Cold-faced Empress

"What?" Li was stunned.

Fu Siying was also taken aback, thinking she had misheard, and glared at Qingyin: "What did you say?"

Qingyin stammered, "Before Miss even got to the destination, she... she had to relieve herself..."

As soon as she finished speaking, Li was so startled that she took a half step back, and Fu Siying quickly helped her mother up.

Li hurriedly asked, "Where are they now?"

"Still in the latrine."

"Quickly, go and boil water and prepare clothes for the young lady, and then send someone to fetch a doctor."

Haruno accepted the order and left.

Seeing the servants whispering among themselves, Fu Siying felt a surge of satisfaction. She had only intended to give Wei Lanling a good bout of diarrhea and make her suffer physically, but she never expected Wei Lanling to make such a fool of herself.

Humans are indeed no match for the will of Heaven.

She wanted to see how Wei Lanling would ever have the face to show anyone again!

Both Wei Lanling and Madam Li were experiencing stomach discomfort, which naturally aroused Madam Li's suspicion. Madam Li's condition was very mild; she had only gone to the latrine once. However, Wei Lanling was almost unable to leave the latrine.

As soon as the fighting subsided, Wei Lanling came out of the latrine and, disregarding the strange smell on her body, knelt down in front of Li Shi with a thud, crying in a very disheveled and pitiful manner.

"Aunt, you must stand up for your niece!"

Li was completely bewildered: "What do you mean?"

"Someone put poison in my tea!" After saying this, Wei Lanling burst into tears.

She had been intelligent since childhood and had never embarrassed herself in front of others. The incident with the new clothes that happened in front of the Fu family mansion when she first arrived could be considered a misunderstanding and not a disgrace. But the huge embarrassment that happened to her in front of a group of ladies and young ladies today could be described as losing all face!

What's more, what's more, she did it in broad daylight... she couldn't resist!

Wei Lanling felt so embarrassed she wanted to disappear into the ground: "Ever since we ate the fruit and tea in my cousin's room, my mother and I have both felt unwell. But you and the others are fine, Aunt. Doesn't that mean there's something wrong with the snacks and tea my mother and I ate?"

Upon hearing Wei Lanling say that someone had poisoned her, Madam Li dared not take it lightly. She immediately ordered her servants to bring back the food that Wei Lanling and Madam Li had eaten earlier, but the food had already been eaten.

“My cousin didn’t want to eat it, so Qingyin brought it over,” Wei Lanling said, choking back tears. “Qingyin said she was afraid my cousin would find out, so she specifically told us to finish it.”

Upon hearing this, Madam Li immediately ordered someone to summon the eldest daughter and Qingyin.

When Fu Siying learned that her mother had summoned her, she didn't take it seriously. It wasn't until her mother sent someone to call her a second time that she reluctantly took Qingyin with her.

Madam Li and Wei Lanling stayed in a guest room at the Fu residence. When Fu Siying arrived, the physician was also there.

Madam Li first gave Fu Siying a stern look, then turned to ask the doctor to examine Wei Lanling.

The doctor asked Wei Lanling what she had eaten, and Wei Lanling, who was exhausted from urinating, replied that she had only eaten some grapes and drunk some tea.

The doctor was astonished: "How could it be so serious?"

Upon hearing this, Wei Lanling looked at Li Shi with tears in her eyes.

Li immediately turned around, slammed her hand heavily on the table, and questioned Fu Siying, "Tell me, what's the deal with that tea!"

Fu Siying feigned ignorance: "What? What's going on?"

"Did you drug the fruits and snacks that Qingyin sent to Lanling and your aunt?"

Fu Siying was shocked and looked at her mother in disbelief: "Poisoned? Mother, do you know what you're saying? Wei Lanling has a stomachache, and you suspect that I poisoned her food?"

Faced with Fu Siying's indignant expression, the indecisive Li Shi was also conflicted: "The same thing, your mother and your second aunt are fine, so why did Lanling and your aunt have problems after eating it? Besides, if it wasn't with your permission, would Qingyin dare to send something you didn't want to others?"

No one knows a daughter better than her mother; Li Shi's words are quite true. Without Fu Siying's permission, even if Qingyin had ten times the courage, she wouldn't dare to give the Wei mother and daughter fruits that Fu Siying didn't want to eat.

Fu Siying pouted, feeling conflicted in the face of her mother's rage. She was impressed by her mother's understanding of her; but the fact that her mother suspected her of using underhanded tactics again because of a few words from Wei Lanling made her even more upset and angry.

Fu Siying realized that there was still a long way to go to cure her mother's tendency to be easily influenced.

Pushing Qingyin behind her towards her mother, Fu Siying said, "Since Mother suspects I drugged them, then let's interrogate Qingyin properly. Surely I can't possibly drug them myself when I can't even move my arms?"

Qingyin, who was pushed out, was completely bewildered and panicked. She knelt down with a thud: "Madam, I didn't drug you! How could I dare to drug you?"

Qingyin was a maid who had grown up in the Fu household since childhood, and Madam Li knew her character well. But before she could speak, Wei Lan, who lay half-dead on the couch, said weakly, "If you hadn't drugged me, how could I be in this miserable state? Qingyin, I thought you were a kind person, but..."

Wei Lanling covered her face and wept.

