The sound of oars and the glimmer of lanterns filled the air. In the distance, the ancient and solemn bell of Qixia Temple tolled.
Song Yinghuai stood with his hands behind his back, meeting Song Chengyuan's sinister gaze. He asked in a deep voice, "Your Highness the Crown Prince, do you have any further instructions?"
A sneering smile played on Song Chengyuan's face, illuminated by the gaudy red lanterns on both sides of the river. "I've said it before. Now that you're back in the capital, Your Highness has a great gift for you, dear brother."
Song Yinghuai's eyes fell on Lu Baiwei's hands beside Song Chengyuan.
Lu Baiwei was holding a long box. The carvings on the outer shell were gaudy and lewd.
It was easy to guess that Song Chengyuan's gift was nothing good.
Song Yinghuai frowned. "Your Highness, I appreciate your kindness, but I'll have to decline. You'd better keep the gift for yourself."
He paused for a moment. "It's getting late. I'll take my leave."
Just as he turned around, Song Chengyuan grabbed Lu Baiwei's hair. The woman let out a shrill scream. "Ah! Xuanyao, save me!"
Song Chengyuan's angry scolding followed. "Are you dead? I told you to give the gift to my fourth brother. Why are you standing there like a log?"
With that, he slapped Lu Baiwei so hard that she spun around and lunged towards Song Yinghuai!
Song Yinghuai turned around and caught Lu Baiwei in his arms. His voice was filled with anger. "Your Highness, I've never liked to meddle in other people's affairs, especially the matters between you and your wife. But treating a weak woman like this is beneath your dignity."
"Anyway, she's our junior sister. The master is like a father. Aren't you afraid of divine retribution for treating the daughter of our master like this?"
"Haha!" Song Chengyuan burst into laughter and sneered. "How have I treated her? Have I ever starved or neglected her?"
"You lecture Your Highness so eloquently, but why don't you take a look at yourself? You just stand there and watch as your junior sister is humiliated."
"Those who stand by and do nothing are as guilty as the perpetrators... If you really have such compassion, then don't just stand there and watch her being bullied by me!"
"Xuanyao!" Lu Baiwei threw herself into Song Yinghuai's arms desperately and pleaded. "Please accept your Highness's gift! If you don't, he'll kill me!"
The commotion on the shore was so loud that it reached the carriage in the distance.
Caiyu lifted the curtain and saw Song Yinghuai holding Lu Baiwei in his arms.
Lu Baiwei's shrill cries pierced Caiyu's ears, making her eardrums ache.
Caiyu wanted to look more.
But the silver curtain was suddenly lowered, and the silk curtain closed. She was then pulled back into the corner by Sheng Jiangli.
"Don't look anymore." Sheng Jiangli's voice was unusually angry. "Why are you looking for trouble for yourself?"
He knocked on the carriage pole hard. "Suobude, let's go!"
Seeing this, Han Fen, who was standing not far away, wanted to stop the carriage.
Sheng Jiangli's cold voice came from inside the carriage. "Tell His Highness the Prince of Yan that I'm taking Sister Caiyu back to the Prince of Yan's Mansion!"
Han Fen hesitated for a moment but finally stepped aside.
It was for the best.
The Prince was entangled with a woman, and the situation was getting more and more chaotic. If Miss Caiyu saw more, no one knew what kind of trouble she would cause when she got back.
On the shore, Song Yinghuai took a deep breath and saw the carriage speeding away.
His eyebrows twitched wildly. He quickly pulled his arm out of Lu Baiwei's embrace.
He grabbed the wooden box and silently mounted his horse, galloping after the carriage.
Caiyu sat in the carriage sullenly, with her head down, playing with her fingers.
The carriage was filled with a heavy silence.
Sheng Jiangli let out a sigh and couldn't help but break the silence. "Are you worried about him?"
The only response he got was still silence.
"The Prince of Yan is a man who has come out of the bloody battlefield. He has seen all kinds of situations. Even if the Crown Prince wants to humiliate him, he has to see if the Prince gives him the chance..."
Sheng Jiangli blinked, as if suddenly thinking of something. "He can't really... be impotent, can he?"
A strange look flashed across Sheng Jiangli's face.
He had fought with Song Yinghuai in Yanjing and only heard that he had been secretly plotted against by the Crown Prince and was poisoned by an aphrodisiac gu.
But what exactly this aphrodisiac gu was...
Sheng Jiangli blinked his eyes almost on fire.
Just then, the carriage shook violently. Suobude let out a howl. "General! Ah!"
Then, there was the sound of someone hitting the ground.
Sheng Jiangli's face darkened. He saw the curtain of the carriage being lifted.
