Zhao Xian shot Jiang Heng a glare and handed the baby in her arms to the wet nurse who had rushed over upon hearing the news.
Nanny He reached out to support Zhao Xian, whispering, “I will arrange for someone to bring the eldest young master and the others back immediately.”
“No need.”
Upon hearing the words “memento,” Zhao Xian suddenly recalled a heartbreaking plot point from the book, which happened to be related to this matter.
“Let’s go check on Lianniang first. We mustn’t let anything happen to her.”
With that, she walked into the room.
Zhao Xian had heard the commotion inside earlier. Upon entering the inner chamber and catching sight of the haggard beauty leaning weakly against the bedpost, she almost thought she had walked into the wrong place.
With maids and elderly servants in the household, there was naturally no need for Zhao Xian to personally tend to anyone.
Yet she had painstakingly gathered all the details beneficial for a postpartum woman’s recovery and applied them as best she could to Li Lianniang, having cared for her meticulously for nearly a month.
Just as she had managed to restore a bit of brightness to Lianniang’s demeanor, that scoundrel Jiang Wei had instantly withered the delicate flower.
Zhao Xian felt a sense of helplessness—as if all her efforts had been in vain.
“Jiang Wei has only left the estate, not died. It’s too early for mourning,” Zhao Xian said, her tone not reproachful but rather tinged with a hint of teasing.
Li Lianniang, who had been heartbroken and haggard, was taken aback, and a flicker of vitality seemed to return to her eyes, dispelling some of the gloom.
Her lips parted as if she wanted to say something, but no words came out.
Truly, truly, her mother-in-law’s words were too outrageous.
Zhao Xian had no time to comfort her now.
She remembered the plot from the book: Cui Tingyue had lost something, and the two of them had searched everywhere outside the estate. Jiang Wei had even posted a reward for its return, but to no avail.
The item remained missing, and Cui Tingyue wept day after day. Jiang Wei watched helplessly, growing increasingly anxious.
As fate would have it, at the height of this turmoil, he discovered the memento in Li Lianniang’s room. Overwhelmed with rage, he not only struck Li Lianniang but also accused her of stealing it, wrongly branding her as dishonorable.
Li Lianniang, never one for eloquent speech, found her explanations falling on deaf ears.
When Zhao Xian had read this part, she couldn’t help but vent her frustration at the male lead in the comments.
No investigation, no interrogation, no questions—where was his brain?
This misunderstanding was only cleared up later when Cui Tingyue confessed that she had deliberately framed Li Lianniang by planting the memento in her room.
Zhao Xian had always been reluctant to think of Cui Tingyue as malicious—a lonely orphan who had lost her family and had no one to rely on was pitiable enough.
Zhao Xian glanced around the room. How could she search it without arousing Li Lianniang’s suspicion?
She had to find the item before Jiang Wei returned.
Come to think of it, she had prevented Cui Tingyue from visiting Li Lianniang. How could this still have happened?
Ah, that’s right—Cui Tingyue had come once.
She recalled that Cui Tingyue had only stayed in the outer chamber and hadn’t entered the inner room.
Zhao Xian looked at Li Lianniang on the bed and smiled with exceptional warmth. “I noticed some of the furnishings in your room are looking old. Let me replace them with new ones for you—using Jiang Wei’s money.”
Li Lianniang, still reeling from her sorrow, was once again stunned by her mother-in-law’s words.
How had the conversation shifted to old furnishings? And now they were to be replaced?
Distracted by this, the distress Li Lianniang had felt upon learning that her husband had gone out with Cui Tingyue inexplicably faded by half.
“Are they old?” she asked. She had only been married into the Jiang family for a little over a year, and all these items had been newly crafted back then.
Zhao Xian insisted firmly, “Yes, they are old.”
Without further ado, she took Nanny He to open the storeroom.
To find something, changing the carpets and interior furnishings is the most effective method.
Zhao Xian also brought along the maids Chilan and Danruo, instructing them, “Choose according to your eldest young mistress’s preferences. If we’re changing things, we’ll change everything.”
Currently, the interior furnishings of Yunzhu Yuan were almost entirely arranged according to Jiang Wei’s preferences.
Jiang Wei liked to stay in his study—he could just remain in Molin Zhai.
In the book, Li Lianniang was tormented relentlessly. This compensation felt insufficient, and besides, it wasn’t her money being spent anyway.
Chilan and Danruo exchanged glances, their eyes filled with joy. “Yes.”
