In truth, Shen Yuru had not actually been laughed at by anyone. Her good friend had not directly said that her bracelet was poor quality. Instead, she had tactfully asked where she had bought it and whether she had been cheated.
Shen Yuru had then taken off the bracelet and come to Jiang Xuening in an “angry” state to demand an explanation.
“Sister-in-law, what kind of lousy bracelet did you give me? It made me get laughed at by all my friends…”
With just one sentence, the atmosphere that had only just become lively plunged back into an icy silence.
Everyone’s eyes immediately turned toward Jiang Xuening.
Jiang Xuening pretended to be embarrassed.
“Fourth Sister, what’s wrong with the bracelet?”
“Look at this bracelet. It’s full of cotton-like inclusions and cracks. You deliberately gave me this thing just to make me lose face!” Shen Yuru immediately repeated the mocking words she had used against Jiang Xuening earlier. However, with so many relatives and elders present today, she was ultimately too embarrassed to go too far.
In the end, she could only force out one sentence.
“I hate you!”
Then she ran out.
The people remaining in the room looked at one another in bewilderment.
“Was that the Fourth Miss of the Jingning Marquis’s Residence just now?” Old Madam Jiang had not yet calmed down from her anger. After Shen Yuru’s outburst, her expression became even more unpleasant as she questioned Jiang Xuening. “What happened?”
Jiang Xuening had already prepared her explanation.
She immediately put away the sharpness she had displayed when talking back to the elders and replaced it with an innocent expression.
“I don’t know either. On the way here just now, Fourth Sister saw the bracelet on my wrist and thought it looked nice, so she asked me for it. I simply gave it to her…”
“Bring it here and let me have a look.”
Jiang Xuening handed the bracelet over.
The old madam picked it up and held it toward the window. With just one glance, she could tell what kind of quality the bracelet was.
“A bracelet like this would barely be suitable for rewarding servants. She is a proper Fourth Miss of the Marquis’s Residence. How could she possibly wear something of this quality?”
“Grandmother, what’s wrong with this bracelet?” Jiang Xuening pretended not to know that the bracelet was inferior. “Fourth Sister mentioned something about cotton-like inclusions and cracks just now. I don’t know much about jade, so I don’t know what exactly is wrong with it.”
The old madam had no intention of teaching her how to distinguish good jade from bad jade at that moment. Instead, she asked,
“Where did you get this bracelet?”
“Grandmother, this bracelet was part of my dowry. It originally belonged to a complete set of jewelry.”
As soon as she said this, Jiang Xuening clearly noticed a change in Legal Mother Madam Zhou’s expression.
But it lasted only for a moment before Madam Zhou quickly returned to her usual composure.
All of Jiang Xuening’s dowry had been prepared by Madam Zhou herself, so the old madam naturally turned to her first.
“Madam Zhou, tell me. What is going on?”
Madam Zhou had been in charge of the household finances for many years and was deeply familiar with the ways of maneuvering within an inner household. She had long since cultivated the ability to remain calm even when the sky was falling.
She calmly met the old madam’s suspicious gaze.
“Ning girl’s dowry was personally handled by me. All the jewelry and ornaments were purchased from the finest gold and silver shops in the city, and every expense was clearly recorded in the accounts. There is no way something of this quality would have been included.
“Since such an issue has occurred, there is only one possibility. Someone must have switched out this set of jewelry belonging to Ning girl…”
The old madam did not actually believe her explanation.
She was more inclined to believe that the dowry Madam Zhou had prepared for Jiang Xuening had originally been of this poor quality.
However, there was no evidence, and it would be difficult to say so outright.
So the old madam simply followed Madam Zhou’s words.
“Then investigate it. If only this one set of jewelry was switched, then so be it. But if there are problems with the rest of her dowry as well, then this is no small matter.”
“Yes, Mother. I will naturally do my best to investigate it. However, if this set of jewelry was switched while it was still at the Zhongcheng Residence, we may be able to find out what happened. But if it was switched somewhere else, I’m afraid it will be difficult to investigate…”
Madam Zhou glanced at Jiang Xuening, subtly implying that the problem had not occurred on her end and that no one should blame her if nothing could be found later.
