"Princess, should we go and tell the concubine about these things in the manor?" Qingping asked.

"No need. Master let her live in the other courtyard because he probably doesn't want her to be involved in these things anymore. Why bother her again? Qingping, don't keep an eye on them all the time. Let's live our peaceful lives and let them fight it out." After saying this, Madam Song turned and walked into the house.

As Yehe followed Dongmei into the main courtyard, she saw the garden full of flowers, truly a feeling of spring arriving in full bloom. She couldn't help but think of the row of corridors in front of her own house, where only a few pots of non-flowering grass stood, looking quite lonely.

"This concubine greets the Fujin, may the Fujin be well!" Yehe Shi walked into the main room and saw Nian Shi sitting in the first seat on the left, with an angry expression.

"Sister Ye, you've arrived. Please sit down." The usual amiable smile was gone from the Fujin's face. Her dark, inky eyes looked at Yehe Shi, making her feel a chill creep down her spine.

Yeheshi gave Nianshi a polite bow, but Nianshi didn't even look at her, her eyes filled with deep resentment. Yeheshi found it strange; she had made such a beautiful butterfly kite for Nianshi, yet it hadn't eased their relationship, but instead seemed to have angered her.

"Sister Ye, did you make a butterfly kite for Sister Nian today?" The Fujin asked after Yeheshi sat down.

"Reporting to Your Highness, a couple of days ago, I was flying a kite in the garden. Sister Nian saw it and liked it very much, so she asked me to make a butterfly kite for her. Today I finished making it and gave it to Sister Nian's maid, Baizhi, to take back," Yehe Shi said truthfully. She felt a vague unease in her heart, which was probably related to that butterfly kite.

"How cruel you are! You deliberately put such a thumbtack on the butterfly's tail, causing my hand to be pricked." Before the Fujin could say anything, Lady Nian raised her right hand and said.

Yehe then noticed that Nian's right index finger was wrapped in gauze, and that the finger was slightly thicker than the other fingers, as if it were swollen.

"What are you saying, Sister Nian? I don't understand what you're saying." Yehe was stunned when she heard Nian say this, and hurriedly said.

"Cui Ling, tell the Fujin what happened." Lady Nian glared at Lady Yehe, then turned to the maid behind her and said.

"Reporting to Your Highness, today my lady sent Baizhi to Lady Ye's to fetch a kite. The kite is truly beautiful. Our lady was captivated by it at first sight. She couldn't wait to take it from Baizhi and play with it. She thought the patterns and colors on the butterfly were so beautifully depicted, so she kept holding it and playing with it. But just as she was pinching a spot on the butterfly's tail, a nail suddenly pierced her index finger. The nail was very well hidden, concealed behind the butterfly's tail. When we maids took the kite, we only held its head and didn't touch it. At first, the lady thought it was Lady Ye's carelessness and didn't pay much attention, ordering us to wrap it with simple gauze. But who knew that the lady's finger would hurt more and more, and eventually swell up. We suspect that someone may have smeared poison on the nail. So now we beg Your Highness to summon a doctor to treat our lady." Cuiling relayed everything that Lady Nian had asked her to say in one breath.

"Impossible! I didn't put a nail in the butterfly's tail, nor did I apply poison. Madam, someone is framing me." After hearing this, Yehe Shi naturally understood why Nian Shi looked at her with such hatred. At the same time, she realized that she had fallen into a trap.

"Are you implying that I'm deliberately framing you? So many people in my room saw it. There was clearly a nail on the kite you sent over; you deliberately left it there. You even smeared poison on it. You're just jealous that I was favored by the Fourth Prince first, and you haven't even seen him yet, have you?" As Madam Nian spoke, tears welled up in her eyes. She looked pitiful, like a delicate woman being envied.

"No, I have never been jealous of Consort Nian's favor. Please, Your Highness, see the truth." Yehe ignored Consort Nian, stood up, walked to Your Highness, and curtsied.

“Now you two are each sticking to your own story, and I don’t know who to believe. Nian Gege, you said that Ye Gege deliberately put nails in that kite and smeared it with poison. Do you have any witnesses or physical evidence?” the princess said.

“Madam, isn’t that kite the best evidence? It was delivered from her room. If it wasn’t her, then who was it? As for witnesses, everyone in my room can testify that I was indeed injured by a nail on her kite. My fingers still hurt.” Madam Nian raised her injured hand and said.

"Yehe, you say you didn't put in any nails, nor did you apply any poison. What evidence do you have to prove your words?" The Fujin then asked Yehe.

Yehe was speechless for a moment. Apart from her two maids, there was really no one who could testify. "Reporting to the Princess Consort, my maids can also testify that I did not do anything."

“Your maids are naturally all on your side. How can they testify?” Madam Nian retorted, unconvinced.

"Then why can the people in Princess Nian's room testify for her, but the people in my room can't?" Yehe Shi wasn't without temper either.

She had been holding back for a while, but now that the Nian family was starting to trip her up and frame her, she could no longer tolerate it.

"Your Majesty, why don't you have the maids from both princesses' rooms come over so Your Majesty can interrogate them personally?" Lingxiu suggested.

"Very well, go and summon all the maids from Nian Shi and Ye He Shi's rooms," the Fujin said to the maids standing at the door.

For a moment, Lady Nian and Lady Yehe sat on either side of the Fujin, neither looking at the other. The Fujin ordered Lingxiu to make tea, but neither of them had the heart to taste it.

Before long, the maids from both of their quarters arrived, and each of them stood behind their respective princesses.

The Fujin glanced at the people on both sides. There were six maids on Nian Shi's side and four maids on Yehe Shi's side.

"Nian's maids, did you see that Nian Gege's finger was injured by a nail on a kite?" the Fujin asked.

As Yeheshi watched them vividly recount how Nianshi had been injured, she felt a chill run down her spine. She knew she had absolutely not put any nails in the kite, but now they were all speaking with one voice, clearly trying to confirm that she had intended to harm Nianshi.

"And you? Were you all present when Princess Ye was making the kite?" The Fujin turned her head and asked the maids on Yehe's side.