At three quarters past five in the morning, sunlight filtered through the carved window lattices like a thin veil, casting slanted, angular shadows on the blue brick floor. Chen Weiwan lay on the beauty's chair in the west wing, her fingertips curling the tassels of the window curtains, her eyes fixed on the figures wandering in the Liu family's courtyard a hundred meters away. The commotion caused by the officials' visit last night had not yet subsided. Now, the maids in the Liu family's courtyard were rushing out with boxes and baskets. The silk quilts drying in the corridor fluttered in the morning breeze, like a swarm of headless flies.
"Miss, you've been staring for half an hour." Chuntao stepped over the threshold, carrying a copper basin. Rose petals floating in the bottom were wet with dew. "When Liu was taken away by the officials yesterday, I saw that the red gold headband on her head had been tilted to the back of her ears."
Chen Weiwan hooked her fingertips and tied the curtain into a neat bow. "It's better to keep it crooked, so she won't dazzle anyone with that broken gold." As she turned, a corner of the yellowed account book slipped out from her sleeve. The ink-colored annotations on the pages were cold in the morning light. "Yesterday, the old housekeeper went to the government office to hand in the account book. The record of Liu's withholding of the servants' monthly wages alone took up three full pages."
Chuntao slammed the copper basin onto the dressing table, and the water splashed on the mother-of-pearl peony on the edge of the mirror table: "That's right! Last time you asked for two taels of silver to buy new rouge, the accounting nanny said that the finances were tight, but within three days, Liu was seen parading around the city wearing a newly made red gold bracelet inlaid with jade!" She became more and more angry as she spoke, and the knuckles of her fingers turned white from twisting the handkerchief.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of a porcelain bowl breaking outside, followed by a woman's shrill cry. When Shen Weiwan opened the bamboo curtain, she saw Shen Ruoruo, her hair disheveled, crashing through the hanging flower door. The pearl hairpin on her temples was tilted at a right angle, and there was a suspicious tea stain on her moon-white skirt.
"Chen Weiwan! You damned vicious woman!" Shen Ruorou rushed to the gate, her nails leaving four white marks on the maroon door panel. "My mother just took a few pieces of fabric from the warehouse, and you bribed the officials to arrest her? What kind of heart do you have!"
Chen Weiwan slowly unbolted the door, deliberately banging the wooden bolt against it, making it make a clanging sound: "Where did you learn this shrewish scolding from, cousin? It's so early in the morning, did the maggots in the toilet bite your tongue?" As she stepped aside to allow the door to pass, she caught a glimpse of the brocade sticking out of Chen Ruoruo's sleeves - it was the lake blue brocade that was lost from the warehouse last month.
"Stop pretending to be innocent!" Shen Ruorou stamped her feet, and a pearl fell from her embroidered shoes. "My mother has been in charge of the family for all these years. She deserves everything she eats, wears, and uses. Now it's your turn, a motherless little hoof, to point fingers?"
"What you deserve?" Shen Weiwan suddenly raised her voice, startling the gray pigeons under the eaves. "The general's mansion's monthly allowance is 20,000 taels, but my courtyard only has 2,000 taels. The other day, Qiuju said the monthly allowance was 30% less, but Liu turned around and made you a pair of 20-tael red gold earrings!" She threw the account book at Shen Ruorou's feet, and the pages rustled and spread out. "Look for yourself! The rouge and powder we bought are three times more expensive than the market price, and the wood used to repair the warehouse can buy three houses!"
The onlookers immediately gathered around, their heads buzzing over the account book. Shen Ruorou's face turned from red to white, and she suddenly pounced to grab the account book, but Chuntao stepped forward to stop her. The nails scraped past Chuntao's arm, cutting a hole in her sleeve.
"Still trying to snatch evidence?" Chen Weiwan sneered, shaking out a contract with the pawnshop's red seal from her sleeve. "The owner of Hengtong Pawnshop in the west of the city confessed everything yesterday. Liu asked him to falsify the purchase amount, and the kickbacks he took were more than the original investment! Oh, and by the way," she deliberately lowered her voice so that everyone around could hear clearly, "when the authorities raided her yard, they found five jars of gold ingots under her bed. It's enough to buy her prison food for several lifetimes."
"Impossible..." Shen Ruorou stumbled back, her skirt catching on the door sill and causing her to fall flat on her face. She stared at the account book on the floor and suddenly screamed like a cat whose tail had been stepped on: "It's you! This must be a trap!"
Chen Weiwan was too lazy to watch her throw a tantrum, so she winked at Chuntao: "Go to the front yard and get the key to the warehouse, and ask two nimble servants to follow you." When she turned and walked towards the hanging flower gate, she heard Chen Ruoruo crying breathlessly behind her, but she couldn't suppress the smile on the corner of her mouth.
The general's storehouse was hidden behind a moon-shaped door in the northwest corner. The copper lock on the vermilion-painted door was covered in rust, and a black mass was stuck in the keyhole. Shen Weiwan, holding a handkerchief, leaned in to inspect it. As soon as she took a breath, she choked and coughed repeatedly, tears covering her face. "Ahem...is this chili powder?"
Chun Tao quickly handed over the mint candy and pointed at the keyhole, cursing, "That old hag Liu must have done this! She even resorted to some dirty tricks before leaving!"
Chen Weiwan spat out the candy wrapper and suddenly clapped her hands: "I got it! Go to the account office and withdraw five taels of silver, and ask the servant to buy ten pounds of tung oil to soak this lock thoroughly! Then go to the blacksmith shop to make a new lock, the kind with a mechanism!" She squatted down and touched the marks on the door panel, remembering that when she was locked in the woodshed in her previous life, she heard the sound of boxes and cages colliding in the warehouse, and her nails dug deep into her palms.
"In this life, no one will ever touch the Shen family's things again." She whispered to the door, her voice as light as the wind, but with a fierceness as ice.
During the three days of inventorying the warehouse, Chen Weiwan, wearing her reading glasses, squatted before the camphorwood boxes, even shaking out the old quilt in the corner. When the seventy-third box was opened, the sight of a mutton-fat jade qilin pendant nestled within the sandalwood box brought tears to her eyes. The jade pendant felt warm to the touch, and the "Chen" engraved on the back shone from rubbing. It was the very item her father had carried with him on his military campaigns.
"Dad, I didn't let you down." She put the jade pendant against her chest and heard Chuntao sniffling behind her.
As he was speaking, there was a sudden sound of a gong outside, and the doorman shouted at the top of his voice: "His Highness the Seventh Prince has arrived—"
Shen Weiwan hurriedly tucked the jade pendant into her lapel. Just as she had straightened the hem of her skirt, she saw Xiao Yu walk in, waving a folding fan. The hem of his moon-white gown was stained with morning dew, and he was holding a food box. "I heard that Miss Shen has been very busy these past few days, so this prince specially asked Zuixianlou to keep the freshest osmanthus cake."
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
