Yan Funing frowned. "Yang Shu told me that there was an accident that year. It was a candle that fell over, causing the copied drawings to be burned. But you said there was something fishy about the fire."
Gao Wei said, "I was staying at the jade shop that night. Luckily, the fire was discovered in time, so I wasn't burned to death, and the shop didn't suffer any damage. However, the copied drawings were definitely burned."
"Then why do you say someone wants to silence me?"
Yan Funing calmly put the jade pendant back on and put it back into her collar, her voice gentle.
Gao Wei moved his body: "If I tell the truth, can you save my life and let me go, Miss?"
"If you really tell the truth, I will ensure that you leave the capital safely."
Gao Wei nodded: "The one who ordered the jade pendant was a young woman."
"On the day of delivery, the woman gave me a gold ingot and asked me to leave the capital as soon as possible."
"This is the first time I've made so much money making jade, so naturally I won't leave. I also don't understand why the other party wants me to leave."
"Since then, people have often come to the jade shop, not buying anything or ordering jade, but just looking at me for a few seconds and then leaving."
"Then one night, a fire broke out in the jade shop. Luckily, I was still awake, and people from the shop next door came to help, so there was no loss of life or property. However, all the drawings that Master had always copied were burned."
"That was when Master discovered I was secretly taking on private work."
"He blamed me for neglecting my duty as night watchman, which caused the fire. In a rage, he kicked me out."
"The fire was suspicious."
"Plus, the original person who ordered the jade pendant was a noble lady, and someone else ordered the same jade pendant as the noble lady requested. I guess there are many hidden conspiracies among the wealthy families."
"To prevent any accidents, I simply left the capital."
Yan Fu frowned slightly and asked, "What did that young woman look like? Do you remember?"
"Remember, I dare not forget."
"Why?"
Gao Wei gritted his teeth and said, "If anything happens to me, I will go looking for her even if I become a ghost."
"More than ten years have passed. Her appearance must have changed. Are you able to recognize her?" Yan Funing asked again.
"Craftsmen like us who do delicate work all have the skills to make a living. When judging a person, we mainly look at the bone structure, and then the skin. A person's skin changes with age, but the bone structure does not."
Yan Funing looked at Yan Bojian and called out, "Third brother, has the old woman's side been replaced over the years?"
Yan Bojian said, "It's true that no one has ever been replaced."
"That's great." Yan Funing smiled faintly, "Bring Gao Wei into the mansion today and let him identify the woman from back then."
Gao Wei panicked: "Miss, I have said everything I need to say. You want me to identify him, and I am afraid of losing my life."
Yan Bojian leaned forward and asked, "Aren't you afraid that if you don't cooperate now, you'll be killed immediately?"
"I'm scared, so scared." Gao Wei's forehead was covered with sweat. "Excuse me, sir, if I point it out, can you two save my life?"
Yan Bojian said, "You hid so far away from the capital, but my people still found you. Once you point it out, I will naturally ensure your safe exit from the city."
Gao Wei nodded heavily in agreement.
Yan Funing asked Zhenfeng to untie him.
The group got on the car and left the farmyard.
When the golden crow sets in the west, return to the Duke's Mansion.
Gao Wei looked up at the tall door lintel and the majestic stone lions, and his heart couldn't help but become nervous. He stammered and asked, "What incident is that jade pendant related to?"
He would never dare to offend a family like the Duke's Mansion.
Yan Funing did not hide it from him and said directly: "The jade pendant I am wearing was made by your master, and the one you made is worn around the neck of the fake daughter of the Yan family."
Gao Wei was shocked when he heard this: "So, I have aided and abetted the evil."
Yan Funing said calmly, "Gao Wei, you've been with your master for many years and are considered a skilled craftsman. Given time, you'll surely achieve great accomplishments. But you're too eager for quick success. Now I hope you can honestly help me identify the identity. If you can help me find out the truth about the substitution, I will reward you handsomely."
Gao Wei nodded: "It's up to you, Miss."
Soon, everyone arrived at Nanyuan.
Yan Funing discussed with Yan Bojian, "Third brother, how can we check everyone around her without disturbing the old woman?"
"How can we not alarm her?" Yan Bojian pursed his lips at Gao Wei. "Isn't this guy very good at identifying people? Why don't we just go ahead and identify them directly? Now that we have evidence, why should we be afraid that the old woman will deny it?"
Gao Wei cautiously interrupted, "I'm quite good at judging people. Back then, the woman was in her early twenties, and now I think she's around forty."
Now just check women around forty years old.
Yan Bojian ordered the housekeeper to transfer all the women around 40 years old serving in the East Garden to the South Garden.
There are seven women of this age in the East Garden.
Soon, they entered Nanyuan and stood in a row in a daze.
The leader asked doubtfully, "Third Young Master, why are you doing this?"
Yan Bojian ignored her and asked Gao Wei, "Which one is it?"
Gao Wei narrowed his eyes and looked carefully at them one by one. After a moment, he frowned and shook his head: "Sir, Miss, none of these seven people are."
"Not here?"
Yan Funing frowned and wondered if the old woman had hired someone else?
Yan Bojian also said, "Could it be that the people from the West Garden and the North Garden are helping the old woman?"
The second and third wives have bad intentions and only follow the old woman's lead. It's very likely...
At this moment, Old Madam Yan came to Nanyuan supported by Yan Yan'er.
"Why did you send my people to Nanyuan?"
Yan Yan'er wasn't allowed to enter the South Garden, but now that she was accompanying Old Madam Yan, she looked around with a proud look on her face, "Third brother, are you going to answer Grandma's question?"
Old Madam Yan saw the clue at a glance.
She pointed her cane at Gao Wei and said, "This strange man came to recognize the person next to me."
Then he shifted his gloomy gaze to Yan Bojian and Yan Funing.
"You are investigating the matter and want to find out whether it was me who swapped the babies. So, if the Queen Mother grants the marriage, my consent will be invalidated?"
After saying that, she chuckled and said, "Yan Funing, I am your grandmother. How dare you disobey my grandmother's orders?"
Yan Funing gritted her teeth.
I have to say that the old woman in front of me is very experienced and has been in charge of the Duke's Mansion for decades. Naturally, she is not so easy to deal with.
Yan Bojian shielded his sister behind him and shouted, "How can I not doubt you? Yan Yan'er is not of the Yan family bloodline, yet you want to keep her by your side. Not only that, you even want her to marry Prince Chi in place of my biological sister. All these things make me suspect that Yan Yan'er has a close relationship with you."
"You bastard!" Old Madam Yan scolded. "You Nanyuan people have never respected me, so that's all."
"You're still making up stories about your elders like this, Yan Bojian. Is this what your parents taught you?"
Yan Bojian was naturally not afraid of an old woman. He snorted and said, "You are prejudiced against Nanyuan, so you switched my sister."
At worst, you will be punished by kneeling in the ancestral hall.
Madam Yan stamped her cane. "Everyone says I have a bad relationship with Nanyuan. If I wanted to switch babies, why not do it when the Crown Prince is born? Wouldn't it be more destructive to bring a fake Crown Prince to Nanyuan?"
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