The old housekeeper bent down to pick up the wire from the floor. The teeth marks of the copper lock were clearly visible. "Second Miss barged into the funeral hall late at night armed with a weapon. Was she trying to invite Madam's hairpin to 'become a guest'?"
Shen Weiwan stepped forward and opened the purple wooden box. The empty velvet lining shimmered under the lamplight. "Ah! Where is my mother's red gold hairpin?" She turned around suddenly, and the silver hairpin in her hair shone coldly. "Cousin, you were sneaking around just now. Do you know where the hairpin went?"
"I didn't!" Shen Ruorou screamed and stepped back, bumping into the incense burner behind her and making it clang. "I just came to burn incense for my aunt..."
"Do you need a lock-picking wire to burn incense?" Shen Weiwan pressed on, the tip of her shoe making a crisp sound as it rolled over the wire on the ground. "Or...did your aunt ask you to come?"
"You're talking nonsense!" Shen Ruoruo retorted subconsciously, then covered her mouth with a flash of panic in her eyes. The old housekeeper winked at the guard, and the burly man took two steps forward, grabbing Shen Ruoruo's arm with his iron-like hands.
Liu stared at the hourglass in her room. Two minutes after the midnight bell rang, her daughter still hadn't returned. Her heart felt like it was being scratched by a cat's claws. Suddenly, she heard footsteps outside the courtyard. She jerked open the door curtains and saw Shen Ruoruo, her hair disheveled, held in the center. A spiderweb from the mourning hall still clung to her bun.
"Mother!" Shen Ruorou burst into tears when she saw Liu, with incense ash on her face.
Shen Weiwan followed behind, holding an empty wooden box in her hand. The velvet at the bottom of the box glowed red in the light of the lamp. "Aunt, my cousin went to the mourning hall to burn incense in the middle of the night, and she brought her own tools for picking locks. What do you think we should do with it?"
Liu looked at her daughter's bewildered state, then at the empty wooden box, her nails digging into her palms. She suddenly raised her voice, "You're slandering me! Ruorou only wanted to add some incense oil out of consideration for her aunt's kindness..."
"Oh?" Shen Weiwan took out a red gold hairpin from her sleeve, the beads made of phoenix tail feathers drawing a golden line under the lamp. "Then, aunt, do you know why this hairpin is on me?"
The ruby on the red gold hairpin reflected Liu's shocked face. She subconsciously took a half step back and bumped into the screen behind her: "You...you knew this a long time ago?"
"Why do you think," Chen Weiwan placed the hairpin back in front of the tablet, her fingertips stroking the phoenix's wings, "I drank that bowl of mung bean soup with added ingredients?" As she turned around, her silver hairpin gleamed in the light. "Aunt wants to frame me, but have you forgotten that I'm not a soft persimmon that can be easily manipulated?"
The old housekeeper unfolded the account book, the pages rustling with ink. "Madam Liu, the second young lady broke into the mourning hall at night and stole the mistress's belongings. According to the rules of the General's Mansion, the punishment is thirty strokes of the cane at the least, and even more serious punishment is being sent to the family temple—"
"Enough!" Liu suddenly interrupted, with a flash of resentment in her eyes, "Chen Weiwan, don't be complacent! This matter is not over!"
Chen Weiwan looked at the hairpin that had been replaced in front of the memorial tablet, the phoenix's tail feathers swaying gently under the ever-burning lamp. "Whether it's over or not is not up to you to decide." She turned to the old housekeeper and smiled, "Since my cousin's mistake was 'unintentional,' let's forgive her. However, it's best that I personally guard the mourning hall from now on, to avoid any misunderstandings about 'burning incense'."
The old housekeeper bowed in response. When the guards escorted the still sobbing Shen Ruorou away, Liu's knuckles turned white as she held onto the screen.
The next morning, word spread throughout the General's Mansion about Liu's mother and daughter breaking into the mourning hall and stealing the hairpin. The maids on duty gathered by the well, whispering among themselves. When they saw Liu's personal maid passing by, they immediately fell silent, their eyes following the maid's back.
Liu hid in her room, refusing to go out. Even the reflection in the mirror made her feel disgusting. She had someone check in the middle of the night, only to discover that Shen Weiwan hadn't drunk the bowl of mung bean soup at all. Instead, she had used a trick to replace her hairpin with a fake one. Thinking of this, she suddenly grabbed the rouge box on the dressing table and smashed it against the bronze mirror. Cracks spread like spider webs, revealing her distorted face.
Shen Ruorou cried all night, and a rash appeared on her right cheek. She hid in the tent and refused to see anyone. She kept replaying Shen Weiwan's sneer in the mourning hall and the servants' pointing eyes in her mind.
Meanwhile, Chen Weiwan and Chuntao were polishing their hairpins in the mourning hall. A scarlet-gold phoenix shone in the sunlight. Shen Weiwan carefully rubbed its wings with a soft cloth. Her fingertips touched the cool metal, and she suddenly remembered how in her past life, this hairpin had been used by Liu Shi to pay off a gambling debt, and its whereabouts had vanished.
"My dear young lady," the old butler came in with the account book, his gray beard matted with morning dew, "I have figured out the accounts of Liu's embezzlement over the years."
Chen Weiwan put the hairpin back into the brocade box. When she looked up, a cold light flashed in her eyes: "Very good, this is just the first step." She looked at her mother's name on the tablet, her voice soft but firm, "I will get back everything she owes us."
Before she finished speaking, Chun Tao ran into the mourning hall, breathless, with the silk flower on her temples tilted behind her ears: "Miss! His Royal Highness the Seventh Prince has sent someone to deliver something!"
Shen Weiwan was startled when a young eunuch in a purple robe walked in, holding a gilded brocade box. When the lid was opened, a jade lotus hairpin, shimmering throughout, lay on the red velvet. The petals of the jade hairpin were layered, and even the pistil was inlaid with diamonds, gleaming with a warm luster in the sunlight.
"His Highness said he heard the eldest lady had saved your mother's belongings, so he gave her this hairpin as a token of his congratulations." As the young eunuch bowed and withdrew, a piece of plain paper fell from his sleeve. On it fell a piece of bold, black calligraphy: "The phoenix has returned to its nest, a cause for celebration. Also: I greatly admire your chili powder keyhole method."
Chen Weiwan pinched the plain paper, the scent of ink wafting from her fingertips. The old butler looked at the lifelike lotus on the jade hairpin, stroked his beard and smiled, saying, "The Seventh Prince cares more about the eldest lady than his own brothers."
The morning light filtered through the window lattice, illuminating the scarlet gold hairpin and the jasper lotus hairpin, making Shen Weiwan's eyes sparkle like stars. She inserted the hairpin into her bun, the cool touch of the jasper spreading along her hair. Suddenly, she remembered the handkerchief the Seventh Prince had handed her at Hanshan Temple, and the teasing smile in his eyes.
"Old housekeeper," Chen Weiwan said as she turned around, the silver hairpin replaced with the jade lotus, "inform the accountant that from today onwards, I will personally review the purchase accounts of the mansion." She stroked the red gold hairpin in the brocade box, the phoenix tail feathers swaying gently, "Liu's good days are over."
Meanwhile, Liu, hiding in her room, was still tearing at the pearl hairpin on her head in front of the bronze mirror, unaware that Shen Weiwan had already taken the account book and walked towards the accounting office with the old housekeeper. A storm sweeping across the general's mansion was quietly beginning with the rising sun.
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