Xia Mingde left the Third Prince's residence dejectedly, his back hunched. He looked as if he had aged more than ten years in an instant.
Despite the machinations of the Imperial Concubine and the Third Prince, the Emperor ultimately did not punish him severely—after all, it was merely a family matter within the Xia family. However, three months of confinement was inevitable, and his official rank was repeatedly demoted, from a once important minister to an insignificant sinecure.
After Xia Mingde came out, he couldn't wait to leave, but Xia Yuwei was reluctant to leave.
She stood outside the Third Prince's residence, staring intently at the tightly closed vermilion gate, her eyes churning with resentment and bitterness.
Only when Bai Ying came out did she rush forward and block her way.
"Xia Qingdai!" Xia Yuwei's voice was shrill and piercing, like a trapped beast driven to the brink of despair. "You did win! But so what?"
Her nails dug deep into her palms, her delicate face contorted with rage.
Even if the entire capital city knows you're your parents' biological daughter now, what you've done today means your parents will never acknowledge you again!
She became more and more agitated as she spoke, her eyes flashing with malice.
"You think you can rest easy now that you're a princess?" She sneered, her tone full of sarcasm. "You're just a village woman who's spent your childhood rolling in the mud, you don't even know basic manners. Do you think people will accept you?"
"Even if someone is willing to be your friend, it's only because of your title as a princess! Behind your back, who wouldn't laugh at you for being a crude and ignorant country bumpkin?"
After Xia Yuwei finished speaking, she stared intently at Bai Ying, hoping to see anger, humiliation, or even collapse on her face.
However--
"Then what?"
Bai Ying simply looked at her indifferently, her eyes as cold as if she were looking at a clown.
Xia Yuwei was stunned.
She hadn't expected Xia Qingdai to react this way.
There was no anger, no hysteria, not even the slightest emotional fluctuation.
She gritted her teeth in resentment and continued to provoke, "Xia Qingdai, don't think you can rest easy just because you're smug now!"
"Even if Prince Pei and I break off our engagement today, so what?"
She raised her chin, a smug glint in her eyes. "Don't forget, your fiancé, Duan Xiuyuan, has always loved me! If I wanted, he would come and marry me right away!"
"And you?" She looked Bai Ying up and down with disdain. "Without Duan Xiuyuan, and without your parents' approval, who do you think would want to marry you?"
"Don't think you're so great just because you're a princess now! Marriages are arranged by parents and matchmakers. Without your parents to manage your marriage, no matter how high your status, no one will want to marry you, and in the end, you'll just be an unwanted old maid!"
She became more and more smug as she spoke, as if she could already see Xia Qingdai's tragic end of dying alone.
Xia Qingdai can never compare to me.
Xia Yuwei stared intently at Xia Qingdai's retreating figure, the resentment in her eyes almost tangible.
How she wished she could see a crack in that calm face—even just a look of pain in her eyes! But to her surprise, Bai Ying only spoke coldly.
That's it?
Bai Ying's voice was eerily calm.
Looking at Xia Yuwei's smug face, she suddenly found it utterly ridiculous.
"Xia Yuwei, do you think I care about these things?"
She took a slow step closer, her eyes as cold as ice.
"Do you think I would be like you, placing all the value of my life on a man's pity?"
"Do you think I'd be like you, unable to survive without the protection of my family and the security of my marriage contract?"
She chuckled softly, but there was no warmth in her eyes.
"How pathetic. Have you ever considered that what you care about means nothing to me!"
Xia Yuwei's face turned deathly pale instantly.
She opened her mouth, wanting to retort, but found that her throat felt like it was blocked by something, and she couldn't say a word.
She wanted to say something... she wanted to say... these are clearly the things that deserve the most attention! Xia Qingdai, stop pretending.
However, she didn't know what was wrong with her, but she couldn't bring herself to say it.
Only after Bai Ying had walked far away did she shout at Bai Ying's figure, "Xia Qingdai, I will marry better than you and live a hundred times better than you!"
—
However, despite Xia Yuwei's boastful words to Bai Ying.
But after she returned to the Xia family, the once bustling Xia mansion was now eerily deserted. Those scions of noble families who used to visit every day just to catch a glimpse of her seemed to have vanished overnight.
"Miss..." The personal maidservant nervously brought over a teacup, "Young Master Duan is waiting for you in the side hall..."
Xia Yuwei abruptly swept the teacup to the ground, shattering the fine celadon into pieces. She gritted her teeth and said, "Besides that useless Duan Xiuyuan, no one else came?"
The maidservant lowered her head, not daring to answer. Indeed, apart from the devoted Duan Xiuyuan, no one else sent an invitation to see her. Even the daughter of the Minister of Rites, who was once her closest friend, refused to see anyone, citing a "cold."
In particular, the Third Prince's residence intended to publicize this matter.
Within three days, the entire capital knew about the Xia family's scandal—they had abandoned their own flesh and blood for an adopted daughter of unknown origin.
"I heard that Xia Qingdai is now a princess personally bestowed by the Emperor!"
"Indeed, it even cured the Third Prince's chronic illness..."
"Didn't the Xia family say she was completely useless? How could she possibly cure the Third Prince?"
"The Xia family is truly blind; they're ignoring the pearl and favoring the fish eye instead..."
These whispers slithered into Xia Yuwei's ears like venomous snakes. She hid in the carriage, listening to the gossip in the teahouses along the street, her fingernails digging into her palms until they bled.
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