Chapter 58: Song Shiwei Faints from Anger

After pondering his suggestion for a moment, Song Shiwei expressed her gratitude, "Thank you, Prince Ding. This is a very good idea."

Instead of being calculated against and having her family turn against each other, it would be far better to use Song Shilan to draw out the hidden traitor.

Bai Bohan accepted a large bundle from one of his attendants and handed it to Song Shiwei. "These are some pills and powders I prepared, some of which are poisons."

"I figured your family might find them useful."

Song Shiwei indeed had a pressing need for such items and thanked him once again, "Prince Ding, you have truly done my family a tremendous favor."

"I was just thinking of buying some pills when we reached the next town."

While ordinary pills were easy to come by, poisons were exceedingly difficult to acquire.

Just as Bai Bohan uttered a brief "You're welcome," his peripheral vision caught sight of Madam Song running toward him in a stumbling and erratic manner.

"Prince Ding!" Madam Song cried out as if grasping at the final straw of life.

She dropped to her knees before Bai Bohan, pressing her hands together in a suppliant gesture. "I beg you, please take Shiwei in."

"Show mercy and let Shiwei serve you as a concubine."

Upon hearing these words, Song Shiwei felt darkness descend before her eyes, and she violently retched up a mouthful of blood.

She managed to force it back down and swallow it.

This was her own mother!

Having just awakened from poisoning, her very first concern was not the well-being of her family, nor her daughter's precarious physical condition, but rather kneeling to beg the Prince to take her daughter as a concubine.

How was this any different from throwing her into a bustling marketplace and leaving her to be publicly humiliated and trampled upon at will?

"Eldest Miss Song!" Bai Bohan reached out to steady her, his gaze locked intently upon her face. "Are you alright?"

Song Shiwei waved a hand to indicate she was fine, offering an apologetic smile. "My apologies for making a spectacle of myself in front of Prince Ding."

Seeing her looking so utterly drained and bitter for the first time, Bai Bohan tightened his grip slightly. "I take no offense."

"Eldest Miss Song, do not let your mind dwell on this. You must take care of your health."

Before Song Shiwei could reply, she heard Madam Song shout words that immediately plunged her into unconsciousness from sheer rage.

"Prince Ding, you have already compromised my daughter, you must take her as your concubine!" Madam Song spoke with the triumphant air of someone catching an illicit couple in the act, a gleam of satisfaction in her tone.

"Song Shiwei!" Quick as lightning, Bai Bohan lunged forward and caught the fainting Song Shiwei in his arms.

His expression shifting, he barked urgently, "Doctor, hurry and examine her!"

Glancing at Madam Song with a look of pure loathing, the doctor hurried over to check on Song Shiwei, having never witnessed such a repulsive and vicious mother in all his days.

"I, I, I... I didn't mean to, I was only doing what's best for Shiwei." Seeing her daughter pass out, Madam Song felt a twinge of regret and unease.

Bai Bohan directed a glacial glare at her, his voice as frigid as shards of ice. "You didn't mean to?"

"Madam Song, for all that you were once the mistress of a noble household, do you have no inkling of how vilely you are degrading your own daughter through your actions?"

Madam Song shrank her neck, offering a feeble defense, "Prince Ding, you misunderstand. I did all this for Shiwei's own good."

"Given our family's present circumstances, and with Shiwei at the age for marriage, if she isn't married off soon, she will be drowned by malicious gossip."

A sneer crossed Bai Bohan's face as he looked at her sickening countenance. "Whether you were truly considering Eldest Miss Song or merely yourself, you know that best in your heart."

"To have a mother like you is truly the supreme misfortune of Eldest Miss Song's eight lifetimes."

Madam Song felt profoundly aggrieved. Why would no one understand her?

Everything she did was genuinely for the good of Shiwei and the household.

Refusing to waste any more breath on her, Bai Bohan resolved to inform Master Song of the matter as soon as he regained consciousness.

