Chapter 159 Unable to Defend
After Shen Qingnian was seated, Li Huiyan asked the old lady, "Did you see Yan-ge'er today?"
Li Huiyan shook her head: "We've come at an inopportune time; the young master is not here."
"But it's good to have seen the old lady, and I also ran into Sister Qingnian."
"I never expected that in just a few days, Sister Qingnian would have become the Crown Prince's concubine."
As she spoke, she took off the jade bracelet from her wrist, grabbed Shen Qingnian's hand, and tried to put it on her wrist: "Now that Qingnian is a concubine, this bracelet, though not a rare treasure, is a gift I carefully selected for her. I hope you won't find it offensive."
Shen Qingnian had no idea what she was up to this time, but she definitely couldn't accept the bracelet.
She quickly reached out to decline, saying, "Miss Li, you're too kind. I really can't accept such a valuable gift."
Li Huiyan wouldn't allow her to refuse and still wanted to put the bracelet on her: "Qingnian, do you dislike this bracelet of yours?"
As the two pushed each other, a shattering sound was heard.
The bracelet shattered into two pieces at their feet.
Li Huiyan's smile froze for a moment, and her brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.
In a brief moment, a smile returned to her face, and she said gently, "Qingnian, how could you be so careless?"
Upon hearing this, Shen Qingnian felt a pang of unease. Did Li Huiyan mean that she was the one who broke the bracelet?
She looked at Li Huiyan with a hint of doubt in her eyes.
Hongyu, who was standing to the side, was once again taken aback by what this young lady Li had said.
The bracelet was in Li Xiaoniangzi's hands the whole time; her aunt didn't even touch it. How can it be said that it was the aunt's fault?
What a shameless person!
Just then, footsteps sounded outside the door.
Li Huiyan roughly knew who the person was, and she felt a surge of joy, but she tried hard to suppress her excitement.
Holding Shen Qingnian's hand, he said, "Qingnian, it's alright, it's just a bracelet."
Xie Yanzhi just stepped into the house and saw Li Huiyan holding Shen Qingnian's hand, while Shen Qingnian's expression was rather unpleasant.
He bowed to the old lady and said, "Grandmother."
He had just finished dealing with those trivial matters and went straight to Yuheng Residence upon returning home.
But the maid at the door said that Shen Qingnian had been summoned to the Wenxin Hall by the old lady, accompanied by General Li's daughter.
His expression turned cold, and he stepped forward.
The old lady looked at Xie Yanzhi with a smile, her eyes full of affection: "Yan-ge'er is back?"
"Miss Li has come to your residence today specifically to see you."
Seeing the old lady say this, Li Huiyan blushed slightly.
Xie Yanzhi turned around and walked to Shen Qingnian's side, grasped her wrist, and pulled her hand away from Li Huiyan's.
He then looked at Li Huiyan and asked, "Miss Li, what's going on?"
When Li Huiyan saw Xie Yanzhi arrive, she immediately pulled Shen Qingnian's hand away and stood beside her, acting as if she were protecting her tightly.
Her heart felt like it was being pricked by needles.
She's enduring all this for him! Yet he remains so cold towards her.
Xie Yanzhi was indeed quite infatuated with this lowly merchant's daughter.
She looked at Jinluo beside her, and Jinluo immediately bent down, picked up the two broken bracelets, and presented them to Li Huiyan.
Li Huiyan held up the two broken bracelets and showed them to Xie Yanzhi, then said casually, "Your Highness, these bracelets were originally a gift I brought to congratulate Qingnian on becoming a concubine. When I handed them over just now, she accidentally dropped them on the ground and broke them."
Shen Qingnian shook her head, about to speak, when Li Huiyan touched her shoulder, as if she understood what she meant by shaking her head.
Youyou said, "I know my sister didn't mean it. After all, this is a rare jade bracelet, and my sister is reluctant to part with it."
"Of course, I was careful when I knocked it to the ground."
As Li Huiyan spoke, she smiled and gave Shen Qingnian a reassuring look.
Hongyu looked up at Li Huiyan. It was clear that Li Huiyan was saying that her aunt was so poor that she had never seen anything good, which was why she was so agitated and made such an ugly face.
That's just too much.
The eldest son dotes on his concubine and has prepared a lot of jewelry for her room. But the quality of this bracelet is nothing special!
Upon hearing Li Huiyan's words, a hint of disdain flashed across the old lady's eyes.
In her opinion, Shen Qingnian, who came from a humble family, panicked upon seeing such a fine jade bracelet and dropped it, was truly a person of low social standing.
Xie Yanzhi looked at Li Huiyan and saw that she was completely calm and composed. He then looked at Shen Qingnian and gestured for her to speak.
Shen Qingnian then said, "I didn't knock it to the ground."
Li Huiyan asked in shock, "Qingnian, what do you mean by that?"
"The bracelet was in Madam Li's hand the whole time. No one knows better than Madam Li why it fell to the ground."
As she spoke, Shen Qingnian lowered her head, feigning weakness, as if afraid of being scolded.
Upon seeing this, Li Huiyan's eyes widened in shock, and she said directly:
"Qingnian, my sister? You...how could you..."
As Li Huiyan spoke, her eyes slowly reddened, as if she had a great grievance in her heart that made her speechless, and she could only look at Shen Qingnian with a mournful expression.
"You insolent fool!" Upon seeing this, the old lady's face darkened immediately, her tone filled with reprimand: "Miss Li is a distinguished guest of our household, of noble status. How dare you slander her reputation like this!"
"It's just a bracelet. If you don't want to accept it, fine, but you broke it and then dared to slander her in public! It's simply outrageous."
Hearing the old lady's words, Li Huiyan felt secretly pleased; the old lady was clearly biased towards her.
She did indeed drop the bracelet on the ground intentionally.
Only the four of them saw it; Jinluo was her maid and wouldn't betray her.
The maid opposite is Shen Qingnian's person; who would believe what she says?
Even if Xie Yanzhi wanted to protect her, Shen Qingnian could only remain speechless.
Thinking of this, Li Huiyan wanted to see how Xie Yanzhi would help his beloved aunt out of this predicament.
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