In the plum garden, Xie Tao sat quietly in front of a small table, her eyes downcast, counting the pastries on the porcelain plate in her heart over and over again.
But she had no appetite whatsoever.
It was said that the poetry meeting had not yet started because Lan Zhang Princess and another pleasant Princess had not arrived.
Thanks to these two late-arriving princesses, Xie Tao secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
She couldn’t compose poetry. If it were her turn, it would be so embarrassing.
But no matter how late, these were two princesses who would definitely not be absent. Xie Tao, sitting on the chair, couldn’t help feeling a little panicked and breathless.
It was as if she had not memorized anything and had to go to the examination room to take a test.
She began to recall the ancient poems she knew, thinking of a few scattered ones, but still not sure if they were enough.
Hoping Wei Yun would come to rescue her, Xie Tao’s fingers pinched the corner of the table, rubbing back and forth.
Sun Youyi, sitting nearby, had been paying attention to Xie Tao’s behavior, intentionally or unintentionally. Suddenly, she lifted her lips, revealing a disdainful sneer, “As expected from a rural area, truly uncouth.”
Her voice was neither loud nor soft, just loud enough for Xie Tao to hear clearly.
Xie Tao turned her head to look at Sun Youyi.
Sun Youyi then lifted her chin, with an arrogant demeanor that seemed to say, “What are you going to do about it?”
At that moment, many ladies had noticed the situation here, and they couldn’t help but cover their mouths, look around, and whisper.
“…Do all city people act as familiar as you do?”
Xie Tao didn’t want to talk to her, but the thought of her harboring improper thoughts towards Wei Yun, and almost causing the emperor here to decree a marriage, made her like a pufferfish puffing up with air.
“But I really don’t want to talk to you,” Xie Tao said.
Upon hearing Xie Tao’s voice, Sun Youyi looked at the veiled girl sitting beside her, her brows furrowing, her complexion turning slightly pale.
As the daughter of the Imperial Censor and friendly with several princesses, she was usually the one others sought to flatter, and had never heard such blunt and harsh words.
Who is this Xie Tao? Merely a country girl from a minor city, and yet she dared to speak to her like this?
“You…”
“Youyi.”
Just as Sun Youyi wanted to make a scene, she was interrupted by Zhao Shuwei, sitting at the head of the table.
Upon seeing Zhao Shuwei’s smiling phoenix eyes, Sun Youyi had no choice but to suppress the anger in her heart.
Wei Yun’s blunt refusal had made her the laughingstock of the capital overnight. Now, sitting with these noble ladies, how many of them hadn’t laughed at her behind her back? It was just that they dared not to show it openly.
Because of this embarrassment, Sun Youyi still harbored admiration for Wei Yun, but also resentment.
She dared not confront Wei Yun, so the anger suppressed in her heart was redirected towards this cousin from the Imperial Advisor’s house.
After all, she was just a distant relative seeking to repay a kindness; bullying her was just that, and in the end, probably not someone important to Wei Yun.
Sun Youyi naturally thought this way.
Thus, after pondering for a moment with her eyes downcast, she glanced at the tea warmer on the table next to her and ordered her maid to take down the teapot on it, pouring a scalding cup.
Holding it in her hand, even the tips of her fingers felt extremely hot.
Sun Youyi tugged at the corner of her lips, and in the next moment, as if her elbow had knocked on the corner of the table, she flipped her wrist, and the scalding tea was directly splashed towards Xie Tao sitting beside her.
Shao Liyin reacted extremely quickly, but when she said, “Be careful, Master,” and reached out to block, she was still unable to fully shield her.
The boiling tea was split in half: one part spilled onto the wrist of Shao Liyin, who had wrapped a wrist guard around it, and the rest poured over the neck and even the back of the hand of Xie Tao.
Xie Tao stood up instantly.
The neck and back of her hand, which had been scalded by the boiling tea, turned red instantly, and the burning pain made her frown.
For a moment, both the noble ladies sitting on either side and the gentlemen from prestigious families sitting behind the curtain across from them focused their gaze on Xie Tao.
“I’m really sorry, I accidentally knocked against the corner of the table and couldn’t hold it steady…”
At that moment, Sun Youyi was helped up by a maid beside her and leisurely apologized to Xie Tao, but her demeanor did not show the slightest guilt.
