“Princess!”
Bai Zhen’er supported Lin Qingwan with a smile. “Miss Lin drank too much and refuses to wake up. I can barely move myself.”
“Hehe, I told you all that there was no need to be so formal at today’s banquet.” Princess Pingyang chuckled. “Go on and enjoy yourselves. There’s no need to get up and pay your respects.”
She gave Yuan Shaoqi a casual glance.
“How could this be?!”
Yuan Shaoqi’s face went pale, and he dropped to his knees.
“That maid must have been talking nonsense. Could Second Young Master Yuan have gone mad along with her?” The princess smiled, but her eyes were ice-cold. “Miss Lin is perfectly fine right here. What exactly were you talking about just now?”
“Looks like you really do want me to cut out your tongue.”
“No!” Yuan Shaoqi hurriedly kowtowed. “It was… it was that maid!”
He pointed toward the courtyard behind him.
“She was talking nonsense. I panicked and said something foolish!”
“Now that Qingwan is safe and sound, that’s all that matters…”
“Oh?” The princess gave a cold laugh. “Bring that maid and the servant here.”
The three of them were made to kneel in a row.
The princess sat down lazily and sighed.
“Look at you.”
“I told you just now that she should simply be beaten to death, yet you insisted on spouting all that nonsense.”
Her words carried a deeper meaning.
Cold sweat broke out across Yuan Shaoqi’s forehead.
She knows! She must have known everything from the beginning!
But how? Why would she know?
He trembled slightly and turned his head, only to see Bai Zhen’er and Liu Yueti watching the commotion from nearby.
Could it be…?
“What are you looking at?” Liu Yueti blocked his view of Bai Zhen’er. “The princess is talking to you. Why are you staring at my Zhen’er?”
“Master Yuan!” Shuijing sobbed as she crawled toward him. “How could this happen? I clearly…”
“Shut up!”
Yuan Shaoqi’s expression changed. He slapped her across the face.
“Have you learned nothing? You stupid girl! You didn’t even see what was inside the room before spouting nonsense. Do you want to get your mistress killed?!”
Shuijing sobbed, covering half her face.
This slap was much harder than the one the female official had given her earlier.
Yet she still kowtowed to the princess and confessed.
“Your Highness, please spare me!”
“I only saw a strange man enter my mistress’s room. I panicked, and I lost my head…”
The servant immediately followed suit and kowtowed.
“Your Highness! This young lady told me to deliver charcoal to the guest room. That’s why I went inside!”
“You’re lying!”
Shuijing thought no one had seen what she had done and snapped viciously,
“With weather like this, why would anyone need charcoal?”
“You clearly had improper intentions toward my mistress!”
“That’s not true!”
The servant was not very eloquent, but he remembered what Liu Yueti had told him earlier and quickly said,
“When I entered the room, it was completely empty! Someone shut the door behind me the moment I turned around!”
“And there was this unbelievably strong fragrance inside. I thought it was some kind of heated tent prepared for a noble guest with a weak constitution. How would I have dared stay inside?”
“But no one would open the door for me, so I…”
“Fragrance?”
Princess Pingyang had been raised in the imperial family and had seen all kinds of schemes since childhood.
The moment she heard the servant mention the fragrance, combined with the fact that Bai Zhen’er had deliberately sent someone to find her, she immediately understood what had happened.
She chuckled.
“No wonder Miss Lin, who has always been so proper, became so drunk today.”
“Go fetch a physician to examine her.”
“Yes!”
The female official beside her hurried away.
“No need. I’ve already brought one.”
Ling Buzhan arrived with a female physician behind him.
His gaze briefly swept over Liu Yueti before he smiled and bowed to the princess.
“The commotion nearly reached the outer courtyard, so I had my people stop it.”
The princess looked at his handsome face, her expression becoming even gentler.
“Mm.”
Ling Buzhan smiled as he glanced at the people kneeling on the ground.
“Why are so many people kneeling?”
“Anyone who didn’t know better might think we were holding court.”
