Chapter 22 Reversal

Qiao hurriedly took the handkerchief and looked at it carefully. She saw that the pattern embroidered on the handkerchief was an iris.

Everyone looked at Yu Qingyan again. Today she was wearing a crimson Shu brocade jacket with a front opening, and the pattern embroidered on it was exactly the same as the one on the handkerchief: light purple irises with leaves outlined in gold thread.

Seeing everyone looking over, Yu Qingyan's face immediately turned ugly: "Shut up! This iris is just a common embroidery pattern. Besides, how dare you, you lowly girl, talk about what clothes I wear?"

Yu Qingci said leisurely, "As far as I know, not many people in the Earl's Mansion use irises as patterns. It seems that only Second Sister likes them. Moreover, most of Second Sister's handkerchiefs are embroidered with irises, and the leaves are often outlined with gold thread."

Qiao retorted angrily, "Shut up! How dare you tarnish your second sister's reputation?"

Qiao was stunned by the sudden handkerchief and immediately became annoyed. Qingyan had grown up in the mansion since she was a child, and everyone in the mansion knew that the second young lady liked irises and even liked to use iris patterns as embroidery. Naturally, no one embroidered the same thing as her and took it out to use.

Therefore, in the eyes of everyone in the Earl's mansion, these irises belonged exclusively to Yu Qingyan.

Yu Jingsheng was naturally aware of this as well. He frowned and took the handkerchief from Qiao's hand, examining it carefully before turning to Yu Qingyan and saying, "Take out the handkerchief you have on you."

Yu Qingyan looked at her father in disbelief: "Father,"

Yu Jingsheng: "Take it out!"

Yu Qingyan could only reluctantly take out her handkerchief.

Yu Jingsheng took the two handkerchiefs, compared them, and immediately flew into a rage. He threw the two handkerchiefs at Qiao Shi and said, "Take a look for yourself. If this purse belongs to Qingci, why would Qingyan's handkerchief be inside?"

Qiao glared fiercely at the stunned Qiao Yuantao, who seemed equally confused, staring blankly at the handkerchief that had fallen to the ground.

Qiao pointed at Yu Qingci and said, "You, you actually..."

Yu Qingci's tone grew increasingly cold: "What did I do? Does Madam intend to say that this handkerchief is mine as well?"

I remember my second sister's favorite flower was the iris. She often embroidered a few irises with gold thread outlines on her clothes, handkerchiefs, and purses. It would be reasonable to say that these were hers, given that she and her cousins ​​visited each other frequently and were quite close.

Zhang Shi, Yu Qingying, and the others realized that these two handkerchiefs were indeed Yu Qingyan's usual favorites, and their expressions immediately froze.

They were all close to Yu Qingyan, so they naturally knew that she had loved irises since she was a child, and that such patterns were often embroidered on the purses, handkerchiefs and other items she usually wore.

Yu Qingying was so angry that she jumped up and pointed at Yu Qingci, saying, "I know! You deliberately embroidered a handkerchief exactly like Second Sister's to frame her! How vicious you are!"

Yu Qingci: "I just returned to the manor. How could I know so much about Second Sister's preferences? It's about embroidering handkerchiefs, and now you're trying to drag your cousin from the Qiao family into framing Second Sister?"

"you……"

Unable to argue with her, Yu Qingying pointed at Qiao Yuantao and said, "And you, where did you pick up this handkerchief from? How dare you take it and tear it off like this? This is definitely not my sister's handkerchief!"

Qiao was furious and shouted, "Shut up! This is certainly not your second sister's stuff."

Qiao Yuantao finally realized what had happened, but he hadn't expected such a turn of events. When Siqin handed him the purse, he quickly took it and left. When he returned, he was secretly pleased to find a silk handkerchief inside, thinking it was safer. He never imagined something would go wrong, so naturally he wouldn't bring it to Qiao Shi to confirm.

Seeing how things had turned out, he turned pale and his eyes darted around in fright.

Yu Qingci gave Tong'er a wink, and Tong'er understood. She stepped forward, snatched the purse, and started tearing it apart, saying fiercely as she did so, "This purse definitely doesn't belong to my young lady. My young lady knows that Madam doesn't like her, so why would she be so foolish as to give Madam's nephew a personal item on our first meeting? Who would believe that? I'll tear this tattered purse apart and see how you can still slander me."

In a few swift movements, the purse was torn open, revealing the embroidered contents inside.

Tong'er stared at the purse and exclaimed, "Huh? Why are there words inside this purse?"

As she spoke, she presented it to Yu Jingsheng. Yu Jingsheng looked closely and saw that the purse had a small "Yan" character embroidered in gold thread inside.

Yu Jingsheng threw the item at Qiao Shi: "What do you have to say now? If this purse belongs to Third Sister, why is Second Sister's name embroidered on it? Is she just bored?"

"Also, what that girl said earlier is correct. How could Third Sister, who has only just entered the manor, be so bold as to send something like this to your nephew from your maternal family? Is she really that stupid?"

When asked this, Madam Qiao retreated repeatedly: "That's impossible, Lord. Qingyan would never do such a thing behind our backs."

Yu Jingsheng sneered: "Qingyan is impossible, but Qingci is possible? She's not your daughter after all, yet you don't care about her reputation at all!"

Seeing her father's anger, Yu Qingyan felt both ashamed and angry, and burst into tears, covering her face with her handkerchief: "Father, Mother, this really is not mine. I hope you will understand."

Qiao Yuantao also shook his head in a panic, denying it: "Impossible, how could this possibly be the Second Miss's thing?"

Yu Qingci looked at him and asked coldly, "You just said that this purse was given to you by Tong'er, so let me ask you, when did she give it to you? And where did she give it to you?"

Qiao Yuantao: "This is, this is, this is, this is, a couple of days ago, in, in the garden, yes, on the path next to the rockery in the garden."

Yu Qingci: "When exactly was it? You couldn't possibly forget something so important, could you?"

Qiao Yuantao: "It was two days ago."

Yu Qingci pressed on: "Whether it was two days ago, in the morning or afternoon, and where, you'd better think it through before you speak."

Yu Jingsheng also looked over with a fierce gaze. Qiao Yuantao was already in a panic, and when he met Yu Jingsheng's gaze, he was even more frightened and broke out in a cold sweat. He never expected things to turn out this way. This was not what they had agreed on before, and he secretly groaned in his heart.

He looked at Qiao with an uncertain gaze, and Qiao, under the watchful eyes of everyone, could not say much, but could only give him a warning look not to talk nonsense.

Qiao Yuantao gritted his teeth: "Two days ago, at Shenshi (3-5 PM), in the back garden."

Yu Qingci sneered and looked at Yu Jingsheng again: "Father should remember that these past two days when you came back from outside, I would go to your study before Shenshi (3-5 PM) to bring you nourishing medicinal meals that I had made myself, and I would also practice calligraphy with my younger brother. And I always brought Tong'er with me. I would not return to my own courtyard until Youshi (5-7 PM) each time."

Yu Jingsheng recalled that his daughter was the most considerate. In the past, when they lived in Youyang in the countryside, she would often send him nourishing medicinal meals. These past few afternoons, when he had nothing to do, he would call Qingbai to his study to test his knowledge, and his daughter would indeed send him medicinal meals every time. Tong'er would stay by his daughter's side without leaving her for a moment.

Thinking of this, Yu Jingsheng looked at Qiao Yuantao with a fierce gaze: "You dog, if you don't tell the truth, don't blame me for being impolite! Guards!"