Chapter Thirty-Three: Yun Shuang

“So it was Xiangqiao who coveted the treasures and framed someone else!”

This revelation was like a stone tossed into a still pond, sending ripples throughout the crowd. The guests immediately began to whisper among themselves. They had all assumed that the second young lady despised the third, that animosity ran between the sisters, and that Jiang Li was the malicious one cursing Jiang Youyao. Who could have foreseen that, in the end, it was the trusted maid, blinded by greed, who had set up her mistress?

Now everything seemed much simpler. It was Xiangqiao, Jiang Li’s personal maid, whose hands were unclean. She’d tried to steal the gift Jiang Li had prepared for Jiang Youyao. Fearing discovery, she simply swapped it for an inferior imitation.

Xiangqiao shook her head desperately, clutching Jiang Li’s leg. “It’s not true! It’s not true! Those hairpins and ornaments were all gifts from Second Miss! I didn’t steal anything, please, Second Miss, say something for me!”

In truth, the jewelry and hairpins hadn’t been stolen by Xiangqiao, but Jiang Li would never admit it.

Jiang Li merely looked at her, her tone full of sorrow. “Xiangqiao, I have not treated you poorly—why would you do this to me? Besides, I myself am not flush with silver. I spent all I had to buy a coming-of-age gift for my third sister, and what jewelry remained was all I had left. These pieces are worth a handsome sum; it would be reasonable to give you one or two for your service, but to bestow the entire box? In all of Yan Capital, such generosity is rare indeed.”

The guests nodded in agreement. After all, it was only natural to reward good servants, but no one’s wealth was endless. To give away a whole casket of jewels to a servant—unless one was mad, who would do such a thing? Especially since Second Miss had just said she spent all her money on a gift for Third Miss; she could hardly give away what little was left.

Xiangqiao gazed at Jiang Li in a daze; Jiang Li’s sincerity seemed so genuine that even Xiangqiao herself was nearly deceived.

Coveting Jiang Li’s box of treasures, Xiangqiao had gladly accepted the generous gifts, never pausing to consider how unusual it was for a mistress to so lavishly reward a maid. She’d thought Jiang Li was a naïve country bumpkin, ignorant of worldly matters. Who knew that what she had accepted so readily would become her noose?

Ji Shuran had tasked her with tampering with the coming-of-age gift Jiang Li was to present, but Xiangqiao, grown greedy and emboldened by recent indulgences, had her own designs upon the jewelry. Hearing maids chatting about a jeweler who specialized in forgeries, she sought him out, paid a small sum, and had him craft an exact replica of the gemstone hairpiece.

Apart from the quality, it was indistinguishable from the original. Xiangqiao reasoned that if Jiang Li was accused and punished, the hairpiece, deemed inauspicious, would be destroyed, and the matter would be forgotten. Thus Ji Shuran’s scheme against Jiang Li would succeed, and Xiangqiao herself would gain a beautiful ornament for nothing.

She hadn’t expected Jiang Li, even in the midst of chaos, to instantly spot the switch—especially when she had barely handled the real piece herself. Nor had she foreseen that the genuine ruby hairpiece would end up in her own quarters.

She had hidden it in its box, buried in a secure place—how had it been found? Lifting her eyes, she met Jiang Li’s gaze and shivered with dread.

Could Jiang Li have known all along? Had she merely been watching, biding her time? Now, the very jewels she had so generously bestowed only served to brand Xiangqiao a thief.

Jiang Li had been plotting from the start! She was no clueless rustic—she had known everything, yet had acted the innocent.

A wave of despair washed over Xiangqiao. She had ruined Ji Shuran’s plans, and Ji Shuran would never forgive her for it.

Just then, Jiang Li spoke again. “There is still one thing I don’t understand. Xiangqiao, you could have simply switched my hairpiece for the inferior replica, given the fake to my third sister, and she would have thought me merely short of funds. Why risk discovery by carving extra marks on the gemstone to frame me, nearly turning my parents against me?” Jiang Li’s voice was gentle yet probing. “The more I think about it, the less sense it makes. Was someone instructing you from behind the scenes?”

At these words, the guests exchanged subtle glances. Who was behind this? The tangled web of stepmother and stepdaughter relations in the Jiang family became all the more vivid.

Ji Shuran’s heart skipped a beat—she wanted nothing more than to tear Jiang Li apart. She shifted slightly and shot Xiangqiao a warning look.

Terrified, Xiangqiao hesitated, then suddenly wailed, “Second Miss, it was you who told me to do this! You said Third Miss wasn’t worthy of the hairpiece, and ordered me to find a copy and scratch it myself—”

“Lies, nothing but lies,” Jiang Li sighed, shaking her head and straightening up to look down at her. “You’ve already contradicted yourself. If you must lie, at least do it convincingly. And you still haven’t explained how you stole my whole box of jewelry.”

Turning to Ji Shuran, Jiang Li said, “Mother gave me this maid, praising her for her diligence and honesty. I’ve always treated her well, never neglecting her, but she turned out to be a thief who dared frame her mistress. Mother, this time you’ve truly misjudged her.”

Ji Shuran felt her face burning, as if she had been publicly slapped. Just moments ago, she had vouched for Xiangqiao’s character in front of all the guests, only to be forced now to eat her words.

Ji Shuran managed a strained smile. “It’s entirely my fault. I failed to judge her character and caused you this grievance.”

How could the mistress of the house be so poor a judge of character as to plant such a wicked girl at her stepdaughter’s side? The ladies who had earlier sympathized with Ji Shuran now felt a chill of suspicion.

Ji Shuran took in the guests’ expressions and was furious. Now she understood Jiang Li’s true intention—Jiang Li wanted to use this scandal to send Xiangqiao away, removing one of Ji Shuran’s spies from Fangfei Garden.

Jiang Li smiled to herself. Did Ji Shuran think she only meant to uproot Xiangqiao? No, Jiang Li had no wish to waste time on Jiang family trifles; some matters, dealt with cleanly once, would spare endless trouble later.

“Mother, you weren’t entirely mistaken,” Jiang Li said with a smile. “If not for the other maid you gave me, Yunshuang, I would never have known Xiangqiao was so disloyal. It was Yunshuang who alerted me.” She looked straight at Yunshuang, who stood at the back of the crowd, and said with sincere gratitude, “Thank you, Yunshuang.”

Xiangqiao was stunned on the floor. In that instant, many things became clear to her, but her mouth was already stuffed with a cloth by the matrons and she could not speak.

Yunshuang, hiding in the crowd, froze; the look Ji Shuran shot her chilled her to the bone.

— — —

Yunshuang, an expert at betraying her own side for a hundred years…