“Nice to see you again, Master Yuan.”
Yuan Shaoqi’s face was deathly pale.
He had a terrible feeling that he was going to be finished today.
“Heh.”
The princess chuckled.
“Since Master Xie is here, you’re a patrol censor. Why don’t you help me look into this case?”
Ling Buzhan watched as the female physician approached Lin Qingwan and used acupuncture to wake her.
“It shouldn’t be difficult.”
Ling Buzhan spoke lightly.
“But it depends on whether Miss Lin wishes to pursue the matter.”
“Ugh…”
Lin Qingwan held her head.
Through her hazy vision, she vaguely saw two breathtakingly beautiful faces before her.
“Could this be…”
She murmured drunkenly,
“Did I wander into a dream at the flower banquet and encounter two flower fairies…?”
Liu Yueti and Bai Zhen’er exchanged a glance and quietly laughed.
“Miss Lin, you’re drunk.”
“Huh?”
Lin Qingwan blinked twice before hurriedly sitting up, her face flushing with embarrassment.
“How could I…”
Once she took in the scene around her, confusion filled her eyes.
She looked at the needle in her hand.
“This… what is this?”
The female physician was removing the needles.
“Miss Lin was affected by bewitching incense.”
Lin Qingwan was startled.
“What?!”
“No wonder!”
Bai Zhen’er rarely lied, and she was slightly nervous as she explained,
“I happened to pass by the guest quarters with Yue’er just now. No one was standing outside, so we thought the room was empty.”
“We were going to go inside and rest for a while, but we didn’t realize you were in there.”
Liu Yueti smoothly continued for her.
“Exactly. You were drunk and talking nonsense, saying you wanted water and that you were too hot.”
“The room was stuffy, and there was no one there to take care of you, so we brought you outside to get some fresh air and gave you some water.”
“Not long after that, something happened in that room.”
“What… what?”
Lin Qingwan held her head, frowning.
“I did drink a couple more cups than usual today, but I couldn’t possibly have…”
“Was there something wrong with the room?”
She angrily pushed herself upright.
“Who was trying to hurt me?!”
“Shuijing!”
She turned toward her maid.
“Where did you go? Why weren’t you in the room?”
“And why are you kneeling there?”
She clutched her head in confusion.
Anyone watching would have thought she had been unconscious for several days. How had she opened her eyes to find an entire pile of trouble waiting for her?
“Miss, please save me!”
Shuijing’s eyes darted around nervously as she lowered her head.
“I… I went to get you some hangover soup, so I wasn’t nearby…”
Ling Buzhan let out a soft laugh.
Lin Qingwan was already furious, and immediately turned her anger toward him.
“What are you laughing at, Master Xie?”
Because Yuan Shaoqi had been publicly punished by him in the street, Lin Qingwan had never had a good impression of Ling Buzhan. She looked at him with displeasure.
“This has nothing to do with you, does it?”
“Every female official in the princess’s residence is responsible for a specific area.”
Ling Buzhan smiled meaningfully.
“There are female officials stationed all the way from the guest quarters to the kitchen where the hangover soup is distributed.”
“Whether Miss Lin’s maid really went to fetch hangover soup or did something else can be determined simply by asking.”
“It just depends on whether Miss Lin truly wants to know.”
Lin Qingwan frowned.
“What exactly are you implying?”
Liu Yueti quietly whispered beside her,
“If you’re afraid of hearing something ugly, you might not be able to handle it.”
“If you don’t want to investigate, you could just turn a blind eye…”
“And let it go.”
“It’s better to be a little more ignorant in life. Sometimes knowing the truth only brings unnecessary heartache.”
Bai Zhen’er widened her eyes slightly, unable to understand why Liu Yueti was actually discouraging Lin Qingwan from investigating.
Ling Buzhan raised an eyebrow and smiled.
“That’s exactly right.”
“Fortunately, Miss Lin is safe and unharmed today.”
“So why not let the matter go?”
“Wait!”
Lin Qingwan stood up.
“What if I insist on getting to the bottom of it?”