God yes, the emotional pay-off of the utter faith rewarded, those smiles they all share as it sinks in that everyone managed to survive, the horror of the injury... that closing scene is perfection.

"Maybe if Ye Zun had blamed everything on Zhu Jiu going off script while he himself had no power to interfere, he could have made himself look better"
That's an interesting possibility that I hadn't thought all the way through, that Ye Zun could have tried to go the 'disclaim full knowledge of subordinate's actions' route... I don't think Zhao Yunlan would have been fooled by it for long, if he was drawn into it at all, he's incredibly observant where it comes to seeing beneath surface facades, but it could be a line that would have given Ye Zun a foot in the door, as it were. And yeah, he would have had to have either sent Ya Qing away, or let her know about the 'plan' in advance so her reactions would be in line.

"a gesture trying to cover the fact that he’s been called out on something he didn't have an answer prepared for."
I lean more in this direction myself... that it was more surprise/shock/dismay at not having expected this to be something he was challenged on, that he figured Zhao Yunlan wouldn't care about him eating his own people...they're his enemies after all... Ye Zun's 'right...right' and that little snarly lip curl after he's turned around to face Zhao Yunlan reads a little more like someone feeling backed into a corner who didn't expect it from this front and is defensive about it.