As the items in Yunzhu Yuan were being replaced, Cui Tingyue’s lost keepsake was found.
Four bell-shaped ornaments strung together like lily-of-the-valley, each engraved with a character.
Based on the character ‘Yue’ on the bottommost bell, these four ornaments likely represented her mother, father, elder brother, and herself.
To use such an item in a scheme—given Cui Tingyue’s gentle and obedient demeanor—was this something she could have done?
“Where was it found?”
She shook the bells; they produced a crisp sound but were not loud.
Nanny He’s expression turned somewhat odd. “You might not believe it, Madam, but the maid found this string of bells hidden in the tied-up gauze curtains.”
“The outer chamber?” There were no gauze curtains in the outer chamber.
“The inner chamber, the gauze curtain beside the dressing table, usually tied to the pillar with a thin silk ribbon.”
Madam had instructed her to remind the maids and servants replacing the items to be careful. If they discovered any unusual small objects, they were to bring them to Madam first.
When the maid brought the bells, Nanny He understood the purpose behind Madam’s decision to replace the items for the eldest young mistress.
But how did Madam know that Miss Cui’s keepsake was in the eldest young mistress’s room?
Upon hearing Nanny He’s words, Zhao Xian recalled that spot.
Such a decorative gauze curtain could actually be used to hide things.
“On the second day after Lianniang gave birth, I remember Cui Tingyue visited Yunzhu Yuan. Did she enter the inner chamber?”
At that time, Li Lianniang’s condition was critical. Doctors and midwives had been summoned, and maids were coming and going.
With so many people and voices, she hadn’t had the time to pay attention to Cui Tingyue.
She didn’t even know when she had left.
Nanny He thought for a moment and shook her head. “It’s been too long. I can’t remember clearly.”
“Investigate quietly. Don’t make a fuss.”
After some inquiries, it was learned from Shaoyao that Cui Tingyue had not entered the inner chamber that day. Before leaving, she had even greeted Shaoyao and asked her to pass on a message.
Zhao Xian glanced at the bells in the box. That was strange—she hadn’t entered the inner chamber, and neither had her maids.
How, then, did the keepsake end up in Li Lianniang’s room? And in such a hidden spot?
Did it grow wings and fly in?
This question troubled Zhao Xian for a long time. She couldn’t figure it out.
Another issue was what to do with this string of bells—should she simply return them to Cui Tingyue, or handle it differently?
In her heart, Zhao Xian didn’t want to let the matter end so easily. She wanted them to learn a lesson.
Shaoyao entered the room to report, “Madam, the Second Young Master has come to bid farewell. He is waiting outside.”
Because the Second Young Master had displeased Madam, he hadn’t barged in as usual. Following protocol, Shaoyao announced his arrival.
Zhao Xian placed the bells into a small box, closed the lid, and said, “Let him in.”
This time, Jiang Heng wasn’t filled with anger. He bowed respectfully and said, “Your son pays his respects to Mother.”
Zhao Xian’s mind was still preoccupied with how the keepsake had entered the inner chamber. Was it really Cui Tingyue who had placed it there?
If so, why didn’t she simply lead Jiang Wei to search Yunzhu Yuan?
That little girl’s mind is truly intricate, going through such a long-winded scheme just to make Jiang Wei misunderstand Li Lianniang? What does she stand to gain?
Especially since she remembers that in the book, Cui Tingyue’s methods were quite shallow, only because Jiang Wei was too blinded to see through them.
In fact, after she exposed herself in the book, some readers even commented that it was unreasonable—with Cui Tingyue’s intelligence, she couldn’t have designed such a complicated plot.
“Mother, Mother.”
Jiang Heng waved his hand in front of Li Lianniang’s face a few times, and Zhao Xian snapped back to attention: “What is it?”
Jiang Heng moved behind Zhao Xian and began massaging her shoulders, his voice ingratiating: “Mother, don’t be angry anymore. I’ve heard all about it—you’ve been so good to Sister-in-Law. It was my misunderstanding.”
Over the past few days, he had Liu Feng inquire around the residence and learned that when Sister-in-Law gave birth to Xiu Jie’er, the situation was critical, and she even had to call a doctor afterward due to bleeding.
It was after that incident that his mother moved into Sister-in-Law’s room.
Yesterday, she even opened the storeroom to move things into Sister-in-Law’s room.
