Chapter 28 Humiliation, stealing the sachet to comfort lovesickness
Zhao Jue paused and frowned. Who would have the guts to steal Shen Qingtan's sachet?
If this kind of private property is used by someone with ulterior motives, Shen Qingtan's reputation will be ruined.
Zhao Yi just let it go?
There was sneer in his eyes. Is this the man Shen Qingtan has in her heart?
The next moment, someone said what he was thinking.
"The sachet is a personal item, and the maidservants around the Second Madam would have kept it under strict watch. How could it have been stolen? Even if it was stolen, it must have been an internal thief. If we seal off the courtyard and search it, we'll definitely find it."
"Hey, that's not the sachet Second Madam used.
The second wife was an excellent embroidery worker. She had been practicing new embroidery techniques recently. She was not satisfied with some of the handkerchiefs and sachets she had embroidered, so she ordered her servants to burn them.
Who would have thought that the servant in charge of this matter, when he came back from using the toilet, was missing a sachet embroidered with a horse stepping on auspicious clouds.
I don’t know what this thief is going to do by stealing the sachet.”
Zhao Jue's face instantly turned dark blue, and he gritted his teeth.
He returned all the things Shen Qingtan gave him, leaving only the first sachet.
This woman deliberately spread the news to prevent him from using the sachet to frame her.
His face was tense as he walked forward at a brisk pace, and the voices of servants could be heard faintly behind him.
“How many people know about this?”
"Everyone in the mansion knows about it."
"The servants all know about it, and the master of the mansion has almost heard the news too.
This is easy to deal with. When we see someone take out the sachet later, we will know who stole it.
If caught, they must be severely punished to serve as a warning to others."
Zhao Jue's face was so dark that ink could drip out of it. His hands were clenched into fists, and the veins on the back of his hands were bulging. He wanted to rush to Lanxueyuan to pull Shen Qingtan out and question him.
He immediately decided to go back and burn the sachet. He couldn't afford to lose face.
Back in the bridal chamber, Zhao Jue heard Shen Mingzhu's shrill voice say, "Everyone in the house is saying that my elder sister's sachet is missing. Who has the time to steal her sachet?
She really loves to show off. She's been making trouble for just a few days after marrying into the Duke's Mansion."
The servants in the room dared not say a word.
Shen Mingzhu sneered, "She wouldn't really think that she has a foxy face that can seduce people into stealing her sachet to appease her longing."
She thought of Shen Qingtan's bright and beautiful face, gnashed her teeth secretly, and said with a sour tone unconsciously: "I don't think there is such a blind person."
"Bang--"
The incense burner fell to the ground with a loud noise.
Shen Mingzhu was shocked, thinking it was some blind maid, and a surge of anger rose in her heart.
She suddenly turned her head and looked behind her, seeing Zhao Jue with a cold gaze, and a terrifying murderous look between his eyebrows.
Shen Mingzhu's face turned pale, and she was speechless: "Husband...husband, you...you..."
Zhao Jue's rage surged, and he scolded, "This is the upbringing of the Marquis's Mansion. She imitates that gossipy woman and gossips behind people's backs. What's the difference between her and those vulgar servants in the mansion?"
The color drained from Shen Mingzhu's face. In his eyes, was she so unbearable?
"If you don't know the rules, go and learn from your mother, and don't embarrass the Duke's Mansion in public." Zhao Jue vented all the anger he had suffered from Shen Qingtan on Shen Mingzhu, and then strode away.
Shen Mingzhu looked at Zhao Jue's back as he left, tears instantly welling up in her eyes, humiliation and embarrassment intertwined in her heart.
She didn't understand why he got so angry and scolded her just because she said a few sarcastic words.
Zhao Jue has Shen Qingtan in his heart, and he can't stand any words that belittle Shen Qingtan, so he defends her like this?
Shen Mingzhu couldn't accept this fact.
"Third Grandma, it's not necessarily a bad thing for Third Master to scold you."
Wandong took out a silk handkerchief, wiped Shen Mingzhu's tears, and gave her advice.
“The people of the Second House want to please the old lady and win the old Duke’s favor.
Since the Third Master feels that you don't know the rules, you might as well go to the old lady and ask someone to teach you the rules.
As long as you please the old lady, everyone in the second house will flatter you."
Shen Mingzhu did not hate Zhao Jue for loving Shen Qingtan, but she resented Shen Qingtan for taking up more than ten years of her life. Otherwise, Zhao Jue must have loved her.
After Wandong's advice, she knew very well that no matter how she tried to please the second wife, the people in the second wife would not take her seriously. They would only praise her highly if she could make a profit.
Shen Mingzhu's eyes flashed with determination, and she was determined to please the old lady no matter what.
