"Miss, you and the Seventh Prince..." Chun Tao caught up with the account book, only to find Shen Weiwan staring into the pond in a trance. Her figure was reflected in the water, and the pearl pendants on her hairpins trembled in the wind, just like her restless heart at the moment.
"Check Liu's account books," Shen Weiwan suddenly turned around, a sharp look in her eyes, "especially the fur expenses sent to the Second Prince's Mansion last winter."
The scorching sun had wilted the parrots in the corridor, while the old housekeeper, leaning on his cane, ran breathlessly: "My lady, Liu asked Lu'e to borrow antidiarrheal medicine, and she also said...she wanted to make Chen Ruorou's coming-of-age ceremony like a beggar's wedding."
Shen Weiwan was checking the accounts. Upon hearing this, she picked up her pen and circled the account book: "Simplify it?" She looked at the few dead leaves falling in the Liu family courtyard outside the window, "I'm afraid even the money for buying red silk will have to be pawned as the last gold hairpin."
The old butler nodded, his beard sweeping across the account book. "I saw the pawn ticket Lu'e handed me. The gold hairpin was only pawned for five taels of silver."
"Five taels?" Chen Weiwan put down her wolf-hair brush, and the ink smudged across the column for "Chen Ruorou's Coming-of-Age Ceremony." "Go tell Mrs. Liu I'll take care of this coming-of-age ceremony." Her fingertips traced the edge of the inkstone. "Just tell her I want Sister Ruorou to have a grand wedding, even more magnificent than the Taifu family's legitimate daughter."
While the old housekeeper was stunned, Shen Weiwan had already lifted her skirt and walked towards the west wing. Liu was lying in bed. When she heard the footsteps, she struggled to vomit, but only vomited a few mouthfuls of acid. She looked at the medicine bowl in Shen Weiwan's hand and suddenly screamed, "You want to hurt me again!"
"What are you talking about, Auntie?" Chen Weiwan placed the medicine bowl on the bedside, the porcelain spoon making a crisp sound when it clattered against the bowl. "I fed the candied fruit to the dog yesterday. Who told you to steal something else?" She suddenly took Liu's hand, her fingertips lightly tapping her wrist pulse. "But don't worry, I've had the old housekeeper prepare a red gold headpiece and a cloud brocade wedding dress for Ruorou's coming-of-age ceremony. I guarantee it will be more dignified than any other noblewoman in the capital."
Liu stared at the cunning light in her eyes and suddenly remembered that when Shen Weiwan was seven years old, she mixed stove ash into her rouge. When the girl smiled, the corners of her eyes would bend into crescents, just like now. "Are you so kind?"
"Auntie, you're joking," Shen Weiwan scooped up a spoonful of medicine and deliberately blew on it to remove the hot air. "You are my aunt, and Ruorou is my cousin." She pushed the medicine bowl to Liu's lips. "Come, drink this bowl of medicine. I have to help Ruorou try on her wedding dress tomorrow."
Liu stared at the foam bubbling in the medicine bowl and suddenly remembered the doctor's words that morning about an "overdose of croton." She suddenly waved her hand and knocked the bowl over, sending the brown liquid splattering onto the hem of Shen Weiwan's skirt and leaving ugly marks on the moon-white brocade.
"I'll do it myself!" Liu grabbed the medicine bowl and drank it all in one gulp. As her Adam's apple rolled, she caught a glimpse of a small fluorescent powder box slipping from Shen Weiwan's sleeve. She recognized the box; it was a Western gadget left by Shen Weiwan's biological mother, and it emitted a faint green light in the dark.
As Shen Weiwan left, Liu stared at herself in the dressing table mirror. Her face was sallow, her hair was messy, and there was a rattrap scar on her wrist. Suddenly, she remembered the secret letter from the Second Prince's mansion, and her fingertips dug into her palm. "Shen Weiwan, if you dare ruin Ruorou's coming-of-age ceremony, I will expose your mother's scandal to the entire capital!"
As dusk drifted through the window lattice, Shen Weiwan was sprinkling fluorescent powder onto a piece of brocade skirt material. Chuntao held up the glass lantern, watching the powder glow an eerie blue in the candlelight. "Miss, can this thing really make Shen Ruoruo look bad?"
"More than just embarrassing herself," Shen Weiwan rubbed the powder into the folds of her skirt with a silver hairpin, "I want her to look like a glowing monster when she prays at the royal temple." She remembered the Seventh Prince's reminder today and paused on her account book. "Go find the secret letters between Liu and the Second Prince and bring them to the temple tomorrow."
In the stillness of the night, in the Seventh Prince's study, Xiao Yu placed the secret report on a candle. The flames devoured the paper, blurring the words "The Second Prince intends to use the coming-of-age ceremony to stir up trouble." He gazed out the window toward the General's Mansion, a sneer curling his lips. "Chen Weiwan, I want to see how you handle this."
At this moment, Shen Weiwan sat by the window, watching the flickering candlelight in the Liu family's courtyard. Her fingertips brushed against the jade pendant given by the Seventh Prince, and she suddenly chuckled. This coming-of-age ceremony was sure to be even more exciting than the croton laxative scene. Little did Liu know, the "grand gift" she had prepared was far more than just fluorescent powder.
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