Zhui'er came to the kitchen and urged Caiyu to serve the dishes quickly.
"Hurry up! Haven't you prepared all the dishes yet? The guests are getting impatient!"
Caiyu nodded and arranged for Xiangye and a few reliable maids to carry the prepared dishes to the first hall.
Vegetarian meat with mallow, spiced vegetarian beef, bamboo shoots stewed with preserved vegetables, sliced pig ears in chili oil, ginkgo steamed vegetarian chicken, spiced crispy walnuts, stuffed tofu, bird's nest soup, Chinese wolfberry stewed peach gum...
Today was a Buddhist prayer and release ceremony, and the banquet was held in the Tianbao Temple. Caiyu had wracked her brains to come up with many novel vegetarian dishes, from appetizers to soups and desserts.
Caiyu and her staff had been busy since dawn.
There were only two dishes left. Zhui'er was being very pushy, and the others had gone to the first hall to serve. So Caiyu took over the task herself.
She cooked a dish called "Boundless Dharma" with wild rice, morel mushrooms and a dish named "Buddha's Mercy" with truffle.
Zhui'er paced around her impatiently. As soon as the dishes were out of the pot, she was about to carry them away.
Caiyu called out coolly from behind, "Wait."
Zhui'er stopped and looked back at her.
Caiyu said, "You have to serve the young miss. I'd better carry these two dishes there myself."
Zhui'er stared at her suspiciously. After a while, she sneered and put the tray back into Caiyu's hands, muttering angrily,
"Fine! I'm just wasting my kindness! Humph!"
With that, she left without looking back.
Caiyu heaved a sigh of relief.
She had cooked these two dishes herself and was worried that Zhui'er might tamper with them on the way. So she had risked offending her to get the job.
Seeing Zhui'er give up so easily, she even thought she might have been overthinking.
Maybe after Song Yinghuai had warned Jiang Jinyue, she had really given up.
Caiyu carried the tray to the first hall.
Jiang Jinyue was sitting at the women's table next to Concubine Yao. All the women at the table were the wives of high-ranking officials, and Jiang Jinyue was the only unmarried girl.
Although she had just recovered from a serious illness, as one of the three beauties of the Jiang family in Jiaodong, she was still quite charming. With a bit of delicate makeup and a touch of weakness, she attracted the attention of the young gentlemen at the men's table. Their eyes kept drifting towards the women's table.
Concubine Yao was very pleased. She thought Jiang Jinyue was such a lovely girl and introduced her to everyone with even more enthusiasm.
The ladies were all shrewd. Although they had heard about Jiang Jinyue's scandal of jumping into the Taiye Pond, they all showed polite smiles on their faces and praised her to the skies.
Caiyu carried the dishes forward. She was wearing the plainest clothes of a cook and kept her head down. She walked around the men's table from a distance and mixed with a group of maids to serve the dishes.
Finally, she didn't steal any of Jiang Jinyue's admirers.
Caiyu placed the dishes on the table and served each guest a portion as usual.
Concubine Yao, as the host, was the first to pick up her chopsticks.
She was in a good mood and didn't bother to find fault with Caiyu. She picked up a piece of morel mushroom and put it into her mouth, smiling and asking,
"I've never had this dish before. The taste is quite unique. What's in it?"
"Your Highness, this dish is made by boiling wild rice, pumpkin, taro, yam with coconut milk and then adding morel mushrooms to make a thick green soup."
"The morel mushrooms are juicy and elastic, and the other mushrooms are crispy and delicious. It's very nutritious and good for longevity. That's why it's named 'Boundless Dharma'."
Caiyu spoke calmly, showing neither joy at being praised nor nervousness at being questioned.
Concubine Yao finally took a second look at her and was surprised to find that Caiyu had some merits.
She was slightly stunned and then awkwardly ignored Caiyu. Instead, she smiled and said to the ladies at the table,
"I'm sorry to let you see this. It's made by the maid in our mansion. I don't know if it suits your taste."
Everyone responded politely, "The maids in the Prince Yan's Mansion are really extraordinary. They can talk so well, almost as good as the young ladies from a small family. The food they make must be delicious."
