At the moment, Zhong Jinchun was still awake, tossing and turning in her bed. Chu Qiao was in sound sleep beside her, whereas she felt disturbed and feared that they would lose their lives if anything wouldn’t go as planned, although she knew about Chu Qiao’s conspiracy.
“What’s eating you? No worries, my plans will always work!”
Although shocked by Chu Qiao’s sudden utterance, Zhong Jinchun felt pretty reassured. She closed her eyes and gradually fell asleep.
Soon came the banquet, and the Prince Palace was crowded with guests celebrating this event. Zhong Jinchun kept shivering with fear and unease although everything had been planned out in details.
“Sister, do you think we can make it? What if the Prince beheads you after I fake my death?”
Chuckling at hearing these words, Chu Qiao poked Zhong Jinchun’s forehead with a finger and joked with her:
“Do you think the Prince would punish me, his legal wife, so severely for no concrete evidence except doubts just because of you, a concubine? You are overestimating yourself.”
Zhong Jinchun immediately realized that her concern was unnecessary upon hearing this, so she scratched her head embarrassedly.
She was about to say something when the servant girl came over and whispered to them:
“The banquet is ready. Please take your seats, madams!”
Chu Qiao left after she signaled Zhong Jinchun, and now she was smiling charmingly while sitting beside Dantai Yunhan.
Chu Jiao was envious with green eyes, but could only wait for the great show she schemed to unfold.
Delighted by beautiful dances and songs, Dantai Yunhan kept laughing while staring at Chu Qiao, who seemed more attractive the longer he stared.
Sitting there, Chu Qiao kept winking at Zhong Jinchun, who finally stood up bravely and said:
“Your Highness, I’ve prepared a dance for you. Shall I show you and entertain all our guests now?”
Dantai Yunhan was pleased, for dances performed by beauties were his favorite, so he responded at once:
“Brilliant! Go ahead, bring it on!”
As a matter of fact, Zhong Jinchun was a born beauty who looked ordinary merely because she didn’t like dressing up herself. At this time, she stepped out wearing delicate makeup and a new dress, to whom Dantai Yunhan was greatly attracted.
Then she posed as a peacock and began to dance gracefully. Chu Qiao smiled when she saw Dantai Yunhan keep staring at Zhong Jinchun, which was exactly what she had expected.
Zhong Jinchun slightly nodded to the audience after finishing her dance, and Dantai Yunhan immediately stood up and cheered loudly.
“Bravo!”
Chu Qiao, who sat beside him, seized the chance and said:
“I’d like to offer my sister a cup of tea as a reward for her excellent dance!”
Zhong Jinchun immediately collapsed after she took over the tea and drank it, which shocked everyone present especially Dantai Yunhan. He hurriedly got up from his seat and walked over to Zhong Jinchun to check her condition, only to find that she had stopped breathing completely.
“What’s going on?”
Dantai Yunhan shouted in a huff. Then the nearby imperial physician rushed up to examine the tea in the cup and soon announced that it had been poisoned!
It was beyond Dantai Yunhan’s expectation that Chu Qiao would do such a thing. He glared at her for a long time, and then said slowly:
“Why did you do this?”
Everything went on as Chu Qiao had planned, but she still pretended to be panicked and replied: “Your Highness, I didn’t do anything, I swear! And I have no idea who poisoned the tea!”
Chu Jiao was gloating over her successful scheme, and in order to fan the flame of doubt, she added:
“Sister, no matter how ornery you are, how could you perform such evil deeds and ruin this joyful day?”
Dantai Yunhan raised his head at once and stared at Chu Jiao with questioning eyes upon hearing what she said.
“What do you mean?”
Chu Jiao then added: “Probably only our Princess knows what I mean. Sister Chu Qiao has always been acting as if she was the dominator in this Prince Palace and we had to help her cover what she had done from Your Highness, because it may not be proper to inform you of what had happened in your backyard. But today she took someone’s life in your presence, which is by no means tolerable, Your Highness!”
Chu Qiao was simmering with rage, which deprived her of words. Although she had known for a long time that Chu Jiao would show her true self at such a critical moment, Chu Jiao’s malignance was beyond her imagination.
“What do you mean by that? Do you mean that I was the one who killed her?”
Dantai Yunhan didn’t want to involve Chu Qiao in trouble, and he knew that probably she was not the one to blame but rather she was set up by someone else. How calculating and cruel this person was to frame Chu Qiao on such a joyful day! However, he owed everyone an answer.
“Shut up! Get her out of here! ”
The pitiful face Chu Qiao put on failed to save her from being taken away from the banquet.
In fact, Dantai Yunhan felt extremely miserable. Zhong Jinchun was murdered shortly after he began to appreciate her beauty for the first time, and the murderer was Chu Qiao!
“How dare someone find fault on my birthday banquet. Today is supposed to be a joyful day! I’ll find out what happened and no one involved in this incident could get away without being punished!”
After leaving his words, he immediately swept all the glasses off the table, and everyone knew that the Prince was having an outburst. Without even the courage to breathe freely, they had to kneel on the ground and wait for his next move.
Chu Jiao was the only one who kept shouting: “Your Highness, please have mercy!”
Dantai Yunhan didn’t even look at her. Instead, he ignored her and left straightaway.
However, Chu Jiao didn’t take it seriously, because she knew that Chu Qiao was hopeless, and the whole Prince Palace would fall under her control soon.