"Your Majesty, the madman from Fangfei Pavilion injured the maidservant who followed him and said he wanted to have another person to serve him."
Yan Fu was already upset while reviewing memorials, and only took the time to listen when he heard that it was about Fangfei Pavilion, in case Fangfei Pavilion was planning anything bad to harm others.
When Qiu Ziheng was demoted to Fangfei Pavilion, no one followed her. Only the senior palace maid who had served by her side since childhood was willing to follow her. Unexpectedly, this vicious woman would not even spare her own confidants when she got angry.
"Since she doesn't want to be served, she can stay here alone. There's no need to report these unreasonable requests in the future."
"promise."
During the Flower Goddess Festival, all officials and ladies would go to the palace to attend the banquet hosted by the Queen. Dongxu did not have a Queen now, so the Queen Mother usually presided over the banquet.
Unfortunately, Empress Dowager Xue's old illness relapsed, so she simply handed it over to Qiao Yu to handle. Secondly, she also wanted to suppress the concubines in the harem who had been restless recently.
Qiao Yu wore a yellow Bixia Luo dress embroidered with phoenixes and a pink smoke gauze skirt that trailed on the ground. Her face was like a lotus, her eyebrows were like willows, her eyes were more charming than peach blossoms, very captivating, and her skin was as white as snow.
"May the Imperial Concubine be blessed with long life and happiness, and may the Emperor live in peace and prosperity."
"Everyone, please stand. The Queen Mother is unwell, so I will be presiding over this Flower Goddess Festival. Ladies, please don't be restrained and just proceed as usual."
Banquets in ancient times were even more boring than the cocktail parties that Qiao Yu attended in modern times, but fortunately she was in a high position, so she only had to sit and listen to the flattery of the court officials and ladies, and occasionally replying a word or two was not too tiring.
The Flower Goddess Festival banquet was only for women, so Yan Fu could not attend, and Qiao Yu felt even less interested.
Mrs. Li, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, had been sitting alone at the table drinking, while others came up to her to flatter her and curry favor in order to gain some benefits and promotions for their husbands.
Finally, everyone had taken turns, and Madam Li had no choice but to go up and pay her respects to this most noble woman in Dongxu:
"May good fortune and luck always be with the Imperial Concubine. This cup is a toast to you. As the Imperial Concubine is still not well, I will drink it first as a token of my respect."
Madam Li drank without waiting for Qiao Yu's response. Her attitude of not allowing anyone to refuse seemed rude, but in fact she was thinking sincerely about Qiao Yu. She was not afraid at all that Qiao Yu would punish her for the crime of insubordination.
After all, Imperial Concubine Lan had just lost her child not long ago. Madam Li's intentional mention of Imperial Concubine Lan's health was like stabbing another knife into her heart.
The ladies sitting around were all waiting to see Madam Li's joke, but unexpectedly, the elegant and beautiful woman who sat on the table stopped the wine glass she raised in the air, chuckled softly, put it back, and picked up the teacup:
"Mrs. Li is thoughtful."
In fact, Madam Li was just speaking her mind. She had also had a miscarriage, so she naturally knew that women should not drink alcohol during this period. But she also felt that something was wrong when she said this.
Unexpectedly, the domineering and favored Concubine Lan, who was rumored to be such a genuine person, the smile on Mrs. Li's face became more sincere, she bowed slightly and prepared to leave.
Madam Li happened to pass by a maid serving wine, and she didn't notice anything wrong, but her eyes just happened to pass over the maid's face, and her expression was fierce.
Before Madam Li could react, the man had already rushed over with a dagger:
"Empress Lan, you bitch, go to hell!"
It turned out that Xu Miao had sneaked in among the palace maids to assassinate Qiao Yu. A dagger with a sharp spike and a cold glow was about to stab Qiao Yu, but a black shadow rushed out and blocked Qiao Yu.
Everything happened so fast that even Qiao Yu hadn't reacted when he heard the person in front of him groaning in pain. When the eunuch stepped forward to stop him, the guards came in from outside to rescue him.
"My Lady, are you okay?"
Zhu'er was the first to recover from her shock. Madam Li was standing closer to her than she was, so she stood in front of Qiao Yu first.
Qiao Yu was still in shock. Although she was not a timid person, who could say that they would not be afraid at all when death was really in front of them?
Moreover, the aftereffects of the last suicide by hanging were too severe for Qiao Yu, so she was really frightened by what she did just now:
"I am fine. Let me ask the imperial physician to check on Madam Li first."
Seeing that Qiao Yu was frightened, Zhu'er quickly asked Aunt Sufang to organize the ladies to calm down, and she took Qiao Yu to a safe and quiet place first.
Qiao Yu reached out to reject Zhu'er's kindness, forced himself to calm down, took a deep breath and saw that the assassin was Xu Miao:
"Take the assassin away and interrogate him personally. Then, call in Imperial Physician Jiang. Madam Li must behave properly before me. Sufang, you go and invite... Forget it. The Emperor is busy with government affairs these days, so please don't bother him for now."
Qiao Yu originally wanted Zhu'er to invite the Queen Mother to come and take charge. Firstly, it would have a deterrent effect, and secondly, she didn't want to deal with these troublesome matters.
But now it is no longer a matter of indifference. Yan Fu dotes on me so much and considering what happened before, the guards have increased their manpower to guard the Lan Chao Palace.
How could Xu Miao, a little deposed concubine and palace maid, be allowed to sneak in? Obviously, this was a warning and a lesson from the Queen Mother.
So I changed my tune.
"I'm sorry to have caused such a foolish act to the ladies. It was just a farce, so the banquet will continue as usual. Please don't let this ruin the birthday of the Goddess of Flowers."
Since the parties involved have said so, no one dares to say no in front of the emperor's favorites no matter how scared they are, so as not to cause trouble for their own family.
What Queen Mother Xue wanted was for the Flower God Festival to be interrupted so that Qiao Yu could clearly understand where her position lies. Even if Madam Li had not blocked her way just now, there would have been ten thousand ladies and servants who would have stepped forward to block her.
Empress Dowager Xue didn't take a weak servant seriously at all, she just wanted Qiao Yu to learn a lesson.
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