"Miss, the Gu family is really going too far!" Shanhu rushed into the room with red eyes, her voice filled with suppressed anger.
Tai Jingwan paused while embroidering a handkerchief, and the needle tip pierced her fingertips, leaving a drop of blood.
When she saw Shanhu's expression, her heart sank suddenly - sure enough, the other thing Jiang Jinyue said in her "heartfelt voice" that day was true.
The Gu family touched her dowry.
"How much is missing?" She put down the embroidery frame, her voice surprisingly calm.
"Miss..." Shanhu's tears fell, and she whispered, "Most of the boxes in the warehouse are empty!"
The dowry that should have been locked up in the box disappeared as if it had wings. The box that was originally full was now empty.
Aunt Qiao came over and took out a brass key from her sleeve: "Try this. This is what I found outside."
Then he said with a grim face: "I'm afraid it was the key that someone else used to steal the storeroom where the young lady stored her dowry."
"How dare they!" Shanhu was so angry that she was shaking all over. "For three years, they actually did this behind your back..."
...
...
Tai Jingwan clenched her handkerchief tightly.
The silk material crumpled into a ball in her palm, just like her tight heart at the moment.
"It doesn't matter. We will get it back sooner or later. My Tai family's things will never be given to outsiders." She took a deep breath, "Do you know where the things went?"
Aunt Qiao's eyes were as sharp as a knife: "Shanhu, can you find out where the dowry went?"
"I've found out." Shanhu gritted her teeth and counted on her fingers, "The third young master pawned some of his belongings, and I recovered some of the recent ones, but the ones that were pawned earlier had already been bought. The third young lady's room is decorated with her jade screen, and the old lady is wearing the Dongzhu headband that came as a dowry from the young lady..." She suddenly choked up, her eyes flickering.
Tai Jingwan's heart suddenly skipped a beat. "What else?"
"Among the second lady's betrothal gifts..." Shanhu's voice trembled, "there were Miss's gold peony bracelets and ruby head ornaments. The most hateful thing is that the pair of mutton-fat jade bracelets on my cousin's wrists were clearly the coming-of-age gift given by the lady to Miss!"
"Ridiculous!" Nanny Qiao slammed the table, causing the teacups to clink.
"I have lived for most of my life, and I have never seen a respectable family use the dowry of the first wife to hire a concubine or a mistress!"
The house was deathly silent.
The shrill chirping of cicadas outside the window made the silence even more suffocating.
Tai Jingwan suddenly stood up, and her sleeves spilled a cup of cold tea.
The brown tea stain spread on the hem of her skirt like an ugly scar.
"Shanhu, make a list." Her voice was soft, but it was full of unquestionable force. "Write down each item and who has it, so that we can go back and get it back from them one by one."
When Zhenzhu came over holding the outer gown, she heard her master say, "Prepare the sedan chair. We are going to Yuehua Pavilion."
"Young lady is going to ask the second young lady for dowry?" Amber's eyes lit up. She didn't expect that the first person her young lady would deal with would be the second young master's wife.
Tai Jingwan shook her head.
She actually hadn't figured out what she was going to do.
It would be easy if those items were in Jiang Jinyue's hands, but those in Tang Wan'er's hands were more troublesome.
Thinking of her cousin's habit of pretending to be weak, Tai Jingwan felt a dull pain in her temples.
"Miss, why don't I let this old servant go?" Aunt Qiao stopped her, "There are some things that I think are more convenient than Miss."
"Don't worry, Ma'am." Tai Jingwan tied the belt of her cloak, "Sister Jiang is a sensible person."
Before leaving, he turned back and reminded a few people, "Don't alarm your father and mother first."
Shanhu stamped her feet anxiously: "Miss, when something like this happened, why don't you ask the master and the mistress to make the decision for you?"
"Silly girl." Aunt Qiao glared at her. "Young lady naturally has her own plans."
