a better person. Others, however, secretly wondered if she had been possessed by a spirit and needed an exorcism instead.
Rong Shuyan, on the other hand, couldn’t help but be amazed by how skillful his wife’s acting was.
He wouldn’t be surprised if she pretended to faint after this—Oh, she actually did.
[I used to think those princesses in dramas were overreacting when they fainted at the most important moments,] Lin Xueyi thought. [But... it’s actually pretty useful in a situation like this!]
Rong Shuyan watched as Lin Xueyi slowly collapsed to the floor. Even while "fainting," she carefully controlled the way she fell so she wouldn’t ruin her neatly arranged hair.
She would probably think her performance was perfect if he rushed over, caught her in his arms, and carried her away.
Unfortunately for her, his legs were useless, so that little fantasy would have to stay a fantasy.
"Xueyi!" Rong Shuyan raised his voice slightly, even though his expression barely changed. But that small change in his tone was enough to convince everyone present that the Sixth Prince truly cared about his wife, and that Gu Yao was finished.
Rong Shuyan slowly turned his cold gaze toward her. "Physician Gu," he said, his voice calm but filled with anger, "first you tried to deceive my wife, and now you’ve even made her collapse."
Gu Yao’s face turned completely pale. "N-No, Your Highness! I didn’t do anything to the Princess Consort!" she cried, shaking her head desperately. "She... she fainted on her own!"
"If it weren’t for the stress of dealing with you, she wouldn’t have ended up like this," Rong Shuyan said coldly.
[That’s right! You should be angry at her, Yanyan!] Lin Xueyi cheered inwardly. [If you let her stay in the palace, she’ll definitely try to climb into your bed someday!]
On the other side, Gu Yao froze. She wanted to defend herself, but no matter how she looked at it, the situation had already turned against her.
Suddenly, Mei Lu let out a frightened cry. "Princess Consort!"
She quickly grabbed Lin Xueyi’s hands, then turned to Rong Shuyan with panic written all over her face. "Your Highness! The Princess Consort’s hands are covered in blisters!"
[What?!] Lin Xueyi screamed inwardly. [The ointment only made Rong Shuyan feel itchy, so why are my hands burning instead?!]