The Hundred Flowers Festival ran nearly two hours before the rankings were finally settled.
Ye Ying had not performed as well as she had the year before. Her flying fairy dance was breathtaking enough to earn her a tie with Princess Qixia for first in that category, but the renowned musician Feng Sanye overturned the judges' decision, and she fell to second. She recovered with a third in poetry, but the frustration on her face was impossible to hide.
Princess Qixia, by contrast, seemed to sharpen as the day went on. Third in music. First in calligraphy. Second in chess. She finished the festival with two firsts, one second, and one third, and claimed the top ranking overall.
Princess Zhaoyang looked pleased. The judges in the viewing stands praised the foreign princess with particular warmth. Festival host Su Zhe was already rising to announce the final results when Princess Qixia leaned down to murmur something in Princess Zhaoyang's ear, straightened, offered Su Zhe a brief apology, then turned and looked into the audience at Ye Ying.
A thin smile crossed her face.
"Forgive the interruption," Princess Qixia said, her voice carrying across the entire venue. "Qixia requests one additional match against Miss Ye the Fourth, in dance."
The crowd stirred.
Feng Zhiyuan leaned back in his chair with the ease of someone who had nowhere better to be. "I imagine everyone here would be delighted to see the princess and the capital's most celebrated dancer perform again." He tilted his head slightly. "Though I confess I'm curious what prompts the challenge."
Princess Qixia lifted her chin. "Does not your Central Plains have a saying that there is always someone better? This princess does not care to share a ranking." She cast a brief glance at Ye Ying below, unhurried and dismissive, and said nothing more. She didn't need to.
In the audience, Ye Ying went pale. Her slender frame swayed.
The ladies watching caught the implication immediately. Princess Qixia, it seemed, did not consider Ye Ying worth standing beside.
Princess Qixia did not bother to read the room. Her gaze stayed fixed on Ye Ying.
Feng Zhiyao's lazy eyes slid toward Mo Jingli, who sat nearby with a dark expression, and she smiled. "Your Highness Prince Li. Miss Ye the Fourth is your betrothed. What do you think?"
Mo Jingli glanced down at Ye Ying. Something shifted briefly in his cold eyes before his face settled again. "Is Princess Qixia dissatisfied with Yao Ji's judging?"
Yao Ji smiled, all sweetness. "If Princess Qixia has the finer dance, I would naturally be glad to see it. Whether I deserve that honor is another question."
Mo Jingli said nothing.
He understood little about dance as a technical matter, but he understood what Yao Ji had implied: from her earlier scores, Ye Ying and Princess Qixia were closely matched. The problem was that dance was something you watched with your eyes, and whatever their skills on paper, Princess Qixia's fire read differently than Ye Ying's grace. It would not be hard for observers to call that a loss. If Ye Ying went out there again and came in second a second time...
Mo Jingli's brows drew together.
When his silence stretched too long, Princess Zhaoyang frowned from her seat. "Jingli."
Then, a sharp crack.
Everyone turned. The girl who had been serving tea beside Ye Ying was on her knees, a shattered cup on the ground in front of her. Ye Ying stood with her left arm pressed to her body, face bloodless. A dark stain was already spreading through the fabric. The girl had spilled the tea across her arm.
"Ying'er."
Mo Jingli was out of his seat before the words fully left him. He vaulted the stands, crossed the space in a few long strides, and pulled Ye Ying against him. He turned and kicked the kneeling girl aside. "Get out."
Up on the stage, the eldest princess's expression went rigid. The girl Mo Jingli had just kicked was from her household. "Send for the imperial physician. See to Miss Ye."
The ladies in the audience exchanged looks and low murmurs, maintaining decorum by the thinnest margin.
Beside Ye Li, Murong Ting clicked her tongue. "Ali, you should keep an eye on your sister. That was not an accident." She had stopped using formal address somewhere in the last few hours; Ye Li had become Ali without ceremony. The idea that a girl just happened to pour scalding tea on Ye Ying at the exact moment Princess Qixia had issued a challenge strained credibility past its limit.
