Chapter 69 The Origin of the Jade Pendant
"Wh...what jade pendant?" Cui'er stared wide-eyed at Ye Wanning, somewhat bewildered. "I don't know, the purse was empty when I gave it to you..."
Empty...empty? How could it be empty! She looked up at Cui'er, frowning, and asked again, "Are you sure this purse was empty when you got it?"
“Yes…” Cui’er nodded, somewhat bewildered, “I don’t even know what this jade pendant you’re talking about looks like, sister…”
"Damn it!" Ye Wanning clenched her fists, gritted her teeth, and glanced back at Cui'er with an unusually fierce look in her eyes. "Come back with me and find her!"
As soon as Ye Wanning returned to the manor, the place was thrown into chaos. The servants were all in a panic. Seeing their mistress's dark face, they were afraid that they had done something wrong and become scapegoats. They all hid far away and went to look for the jade pendant. Ye Wanning searched the room from top to bottom, but still could not find the jade pendant.
"It's over..." Ye Wanning collapsed to the side, panting, muttering to herself as she pounded her head in frustration, "I lost something so important, how could I be so stupid!"
Seeing Ye Wanning scolding and hitting her, Cui'er felt a pang of heartache. She quickly went up to Ye Wanning, grabbed her hand, and pleaded, "Sister... please don't do this..."
"What else can I do..." Ye Wanning was so anxious that tears were about to fall. "That's Qiu Shan's jade pendant! Qiu Shan's!"
Upon hearing the name Qiu Shan, Cui'er was taken aback. She had heard people talk about it before. It seemed that Qiu Shan was the one who had saved her young mistress in the palace. Realizing the seriousness of the matter, Cui'er quickly said, "The Prince came here today. Sister, don't worry, I'll go and ask the Prince right away if he has seen that jade pendant."
"Are you serious?" Ye Wanning quickly grabbed Cui'er's arm, her eyes sparkling with joy. "Then go quickly, I'll look for it here again!"
"Okay!" Cui'er nodded and immediately got up to go find Su Wenzhen.
Inside the study, Su Wenzhen put down his calligraphy brush, then stretched, looking refreshed.
"Your Highness." Seeing Su Wenzhen stop writing, Jiang Hai slowly bowed.
"Hmm." Su Wenzhen nodded, gently picked up the Xuan paper on the table, and examined it carefully. "Jiang Hai, come and take a look. How is my calligraphy? I haven't written in a long time, so I'm a bit rusty."
Jiang Hai looked up and saw the character "动" (dong, meaning movement) prominently displayed on the paper. "Your Highness's handwriting is naturally excellent, but..." Jiang Hai frowned, "Isn't it a bit inappropriate to reveal your identity so early?"
"Is this still early?" Su Wenzhen put down the Xuan paper, glanced at Jiang Hai, put his hands behind his back, and said in a somewhat indifferent tone, "They've come to bully us, how can we tolerate this?"
Jiang Hai frowned, clearly disagreeing with Su Wenzhen's approach. After a long silence, he said, "In that case, the plan will probably have to be moved up."
"Don't rush." Su Wenzhen sat on the couch, poured two cups of tea, looked at Jiang Hai, pointed to the tea on the table, and said, "Come and sit down."
Seeing Jiang Hai nod and approach, he asked again, "Has this matter been leaked?"
"The internal agents in the manor have been mostly dealt with." Jiang Hai nodded. "The people in the palace only know that you and the Princess Consort have returned safely to the manor, but they don't know that you have recovered."
"That's good." Su Wenzhen smiled and took a sip of tea. "I'm afraid my brother will be impatient to come see me. I'll give him a surprise then, so that our brotherhood won't be in vain."
Hearing this, Jiang Hai looked at Su Wenzhen with a cold and stunned expression. Why did he always feel that this matter was planned by his own prince?
Seeing Jiang Hai staring at him in a daze, Su Wenzhen put down his teacup and asked with some confusion, "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing." Jiang Hai came back to his senses, pursed his lips, and pressed his hand on the purse, but his hand was numb. He was startled, then took the purse off and handed it to Su Wenzhen.
Su Wenzhen took the purse, looked at Jiang Hai, and asked, somewhat puzzled, "What's this?"
"I found it in front of the Princess's room."
