The late spring breeze, swirling with willow catkins, drifted past the carved wooden gate of the General's Mansion. Shen Weiwan sat by the window, her plain skirt reflected in the diamond-shaped mirror—moon-white soft satin embroidered with clusters of pale blue orchids in silver thread, the collar and cuffs trimmed with pea-green trim, appearing remarkably elegant in the sunlight filtering through the window lattice. Chuntao was using a mother-of-pearl comb to braid her hair. A mutton-fat magnolia hairpin was pinned through her glossy black hair, its lustrous jade color accentuating her slender, swan-like neck.

"Miss, you look really good in this outfit," Chun Tao deliberately raised her voice a little, her fingertips brushing the orchid embroidery on Shen Weiwan's shoulder, "unlike Second Miss Shen, who had a nice spring banquet but ended up with red bumps all over her body. I heard she was scratching herself in the house last night and screaming!"

Shen Weiwan raised her eyebrows at the mirror, and a cunning light flashed in her eyes in the mirror: "Little hoof, keep your voice down, be careful there are ears on the other side of the wall." She scolded, but her fingers unconsciously stroked the hem of her skirt.

"What are you afraid of, young lady?" Chun Tao chuckled, squatting down to help Shen Weiwan adjust the hem of her skirt, deliberately rubbing her skirt with her sleeves, "Who in the whole capital doesn't know that the second young lady Shen sewed nettles into her skirt herself? In the end, she tried to steal the chicken but ended up losing the rice, and got herself scratched in public at the Taifu Mansion--" She suddenly lowered her voice and pointed at the plain hem of Shen Weiwan's skirt with her fingertips, "Look at your plain clothes. Although not luxurious, they are clean and decent. Fortunately, you didn't wear her 'poisonous skirt' that day, otherwise you would be fighting with itches in your boudoir like her!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the two maids packing their dressing boxes in the outer room suddenly stopped moving, their eyes gleaming with understanding as they exchanged glances. The farce of Shen Ruoruo's scratching and losing composure at the Spring Banquet had already spread throughout the Nine Cities, but no one dared to reveal the origin of the grass scraps. Chuntao's blunt revelation was like a key, instantly unlocking everyone's suspicions—it turned out that Shen Weiwan hadn't worn the skirt that hid the grass scraps that day!

"Chun Tao, don't be rude," Shen Weiwan pretended to frown, but couldn't help but smile, "Cousin may have been careless for a moment, how could you make up such a story?"

"Young lady, you are so kind!" Chun Tao stood up with a pout, smoothing out the wrinkles on Shen Weiwan's skirt. "If you hadn't been so smart and asked me to hide the spare plain clothes in the side hall of the Taifu Mansion in advance, wouldn't you be the one suffering now? The nettle grass is so itchy that it gives me goose bumps just thinking about it!"

The master and servant exchanged words, their voices measured and precise, neither too high nor too low, just loud enough for Liu Shi, who was passing by in the corridor, to hear every word clearly. At that moment, Liu Shi was dragging Qing He, Shen Ruorou's personal maid, towards Tinglan Courtyard. The brocade handkerchief embroidered with lotus flowers was wrinkled in her hands. Her eyebrows raised in anger at the words she heard. She kicked open the half-closed carved wooden door, and the doorframe creaked and groaned.

"Chen Weiwan!" Liu's chest heaved violently as she stepped through the door, the red gold headband on her forehead shimmering with movement. "What are you and your servant hiding in the room gossiping about? Do you think I'm deaf?"

Shen Weiwan slowly stood up and bowed, her face full of innocence: "Aunt is fine. Chuntao just said some gossip casually, please don't take it to heart."

"Just gossiping?" Liu's sharp voice pierced the silence in the room, her index finger pointed directly at Chuntao's nose. "She just said that Ruorou stuffed grass scraps into her skirt. Were you the one who instigated it behind her back?"

"Aunt, what are you talking about?" Shen Weiwan pretended to be surprised and opened her eyes wide, her apricot eyes filled with grievance. "How many eyes were watching at the Spring Banquet? It was my cousin who took the skirt out of the brocade box herself. She felt itchy all over after wearing it. How can you blame me?" She changed the subject and her eyes fell on Qinghe, who was as silent as a cicada. "Sister Qinghe, you were the one who took the spare dress for my cousin that day, weren't you? Didn't you check the material carefully?"

Qing He was so frightened by this sudden question that her face turned pale. Her fingers were shaking as she twisted the corner of her clothes. She hesitated for a long time before squeezing out a few words from her throat: "I... I was..."

Liu looked at Qinghe's cowardly look, trembling with anger. But she couldn't find any evidence to prove her innocence. She could only vent her anger on Shen Weiwan: "Stop pretending to be innocent here! If anything happens to Ruorou, I will make you pay!"

"Don't worry, auntie," Chen Weiwan lowered her eyes, hiding the sarcasm in them, her voice sweet and cloying, "My cousin just has delicate skin and was irritated by some grass debris. She'll be fine in a few days. As for me," she raised her hand and stroked the plain collar of her clothes, her tone carrying a touch of just the right amount of grievance, "I wanted to wear my new hibiscus brocade skirt to the banquet, but my cousin accidentally spilled tea on me, so I had to change into this plain dress. I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, auntie."

These words were openly self-pitying, yet secretly brought up the incident of Shen Ruoruo deliberately spilling the tea. Liu's face turned from green to white, then back again, and she could only lash out fiercely, her jade armor flashing a cold light in the sunlight. "Just wait!" With that, she stormed off with Qinghe, her skirt raising a cloud of dust as it swept across the threshold.

As soon as Liu left, Chuntao immediately came to Shen Weiwan's side, lowering her voice and laughing so hard that her shoulders trembled: "Miss, what you said just now was really powerful. It choked Liu's eyes!"

Shen Weiwan picked up a piece of candied fruit from the dressing table and put it in her mouth. The sweet and sour taste spread on the tip of her tongue. She said vaguely: "Fight with me? She is far from it. By the way, how is the old housekeeper doing?"

"Everything is prepared as you ordered," Chuntao said, pulling out an oil-paper bag from her sleeve. Inside was a neatly folded copy of the account book. "Here's the evidence of Liu's years of embezzlement and false purchase reports. Last winter's fur purchase alone was overstated by three hundred taels of silver."

"No rush," Shen Weiwan wiped the sugar stains from the corners of her mouth, her eyes falling on the swaying bamboo shadows outside the window, "Let them jump around for a few more days, the best is yet to come." She subconsciously touched the jade hairpin on her bun, and the cool touch reminded her of the Seventh Prince, "By the way, is there any news from the Seventh Prince?"

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