Shen Miao's hand holding the hairpin stiffened imperceptibly. Although gold was precious, it was not as valuable as gemstones. For any noble lady or wife, a piece of jewelry inlaid with gemstones was something to show off. Although Lady Shen doted on her daughter, she was not that generous with money to buy such things for her.
At this moment, Chun Nuan seemed to realize she had said something wrong. "Miss, I'm clumsy with words. You're so stunning that even without gemstones, you're still extremely beautiful."
The more she talked, the uglier Shen Miao's expression became. When Chun Nuan finished speaking, Shen Miao angrily threw the jewelry on the table and glared at Chun Nuan fiercely.
A thin layer of sweat appeared on Chun Nuan's face. She plucked up her courage and said, "Miss, I remember that the eldest miss seems to have two hairpins inlaid with gemstones. How about you borrow them from her first?"
"Humph! You useless thing! Borrow? Do I, the young miss, need to borrow things from Shen Li?" Shen Miao kicked Chun Nuan in annoyance.
"By the way, how many days has Shen Li been away from the mansion?"
Chun Xi replied from the side, "It's been three days!"
Shen Miao murmured to herself, "Three days!"
"Did she say when she would come back?"
"The eldest miss didn't say anything!"
"Better if she never comes back in this lifetime!" Shen Miao said angrily.
"Let's go!" Shen Miao suddenly stood up and led several maids to the West Courtyard. As soon as she entered the West Courtyard, she headed straight for Shen Li's boudoir.
When Shen Li left the Shen Mansion, she took Jiao Yue and the other two with her, leaving only a bunch of ordinary maids and servants to guard the courtyard. Naturally, they couldn't stop Shen Miao. They could only watch as Shen Miao entered Shen Li's inner chamber and then took away two boxes of jewelry with her people.
Chun Nuan still hesitated behind Shen Miao and said, "Miss, what if the eldest miss comes back and finds out about this?"
"What's there to worry about? We're sisters. She won't care about such things." Shen Miao said indifferently.
"But, miss, now it's the eldest miss who manages the mansion. What if she finds out and cuts our allowance in the East Courtyard?" Chun Nuan still said hopefully, "If only the second lady could manage the mansion again! Anyway, the eldest miss is not here now! The second lady can regain the power of managing the mansion!"
Hearing her words, Shen Miao immediately understood. Now that Shen Li was not in the mansion, it was a good opportunity to regain the power of managing the mansion.
After figuring out the situation, Shen Miao turned around, smiled at Chun Nuan behind her, and said, "Your suggestion is good this time! If you have any more good ideas in the future, tell me. I'll surely reward you well!"
Chun Nuan was flattered and agreed. You know, it was rare for Shen Miao to praise a maid like this.
Next, Shen Miao went to discuss this matter with Lady Shen. In the past few days, they had been busy preparing for the imperial concubine selection and had ignored Shen Li. They had also forgotten that they could take advantage of Shen Li's absence to regain the power of managing the mansion.
Lady Shen only thought for a moment and then agreed. She sent Nanny Hu, who served by her side, to rummage through Shen Li's room and find the keys for managing the mansion and the indentures of a group of servants. Then she summoned all the servants in the mansion and announced that from then on, she would manage the Shen Mansion and Shen Li had nothing to do with it.
The servants in the mansion were greatly confused by this sudden change and could only do their jobs dutifully.
But after Lady Shen took power, she still boldly replaced many servants with her own confidants in the mansion, trying to firmly hold the Shen Mansion in her hands.
Compared with Lady Shen's elation in the past few days, Shen Feng seemed much more dejected. First, Lady Liang complained in his ear all day long that her sister - in - law, Lady Shen, was stingy. Second, his parents also hinted to him intentionally or unintentionally to ask Lady Shen for money.
Shen Feng could only pretend to be stupid and muddle through. He couldn't tell his parents that he had already asked Lady Shen for 15,000 taels of silver. But he knew that it wouldn't be long before his parents would ask him to go to the Shen Mansion to find Lady Shen.
So, Shen Feng was now in a dilemma and very annoyed.
One day, when Shen Feng was strolling idly on the street, he unexpectedly saw Hou Si. He deliberately dodged and bypassed Hou Si, not wanting to talk to him.
But Hou Si obviously had already seen him. He walked up to Shen Feng enthusiastically. "Hey, it's been a while since I last saw Second Master Shen! Why haven't I seen you come out to play these days?"
Shen Feng didn't want to talk to him, so he walked forward quickly. While dodging him, he said, "I've got things to do in the mansion. I've been busy these days!"
"Second Master Shen!" Hou Si naturally wouldn't let Shen Feng go so easily. He trotted after him. "I tell you, I've had really good luck these days. I've won a lot of money in the Caiyuan Gambling House!"
"What do you think? Do you want to go with me and play a few rounds? Maybe you can win back all the silver you lost before!" Hou Si said temptingly.
"Let's wait for a few days!" Although Shen Feng felt heart - ache when he thought of the 10,000 taels of silver he lost, he also knew that his luck was not good. He might lose more if he went to the gambling house.
Hearing this, Hou Si said in a pitying tone, "Oh! Second Master Shen, you're really missing out. How much silver you could have earned! Alas!"
"No wonder you always lose when gambling. Your luck is really bad!" Hou Si said disgustedly and waved his hand in front of his clothes as if to wave away bad luck. "I'd better stay away from you. I've been having good luck these days. I can't be affected by your bad luck!"
As he said this, Hou Si took two steps away from Shen Feng, looking as if he was afraid of being infected with bad luck. "Well, Second Master Shen, I've got something to do. I'll take my leave first!"
Hou Si's eagerness to stay away from Shen Feng really hurt his feelings. Shen Feng directly grabbed Hou Si's collar who was trying to slip away. "What's going on? A few days ago, you flattered me like I was a master. Now that you see I have no money, you don't want to talk to me, right?"
"How could that be? How dare I ignore you, Second Master Shen!"
Shen Feng looked at Hou Si with disdain, who was full of flattery. "Humph! Don't play tricks on me. Tell me! Who have you been flattering these days?"
Hou Si laughed and directly denied it. "There's no such thing! There's no one for me to flatter!"
Shen Feng knew Hou Si quite well. He knew that Hou Si was just a lazy and idle hooligan who usually made a living by flattering the rich and gambling occasionally to satisfy his addiction. Now that he didn't want to talk to him, it was obvious that he had found a new person to flatter.
Shen Feng tightened his grip on Hou Si's collar and threatened, "You won't say, right? Then I'll send you to jail right now and say that you cheated me out of my money! With my family's power, we can keep you in jail for ten or eight years!"
Hearing this, Hou Si immediately cowered. He clasped his fists and apologized, "Oh! Second Master Shen, you're a noble person. Please don't be as petty as a hooligan like me!"
"I'll tell you. I'll tell you right away!"