"Doctor, how is Eldest Miss Song?" he asked.

The doctor sighed, "Eldest Miss Song has fainted from extreme anger and agitation."

"Furthermore, she has been severely overworked, and her physical constitution is quite poor."

With a daughter driving herself to the bone and a mother utterly devoid of any inclination to help, caring only about how to humiliate her own child, Eldest Miss Song was truly a pitiful soul.

Lifting Song Shiwei horizontally in his arms, Bai Bohan laid her gently upon the donkey cart.

"Prince Ding, you have already held..." Madam Song's words were cut short.

One of Bai Bohan's attendants had already clamped a hand over her mouth and struck her unconscious.

Only then did Bai Bohan turn back to the doctor and ask, "What is the best way to recuperate from her current condition?"

The doctor replied, "The best course would be to find a relatively decent place for a prolonged period of quiet recuperation, however..."

Bai Bohan understood the unspoken implication all too well. "Just write the prescription."

At this critical juncture, if the Song family were to halt their journey and linger anywhere, the Emperor would undoubtedly use it as a pretext to eradicate them entirely.

The doctor departed to prepare the medicine.

Standing nearby, Bai Bohan gazed down at Song Shiwei with a dark, brooding look, contemplating how best to ensure she could recover in peace and safety.

His eyes swept over her hollow, emaciated cheeks, and he let out a soft sigh. She had tried so very hard.

Yet all her strenuous efforts had earned her were betrayal and exploitation at the hands of her own mother.

He wondered if she harbored any regret for striving so desperately on behalf of her family.

Bai Bohan accepted a folding fan from his attendant and gently fanned Song Shiwei.

At that moment, his peripheral vision caught several bailiffs dragging a scantily clad woman back toward the camp.

Taking a closer look, he recognized the woman as Song Shilan, allowing him to easily deduce what had transpired, though he felt not a shred of sympathy for her.

Song Shilan stared blankly at the sky, her eyes devoid of any focus, feeling as though living was worse than death.

Her chastity was gone; she had been defiled and humiliated by a gaggle of vile, lowly men.

Without her purity, how could she ever aspire to become Empress in the future?

Slowly, tears welled up and spilled from the corners of her eyes, laced with utter despair. Why had her life turned into such a miserable catastrophe?

The bailiffs tossed her carelessly to the side before heading over toward Zhang Huai's location.

It was not that they had failed to notice Bai Bohan and his entourage; they simply chose to turn a blind eye.

As evening approached, Master Song and the others gradually regained consciousness.

"W-what has happened to me?" Master Song muttered, feeling a profound weakness and discomfort throughout his entire body.

"Master Song." Bai Bohan helped him up and handed him a waterskin.

No sooner had Master Song taken the waterskin than he sensed something amiss, snapping his head up to stare in shock. "Prince Ding?!"

"Why is Prince Ding here?"

Without offering any explanation for his presence, Bai Bohan stated plainly, "Master Song, shortly ago, your esteemed wife knelt and begged me to take Eldest Miss Song as a concubine, claiming that I had compromised her and must therefore make her my concubine."

"As a result, Eldest Miss Song was so enraged she fainted, and she has yet to regain consciousness."

"The doctor examined her and confirmed she collapsed from extreme agitation and overwork."

Hearing this, Master Song shook with boundless fury, accompanied by a heavy wave of regret.

Regret that he hadn't made that wretched woman taste the life of a concubine much sooner.

"Shiwei, is Shiwei alright?" He searched frantically for her figure, finally spotting his daughter resting near the ox cart.

Bai Bohan said, "Eldest Miss Song requires undisturbed rest; she has labored far too hard and is utterly exhausted."

For a pampered young lady, the hardships of exile alone were punishment enough, let alone bearing the burden of a household's survival while guarding against endless conspiracies.

Just as Master Song was opening his mouth to express his gratitude, the furious roar of Song Mingting rang out.

"I am going to kill my mother!"