Song Yinghuai's tall figure bent down and got into the carriage, making the already narrow carriage even more cramped and oppressive.
Sheng Jiangli quickly lifted the curtain and saw Suobude getting up from the ground and running after the carriage.
Sheng Jiangli said, "Your Highness the Prince of Yan, this carriage is mine."
His voice was full of complaint, as if they were about to fight again at any moment.
A red aura of rage surged in Song Yinghuai's eyes, and his whole face was gloomy.
He tightened his grip on the wooden box in his hand. His voice was tense. "The Prince of Yan's Mansion will compensate you with ten carriages and send them to Luoyanju tomorrow. Now, get out!"
Sheng Jiangli lost his usual good temper when facing Song Yinghuai. He also said coldly, "Why should I?"
Song Yinghuai snorted. He was in no mood to argue with him. He squinted his eyes, and a cold chill quickly spread.
The killing intent immediately surged in the narrow carriage.
After a while.
There was a loud noise in the carriage. Han Fen, who was driving the carriage, felt that the carriage behind him was almost being torn apart by the people inside.
Then, a figure flew out of the carriage window.
Sheng Jiangli flipped in the air. After landing, he dodged two flying Buddhist beads and cursed angrily:
"Fine! Ten carriages!"
"If I don't see the carriages tomorrow, you're a dog!"
"General!" Suobude gasped and caught up. Looking at the speeding carriage, he asked, "How are we going back?"
Sheng Jiangli gave him a silent look. "He was riding a horse when he caught up. Why don't you go back and get his horse and ride it home?"
Suobude replied, "...... Oh... Oh!"
The carriage fell into silence again.
Song Yinghuai sat beside Caiyu, and the wooden box was placed beside him.
Caiyu secretly examined the patterns on the wooden box.
The surface of the box was embossed with fish patterns. The two fish were entangled, inseparable.
Caiyu's face turned red with anger.
When she was training in Yangzhou, she heard from the nanny.
Fish have many offspring and are very fertile.
The shape of the fish represents the male image and also implies a lover.
Just as the saying goes, the pleasure of fish and water.
Caiyu looked at Song Yinghuai's silent profile. Her heart seemed to be tied by a string.
It was sour and painful.
It was clearly Song Chengyuan who had someone plant the aphrodisiac gu on Song Yinghuai.
He knew very well what Song Yinghuai's situation was now.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have sent her to Yandi on a mission and tried to get her to kill Song Yinghuai.
Now, he deliberately used these things to humiliate Song Yinghuai.
Song Yinghuai was a man with a proud nature. Being ridiculed by Song Chengyuan like this was unbearable.
Caiyu could imagine how embarrassed Song Yinghuai was at this moment.
After a long time, Caiyu tremblingly reached out her hand towards the wooden box.
She wanted to see what was inside the box.
A big hand pressed on the back of her hand, stopping her from opening the box.
Song Yinghuai's palm was cold, and his voice was hoarse. "Don't look."
Caiyu's eyes didn't move away from the wooden box. Her voice was firm. "My Lord, this maid wants to see."
As soon as she finished speaking, she felt Song Yinghuai's palm tremble.
After a while, the man finally moved his hand away.
Caiyu gently picked at the edge of the box with her fingertips.
"Click."
A pale green jade dildo with a cold glow lay quietly in the box.
The shape was lifelike, and its hideous and cold appearance came into Caiyu's view.
Caiyu's throat suddenly tightened, and a surge of anger welled up from the bottom of her heart.
Song Chengyuan!
This madman!
Song Yinghuai quickly closed the lid of the box and turned his head away. His fingertips slid gently over the fish pattern. "That's enough."
Song Chengyuan's voice, which came from behind him before he left, kept echoing in his mind.
"Caiyu is mine. She sent countless messages to me when she was in Yanjing. You can't touch women and can't make her a real woman. Your Highness will help you. Your Highness gives you this thing. It will surely fulfill your dream! Hahaha..."
Song Yinghuai didn't dare to look at Caiyu's expression at this moment.
He just felt that all his embarrassment and humiliation had reached the peak in front of his beloved Miss Lan San tonight.
The man's eyelashes trembled slightly, and his face was pale.
In Caiyu's eyes, she had never seen Song Yinghuai like this before.
In her impression, the Prince of Yan was omnipotent, always one step ahead, and extremely powerful.
But at this moment, the Prince of Yan was so vulnerable that he seemed to break at the slightest touch.
Caiyu's heart was filled with dense pain, so painful that she could hardly breathe.
Suddenly, she opened the box and took out the dildo.
"My Lord, use it to take this maid's virginity!"