After her mind was read, the spoiled brat became the darling of the whole group.

Xie Xing breathed a sigh of relief.

Luo Hanfeng looked at her coldly and was about to raise his hand when Xie Xing became alert. She quickly splashed a handful of water on Luo Hanfeng's face and, taking advantage of his momentary lapse in attention, turned and ran.

Fortunately, she could swim and was extremely fast. She quickly climbed ashore and ran forward without looking back.

Luo Hanfeng: "..."

His gloomy gaze remained fixed on Xie Xing's retreating figure as it disappeared into the darkness.

Luo Hanfeng didn't move; the cold water was just enough to wash away the heat on his body.

He closed his eyes, circulated his internal energy, and began to expel all the toxins from his body.

Before long, the originally cold pool water began to boil.

Bubbles were rising from the surface of the pool.

Luo Hanfeng closed his eyes, and the image of him kissing Xie Xing just now flashed before his eyes.

He could hardly concentrate.

……

the other side.

Xie Xing ran until she was out of breath, then found a maid and had someone arrange a new set of clothes for her. After changing, she washed her hair and then headed to the banquet.

She had just disappeared while walking, which made the maid who brought her there panic.

At this moment, the maid knelt on the ground, facing the Empress and the Crown Prince's questioning, and said in a trembling voice, "This servant...this servant doesn't know either."

"As I walked, I looked back and found that Miss Xie had vanished."

Upon hearing this, one of the group of noblewomen, led by Luo Mingyue, spoke up:

"Miss Xie suddenly disappeared while walking. She must have felt guilty and fled when she realized that she had been caught."

"That's certainly true."

"Otherwise, why would she run away?"

"..."

During the meal, they started discussing it, one after another.

Madam Xie's expression was extremely unpleasant.

"This is utterly absurd!" Madam Xie walked to the table, knelt down before the Empress, and said, "Your Majesty, let's not even talk about the fact that Mingzhu is Xing'er's sister. If you wanted to harm her, you would have done it long ago. Why wait until today?"

"The idea that he fled to avoid punishment is utterly ridiculous."

"She's a woman, and apart from my Xie family, she has no one else in the capital. Where else can she go?"

"Where could she possibly run to in this enormous Crown Prince's residence?"

Moreover, given Xie Xing's current status, why would he need to flee to avoid punishment?

With the Xie family holding military power and her maternal grandparents' family, the Grand Tutor's Mansion, even if she made a huge mess, as long as the General's Mansion was willing to help her fill the hole, why would she need to run away?

Madam Xie gave the woman who spoke a cold look.

The woman shrank back in fright when she caught Madam Xie's gaze.

Xie Yuhe said coldly, "Don't make false accusations. It was Xing'er and Jiaojiao who discovered the person, so how could it be Xing'er who did it?"

Luo Mingyue remained calm. She rose gracefully, went to the banquet, knelt down before the Empress, and said, "Your Majesty, I am truly innocent."

"You can't blame everything on me just because of that accident?"

“I have no grudge against Miss Mingzhu. How could I possibly use such a vicious method to frame her at Her Majesty the Empress’s garden party?”

Xie Yuhe's gaze fell coldly on Luo Mingyue.

He was originally the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, skilled in interrogation and with clear logic. At this moment, he asked in return, "According to Miss Luo, does Xing'er have a huge grudge against Mingzhu?"

Luo Mingyue turned and glanced at him, then said softly, "This subject does not know."

"But the story of the real and fake heiress in the General's Mansion is still circulating throughout the capital."

"Ordinary people really envy Miss Mingzhu, who is lucky enough to turn from a pheasant into a phoenix and become the pampered young lady of the general's mansion."

"Especially after the real daughter was found, the General's Mansion treated the fake daughter as their own, which made people even more eager to marry her."

"People might think, since there is the example of Mingzhu, can ordinary families like us also follow this trick and replace the Mingzhu of the powerful and wealthy with our own children who are destined to have a lowly life, so that our own children can enjoy happiness while the children of the powerful and wealthy suffer all kinds of hardships."

"This can be considered revenge, can it?"

Luo Mingyue spoke slowly and deliberately, each word resonating deeply with Madam Xie and the other two.

A tremendous irony.

Their expressions ranged from green to blue, from orange to yellow to blue to blue.

Luo Mingyue naturally noticed their expressions as well. She slightly covered her lips and smiled, "Please don't mind, Madam. I'm just a bit of a chatterbox."

"Girls are sensitive and it's inevitable that they'll overthink things."

"Putting myself in their shoes, if my identity were taken by a stranger from who-knows-where, I would naturally resent the imposter who took my identity. Not only would I resent the imposter, but I would also resent the family that mistook me for the imposter."

"Therefore, Xie Shaoqing asked me whether Miss Xie Wu harbored resentment towards Miss Mingzhu."

Luo Mingyue tilted her head to look at Xie Yuhe and said with a smile, "What do you think, Young Master Xie?"

These words struck a chord with Xie Yuhe.

Xie Xing does indeed harbor resentment towards them now.

Blame them for being blind.

Blame them for being biased.

On Yu Mingzhu's side, they couldn't stick to their original intentions and continue to pamper her as if she were their own sister, because they treated her as a formidable enemy because of her identity.

Yu Xiexing —

They showed no concern whatsoever. If they hadn't heard Xie Xing's inner thoughts, they might have continued down the wrong path.

Because he had hit the nail on the head, Xie Yuhe became even more furious and even felt somewhat embarrassed.

Even bystanders can see it clearly, so why can't they see it?

Xie Yuze didn't think that much about it; he was just annoyed.

He crossed his arms and looked coldly at Luo Mingyue: "You mean Xie Xing, out of jealousy of Xie Mingzhu, deliberately hired a stable boy today to ruin Xie Mingzhu's reputation, then regretted it at the last minute, and then brought the Crown Prince and us to arrest the stable boy?"

"Then, in order to frame you, they made that servant lie and frame you?"

This sounds absurd.

Putting aside the fact that Xie Xing has a high status in the Xie family and has only recently entered the capital, how could she possibly do something like this?

Even someone who is incredibly stupid wouldn't do something like this.

Xie Yuze laughed and said, "Speaking of which, Xie Xing hasn't gotten to know any young ladies from prominent families recently. What grudge do you, Luo Mingyue, have against her that she would risk being beheaded to frame you?"

These questions left Luo Mingyue speechless.

She was too eager for quick success and instant benefits, and didn't even know anything about Xie Mingzhu, let alone Xie Xing.

Today, Xie Xing's unconventional behavior has already slightly disrupted Luo Mingyue's plans. Furthermore, Xie Xing's actions have benefited Xie Mingzhu, which has angered Luo Mingyue to the point that she is now acting recklessly.

Not only did it fail to teach Xie Mingzhu a lesson, it also backfired.

Seeing that she couldn't win the argument, Luo Mingyue simply stopped talking to Xie Yuze. She turned her head and cried to the Empress, "Young Master Xie, why are you being so aggressive?"

"What I said was merely a guess. I did nothing wrong, so why should I be falsely accused?"