Chapter Two: Undeterred Thief
An invisible pressure descended upon everyone's heart.
The Song family members and guests present, who had finally come to their senses, turned deathly pale and knelt down in unison, leaving the entire hall completely silent.
Song Yiqiu immediately knelt down as well, adopting a humble posture and feigning grievance:
"Your Highness, please calm your anger! This humble woman deserves to die!"
“I offered this toast with the utmost sincerity and had no intention of disrespect whatsoever. But my sister suddenly screamed. I was caught off guard and my hand trembled, which led to this disaster.”
“I have disturbed Your Highness’s presence and soiled Your Highness’s robes. I am guilty beyond redemption and beg Your Highness’s forgiveness.”
She kowtowed deeply, her forehead touching the ground.
The onlookers were also innocent victims, and they all secretly glanced up and whispered among themselves.
"Oh no, oh no... I've spilled wine all over the Crown Prince..."
"And in front of so many people! This is blatant disrespect for the emperor!"
"Song Yiqiu is doomed this time, not even a god can save her..."
"What's wrong with Song Sangyu? Why is she calling herself that all of a sudden?"
"Could it be intentional? These two sisters..."
Upon hearing Song Yiqiu shift the blame onto her, Song Sangyu immediately raised her head, her eyes brimming with tears, and repeatedly kowtowed to the Crown Prince, her voice trembling with sobs:
"Your Highness, please calm down. It's all Sang Yu's fault. It's all Sang Yu's fault. My sister didn't do it on purpose. It was Sang Yu... Sang Yu just saw a small insect that flew into the wine glass from who knows where."
“Sang Yu was afraid that the filth would defile His Highness’s precious body, so she cried out in a moment of panic, disturbing her sister and His Highness even more.”
"Sang Yu deserves to die! I punish myself with a cup of wine and humbly beg Your Highness to be magnanimous and forgive my sister's unintentional mistake, and to forgive Sang Yu's recklessness!"
After saying that, Song Sangyu didn't wait for anyone to react. She immediately grabbed the wine pot on the table in front of her, quickly poured herself a full cup of wine, and drank it all in one gulp.
The crown prince's gaze slowly shifted between the two kneeling figures.
Song Yiqiu lowered her eyes and looked meek, her posture humble yet her back straight.
Song Sangyu's eyes were blurry with tears, looking pitiful yet with a cunning glint in them.
After a long silence, just when everyone thought that a thunderous wrath was about to descend, Xiao Yongjing chuckled cryptically and finally spoke:
"Never mind."
Those two words, like a pardon, brought a sense of relief to everyone, yet also sent chills down their spines.
"Since it was an unintentional mistake, and there was also... um... 'insects' at play, I wouldn't risk a life for a piece of clothing or a cup of wine."
He deliberately paused slightly on the word "insect," his gaze sweeping over Song Sangyu with a half-smile.
Song Sangyu looked up, forcing a perfectly sweet smile onto her face:
"Thank you, Your Highness, for your magnanimity and wisdom."
She quickly got up and eagerly picked up the wine jug:
"Sangyu will pour wine again to apologize to Your Highness, and please drink this cup to calm your nerves and not make another mistake."
As she spoke, she gracefully refilled the previously untouched empty cup in front of the Crown Prince with wine.
Then, he refilled the glass he had just emptied.
Finally, she turned to Song Yiqiu, who was still kneeling, her smile still sweet, but her eyes filled with malice.
She picked up a new empty cup, the very one Song Yiqiu had originally intended to drink from.
As he poured the wine, he quickly ran his long fingernails along the inside of the rim of the glass, and fine powder fell back into the wine.
This time, Song Yiqiu knelt on the ground and clearly saw Song Sangyu's smooth and skillful second administration of the drug.
My heart sank completely.
"Very well, very well indeed. Song Sangyu, you're truly determined to ruin me. In front of the Crown Prince, in front of everyone, you dare to pull this trick again! It seems this cup of wine is unavoidable?"
Xiao Yongjing had been coldly observing Song Sangyu's attentiveness, but now his gaze fell on Song Yiqiu, and he caught a glimpse of the anger that flashed in her eyes.
A surge of curiosity welled up inside me.
Why does Song Yiqiu act like drinking a glass of wine is going to kill her?
He picked up the glass of wine that Song Sangyu had just poured, swirled it a couple of times, and looked at Song Yiqiu with a teasing tone:
"General Song, the wine is full. What, are you going to 'splash' the wine again this time? Hmm?"
Song Yiqiu's lips twitched almost imperceptibly, and she cursed inwardly:
Is the Crown Prince perhaps old and blind, suffering from a relapse of his eye disease? How could he not see such an obvious act of drugging me? Or... is he simply watching a show? Waiting for me to embarrass myself?
Song Sangyu immediately picked up her clean cup of wine, faced the Crown Prince, and said in a sweet, coquettish voice:
“Brother Crown Prince, Sang Yu toasts you again to thank you for your magnanimity.”
After saying that, he drank it all in one gulp, the bottom of the cup clearly visible to the prince.
After watching Song Sangyu finish her drink, Xiao Yongjing turned his gaze back to Song Yiqiu.
He said nothing, but slowly and deliberately drank the wine in his glass in one gulp.
Then, he put down his empty glass, looked at Song Yiqiu with a leisurely air, his eyes seeming to say:
Your turn.
All eyes were on Song Yiqiu. The more open and straightforward Song Sangyu was, the more Song Yiqiu seemed to drag her feet.
The older brothers urged impatiently:
"Song Yiqiu, what are you standing there for? His Highness the Crown Prince and Sister Sangyu have both drunk it. Do you want to kill your whole family? Drink it now!"
"What are you dawdling for? It's just a cup of wine. Didn't you claim to be invincible at the border? Stop pretending to be weak, drink up! Don't keep His Highness waiting!"
"Oh, our General's sister, were you scared out of your wits by those bugs earlier? Or... is there something in this wine that makes you afraid to drink it?"
What Song Yiqiu held in her hand wasn't wine at all; it was clearly a hot potato.
Song Yiqiu stared at the swaying surface of the wine. Now, not drinking it would be a grave offense of disrespect, so she gritted her teeth and drank it all in one gulp.
"Your Highness, please forgive me. I was rude."
Xiao Yongjing had been observing her expression, and when he saw her drink it so readily, a hint of disappointment flashed across his eyes.
Unfortunately, the performance wasn't exciting enough. He raised an eyebrow slightly and tapped his fingertip lightly on the table.
When Song Sangyu saw that Song Yiqiu had finally drunk it, the joy in her eyes was almost overflowing. She frantically calculated the time it would take for the aphrodisiac to take effect, just waiting for the drug to take hold so that she could make a complete fool of herself.
She eagerly stepped forward, took Song Yiqiu's cup, handed it to the maid Hongxiu beside her, and gave her a wink.
The effects of the love potion took hold even faster than Song Yiqiu had imagined. An indescribable heat spread rapidly from her lower abdomen to her limbs and bones, and the scene before her eyes began to sway slightly.
While she was still conscious, Song Yiqiu seemingly casually picked up a small dish of cold celery salad from the table, took a large bite with her chopsticks, and quickly chewed and swallowed it.
Celery, her deadly allergen, had an immediate effect.
Almost the instant she swallowed, large, alarming red rashes appeared rapidly on Song Yiqiu's fair neck and cheeks at a speed visible to the naked eye.
A sharp-eyed woman pointed at Song Yiqiu's face and screamed.
"Ah! Miss Song's face... her neck! Good heavens! What is that?"
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