Chapter 17 Chapter 17 “Plop!” …
“Plop!”
Before he could finish his words, he heard the sound of someone falling down behind Hezhou.
The servants in the last row fell to their knees on the ground with weak legs, one hand still holding onto a brown-clothed guard next to them.
His face gradually became covered with cold sweat, and his voice trembled as he spoke, "Sir, before... before... when Madam was out, I went to the courtyard to take a break. Huan'er, who was with Madam Four, came to ask Madam Three about something. I said she wasn't there, but she didn't believe me. She said if she wasn't there, how could a servant like me dare to be in the courtyard? I was afraid that while I was distracted, she would break in..."
Hezhou walked slowly in front of him with his hands behind his back, looking down at him with his dark eyes "And then? Did she steal the jade pendant?"
The man kowtowed heavily, muttering "I don't know, I don't know..."
Hezhou's face turned cold and his voice became deep. "And then?"
He lowered his eyes and looked at the servant, his forehead was covered with dirt and blood, his eyes were panic-stricken and he was mumbling incoherent words.
A wave of irritation surged in his heart, and he dug his palms vigorously with his fingertips to calm down.
"I'll ask again, then what?"
"She went in... I didn't dare... I waited outside. She came out and gave me a tael of silver, telling me not to tell anyone she'd been there, or she'd kick me out... I didn't dare touch the small piece of silver, so I kept it under my pillow... I was scared..."
"So hesitant." Hezhou didn't intend to pay too much attention to it, but just secretly looked at the expressions of others.
"Besides him, does anyone else want to say anything else?"
Except for the servant's panicked voice, everyone else remained unmoved.
"Brother He...why don't you go to the Fourth Madam and ask her first?" Xie Xunzhi's voice came from afar. He was sitting in front of the stone table and smiling slightly.
"Okay!" Hezhou raised his eyebrows and his expression brightened, without any trace of his previous look.
He quickly walked to the stone table and pointed at the people standing behind him. "Then let them wait here?"
"No, let them do their work." Xie Xunzhi lowered his eyes and poured him a cup of tea. "What I'm thinking is that the Third Madam seemed to have mentioned yesterday that she had a certain relationship with the Fourth Madam and the child. Why don't we go and take a look first?"
Hezhou nodded, half understanding, half confused, and looked at the housekeeper who had been standing beside him. "Could you please let them go back first? Should we go to the Fourth Madam's courtyard?"
"No problem, no problem." The butler nodded with a smile, and waved his hands at the nine people, and the people in front of him dispersed.
Only the person who had just collapsed on the ground took a long time to stand up again. His eyes were dull and he was trembling as he walked.
"Go away!" the butler shouted angrily with a tone full of disgust.
He turned his gaze again and said in a gentle and polite tone, "Sir, please wait a moment. The Fourth Madam just gave birth and is not in a good condition. She is waiting for me to inform her."
"Okay." Hezhou threw off his clothes and sat down.
He looked around, picked up the teacup on the table and smiled at the housekeeper, "Waiting for you, waiting for you."
The housekeeper waved to a maid passing by in the corridor. The maid in blue came over with her head lowered and whispered, "Master."
"Well, go and bring over the plate of melon seeds." The housekeeper made the arrangements and left.
After a while, two small plates of melon seeds were brought up.
Hezhou grabbed a handful and peeled the shells in his palm. He lowered his head and swept the tiny crumbs aside.
"What do you think?" Xie Xunzhi put his arms on the table and put the peeled melon seeds and Hezhou together.
"Let's check the Fourth Madam first? Then check Huan'er. If that doesn't work, we'll have to check all nine of them."
Xie Xunzhi clapped his hands, grabbed all the melon seeds and handed them to Hezhou. "No need to go through so much trouble. Let's go check on those nine people now?"
Hezhou paused for a moment, threw the melon seeds under him onto the plate, his eyes gleaming, "What do you mean?"
He took the melon seeds from Xie Xunzhi and ate them all in one breath, then bent down and put his ear next to Xie Xunzhi.
"The man you just interrogated is clearly afraid of the Third Madam, but he only spoke now after so many rounds of interrogation. Just now, I saw that the other people had no reaction, not even a trace of guilt. Continuing the interrogation will only lead to the same result..."
Hezhou lay on the table with his eyes wide open, smiling. "So you have other plans?"
"I was wondering, what that person said is so unreasonable! The jade pendant clearly only works when the Third Madam returns home, and yet Huan'er, who's by the Fourth Madam's side, is making a fuss about stealing one she can't use..."
Xie Xunzhi smiled and looked up at him, "Then why didn't you say anything just now?"
The Hezhou idiot stayed where he was for a while before sliding down from his seat and scratching his head awkwardly, "I'm not..."
"Don't listen to me like that. I may not be right all the time. I do want to check on the Fourth Madam. Although the probability is very small, I'm just in case... I can also comfort the Third Madam by the way." Xie Xunzhi sighed softly, and he stood up and patted the melon seed shells off his sleeves.
"Yes, yes, yes! That's what I thought! What if...what if..." Hezhou laughed.
When he first heard Xie Xunzhi speak, he felt that the hidden anger in his heart disappeared.
I just wanted to see Xie Xunzhi and hear his voice.
