At the Yongguo Duke's Mansion, Madam Mo, Su Yuanyuan and others got off the carriage one after another. After entering the main gate of the duke's mansion, everyone headed towards their own courtyards. When they were about to part ways at a fork in the road, suddenly remembering Cang Xuan's words, Madam Mo called out to Wei Linlang.
"Linlang, tidy up that scoundrel's outer robe. Send someone to return it to the Cang Mansion tomorrow."
Wei Linlang blinked and said, "Mother, I sent the robe to Yuanyuan's room yesterday."
"Oh?" Madam Mo was taken aback for a moment and said, "In that case, I'll go get it from Yuanyuan's room myself."
Su Yuanyuan was still in a daze. Hearing this, she was almost choked by her own saliva.
Wh - what? Mother was going to her room?
This wouldn't do! Mother was a martial artist with extremely sharp hearing. If she went into her room, she might discover Yun Jian's presence. Moreover, that outer robe was in a terrible state now, and she hadn't figured out how to explain it to her mother yet...
Madam Mo was a decisive person. Without saying a word, she headed towards Su Yuanyuan's courtyard.
"Mother, Mother!" Su Yuanyuan followed Madam Mo closely, calling out anxiously, "No, don't..."
Madam Mo thought she was reluctant to part with the outer robe and explained to her gently, "Good girl Yuanyuan, that outer robe belongs to someone else. Now that the owner needs it, we should return it. If you like it, Mother will ask someone to make you a similar one at the brocade workshop another day. How about that?"
"Mother..." Su Yuanyuan was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, but on the surface, she had to pretend to be innocent and naive. It almost suffocated her.
Madam Mo didn't understand her intention at all and just led her into Mingzhu Courtyard.
Helpless, Su Yuanyuan could only call out loudly, "Chunxiao, Xialu, Yuanyuan and Mother are back!"
Yun Jian, don't blame me for not helping you. I've already given a warning. If you're caught by my mother, it's just your bad luck!
In Mingzhu Courtyard, upon hearing the sound, Chunxiao, Xialu and other maids came out of the rooms one after another and saluted Madam Mo and Su Yuanyuan.
After entering the room, Madam Mo said to Chunxiao, "Is the man's outer robe sent by the Crown Prince's wife yesterday still here?"
"Yes, madam. Please wait a moment." Chunxiao replied, then turned around and walked towards a cabinet in the inner room. After opening it, she took out the outer robe.
At this point, Su Yuanyuan stopped struggling in vain and waited for Madam Mo's anger after she discovered the damaged robe.
Sure enough, after Madam Mo unfolded the outer robe, she found that the inside had been cut to pieces by a sharp blade. But she didn't get angry. Instead, she frowned and asked, "What's going on?"
Chunxiao didn't expect the outer robe to turn out like this overnight. She quickly said, "It was still fine when the Crown Prince's wife sent it last night. Since the young lady liked it, I've always kept it on the table. I only locked it in the cabinet after madam and the young lady left today. No one else touched it in between."
It had been left out all night? Then the only one who had contact with it besides Su Yuanyuan was no one else.
Madam Mo couldn't help but look at Su Yuanyuan. The young girl had her hands behind her back, blinking her eyes with an extremely innocent look on her face. Madam Mo resisted the urge to pinch her face, and with a straight face, pointed at the damaged part of the robe and asked,
"Yuanyuan, what's this about?"
On a sudden inspiration, Su Yuanyuan turned around and went back to the bedside. She took out the dagger that Su Huaiyuan had given her from under the pillow, then came back to Madam Mo. Standing on tiptoe, she held it up like offering a treasure and said, "Second brother said he's a bad guy!"
"Mother, Yuanyuan is fighting the bad guy!"
Madam Mo almost cheered on the spot. She quickly coughed twice to hide her expression.
That scoundrel Cang Xuan had inexplicably helped their Yuanyuan three times. This matter had always made her feel a bit strange. They said three times was the limit. She couldn't let the two of them have any more contact. Now that Yuanyuan thought he was a bad guy, it really suited her wishes.