Through her veil, Xie Tao, blowing on the back of her hand and looking at Sun Youyi, was clearly very angry.
“Miss Xie, are you alright?”
Zhao Shuwei, who had been leaning back in his chair, straightened up and asked with concern upon seeing this.
Xie Tao did not like being watched by so many people and knew that she could not act recklessly in such a setting, so she could only mumble, “I’m fine.”
When she sat down again, Xie Tao glanced sideways and caught the lifted corner of Sun Youyi’s lips.
She was never one to cause trouble and always tried to be kind to others, but that didn’t mean she would just tolerate everything.
Thus, Xie Tao turned her head to look at Shao Liyin standing behind her and made a silencing gesture towards her, puzzled.
Her eyes shifted, like a sneaky little squirrel.
Then, she quietly moved her right hand behind her back, with two fingers together.
In a place unnoticed by everyone else, only Shao Liyin saw smoke seemingly starting to emanate from between Xie Tao’s fingers.
Shao Liyin thought she was hallucinating for a moment.
Xie Tao pursed her lips and exerted force quietly, but she only felt warmth in her fingers.
She sneakily withdrew her right hand, and when she lifted the teacup with her left hand, which was reddened from the burn, the back of her hand still felt a persistent prickling pain and burning sensation.
She brought the teacup to her lips as if to disguise it.
She placed her right hand behind the teacup, using the steamy heat from the tea inside to slightly disguise the thin smoke coming out of her fingertips.
She carefully blew on her fingertips.
Like trying to save a dying spark, making it reignite.
Shao Liyin was dumbfounded.
When Xie Tao quickly moved her right hand back, Shao Liyin actually saw a small flame between her closed fingers.
???
Shao Liyin’s usually emotionless face began to crack.
At that moment, she saw Xie Tao move her fingers, and the flame, like a streak of light, swiftly flew to the long hair behind Sun Youyi in an angle invisible to all.
Like a spark meeting a highly flammable primer, Sun Youyi’s hair caught fire in an instant, emitting a particularly noticeable smell of burning.
Only then did Sun Youyi cover her nose and mouth with a handkerchief, “What’s this burning smell? It’s so unpleasant.”
Her maid glanced up and saw the state of her hair behind her, immediately turning pale with shock, “Miss, your hair!”
It was at this moment that the sparks, burning and falling from her hair, landed on her clothes, and immediately started to emit thin smoke.
Sun Youyi was instantly frightened, her face losing all color, and in her panic, she could only call out to her maid by her side, “Miaopin!”
At this time, everyone’s attention was focused on Sun Youyi, even the young men behind the curtains couldn’t help but lift them.
“Quickly fetch some water,” Zhao Shuwei said hurriedly to the maid beside her.
It was then that the maid, Miaopin, in her haste, directly picked up the tea from the table and splashed it onto Sun Youyi’s back.
With that splash, the tiny burning sparks were extinguished, but it also scalded Sun Youyi, causing her to cry out in surprise.
Even though it was still winter, Sun Youyi, who always cared about her appearance, inevitably wore lighter clothes than others. The hot tea, even through two layers of clothing, still scalded her.
Without much thought, Sun Youyi raised her hand and fiercely slapped the maid called Miaopin on the face.
Miaopin fell to the ground immediately, half of her face swelling up in an instant.
“What are you doing?!” Her voice revealed a sharpness.
At that moment, some noblewomen couldn’t help but cover their mouths with handkerchiefs and laugh, and the young men from the noble families also couldn’t help but snicker.
Sun Youyi, who had never been humiliated like this in her life, felt extremely embarrassed under the various gazes of the people around her.
Seeing this, Zhao Shuwei, supported by a maid, slowly walked down the steps and came over.
“Youyi, are you alright?”
“And His Highness Heyu, I…” Sun Youyi, on the verge of tears, paused mid-sentence, suddenly turning her gaze towards Xie Tao with a look of frustration and anger.
“Was it you?”
She asked through clenched teeth.
As everyone’s gaze turned to Xie Tao,
Xie Tao reflexively straightened her back and shook her head.