Su Wenzhen opened his purse and found an unremarkable jade pendant inside. He took it out and weighed it in his hand a few times. "It's not good jade." He frowned as he spoke. "When did Wan Ning get such a jade pendant?"
"I don't know." Jiang Hai shook his head, then added, "But this jade does look somewhat familiar."
"Huh?" Su Wenzhen looked at him in confusion. "Where have we met before?"
"Does Your Highness still remember Young Master Liu Xuan?" Jiang Hai asked, looking at Su Wenzhen.
Liu Xuan? Su Wenzhen half-closed his eyes, pondered for a long time, and slowly said, "Is he the richest man in Chu, the young master of the Liu family?"
“Yes.” Jiang Hai nodded. “Everyone says he is the young master of the Liu family, but according to those who have seen him, the Liu family actually only has him. To be precise, there are two people, but his younger sister was separated from him when she was young.”
"You mean..." Su Wenzhen suddenly opened his eyes, looked at Jiang Hai, his eyes gleaming, "This jade pendant belongs to his sister."
“That’s right.” Jiang Hai continued, “If we can bring Liu Xuan into our camp, the outcome of the battle will be even more uncertain.”
"So, you see," Su Wenzhen couldn't suppress his smile, "this Wan Ning really is my lucky star!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than a commotion arose outside. Su Wenzhen got up, opened the door, and saw a guard and a servant arguing. Su Wenzhen frowned and asked the guard, "What is it?"
"Your Highness." The guard turned around and bowed to Su Wenzhen. "I don't know what happened today, but several groups of people came looking for the jade pendant, saying it was the Princess's order. I told them to leave, but they wouldn't. They insisted on staying here, saying they wouldn't give up until they found it."
Jade pendant? Upon hearing this, Su Wenzhen turned and glanced at Jiang Hai. The two exchanged a look, then Su Wenzhen turned back and said to the servants standing to the side, "You may all leave. I will speak with the Princess Consort later."
After saying that, Su Wenzhen was about to turn around and walk into the study when he heard shouts behind him again, "Your Highness! Your Highness! Your Highness!"
Su Wenzhen paused, turned around, and saw Cui'er running towards him. He hesitated for a moment, then asked, "What is it?"
"Your Highness...no...something terrible has happened..." Cui'er gasped for breath, "Sister...sister...my sister's things are missing, I'm so worried...no...no...I don't know if Your Highness has seen them..."
"What do you see?"
"It's...it's...it's a jade pendant..." Cui'er steadied herself, but when she turned her head, she saw the man in blue again, and she couldn't help but shrink back in fright, quickly looking away.
Seeing Cui'er's timid and hesitant demeanor, Su Wenzhen glanced at Jiang Hai, knowing that Cui'er recognized his identity. He whispered, "You go in first, I'll go see the Princess."
"Yes." Jiang Hai nodded, gave Cui'er a meaningful look, and then turned and went into the house.
"This is probably what your princess is talking about." Seeing Jiang Hai enter the room, Su Wenzhen felt relieved. He handed the jade pendant in his hand to Cui'er, "Take a close look."
Cui'er shook her head. "This servant has never seen this before." Then, she looked at Su Wenzhen, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "Your Highness, could you come with me to my sister's place to take a look? She's been blaming herself for not being able to find this jade pendant, and she's been hitting her head..."
Upon hearing this, Su Wenzhen was startled. "Are you serious?"
“Yes…” Cui’er nodded with a hint of resentment.
"Then let's go quickly." Su Wenzhen said helplessly. His wife really knew how to make things difficult for him...
Before he even opened the door, he heard a series of sighs coming from inside, which made Su Wenzhen's heart tremble. He gently pushed open the door and saw Ye Wanning lying on the table looking unbearable. "Wife..." he called softly as he stepped forward.
Upon hearing that the visitor was Su Wenzhen, Ye Wanning immediately jumped up and ran to him, anxiously asking, "Have you seen my jade pendant?"
Su Wenzhen pretended to be unaware and looked innocently at Ye Wanning, "What jade pendant? What jade pendant are you talking about?"
"Don't you know?" Ye Wanning was a little confused. Wasn't he here for the jade pendant? She turned to look at Cui'er, but saw Cui'er shaking her head helplessly. Ye Wanning immediately understood what was going on. She gritted her teeth and stomped hard on Su Wenzhen's right foot.
"Ah!" A pitiful scream came from inside the house, "Wife, spare my life!"
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