"Then don't be polite, everyone. Let's eat!" Concubine Yao invited them warmly.
Everyone picked up their chopsticks and were about to take a bite when suddenly -
Concubine Yao let out a strange sound from her throat. She felt a tightness in her chest and spat out a mouthful of blood, splashing the dishes on the table!
In an instant, there was a commotion at the scene.
Screams and cries filled the air.
Caiyu stood there stunned. A great sense of unease suddenly welled up in her heart. She had a feeling that this was aimed at her, but she had still failed to prevent it.
Jiang Jinyue suddenly stood up and pointed at Caiyu angrily, "Bold maid! How dare you poison the Princess! Guards! Arrest her!"
The scene was in chaos. Both the male and female guests were at a loss. The monks in the temple were running around in a panic. Liu Huashan and the other bodyguards didn't know whether they should arrest Caiyu for a moment.
Taking advantage of this short moment of chaos, Caiyu grabbed the panicked Xiangye beside her and said in a hurry,
"Lotus Sound Pavilion, carrier pigeon, the Prince!"
On the other side, Jiang Jinyue was urging the guards to arrest Caiyu. Liu Huashan and the others had no choice but to arrest Caiyu first and take her back to the dungeon of the Prince's Mansion.
When Caiyu looked back, she saw Jiang Jinyue's venomous eyes.
Xiangye blinked nervously with tears in her eyes. It was hard to tell if she understood Caiyu's words.
Caiyu sighed silently in her heart. She could only leave it to fate.
According to what Song Yinghuai had told her, he wouldn't be back in Yanjing for another three days.
Judging from Jiang Jinyue's attitude, she probably wouldn't wait for three days.
The Buddhist prayer and release ceremony was interrupted abruptly when Concubine Yao suddenly spat out black blood.
Caiyu was thrown into the same dungeon where Nanny Yu had died.
There were still traces of Nanny Yu's blood on the floor, which had turned black.
A self - mocking smile appeared on Caiyu's lips.
The Buddha said that there was cause and effect. It was really true.
A few days ago, she had forced Nanny Yu to death here, and now the retribution had come so quickly.
She wondered how Concubine Yao was and whether she could be saved.
Jiang Jinyue would surely try to convict her before Song Yinghuai came back. So after dealing with Concubine Yao's matter, she would come to interrogate her personally and force her to confess.
Now her only hope was Xiangye. If Xiangye understood her words and sent a message by carrier pigeon, the pigeon should be able to reach Song Yinghuai on the road in half a day.
If Song Yinghuai didn't accompany the envoy but rushed back on horseback, he could be back in Yanjing in another half a day.
As long as she gritted her teeth and endured Jiang Jinyue's torture for more than a day, she might have a chance to survive.
But...
Would Xiangye understand?
Would Song Yinghuai abandon the envoy and rush back to Yanjing for her?
Caiyu's mind was in a mess.
Maybe it was Jiang Jinyue's order. The torches in the interrogation room, which had been dimly lit last time, were all extinguished this time.
As night fell, the whole interrogation room was plunged into pitch - black darkness.
The sense of uncertainty and fear began to wrap around Caiyu through the deep darkness, eroding her courage. The small interrogation room was like a chaotic world where she couldn't see the sky or the earth.
"Is there anyone!" Caiyu hugged herself tightly and shouted.
It seemed that they were deliberately trying to drive her crazy with fear. The guards who usually patrolled the dungeon had all been withdrawn.
Caiyu's voice echoed emptily in the surrounding darkness.
Cold sweat rolled down her forehead and disappeared into the endless darkness.
If there had been light at this moment, one would have seen Caiyu's extremely pale face and terrified, almost glazed eyes.
She stiffened her body and groped around in the darkness. Finally, she found the wall and sat down along it, curling up her body and burying her head in her knees.
Night had fallen.
She believed that after torturing her with darkness for one night, Jiang Jinyue would surely appear before dawn.
Time passed slowly. Sure enough, when a faint glimmer of light appeared on the horizon, the door of the iron cage was opened!