The shattered jade bracelet was crystal clear in texture; one glance was enough to tell it was extremely valuable.
Whether Shen Wu’s qin was truly worth a thousand taels remained debatable, but Shen Wan’s jade bracelet was certainly worth at least seven or eight hundred taels, even if not a full thousand.
Rubbing her injured wrist, Shen Wan looked at Shen Wu. “No matter how angry you were, you shouldn’t have pushed me. Now look what happened, my bracelet shattered!”
Grinding her teeth in anger, Shen Wu snapped, “Who told you to shield Cousin and block my way? I didn’t do it on purpose…”
Shen Wan replied, “My favorite bracelet was broken just like that, and you think saying you didn’t mean it is enough to let it go?”
Those were exactly the words Shen Wu had used earlier, and Shen Wan returned them to her word for word.
Since Ye Caiwei had broken Shen Wu’s qin, even accidentally, she was still expected to compensate her with an identical one. By the same logic, since Shen Wu’s shove caused Shen Wan’s bracelet to shatter, she naturally ought to replace it with an identical one as well.
Shen Wu’s face turned green with anger. “So Second Sister only cares about Cousin after all! Before this, whenever we accidentally broke your things, you always let it go. But now, just because I asked Cousin to compensate my qin, you refuse to let me off!”
Shen Wan replied calmly, “I let things go before because I felt too embarrassed to pursue the matter. Sisters shouldn’t bicker over every little thing and damage family harmony. Third Sister is always saying Cousin lives in Duke Dingguo Manor as a dependent guest and that everyone should be more considerate toward her. When lecturing me, you always sound so righteous. Yet today, Cousin merely accidentally damaged your qin, and over such a tiny matter, you scolded her until she cried. Whenever you all damaged my belongings before, when did I ever scold you or ask for compensation?”
Shen Wan crouched down and carefully began picking up the shattered bracelet piece by piece.
Shanhu hurriedly said, “This servant will pick them up instead. Be careful not to cut your hand.”
Seeing the broken jade, Shen Yao suddenly remarked, “Doesn’t this look like the bracelet Second Sister shattered last year…”
Shen Wan angrily tossed the broken bracelet pieces onto the stone table. “And how exactly did that bracelet break last year?”
Shen Yao immediately fell silent.
Back then, Shen Wu had thought the bracelet looked beautiful and wanted to try it on. But while returning it to Shen Wan, she accidentally dropped it to the ground, where it shattered into three pieces. At the time, Shen Wan had been heartbroken over it.
Shen Wan continued, “I was upset over that bracelet for days. Grandmother noticed and had Uncle search for another similar one to give me before I finally cheered up. I normally don’t even dare wear it outside. Today, I heard Cousin had been scolded to tears and rushed over in a hurry, only for it to end up shattered again!”
Her expression was full of distress, and her voice rose indignantly without the slightest trace of guilt over being exposed.
After all, everyone in the Duke Dingguo Manor knew exactly how wealthy the Yun family was and how deeply they doted on Shen Wan.
As long as it was something Shen Wan wanted and it existed somewhere in the world, Shen Ji and Madam Yun would always find a way to obtain it for her. Shen Wu and the others had envied her since childhood, though naturally they had also benefited quite a bit from it themselves.
Ye Caiwei reached out and tugged on Shen Wan’s sleeve. “Second Cousin, please don’t argue with Third Cousin because of me…”
Shen Wan comforted her, “Don’t be afraid. My bracelet is more than enough to compensate for her qin.”
Either they would let both matters go entirely, or the money Shen Wu used to compensate for the bracelet would conveniently become the money Ye Caiwei used to repay the qin.
In short, Shen Wan intended to protect Ye Caiwei to the very end.
Shen Wu was so furious her lungs nearly exploded.
The matter inevitably reached the Old Madam.
Yet Shen Wan’s attitude remained unchanged.
The Old Madam scolded them, “You are all sisters of the same household, yet you’ve caused such a commotion over a single qin and one bracelet. What kind of behavior is this?!”
Second Madam added, “That qin had been with Wu’er for many years. Suddenly having it ruined naturally made her say some harsh words in the heat of the moment. She never truly intended to make her Cousin compensate her for it. How did Wan’er take it seriously?”
Shen Wan replied, “I simply saw Cousin crying so pitifully and became angry for a moment. Since Third Sister never truly intended to make Cousin compensate for the qin, then naturally I won’t make Third Sister compensate me for the bracelet either. After all, neither incident was intentional.”
Although she said this, Shen Wan still looked visibly heartbroken over the bracelet.
Standing nearby, Shen Wu viciously twisted the handkerchief in her hands.
Not only had she failed to obtain the Jiaowei Qin, she had even sacrificed her own qin in the process. How could she not grind her teeth in rage?
With reddened eyes, Ye Caiwei said, “It’s all my fault. I was clumsy enough to break Third Cousin’s qin and even caused Second Cousin’s bracelet to shatter as well…”
Shen Wan smiled faintly. “Cousin is being too modest. At the peony banquet hosted by the Princess Shunyang Manor, your dancing and poetry amazed everyone. If someone as talented as you is considered clumsy, then wouldn’t everyone else simply be hopelessly foolish?”
Shen Wu nearly bit her teeth apart from fury.
To her ears, Shen Wan was not praising Ye Caiwei at all, she was deliberately stepping on Shen Wu.
Yet she could not refute a single word.
Her cheating and deceit had already become known to countless noble ladies and young masters. She had utterly lost face and was too embarrassed to even leave the manor these days.
The Old Madam finally said, “No more troublemaking. Everyone disperse.”
Shen Wan withdrew.
She did not bother with Ye Caiwei and returned directly to Mingyue Courtyard.
By then, Madam Yun had already left.
Shen Yu looked at Shen Wan and asked, “Why did you deliberately send Mother over to my place?”
Shen Wan blinked. “Elder Sister didn’t expose me?”
Shen Yu shook her head. “You must’ve had your reasons for doing so.”
Shen Wan replied, “Cousin and Third Sister are always like this. They fight one day and reconcile the next. Mother really shouldn’t interfere too much. If anyone should handle it, it should be Grandmother.”
“You saw it yourself, once Grandmother stepped in, nobody had to compensate anyone for the qin. But if Mother had handled it, she’d probably be taking Cousin out to buy a new qin for Third Sister right now.”
Shen Wan was practically spelling it out: they were joining forces to squeeze money out of Madam Yun.
No… not just money.
They even wanted to seize other people’s treasured possessions.
In the previous life, after Madam Yun bought several replacement qins that Shen Wu disliked, they ultimately ended up benefiting Shen Yin and Shen Yao instead.
Since everyone gained something from it, naturally they all colluded together.
Previously, Shen Wan had deliberately elevated Ye Caiwei while trampling Shen Wu beneath her feet. Yet the moment the peony banquet ended, everything reverted to the way it was before.
Then again, although Second Madam did not know Ye Caiwei was the Second Master illegitimate daughter, she definitely knew Ye Caiwei was not General Ye’s biological child. Holding such leverage over Ye Caiwei, she could excuse Ye Caiwei for protecting gifts given to her, but in all other matters, Ye Caiwei would never dare offend Shen Wu no matter how much courage she had.
With such a weakness hanging over her head, Ye Caiwei would never allow Shen Wu to suffer such a huge loss.
Sure enough, the matter of the broken qin was far from over.
And indeed, during lunch, Ye Caiwei caused another incident.
Yinchuan hurried in to report to Shen Wan, “Miss, Miss Ye maid secretly stole Miss Ye jewelry and tried to sneak out of the manor, but the old women guarding the second gate caught her…”