Sunlight hit the glass window, reflecting bright and brilliant colors.
These hues complemented the girl dressed in a plain skirt. Her black hair was like a cloud, resting against the snowy white curve of her slender neck.
Wisps of bangs half-concealed her forehead but failed to hide the gentle curve of her eyebrows. Her downcast eyes revealed eyelashes that fanned out like feathers under the light. A veil adorned with fine pearls lightly covered the bridge of her nose; a gentle breeze brushed past, faintly outlining the exquisite features of her face.
This scene was instantly etched into the eyes of the young man outside, like an ink rubbing pressed into his soul.
"Your Highness, Heir Apparent Zhu and the others are in the private room ahead," someone stepped closer and whispered to him.
Zhou Ze snapped out of his daze. "Let's go."
The people following him couldn't help but glance into the room as well. Lu Zhaoling happened to raise her hand to smooth her hair at the temple, blocking her profile from view.
They withdrew their gazes and hurried after Zhou Ze.
They had heard that the female guests who frequented Yanbo Tower were either tigresses or tigresses in the making—after all, could a girl who came here to have fun really be the gentle and submissive type after marriage?
After they passed by, Lu Zhaoling also looked over in their direction.
A trace of purple aura still lingered in the air.
Hah, what sort of big shot has arrived?
Lu Zhaoling was instantly intrigued.
The commotion from the other side grew louder.
Everyone in the room was retching constantly, overwhelmed by a foul odor that intensified rapidly.
"It's so stinky! Did someone collect the chamber pots of eighteen generations of ancestors? This person has been pickled in it!"
"Ugh! Heir Apparent Zhu, stop scratching! The wounds that just healed are bleeding again because of your scratching!"
"My god, ahhh! The smell is actually coming from Heir Apparent Zhu's body! The more he scratches, the heavier the stench becomes!"
A group of people shouted and, unable to bear it any longer, rushed out of the room.
Those who ran out were still retching, their faces pale and sickly.
"God above! The farts from the Huang Daxian I caught in the mountains when I was a kid weren't even this stinky!"
Zhou Ze stopped when he heard the noise and moved back a few steps behind a decorated pillar.
"Your Highness, what are they doing?"
"Let's see what happened first."
Zhou Ze's nose was also very sharp. As the wind blew toward him, he caught a faint whiff of the stench.
Hearing them shout Zhu Minghao's name, he wondered if the man had gotten drunk and lost his composure in the private room, relieving himself right there.
At that moment, Zhu Minghao was on the verge of madness.
Why was this so bizarre! When he had come out earlier, almost all of his injuries had healed, and they didn't itch at all! Why did those scars suddenly become unbearably itchy now?
It was so itchy that he couldn't control himself, scratching desperately! His skin was cursedly fragile; a single swipe left several bloody tracks.
The worst part was that it wasn't just blood seeping out there was also a pale yellow liquid. The stench was emanating precisely from that fluid.
As a result, the harder he scratched and the more wounds he opened, the heavier the smell became.
Even he could smell it himself!
"Blegh!"
Zhu Minghao couldn't hold it back and vomited all over the floor.
"Heir Apparent!" His servant was anxious and terrified, not knowing what to do.
"It's so foul! Zhu Minghao, you're doing this on purpose to disgust us, aren't you!"
Dai Xu and the others began to shout.
The commotion was so great that it attracted the attention of other guests. Surprisingly, there were even a few female guests among them.
Several girls stood across the pond, watching from a distance.
"Miss Lin, I think we heard Heir Apparent Zhu's name." Gu Qing lightly pulled at the sleeve of the fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl beside her.
Lin Yiru was Heir Apparent Zhu's fiancée.
The two families had already agreed that they would marry immediately after Miss Lin reached the age of fifteen in a few months.
In truth, the Qingfu Marquis Manor could not wait. The Lin family had hoped to keep their daughter for another six months or a year, but the Marquisate wouldn't allow it. The wedding date was set for the third day after Miss Lin's coming-of-age ceremony.
At the time, this matter had caused the Lin family some loss of face. Although it was claimed publicly that the Qingfu Marquis Manor cherished her and wanted her to move in early,
many people saw through it. Word had long since spread that Heir Apparent Zhu was a complete degenerate who had already tasted the forbidden fruit with the personal maidservants in his manor by the age of twelve or thirteen.
Over the years, he had lived a reckless and wild life.
The reason the Qingfu Marquis Manor was in such a hurry to marry him off was fear that the maids or concubines by his side would end up with a "package" in their bellies.
If an illegitimate son or daughter were born before a legitimate one, the reputation of the house would be ruined.
Therefore, it was better to have Miss Lin marry in early and give birth to a legitimate heir. After that, it wouldn't matter how Zhu Minghao acted.
Master Lin was a Compiler at the Hanlin Academy, which was only a seventh-rank official position in the Great Zhou Dynasty.
The Qingfu Marquis Manor originally looked down on this marriage, but Zhu Minghao's "reputation" was so loud within noble circles that no family of equal standing was willing to marry their daughter to him. Since the Lin family had a lower status, the Marquis of Qingfu could only hold his nose and accept it.
Lin Yiru and Gu Qing were here today following their other friend, Miss Sun.
Sun Yingying was a girl with a fiery temper. Her cousin had married Third Master Liu.
The age gap between her and her cousin was somewhat large, and before her cousin married, she had lived in the Sun family home for several years. Miss Sun had essentially been raised by her cousin during those years, so she felt a deep affection for her.
However, her cousin had died less than three years after marrying Third Master Liu. The official reason given was a serious illness.
Miss Sun didn't believe it. Her cousin's health had always been excellent, and she had seen her half a month before the reported illness there had been no sign of sickness at all.
Not long after, Third Master Liu promoted his Second Concubine to the position of primary wife.
Miss Sun had been investigating the cause of her cousin's death ever since. This time, she had originally planned to go shopping for rouge and powder with Gu Qing and Lin Yiru, but she happened to see Third Master Liu entering Yanbo Tower and decided to follow him inside to investigate.
They hadn't spotted Third Master Liu yet, but they had certainly caught the spectacle surrounding Heir Apparent Zhu.
Sun Yingying turned to look at Lin Yiru. "Yiru, I kept advising you to look more into Heir Apparent Zhu's character. Don't be shy; don't just think about avoiding him when you encounter him. Use the opportunity to observe what kind of person he is. Did you listen? Now look at this so many people are cursing Heir Apparent Zhu."
She was close with Lin Yiru and had often urged her to reconsider the marriage.
As it happened, just as Sun Yingying finished speaking, Dai Xu began to mock Zhu Minghao again.
Because the stench from Zhu Minghao was too overwhelming, Dai Xu stood quite a distance away to avoid being suffocated, which meant he had to speak loudly.
"I felt something was wrong before! You brat, Zhu Minghao, you actually wanted to snatch Second Miss Lu as a concubine? She belongs to Prince Jin! It's a miracle he didn't beat you to death, yet he actually sent someone to bring you medicine? Hahaha hic!"
Before Dai Xu could finish his sentence, a flash of insight struck his mind. He tried to cut off his laughter abruptly, but in his haste, he ended up hiccuping instead.
What Dai Xu realized was
The current anomaly with Zhu Minghao, that body full of foul-smelling liquid, must have been caused by the medicine Prince Jin sent!
But how could he have been so focused on mocking Zhu Minghao that he blurted it out so recklessly? What if Prince Jin came looking for trouble with him?
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