She wiped the tears from her face, gradually calmed down, and regained her rationality: "Has Qiu Chan responded?"
"No response yet." Wan Dong said casually, "On the day of your wedding, you scolded Qiu Chan and Chun Jiao and sent them back to serve Second Mistress.
They know that you dislike them, and because they are your people, they will not be valued by the Second Mistress, so they have to survive in the cracks of the Zhao Mansion.
If Second Madam extends an olive branch, they will grab it tightly, and the scales in their hearts will naturally lean towards Second Madam.”
Shen Mingzhu looked at Wan Dong thoughtfully. Wan Dong was not particularly good-looking, but rather ordinary. He handled things neatly and efficiently. He didn't talk much, but every word he said hit the nail on the head.
She finally understood why Madam Shen gave Wandong to her as a dowry. It must be to be her helper.
"If you say that, Qiu Chan and Chun Jiao should be very uneasy. Besides me and Big Sister, they have another choice."
Shen Mingzhu wanted to take revenge on Shen Qingtan, but Madam Shen asked her to be patient. She could endure it as long as it did not prevent her from causing trouble for Shen Qingtan.
"Big sister is worried about big brother-in-law's health and hasn't consummated their marriage yet. Everyone has emotions and desires, and big brother-in-law is not a monk, so how can he be pure and free from desires?"
Wan Dong's eyes flashed, and she understood the meaning of Shen Mingzhu's words: "I will arrange it now."
Shen Mingzhu nodded slightly.
Before Wandong left, he asked Zhongxia to fetch some hot water and help Shen Mingzhu wash her face.
After Shen Mingzhu cleansed her face, she put on makeup again and changed into a honey-colored jacket and a phoenix-tail skirt. The silks of various colors were cut into wide and narrow strips, each embroidered with delicate lotus patterns and inlaid with gold thread on both sides, making her look delicate and charming.
She turned around in front of the bronze mirror and curled her lips in satisfaction. The old lady was old and liked to see the younger ones dressed in bright clothes. She happily brought Zhongxia to Shi'an Hall to pay her respects to the old lady.
The master and servant had just reached the gate of Shi'an Hall when they vaguely heard the second lady sobbing, as if she had suffered a great injustice.
Shen Mingzhu stopped and wondered what had happened to the second wife that made her pour out her sorrows to the old lady.
After a moment, she heard the second wife crying, "Mother, you have to make a decision for our second branch. My daughter-in-law's family background is not as good as my eldest sister-in-law's family, nor as good as my eldest nephew's father-in-law's family, but she is also a clean and honest aristocratic family. How could she be so shallow as to embezzle my niece's dowry?
Everyone in the mansion saw Shen Qingtan carrying away the dowry. They counted every item to make sure there was no problem.
Now, after just a few days, she has turned against him, saying that there is a problem with the dowry and that she wants to sue the second wife in court.
I have lived to this age and have been slandered like this. I wish I could die to prove my innocence."
The old lady sat on the kang, her eyes indifferently glancing at the second lady who was sitting on a stool, covering her face and crying. She said with a headache, "Where did you get the news that Miss Tan is going to sue you for embezzling the dowry?"
"She personally sent someone to Jingde Hall to inform me that the dowry was all fake, and if the real dowry was not returned to her, she would file a complaint with the authorities."
The Second Madam looked as if she had been wronged, her eyes red from crying. "Her dowry was kept in the Second House's storehouse for no more than two days before she took it away. How could I possibly have exchanged her dowry for a fake?"
"If there's any misunderstanding among family members, just sit down and talk it out. Why are you crying so much? You're causing me a headache." The old lady instructed the maid beside her, "Go and ask the Second Madam to come over."
"Mother, this is more than just a misunderstanding. She's throwing such a huge pot of dirty water on me. It's clear she's trying to harm me. If I carry this lawsuit on my shoulders, all the officials and their wives in the capital will look down on me and stab me in the back. How can I live like a human being?"
The Second Madam was filled with grievances, her soft and weak tone laced with resentment: "Everyone in the capital praised her for her knowledge, good manners, and outstanding talents, and I believed them. But she has only been here a few days, and she has already caused unrest in our family. She is clearly a disaster."
At this point, she began to talk about her miserable life, pulled off the handkerchief to cover her face, and sobbed with her hands covering her face.
The old lady's temples throbbed, and annoyance flashed in her eyes.
After hearing the whole story, Shen Mingzhu was afraid that the war would spread to her, so she didn't dare to join in the fun and quietly took Zhongxia back to the second room.
A quarter of an hour later, Shen Qingtan brought Liu Yue and Ting Xue to Shi'an Hall.
Shen Qingtan glanced at the people in the room. The old lady was sitting quietly, and the second lady was crying with her head down.
