Mrs. Zhang forced out a couple of dry laughs. "Why did you suddenly bring this up, Princess?"
With a "thud", the nine - link puzzle was placed on the table. Li Wanming's lips curled up slightly. "Of course I want to have a heart - to - heart talk with sister - in - law."
"Five years ago, your younger brother suffered from a leg ailment and was bedridden. You sought medical help everywhere to no avail. But half a month later, you suddenly brought back five hundred taels of silver.
"I remember your monthly allowance was only five qian, right? In that case, it would take you about forty years to save up five hundred taels of silver... I wonder where sister - in - law got this huge sum of money?"
Mrs. Zhang panicked and quickly replied, "Don't listen to others' nonsense, Princess. How could I have five hundred taels of silver? It's all baseless."
"Really?" Li Wanming's fingertips slowly slid across the cold silver frame of the nine - link puzzle. "Then was it also false that your husband, Zhang Wang, boasted to everyone after getting drunk that you were in the good graces of the Second Lady?
"He told many people that the Second Lady rewarded you a large sum of money. Not only did it pay off his gambling debts, but there was also money left to invite famous doctors and buy ginseng for your younger brother."
Li Wanming slapped a yellowed piece of paper on the table. "Here is the IOU Zhang Wang signed in the gambling house that year. Take a good look! There's his signature and seal on it!"
Mrs. Zhang felt extremely uneasy. The bright red seal on the paper seemed extremely glaring to her, like the forked tongue of a snake.
"It's okay if you don't want to talk." Li Wanming's face turned cold. "After paying off the gambling debts, there were still three hundred taels left from the five hundred taels. This amount of money is far from enough to let your younger brother take ginseng until now!"
She put the paper into her sleeve and got up to leave. "Since sister - in - law doesn't want to talk, I'll go and ask the Second Aunt for clarification!"
Mrs. Zhang trembled all over and suddenly rushed forward to grab Li Wanming's skirt. Shaking like a sieve, she pleaded, "Don't go! Princess... Please spare my life, Princess. I'll talk..."
She had served Kang for many years and knew too well about the latter's cruelty and means.
If Kang knew that she had not only taken the silver but also secretly stolen some valuable items from the warehouse to sell, she would surely be skinned alive!
The candlelight flickered, casting an uncertain shadow on Li Wanming's face.
"In that case, I'll listen to sister - in - law one more time."
She calmly sat back down. Her eyes were half - lit, like a beast lurking in the night.
Mrs. Zhang's throat tightened. Cold sweat slid down her neck into her collar. Finally, she stammered, "My younger brother... He didn't have an ordinary boil on his leg. It was a virulent abscess. The doctor said there was no cure for this disease. He could only be nursed with medicine slowly..."
"I didn't have much money and couldn't afford those expensive medicinal materials. So... I wanted to ask the Second Lady for an advance on my wages to treat my younger brother. He's my only younger brother. I couldn't just watch him die..."
"Who would have thought that after the Second Lady heard this, she said that with my monthly allowance of only five qian, even if I got an advance for ten years, it wouldn't be enough to pay for my brother's medical treatment. She said that as long as I was willing to do something for her, she would give me five hundred taels of silver on the spot..."
Li Wanming's heart tightened. She calmly asked, "What was it?"
The room was completely silent. Even the ticking sound of the copper clepsydra seemed extremely harsh.
Mrs. Zhang closed her eyes and finally said in a trembling voice, "... It was that white jade Avalokitesvara of Children - Bestowing..."
"When the Princess Consort got married into the mansion, she brought a white jade Avalokitesvara of Children - Bestowing as part of her dowry. It was said to be a sacred object blessed by a high - ranking monk and was extremely effective in blessing the family with prosperous offspring.
"Later, the Princess Consort gave birth to four young masters in succession. The whole mansion was overjoyed. Everyone said it was the Avalokitesvara who had shown her divine power and that the Princess Consort and the Xiao family's offspring were all blessed by the gods..."
"But later..." Her voice grew lower. It was as if there was a knife stuck in her throat. "Three of the young masters died in the southern border one after another. Unable to bear the blow, the Princess Consort ordered the Avalokitesvara to be removed from the Buddhist niche..."
"After that, the Princess Consort didn't even want to look at the Avalokitesvara statue again. She told me... to lock it in the warehouse..."
Her voice suddenly stopped, like a silk ribbon cut in half by a dagger.
Li Wanming softly asked, her voice as cold as a stream wrapped in ice and snow, "And then? What did the Second Lady ask you to do?"
"Then... Then..." Mrs. Zhang's lips trembled. Her thin fingers tightly twisted the corner of her clothes, and her knuckles turned pale. "Five years ago, when my younger brother was sick, the Second Lady asked me, asked me..."
"Speak quickly!" Qing Lan's expression was stern. Her sharp shout almost made Mrs. Zhang collapse.
"Yes, yes, yes. I'll talk, I'll talk..."
Her voice was hoarse, as if the words were squeezed out while someone was choking her. "The Second Lady asked me to steal the white jade Avalokitesvara statue from the warehouse. She said that the Avalokitesvara was inauspicious and had caused the deaths of the three young masters. She wanted to find a high - ranking monk outside to perform a ritual and destroy it, so as not to make the Princess Consort sad when she saw it...
"But the Avalokitesvara was the Princess Consort's dowry. It was specifically brought from the Cheng family in Langya and was registered. I didn't dare to take it. Then the Second Lady said that as long as I soaked the ledger in water and later told people that it was wet by the rain, it would be done without anyone knowing. She also said that she would cover it up for me and told me not to be afraid..."
Mrs. Zhang suddenly covered her face, and her shoulders trembled violently. "I was really desperate! My useless husband owed gambling debts and was beaten half to death... My younger brother was lying in bed, and his wound was rotting to the bone..."
Suddenly, she rushed forward and tightly grabbed Li Wanming's skirt. Her fingernails almost dug into the brocade.
"I was afraid that all this money would be taken by that heartless gambler of my husband to pay off his gambling debts. So I secretly took a hu of pearls and two jade bottles from the warehouse..."
"Really! Princess, it was only these things! I only took these and nothing else!"
She tightly clung to Li Wanming's skirt. "Please show mercy, Princess. I was really muddled - headed for a moment. I was possessed by evil spirits... Princess, you're magnanimous. Please spare me!"
Li Wanming didn't push her hand away, nor did she offer forgiveness. She just slightly frowned, and a glint of cold, inquisitive light flashed in her eyes.
"What about that white jade Avalokitesvara statue?" she softly asked. "Was it really destroyed by the Second Aunt?"
Mrs. Zhang was stunned for a moment and replied, "I... I don't know about this..."
"After I handed the white jade Avalokitesvara to the Second Lady, I was transferred to the Western Garden within a couple of days and then to the outer courtyard... I don't know what happened later! Princess, really! I'm not lying... I really don't know! You must believe me!"
The candlelight in the room suddenly flickered, making the light in Li Wanming's eyes flicker.
She suddenly found this whole thing quite ridiculous.
Kang and Xiao Yuanjie said that Mrs. Zhang was sent to the outer courtyard because she had stolen something. This was just an excuse to fool Xiao Yuanjie. If Kang knew that her words had come true and Mrs. Zhang had really stolen something, she wondered what kind of expression Kang would have.