Tao Yaoyao happened to see this scene when she came over. After her eyes wandered around Xie Fei and Xie Lan twice, Xie Lan spotted her.
Xie Lan teleported in front of her, then strangled her neck forcefully, and asked in an extremely low voice, "Why are you here?"
The sudden feeling of suffocation made Tao Yaoyao feel uncomfortable. She subconsciously pulled on his sleeves. After Xie Lan noticed something was wrong with her, she let go and took two steps back.
But his expression was still solemn.
"Xie Lan, you are crazy. I just saw you sneaking here and wanted to see what you were doing. Are you going to kill me as soon as you take action?"
After regaining his freedom, Tao Yaoyao held onto the pillar and coughed for a while before her expression improved.
At this time, Xie Fei came over and asked, "What did you hear?"
Xie Fei's eyes were like a cold poisonous snake, but just one look made people flinch away. Tao Yaoyao hid behind Xie Lan in fear.
"Tell the truth, otherwise I will pluck out your skin and make a human skin lantern."
The image of the human skin lantern in the TV series immediately appeared in Tao Yaoyao's mind, and then she became even more frightened, "I heard everything that should be heard. Xie Fei, I have no enmity with you, why do you want to harm me."
She racked her brains and thought about it for so long, but she didn't expect that it was him who harmed her.
Through the conversation between the two brothers just now, she discovered that Xie Fei was a crazy critic. Just because she had sought him out, he used this method to harm her.
If Xie Lan didn't take her away that day and she told him her purpose of getting close to him, would she really be a human skin lantern now?
Fortunately, Xie Lan showed up that day.
Fortunately, she listened.
"Why?" Xie Fei sneered, "I want to kill someone, so I need a reason?"
"The Xie family is a scholarly family, and you are also a role model for scholars in the world. How many people regard you as a role model, but you..."
"Shut up." Xie Fei interrupted her, staring at her like thunder and lightning, "Don't mention the Xie family in front of me, and if you don't want to be my plaything next time, stay away from me in the future.
Otherwise, even if he protects you, this young master will still not show mercy. After all, any talk of pity for beauty and cherishing jade is all nonsense here. "
One second Xie Fei was threatening Tao Yaoyao like a demon, and the next second he was back to being an elegant young man that everyone respected.
He could switch between two such contrasting personalities with ease. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes now, I'm afraid she wouldn't have believed that someone could do this.
"Why... is he like this?"
Tao Yaoyao pulled Xie Lan's sleeve and asked.
Xie Lan glanced at her hand, and when he was about to pull it away, his chest suddenly felt like thousands of insects and ants were corroding it, and the pain made him almost lose his temper.
"Chang Geng."
After Chang Geng noticed something was wrong with him, he quickly went over to help him, "Master, how do you feel? Wait for me to find a doctor for you."
Xie Lan grabbed his hand. When Chang Geng was anxious, Tao Yaoyao walked over and took Xie Lan's hand.
Chang Geng was so anxious just now that he forgot that Tao Yaoyao knew medical skills, so he quickly said, "Miss Tao, please save my young master. My young master is like this all because of you..."
"Shut up." Xie Lan glared at him, but Chang Geng reluctantly shut up.
"Thousands of corpses scattered?"
As the name suggests, Ten Thousand Corpses San is a poison made from the corpses of thousands of animals. This poison has a perverted characteristic, that is, it will not kill people, but it can make a person's life worse than death.
How much did Xie Fei hate Xie Lan that he would poison him like this.
"This poison has no antidote." Tao Yaoyao took out a porcelain bottle from her waist and handed it to him, "This medicine can only relieve your pain, but I see that you just took it so happily, I guess you don't care about the pain. .”
After Xie Lan took the pill, Tao Yaoyao stood up and prepared to leave. When he turned to leave, he thought of something and turned to look at him meaningfully, "You helped me because of my grandfather?"
Xie Lan was very weak at this time. He didn't even have the strength to sit on the stool. After Chang Geng saw this, he quickly used his body to support him.
After taking the medicine, the pain in his body eased, and he nodded slowly, "Yes."
Although she had already guessed the answer, Tao Yaoyao still felt a little sad when she saw him nodding without hesitation.
She didn't know why she was sad. Maybe it was because she regarded him as a friend, but he only regarded her as the granddaughter of his benefactor and nothing more.
"You have also seen that I am not as weak as you think. I can protect myself. So from now on, I won't bother you."
Before Tao Yaoyao left, he threw the bottle of medicine to Chang Geng, "Wanshisan can't cure it. Every time he gets sick, just give him this pill."
