Just as the early summer cicadas chirped from the gnarled branches of the old locust trees at the General's Mansion, the crisp sound of shattering porcelain echoed from Liu's "Wanqing Courtyard." A gilded teacup shattered into three pieces on the blue bricks, and the broken pieces splashed onto the back of the hand of the kneeling woman, oozing a few drops of blood.

"Waste! A bunch of waste!" Liu held her left eye, still red and swollen, to her handkerchief. Her brocade skirt swept across the debris scattered across the floor, leaving tea stains dotted across the pomegranate-red hem. Her eye, still covered in ointment from yesterday's chili powder burn, twitched slightly with rage. "If you can't even beat a fifteen-year-old girl, what's the point of supporting a bunch of good-for-nothings like you?"

The old woman crouched on the ground, her forehead nearly colliding with the broken porcelain. "Madam, calm down... The eldest young lady now has the old housekeeper's support, and guards patrol the warehouse day and night. We, the young men, really can't find any space..."

"Can't find a gap?" Liu sneered, her jade armor scraping against the edge of the rosewood table, making a harsh sound. "Chen Weiwan thinks she can rest easy just by clinging to the old man's thigh?" She leaned over to the makeup mirror and used a silver hairpin to adjust the pearl hairpin on her temples. The mirror reflected the bloodshot eyes. "Her mother's red gold hairpin, I want it!"

Shen Ruorou, standing aside, twisted her moon-white handkerchief, the twin lotus flowers embroidered on her cuffs twisted out of shape. "Mother, isn't that hairpin in the mourning hall? I heard it's even locked with a brass lock..."

"It's better to lock it up!" Liu suddenly turned around, her jeweled hair tassels trembling. "Just because it's locked up while being placed in the mourning hall, it makes Shen Weiwan look unfilial—even locking up her mother's belongings for protection. If word gets out, she'll be accused of mistreating her late mother! As soon as I get the hairpin, I'll go to the ancestral hall and ask the elders to judge. Even if the old housekeeper protects her, he can't stop the gossip in the capital!"

She grabbed Shen Ruorou's wrist, her sharp nails almost digging into her daughter's flesh. "Listen, tonight at three quarters past midnight, wait for the night watchman in the front yard to strike the third watch, then you sneak into the mourning hall." Liu lowered her voice, the scent of incense mixed with ointment wafting across Shen Ruorou's face. "There's a spare key in the third drawer of the altar. After you get the hairpin, immediately exit through the west corner gate. I've asked the servants to prepare the carriage..."

Shen Ruorou's face was paler than window paper: "Mom, if we get caught..."

"Catch her?" Liu pulled out a small blue and white porcelain bottle from her dressing table and poured out two brown pills. "I've already had the kitchen put a generous amount of tranquilizing powder in her mung bean soup tonight! Once she's fast asleep, the entire General's Mansion will be ours!" The porcelain bottle creaked in her palm. "As long as I have the hairpin, I'll find a way to make her bear the crime of embezzlement. Even the old man won't be able to protect her then!"

At the same time, in Shen Weiwan's "Tinglan Courtyard", Chuntao was holding a white copper tray with a bowl of mung bean paste with a few fresh mint leaves floating in it.

"Miss, this is the 'fire-clearing tea' that Liu's family just sent us," the maidservant said, stirring it with a silver spoon. A few dark green leaves, unlike anything she had seen before, lay at the bottom of the bowl. "Do you really want to drink it? I just saw the maid in Liu's room sneakily pouring something into it..."

Shen Weiwan took the white porcelain bowl, her fingertips touching the slightly cool bowl wall. She put her nose to the tip of her nose and sniffed it. The sweet mung bean aroma was indeed mixed with a hint of bitterness. A sneer curled the corner of her mouth. "Of course I have to drink it. How can I let my aunt down?"

The porcelain spoon made a crisp sound as it touched the rim of the bowl. Chen Weiwan tilted her head back and drank the mung bean paste in one gulp, a subtle numbing sensation on her tongue. She handed the empty bowl to Chuntao and tapped her knuckles on the dressing table. "Go to the east wing and call Master Liu. Tell him I want to see the replica of the 'Phoenix Arrives'."

A moment later, the veteran silversmith, Master Liu, entered, carrying a red brocade box. Inside, a red gold hairpin shone brilliantly in the candlelight. The nine-inch-long hairpin was adorned with rice-sized gold beads, and the tail feathers of a phoenix with outstretched wings were inlaid with pigeon-blood rubies. It was the dowry gift from Shen Weiwan's biological mother.

"Master Liu's craftsmanship is becoming more and more exquisite." Shen Weiwan picked up the diamond with tweezers and looked closely at the broken diamonds under the phoenix's eyes against the light. "The color of this ruby ​​is exactly the same as the real one."

The old silversmith stroked his goatee and smiled, "Don't worry, young lady. I specially found some Persian tribute glass fragments to create this truly lifelike effect."

Chun Tao watched Shen Weiwan replace the real one with a fake one and couldn't help but tug at her sleeve: "Miss, do you really want to hide such a valuable one in your purse?"

"What else?" Chen Weiwan stuffed the real hairpin into the brocade pouch close to her body, the phoenix tail feather beads swaying gently under her skirt. "Liu is trying to steal the hairpin and frame me for embezzlement. If I don't play along, won't I be betraying her kindness?" She adjusted the silver hairpin in her hair in front of the bronze mirror, a sly smile at the corner of her eyes. "When my son arrives, we'll go to the mourning hall and perform a good show of 'sitting by the tree and waiting for the rabbit'."

At three quarters past midnight, the night watchman's clapper clapper rang through the long corridor as Chen Ruorou crouched and slipped into the mourning hall. Outside the moonlit window, the shadow of the sycamore tree was reflected on the blue bricks. The ever-burning lamp on the altar flickered with a dim candlelight, sparks from the wick landing on the tablet marked "The Place of the Compassionate and Strict Mother."

Her palms were wet with sweat as she gripped the wire, and her embroidered shoes tread silently on the mat. The purple wooden box on the altar was indeed locked, the copper lock gleaming coldly in the light. Just as Shen Ruorou had inserted the wire into the keyhole, she heard the rustle of clothing behind her.

"Who?!" She turned abruptly, the wire jingling to the ground. Shen Weiwan stood at the doorway, holding a sheep-horn palace lantern, its apricot-yellow tassel swaying gently in the wind. The old housekeeper and four guards with sticks stood on either side, the lanterns illuminating the mourning hall as bright as day.

"Cousin?" Shen Weiwan pretended to be surprised, and the palace lantern moved towards Shen Ruoruo's hand holding the wire tightly. "What are you doing in my mother's mourning hall in the middle of the night?"

Shen Ruorou's face was paler than the white banners in the mourning hall, and her lips trembled, unable to speak. Her black clothes were stained with rose thorns from the wall, and the pearls in her hair were tilted to one side, as if she had just rolled out of a haystack.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!