Gu Songhan whispered to Jiang Segu, "Are you going to bring all the maids in the manor? If so, it's bound to raise suspicion. What if someone doesn't want to get involved, or is being coerced into deliberately changing their voice..."
"Don't worry, I have a way."
He then summoned Qinghong and Qingying and whispered something in their ears.
Qinghong and Qingying frowned, but after catching a glimpse of Gu Songhan out of the corner of their eye, they quickly relaxed and went to do the things Jiang Segu had asked them to do.
Qiaolian, who was carrying a South Sea pearl headdress, returned in a flustered manner.
"Miss, something terrible has happened! The South Sea pearl headdress set we gave to the eldest daughter is missing one South Sea pearl butterfly earring."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Segu flew into a rage, "What happened! How could something be missing?"
Qiaolian shrank back slightly. "This servant doesn't know either! This servant delivered the things to Huilan Courtyard as instructed by Miss. At first, the eldest young lady was unwilling to accept them, but this servant persuaded her for a while before she finally accepted them!"
When the maid handed the tray over to Mu Ying, she glanced at it and noticed that one earring was missing. She quickly returned to inform the young lady.
"How could you do this! You've made the older sister think I was unwilling to give her the jewelry!"
Qiaolian knelt down and argued, "Miss, when this set of jewelry was taken out of the jewelry room, it was checked and nothing was missing! Who knew that after walking around the courtyard, one earring was missing."
Gu Songhan recognized the play the master and servant were putting on, and raised an eyebrow at Jiang Segu, as if asking if he needed to intervene!
Jiang Segu shook his head at him and said sternly, "You must not have embezzled the goods yourself, or you couldn't have been tempted by greed and kept them for yourself!"
"This servant wouldn't dare! Please, Sixth Miss, investigate thoroughly! This servant is willing to be searched to prove my innocence!"
"In that case, Granny Lai, take Qiaolian to the inner room and search her!"
Granny Lai stood up and followed Qiaolian into the inner room.
The two came out quickly.
"Replying to Sixth Miss, Sister Qiaolian does not have any earrings on her person."
"Although you didn't take the earring, it was still lost while you were in the yard. You have to search every inch of the backyard and find it! If you don't, don't blame me for being ruthless!"
Qiaolian seemed to be startled by these words and suddenly had a flash of inspiration. "Miss, I remember now! Just now, when I was following behind you with my jewelry, a maid bumped into me. I didn't pay attention at the time, but now that I think about it, the earrings might have been stolen by that maid!"
"Did you get a clear look at that person's face?"
Qiaolian replied, "Even if I turn to ashes, I will remember!"
Who is it?
"This servant does not know who she is, but if she stands in front of me again, this servant will definitely recognize her!"
Gu Songhan finally understood what Jiang Segu was trying to do.
"Go, relay my message: have all the maids in the back courtyard go...go to Biyue Hall! I want to see whose hands are so dirty!"
Biyuetang was the place in the backyard of the Marquis's mansion where people listened to operas. It was a large place, so no one suspected Jiang Segu's intentions for a while.
Soon, news spread in the backyard that one of the South Sea pearl earrings had gone missing from the priceless South Sea pearl jewelry that Jiang Segu had given to Jiang Chuhui.
The maids from each courtyard were summoned to the Biyue Hall.
Jiang Segu ordered his men to enter through the east gate, and those who had been seen by Qiaolian were led out through the west gate by Qiaohe.
The garden is located to the west of Biyue Hall, and it is the only way to go to any of the courtyards.
It was cloudy today, and it was already evening, so the light was very dim.
Following Jiang Segu's instructions, Qingying and Qinghong, one dressed as Mama Hou's clothes and the other disguised as Zilan, led Granny Lai and the other two, waiting for the servants to pass by the garden one by one.
From then on, screams continued to erupt in the garden.
So frightened were Madam Jiang and her daughter, who had come out for a stroll, that they dared not linger in the garden.
By noon, Qiaolian had finished looking at the last maid, and Jiang Segu sat dejectedly in a chair, frowning.
Could it be that Zilan really returned to the manor quietly?
On the other side, Qingying and the others also welcomed the last maid. Granny Lai listened intently to the man's screams, but still shook her head.
Neither of them seem quite right!
Qingying told Jiang Segu about the results, and Jiang Segu was completely dejected.
What happened?!
"Have all the maids in the manor arrived?"
Qiaolian was comparing the records with the servants' register of the Marquis's residence. "This servant is checking!"
"Apart from Zhou Mama, who serves the old lady, several maids who are getting married in the next few days, and Li Xu's wife who went home to recuperate yesterday, they all came!"
Qiaolian closed the booklet and added, "These maids and Li Xu's wife are all servants born into the Marquis's household."
Since she was born into a family, she couldn't possibly be Zilan's twin sister.
"Go ask Li Xu's family what illness they have and when they were born!"
Qiaolian agreed and left.
Jiang Segu led Qiaohe and the others back to the courtyard.
As soon as they returned to the courtyard, Zhou's mother arrived.
"The old lady sent me to ask if the young lady has found the earring. If not, the old lady said she would give the young lady some silver to replace it."
As he spoke, he took out a one-hundred-tael silver note from his sleeve.
"Found it!"
"I wonder which maid was so audacious as to do such a despicable and shameless thing? The old lady said she must be severely punished to prevent other servants in the Marquis's mansion from following her bad example!"
"It was left in my jewelry room. I've already asked Qiaolian to take the pendant to my eldest sister!"
"That's good! The old lady sent me here because there's something else she wants to remind you of, young lady."
"Mom, please speak!"
"The old lady heard that Deputy Commander Gu had come to the mansion because of the death of Madam Hou."
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