Jiang Ning wasn't sure why Nangong Muyan and Zhou Yi had engaged in intimate relations, but she was certain that neither of them had done so willingly.
"Things have come to this point, what is there that you can't tell me?" Jiang Ning said after sitting quietly for a moment, seeing that Nangong Muyan kept her eyes closed.
Nangong Muyan lay motionless for a long while before opening her eyes and reaching for something by the bedside.
"Thud!"
An object landed at Jiang Ning's feet. She looked down and saw it was a small dagger.
"Ancient knives are too dull," Nangong Muyan said softly, her eyes filled with murderous intent. "If I had modern craftsmanship, I guarantee I could slice three thousand pieces of flesh from his body..."
Jiang Ning knew this "he" referred to the Prince of Rui, Yuwen Xuan.
Nangong Muyan, Yuwen Xuan, Zhou Yi - what exactly had happened between these three?
Before Jiang Ning could ask further, Nangong Muyan began speaking:
"I have a grandmother who is a noble lady. On the seventh day of the second month, it was her sixtieth birthday. As her granddaughter, I naturally had to attend. Although the Emperor hadn't yet issued the decree for our marriage, it was only a matter of time. So Yuwen Xuan, as my future husband, also went to the Luo Mansion..."
Nangong Muyan exhaled deeply, her hands clenched into fists. "At the Luo Mansion, Yuwen Xuan drugged me with an aphrodisiac!"
"How could you..." Jiang Ning couldn't believe this was the reason. Drugging someone seemed too crude a method to work on someone like Nangong Muyan.
Nangong Muyan gave a self-mocking smile. "The drug was in the lotus seed porridge. My mother personally brought it to me, and she had received it from my personal maid Ming Pei. I truly didn't suspect anything..."
"Ming Pei?" Jiang Ning caught the key point.
"A new maid who had recently entered the household. She was bought by Yuwen Xuan and has already been dealt with by me."
"Why would the Prince of Rui drug you? Weren't you two engaged? Was he that impatient to have you?" Jiang Ning found it strange.
"Heh... If you think a prince capable of vying for the throne is just a fool obsessed with women, then I can only say you're the fool!"
The words were harsh, but Jiang Ning told herself not to argue with a pregnant woman.
"Yuwen Xuan is very calculating. He didn't do it to have me; on the contrary, he did it to ruin my reputation!"
Nangong Muyan's gaze was terrifyingly cold. Jiang Ning had no doubt that if Yuwen Xuan were in front of her now, he would be sliced to pieces again.
"He drugged me and arranged for an adulterer at the same time. Then he planned to bring a group of people to catch us in bed, so that in front of everyone, I would change from the respected daughter of the Prime Minister to a shameless harlot!"
Hearing this, even Jiang Ning felt murderous. Yuwen Xuan truly deserved his fate.
But there was still something Jiang Ning didn't understand. "It's said that the Prince of Rui's birth mother was of lowly status, so his position was weak compared to the Prince of Lin and Prince of Xiang. That's why the Emperor betrothed you to him. By doing this, doesn't he no longer want the Prime Minister's support?"
"Hah!" Nangong Muyan sneered again. "I told you, sister, don't think of him as a fool. He's a man of deep scheming..."
"Yuwen Xuan's actions were precisely to better secure the Prime Minister's support while ensuring he wouldn't have future troubles."
"First, Yuwen Xuan knew that Nangong Muyan didn't like him."
"Last year, he pretended to be drunk and harassed Nangong Ling, which revealed that Nangong Muyan didn't care for him at all and even disliked him."
"Later, when he discovered that Nangong Muyan had sold out Nangong Ling and used extremely cruel methods, he realized that Nangong Muyan was a vicious woman..."
"As the Prime Minister's daughter marrying a prince, if Yuwen Xuan were to ascend the throne one day, there could be no other Empress but Nangong Muyan."
"Yuwen Xuan neither wanted a vicious woman to be the mother of the nation, nor did he want the Prime Minister, as the Imperial Father-in-law, to interfere in politics and become too powerful. So there was only one solution - to make Nangong Muyan unworthy of the position of Empress."
"This was one reason why he wanted to ruin my reputation."
Jiang Ning was shocked by these malicious thoughts. Yuwen Xuan truly embodied the saying "a man without venom is not a true man."
However, looking at Nangong Muyan and thinking of how the Prince of Rui died, she also felt that the saying "a woman's heart is the most poisonous" was equally true.
"What's the other reason?" Jiang Ning asked eagerly.
"If a woman becomes a ruined flower in public, bringing shame to her family, and then her fiancé appears, deeply in love, saying he doesn't care and still wants to marry her - how many people could resist such tenderness?"
"Moreover, if Yuwen Xuan disregarded public opinion and married me despite my not being pure, wouldn't the Prime Minister's family be grateful to him? Wouldn't he then have the Prime Minister's power firmly in his grasp?"
"At that time, he would at most give me the position of Secondary Consort, or even just a concubine, and our entire family would be overwhelmed with gratitude. He might even gain a reputation for being benevolent. Don't you think this is a brilliant strategy?"
Jiang Ning slowly digested this massive amount of information, and couldn't help but marvel at the Prince of Rui's cunning.
But using such schemes on Nangong Muyan meant he had to pay the price for his actions.
"So... you were under the influence of the aphrodisiac, ran out and... Zhou Yi..." No wonder Zhou Yi had been so depressed. He had been "taken advantage of" in this way.
Nangong Muyan got a headache just hearing "Zhou Yi's" name. "I never intended that. I ran out of the Luo Mansion just wanting to get home quickly and throw myself into water..."
"That drug was too potent. I was already dizzy halfway there. Later, when I saw a lake, I jumped in without thinking..."
The icy lake water in early February sobered up the burning Nangong Muyan somewhat, but unfortunately...
"Who knew that lunatic Zhou Yi would be fishing by the lake!" Nangong Muyan punched the bed forcefully.
Jiang Ning could guess what happened next.
"Damn it!" Nangong Muyan still couldn't help cursing when she recalled it. "Zhou Yi thought I was trying to commit suicide, so he jumped in after me, grabbing and hugging me tightly. I was already in agony, and his actions were like adding fuel to the fire..."
"I kicked him a few times, trying to push him away, but he thought I was drowning and actually... actually gave me mouth-to-mouth resuscitation!"
Jiang Ning was speechless.
"So I dragged him to the nearest inn, stripped off his clothes, and pushed him onto the bed..."
"Stop, stop, stop!" Jiang Ning quickly interrupted Nangong Muyan. "No need to say anymore. Let's end it here, end it here."
Nangong Muyan's mouth had gone dry from talking. She licked her lips, and Jiang Ning poured her another cup of spirit spring water. After she finished drinking, Jiang Ning asked, "Didn't you say you drank the Contraceptive Decoction? How come you're pregnant?"
"I don't know," Nangong Muyan said listlessly. "After I slept with him, I sent him to buy medicine from the pharmacy. I'm sure he didn't tamper with it. He hates me so much, he would never want me to bear his child..."
Nangong Muyan slowly placed her hand on her belly, looking slightly dazed. "Where did it go wrong?"
"No contraception is 100% effective, not even in modern times."
Jiang Ning sighed. In her previous life, Nangong Muyan, like her, had her uterus removed.
If it were an ordinary girl, she would have suspected pregnancy when her period was this late. Only Nangong Muyan would overlook such a thing.
"What are you going to do?" Jiang Ning asked after a while.
"What to do..." Nangong Muyan repeated the question, but had no answer for a long time.