Hundred Flowers Kill
Three days before the Flower Banquet, Yin Li was constantly busy in the Prince's Garden. She wore a light pink short blouse and squatted by the flowerbed, adjusting the leaves...
When she was arranging the branches of the silk flower, her slender figure resembled a small pink butterfly resting among the flowers. The mole at the corner of her eye swayed gently with her head down, shining like a fallen star.
Occasionally, he would straighten up and take a bite of the osmanthus cake handed to him by a maid. The sweet fragrance spread, and even his eyebrows were softened, showing no trace of the sharpness of a person in power.
This flower banquet was the first time she had hosted a banquet for famous scholars in the capital since she took power. She personally took charge of everything: the glass lanterns under the corridor had to be strung together to create the feeling of "a galaxy hanging down to the ground", the freshly cut chrysanthemums in the jar had to be arranged to create the scene of "sparse shadows lying horizontally", and the guest list was checked three times. She even noted on a small note which scholar disliked spicy food and which preferred pre-rain Longjing tea.
The steward watched her petite figure move between the garden and the storeroom, and secretly admired her: "The young lady may look gentle, but she's more shrewd than anyone else."
The day before the banquet, trouble suddenly came knocking. The craftsman who made the string lanterns rushed in to report: "Young Miss, most of the glass beads in the storeroom are missing, and the rest are all cracked!" Yin Li went to see what was going on. The box that was originally full of clear beads was now only filled with some defective ones, and half a silver clasp that did not belong to the Prince's Mansion was left in the corner of the wooden box.
Immediately afterward, the kitchen was in an emergency: "The ordered new tea from Jiangnan has been replaced. What was delivered was inferior, stale tea that turns into nothing but crumbs when brewed!" The most troublesome thing was the black chrysanthemums—the three hundred dark purple black chrysanthemums she had specially ordered from a flower farmer outside the city had all wilted when they arrived, their petals stained with black stains and falling off at the slightest touch.
“These three items come from different sources, how could they all have problems at the same time?” Yin Li stood amidst the withered chrysanthemums in the garden, a broken petal clutched between her fingers, her slender shoulders ramrod straight. The mole at the corner of her eye was tinged with red, but she showed no sign of panic, only whispering to the manager: “Go and investigate the person in charge of procurement coordination, but don’t make a fuss.”
The steward returned quickly, his voice hushed: "Young Miss, Tongque was in charge of purchasing and entertaining guests. That silver clasp... looks like the one he usually wears."
Yin Li's heart skipped a beat. Tong Que was an "old friend of Qinglang Mountain" who had come seeking refuge the day before, claiming to have a past connection with Master Mu Han and asking her to take him in. Although she was somewhat wary, she hadn't expected him to act so quickly. However, with the flower banquet just around the corner, arresting him in public would only throw her into disarray, so it would be better to... play along.
She returned to the front courtyard without making a sound. As soon as she turned through the moon gate, she saw Tongque carrying a gilded brocade box out. When he saw her, he glanced at the box, cupped his hands and smiled, "Miss, I'm going to deliver the invitation to Scholar Liu and also check if the purchased supplies have arrived."
Yin Li pretended to be completely unaware, her eyes crinkling into a soft smile: "Thank you for your trouble, Tong Que. By the way, Minister Li in the west of the city loves to drink pre-rain Longjing tea. If you see him when you deliver the invitation, please mention it. I have specially prepared some fine tea for him. Also, regarding the black chrysanthemum, if it arrives, please keep an eye on it and make sure the servants don't damage it."
A smug glint flashed in Tongque's eyes. He replied with "Don't worry," and quickly walked away with the brocade box. He didn't see that when Yinli turned around, the smile in the corner of her eye vanished instantly. She whispered to her guard, "Follow him and see where he hides the glass beads and the new tea, then... proceed according to plan." After nightfall, Tongque indeed secretly went to the dilapidated temple on the outskirts of the city and handed the glass beads and the intercepted new tea from the brocade box to two men in black.
Following Yin Li's instructions, the guard secretly smeared some "ant-attracting powder" on the tea canister and placed a sachet with the Prince's mark next to the glass bead box—an old item that Yin Li had specially found out and that Yin Mo had used in his early years.
The next morning, rumors spread throughout the capital: "I heard that the Silver Prince's mansion lost a glass bead and some new tea. Someone saw them in a dilapidated temple on the outskirts of the city, and they were even carrying Silver Foam's sachet!"
These words quickly reached the ears of the clansmen. Although Yinmo was under house arrest, he still had some old followers. The clansmen immediately sent people to investigate the dilapidated temple and found the glass beads, new tea, and the sachet.
When Tongque learned of the news, he was busy arranging seating for guests. When his relatives arrived with their men, his face turned pale instantly. "It wasn't me! This is a frame-up!" he hurriedly protested, but no one believed him—his fingerprints were on the things in the dilapidated temple, and his relatives had "coincidentally" discovered that he had secretly left the mansion to go to the outskirts of the city the day before.
Yin Li appeared at the right moment, wearing a light pink ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress). Standing in the crowd, she looked particularly thin, and the mole at the corner of her eye was red, as if she was about to cry: "Tong Que, I trusted you so much, and entrusted you with the hospitality and purchasing. How could you... how could you collude with Yin Mo's old subordinates and steal things from the Prince's Mansion?" Her words "colluded with Yin Mo" immediately hit the taboo of the clan members—Yin Mo had colluded with Qinglang Mountain back then, and the clan members still held a grudge against her.
The way everyone looked at Tongque instantly changed, and they all accused him of being "heartless" and "having ill intentions."
Tongque was speechless and tried to get Yinli to testify, but she gently avoided him. Yinli turned to the clansmen and said, "Elders, Yinmo's former subordinates have caused trouble and must not be let off lightly. Tongque... alas, I wanted to give you a chance to repent, but you have disappointed me too much."
In the end, the clansmen took Tongque away and, on charges of "colluding with rebels and stealing from the Prince's mansion," flogged him fifty times and banished him from the capital, forbidding him from ever setting foot in the capital again. Before leaving, Tongque stared intently at Yinli, wanting to shout, "You plotted against me!" but his clansmen covered his mouth.
Watching Tongque being led away, the panic in Yinli's eyes faded, leaving only calm. She turned to the steward and said, "Bring out the spare glass beads and pre-rain Longjing tea. Moju should be arriving soon too; hurry up and make the arrangements so the flower banquet won't be delayed." As the sun set, the glass lanterns in the garden lit up, and Moju bloomed in the jars, the fragrance of tea mingling with the scent of flowers. Yinli stood under the veranda, her fingertips brushing against the petals of the Moju, a faint smile playing on her lips—Tongque had tried to ruin her flower banquet, but she had outmaneuvered him instead. This was just the beginning; from now on, she would deal with those lurking in the shadows, one by one.
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