Zhao Mei seemed to think of something upon hearing this, and an angry look appeared on her charming face. She quickly walked a few steps to Li Yuyu’s side and grabbed her wrist.
"Was it you? Was it because you used your status to take over the seat I reserved, making the steward speak to me so rudely?"
Zhao Mei deliberately raised her voice so that the people around who were there for the spectacle could all hear her clearly.
Li Yuyu: ...
She wanted to shed a tear but had to pinch her thigh hard first. This person could cry on demand, quite a talent.
The onlookers whispered among themselves.
"Who is this young lady? She’s really pretty, and her outfit is nice as well."
"I just heard the steward address her as Miss Li. Isn’t the Li family from the General Mansion in the Capital City?"
"Impossible. The young lady from the General Mansion became an empress. How could commoners like us ever meet her? Maybe her surname is ’Li,’ and you heard it as ’Li.’"
The crowd nodded in agreement, sure that must be the case.
Li Yuyu was exasperated, feeling it was reckless.
She shouldn’t have left the palace dressed as a woman without makeup. Next time she’d better learn from this and never expose her identity.
Next time?
Pah!
Li Yuyu really wanted to slap her own forehead. What did she mean by next time? She’ll change outfits when she returns to the inn later!
"Mei’er, there must be some misunderstanding. Yuyu is not that kind of person."
Wan Lingling came over and linked arms with Zhao Mei, gently persuading her.
But Zhao Mei’s eyes turned red: "Miss Li, I know you’ve been feeling down lately and have nowhere to go, wanting to watch the opera to unwind. But didn’t you reject me and Lingling’s invitation to come here just now? Why did you come here using my name and take my seat?"
Her voice was choked, her charming face showed a pitiful and sad expression, instantly causing sympathy among many people.
"Whoever it is, blatantly taking someone’s seat like this is too much!"
"Indeed, no wonder Miss Zhao said she reserved the seat, but the steward said there wasn’t one. Did you see? That steward personally invited Miss Li inside. I saw it very clearly; Miss Li was even planning to leave."
"I saw it too. Maybe she saw Miss Zhao and Miss Wan and was afraid things would be exposed, so she didn’t go in directly."
Zhao Mei felt overjoyed when she heard the crowd’s attention shifting to Li Yuyu.
But she didn’t let the others notice this, instead sighing: "Lingling, I’m not feeling well today, so I’ll leave first. Since you’re familiar with Miss Li, she would surely take you inside."
Saying this, Zhao Mei withdrew her arm from Wan Lingling’s, her expression forlorn.
"Mei’er, don’t leave."
Wan Lingling took a breath, held Li Yuyu’s hand, and softly pleaded: "Yuyu, since you can go in, can you invite Mei’er and me to go in with you? After all, this seat was reserved by Mei’er. If there’s not enough space, I can stand. Please, agree to this, okay?"
Knowing that several distinguished individuals would attend Qingle Park today, Wan Lingling had inquired for a long time and didn’t want to miss out.
Li Yuyu: ...
How was she supposed to respond?
She hadn’t reserved or paid for anything. Now she was starting to suspect if the steward had mistaken her for someone else.
Among the onlookers, someone also spoke up: "Yeah, Miss, you can’t occupy how many chairs by yourself, can you? You’ve taken someone else’s spot, and they didn’t even ask for justice, just wanted to go in with you. How can you not agree?"
"That’s right, you know each other, so don’t make things difficult for them."