Chapter 46 "The old man had a question just now, but you..."
Baozhu rushed in and shouted, "We caught them! We caught them! The young master caught the thief meeting with Miss Lin outside. They're in the front hall right now!"
Ji Shu changed her clothes and stormed to the front hall. When she saw the servant dressed as a "ghost" and Lin Qiaoyan kneeling on the ground, she felt as if all the acupoints in her body had been opened by anger. Her face was red as she cursed, "You ungrateful wretch! Not only did you steal our things last time, but now you're making people haunt our house. You're bullying us so that we can't even have a peaceful day."
"I should have killed you with one sword. My mother was so good to you and your mother."
Lin Qiaoyan knelt on the ground, huddled beside the chair, tears streaming down her face, unable to utter a single word.
Yu stood quietly to the side, unable to see Ji Jinghe anywhere. Just as she was about to ask a question, there was a sound behind her.
Ji Jinghe helped the old lady over, with Shen Qiulan following behind.
Yu An curtsied and waited for the elders to be seated one by one before ordering tea to be served.
Because of these things, Shen Qiulan's complexion has been poor lately. She turned her head away and looked away, not even glancing at Lin Qiaoyan kneeling on the ground.
Mother Ji gritted her teeth, her usual gentleness completely gone, replaced by an imposing presence.
"Come on, tell me, what happened?"
Ji Jinghe sat to the side, leisurely picking up his tea, seemingly unwilling to speak. Yu An turned to look at the person on the ground, who was crying uncontrollably and could no longer speak clearly.
Hearing the incessant crying, Ji Shu felt irritated and pointed, saying, "She can't explain it clearly, you explain it."
The man dressed as a ghost, bound hand and foot on the ground, replied with a gloomy face: "Considering that I have learned some light-body skills, Miss Lin came to me with money, gave me the key to the guest room, told me to hide in the guest room, and instructed me to go to the courtyard of whoever the young mistress saw during the day and scare them at night."
"After all, it is the Marquis's mansion, so I dared not ask Miss Lin for the reason, but she would not tell me. She only said that the better the matter was handled, the more money would be received."
The man stammered, "Nearly a month ago, I sneaked in under the guise of a deliveryman and hid in the guest room."
Madam Ji glared at her and said angrily, "Did you spread those rumors in the manor?"
The man shook his head: "I don't know. I can't be seen by anyone during the day, and I don't even know what rumors are circulating in your household."
Lin Qiaoyan stepped forward and knelt before Shen Qiulan, wailing, "Aunt, I was wrong! Please, Aunt, save me! Qiaoyan really knows she was wrong... I was just momentarily blinded by greed and wanted to take revenge on Chu Yu'an. I didn't really mean to scare you..."
Shen Qiulan ignored her, turning her head to one side and not even glancing at her dirty face. Seeing this, the nanny beside her had no choice but to step forward and drag Lin Qiaoyan aside.
Madam Ji sneered, "You think you can just take revenge on the young mistress of the Ji family like that?"
Qingque stepped forward and spread a package on the ground. "This is what I found in the guest room, and I also found this inside..."
As he spoke, he presented the items to Ji's mother and Ji Jinghe.
It is a small cloth doll with Yu An's birth date and time pasted on it, and it is covered with silver needles.
"Well, they've even resorted to this kind of tactic."
Ji Shu angrily retorted, "Lin Qiaoyan, aren't you afraid of retribution? What did my sister-in-law do to you that you're bullying her like this?!"
Ji Jinghe glanced at it briefly, a strange feeling passing through his heart, and then ordered someone to take it away and deal with it.
"Because of you alone, so many innocent people have been implicated. Your heart is so vicious. I think there's no need to handle this privately. Let's report it to the authorities directly," Madam Ji said solemnly.
Upon hearing this, Lin Qiaoyan had no choice but to kowtow repeatedly to the ground, pleading, "That scoundrel is not mine! Please, Madam, investigate thoroughly. Do not report this to the authorities. If you do, my life will be over..."
Ji Shu suppressed a cough: "If it wasn't you, who else could it be? If it weren't for your instigation, how could you and Mother have fallen into your trap and sent people to search my sister-in-law's yard? Your Lin family always comes up with another plan when one fails. Don't think I don't know."
“Every time you come to our mansion, my mother always treats you to the best food and drink. My sister-in-law only didn’t see you during her afternoon nap, and you felt humiliated and harbored resentment. If my brother hadn’t found out the truth, wouldn’t your next step have been to plan to kick my sister-in-law out of the house and make yourself the young mistress?”
"Even my aunt and I got sick because you scared us."
Ji Shu said indignantly, "Brother, just listen to Grandmother and report it to the authorities directly."
Lin Qiaoyan wailed and begged for mercy, but seeing that no one was moved, she had no choice but to kneel down in front of Yu An again.
"I was wrong. I was bewitched. Please, young mistress, have mercy and don't report me to the authorities. Just don't report me. I'll accept any punishment you give me. I'll never do it again, never again..."
She gripped her clothes tightly, almost screaming herself hoarse. Her makeup was ruined by tears, and her usual arrogance and frivolity were gone.
Looking at her, Yu'an was reminded of herself a year ago.
She had also begged others in this way, crying...
The difference is that Lin Qiaoyan brought this upon herself.
Yu'an looked up at the head of the table and said, "Grandmother, your granddaughter-in-law will listen to you."