Li was both anxious and furious, and said harshly to Qingyin: "Qingyin, if you don't tell the truth, you won't be able to stay in the Fu family!"

"Madam!" Qingyin exclaimed in surprise, turning to Fu Siying for help.

Li scolded again, "What are you looking at her for! I'm telling you to tell the truth!"

Fu Siying nodded, then turned and leaned back in the chair next to her, sneering, "Yeah, what are you looking at me for? My mother wants to hear the truth!"

Madam Li glanced at Fu Siying, feeling heartbroken at Fu Siying's fearless demeanor. What worried Madam Li wasn't seeking justice for Wei Lanling, but rather her fear that her daughter would become a ruthless and vicious woman!

As Wei Lanling's crying subsided, she peered through her fingers and saw Fu Siying sitting in the chair with a frivolous attitude, and her eyes filled with resentment.

Helpless, Qingyin cried, "Madam, I dare not lie! I really didn't put any medicine in! Everything was brought from the side room in full view of everyone. Other maids did the tea and washed the grapes. I didn't touch them at all. I only brought them to Madam Wei and Miss Biao in the end, but that was inside the room. How could I have had the chance to put any medicine in there?"

Hearing that Qingyin didn't immediately reveal her previous instructions, but instead explained a bunch of reasons why there was no opportunity to commit the crime, Fu Siying felt slightly relieved.

Qingyin has finally learned her lesson and knows to protect her master as much as possible.

However, Li was not easily fooled, and Qingyin could not delay for more than a few words.

"I ask you, why did you dare to serve grapes that the eldest young lady doesn't eat to the cousin?" Madam Li asked pointedly.

"I... I just saw that Miss Watch had been wronged, so I..."

Before she could finish speaking, Madam Li struck Qingyin's forehead hard with the handle of her fan: "Tell the truth!"

Startled by the sudden noise, Qingyin could no longer hold back and cried out, "The eldest young lady saw that Madam Wei and Miss Biao had come to visit, and felt sorry for neglecting them these past few days, but she was too embarrassed to make up with them. That's why she instructed me to prepare more fruits and tea for them!"

The room fell silent. Li glanced at Fu Siying with a strange expression, then pressed Qingyin, "And then you were ordered to secretly put the drug in the tea?"

Qingyin frantically waved her hands, "No! I absolutely didn't drug you!"

Seeing that Madam Li still suspected that she had been drugged, even Qingyin couldn't help but feel anxious and angry: "Madam, why do you insist on forcing me to admit to drugging you? I didn't do such a thing, and Miss never said such a thing! Those grapes and tea were clean and no different from what you and the ladies of the main family ate!"

Li was taken aback, and looking at Qingyin's ashamed and indignant expression, she was speechless for a moment.

Qingyin felt extremely humiliated: "Even if you drive me out of the Fu family, I will never admit to doing something I didn't do."

Seeing her mother's dazed expression, Fu Siying said coolly from the side, "What, Mother, when you interrogate someone, do you first determine that they are guilty, and then force the servants to confess?"

“I…” Madam Li suddenly looked at Fu Siying and shook her head, “That’s not what I meant.”

"What do you mean?" Fu Siying asked indifferently. "You didn't expect that I didn't order Qingyin to drug them?"

"Siying!" Madam Li regretted her actions.

Fu Siying stood up and walked towards Wei Lanling. Wei Lanling's eyes were red and she looked at her with fear.

Fu Siying laughed: "What are you afraid of? I can barely lift my arm, I won't hit you."

Upon hearing this, Wei Lanling shrank her neck in fear.

Li, who hadn't spoken until now, stepped forward and pulled Fu Siying back in a soft voice: "Siying, Lanling is in so much pain that she's lost her mind, which is why she's overthinking and being paranoid. Please forgive her."

Fu Siying glanced at Xiao Li Shi and avoided the hand that Xiao Li Shi reached out to take hers.

"She was in so much pain that she lost consciousness, so she accused me of drugging her?"

Wei Lanling said softly, sounding aggrieved, "Out of everyone in the room, only my mother and I made a sound, and the food was brought over from my cousin's place..."

Fu Siying rolled her eyes fiercely.

At this moment, the rather embarrassed doctor sitting to the side asked, "I wonder how many grapes this lady and young lady ate?"

Wei Lanling replied, "A large cup."

What kind of tea are you drinking?

"Honey green tea".

The doctor suddenly realized, "No wonder. If you eat a lot of grapes and drink some water, it's easy to get an upset stomach. What's more, you drank green tea with honey, which made it even more laxative. It's understandable that you had such a big commotion."

The doctor's words stunned Wei Lanling: "Huh?"

The doctor explained, "It was my oversight that I didn't think of that. Ordinary people eat only a few grapes, which wouldn't cause an upset stomach. The Prime Minister's residence is certainly not an ordinary family."

Upon hearing the doctor's words, one of the maids who had previously served in the room said, "Madam, I was waiting beside Madam Wei and Miss Wei at the time. There were indeed a lot of grapes in that large bowl, and, and most of them were eaten by Miss Wei, while Madam Wei ate less and drank more."

Upon hearing this, Madam Li was speechless, never expecting such a reason. The Wei family had never experienced anything like this before, so Wei Lanling was unaware of the severity of dysentery and could only assume that she had been drugged.

Li looked at Fu Siying in an instant, her expression full of guilt.