The old madam understood this perfectly well.
Even if Madam Zhou had been the one to switch out the dowry, given her abilities, she would have handled everything so flawlessly that there would be no way to uncover any evidence.
The words she had spoken earlier were merely meant for Jiang Xuening to hear. She had never truly intended to stand up for her.
Jiang Xuening could also see that her grandmother was merely trying to brush her off.
Since even her grandmother was unwilling to stand up for her, Jiang Xuening could not be blamed for making the matter bigger.
“Mother is right. Since the dowry was personally prepared by Mother, then I suppose the problem probably did not occur at the Zhongcheng Residence. In that case, once I return, I’ll report this matter to my mother-in-law and ask her to investigate carefully whether there is a thief in the Marquis’s Residence who secretly switched out my dowry…”
The moment she heard that Jiang Xuening intended to bring the matter before the mistress of the Jingning Marquis’s Residence, Old Madam Jiang frowned.
“Ridiculous. You’ve only married into the Marquis’s Residence a few days ago, and already you’re saying that there is a thief in their household. What will people think of you?”
Jiang Xuening stubbornly argued,
“But what am I supposed to do about my dowry? Grandmother, I am now the Heir Apparent’s wife. All the social obligations and gift-giving I’ll have to handle in the future will depend on the things in my dowry. If other items in my dowry have also been replaced, what am I supposed to use to entertain people and prepare gifts in the future?”
Everyone in the room understood the situation perfectly well.
The Marquis’s Residence was wealthy and powerful. It was practically impossible that anyone there would covet her small amount of dowry.
The real source of the problem was still the Zhongcheng Residence.
If Jiang Xuening truly brought this matter before the Marquis’s wife, the one who would ultimately lose face would be the Zhongcheng Residence.
“All right. You already aren’t favored by the Heir Apparent. If you offend your mother-in-law as well, how will you establish yourself in the Marquis’s Residence in the future?”
The old madam thought it over before turning to Madam Zhou.
“After the banquet is over, send someone to accompany Ning girl to the Marquis’s Residence. Have them check exactly how much of her dowry has been switched out. Then replace everything she is missing.”
“Mother, this…”
Madam Zhou was about to object, but the old madam shot her a sharp glare, forcing the words back down.
“It’s decided. We cannot afford to offend the Marquis’s Residence. We will settle this matter ourselves behind closed doors so that it does not spread and become a laughingstock.”
“Yes, Mother.”
Madam Zhou let out a heavy breath.
Faced with the old madam’s pressure, she could only agree.
After the full-month banquet ended, Shen Yuru still returned in the same carriage as Jiang Xuening.
Shen Yuru had more or less guessed why Jiang Xuening had asked her to help put on the act.
“Did you think that the things the Zhongcheng Residence gave you as your dowry were of poor quality, so you used me to expose the matter?”
Jiang Xuening nodded.
“What happened afterward?” Shen Yuru asked impatiently. “After I threw the bracelet at you, what happened next?”
“Nothing much. They tried to brush me off, but they couldn’t. They’ve already agreed to make up the missing dowry for me.”
“I didn’t expect you to be quite clever. And brave, too.”
She had been born a concubine’s daughter and had spent ten years at the Rural Estate. To possess such intelligence and courage was already enough to make Shen Yuru look at her with newfound respect.
For a moment, Shen Yuru felt a trace of admiration toward her.
But then she remembered that Jiang Xuening was supposedly a vicious person who had once harmed her own siblings.
She immediately withdrew that admiration, pursed her lips, and gave a cold snort.
“Even so, I still don’t like you.”
Jiang Xuening glanced at her indifferently.
“Is your liking something so precious?”
“Ah?”
Shen Yuru had not expected her to suddenly say something like that, and she was momentarily unable to react.
Jiang Xuening gave a cold, disdainful laugh.
“It’s something useless. I don’t need it anyway.”