As Lin Qiaoyan was being dragged away, she kept saying that she hadn't done it, but apart from Ji Jinghe, no one noticed her words.
Regardless of everyone's concerns, Shen Qiulan led her people back to the courtyard early. After settling Ji Jinghe and Yu An in for a few moments, Ji's mother was also helped back by Ji Shu.
Suddenly, only the couple remained in the large front hall.
Yu An glanced at the person in front of her, hesitating whether to bow before leaving, when he heard his words.
When did you find out the person was hiding in the guest room?
Thinking that he might leave one day, Yu'an no longer intended to hide anything and said frankly, "It will definitely be later than yours, sir."
How did Lin Qiaoyan know your birthday?
Yu An remained noncommittal.
Ji Jinghe was speechless, but immediately understood. His brows furrowed deeply. "Why are you doing this?"
Knowing full well that he wouldn't let Lin Qiaoyan off easily, she still went to the trouble of doing so.
Yu An: "Sir, you saw it just now. If I hadn't done that, she might not have been sent to the yamen. Last time, it was because you didn't punish her severely enough that she was able to make a comeback. If it's the same this time, won't I have to suffer again?"
Lin Qiaoyan was foolish. If she had done that last time, with no one in the household trusting her, she would most likely have been sent away on the grounds of being "unclean".
Unfortunately, times have changed.
Ji Jinghe stared at the person in front of him, feeling only a sense of unfamiliarity.
"The old man had a question earlier, but you acquiesced, didn't you?"
Yu An spoke carefully, without a trace of guilt on her face, "The old man has always been fair, but he has tacitly approved of my actions. Surely he won't go to court later to testify for Lin Qiaoyan and say that I framed her, will he?"
"Why don't you explain the ghost story to me clearly?"
She didn't start the haunting in her house, nor was it her doing alone, but she took all the blame upon herself.
Yu An: "Even if I explain it clearly, do you think the old man will listen to me? The old man only believes his own eyes, not mine."
She smiled at him before leaving, her composure revealing her fearlessness.
Because she knew that Ji Jinghe wouldn't expose her.
She could have easily pretended to be oblivious to this, but she didn't. It seemed that her wicked intentions were at play; she wanted Ji Jinghe to see clearly that although he called himself a gentleman, he was actually just an ordinary villain.
He's just biased.
Only after the "real ghost" was caught did the Ji family finally achieve complete peace.
With her inner demons gone, Ji Shu recovered completely in less than two days and continued to linger around Yu An, chattering away all day long.
The Lin family was both wicked and stupid. Ji Shu was truly amazed. She only heard that the Lin family gave Lin Qiaoyan a good lesson and that they spent a lot of effort to get her out of prison.
The person was tortured half to death and disfigured.
Ji Shu: "Fools always cause trouble. Let's see who would dare to want her now."
If it weren't for her, the brother and sister-in-law wouldn't have argued so easily.
Ji Shu questioned Yu An for a long time but couldn't find out why the two were arguing. She tried to smooth things over and said a few nice words for her brother, but Yu An didn't budge.
“My brother is a quiet person. He has never liked to talk since he was a child, and he can’t say nice things either, but I’m sure he likes you, sister-in-law.”
Yu An didn't take it seriously, burying herself in her needlework, seemingly listening but not really.
Ji Shu said shyly, "I used to think that my brother liked Xu Jingshu, so I was very dissatisfied when you married into the family. But later, I gradually changed my mind."
Her sister-in-law is a really nice person.
"Oh, right."
Ji Shu suddenly remembered, "Just yesterday, I heard rumors that Xu Jingshu got engaged."
Yu An was surprised, "Engaged?"
Ji Shu nodded, "These words should not be false."
That's strange. According to what Xu Jingshu told her, she shouldn't be the kind of person who would easily abandon Ji Jinghe and marry someone else.
Ji Shu sighed, "Sister Xu has changed a lot. She wasn't like this before. She would never get angry or upset over anything before, but in the last year or two, she has completely changed."
Yu'an knew very little about Xu Jingshu, so how could she talk about change or constancy? As she listened, she just let it pass by in a daze.
After Ji Suyi recovered from her illness, she would sometimes bring her grandson to Banmu Courtyard to chat with her. Sometimes she would run into Ji Shu, and the whole house would be filled with people chatting and laughing.
"Yu'an's cooking skills are really good. How can you do all of this by yourself?"
Ji Suyi looked at the lifelike embroidery on the embroidery frame, which resembled a portrait, and exclaimed in amazement.
Ji Shu smiled and said, "That's right, my sister-in-law has mastered excellent skills and plans to finish embroidering this as a birthday gift for the Empress Dowager."
Ji Suyi: "The Empress Dowager will definitely catch my eye."
With only three or four days left until the Empress Dowager's birthday, Yu'an has only a few finishing touches to complete. It will be framed and put into a box tomorrow.
Ji Suyi looked at her grandson in her arms and said, "His Majesty is holding a grand banquet for the Empress Dowager's birthday this time, and all the officials of the court will be there. You should call Jinghe home early so that the two of you can go together. With his favorite in court there, it will be good for the nobles in the palace to take a good look at you."
As the three were chatting, the child on the tatami mat suddenly started playing around, knocking a teacup off the small table.
Tea splashed from the cup, leaving a light brown stain on the plain white satin.
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