She bowed and saluted: "Greetings to Grandmother, and Greetings to Second Aunt."
"What kind of blessing is this? If you don't force me to death, it's the blessing I have earned." The second lady retorted to Shen Qingtan.
Then, she pressed him word by word, "I have watched you grow up since you were a child. Apart from your mother, you are the one closest to me.
I ask myself honestly, there is nothing I have done to let you down.
Because you can't be married to Jue'er, you've accumulated resentment towards the Second House, and you deliberately falsely accuse the Second House of embezzling your dowry as a way to get back at us?"
"Second Aunt, you misunderstood me. I'm not going to court with you. I'm going to sue the authorities to track down the thief who stole my dowry."
Shen Qingtan seemed unable to bear the accusations of the Second Madam, and his face turned pale. He explained, "When you returned the dowry to me, Madam Liu compared it one by one with the dowry list, and all of them were correct.
I discovered something wrong with my dowry today. My friend Liu Yue was out shopping when she saw someone coming out of a pawnshop holding a blue and white flat pot with flowers and birds on it. It was my dowry."
Liu Yue quickly said, "The mouth of that flat pot was stained with rouge. Second Madam thought it looked nice, so she left it on purpose and didn't wipe it off. That's when I recognized it as Second Madam's dowry.
But the Second Madam’s dowry was in the storeroom, and I suspected I had made a mistake, so I went to the pawnshop and reported a few items of the Second Madam’s dowry, and they took them all out.
This matter was too strange. I returned home and reported it to the Second Madam. She opened the storehouse to inspect the dowry and discovered that it was all counterfeit.
When she heard the word "pawnshop", the second wife stopped crying.
Shen Qingtan noticed her strange expression and said with lowered brows, "Grandma, my dowry passed through Second Aunt's hands. If I go to the authorities to recover it, the officials will definitely question Second Aunt. So I will send someone to inform her."
She glanced at the Second Madam and said with some resignation, "Maybe Liu Yue's words are not eloquent, so Second Aunt mistakenly thought I was going to accuse her of embezzling the dowry."
When the Second Madam heard Shen Qingtan lying with his eyes open, she was furious.
Liu Yue had said, "Second Madam, my Second Grandmother counted the dowry today and discovered it was a fake. This dowry has only passed through your hands. If you don't return it, we can't care about our family relationship. Please, sir, recover the dowry."
But she didn't dare to say it, because Shen Qingtan pointed out the pawnshop, which meant that Shen Qingtan knew that they had pawned their dowry.
Thinking of this, the second wife understood instantly.
Shen Qingtan must have discovered that the dowry was a fake long ago. She didn't expose it that day because she was afraid that she would bite back. She had been waiting for the right opportunity to get the dowry back.
Now they have pawned Shen Qingtan's dowry. Shen Qingtan seized this handle and deliberately said that she had only replaced the dowry. She threatened to report her to the authorities and asked her to go to the old lady to cry and complain. During the confrontation, she mentioned the matter of the pawnshop.
Shen Qingtan’s purpose was to use the old lady’s hand to force her to redeem her dowry.
Shen Qingtan never thought of suing the authorities from the beginning to the end. If she went to the government to ask for her dowry, even if Shen Qingtan was right, she would lose face for the Duke's Mansion and would definitely displease the old Duke and the old lady.
The second wife's face was pale, her hands and feet were cold, and she only regretted that she realized it too late.
Once the old lady intervenes to investigate, she will definitely find the second wife's fault.
"This man is so audacious that he even dared to replace my niece's wife's dowry and try to pin the blame on our second wife. How despicable!" The second wife had a plan in mind and said angrily, "Mother, please leave this matter to my daughter-in-law. I will get to the bottom of it."
Originally, the old duke and the old lady were dissatisfied with the second wife. If it was revealed that the second wife had embezzled Shen Qingtan's dowry, the old duke and the old lady would probably dislike them and would not hand over the title to the second wife.
The old lady did not reply to the second lady's words, but asked Shen Qingtan: "Tan girl, what do you think?"
Shen Qingtan said respectfully, "Grandma, let Second Aunt handle this matter. I believe Second Aunt will handle it well."
"Okay, let the second son's wife handle this." The old lady gave a deadline: "Get it done within two days."
The second wife's expression changed, and she gritted her teeth and said, "My daughter-in-law will get things done as soon as possible."
Things have come to this point, and the dowry has to be returned to Shen Qingtan.
"My dear niece, Second Aunt misunderstood you and caused you to suffer." The Second Madam looked guilty, but her words were profound. "The dowry list is only known to you and those close to you. It would take more than a day or two to create such a large dowry. And transporting it quietly from your courtyard is not something that ordinary people can do."
The Second Madam hinted that Shen Qingtan staged and acted in a big drama just to frame the Second House.
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