The early summer cicadas chirped loudly in the locust tree in the west wing of the General's Mansion. Liu, clutching a gold-rimmed handkerchief, paced back and forth, the bricks creaking under her feet. The teacup on the table had long since gone cold. Beside it lay the return gift she had just received from the Li Mansion—a pair of jade bracelets with missing beads, the very betrothal gift she had intended to use to curry favor with Li's mother.

"Waste! What a waste!" Liu suddenly stopped, grabbed the teacup on the table and threw it to the ground, porcelain shards splashing on the hem of Shen Ruorou's skirt. "You hooked up with a man and ended up like this! Now, instead of getting married, you've become the lover of a gay man!"

Chen Ruoruo huddled on the embroidered cushion, her face still red from last night's crying. Upon hearing this, she looked up suddenly: "Mother! How could you say that to me!" She twisted her handkerchief, her eyes red again, "It's all Chen Weiwan's fault! She schemed against me! If she hadn't yelled in the garden, how could Li Xiu... how could he..."

"Enough!" Liu took a step forward, poking Shen Ruoruo's forehead with her thick fingers. "At this point, you still blame others? I asked you to coax Li Xiu into a frenzy, but you were ruined by Shen Weiwan's words! Now the whole capital is laughing at you for being a gay lover. Where can I put my old face?"

Shen Ruorou staggered after being poked, and finally couldn't help but roll down her tears: "How could I know that Shen Weiwan would be so bad! Wasn't she quite stupid before? Who knew that she would become a different person after being reborn..." She suddenly covered her mouth and looked at Liu in horror.

Liu narrowed her eyes. "What did you say? Rebirth?"

Shen Ruorou was so frightened that her face turned pale, and she shook her head hurriedly: "I...I'm talking nonsense, mother, I mean she seems to have suddenly become smart..."

Liu snorted coldly, clearly unconvinced. However, Li Xiu's situation now made her even more anxious. "Smart? I think she's a spirit!" She walked to the window, gazing across at Qinghui Courtyard, a flicker of resentment in her eyes. "Ever since she came back, she's been giving us a hard time! First, with that red-gold hairpin, then the mess at the Spring Festival Banquet, and now with Li Xiu being in that state... She's clearly coming for us!"

"What should we do now, mother?" Shen Ruorou could no longer care about crying and grabbed Liu's sleeve. "Li Xiu is now being hunted down by everyone, and the Minister of Personnel has also cut off contact. How can we... how can we live in the future?"

Liu shook her hand off, walked to the dressing table, and picked up a bronze mirror. The woman in the mirror had wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, and her makeup couldn't hide her anxious expression. "What else can I do?" she gritted her teeth. "It's all your fault! If you could have captured Li Xiu sooner, Shen Weiwan wouldn't have been in trouble."

"I..." Shen Ruorou wanted to argue, but was interrupted by Liu.

"That's enough!" Liu threw the bronze mirror on the table. "What's the point of crying? The most urgent thing is to think about how to deal with that little bitch Shen Weiwan! She is in charge of the household affairs now, and she will definitely not let us go!"

Just then, the maid Lü'e rushed in in a panic: "Madam, Miss, this is bad! Miss Shen had the key to the storeroom taken away, and she also said...she said she would thoroughly check the accounts of the mansion tomorrow!"

"What?" Liu's face suddenly changed. "She dares!"

"Madam, Miss Shen also said..." Lu'e's voice trembled with fear, "She said that if you don't cooperate, she will... report you to the police!"

"Report to the police?" Liu was so angry that she was shaking all over. "How dare she, an unmarried girl, expose the family scandal?"

"Mom, what should we do?" Shen Ruorou was also panicked, "If the accounts are checked, we...we..."

Liu took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. "What are you panicking about?" Her eyes rolled as a plan came to mind. "Did Chen Weiwan think she could turn the tables just by getting the key? She shouldn't forget that my brother is still in the Ministry of Personnel!"

"But didn't my uncle say he was sick?" Shen Ruorou asked doubtfully.

"Feigning illness?" Liu sneered, "That's temporary! When the storm is over, I'll show her how to make Shen Weiwan look bad!" She walked to the desk, picked up a pen and paper, "Lü'e, prepare the horses! I need to go to the Minister of Personnel's residence!"

"Madam, if we go out now, I'm afraid..." Lu'e was a little worried.

"What are you afraid of?" Liu glared at her. "If you don't go now, we'll be starving!"

Watching Liu rush out, Shen Ruorou collapsed in her chair, tears welling up again. She hated Shen Weiwan, hated her for taking away everything that belonged to her, and even more hated her own incompetence. If she hadn't been greedy, if she hadn't trusted Liu's words, how could she have ended up like this?

At this moment, Chuntao's voice came from outside the door: "Second Miss, my lady wants you to come over. She said she has something important to discuss."

Shen Ruorou raised her head suddenly, a trace of fear flashed in her eyes: "I won't go!"

Chun Tao opened the door with a meaningful smile on her face: "Second Miss, my mistress said that if you don't go, I'm afraid...some things will be lost."

Shen Ruorou's heart tightened. She knew what Chuntao was talking about. The evidence of Liu's years of embezzling money and selling off the family's property was probably in Shen Weiwan's hands. She gritted her teeth and finally followed Chuntao out of the room.

In Qinghui Courtyard, Shen Weiwan was sitting under the grape trellis, sipping tea leisurely. Seeing Shen Ruorou come in, she smiled: "Cousin is here? Come and sit down."

Shen Ruorou stiffened her neck and refused to sit down: "Chen Weiwan, what do you want?"

Shen Weiwan put down the teacup, her eyes turned cold: "What do I want? I just want to take back what belongs to my Shen family. But cousin, now that Li Xiu has become a laughing stock, what are you going to do as a 'lover'?"

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