Chapter 26: She was wronged again.

With this thought in mind, Xiao Qingyuan didn't want to waste a moment longer. He said to Chu Yanluo, "Yanluo, go back to your room and wait for me. I'll go get my private vault key back and kick out that usurper!"

"Then Yanluo will wait here for the good news from the young master."

After Chu Yanlu finished speaking, she watched as Xiao Qingyuan hurriedly left the courtyard with his servant, a relaxed and smug smile appearing on her face.

Shen Wantang was indeed a lowly concubine's daughter. She had only just entered the house, yet she dared to take the key to Xiao Qingyuan's private treasury and empty it.

Those who are ignorant and inexperienced would probably be unable to resist seeing the treasures in the private vault. They've probably never seen many rare and precious items in their lives, so it's no wonder they can't control themselves when they suddenly see a vault full of treasures.

It was indeed much easier to deal with Shen Wantang than with Shen Mingxuan.

With just a few words from her, she could get Xiao Qingyuan busy chasing people away.

On the other side, Xiao Qingyuan once again stormed into the Wutong Garden.

"Shen Wantang!"

Seeing that he looked terrible, Shen Wantang wondered what she had done to offend him. She stood up and asked calmly, "Your Highness, is there something you need?"

"You took my storeroom key, why won't you give it back? That's all my private property, you have no right to dispose of it, much less embezzle it!"

“I know that the property inside is all the prince’s private property, so I only listened to the prince and took a little gold and silver that you don’t like. I didn’t touch anything else.”

"Impossible! I heard from the servants that you moved a lot of things from my storeroom!"

"Which servant said that? Could Your Highness bring someone here to testify in person?"

Xiao Qingyuan turned to his servant and said, "Who told you that? Bring her over and expose her hypocrisy to her face!"

Mo Ji: "This... I only overheard a little bit."

Xiao Qingyuan wanted to kick him, but this wasn't the time to deal with the servant. He held out his hand to Shen Wantang: "Give me back the storeroom key!"

"Your Highness, your treasury key has been taken away by Mother."

"What?! That's my storeroom key! Why did you give it to her?"

Shen Wantang looked bewildered: "Do you still distinguish between the young master and mother so clearly? Besides, when mother asked me for your storeroom key, I couldn't refuse! But don't worry, young master, your mother hasn't touched anything in your storeroom. She just instructed the head steward to take people to inventory your storeroom and register everything, so that you wouldn't be unaware if something was lost."

"If Your Highness is not at ease, you can go and check the storeroom. The head steward probably hasn't finished taking inventory yet."

Xiao Qingyuan was speechless.

He clenched his fists, feeling somewhat frustrated: "I will naturally go and check the storeroom. If I find it emptied out, you can get out of the Ning Prince's Mansion! The Ning Prince's Mansion will never take in someone of bad character!"

Shen Wantang bowed slightly and said, "Your Highness, please go and verify it."

Xiao Qingyuan snorted coldly, then turned and left with his servant.

The master and servant quickly went to the storeroom.

Inside the storeroom, the head steward was indeed leading people to inventory the contents.

It was packed full of gold, silver, jewelry, ancient books, paintings, jade, agate, and so on—it was simply dazzling.

Mo Ji couldn't help but say, "Sir, your warehouse hasn't been emptied out! The treasures are still here!"

"So you're saying she emptied my warehouse?"

"Sir, I'm innocent! I didn't say that!" Didn't you say it yourself?

Mo Ji muttered something under his breath, then said, "Master, it seems the Princess Consort isn't as we thought. You've wronged her several times; isn't that a bit unfair?"

"Shut up. Do you think I need to interfere with what I'm doing?"

Although Xiao Qingyuan said this, he actually felt that he had wronged Shen Wantang several times for no reason, which was really inappropriate.

He wasn't the kind of person who would wrongly accuse innocent people before, so what's wrong with him lately?

As for Shen Wantang, her temper is truly impeccable. Even though he has wronged and misunderstood her, she has never thrown a tantrum and still speaks to him politely. It is indeed rare to find such a person. No wonder her usually picky mother likes her so much.

When the head steward saw him arrive, he hurriedly stepped forward to greet him: "Young Master, you've arrived. Did you come to check if anything is missing from your storeroom?"

Xiao Qingyuan glanced at him and asked, "How much of my stuff did Shen Wantang take?"

"Your Highness, there weren't many. Just a few cheap, outdated gold bracelets and hairpins. The Princess Consort didn't touch any of the valuable treasures."

The head steward was puzzled: "Your Highness, didn't you personally promise the Crown Princess to come and get it? Didn't you give her the key? Could it be that the Crown Princess stole your key?"

Xiao Qingyuan was somewhat irritated: "Nonsense! How could she steal my key? I gave it to her!"

"So you've changed your mind again? Are you planning to take back all the things the Crown Princess took?"

"Nonsense! Which eye of yours saw me go back on my word? It's just a few worthless gold and silver items. She took them, so what? Why would I go and ask for them back? Am I that petty? Is Steward Liu deliberately trying to annoy me? Don't you want to be the steward anymore? Want to clean the chamber pots?"

"No, no, please forgive me, Your Highness!"

Xiao Qingyuan found him in the way, so he pushed him aside, walked around the storeroom, and then picked up a brightly colored blood coral ornament.

He remembered that this item was a tribute from a small country in Southeast Asia, which claimed it was their national treasure. Later, it came into the hands of the Empress Dowager, who admired it for a few days and, seeing that he liked it, gave it to him.

Presumably, if this stuff is sold, it can buy Yanluo a lot of bird's nest, right?

He was about to leave with the blood coral ornament when he was stopped by Steward Liu: "Young Master, you cannot take this."

Xiao Qingyuan glared: "You dare stop me? This is my storeroom, I can take whatever I want! Get out of my way!"

But the head steward, who used to fawn over him, suddenly became tough today: "If the young master insists on taking it, then this old servant will have no choice but to report to the prince and princess. I suppose that even if the young master takes it, he will not be able to leave the palace. Therefore, it would be better for the young master to put it back."

In all his years of life, no one had ever dared to speak to Xiao Qingyuan like that. His face immediately darkened: "You dare threaten me?"

"This old servant dares not."

"You keep saying you wouldn't dare, but you don't actually respect me at all! I'm going to take it away today. It was originally mine, and going to my father won't help! Get out of my way! If you block my path again, I'll cripple you!"

Steward Liu naturally wouldn't confront his master head-on. In any case, his master couldn't possibly leave the palace with such a rare and exquisite blood coral, and even if he did, no shop in the entire capital would dare to accept it.

He quickly made way.

Xiao Qingyuan gave him a cold look, lifted his foot to walk out, but stopped after only two steps.

At the entrance, a woman in flowing white robes stood there, seemingly radiating an ethereal aura. Her quiet presence overshadowed all the rare treasures in the warehouse.