Miluo Hall side room
Several sisters from the Tao family were waiting for her anxiously. When they saw her coming back, they hurried forward and asked, "Sister, where have you been and why are you back? Everyone around Mrs. Wang has come to look for you several times."
Counting the hours, the banquet is about to begin.
Tao Yaoyao took them to the main hall together. At this time, the female relatives of each family arrived. When she came in with several concubines of the Tao family, everyone looked at them.
Tao Yanyan had seen such a scene before, so she didn't feel any nervousness. The other three concubines were not as comfortable as them.
Fortunately, Tao Yaoyao reminded them before they came in, and since they were all ambitious, they had to hold on to this even for themselves.
After sitting down safely, the people around Wang Meiren came over again.
"Miss Tao, my mother-in-law invites you."
Tao Yaoyao followed the palace maid to the next room. Beauty Wang, dressed in gorgeous clothes, was sitting at the table looking rich and graceful. When she saw her coming in, she smiled and waved to her.
"I have heard about what happened by the pond just now, and you have been wronged."
"It's just a little trick played by people who don't deserve to be on the stage, but it makes the empress worried." Tao Yaoyao sat across from Wang Meiren. Seeing the pastries on the table, she took a piece and tasted it.
"Everyone says that the food at Meirenju is delicious. After trying it today, it is really unforgettable."
Beauty Wang was extremely happy to be complimented by her, and her tone of voice was much gentler than before, "It's just a few snacks. If you like it, I'll ask my servants to pack some for you when you leave the palace."
"Then it will cost the queen money."
After the two briefly exchanged greetings, Wang Meiren finally got to the point, "What are your plans after breaking off your engagement with the third prince?"
Tao Yaoyao raised her eyebrows and looked at Wang Meiren. She didn't think that the life-saving grace that day would make Wang Meiren regard her as one of her own, but she really couldn't guess why Wang Meiren suddenly asked this.
So he tentatively said, "Marriage matters have always been ordered by parents and matchmakers. How can I, a girl who has not left the court, discuss this matter casually?"
Seeing that she refused to tell the truth, Wang Meiren smiled and said, "The words Miss Liu said when we were at the pond just now must not be groundless."
"Furthermore, if it were a woman from other houses, I would not say this to her. I can see that you are different from other women. You have great ideas and will not obey anyone.
This can be seen from the fact that you risked everything to break off the engagement with the third prince.
So I don’t believe that you would be willing to jump from one fire pit to another. "
"What do you mean by this?"
Her intuition told her that Beauty Wang knew something, and then she remembered Ruyang Hou's instructions that day. Could it be...
"Your Majesty, you might as well say what you have to say. I am so stupid that I really can't guess what happened."
Wang Meiren had obviously spoken, but she suddenly changed her mind a second before she said it. This situation made Tao Yaoyao even more uneasy.
After the exercise started, everyone was watching the show and chatting, but she was the only one who was thinking about everything that had just happened.
There is no way, she has no one to rely on in this world. If she wants not to be used or manipulated by others, she can only take every step carefully.
However, there are some calculations that no matter how careful you are, you still can't avoid them in the end.
After three rounds of drinking, the banquet came to an end. At this time, Dongxue came to the hall with an uneasy look, and then hurriedly walked around to Meiren Wang. After she whispered a few words next to Meiren Wang, Meiren's expression immediately changed.
Immediately afterwards, the singing and dancing stopped, and the room suddenly became quiet.
Everyone looked at the throne in confusion. The emperor didn't know what happened, so he asked with concern, "What happened?"
Wang Meiren originally had a solemn look on her face, but at the moment His Majesty asked her, her eyes suddenly turned red, and then she leaned into His Majesty's arms and said angrily, "Your Majesty, Dongxue just came over to tell me that your Majesty gave me a reward the day before yesterday. The Pearl of the East China Sea is lost.”
Some time ago, foreign countries paid tribute to a batch of things, the most valuable of which was this luminous pearl.
As soon as His Majesty got the thing, he sent it to Miss Wang's residence. Beauty Wang couldn't put it down, so she put it in the house. In addition to being used as a decoration, it can also be used as lighting.
Who knew it had just been lost suddenly.
When everyone heard this, everyone was in danger. This was a gift from the emperor. If they couldn't find it, everyone present today would be a suspect.
"Master Xiao." His Majesty called Xiao Shuo, "Take someone to investigate. You must find the thief."
Xiao Shuo accepted the order, and after he took the people away, Tao Yaoyao didn't know if it was an illusion. She always felt that Dong Xue had just glanced at her.
