Qi Mingyue readily agreed and patiently demonstrated and instructed. Bai Lian'er studied diligently, but kept making mistakes at crucial points. After several repetitions, Qi Mingyue couldn't help but frown slightly: "The finger technique here should be like this..."

Before she could finish speaking, Bai Lian'er's eyes suddenly reddened, and she lowered her head, saying, "I was too stupid and failed to live up to my sister's good intentions." With that, she turned and ran away.

Qi Mingyue stood there, bewildered. The next day, she noticed that many people in the academy were looking at her strangely. Several classmates who used to chat happily with her were also deliberately keeping their distance from her.

Qi Mingyue was puzzled, but didn't dare to ask directly. Until that afternoon, she overheard a conversation between two students in the corridor:

"...I never expected Miss Qi to be this kind of person. She seems gentle on the surface, but she's actually quite mean." "Isn't that right? She even had the heart to bully someone as delicate as Miss Bai. I heard that she even made Miss Bai cry during the piano lesson the other day..."

Qi Mingyue was struck dumb, and immediately understood all the unusual things that had happened recently. She was about to step forward to explain when she saw Xie Ansu walking over from the other side, clearly having also heard those words.

“Miss Qi, this…” Xie Ansu looked puzzled. “There have been some rumors about you at the academy recently. Is there some misunderstanding?”

Qi Mingyue took a deep breath and calmly asked, "Does Young Master Xie believe those words?"

Xie Ansu hesitated for a moment: "Of course I don't want to believe it, but there's no smoke without fire... Besides, Miss Bai has indeed mentioned you many times with tears in her eyes..."

Qi Mingyue's heart sank slightly. Looking at the doubt in Xie Ansu's eyes, she suddenly felt that the explanation she had just prepared was pale and powerless.

"The innocent will remain innocent." She said this only briefly before turning and leaving.

Back at Tingxuezhai, Qi Mingyue sat alone by the window, gazing at the pear blossoms fluttering in the courtyard, her heart filled with mixed emotions. She recalled her mother's admonition before leaving the capital, and the princess's worries, and suddenly understood what it meant to be "treacherous in the human heart."

What chilled her to the bone even more was Xie Ansu's attitude. This talented man, who had discussed poetry and essays with her and was a close friend, could actually believe rumors and begin to doubt her.

"Miss, have you been wronged?" Zhi Shu brought in tea and asked with concern when she saw that Qi Mingyue's expression was not right.

Qi Mingyue shook her head, a bitter smile tugging at the corner of her lips: "It's nothing. I've just come to understand a little bit about the ways of the world."

Outside the window, the spring breeze remained, and pear blossoms fell like snow. But the anticipation and enthusiasm that Qi Mingyue had felt when he first arrived in Yingzhou had been tinged with a faint shadow.

She gently stroked the guqin on the table, her fingertips producing a string of clear, cold notes. The music was mournful, as if weeping and lamenting, as if foreshadowing something.

At this moment, Bai Lian'er was standing under the moon gate outside Tingxuezhai, listening to the zither music coming from inside the courtyard, a barely perceptible cold smile curling at the corner of her lips.