Nan Yuan'er listlessly fiddled with her spoon, glancing outside from time to time.
Taking advantage of Nan Chaoyin's inattention, Madam Liu leaned in close to Nan Yuan'er and whispered, "Yuan'er, how is it?"
Nan Yuan'er knew what she was asking. She calculated the time; the other side should have succeeded by now, but... why was there no movement?
"It should be soon!"
She was a little uncertain.
Nan Chaoyin, catching sight of Madam Liu and Nan Yuan'er whispering together from the corner of his eye, frowned slightly. What were these mother and daughter plotting again?
Were they going to trouble Nan Shiying again?
As he thought this, he instinctively glanced towards Nan Shiying's seat, and seeing only Ji Jinmo's seat, his frown deepened.
Where was Qing Yuan?
And what about the situation over there?
...
The Great Li princess lowered her head, no longer paying attention to the gazes of those around her. She leisurely tasted the delicacies of the Nan manor. Bao Lan leaned close to her ear and grumbled, "Princess, the banquets at the court officials' manors in Lin Yuan are utterly boring. If it were in our Great Li, even in the dead of winter, the banquet would still be held outdoors. Your servant sees it looks like it has snowed outside, and the weather is perfect for ice hockey."
"But in Lin Yuan, not only is there no ice hockey, but your servant has inquired, and there isn't even polo or arrow-throwing. Your servant truly wonders what these people do for amusement as they grow up."
The Great Li princess let out a shallow laugh and couldn't help but look back at her, "You, just say you're fond of playing and look down on such refined banquets. Lin Yuan has always been stronger in culture than in military might. If it weren't for the appearance of the General who Guards the North and the Regent in recent years, Lin Yuan would not be our Great Li's opponent. But these two, one person can rival a million troops, actually forcing our Great Li, a nation that relies on its military, to the point of needing a princess for a marriage alliance. Heh~"
As the Great Li princess spoke, she couldn't help but let out a cold laugh.
In recent years, Great Li had a chaotic court, a foolish monarch, and infighting among princes. If this continued, even if Lin Yuan did not invade Great Li, Great Li would die from its own internal strife.
And a princess like her could not speak a single word. The consequence of speaking was being thrown to Lin Yuan like a tattered cloth for a marriage alliance.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness, and she drank glass after glass of wine.
"Princess!"
Bao Lan thought her words had stirred up the princess's anger and grievances, and felt a little annoyed. She was such a blockhead, knowing how heartbroken the princess was to be sent for a marriage alliance by the king, yet she kept bringing up matters of Great Li, making the princess sad for no reason.
She knelt beside the Great Li princess and held her wrist.
"Bao Lan, I'm fine."
The Great Li princess patted Bao Lan's hand. Could this little bit of wine possibly intoxicate her?
...
Mu Baiyu returned to the pavilion and resumed his seat. Thinking of the maid in the Nan manor just now, a stinging pain, like acupuncture at an acupoint, suddenly struck his carotid artery. The pain was fleeting. If it weren't for his pain receptors still relaying the sensation, he would have thought it was all a hallucination.
He couldn't help but frown, picking up his wine glass with some irritation.
The pastries on the glazed crystal plate beside the wine glass emitted a fragrance, wave after wave of it. The floral scent among them seemed to be identical to the scent on that maid.
The moment the thought arose, his carotid artery throbbed with pain again.
The pain doubled!
He almost cried out.
What the hell was going on?
Mu Baiyu frowned tightly. It seemed that whenever he thought of that maid, he...
Just as his thoughts flowed, the pain struck again.
Damn it!
Mu Baiyu almost crushed the wine glass in his hand.
But to test whether this pain was truly related to that maid, he endured the pain and tried several more times. However, he still couldn't be completely sure that there was an absolute relationship between the pain and his thinking of the maid.
He thought, he had started the test, and his gaze swept over the young ladies from various manors present.
Did it only hurt when he thought of that maid, or did it hurt whenever he thought of any young lady? What about others?
It didn't seem to hurt.
He lowered his eyes again, recalling the scene he had just witnessed.
The remnants of the smiles and appearances of the young ladies from various manors in Lin Yuan in his mind were not as profound as that Great Li princess wearing a veil.
Although she wore a veil, the eyes that were exposed seemed to be shrouded in mist and clouds, as if reflecting starlight and moon. Mu Baiyu opened his eyes and couldn't help but look at her again.
Seeing her drinking glass after glass of wine, his heart skipped a beat, and a sour, bloated feeling surged up.
What the devil!
What was all this?
...
Nan Shiying squatted on the rooftop, listening to the conversation between the two. Her eyebrows rose slightly, and a playful smile flickered in her eyes. Oh, a good show was about to begin?
However, these two were clearly much weaker than she had imagined.
It seemed that the prerequisite for inducing hallucinations was not easy to achieve, or it required preparation. Otherwise, they could have made the servants of the Nan manor hallucinate and then openly walk out, rather than hiding and only daring to sneak out of the Nan manor at night.
But this actually indicated one thing.
The person who hired them must be someone from the Nan manor.
Madam Liu and her daughter were the most suspicious. Nan Yujin was also a possibility. Then what about Nan Chaoyin? Could this be another test from him?
In fact, figuring this out required extending to that other matter!
If the蛊师 (gu master) was arranged by Nan Chaoyin, then these two were not his test for her; if the蛊师 was not arranged by Nan Chaoyin, then these two were most likely his final test for her.
It was truly enough to make one's head hurt!
Nan Shiying sighed helplessly, feeling as if she had lived again, yet as if she hadn't.
As she thought, she leaped from the rooftop, no longer bothering with the two of them. Instead, she walked all the way to Nan Yuan'er's courtyard. While the maids and servants in the courtyard were not paying attention, she buried the animal carcasses she had carried all along under the peach tree directly facing her room's window.
Whether it was a test or not, or who the mastermind behind this was, she would first use Nan Yuan'er as an experiment – everyone at the banquet had eaten the lotus root tofu soup. By seeing if only Nan Yuan'er developed hallucinations or if everyone in the courtyard did, she could initially determine the conditions and substances that caused the hallucinations.
After burying the animal carcasses, Nan Shiying clapped her hands, making sure the burial site would not be discovered. She then slipped out of Nan Yuan'er's courtyard and strolled leisurely towards the pavilion.
The moment she saw Nan Shiying, Nan Yuan'er's face instantly turned grim.
Damn it, why was she back?
What were those two doing?