The moment the thought of doubt crossed Su Wanyan's mind, she didn't look at Xu Si, but instead focused her gaze on Xu Si's hand holding the chopsticks. She saw that when he picked up the chopsticks, his fingers lightly touched the end of the chopsticks.
It was very light and fast; if Su Wanyan hadn't checked his movements immediately, she wouldn't have noticed such a detail at all.
Xu Si, with a forced smile, buried his head in picking at his food, completely unaware that Su Wanyan's expression had changed.
He picked up a piece of candied fruit and placed it in Su Wanyan's bowl, saying with a smile, "Your Majesty, please try it."
Su Wanyan smiled as she looked at the food and then looked up: "You eat it."
"What?" Xu Si was stunned for a moment, and even his smile froze on his face.
Su Wanyan repeated, "I said, you eat."
"This... Your Highness, this is against the rules." Xu Si suddenly felt a little guilty and politely declined with a smile.
"It's alright." Su Wanyan's smile widened. "It's a reward for you."
At this moment, the skill of "Identifying Medicine" was used to its fullest extent. The faint medicinal smell wafting from the bowl to her nose allowed her to instantly identify what kind of poison it was.
"Your Majesty... I have already eaten while I was at home. Besides, it would be a waste to give such delicious food to me. Your Majesty, please eat quickly."
His palms were sweating as he said this, yet he still gripped his chopsticks tightly in his hands.
"You dare disobey me?" Su Wanyan narrowed her eyes, her gaze towards Xu Si hardening.
Xu Si hurriedly waved his hand: "Your Majesty, this servant really..."
The eldest princess had been keeping an eye on Su Wanyan, and now that things weren't going well, she narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to speak.
Unexpectedly, Su Wanyan suddenly stood up, grabbed Xu Si by the back of the neck and pressed him down hard. With a "thud," Xu Si's head hit the small bowl containing the candied sugar: "I'll let you eat it!"
"Ouch! Ouch!" Xu Si felt his whole body go limp, his head spinning from Su Wanyan's blow.
The small bowl on the table shattered with a crack, and the delicious food on the table was instantly scattered all over the floor, making a crisp sound!
Everyone in the hall immediately looked at Su Wanyan, only to see Xu Si being slammed on the table, his body going limp, and he looked as if he was about to fall to the ground.
The eldest princess, who had been keeping an eye on her, could no longer contain herself and slammed her hand on the table, shouting, "Su Wanyan! This is the palace! You cannot be so presumptuous!"
Su Wanyan quickly removed the silver needle from Xu Si's neck, looked up at the Princess, and before she could speak, Yu Nanqing's gentle voice slowly rang out: "Princess, please calm down. It's just a servant in the manor who made a mistake, and Yan'er is just disciplining him."
Despite appearing extremely weak, his voice was full of energy; one would never guess from his voice that he was a dying man.
Emperor Yuanhe's eyes darkened.
"Spare me, Your Highness! I have no idea where I have offended you, that you would treat me so cruelly. Please, Your Highness, spare me!"
Xu Siyuan staggered to his feet and knelt on the ground tremblingly, adding fuel to the fire. For some reason, he felt completely powerless even just kneeling on the ground.
It felt like I was about to fall to the ground any second.
But knowing that the eldest princess was backing him up, he felt a little more confident and forced himself to kneel in front of Su Wanyan.
The eldest princess angrily rebuked, "This is the imperial palace! Not a prince's residence! Even if you have made a mistake, you can go back and discipline yourself. Now that Princess Gong has caused such a commotion, does she not respect me and my brother at all?"
Yu Nanqing frowned: "Isn't everyone here at today's family banquet my family? Didn't His Majesty instruct me to treat this place as my royal residence?"
After saying that, he suddenly smiled bitterly: "That's right. I have now moved out of the palace. The Emperor and the Princess no longer treat me as a close relative. I thought that today's occasion would be more relaxed. After three years, the Emperor and the Princess probably already consider me a dead man."
Upon hearing this, the princess's face darkened.
She never expected that Yu Nanqing would turn the tables on her so easily.
Upon hearing this, Emperor Yuanhe's brows furrowed even more, and he spoke up at the opportune moment: "Third brother, you are exaggerating. What exactly happened?"
Su Wanyan understood that Emperor Yuanhe and the Eldest Princess were playing the roles of good cop and bad cop, respectively.
He's sitting so high up, he can see the entire Fanghua Palace with just one eye. And he still asks what happened? Bah!
Su Wanyan pointed at Xu Si: "He's poisoning me! He's trying to kill me!"
So this was the princess's scheme. Even if she knew Xu Si had betrayed her, if she hadn't noticed his little tricks, she would have definitely fallen for his scheme.
Because this is the palace, the delicacies in the palace have been selected through multiple layers of screening, and the palace maids and eunuchs who served the dishes can be traced. So even if you investigate, it has nothing to do with the palace. Xu Si is just the scapegoat of the eldest princess!
It just so happens that Xu Si works for her, so as long as it is said that Xu Si holds a grudge against her for something, there will be no doubt about the whole thing.
If Yu Nanqing is poisoned, he will be all alone again, and the Princess and Emperor Yuanhe can then focus on dealing with him.
If she feeds Yu Nanqing, then she will be the culprit, and both Yu Nanqing and she will die. Killing two birds with one stone!
Xu Si trembled and looked up in panic: "This servant...this servant is innocent! Your Majesty! This servant is innocent! How could this servant dare to poison the Princess Consort? I beg Your Majesty to investigate!"
Emperor Yuanhe looked at Su Wanyan, his brows furrowed with displeasure: "Su Wanyan, you say he poisoned me, do you have any evidence?"
"Xu Si had some kind of deadly poison on his hands." Su Wanyan turned around and glared fiercely at Xu Si. "When he picked up the chopsticks, he deliberately rubbed them with his fingers before picking up the food!"
The princess clenched her fist tightly in her sleeve, a surge of anger rising within her. What a fool who's good for nothing but causing trouble! He can't even handle such a small matter!
Emperor Yuanhe's tone became perfunctory: "Su Wanyan, you can't prove anything with just this."
"Yes, Your Highness, you can't wrong this servant just because of this!"
"Shut up!" Su Wanyan found Xu Si's words annoying.
The eldest princess suppressed her anger and sneered, "Since Princess Gong insists that this servant poisoned her, then please invite the imperial physician to come and see if it is as Su Wanyan said, that a single examination will tell."
One plan fails, another is devised.
The eldest princess is quite cunning, and her heart is ruthless and cruel.
"Who knows if the imperial physicians in the palace will be two-faced and pretend that something is not poisonous when it is!" Su Wanyan had no intention of arguing with her and bluntly stated her point.
"Insolence!" This time, Emperor Yuanhe was enraged: "Su Wanyan, how dare you! Are you questioning me?"
Before this emperor, who would dare to conceal or fail to report?
Moreover, he was a royal physician employed in his palace. Was Su Wanyan implying that he intended to protect the person who poisoned him?
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