However, Madam Mo still put her hands on her hips and said to Su Yuanyuan, "But what should we do? This is someone else's thing and it should be returned to the owner. But now it's been damaged by Yuanyuan, so we have to pay for it. This outer robe is made of special materials and is extremely valuable. Maybe we have to pay a lot of silver."
Su Yuanyuan said, "Yuanyuan has silver." She took off the brocade bag from her waist and handed it to Madam Mo. "Yuanyuan will pay."
Madam Mo finally couldn't help laughing. She stroked Su Yuanyuan's head and said, "Alright, keep your little bit of silver for buying candies. Your mother and father will take care of the compensation. But Yuanyuan should remember in the future that although this person helped you again today, he's not a good person. If you see him in the future, remember to stay far away from him, okay?"
Su Yuanyuan quickly nodded and said, "Mother, Yuanyuan remembers."
In the end, Madam Mo still left the badly damaged outer robe in Su Yuanyuan's room. She also left the pastries she had bought at Zhenman Tower for Su Yuanyuan and then left Su Yuanyuan's courtyard.
Su Yuanyuan reluctantly saw Madam Mo off until she saw Madam Mo's figure enter Moyi Pavilion. Then she heaved a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, when Mother entered her room, she was only focused on that robe and didn't notice the "thief" in her room.
Remembering that there was still the antidote for the "Heart - Eater Drum" in her pocket, Su Yuanyuan quickly turned around and walked towards the main room in her courtyard. The maids behind her also followed her closely.
However, after stepping into the room, she stopped Chunxiao and Xialu at the door, yawned and blinked, saying, "Yuanyuan is sleepy."
The original owner had the habit of taking an afternoon nap every day. Besides, she had gone on a long trip today, so she must be a bit tired. Therefore, neither Chunxiao nor Xialu suspected anything.
"I'll be in the next room. Just call me if you need anything, miss."
Su Yuanyuan nodded and neatly closed the door. After confirming that the two maids had left, she took out the medicine bottle containing the antidote from her pocket, walked quickly behind the screen and softly called towards the roof beam:
"Yun Jian? Yun Jian? Are you there? I've got the antidote for you..."
Remembering the morning's incident, Su Yuanyuan knew that the man must be in her room. So after calling, she just quietly waited in place.
But after waiting for a while and not seeing anyone, she couldn't help but feel a bit strange. So she called out again:
"Yun Jian? Yun Jian?"
Still no response.
"Strange. Where could he be?" she murmured to herself and turned to walk out from behind the screen. After walking a few steps, she suddenly stopped and turned to look behind. There was really no one there.
Well, it seemed that the man was really not there.
Back in the front hall, she naturally saw the outer robe placed on the table again. Her cheeks flushed. She coughed twice, stepped forward to put the outer robe away properly and put it back in the cabinet.
When closing the cabinet door, her fingers unconsciously brushed over the patterns on the robe. She couldn't help but remember how handsome the Grand Secretary had been when he shot a chopstick at the Prince of Jin at Zhenman Tower today.
Although the Prince of Jin was the son of Concubine Tong, he was still a royal heir with the blood of the emperor in his veins. Under the heavens, the only person who dared to be so disrespectful to the Prince of Jin was probably this well - known treacherous and favored official.
Just thinking of the embarrassed look of the Prince of Jin, who dared not speak out against Cang Xuan, Su Yuanyuan couldn't hold back any longer and burst out laughing.
Cang Xuan held power over the court and was extremely favored by the emperor. Now, except for the emperor, there was no one in the Great Chu Kingdom who could threaten him. Instead, there were many people in the world who were afraid of him.
If this Lord Cang didn't have a feud with their Yongguo Duke's Mansion, she really wanted to make friends with him.
Going out today was really tiring. Su Yuanyuan planned to take a little nap with no one in the room.
She lay down on the couch. A faint fragrance came from the wooden carved rabbit beside the pillow. Sleepiness came over her, and soon she fell into a deep sleep.
While she was sleeping, she didn't notice that the halo on the wooden carved rabbit was a bit more solid than before.