The jade porcelain cup fell to the ground with a "bang", and the fragments splashed right at Yuan Zhao's feet.
Wei Shaoqing turned around and stared at Yuan Zhao who was standing at the door, and was stunned for a long while.
Yuan Zhao was wearing a red dress today, with a white cloak over it.
The red and white colors complement her skin tone perfectly in winter.
She hasn't taken those medicines these days, although her face still looks a little sick.
But after going through so many things, his overall state is completely different from his previous decadent and lifeless appearance.
Now, even though the fragments almost flew onto her face, she remained calm.
He just stood there and glanced at the people in the hall.
When the officials saw her come in, they all bowed and greeted her in unison: "Greetings, Princess!"
This sound brought Wei Shaoqing back to his senses. He turned his face away and clenched his fists.
What's wrong with him? He has been staring at Yuan Zhao in a daze for several times.
Yuan Zhao walked towards Wei Shaoqing and asked with concern, "What's wrong with you, husband? Why are you so angry?"
She turned to the county magistrate standing aside and said, "Master Zhao, is it because the thief hasn't been caught yet? Is that why your husband is angry?"
But at this time, Biyun opened the box placed in the hall.
"Your Highness, it seems that the things in this box are part of the lost items!"
Yuan Zhao took a look around and saw more than a dozen boxes neatly arranged in the hall.
I guess these were all sent by Wei Shaoqing to his mistress before!
Seeing this, Lord Zhao could only talk:
"Reporting to the princess, the thief has been found, but..."
He looked up at Yuan Zhao, then at Wei Shaoqing, and didn't dare to say anything else.
He couldn't afford to offend either the princess or his boss.
Wei Shaoqing was extremely angry when he mentioned this. He waved his sleeves, sat on the armchair, and shouted in a low voice:
"Yuan Zhao! What are you doing?"
Yuan Zhao was stunned, his face showing confusion as if he knew nothing: "What are you talking about, my husband? What do you mean by me making a fuss?"
"Something is missing from this house. Shouldn't we report it to the police?"
Wei Shaoqing rubbed his brows and took a deep breath. "If something is missing from home, just come to me and solve it privately! Why make such a big fuss about such a small amount of things?"
He really didn't expect that he was almost caught in bed with someone!
You know, last night those soldiers suddenly broke into Xingyu Lane, and he was so scared that he surrendered his weapons immediately. Thinking about it now, he still feels scared.
If so many of his men saw him lying in another woman's bed with their own eyes, how would he stop them from gossiping?
Yuan Zhao raised her eyebrows. Compared to Wei Shaoqing, she seemed more calm and composed.
"Is that all?" She sat down leisurely on the chair, her thin lips moving slightly. "I'm afraid my husband hasn't checked the warehouse yet, right?"
Wei Shaoqing was startled, looked up at her, and asked:
"Warehouse? What happened to the warehouse?"
Yuan Zhao didn't answer him. He glanced at the officials trembling with fear beside him and stood up.
"Husband, you should go and take a look and then decide what to do."
"Although you have seen it before, please come and take another look together."
————
On the way to the warehouse, Wei Shaoqing strode forward.
For some reason, he always had a bad feeling in his heart.
Yuan Zhao walked behind him, looking at his serious expression, not wanting to miss the expression on his face.
Sure enough, when Wei Shaoqing saw that only the broken table frame was left in the entire warehouse, his eyes widened, his face full of disbelief:
“This…what’s going on?!”
Yuan Zhao didn't say anything. It was only then that Zhao Ping next to him finally found the opportunity to explain:
"Master Wei, this... is precisely because of the huge amount of treasure and the princess's order that we sent people out to search without reporting to you in time..."
Zhao Ping wiped the nonexistent sweat off his face, wondering: What's wrong with this prefect? Why doesn't he seem worried when something is lost in his own house?
Wei Shaoqing's face turned pale and he stared at the empty warehouse.
"It's almost the end of the year, and my husband is busy with government affairs. Last night, a servant came to report that a thief had broken into the mansion, but when I came to check, it was empty."
"Thinking that my husband was busy, I didn't let anyone disturb him and went to find Master Zhao first."
Yuan Zhao turned around and gave Zhao Ping an admiring look: "Thank goodness Lord Zhao is so capable. He caught the thief in just a few hours!"
Zhao Ping quickly waved his hands. "I'm not worthy of your praise, Princess. The thief has been taken to the government office." He added with a worried look, "Only a portion of the stolen goods has been recovered. Many are still missing..."
Wei Shaoqing's face became even uglier. He glanced at his servant Chen Lin, asking what was going on.
Yue Niang's birthday is in two days. Last night he asked Chen Lin to come and carry a box of things to Xingyu Lane.
But how come everything in this entire warehouse disappeared?
How could Chen Lin know? He could only shake his head.
Wei Shaoqing was now getting anxious. This entire warehouse, so much gold and silver treasures just disappeared like that?!
Moreover, the government has now arrested Yue Niang as a thief, and the things they found were also the ones he had sent over before.
What should I do?
Wei Shaoqing's face flushed red, and he was quite annoyed. He flicked his sleeves and walked towards the main hall.
Yuan Zhao sat down in the main hall and asked Zhao Ping to sit down as well.
Zhao Ping glanced at Wei Shaoqing, and seeing Yuan Zhao looking at him meaningfully, he slowly sat down.
"So these things were all found by Lord Zhao from the thief's house?" Yuan Zhao asked.
Zhao Ping nodded and was about to speak when Wei Shaoqing, with a sullen look on his face, interrupted him: "These things don't mean they belong to our family. Aren't there still many things we haven't found? Maybe we made a mistake. Let's release Madam Bai first!"
He finished speaking with his head down, but heard no response for a long time. He looked up and saw Yuan Zhao and his subordinates looking at him as if he were a fool.
"Doesn't the prince consort know?" Gan Tang asked with a sneer.
"What?" Wei Shaoqing looked confused.
Gan Tang opened a box on the ground. The box was purple, with a fine texture, and felt very soft in the hand.
"The wood used for these boxes is purple heartwood, which is worth a fortune. Do you think a commoner can afford such precious wood?"
A trace of embarrassment flashed across Wei Shaoqing's face, his eyes wandering: "Even if this purple heart wood is precious, maybe their family can afford it?"
Now Zhao Ping's eyes became even stranger, and he looked at Wei Shaoqing with suspicion.
Lord Wei, this... don't you really know?
Yuan Zhao picked up a cup of tea and looked down at the steam rising from the cup.
Gan Tang looked at Wei Shaoqing and only smiled before continuing, "Purple heartwood is not only precious, but also only grown in the princess's fiefdom, making it extremely rare."
Her tone rose slightly: "Don't you know, Prince Consort... that this purple heartwood is specially used by our princess?"
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