The hall fell silent; you could hear a pin drop.
Qi Huaiyu's face was grim, but he forced himself to straighten his back: "Jiuwei, have you drunk too much today, or have you been bewitched by someone? You're talking nonsense."
Xin Jiuwei calmly pulled a stack of yellowed papers from her sleeve, her fingers twitching slightly as the papers jingled. "Please look," she said, "this is Granny Feng's indenture from twenty years ago. It clearly states 'Qi Feng Shi.' And..." She unfolded another sheet of paper, "This is Young Master Qi's birth certificate. The father listed here, Qi A Da, is not any of my maternal grandfather's children. If you don't believe me, you can inquire in Yuncheng whether the Qi family there has such a Qi A Da."
An uproar immediately erupted among the guests. The wife of a compiler from the Hanlin Academy took the document and examined it carefully, exclaiming in surprise, "This...this is indeed the official seal!"
"Forgery! This is absolutely a forgery!" Cold sweat beaded on Qi Huaiyu's forehead, but his voice suddenly rose, "Jiuwei, I know you had a falling out with me a few days ago, but how can you slander me like this?"
"Slander?" Xin Jiuwei chuckled and clapped her hands. The steward immediately brought over three wooden boxes with several servants.
"The first box contains the accounts of the silver that Young Master Qi has withdrawn from the Xin family over the years." Xin Jiuwei opened the wooden box and took out the top ledger. "Since he entered the manor with Granny Feng when he was young, he has withdrawn a total of three thousand eight hundred taels. This is not even enough to cover the money that Granny Feng told him to steal and lose at the gambling den."
"Nonsense!" Qi Huaiyu could no longer remain calm. He flipped through a few pages haphazardly and suddenly sneered, "There's no signature or fingerprint on this at all, so how can it be considered valid?"
Xin Jiuwei gave a soft, cold laugh and said, "The second box."
As she finished speaking, she glanced at Xin Xiyao beside her.
Xin Xiyao stepped forward, opened the second wooden box, turned around gracefully, and showed everyone the thick stack of Xuan paper inside, covered with calligraphy.
Her voice was clear and cool like a mountain spring, "Young Master Qi, do you still remember where you got the 'Qing Shang Diao' that made you famous three years ago?"
Qi Huaiyu's eyes darkened, and he stubbornly said, "Of course it was my own doing, and all of you gentlemen know about it."
Xin Xiyao turned to the crowd and said, “Please take a look, everyone. This is the original manuscript of my poem ‘Qing Shang Diao’ that I wrote when I was fifteen years old. Every page has my personal seal.”
Qi Huaiyu said, "Three years have passed since I composed this piece. You can simply copy it from the score and affix your personal seal. How can you prove that it was written before mine?"
Xin Xiyao chuckled and looked at Xin Jiuwei, who then said, "Wang Qing, bring your sister's zither."
The zither was placed down, and Xin Xiyao casually plucked the strings, and a clear and melodious tune flowed out. "When I composed this piece back then, the modulation in the seventh section was wrong, and you copied that mistake as well. Actually, there is another section after this."
She slowly sat down, her hands stroking the strings.
Upon hearing this, everyone agreed that it was indeed more complete.
Isn't this scene just like the one at the Spring Banquet before?
"Wasn't the piece Miss Xue played that day also the one Miss Xin lost? It seems it was composed by Qi Huaiyu!"
"He must be a habitual thief. I never would have guessed!"
Qi Huaiyu was speechless, unable to think of a rebuttal for a long time.
“This piece was composed on the anniversary of my mother’s death,” Xin Xiyao said softly, tears welling in her eyes. “The part that was used incorrectly was originally meant to use the ‘feather’ note.”
Liu Qi, who had come to the banquet today, was also knowledgeable in music. Upon hearing this, he said, "The Yu tone is mournful but not sorrowful, most suitable for feelings of remembrance. How could a plagiarist like you understand these subtleties?"
The guests immediately began to discuss the matter, and several scholars who had previously praised Qi Huaiyu showed shock and disdain.
“The third box.” Xin Jiuwei pressed her advantage, lifting the lid of the last box and taking out a stack of yellowed manuscripts. “These are the original manuscripts of Young Master Qi’s poems that have made him ‘famous throughout the capital’ over the years—every single one of them is plagiarized from my elder sister’s unpublished works.”
She distributed the poems to everyone to review, and sure enough, they were all poems that Qi Huaiyu had published. However, when compared with the manuscript that Xin Xiyao had just shown, the handwriting was exactly the same.
"This poem, 'A Journey to the Frontier,' was actually written by Miss Xin?" a scholar exclaimed in surprise. "Two years ago, Young Master Qi composed it in public at a poetry gathering, and I was completely convinced of my defeat. It turns out it was plagiarism too!"
Seeing that his scheme had been exposed, Qi Huaiyu could no longer maintain his composure. "Xin Jiuwei, why are you being so aggressive?"
"I'm being aggressive?" Xin Jiuwei suddenly laughed. "Then dare you tell me what else you've done?"
She looked at the crowd and said loudly, "Everyone, since things have come to this, I will no longer hide anything and will expose Qi Huaiyu's true colors to everyone!"
"Do you all think that my elder brother is beyond redemption, that our Xin family has produced such an incompetent son, and that we will have to rely entirely on Qi Huaiyu for the future?"
No one answered, but Xin Jiuwei could tell from their expressions that they all thought the same thing.
"Wang Qing, please invite Miss Xin Kui here."
Wang Qing quickly brought in a tall woman wearing a cloak.
Xin Kui walked gracefully over, and some people at the table recognized her.
"Is that Miss Xin Kui from Pan Yue Lou? I remember she had a conflict with Young Master Xin before."
Xin Kui stood beside Xin Jiuwei and recounted how Qi Huaiyu had tricked him into framing Xin Yunzhou.
The guests erupted in uproar. Several young men from prominent families who had previously been on good terms with Xin Yunzhou glared at him angrily: "Qi Huaiyu! Yunzhou treated you well too, yet you are so heartless!"
"Such a despicable person is a disgrace to civilization!"
Xin Jiuwei had been waiting for this moment. Her eyes were slightly red, but her voice was exceptionally clear: "Do you all understand now? Over the years, Qi Huaiyu has used the power of my Xin family to climb the social ladder, while secretly framing my siblings and me at every turn! Today, I, Xin Jiuwei, swear here and now—" She suddenly raised her voice, "From this day forward, the Xin family and Qi Huaiyu are completely estranged!"
"Third Miss, you're quite the schemer." Qi Huaiyu gritted her teeth, raising her head with eyes full of resentment. "Without me, Qi Huaiyu, would your Xin family have the prestige you have today? All these years of painstaking effort—"
"Painstaking management?" Xin Jiuwei sneered, interrupting him. "Young Master Qi's so-called painstaking management is stealing my sister's poems and pretending to be a talented scholar? It's squandering the Xin family's money at gambling dens? It's wearing the fine clothes bought with the Xin family's money and swindling people outside?"
She stepped forward slowly, raising her voice with each word. The surrounding guests began to whisper and point.
Qi Huaiyu's face was ashen, yet he remained undeterred: "Jiuwei, I know you've always loved me, and you're only slandering me like this because I rejected your feelings..."
"Like?" Xin Jiuwei suddenly laughed, a laugh so cold it was chilling. "Brothers and sisters, Jiuwei has nothing to be embarrassed about. You all know that I was young and naive and admired Qi Huaiyu. But you all know how he treated me."
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