Chapter 190: Chapter 190: He Must Have Taken a Fancy to Them, Too

"And what about the Hundred Diseases Pill?" Chen Minrou asked again. "A Divine Pill like that could save even me when I was on my last breath. Even if your body has some chronic illness, taking one should have made it better, right?"

Cui Lingyao shook her head gently. "It’s no use."

The system had blocked her from conceiving at a fundamental level.

Not even the Hundred Diseases Pill could cure it.

Chen Minrou couldn’t think of a better solution. Her heart ached for her friend, and she didn’t know how to offer comfort.

This kind of heartache was something one had to work through on their own. No matter what others said, it would be of no help.

Her eyes were filled with such pity that it made Cui Lingyao pause. She touched her own face. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Chen Minrou thought she was just putting on a brave face to save her pride, which made her heart ache even more.

She stopped preparing the tea, reached out to take Cui Lingyao’s hand, and said with a choked voice, "It’s not like I’ve never seen you cry your eyes out before. You don’t have to be so strong in front of me. If it’s really too much to bear, then go and raise hell with Xie Jinbai. You’re the one who chose to concede for his sake; there’s no reason you should suffer this injustice all alone."

"...Where is your mind going?" Cui Lingyao let out a laugh. "This whole business with the concubines... I might not be happy about it, but I’m not that upset either."

How could Chen Minrou believe that?

But seeing that while her friend’s expression was listless, there was no deep sadness in her eyes, she grew a little suspicious. "You’re really not upset?"

"Not really," Cui Lingyao said honestly. "I’ve known for a long time that he would take concubines."

From the day she arrived in Great Yue, she had been working toward this goal.

Now, everything was ready. All that was left was for her to pick an auspicious day to welcome the several concubines.

In fact, she shouldn’t even be here right now. She should be at the Prince Mansion, meticulously arranging the details of their arrival.

She said it so casually that Chen Minrou was stunned. She asked dazedly, "You... don’t you love Xie Jinbai?"

The words traveled over the wall to the courtyard outside.

Zhao Shijie’s body suddenly went rigid. He snuck a glance at the man beside him from the corner of his eye.

Seeing the man’s calm, expressionless face only sent a chill down his spine.

Fortunately, back in the courtyard, Cui Lingyao reacted quickly.

Without a second thought, she said, "Of course not. I do love him."

’What a contradiction!’

Chen Minrou was incredulous. "If you love him, how can you not be upset that he’s taking concubines now?"

Before Cui Lingyao could speak, she continued, "Even if your father and brothers don’t have concubines in their rear courtyards, you’ve seen my father’s consorts, haven’t you? Do you think they’re just objects that the main wife can place in the back and ignore as she pleases?"

"They are living, breathing people, every one of them graceful and alluring to the bone. In bed, a concubine will cast aside the pride a wife holds onto. She will share the pleasures of the pillow with your husband, serve him until he’s completely content, and let him drown in that indulgence..."

As Chen Minrou spoke those words one by one, the color slowly drained from Cui Lingyao’s face.

Chen Minrou stopped talking and looked at her with a hint of resignation.

She had thought her friend had reasoned it all out—that after weighing the pros and cons, she had decided to take concubines for her husband to earn a reputation for virtue, paving the way to secure her position as empress in the future.

But from the looks of it, she hadn’t considered any of this at all.

She didn’t even seem to realize... what six concubines truly meant.

"You must think this through. With Xie Jinbai’s status, once a concubine enters his household, she cannot be easily sent away. If he ascends the throne one day, a concubine from the Prince Mansion would, at the very least, be granted the rank of Concubine. A favored one could even become an Imperial Concubine. And if she were to give birth to a son or daughter..."

As Chen Minrou laid out the analysis, her own face paled. She said seriously, "There’s no going back from something like this. If you haven’t thought it through completely, you shouldn’t let these concubines into your home so easily."

Cui Lingyao wanted to take her advice.

But her mind was filled with the portraits of those beautiful women.

The ones Xie Jinbai had personally selected, one by one, and eagerly had Li Yong deliver first thing in the morning.

’He must be quite taken with them.’

He...

Cui Lingyao felt a pang in her heart.

She sniffled and said in a small voice, "The matter of heirs is crucial. He’s come to terms with it himself. He’d have to take them sooner or later."

Seeing that her mind was made up and she couldn’t be persuaded, Chen Minrou sighed faintly. "The two of you could patch things up in the past because there was no one else between you. He didn’t care about Li Wanrong, and you paid her no mind. No matter how many troubles you had, it was just between the two of you. But these six concubines are different."

No matter how deep the affection, throwing six concubines into the mix will immediately cause a couple’s relationship to sour.

You go from being husband and wife to ruler and subject. It’s only a matter of time.

"I don’t see you as having the magnanimity of a prime minister, so how could you not mind?"

Chen Minrou truly couldn’t understand. She looked at her friend in confusion. "Don’t tell me your heart belongs to someone else? You were engaged to that Mr. Shen back then. It couldn’t be that..."

"Don’t be ridiculous!" Cui Lingyao jumped in fright, glanced around nervously, and declared loudly, "My heart belongs only to Xie Jinbai! There is no one else!"

Chen Minrou: "..."

She was even more suspicious now.

’Talk about protesting too much.’

’She must be worried about Xie Jinbai’s spies on the other side of the wall, so she’s deliberately putting on a show of loyalty.’

Chen Minrou watched her for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Do you know what I was feeling that day when I heard what Zhao Shijie said?"

This sudden mention of the past caught Cui Lingyao off guard. Before she could react, she heard Chen Minrou say, "It felt like I’d been struck by lightning."

’Struck by lightning...’

Zhao Shijie’s breath hitched, and his cheek twitched violently. He almost threw caution to the wind and rushed inside.

He wanted to explain to her that his thoughtless words back then were not a true reflection of any desire to take a concubine.

Xie Jinbai was faster. He grabbed his arm and, without wasting words, swiftly and cleanly struck his pressure points.

Inside the courtyard, Chen Minrou’s voice continued.

"He hadn’t actually brought any concubines into the house. He only mentioned it as a threat. He claimed if I returned to the Capital City to raise trouble with Xie Jinbai, I would displease the elders who already had complaints about me, and he’d be forced to give in to the pressure and take concubines. He was trying to use that to stop me from returning, but it shattered my heart. I even started to doubt if our past love had ever been real..."

She closed her eyes. "That one sentence planted a thorn in my heart. For the next three years, that thorn has only dug itself deeper. The look in his eyes, his tone, his expression that day... every time I think of it, my affection for him fades a little. Now, I don’t even know how much is left... or if there’s anything left at all."

This was her baring her soul.

Given Chen Minrou’s temperament, she would never say such things to anyone she wasn’t extremely close to.

The more Cui Lingyao listened, the more her heart ached for her friend. Unable to contain her anger, she couldn’t help but curse, "That scoundrel Zhao is no good."

"I support you leaving him! You’ve been given a new lease on life thanks to the Hundred Diseases Pill, so why are you still trying to hang yourself on a crooked tree like him? The Capital City is full of handsome young men. If he could entertain the thought of taking concubines, you can absolutely go and... sample other men."

Zhao Shijie, whose pressure points had been struck: "..."

His eyes were bloodshot and wide with fury, but for the life of him, he couldn’t utter a single word.

Xie Jinbai’s expression also darkened as he listened.

’What does she mean, "sample other men"...’

’Is that something a young lady should be saying?’

’What kinds of ideas has she had?’

’In that world of hers that I don’t know about, she...’

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