Min chuckled and said, "You are really an inexperienced little girl. You can't even see this."
"The prince looks at her in a strange way. He must be interested in her."
"I thought the prince would take her in as a concubine, but I didn't expect that the prince would never mention it."
Although the eldest prince Yue Haoyun does not have a concubine, he has quite a few concubines, more than ten in total.
Cui Er rolled her eyes in disdain. "She's worthy of that? She's just an old, faded widow."
Min said sternly, "Don't underestimate married women. Some women, even as they age, become more charming. Some men just like that."
"But it's a pity that these two can only be a pair of mandarin ducks in the underworld."
…
The Bishui Courtyard where the prince lives.
At this time, the prince had already returned.
Having drunk a lot of wine and having dealt with the Empress Dowager in a nervous manner, he was really exhausted.
He wiped his face, changed into clean clothes, and was about to quietly go to the second prince's courtyard to discuss with them what to do next.
Just then, Xiao Zilan walked into Bishuiyuan carrying a tray.
The maid came in and announced, "Your Highness, the kitchen has sent the hangover soup."
When Yue Haoyun heard that the soup was delivered by the kitchen, his spirits immediately perked up and he asked, "Is it Qiao, the kitchen manager, who delivered it?"
The maid replied, "It was Master Qiao who came personally to deliver it."
A look of surprise flashed across Yue Haoyun's eyes, and he said loudly, "Let her bring it in!"
Qiao Yu Niang came in slowly with the sobering soup. Her face was calm, but her heart was beating wildly.
"Your Highness, this is the sobering soup that the princess made for you personally. She asked me to bring it to you right after it was done." Qiao Yu Niang deliberately emphasized the word "princess".
At this moment, she really hoped that the prince would choose not to drink it when he heard that it was made by the princess herself.
The princess and the prince are not on good terms with each other, and this is known to everyone in the palace.
Although Xiao Zilan didn't know the reason for the discord between the prince and the princess, she at least knew that the prince must dislike the princess.
So, she deliberately said that it was the princess who did it.
She hoped that the prince would simply let her send the soup back. That way, she could pour it out, protecting herself and the prince at the same time.
Unexpectedly, the prince did not say the words she imagined, but said to her gently: "Pour a bowl of soup and hand it to me."
Xiao Zilan raised his eyes to look at Yue Haoyun, only to feel something stuck in his throat.
There was a maid in the room at this time. She didn't know whether this maid was the princess's servant. If she told the prince that the soup was poisoned, what if this maid went to inform the princess?
Will they bite back then?
While Xiao Zilan was anxiously thinking, he had already prepared a bowl of soup.
Holding the bowl of soup, she looked at the prince who was sitting beside the bed, and found that the prince had already stretched out his hand to take it.
She subconsciously handed the bowl of soup to the prince, but the moment Yue Haoyun reached out to take it, she pulled the bowl back.
Yue Haoyun was stunned and confused.
Xiao Zilan made up her mind and didn't care about anything else. Let him do whatever he wanted. Anyway, she couldn't just watch the prince get poisoned.
Suddenly, her hand loosened and the bowl fell to the ground.
In an instant, the soup spilled all over the floor, and the moment the soup touched the carpet, a sizzling sound was made.
"Ah!" Yue Haoyun cried out in shock.
"It's poisonous!" the maid in the room screamed, and then turned around and ran out.
Yue Haoyun jumped up from the bed and knocked the maid unconscious with a knife.
Xifeng, who was guarding the door, heard the noise and rushed in, asking anxiously, "My Lord, what's wrong?"
He looked at the soup bowl and the smoking soup on the ground, the maid lying on the ground, and Xiao Zilan standing there at a loss, and he understood instantly.
He quickly came to Xiao Zilan's side, fiercely grabbed her shoulders, grasped her wrists, and shouted in a low voice: "You bold servant, how dare you poison the prince? You don't want to live anymore!"
Xiao Zilan was frightened by Xifeng's actions and her face changed drastically. She quickly explained, "Your Highness, please understand. I am innocent!"
Yue Haoyun glanced at Xifeng and said, "Let go first and let her speak."
Xifeng reluctantly let go of her hand, but his eyes were still fixed on Xiao Zilan, as if he was afraid that she would run away.
Xiao Zilan tried his best to control his emotions and continued, "Your Highness, two quarters of an hour ago, the princess and her personal maid Cui'er suddenly came to the kitchen."
"The princess said she would personally make you a hangover soup."
"She sent away the three cooks on duty and left the servant alone to light the fire."
"After the princess and Cui'er finished cooking the hangover soup, they asked me to go to the storehouse to find some almonds. But after I took a few steps, I suddenly remembered that the almonds were all gone. So I went back to the kitchen to report."
"At this moment, this servant saw the princess and Cui'er poisoning the hangover soup."
"To protect myself, I kept silent and pretended to be ignorant. Then, the princess ordered me to bring the soup..."
Xiao Zilan stopped talking after this.
She really didn't know how to explain her behavior just now, and was afraid that the prince would suspect that she and the princess were in cahoots.
Unexpectedly, Yue Haoyun asked gently, "So, you didn't want me to drink the poison soup just now?"
Xiao Zilan lowered his eyes and said, "Exactly!"
Xifeng frowned, "My Lord, you must not believe the lies of this lowly maid. She must be an accomplice of the princess!"
After hearing what Xifeng said, Xiao Zilan fell to her knees and shook her head repeatedly: "I didn't do that. I was wronged!"
Yue Haoyun stood up, helped Xiao Zilan up, and said gently: "Don't worry, I believe you!"
Xifeng was stunned: "Your Majesty!"
Yue Haoyun stared at the remaining hangover soup in the soup bowl in a trance. After thinking for a moment, he coldly ordered Xifeng, "Find a maid to take a message to the princess and tell her that the prince suddenly felt very uncomfortable!"
Xifeng suppressed his emotions and left after receiving the order.
Afterwards, Yue Haoyun asked Xiao Zilan to hide behind the bed and told her not to make any sound. He then called two of his trusted followers and asked them to hide on the beams.
After everything was arranged, Yue Haoyun lay down on the bed, hunched over, and pretended to be in pain.
After a while, there was a chaotic sound of footsteps, getting closer and closer to the bedroom.
Min's voice also rang out: "Prince, what's wrong with you? Why are you sick just after returning from the palace?"
As they were talking, Min and Cui'er had already walked into the prince's bedroom.
At this moment, the two followers flew down from the beams and tied up Min and Cui'er and gagged them before they could react.
Min and Cui'er opened their eyes wide, looked at Yue Haoyun in horror, and made a whimpering sound, as if they wanted to explain.
But now that things have come to this, Yue Haoyun no longer wants to hear their explanations.
"Lock them both in the dark room first!"
At Yue Haoyun's command, the two followers immediately turned the mechanism on the wall.
With a creaking sound, a door appeared in the wall, and the followers threw the Min family and the other two in.
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