Hua Tianxiang frowned quietly. "I don't know why, but I feel like something is about to go wrong."
Ye Li had barely opened her mouth when Ye Ying's voice drifted across the courtyard, soft and regretful, perfectly pitched for sympathy. She was still in Mo Jingli's arms.
"Princess, I'm so sorry. I'm afraid I'm in no condition to compete." A small, pained pause. "Since the princess is not satisfied... perhaps my sister could take my place. She is the legitimate daughter of Shangshu Mansion. She would not embarrass you."
Ye Li's expression did not change.
She understood what had just happened. Ye Ying could not be certain she would win a rematch. If she competed and lost, that was Ye Ying losing to Princess Qixia. But if Ye Li competed and lost, that was Ye Li, the eldest legitimate daughter, losing the Shangshu Mansion's face on her very first public appearance. And if by some chance Ye Ying's gamble paid off and Ye Li refused, the refusal itself would look like cowardice.
Neat.
"Do as Ying'er says." Mo Jingli's voice was already clipped with impatience. Without waiting for a response, he lifted Ye Ying and walked out.
The eldest princess watched his back until he was gone. Then, after a moment, she said quietly: "Very well. Let Miss Ye the Third take Miss Ye the Fourth's place."
Ye Li looked at the stage.
No one had asked her a single thing.
She felt Qin Zheng's eyes on her, worried. Earlier, their small group had joked about pushing Ye Li toward a ranking, but it had been exactly that, a joke. None of them had intended to actually force her into anything. Qin Zheng's face now said clearly that she would back whatever Ye Li chose.
Princess Qixia, still fuming over Mo Jingli's departure, now found her attention landing on Ye Li. She took in the detail that Ye Li was Mo Jingli's former betrothed. Her irritation found a new direction. She raised her chin.
"Miss Ye. Please, go first."
Ye Li stood. She looked at Princess Qixia steadily for a moment.
"I concede."
Silence.
Princess Qixia stared at her. So did everyone else. A beat passed before the princess found her voice. "Are you looking down on me? This princess does not need your charity."
"I'm not being charitable," Ye Li said. "I genuinely concede."
"If you won't even try, then even a win would mean nothing."
Ye Li exhaled softly. She met Princess Qixia's eyes with her own, direct and without apology. "Princess. I cannot dance." She let that sit for a moment. "Which means Ye Ying sent you someone who cannot dance. You were deceived."
Feng Zhiyao's voice floated in from somewhere behind her, warm with amusement. "How inventive. His Highness Prince Li substitutes his future princess with his former one, and the former one cannot dance. Truly creative."
Princess Qixia looked thrown. "How can you not know how to dance?"
"Because dance is not a standard discipline for noblewomen in Dachu." Ye Li's tone was even, unbothered. "I expect quite a few of the ladies here today have never studied it either. It is not a point of shame."
She was right, and the room knew it. Dancing was specialized, pursued by those with genuine passion for it or by families with reasons to court imperial favor. Forcing someone to perform a skill she had never been taught was not a challenge. It was just cruelty dressed up in ceremony.
Princess Qixia absorbed this. She understood now that she had been played, and she could not redirect the embarrassment at Ye Li without looking unreasonable. She composed her expression, settled her gaze on the audience, and turned back with a measured smile.
"Since Miss Ye the Third did not take the stage earlier in the festival..." She let her eyes rest on Ye Li, light and almost pleasant. "Perhaps Miss Ye would like to demonstrate another talent. Or..." A brief pause, timed well. "Does Miss Ye have no skills at all?"
The courtyard went quiet.
Ye Li lowered her gaze. She was still for a moment.
Then she looked back up at Princess Qixia, calm and unhurried.
"Then allow me to show you something unworthy of your attention."