Long Yang’s reprimand not only intimidated Li Wei, but also reduced the other court officials to silence.
Those who had placed their bets on Li Tong’er broke out in a cold sweat to see Li Wei being punished so miserably.
He had thought that Li Tong’er could catch the Emperor’s eye.
Now, however, it seemed that he had been utterly wrong.
Meanwhile, on that same day, Li Tong’er attended yet another banquet with Madam Li as usual, completely unaware of what was happening in the imperial court.
The banquet of the day was hosted by Madam Gao and took place at the Gao Family’s villa in the capital suburbs.
Madam Gao’s villa housed a wide variety of precious and rare flowers. It was said that she had spent a lot of money and effort to get her hands on them, and she had hired gardeners to tend to them every day.
In the past few days, the weather had grown warmer, and the flowers were blooming, hence she hosted this flower admiring banquet and invited all the noblewomen to marvel at her flowers.
Li Tong’er, who had been enjoying the limelight for the past few days, was getting used to having people cluster around her everywhere she went, and she did not see why today would be any different.
She had prepared herself to be surrounded by the noblewomen the moment she showed up at the Gao Family’s villa.
However, when she stepped through the gates today, all she received were strange looks from the crowd—it was as if they were looking at dirt—and they made her extremely uncomfortable.
“How dare she still show her face?”
“Exactly. Isn’t she afraid of spreading her disease to others?”
“If I’d known she’d be here, I wouldn’t have come.”
“For heaven’s sake, why did Madam Gao even invite her? She’s bad luck!”
…
The crowd did not care to lower their voices, which enabled Madam Li and Li Tong’er to hear every single word they said.
When they came to realize the underlying meaning of their words, both their faces turned pale with anger.
Li Tong’er gripped the handkerchief in her hands, looking even more fragile and pitiful than she already did.
Madam Li, blinded with rage, was close to charging up to the women and ripping their mouths apart, but Li Tong’er was still rational enough to grab her arm. “Mother, calm down. We’re in Madam Gao’s territory. She won’t be pleased if we start a fight here.”
Madam Gao’s husband was a military commander who held some level of influence in the court. Therefore, when Li Tong’er received Madam Gao’s invitation, she had been excited to confirm her attendance.
Madam Li knew that she was right, but how could she sit by and let those cows spew their nonsense?
Ugh, how frustrating!
Li Tong’er patted her on the arm comfortingly and raised her voice. “Truth will speak for itself! Don’t worry, Mother, for a clean hand wants no washing.”
She had spoken rather loudly for them to hear.
A hush fell over the gossiping women for a second, but it did not take long for them to start whispering again.
In fact, their voices only grew louder, and they hardly bothered to conceal the contempt and disgust in their tone.
“I can’t stand it anymore; being around a person like her makes me lose my appetite. I’m leaving.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“Hurry. If I spend another minute here, I’ll get sick from all that discomfort.”
Soon, all the young women, who had huddled together to admire the flowers a while ago, were gone.
Only a few older high-society wives were left in the spacious courtyard.
They had only remained because they did not want to embarrass their distinguished host, but they did not hide the disdain in their eyes either as they looked at Madam Li and Li Tong’er.
When Madam Gao hurried out after hearing the news, almost all her guests had taken off.
Never in the world had she expected her flower admiring banquet to end in such a deserted state.
“What’s going on? Why has everyone left?” Livid, Madam Gao snapped, “I’ll never invite that bunch of ill-mannered swine again.”
One of the remaining women in the courtyard approached her and murmured something in her ear.
Li Tong’er saw Madam Gao’s expression change—she seemed even more shocked than when she learned that her guests had left.
Li Tong’er furrowed her brow.
Sure enough, Madam Gao immediately turned her scrutinizing gaze on her.
Unable to stay quiet anymore, Li Tong’er took a few steps forward and opened her mouth to explain, but to her dismay, Madam Gao stumbled away from her as if she was some kind of ferocious beast.
“Don’t come near me.” Madam Gao’s voice dropped to a shaky whisper.