He turned around and looked at Tai Jingwan's back with worry - a woman's dowry is her unique private property, and the Gu family's blatant misappropriation is not only a slap in the face of Tai Jingwan, but also a trampling on the reputation of the Tai family!
"Shanhu," Tai Jingwan suddenly stopped in the corridor and ordered, "Move all the remaining things in the warehouse to the house on Xuanwu Street."
She squinted at the blooming crabapple tree in the corner of the yard, then said coldly, "As for the empty box... you know what to put in it."
Shanhu understood, and a fierce look flashed in her eyes: "Miss, don't worry, I will make them treat the fake as a treasure!"
I thought, doesn’t the Gu family like to sell young ladies’ dowries? Then let’s see how they sell those counterfeits!
Yuehua Pavilion
Jiang Jinyue was flipping through a storybook on the couch when she suddenly heard the maid hurriedly report that the eldest young master's wife was here to visit.
She ran out barefoot, and Jixiang chased after her and shouted, "Miss! You are still in your pajamas!"
"Why are you here, sister?" Jiang Jinyue ran to the gate of the courtyard, holding up her overly long skirt, with her hair loose, looking like a frightened rabbit.
However, looking at Jiang Jinyue's happy face, it didn't seem like she was taking a nap just now.
Tai Jingwan still hurriedly advised: "Sister, put on more clothes quickly, be careful not to catch a cold."
"Oh, sister, I was so happy when I heard that you were coming that I forgot. Please come in quickly." Jiang Jinyue stuck out her tongue embarrassedly, thinking that if this happened in the future, it would not be a big deal at all.
After all, there are a lot of people wearing bikinis.
"Sister, what do you want to talk to me about?" Jiang Jinyue asked with a smile again.
"I have something to ask, I wonder if it will trouble my sister." Tai Jingwan actually felt that it was a little difficult to say, but she still wanted to know how much of her dowry Gu Huaizhi took to give to Jiang Jinyue as a betrothal gift.
When Jiang Jinyue heard this, there was nothing she didn't understand. It must be that Tai Jingwan had discovered that the Gu family had used her dowry.
[It’s over, it’s over. The truth has been revealed that scumbag Gu used my beautiful sister’s dowry to propose to me! 】
Tai Jingwan paused - this thought came suddenly, but it confirmed her guess.
"Sister, what is our relationship? If you have anything to say, just tell me directly." Jiang Jinyue didn't expect Tai Jingwan to be polite to her, so she said quickly.
"In that case, I'll be frank." Tai Jingwan took a long breath, looked at Jiang Jinyue in front of her, and then said, "Sister, could you let me see the list of betrothal gifts that the Gu family gave to you?"
Jiang Jinyue held her forehead with her hand. She really didn't know how to respond to this.
Fortunately, the Jiang family gave her all the betrothal gifts.
Thinking of this, Jiang Jinyue sighed, quickly went into the inner room, took out a carved wooden box, and came out again.
After hearing Jiang Jinyue's thoughts, Tai Jingwan felt a little strange. Why did Jiang Jinyue know so much?
"Is this what you came for, sister?" She opened the box, and inside lay a gold-stamped betrothal gift list. "I've noticed something is wrong with this."
Tai Jingwan opened the list and saw the word "Tai" marked in red ink after the items such as "red gold silk bracelet" and "ruby headpiece".
"I kept all these items in the warehouse and never touched them. I was thinking of returning them to my sister at a suitable time."
Jiang Jinyue took out a bunch of keys and stuffed them into Tai Jingwan's pocket. "Since my sister is here today, let's go get them now!"
Tai Jingwan didn't answer.
She looked at Jiang Jinyue's anxious expression and suddenly felt her eyes getting hot.
This girl can obviously pretend to be confused...
"I'm not here to ask for anything," she said quietly. "I just want to check what's there."
"Sister, are you looking down on me?" Jiang Jinyue stood up suddenly, her eyes wide open, "No matter how useless I, Jiang Jinyue, will never covet other people's dowries!" As she said this, she even wanted to pull her to the storeroom.
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