Jiang Heng knew his mother well—when she liked someone, she truly liked them, wanting to give them all the good things; when she didn’t like someone, she wouldn’t even give them a needle.
Zhao Xian swatted his hand away: “No misunderstanding. I’m tormenting my daughter-in-law.”
Jiang Heng wasn’t bothered and continued massaging her shoulders, saying:
“No, absolutely not. My mother is the most magnanimous, the world’s best mother-in-law. How could she possibly torment her daughter-in-law? Those people outside are just talking nonsense with their rotten mouths. My mother is the best.”
After showering her with a stream of flattery, he continued begging for forgiveness: “Mother, please don’t be angry anymore, okay? I’m about to leave for the City Guard Battalion—twenty days, a full twenty days without seeing me. Should we let outside rumors damage our mother-son bond?”
At first, Zhao Xian just listened without reacting, but the last sentence amused her.
Jiang Heng tilted his head, his youthful face brimming with pride: “If you’re smiling, you can’t stay angry with me anymore.”
Zhao Xian: “…Don’t slack off. Keep massaging.”
Honestly, the pressure was just right.
She felt both touched and troubled. If only the male lead in those tragic novels had Jiang Heng’s level of awareness—would he even need a Chasing Wife Crematorium?
Jiang Heng continued chattering: “Then, Mother, say you’re not angry anymore.”
“I’m not angry with you. I’m just troubled.”
“Troubled about what?”
Zhao Xian initially didn’t want to say, but Jiang Heng’s eyes were filled with curiosity.
“If someone sets up a scheme to frame someone else, the scheme has already been exposed, but the other party doesn’t know about it yet, and no major mistake has been made… I’m wondering whether to let it go or…”
Before Zhao Xian could finish, Jiang Wei had already spoken up:
“Set up a counter-scheme. Give them a taste of their own medicine.”
Zhao Xian raised an eyebrow, signaling him to continue.
Jiang Heng then added: “Since they’ve already started scheming, it means they have ill intentions. Why forgive them? They should experience what it’s like to be schemed against.”
Zhao Xian pursed her lips, opened a box beside her, and said to Jiang Heng: “In that case, help me with something.”
“With what?”
“Take this string of bells and place it in your brother’s study. Find a spot that’s hidden but not too hidden.”
The smile on Jiang Heng’s face faded bit by bit, and he gritted his teeth: “The one who set the scheme is my brother?”
Zhao Xian shook her head—she didn’t know either.
“Then why…”
“Even if it wasn’t him, it’s related to him and started because of him.”
Jiang Heng turned his face away, avoiding looking at the bells in his mother’s hand, and advised: “Mother, if Brother finds out, he’ll tell Father, and Father will enforce family discipline.”
He really didn’t want to get beaten.
“If you don’t tell, and I don’t tell, who would know you put it there? Besides, if the family discipline is enforced, wouldn’t I protect you?”
The original host doted on this second son and rarely let him endure the full force of the family discipline.
Jiang Heng thought it made sense. Taking the string of bells from Zhao Xian, his eyes shifted cunningly. “Miss Cui’s keepsake? Did sister-in-law take it?”
No wonder they made such a fuss yesterday opening the storeroom to exchange things for sister-in-law, and coincidentally, his eldest brother took Cui Tingyue out of the mansion to look for some keepsake.
Zhao Xian: “…”
This kid has some insight.
“Your sister-in-law is in confinement. She hasn’t even stepped out of her room, and you accuse her without thinking.”
Jiang Heng was taken aback. “My mistake, I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”
The next moment, he added, “Then… did Miss Cui put it there?”
“She has never entered the inner chamber of Yunzhu Yuan.”
Jiang Heng understood why his mother was troubled. Shaking the string of bells, he asked, “Eldest brother?”
But what would his eldest brother gain from it?
Zhao Xian thought he was more suited for Dali Si, with his strong curiosity, even more so than Jiang Wei. “Since you’re so curious, why not leave this matter for you to investigate?”
“I have to go to the City Guard Battalion. I don’t have time.”
“That’s up to you. If you uncover the truth…”
Jiang Wei cut in, “You’ll grant me one request.”
“Fine.” Zhao Xian nodded. “First, take this thing and put it in your eldest brother’s study.”
Author’s Note:
Seeking collections, spinning and dancing for your collections. [Sparkling eyes][Sparkling eyes][Sparkling eyes] Thought about it and decided on 0:00. This book is likely to be inverted, so I’ll just update normally.