He thought about it and realized that no one could leave the yard anyway. If the things could be stolen back at the risk of their lives, they probably wouldn't be thrown away. It would be better to eliminate the Fourth Madam's suspicion first.
Hezhou put his hand on Xie Xunzhi, and said in a high-pitched voice, "Let's go, maybe we can get the money sooner, so I can start my farming plan."
With a smile in his eyes, Xie Xunzhi walked in the direction where the people had just dispersed. The first one was the two maids in the first row, who were now in the yard planting flowers with the third lady.
A few people were talking and laughing, not seeming to have any worries at all. They went around to the back kitchen.
Several maids in the Third Lady's yard were busy boiling water, moving soil, and chatting about the jade pendant.
After people dispersed, we chatted more freely.
Hezhou listened for a while longer, only to hear them say that they had stolen the jade pendant. Could it be that they wanted to sneak back by themselves?
He and Xie Xunzhi squatted at the foot of the wall, looked at each other, and pricked up their ears to listen more carefully.
One of the girls frowned and complained, "If it were me, I would go back too. This place is nothing compared to Taodu."
The other one laughed softly and playfully pushed her, "Go! Then go steal one too and take it back as..."
"grown ups!"
Someone patted Hezhou on the back, and when he turned around, the two little girls walked away with their heads down like frightened birds.
The butler stood before him with his hands behind his back, a hint of doubt flashing across his face. He smiled and said, "Sir, what's this?"
"No, I'm thirsty after eating melon seeds and want to get a glass of water." Hezhou turned around to make sure there was no one.
"Oh, I'm glad we didn't disturb you, sir. Then come back after you finish your drink." The housekeeper walked to the wall and pointed to the water boiler.
Hezhou looked at Xie Xunzhi and blinked quickly. "It's okay. If you talk too much, you won't feel thirsty anymore. Let's... go...."
They walked quickly to the fourth lady's yard.
The yard looked smaller than the Third Madam's. The Fourth Madam was sitting on a rocking chair in the yard, holding her child and a rattle in her hand. Behind her stood a maid in green clothes.
The servant was kneeling in the yard, with two obvious slap marks on both cheeks.
Seeing them coming, he immediately raised his head and shouted, "Master, sir, I guarantee with my life that Huan'er didn't have anything in his hands when he came out!"
"You bastard! If you hadn't neglected your duty, I wouldn't have gone in so casually. I just went in and came out the next moment, and you've wronged me like this!" Huan'er said in a sharp voice, pointing at him and cursing a series of different curse words.
The Fourth Madam raised her hand to stop them. A sarcastic smile curled her lips as she looked at them. "Sister has checked Huan'er's room. I just gave this man a lesson and sent him here for me to deal with. Just investigate. If you can't find anything... he's lying! Then go ahead and drag this bastard away and beat him up!"
Hezhou just smiled and didn't respond. He glanced across the yard and looked at the scene inside through the open window.
Compared to the third lady's room, it was quite simple. Perhaps because they knew they were coming, all the boxes on the dressing table were opened.
The yard was silent, with only the voices of children and the shaking of rattles.
The fourth lady lowered her head to comfort the child who was about to cry.
After a while, the child in the Fourth Lady's arms stopped crying and making a fuss, so she said, "Huan'er, please follow the adults in."
"Yes." Huan'er gently opened the door, allowing them to see inside. "Please come in, sir."
Hezhou was overwhelmed and tilted his head to look at Xie Xunzhi.
Deep down, he wanted to quit right now. For a moment, he even felt that Master Chen might have no purpose and was just to torture him.
It was originally a simple case of a lost jade pendant, but in such a large mansion, such a case would be solved in minutes.
I've been investigating until the afternoon, and I'm always being given the cold shoulder. Not only can I not focus on investigating even if I have some clues, but I can't do it.
Xie Xunzhi patted him and walked in first.
Hezhou followed him and found that the room was spotless, without even a mouse hole. The cabinet doors and boxes were all open.
He walked slowly over without touching anything. When he got to the wardrobe, Huan'er looked it up and down in front of him, her face full of reluctance.
There were only a few pieces of jewelry in the small wooden box, which matched the Fourth Lady's simple attire. There was nothing in the drawer either.
Hezhou gently pushed aside the rice paper inside, revealing a butterfly-shaped jade pendant. He let go of his hand, feeling slightly surprised, his heart beating faster and he couldn't help but get excited.
Reason told him that this couldn't possibly be the Third Madam's piece, but...
Seeing that he didn't move, Huan'er walked forward quickly.
She was a little surprised when she saw it, but her surprise disappeared in an instant. "This is not the Third Madam's piece! The Third Madam often wandered around the yard with the jade pendant, so my wife went to ask the master for one, and they had a quarrel over it, so she put it away and didn't look at it."
"Fighting over a jade pendant?" Hezhou squinted his eyes and muttered to himself, but his gaze was fixed on Xie Xun, searching him up and down carefully, with a smile on his lips.
Huan'er couldn't see him clearly, but she didn't like it either. She frowned fiercely and said, "Master said that the Third Madam's things were given by her family and they are useful! My wife knows the big picture and won't pursue it any further!"
"But...it's useful...doesn't the Fourth Madam need it?" Xie Xunzhi stepped forward.
Huan Er said angrily, "That's her proof on the way home. My wife is from here, so she doesn't need it."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