She just had Dongxue's brother captured, and now her look doesn't look like gratitude, but more like...
Oops.
Tao Yaoyao thought of something and got up to go to Miluo Palace, but she was stopped by Beauty Wang, "Where are you going, Miss Tao?"
"Reporting to your Majesty, I would like to go out for convenience."
"Are you anxious?" Wang Meiren looked like she was doing her best, "At this time, it's better for everyone to sit in the main hall, in case something happens after we go out, and we won't be able to explain it and cause any misunderstanding. It doesn’t look good in terms of appearance.”
What does Wang Meiren mean by this? She is suspecting that she has taken the Night Pearl.
Wait a minute, what Dong Xue just said was that Wang Meiren had just lost her night pearl, and before the banquet started, she and Wang Meiren left her dormitory almost in tandem.
In other words, she is now the biggest suspect.
As soon as this guess came out, Tao Yaoyao's suspicions were almost concluded.
At this time, Xiao Shuo led the people away and returned, "Reporting to Your Majesty, Beauty Wang, I have just led people to search the empress's bedroom, and indeed there is no whereabouts of the Night Pearl.
The guests who came today are all here, and I want to ask them if they have seen this object. In addition, I have asked people to search the rooms where guests are staying, and the results should be available soon. "
The night pearls are quite big and difficult to hide. In addition, the items were lost at this time, so everyone can’t leave and it’s hard to hide them, so it shouldn’t be difficult to find them.
However, when he came to the banquet, he was searched as if he were a thief. Although everyone said nothing, their expressions were not very good.
Seeing this, Beauty Wang said apologetically, "I didn't expect such a thing to happen. Please cooperate with me. When the things are found, I will personally apologize to everyone."
Beauty Wang is His Majesty's favorite concubine. They don't want to live anymore so they will ask Beauty Wang to apologize to them. They wanted to find the things quickly and leave the palace safely.
"Miss Tao Er, everyone has been searched. You are wasting everyone's time by not cooperating." When the palace maid came to search, Tao Yanyan said she would not let anyone search.
Master Xiao came over to remind her.
Tao Yanyan looked at Tao Yaoyao reluctantly.
Tao Yaoyao looked puzzled, "Look at what I do, and do whatever I ask you to do."
Tao Yanyan had no choice but to have someone search her. The next second, the palace maid found a box of rouge on her body. When everyone saw this, they were confused at first, "Who wears rouge when they go out?"
Dongxue's sharp eyes immediately recognized that this thing was from the palace.
"Miss Tao, you actually stole my master's rouge." Dongxue snatched the rouge, and then shouted, everyone heard this and looked over.
"When did the Tao family become so poor that they couldn't even afford a box of rouge, yet they still stole things from the palace? The Tao family is really shameless."
"Who says it's not the case? The eldest girl from the Tao family shamelessly found a husband for herself, while the second girl from the Tao family stole my mother's rouge behind someone else's back. Would a normal person do such a shameless thing?"
"It's not that Mr. Tao loves this second girl very much. How can he still let her steal things?"
"What do you know, no matter how favored she is, she is still just a concubine, and I heard that the eldest lady of the Tao family had taken back her mother's dowry from the concubine some time ago.
The aunt had no money, so of course she couldn't buy good things for her daughter. "
"Then you can't steal. You are still stealing things in the palace. Fortunately, you have been caught now, otherwise we would all be embarrassed."
"Who says it isn't? Hey, hurry up and see if you have lost anything. Maybe she has taken a fancy to something of ours."
No one in the crowd said this, so everyone started to check their things. Tao Yanyan had never been so embarrassed in all his years.
She cried immediately, "I didn't steal anything."
"Then why did my master's rouge end up on your body?" Dong Xue asked Tao Yanyan.
Tao Yanyan hesitated for a long time and couldn't come up with a result. Seeing this, everyone felt more and more that she was trying to justify herself after the scandal. Only Tao Yaoyao believed her.
Although Tao Yanyan was a concubine, she was favored by Aunt Zhao and her original owner was cowardly and uncontested, so she had been treating herself as a legitimate lady all these years.
That is to say, she came and suppressed her. If it were in the past, she would definitely not react like this.
Sure enough, she quickly became angry under the ridicule of everyone, "I told you that I didn't steal anything. I picked this thing up at the pavilion in front. I saw that the box of rouge was new, and I felt it was a pity to lose it, so I picked it up. .”
Seeing that no one believed it, she immediately pulled her maid over to testify.
