Allure of a Country Maiden-Chapter 504 - 502

The moment the door was opened, Princess Ling’er was ready to barge in.

Yang Liu also reached out to stop her, then turned to Xiao’er and said, "Miss, they thought you were secretly meeting with a man in there, planning to catch you in the act!"

"Really? To catch an adulterer, both parties must be present. I was the only one in the room all along, Princess Ling’er, Miss Chu, who were you planning to catch?"

The door was opened and everyone couldn’t resist peering inside.

Besides the fact that no one was in the room with the Countess of Rui’an, there were two large cups of steaming tea on the table.

Seeing the two steaming cups and a window slightly ajar, Chu Die smirked coldly.

Though her trap did not ensnare its intended target, the presence of these two cups of hot tea was enough! Even if she was alone in the room, so what? There was certainly someone else in the room earlier! As for whether the person inside just now was a man or a woman, with the person now gone, she could say whatever she wanted!

No matter what the truth was, these two cups of tea sufficed as evidence to ruin Xiao’er’s reputation!

"Countess Rui’an, you claim to have been alone in this room? Why are there then two cups of tea? If I’m not mistaken, the man you were meeting with must have escaped through the window! Look, it’s still moving!" Chu Die confidently pointed at the window.

Hearing this, everyone outside turned their attention to the window.

"I just brewed those two cups of tea, waiting for a friend to join me. The window is moving because I just opened it to check if my friend had arrived," Xiao’er replied, glancing at the two cups of tea on the table and the still-swinging window.

"Ah, so you were waiting for a friend, and just happened to open the window to see if they’d arrived. Would such a coincidence truly occur? Miss Li, do you believe this?" Chu Die said disdainfully.

"I don’t know, maybe it’s indeed a coincidence," Li Mingfang murmured. Her demeanor clearly indicated to everyone that she didn’t buy it.

"However, the Countess of Rui’an doesn’t seem like someone who would secretly meet with men." This was one thing Li Mingfang was certain of.

"Believe it or not, innocence defends itself! The two cups of tea remain untouched, you’ll know I’m telling the truth as soon as you see them," Xiao’er said, stepping to the side and signalling Yang Liu to let the crowd in.

Chu Die and Princess Ling’er led the charge, with Li Mingfang right behind.

Xiao’er bowed slightly to Shangguan Ruixi. "You, too, sir, please come and have a look. Prove my innocence, or else even jumping into the Yellow River won’t clear my name."

Shangguan Ruixi nodded and stepped inside.

The noblemen following him also entered.

Xiao’er led Shangguan Ruixi to the tea table. "Sir, please look, do these two cups of tea show any signs of being drank?"

Shangguan Ruixi nodded, looking down into the cups. He glimpsed a cup filled with a brown liquid, neither clear like tea nor lacking its smell. To his surprise, atop the tea was a white heart-shaped pattern!

Rushing to check the other cup, Shangguan Ruixi found it filled with the same brown liquid, but with a white cloverleaf floating on top.

Shangguan Ruixi was astounded. He’d tasted many teas, fruit juices, and fruit wines, but this was his first experience with patterned tea, if it could even be called that.

"So, Sir, do these two cups of tea look as if they’ve been drank?" asked Xiao’er calmly.

"Indeed, they haven’t been tasted." While Shangguan Ruixi might not have experienced such patterned tea before, he was capable of basic logic and reasoning.

If the tea had been sipped, the pattern would no longer be intact, and one would also expect tea stains on the pristine rim of the cup.

As soon as Chu Die, Li Mingfang, and Princess Ling’er rushed in, they ran towards the window. They practically stuck half their bodies out, in the hope of spotting the adulterer on the street.

When they heard Xiao’er’s words, they all turned back.

Li Mingfang echoed, "Even if the tea had been drunk, some could easily be added back. Who could tell if it had been drunk?!"

Chu Die nodded, "Exactly! This proves nothing! And waiting for friends with cold tea? That’s illogical!"

As Princess Ling’er approached the tea table, she began speaking, "Countess Rui’an, there’s no use in denying it! The more you try to cover things up, the more it indicates that you were conspiring with someone here. You’d go so far as to concoct the ridiculous excuse of waiting for a friend with brewed tea... "

Princess Ling’er ended her sentence abruptly.

She was so astounded by the two cups of tea on the table that she couldn’t speak.

"What kind of tea is this? How was it made?" A look of disbelief filled her face as she stared at the two objects.

Seeing her reaction, Chu Die and Li Mingfang hurried over. They were both curious to find out what kind of tea the Countess of Rui’an had brewed, something that would cause Princess Ling’er such shock.

The others also came over. After looking at the two cups of tea, they expressed their admiration one after another.

"Is this tea? It’s more like a work of art!"

"Who would dare drink such a beautiful tea?"

"She really has an extraordinary imagination!"

...

Zhao Youwei, looking at the two pleasurable cups of tea, and then at Xiao’er, sighed inwardly: how could any man not be moved by such an ingenious woman.

Zhao Minhua also stepped inside, glanced at the two cups of tea, she wanted to pick up one of them for a careful study, to see how exactly this tea was prepared. But fearing that she might disturb the pattern, she dared not touch them.

"Xiao’er, what kind of tea is this, can it be drunk? It smells so good!"

"This is latte art milk tea, of course it can be drunk," Xiao’er explained.

"Milk tea? No wonder I smelled a milky aroma! Is it brewed with milk? It must be very delicious! Can I taste it?" Zhao Minhua, unable to resist, asked. She really wanted to taste such beautiful tea, to see if its flavor was as exquisite as its appearance.

"Of course..." Xiao’er was about to nod when Fu Ranhui stepped inside.

"Absolutely not! This is the special tea Xiao’er brewed for me! It took me ages to persuade her to make a cup for me. If you want to take mine, you’ll have to get in line!"

"So Xiao’er had appointed you, Princess?" Zhao Minhua realized.

"Of course, who else did you think she had appointed?" Fu Ranhui came to the latte milk tea, gingerly lifted a cup to her nose for a sniff, and said, "It smells so good—the scent of tea and milk, my two favourites!"

"It’s not who I thought, but who they thought Countess of Rui’an was secretly meeting here! If you hadn’t shown up, I suspect they would have had the Countess of Rui’an dunked in a pig cage," said Zhao Minhua, looking at Chu Die and the others, her face full of mockery.