She accidentally flirted with the villain and was fiercely criticized as the regent for forcibly mar

After asking around, it was always the same few questions.

Suspicious of Jiang Ruining's identity, they speculated that she wore a veil because her family's stance of siding with the regent had not yet been made public.

Cui Jingwei stopped her and tried to get information out of her to confirm her identity so that Grand Tutor Cui and the Empress Dowager would be aware of her situation.

Before he could even finish repeating himself, he was already saying the same thing.

The Xu sisters have come looking for us again!

Xu Nianyin smiled and approached Jiang Ruining: "My half-sister said something unpleasant just now, and I have already reprimanded her. I hope Miss Jiang will be magnanimous and forgive her this time!"

Miss Xu lowered her head, looking as if she knew she was wrong, and stepped forward to curtsy and apologize: "I'm sorry, Miss Jiang, it's too hot, and I'm feeling a bit stuffy. I spoke rudely, please forgive me."

Jiang Ruining smiled and said, "Since you've admitted your mistake, of course I forgive you."

The two groups of people came together.

The forces behind them are opposing.

But they were all curious about Jiang Ruining's identity, and unusually, they were all on the same page, trying to get information out of her.

Xu Nianyin seemed to hit it off with her at first sight and took her hand.

Taking the opportunity, Miss Xu moved behind Jiang Ruining.

His hands were hidden in his wide sleeves, and he kept an eye on the others, looking for an opportunity.

"oops!"

The little girl, who had been arranged beforehand, called out from the riverbank.

Everyone's attention was drawn to it.

She took the opportunity to quickly sprinkle the powder onto Jiang Ruining.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Ruining took a step and was bumped by the person next to her. The powder that was scattered did not fall on Jiang Ruining at all, but instead landed on the hem of Cui Jingwei's and the other woman's clothes.

Miss Xu realized she had gone astray, and her face turned pale instantly.

When everyone saw that it was a maid who had almost slipped into the river, they turned away, bored.

Without thinking, Xu San Guniang quickly put the bottle cap back on with trembling hands and pulled her hands back into her wide sleeves.

Xu Nianyin smiled and turned to look at Jiang Ruining, continuing to ask, "From what Miss Jiang just said..."

She hadn't finished speaking.

Suddenly, I was interrupted by a scream.

"what!"

"Fire!"

The woman standing behind Cui Jingwei stared wide-eyed, pointing at the hem of Cui Jingwei's clothes and screaming in panic.

"Princess Cui, Miss Zhao, you're on fire!"

Everyone was startled by her shout. Their first reaction was to frown and look at her. Then they looked in the direction she pointed and saw that Cui Jingwei's peacock-patterned soft gauze cover-up caught fire from the waist. The flames quickly grew stronger and stronger, rushing towards her black hair draped behind her.

"My hair! My hair's burned too!"

"Quickly, get some water to put out the fire!"

Cui Jingwei was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously turned her head: "Ah! My eyes!"

The thin, flammable gauze ignited instantly, and the flames leaped up, hitting her face squarely. The heat seared her eyes and burned her eyelashes. She screamed in terror and instinctively ran forward, trying to escape the flames, but the fire only grew stronger.

Fearing they would get burned, the others all retreated.

Xu Nianyin stared at Jiang Ruining, waiting for her to scream in a disheveled state and have her clothes burned off. However, despite hearing the frightened screams, she did not see any panic in the other party. Only then did she realize that she had burned the wrong person. She turned around and saw Cui Jingwei engulfed in flames, and her whole body froze!

Although the two families hold opposing political stances and have clashed frequently over the years, neither has dared to use any insidious schemes against Cui Jingwei, because Cui Jingwei has the Empress Dowager backing her up!

Once someone is summoned to the palace, they can be falsely accused of any crime, and the Empress Dowager can punish them however she wants.

Even though the Empress Dowager's power was not as great as the Regent's, if she refused to accept punishment, she would be labeled as "rebellious," so no one would easily plot against Cui Jingwei.

But right now...

Miss Xu San never expected things to turn out this way, and she was trembling uncontrollably.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Xu Nianyin approached her half-sister, grabbed her arm, pinched it hard, and demanded in a low voice, "Has it been dealt with yet?!"

As if a piece of flesh had been twisted off, Xu San Guniang snapped out of her panic and realized that she still held the evidence in her hands. She was so frightened that she almost fainted.

Xu Nianyin glared at her: "Do you want to die?!"

Miss Xu quickly approached Jiang Ruining.

He tried three times, but failed each time in his panic to secretly slip the evidence into the purse on Jiang Ruining's waist. He was so anxious that his heart was about to jump out of his throat.

Just when she decided to give it one last try, and if it still didn't work, she would just find a scapegoat, she finally succeeded!

After carefully observing Jiang Ruining and confirming that her attention was focused on the burned Cui Jingwei and that she hadn't noticed, she quickly stepped back, then pretended to stumble, grabbed the sleeve of the woman next to her, and rubbed her fingers vigorously, trying to completely remove any possible traces of the scent.

The girl who caught fire with Cui Jingwei had smaller flames on her clothes, which were only on the hem. A hairpin pierced a tear in the fabric, and she tore it off in one fell swoop, escaping danger. Still shaken, she collapsed to the ground.

"Ah! Help!"

In her panic, Cui Jingwei tripped over her own skirt and fell heavily into the flower bushes. The flames, like villains surrounding her, were attacking her relentlessly. She couldn't get up; her thin sleeves were completely burned away, and her two tender, lotus-root-like arms were flailing wildly, already scalded red.

The maids and servants around seemed to finally realize what was happening and hurriedly surrounded the flames, striking them with their whips.

It was no use; the flames showed no sign of going out.

Cui Jingwei's voice had completely lost the composure and reserve of a noblewoman; she was now hysterically screaming, "Put out the fire! Put out the fire quickly! Are you trying to burn me to death? Help!"

The maid was also flustered, having never seen anything like this before.

"We can't destroy it!"

"That's a will-o'-the-wisp!"

After that shout, no one dared to step forward to help.

As Jiang Ruining read, she suddenly remembered a little episode in the book. When the female protagonist was in confinement after childbirth, her friend Ruan Zhenzhen went to visit her and they talked about gossip. A certain noblewoman had phosphorus powder sprinkled on her, and her clothes were burned off in public, and she was also disfigured.

So the inextinguishable fire on Cui Jingwei is the burning of phosphorus powder!

This conjecture sent a chill down her spine.

She thought the Xu sisters would deliberately sprinkle itching powder or aphrodisiacs on her to make her lose her composure in public, or frame her for drugging someone of high status. She never expected that they would burn her clothes in public and disfigure her!

That's really insidious.

"Throw her in the water! If she's kept burning, she'll be ruined!"

Someone shouted that.

The maids and servants were stunned for a moment, and no one dared to make a move.

They were afraid the will-o'-the-wisp would burn them!