Chapter 210 The Banquet Disaster
The ladies around her gathered in twos and threes, chatting and laughing, and no one took the initiative to speak to her.
This feeling of being ignored and humiliated made Jiang extremely irritable.
Li Nian'er quietly withdrew from the crowd, her gaze fixed on the eunuchs who were helping the drunken imperial brother-in-law leave, and she quietly followed them.
As the eunuchs escorted the emperor's brother-in-law to the east side room of the Bamboo Green Pavilion, built against a small patch of green bamboo in the northwest corner of Jinxia Garden, she slipped into the shadows of the bamboo grove, her fingers tightly gripping a hard little paper packet.
Lu Zhaoruo, today I will make sure you never recover!
Before long, two eunuchs bowed and left the room, closing the courtyard gate behind them.
A moment later, a palace maid brought in a hangover soup and then came out as well.
At this moment, the gate of Zhuqing Pavilion was ajar, and there was no one around.
The room was so quiet that the only sound was the rustling of the bamboo leaves in the wind.
Li Nian'er's heart was pounding like a drum, and her palms were covered in cold sweat.
But when he thought of how Lu Zhaoruo had killed his brother and how she had just made him lose all face, hatred instantly overwhelmed his fear.
She made up her mind, walked into the courtyard, and quickly slipped into the side room.
The room was dimly lit, filled with the smell of alcohol mixed with a strong incense aroma...
The emperor's brother-in-law lay on his back on the couch, snoring loudly. His inner robe was loose, and the collar was wide open, revealing his muscular chest.
Li Nian'er had never seen a man act like this before. Her face immediately burned, her heart pounded wildly, and she hurriedly looked away.
She suppressed her embarrassment and panic, her gaze quickly settling on the bowl of hangover soup on the small table by the bedside.
Success or failure hinges on this!
She quickly opened the medicine packet, poured the powder into a bowl, and stirred it rapidly with her fingertips.
Then, she clumsily lifted the heavy head of the emperor's brother-in-law and brought the medicine to his lips.
The emperor's brother-in-law swallowed groggily, his Adam's apple bobbing.
When the soup was halfway gone, he suddenly raised his hand and grabbed Li Nian'er's wrist tightly!
The palm was hot and rough, and the force was immense.
"Beautiful woman... your hands are so smooth and soft..."
He mumbled incoherently, his thumb lingering suggestively on the back of her hand.
The frivolous touch sent a shock through Li Nian'er, filling her with shame and indignation!
She forcefully pulled her hand back, and the medicine bowl overturned on the couch with a loud crash.
She dared not linger any longer, and scrambled out of the room, rushing into the bamboo grove. She only stopped panting when she leaned against a green bamboo, feeling the back of her hand that had been touched burning hot.
Once her breathing had calmed down, the vicious look in her eyes returned. Remembering Granny Qian's instructions, she couldn't help but sneer: "Granny said that this medicine will take effect in no time... At that time, no matter how powerful you, Lu Zhaoruo, are, you won't be able to escape!"
She tidied her slightly disheveled hair, took a deep breath, and returned to the stone path, trying to appear calm.
His gaze swept across the room and quickly settled on a young palace maid with a youthful face, walking alone with her head down.
She quickly stepped forward, slipped a small piece of silver into her hand, and whispered, "Go outside the palace gate and find a maid named Dongrou who is wearing a light green vest. Tell her that her mistress is feeling unwell after drinking in Jinxia Garden and is resting in the east wing of Qingzhu Pavilion. Tell her to go and serve her immediately."
The young palace maid dared not ask any further questions and left in response.
Watching the little palace maid's departing figure, she glanced in the direction of Qingzhu Pavilion and a smile played on her lips.
Then, she looked around and her gaze settled on Zhan Lanyang, the legitimate daughter of the Marquis of Anguo.
At this moment, Zhan Lanyang stood there alone, his chin held high.
She quickly forced an exaggerated smile, jogged over, and said in a high-pitched, sticky voice, "Sister Lanyang! I've finally found you!"
Hearing the noisy voice, Zhan Lanyang frowned almost imperceptibly. He slowly turned half of his face to the side, lazily lowered his eyelids, glanced at Li Nian'er, not even bothering to hum in response, and then turned back to her, treating her as if she were nothing.
Li Nian'er's warm welcome was met with a cold shoulder, her smile freezing on her face, but she didn't feel embarrassed at all. Instead, she leaned forward again, her voice louder than ever: "Sister, you standing here are truly... truly more magnificent than a fairy in a painting! I heard that there's some great news! You're about to marry Prince Yan and become his princess!"
Seeing that Zhan Lanyang didn't leave immediately, she became even more excited: "Oh my! Sister, you are so lucky! You were born into a noble family and are about to become the Empress of a Prince's mansion. This immense wealth is so enviable! We can't even dream of it!"
Zhan Lanyang continued to lean on the railing, gazing into the distance, but a smug smile of satisfaction played on his lips as he casually remarked, "Such blessings are predestined and cannot be forced."
Li Nian'er smiled and agreed repeatedly, but inwardly she gritted her teeth: What's with the arrogance! If it weren't for my grand plan, who would bother to flatter someone as haughty as you!
She didn't show it on her face, but racked her brains to say a bunch of flattering things like "Sister has a noble destiny" and "is blessed with great fortune," while her eyes kept darting around.
Suddenly, her gaze sharpened as she spotted a familiar figure hurrying through the moon gate and running towards the direction of the Green Bamboo Pavilion.
She immediately pointed, her voice rising with exaggerated surprise: "Oh my! Sister Lanyang, look! That girl who ran over in such a panic looks so familiar... like Dongrou, the personal maid of Lady Lu Zhaoruo!"
She paused deliberately, pretending to try to recall, then clapped her hands, her tone filled with surprise and doubt: "That's it! It's her! How strange, why would she wander around the forbidden garden of the inner palace alone? Judging from the direction she's heading... she's going towards the Green Bamboo Pavilion! Sister, you don't know, just now the Imperial Uncle was drunk and was helped to the Green Bamboo Pavilion to rest! What... what if she bumps into him!"
Upon hearing this, Zhan Lanyang didn't even bother to lift his eyelids. He merely glanced at the direction where Dong Rou had disappeared out of the corner of his eye and let out a contemptuous snort: "Heh, as expected, like master, like servant. What etiquette could a mere maidservant from a merchant's daughter know? Rushing around in this palace with no manners whatsoever, she has no choice but to bring trouble upon herself by offending a noble person."
“Such a lowly brat who doesn’t know his place will be dealt with according to palace rules.”
Li Nian'er said worriedly, "Sister Lanyang is right. But... that is, after all, Lady Lu's personal maid. If she really offends the Imperial Uncle and things get out of hand, Lady Lu might also be implicated. Although I have some disagreements with her, I can't bear to see her cause trouble. Sister, wait a moment, I'll go ask that maid why she's here and try to persuade her to leave to avoid any trouble!"
Having said that, she quickly caught up with Dongrou and stopped her, feigning surprise: "Dongrou? What are you doing here? Wasn't your wife just admiring the fish at the banquet?"
When Dongrou saw that it was her, although she was not pleased, she still replied politely, "Greetings, Madam Li. A little palace maid just came in a hurry to tell me that my mistress drank some wine here and is not feeling well, and ordered me to come and serve her immediately."
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