The person behind the door heard no valuable information and crept away.
Wang Qingyao then said to County Princess Mu Jin, "County Princess, what exactly happened? Didn't I instruct you not to go with anyone, and to return to the banquet directly after changing your clothes?"
Madam Mu gasped. She never expected there to be a hidden story behind this, and what she saw was not the truth!
"What's going on?" she asked, looking at County Princess Mu Jin and then at Wang Qingyao, her face full of confusion. "Didn't that maid take you to the guest room to change? Why did you decide to change in the carriage instead?"
It was difficult to speak directly about clairvoyant eyes.
Wang Qingyao said, "To be honest, Madam, the maid named Susu brought us to this room to change. I'm a sensitive person, and I always felt her expression was unnatural. So, I found an excuse, and the County Princess and I didn't enter the room, but hid quietly. We then saw the second daughter of the Wei family come out. Although I don't know what exactly happened, I felt something was wrong. So, I told the County Princess we would change in the carriage. I was also afraid she would fall into someone's trap halfway, so I specifically instructed her not to go with anyone and to go directly to the banquet after changing."
Saying this, she looked at County Princess Mu Jin. Madam Mu was also looking at her, with a hint of blame in her eyes, "Why didn't you listen to the Princess Consort?"
County Princess Mu Jin was ashamed.
It turned out that as she was walking towards the carriage, she encountered another maid of Prince Wu, Tangtang.
Tangtang said that Prince Wu knew her clothes were wet and had specially prepared a new set of clothes for her. The clothes had been ready for several days, and she was just looking for an excuse to give them to her. Since her clothes were wet, it was the perfect opportunity!
County Princess Mu Jin was overjoyed and forgot all about the instructions.
She followed the maid named Tangtang to outside this room. As soon as the door opened and she took a few steps inside, she smelled a sweet fragrance and her vision went black. She knew nothing more.
"When I found you," Wang Qingyao said slowly, "you and your two maids were all disheveled."
"Ah!"
County Princess Mu Jin, her two maids, and Madam Mu were all greatly alarmed, as if the sky had fallen.
Wang Qingyao continued, "Don't worry, your chastity is intact. The schemers wanted others to misunderstand that the County Princess and her maids were involved in illicit affairs..."
Hearing that her chastity was intact, County Princess Mu Jin breathed a sigh of relief. Then, hearing Wang Qingyao's subsequent words, she was stunned at first, then her expression became incredulous, her mouth agape in shock.
Madam Mu also looked incredulous. After a long while, she murmured, "Who would want to harm Jin'er?"
County Princess Mu Jin said, "It must be the two maids, Susu and Tangtang. They are Prince Wu's personal maids. I heard..." Her face turned slightly red, "I heard that Prince Wu has already taken them. They certainly don't want Prince Wu to marry a Princess Consort, so they designed this trap to frame me..."
County Princess Mu Jin voiced her guess.
She was still too naive.
Wang Qingyao cruelly revealed the truth: "This is Prince Wu's mansion. Without Prince Wu's instruction, how would two maids dare to set a trap to frame a County Princess, a future Princess Consort? How could they possibly accomplish all the steps involved with just the two of them?"
County Princess Mu Jin felt struck by lightning, her face pale as she looked at Wang Qingyao, "You mean... Prince Wu told them to do this? Why? We... why would he harm me like this?"
County Princess Mu Jin could not accept it.
Something must be wrong.
County Princess Mu Jin couldn't understand, but Madam Mu understood immediately. She sighed, "Prince Wu thinks we are all show and no substance! What benefit would he get from marrying a County Princess who has no father or brother?"
She looked at Wang Qingyao with guilt, "I've caused the Princess Consort to be implicated."
Wang Qingyao waved her hand, "It's not an implication. I suspect Wei Yu and Prince Wu colluded long ago. This incident targeting the County Princess was their main objective, and I was incidental. Madam, you must have seen that Wei Yu and I have a feud, and she has wanted to deal with me for a long time. This time, she probably wanted to kill two birds with one stone."
County Princess Mu Jin looked fierce, but in reality, she was very timid. Hearing this, she trembled with fear.
"What should we do? He didn't harm me this time, but there will be a next time, and the time after that. If I fall into his trap, will he kill me to get rid of me?"
Madam Mu's expression sharpened.
"Mother, I want to break off the engagement! I want to break off the engagement!" County Princess Mu Jin cried.
Madam Mu's face was full of worry. The Emperor bestowed the marriage; how could it be easily broken off? But if it wasn't, her daughter's life would be in danger!
Thinking of this, she gritted her back teeth fiercely, "I will go to the palace to see the Emperor tomorrow!"
"Madam Mu," Wang Qingyao said, "there's no need to confront him directly. The County Princess can just pretend to be ill. This way, the chance of success will be higher!"
Madam Mu hesitated, "What kind of illness would allow us to break off the engagement?"
A common illness could be cured with rest, but a difficult-to-treat illness would affect County Princess Mu Jin's future marriage prospects.
You can't have both fish and bear's paw.
Wang Qingyao said, "Any illness will do, skin diseases, infertility, etc. You can consider it. After all, there is only one life."