「Great Yue. The 33rd year of Jinghe. Capital City.」
At the Yu Xuan Tea Garden, three men in fine clothes stood at the door of a private room, staring inside with varied expressions.
"How could it be seductive powder? Where would an unmarried young lady like her even get something like this?"
"Who knows? Tingyu's cousin has always been into these shady tricks. If you ask me, Tingyu's just plain unlucky to be pestered by a girl like her. She's been shamelessly clinging to him for years, probably thinks he's a pushover because of his good temper. If it were me…"
The man in blue snorted. "I would have put her in her place long ago."
Hearing his two friends, the man they called Tingyu lowered his gaze.
If it weren't for his gravely ill aunt, who couldn't handle any agitation, he would never have tolerated this for so long.
Being plotted against time and time again.
"What do we do now?" The man in the green robes frowned slightly. "Can she get through the effects of this drug on her own?"
None of them had ever been dosed with seductive powder, so they didn't really know how potent its effects were.
The physician had come just a moment ago and said that as long as she could endure it for four hours, the effects would completely subside.
Seeing that all had gone quiet inside, the man in blue gave Shen Tingyu a knowing look. "Why don't you… just go ahead and take her for yourself?"
"I agree," the man in green chimed in. "Your cousin is actually quite a looker, and she's utterly devoted to you. She isn't even asking to be your primary wife. Given your status, if you take her as a concubine, your aunt will be relieved, too."
It would kill three birds with one stone.
She was just a concubine, and a beautiful one at that. Just take her. You can always marry a virtuous primary wife later. It's not like the man loses out in this situation.
Besides, it would solve this pressing emergency.
Otherwise, if someone were to see the three of them standing outside a room with a drugged young woman inside…
What would people think?
His friends took turns trying to persuade him, but Shen Tingyu remained completely unmoved.
Never mind that the seductive powder could be overcome without intercourse; even if a man had to be sent in, he had no intention of sacrificing himself.
「Inside the room, separated only by a door.」
With a sensation of rapidly falling, the first of Cui Lingyao's senses to return was her hearing. The moment she regained consciousness, she could faintly make out the conversation outside.
Her muddled mind was far from clear, making it difficult to distinguish if this was a dream or reality, but her body was urgently sending her one message.
Hot.
So hot.
Her body was burning up.
Waves of heat coursed through her limbs and gathered in her lower abdomen, the scalding sensation making her head spin.
She gasped, distressed, and asked the system in her mind, 'Is this body you chose for me sick?'
The system seemed to glitch for a moment, then stammered, [Not sick, no, but… you've been drugged with an aphrodisiac.]
An aphrodisiac…
An aphrodisiac!
Cui Lingyao shuddered and her eyes flew open.
She was in a very elegant private room.
She found herself slumped against a soft couch by the window. Not far off was a round table set with several plates of snacks, side dishes, and a warmed pot of wine. Beside it sat three or four used cups.
Clearly, there had been people in this room just a moment ago.
But now, they were all gone, leaving only her, drugged and alone.
The system explained, [It seems there was an accident. We transmigrated into the wrong body. But it's okay, it's okay! This body has a higher compatibility with your soul. When the original owner had her accident, it automatically pulled your soul in.]
'The wrong body.'
Cui Lingyao's heart skipped a beat. "What's the situation now? Who schemed against the original owner?"
[No one schemed against her. You could say she reaped what she sowed.]
The system, having already learned the backstory, sounded a bit odd.
"..." Cui Lingyao fell silent for a moment.
Connecting this to the conversation she had just overheard, she could already deduce what that meant.
Fighting the burning heat inside her, she pushed herself up from the couch. Her first question was, "Is the original owner of this body dead?"
[Her body was probably too weak to handle such a strong aphrodisiac. She couldn't catch her breath and…]
The system's voice was listless. This cross-world transfer had depleted its energy reserves, leaving it without the strength for a detailed explanation.
[I'm transferring the body's residual memories to you. The situation isn't too urgent right now, since no one is actively plotting against you. Figure it out on your own. I need to go dormant for a while. Once you complete your mission, I'll be reactivated automatically.]
With that said, before Cui Lingyao could even react, it quickly went offline.
Immediately after, a flood of information poured into her mind, making her already uncomfortable head even more chaotic.
The owner of this body was named Pei Shuyao.
Her birth mother was the daughter of a concubine from the Duke Shen Mansion. Years ago, she had married far away in Pingzhou. Just two years after giving birth to her daughter, she was widowed. She lived as a widow with her husband's family for ten years, a decade that ruined her health. Fearing her daughter would be mistreated by her in-laws after she died, she dragged her ailing body back to her maternal home in the Capital City.
Even though she was from a concubine's line, she was still a daughter of the Duke Mansion. Now that she had returned with her child seeking shelter, the Duke Mansion could certainly spare the food for them. They were given a small courtyard to live in.
They were now in their third year there. Pei Shuyao had her coming-of-age ceremony last year and was now sixteen.
The perfect age for marriage.
Under normal circumstances, with her connection to the Duke Mansion, even as a girl who had lost her father young and had no maternal clan to rely on, she could have married a minor official of low rank.
Alternatively, she could have picked a promising candidate taking the imperial examinations in the capital. By marrying him before he officially earned a title, she might one day have even received a noble rank herself.
As for the Duke Mansion, they wouldn't have been stingy with a dowry for a cousin of the family marrying from their home.
After raising her for several years and having her marry out from the mansion, they would be able to maintain relations in the future.
No matter how you looked at it, it should have been a happy outcome for everyone.
But that was not what Pei Shuyao wanted.
Because she had fallen in love with her cousin.
The eldest grandson of the Shen Family's main line, Shen Tingyu.
From the moment she arrived in the Capital City with her mother at the age of thirteen and laid eyes on her cousin, her young heart had been uncontrollably smitten, and she had dived in headfirst.
She was even willing to be his concubine.
A young girl's affections are hard to hide. At first, being shy, Pei Shuyao only cast flirtatious glances his way.
Later, when Shen Tingyu didn't take the bait, she gradually became more direct.
But Shen Tingyu never responded to her advances. He pretended not to understand her frequent displays of affection and avoided her whenever possible in their daily lives.
Two years passed like this. After her coming-of-age ceremony, the topic of her marriage was raised, yet the man she loved still showed no response to her whatsoever. She grew more and more frantic.
Unable to hold back any longer, she made one foolish move after another over the past year.
She sent him embroidered pouches and personally made him pastries.
A while ago, seeing him remain indifferent, she even sought him out in his study and confessed her feelings directly to Shen Tingyu.
Her words were sincere and her posture humble. She made it clear that she knew her place and had never coveted the position of his primary wife.
She didn't even dare to dream of becoming a high-ranking concubine.
Just giving her the status of a common concubine, allowing her to stay by his side, would be enough.
He could treat her like a pet cat or dog.
If Shen Tingyu had nodded his agreement that day, Pei Shuyao would likely have offered herself to him then and there.
But Shen Tingyu refused.
He didn't want her, not even as a concubine.
This went beyond simple dislike; he had grown weary of her.
Pei Shuyao was, after all, a young lady. To be rejected so cleanly by the man she loved was a great blow to her pride. She hid back in her courtyard and behaved herself for many days.
She only came out again today.