I want to be innocent, but they don't allow me

Li Mu's forehead was covered with sweat. He looked at the small mountain of bamboo slips in front of him and fell into deep thought.

"The food is poisoned? Who put it there? Could it be Xiao Zhao?"

"But there is no video of what happened afterwards because even though I vomited the food, I still died in the end. So there must be some other reason why there is no video."

"Should I tell Li Ling'er about this? Yes, I should tell her. At least for now, she won't want me dead. She should be trustworthy."

"But how should I tell her? Tell her that I can predict the future, that I saw it, or use divination as a cover and say that I calculated it. No, if I am the second son of the royal family who practices Taoism in the mountains, maybe she will believe it."

"Or he could eat the food, which would mean the poison has taken effect. No, the food cannot be eaten. I cannot take that risk. Or could I let Xiao Zhao eat it? No, if I am not sure that Xiao Zhao is a wolf, I cannot do that at all."

"Damn it, hurry up and accumulate some cards and leave this palace. Others are princes, and they can beat whoever they want. They have a lot of maids and beautiful servants. I am the second son, and even dogs will shake their heads when they see me."

The more Li Mu thought about it, the more annoyed he became. If he couldn't find the person who was against him as soon as possible, he would have to run away.

Li Mu knew that he didn't have much time left. This ability to predict the future was completely beyond his comprehension and he couldn't rely on it to save his life. The best way now was to take a two-pronged approach, accumulating trump cards while finding this hidden enemy.

If you find that the villain is too powerful and you can't defeat him, you can just use your trump card to escape. You can't just stay here and wait to die.

Thinking about this, Li Mu's mind became clearer and he had a rough plan in his head.

At this time, Li Mu heard footsteps outside the house and turned to look.

Xiao Zhao was holding a tray in her hand, and the food on the tray was exactly the same as what she had seen in her mind before.

"Sir, please have breakfast first."

There was obvious anger in Xiao Zhao's eyes, but he tried to keep his tone friendly.

Li Mu strode over, sat in front of the desk, looked at Xiao Zhao beside him, and asked curiously:

"Who has offended our Xiao Zhao?"

When Xiao Zhao heard the word "we", her round face turned red. Then, as if she had thought of something, her eyes became even more angry:

"I just went to the kitchen and heard those gossipers gossiping about you. They said you wanted a maid to sleep with you on the night you returned home. You don't act like a cultivator at all."

"Of course I have to argue with them. The young master is the master of the mansion. He can let any maidservant sleep with him. It is a blessing to serve the young master. How can these gossipy women have the right to discuss the master's affairs behind his back?"

As she said this, Xiao Zhao seemed still unsatisfied and stomped her feet hard on the ground.

Hearing this, Li Mu was immediately happy. Looking at Xiao Zhao's red face, he teased:

"Does Xiao Zhao think so too?"

Hearing this, Xiao Zhao seemed like something stepped on her tail. She let out a cry at first, and then a blush spread from her neck to her ears. She hummed and said yes, sometimes and no sometimes. She was so adorable.

Seeing Xiao Zhao behave like this, Li Mu felt even more pity for her and thought,

"Please don't be a wolf, otherwise I'm not sure if I will be soft-hearted."

Thinking in his heart, Li Mu naturally took Xiao Zhao's hand and said:

"Okay, I won't be angry anymore. Let them talk about this kind of thing. Don't pay any attention to it."

Xiao Zhao stared at Li Mu's hand, but she didn't show any intention of dodging.

The blush on her neck faded a little, and she said boldly:

"Young Master treats Xiao Zhao very well. Xiao Zhao is not a stupid girl and can feel it. Third Miss, you have already asked Xiao Zhao to follow Young Master. Besides, Young Master didn't do anything to Xiao Zhao last night."

"Xiao Zhao certainly can't let those people misunderstand you, young master."

As she spoke, Xiao Zhao became bolder and looked up at Li Mu with affectionate eyes. For a moment, their eyes met and time in the room seemed to stand still.

At this time, Li Mu was out of place and laughed out loud:

"If you say that to them, it will prove that I molested the maid the night I returned home."

Xiao Zhao seemed to have just reacted. She let out a cry and pulled back the hand that Li Mu was holding, and shook it in front of her chest with the other hand.

He wanted to explain in a panic, but didn't know what to say.

Li Mu glanced at the food on the table.

The breakfast in the palace was very sumptuous. It consisted of just a few dishes, all of which included meat, chicken, duck, fish and so on.

Li Mu picked up a piece of fish and put it to Xiao Zhao's mouth. He stared at Xiao Zhao and said softly:

"I know you are standing up for me, so I certainly won't blame you for such a small matter. Come and open your mouth."

Xiao Zhao looked at the fish in front of him and seemed to hear the sound of his heart pounding in his ears.

Open your mouth halfway, press your tongue slightly against your lower teeth, close your eyes and bite down.

After biting it, he felt something was wrong, so he licked it with the tip of his tongue to test it, and opened his eyes in panic.

Li Mu had put the chopsticks back on the table, and what Xiao Zhao was holding in her mouth was Li Mu's finger.

He quickly opened his mouth, leaned back slightly, spit out Li Mu's finger, and looked at Li Mu with shame and anger.

Li Mu laughed out loud, his tone relaxed, and quickly explained:

"Eating these so early in the morning is too greasy and bad for your skin. You should eat lighter in the mornings to avoid getting pimples on your face. The young master doesn't like it."

Shocked, Xiao Zhao quickly touched her delicate face and only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that it was still smooth.

Xiao Zhao looked at Li Mu's handsome face. Seeing that Li Mu was a man, yet he looked so well maintained, what he said must have a reason.

Then he quickly put away the food on the table, picked up the tray, and walked out the door, saying:

"Xiao Zhao will ask the kitchen to prepare something lighter for you now."

Li Mu stopped Xiao Zhao and asked, "What are you going to do with these meals?"

Xiao Zhao turned around, looked at the food on the plate, and answered seriously:

"Your Excellency has not touched these meals yet. You can keep them until the afternoon and distribute them to the servants in the mansion."

Li Mu looked at the tray, thought for a moment, and said:

"Don't worry, put the food aside. I won't eat after the time is up."

Li Mu hadn't figured out what to do with the food yet. If someone accidentally ate it, he would feel guilty about it, so he made up an excuse to get away with it while he thought about it carefully.

Although Xiao Zhao's suspicion of poisoning could not be completely ruled out, her previous performance still made Li Mu feel much more at ease.

"Go get the bamboo slips from the side room first."

Li Mu pointed to the room next door, signaling Xiao Zhao to worry about the meal for the time being.

Xiao Zhao would not go against Li Mu's wishes, so he put the tray at the door and asked:

"Young Master, what books would you like to read first? Xiao Zhao will go get them for you."

Li Mu just waved his hand, indicating that you can take whatever you want, there is no need to select specifically.

A moment later, Xiao Zhao came back holding a stack of bamboo slips.

The bamboo slips fell high enough to cover Xiao Zhao's pretty face.

Li Mu casually took a bamboo slip, threw it to Xiao Zhao, and asked:

"Can you read?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhao nodded and replied:

"Yes, yes. We, the maids and servants who entered the palace at a young age, all have to learn to read and write."

"You read and I listen."

Li Mu pretended to be lazy and said to Xiao Zhao.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhao hurriedly opened the bamboo slips in his hand and began to read.

Li Mu was in a dilemma at this time. It was too troublesome and easy to make mistakes if he had to look at the characters again just to recognize them.

So he interrupted, waved at Xiao Zhao, looked around and said:

“Come here and read.”