“It’s… the… the Fourth Young Miss…”
Upon hearing “Fourth Young Miss,” Murong Yan nearly rushed inside to see for herself.
But she couldn’t. Her legs felt nailed to the ground, utterly immobile.
How could this be?
Where had things gone wrong?
Today was the Murong family’s longevity banquet. If some scandal involved outsiders, that was one thing.
But if a Murong family member was caught in such disgrace, becoming a laughingstock for the entire capital…
How furious would Grandmother be when the news reached her? Mother would surely be blamed as well.
If Mother suffered, Murong Yan could forget about having it easy…
Thinking of her mother’s methods, Murong Yan felt as if she’d been thrown into an icy pond in midwinter, a chill seeping through her entire body…
Aunt Ping beside her paled dramatically and hurried into the room.
Inside, she saw two pale, naked bodies locked in a frenzied embrace…
The woman beneath the man—wasn’t that the Fourth Young Miss?
Aunt Ping felt dizzy, her vision swimming. “Quick, quick, separate them…”
Her shout was hoarse.
The maids scrambled up and ran back in, suppressing their disgust as they tried to pry the two apart on the bed.
But the pair on the bed were drugged, their minds clouded, driven solely by base instinct, tangled together like twisted dough…
Finally, Aunt Ping had someone fetch icy water. Dousing Dong Bing and Murong Dan brought a sliver of clarity, allowing a chance to pull them apart.
Dong Bing seemed heavily affected by the drug and began pawing at the maids…
The maids, fighting nausea, swarmed to restrain him…
Aunt Ping felt her liver and gallbladder might rupture, her limbs weak as jelly.
She tried to find clothes for Murong Dan, but the garments on the floor were all torn, not a single piece intact…
She had to grab a bedsheet, taking a while to wrap it around Murong Dan’s body.
By then, Murong Dan’s senses were slowly returning. When she realized she was half-dressed and saw a naked man in the room…
“Ah—”
A sharp, piercing shriek erupted from Murong Dan. Thinking it a nightmare, she instinctively bolted outside—
Aunt Ping tried to stop her but failed, collapsing to the floor in despair…
Murong Yan and Lin Zhijing had been immensely proud of their scheme today, having planned to invite an audience for the show…
So outside the tower, besides the young ladies Murong Yan initially brought, there were also noblewomen she’d had servants discreetly guide over for a game of mahjong…
And the young masters Lin Zhijing had “coincidentally” brought along.
In short, a large crowd had gathered outside.
They first heard the girl’s terrifying scream, vibrating their eardrums.
Some couldn’t help covering their ears. Then came something even more shocking!
They saw a disheveled girl with a pretty face, wrapped in a bedsheet, run out…
The girl’s slender neck and a pair of pale, delicate feet were exposed…
The young ladies and noblewomen stood dumbfounded, too horrified to speak—
The young men’s eyes nearly bulged out of their heads—
Was this something they could see for free?
One young man couldn’t hold back, blood spurting from his nose!
Murong Dan was also stunned. She thought the earlier scene was just a nightmare, but now she’d stepped from a nightmare into hell!
It’s—over—
Her eyes rolled back, her body went limp, and she collapsed to the ground.
As she fell, the bedsheet slipped, revealing half of a pale, delicate shoulder…
Two more young men sprayed nose blood!
The incident at Xia’an Tower quickly spread throughout the Murong estate.
Soon, the joyful sounds of music and singing vanished from the Murong household, and not a single dancer could be seen.
The festive atmosphere dissipated instantly, as if a dark, thunderous cloud pressed down over the Murong estate.
By now, the Murong family members and their guests had all gathered in the main hall.
Because Dong Bing was loudly proclaiming he’d been drugged, that someone had tried to harm him!
He even clamored for the authorities to investigate and clear his name…
Dong Bing, a frequent visitor to brothels, had occasionally experimented with special substances there.
He had experience; today’s situation clearly felt like a setup—
So, as the victim, he naturally cried injustice.
Moreover, if he didn’t protest, his family’s matriarch would surely label him a debauched fool, and his father might truly abandon him for good.
To avoid being disowned and having his allowance cut off, Dong Bing was fighting with everything he had.
The Murong estate’s physician confirmed that both Dong Bing and Murong Dan had drug residues in their systems and mentioned a blunt force injury on the back of the Fourth Young Miss’s head…
Thus, Dong Bing grew even more aggrieved and began to weep—
His sobs echoed through the entire hall.
Watching a man bawl like this was utterly exasperating.
Some couldn’t help but twitch at the corners of their mouths.
The Murong family was the biggest victim today. A perfectly good longevity banquet was marred by such scandal, witnessed by all the powerful and influential people in the capital.
A perfectly respectable young lady from their family was ruined.
And now they faced potential repercussions from the Dong family. Could it be any more aggravating?
Thus, the Murong family members’ faces were as dark as if dipped in ink.
The Dong family, led by Minister Dong, appeared relatively composed.
Then there was the Sheng family, whose members wore varied expressions.
This was because, upon regaining consciousness, Murong Dan adamantly claimed she had been knocked out by the Sheng family’s Seventh Young Miss, drugged, and delivered to that tower, leading to her loss of virtue—
Of course, Murong Dan was too ashamed to appear before everyone now.
It was Murong Dan’s birth mother, Concubine Yao, who suddenly rushed into the hall wailing and pleading for justice.
She even declared that if her daughter couldn’t get justice, she would dash her brains out right there!
Hearing this, the Murong family’s matriarch nearly choked with rage, causing another bout of chaos before she was revived.
Huang Xianjing held Huang Yaning’s hand, her eyes filled with guilt and fear…
Huang Xianjing never imagined that her insistence on changing clothes alone today would lead to such a massive incident.
Earlier, that stewardess aunt had taken her and Miss Wei to Xia’an Tower with a maid in tow.
But near the tower, the aunt suddenly said the location wasn’t quite suitable, worrying that young masters who’d had too much to drink might accidentally wander in.
She suggested taking them to another residence closer to the inner courtyard, claiming there were more spare clothes prepared there.
Miss Wei, who hadn’t brought a change of clothes, readily agreed; Huang Xianjing hesitated, worried Hongdou wouldn’t find the place.
Since Qingdai couldn’t leave her side, the aunt smiled and left the other maid behind to wait for Hongdou…
Huang Xianjing had no choice but to follow.
At the new location, Hongdou never arrived, and Huang Xianjing grew increasingly anxious.
Miss Wei kept urging her on. Worried her cousin might be waiting, Huang Xianjing finally selected a set of clothes from the room and, together with Qingdai, checked them thoroughly before changing.
After changing, they prepared to return, only to find the aunt who was supposed to be guarding the door had vanished.
They had to rely on memory to find their way back and encountered her cousin and Hongdou along the path.
Later, they all heard about the incident at the Murong estate.
The location of the scandal was precisely Xia’an Tower. Huang Xianjing and Miss Wei felt a wave of fearful relief upon hearing this.
Her cousin also patted her chest, saying she was scared, and remarked how fortunate she was to have gotten lost, otherwise…
Huang Xianjing felt the day’s events were riddled with strangeness.
But as long as nothing bad happened to anyone from the Sheng family or the Princess’s household, it was fine. She never expected Murong Dan, upon waking, would falsely accuse her cousin!
Her cousin had already explained publicly, but Concubine Yao remained relentless.
Huang Xianjing decided she would never speak an extra word to any young lady or other member of the Murong family again.
The waters of the Murong estate ran deep, and the hearts of its people were black.
