Chu Yizuo's voice was not high, so it would not have reached the front, but Rong Jiu who was in front stopped.
"Nothing? I was just shocked when I saw a figure walking behind the tree!"
Taoye felt a little embarrassed when she saw everyone stopped.
She did see a familiar figure just now, but she had never been to this hot spring village before, so she must have seen the wrong person.
When the group of people arrived at the back, the pavilion had been properly decorated. The stone table was covered with light blue silk, sumptuous meals and snacks had been placed on it, and the stone benches were covered with thick woolen cushions.
In front of the pavilion are several hot spring pools surrounded by Taihu stones.
Behind it is dense bamboo, and on both sides are several crabapple trees. In this season, only in the hot spring village can you see the perfectly blooming weeping crabapples.
Rong Jiu is the master and the birthday girl today, so he naturally takes the main seat.
"Little beauty, come and sit here!"
Just as Pei Weinan wanted to sit next to his friend as usual, he suddenly remembered something and waved to Tao Ye, who was standing with Chu Yizuo.
"The slaves are still waiting for the masters to eat..."
"Come and sit!"
Before Tao Ye finished her words of refusal, Rong Jiu gave an order.
"yes!"
Taoye hurriedly lowered his head and walked to Rong Jiu's right side to sit down.
"Brother Chu, please sit next to me!"
Pei Weinan had already moved to Rong Jiu's left side and pressed the person next to him without any explanation.
Chu Yizuo originally wanted to get up and sit with his sister, but Gu Shiyu had already sat down over there, so he had no choice but to do so.
"Brother Chu recognized Fifth Brother's maid as his adopted sister?"
Gu Shiyu asked curiously.
Pan Sheng'an smiled and said nothing.
"What kind of foster sister? Brother Chu and Tao Ye are biological brothers and sisters!"
"What a coincidence..."
With Pei Weinan's mouth, there is no need for anyone else to explain.
"Then the Yunzhou Chu family is so arrogant?"
"Brother Chu, why didn't you tell me earlier? Your adoptive parents are so inhuman!"
Gu Shiyu punched the table with his fist angrily.
Fortunately, this is a stone table, otherwise all the good food on the table would be gone.
Taoye, on the other hand, had just caught a glimpse of the movements of the person next to him. He was afraid that the young cousin would accidentally hurt him, so he inadvertently moved towards Rong Jiu.
"Shiyu!"
Rong Jiu glanced sideways.
"Oh! I'm sorry, Fifth Brother, I'm just so angry!"
Gu Shiyu quickly retracted his fist on the stone table.
"Let's talk while you eat, don't wait for the food to get cold!"
Pan Sheng'an persuaded with a smile.
Although they were dining at the same table, Taoye still served Rongjiu with dishes from time to time and served him very well.
"Eat more!"
Rong Jiu was used to being served by Tao Ye, so she didn't think anything of it at first, but there was always a look of pity on the little maid from the other side, so she put a piece of goose breast in honey sauce into the Tao Ye bowl.
"Thank you, Fifth Young Master!"
Taoye was stunned for a moment, then thanked him politely in a soft voice.
After that, Rong Jiu served Taoye a few more dishes. The way the two of them served each other made the people at the table feel warm.
Seeing her sister's happy look, Chu Yizuo had some other decisions in mind.
"Why don't you have any wine today?"
Gu Shiyu asked doubtfully after taking a few bites of the food.
"Why are you so anxious? I'll give you a chance to drink enough when you soak in the hot springs later!"
Pei Weinan said.
After dinner, the servants in the village cleared the table.
After a while, two better-dressed maids served tea.
"This tea is quite elegant!"
Pan Sheng'an looked at a half-open and half-closed red lotus floating in the center of the tea cup, brought it to the tip of his nose and took a sip: "It seems to have a cold fragrance!"
"Isn't this all tea?"
Gu Shiyu was not interested, so he picked it up and took a sip. He now wanted to go to Wentang to drink.
The tea cup in Tao Ye's hand had a stronger plum fragrance than the others. She glanced at the tea cups on the table and realized that there was a yellow plum in her tea cup, which was different from the others.
"Young lady, just drink it with peace of mind. The scent of yellow plum is stronger, so I put this in specially for you!"
Maybe Taoye stared at it for a long time, and one of the two maids smiled and said.
specially?
Taoye really had some doubts at this moment. It was her first time in Zhuangzi, but this girl looked like a girl, as if she knew her identity.
Even Fan Yuan, who is far away in the suburbs of Beijing, may not know that she is such a person.
What's more, Huang Mei is still the maid's own opinion.
"If you don't like it, ask them to make another one!"
Rong Jiu saw that Tao Ye only held the tea cup in his hand and had no intention of drinking. He looked a little embarrassed and said casually.
The maid next to her who was speaking looked anxious.
"It will take a while to make tea again, why don't you drink it first, girl...?"
"What's the rule? Why don't you go make tea again!"
Fan Yuan stepped forward and shouted softly.
"Yes, slave, go now!"
When the maid left, she still looked at the tea cup in Tao Ye's hand eagerly, hoping that Tao Ye could take a sip, and even said she was changing tea, she would not take the cup away from Tao Ye's hand.
"etc!"
When Fan Yuan was about to scold her again, Taoye stood up with a tea cup and walked towards the maid.
"This tea is expensive, it would be a pity if it was poured out!"
Hearing this, Taoye saw unmistakable joy and expectation flash in the maid's eyes.
"Why don't you drink it!"
Taoye stared into the maid's eyes, smiled and handed over the teacup.
The maid was caught off guard and looked at the tea cup in Tao Ye's hand in horror. She took two steps back and almost screamed: "No..."
Now even the people at the table could tell something was wrong.
Rong Jiu gave her friend a wink.
Pei Weinan stood up and walked to Taoye and took her injured tea cup.
"It's arsenic!"
But for a moment, Pei Weinan recognized the poison inside.
The faces of the people at the table looked bad now. They had just drank the tea.
"Someone, arrest this girl!"
Fan Yuan staggered even more with fright, turned pale, and shouted to the boy outside.
“We’ll be fine with these few drinks!”
Pei Weinan walked back to the stone table and carefully examined the cups of tea on the table.
Hearing this, Pan Sheng'an and Gu Shiyu both breathed a sigh of relief.
But the faces of Rong Jiu and Chu Yizhuo were extremely ugly. Their teas were all fine, so the poison was directed at Tao Ye alone.
"No one in this village should recognize the little beauty. How could anyone do such a cruel thing!"
Pei Weinan looked at his friend and wondered.
Rong Jiuhan stood up with a calm face, so cold that even the arrogant Gu Shiyu next to him didn't dare to speak.
"Who ordered you?"
The girl in Zhuangzi had never seen much of the world, and her face turned pale with fear.
"It's not arsenic, it really isn't arsenic, I really don't have it...it really won't poison people..."
Being pinned to the ground by Zhuangzi's servant, the maid just struggled and screamed without any logic.
