The wind blows and the flowers fall.
Ye Qingxue looked up and saw the ladies and young women either eating snacks or sipping tea, looking relaxed and enjoying themselves.
It seemed they were just waiting for her to play a tune to embellish their leisurely lives.
Ye Qingxue suddenly stood up and knocked over the zither in front of her, making a loud "bang" that startled everyone.
Hu Qimei and Ning Rong exchanged a glance, both somewhat surprised.
Hu Qimei said directly, "If Miss Ye can't play the zither, she can just say so. Why did she smash the zither when everyone was eagerly waiting? Do you even have any respect for the Empress?"
Ye Qingxue stepped forward and knelt down in front of the Empress.
"Your Majesty, the strings of this zither have been tampered with. If anyone plays it, they will either be injured or disfigured. Therefore, I knocked the zither over. I beg Your Majesty's forgiveness."
What!
Everyone was shocked. Had someone tampered with the zither?
The Empress Dowager gave Dai Mama a wink, and Dai Mama stepped forward.
Ye Qingxue immediately picked up the zither and showed the tampered strings to Granny Dai.
“Granny, look, this string has been scratched by a sharp object and is very thin. If you play the zither intensely, this string will definitely break.”
After examining it, the nanny even reached out to touch it, and it was indeed so. She immediately went to report back to the Empress.
Ye Qingxue said, "This zither seems to have been prepared by Miss Hu? It seems that Miss Hu also wanted me to play the zither?"
Hu Qimei was terrified and immediately got up and knelt down.
"Your Majesty is wise. I would never dare to tamper with the strings. Putting aside everything else, today is a rare flower-viewing banquet that only comes once a year. I would never dare to spoil Your Majesty's enjoyment."
No one made a sound.
Many ladies recalled the quarrel between Hu Qimei and Ye Qingxue before the flower-viewing banquet began.
Everyone felt that Hu Qimei must have tampered with the zither.
However, the successor remained silent, and everyone else also chose to stay silent.
Ye Qingxue said, "Your Majesty, although Miss Hu made a few sarcastic remarks when I took my seat, and she may be dissatisfied with me, today is your flower appreciation banquet. As Miss Hu said, she would never dare to disturb your enjoyment."
"Therefore, I believe that Miss Hu did not tamper with the strings."
"It was probably someone else who took advantage of the minor conflict between Miss Hu and me, so they could both harm me and frame Miss Hu. I beg Your Majesty to investigate thoroughly."
Hu Qimei was shocked that Ye Qingxue actually spoke up for her.
Hmph, she's just pretending to be kind and generous; she won't fall for it.
However, Hu Qimei still followed Ye Qingxue's words and said, "Your Majesty, Miss Ye is right. Someone must have framed me!"
To be fair, Ye Qingxue has a really sharp eye; she was able to detect that the strings had been tampered with.
The Empress Dowager said, "Fortunately, Qingxue was discovered in time and was not injured. Substitute Granny, convey my order: after the flower viewing banquet, thoroughly investigate this matter."
Hu Qimei breathed a sigh of relief.
A thorough investigation was only conducted after the flower-viewing banquet had ended; by then, it was too late.
They will never trace it back to her.
She and Ye Qingxue returned to their respective positions.
Then the palace singers and dancers took to the stage one after another.
Ye Qingxue thought to herself, "This is what it's really like to perform for the Empress. Hu Qimei was just trying to make things difficult for her and embarrass her."
Wanxin led the palace servants to serve tea, one cup after another, to the ladies and young misses.
When it was delivered to Ye Qingxue, the two met face to face.
Ye Qingxue smiled at her, but Wanxin remained expressionless and continued to serve tea to the other ladies and young women.
Petals drifted onto the table. Ye Qingxue concealed them with her wide sleeves and dipped the petals into the tea. When she saw ants crawling onto the table, she caught them with the petals, and the ants crawled onto the petals.
The tea seemed to have a slightly sweet taste, and the ants began to drink it.
Before long, the ant collapsed and could no longer stand up.
Ye Qingxue: "..."
In an instant, she could feel a chilling aura spreading from outside the palace walls.
Those people seemed to be waiting for the Empress to give the order to kill her at any moment.
Therefore, Wanxin could openly present this cup of tea, which contained deadly poison, to her.
It made her believe until her death that the person who harmed her was the Empress.
Ye Qingxue added something to the tea, then tore off two small flower petals and put them into the tea.
The tea that looked no different from anyone else's now looked delicious and was completely different from everyone else's.
Hu Qimei leaned closer and said in a low, annoyed voice, "What are you doing!"
Ye Qingxue replied softly, "I was preparing tea for Her Majesty the Empress. If it weren't for Her Majesty, what merit would I have to attend the flower-viewing banquet and witness such a riot of colors?"
Hu Qimei saw that her cup of tea was indeed beautiful and became jealous.
"Hmph! You want to curry favor with the Empress? No way!" Hu Qimei snatched the cup of tea from her hand.
She then switched her own tea with Ye Qingxue's, and gave Ye Qingxue a provocative look.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye.
Before others could notice, Hu Qimei had already ignored Ye Qingxue's anger and walked away from Ye Qingxue's seat.
She held the tea in both hands and walked straight toward the Empress.
"Your Majesty, I'd like to offer this as a gift. I've used the tea you provided to brew a new cup of flower tea. Please try it."
The incident with the zither strings made her eager to change her image in front of the Empress.
Ye Qingxue picked up the tea in front of her and took a sip.
Upon seeing this, Wanxin's lips curled into a sinister smile.
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