Before the discussion in the hall died down, there came a noisy sound of footsteps from outside the courtyard.
Nanny Zhang, with a shrill voice, half - dragged and half - pulled a woman in, limping as she walked.
The woman was wearing a bright red brocade robe with gold patterns all over. The cuffs were tightly fastened, revealing two chubby white wrists.
Even more exaggeratedly, there were seven or eight gilded hairpins stuck in her hair bun. With every step she took, they swayed and jingled.
Cui Chunnian was clutching a handkerchief embroidered with mandarin ducks in her hand, and there were still crumbs of snacks on the corner of her mouth. As soon as she entered the door, she shouted with a laugh, "Oh, the feast at the Pei Mansion is really sumptuous—"
Before she could finish her words, Nanny Zhang pushed her down to kneel in the middle of the hall.
This really frightened Cui Chunnian. She struggled desperately. Her red robe rubbed against the stone floor, and the gold hairpins trembled wildly. She was like a carp just out of the water.
"What are you doing! What are you doing! I'm Jintang's own aunt. How dare you treat me like this? Do you believe that if I tell Jintang, none of you will end up well!"
Nanny Zhang leaned over and reported in a loud voice, "Madam Pei, this Cui Chunnian was just selling jade wares at the back door of the kitchen. She claimed to be a 'distant relative of the Cui family', and in her hand was an empty box with a gilded begonia pattern!"
"The old servant thought it was really strange, so I took the liberty to stop her and bring her here!"
Cui Chunnian still didn't know that trouble was coming. When she looked up and saw all the ladies and young misses in the hall wearing gorgeous clothes, she even looked proud and grinned to explain.
"Ladies and young misses, there was originally a delicate mutton - fat jade carving in that box. Miss Luo bought it at a high price—"
Before she finished speaking, there were low sneers all around.
Cui Chunnian was obviously stunned by the ridicule.
The welling - up sense of inferiority made her panic.
She kept turning her chubby face, and finally shouted at Cui Jintang as if asking for help, "Jintang! Why don't you help me explain!"
Lady Wu Hou wrinkled her nose and frowned, "She reeks of oily fumes. How dare she claim to be a relative?"
Someone else sneered coldly, "She stole the birthday gift of the host and still dared to come into the hall. Her face is thicker than her robe!"
Only then did Cui Chunnian realize something was wrong. Her face turned from red to green, and her fat trembled as she kept waving her hands.
Luo Xiang disgustedly took two steps to the side. Then she looked up and said, "Miss Cui, can't you even tell your own aunt?"
Cui Jintang didn't rush to prove herself. With a casual remark, she blocked Luo Xiang's words.
"Miss Luo first said that the birthday gift was made by herself, and then said that she bought it from Cui Chunnian. There's a contradiction. Shouldn't Miss Luo give us an explanation first?"
Luo Xiang was taken aback, "I..."
Everyone's eyes turned to Luo Xiang in unison. The "innocence" that had been propped up for her just now shattered in an instant.
To avoid making the situation too ugly, Madam Pei said in a deep voice, "Drag her out, give her twenty strokes with a cane, and send her to the government!"
At this critical moment of life and death, Cui Chunnian's mind suddenly became sharp.
Suddenly, she rushed towards Luo Xiang, "Miss, you promised that as long as I helped you steal Jintang's birthday gift, you would give me five hundred taels of silver and..."
Luo Xiang quickly took two steps back. Her skirt was pulled askew, and she anxiously tried to prove her innocence.
"At first, I took pity on you, a woman, so I gave you five hundred taels of silver to relieve your difficulties! I never thought that you would team up with Miss Cui to make fun of me today!"
The warmth in the hall had not dissipated yet, but Cui Chunnian had already been held down on the blanket by two old maids with her arms pinned behind her back.
Hearing Luo Xiang's words as she brazenly slandered them, Cui Chunnian knew that Luo Xiang would never save her.
Then she could only drag Cui Jintang into the water!
Cui Chunnian quickly changed her tune, "Madam Pei, please be discerning! This jade carving originally belonged to my niece Jintang. She insisted on entrusting it to me for safekeeping. I just wanted to take it out to polish it a bit. I didn't steal it!"
Madam Pei's eyebrows shot up. She hesitated for a moment, "Niece?"
If they were really aunt and niece, Madam Pei really didn't dare to act rashly against Cui Chunnian for a moment.
After all, she didn't want Cui Jintang, who had just found her aunt, to lose her relative all of a sudden.
Because of Cui Chunnian's words, the whole hall was in an uproar.
Everyone's eyes suddenly turned to Cui Jintang.
They were really aunt and niece? But somehow... they didn't seem like it!
Cui Jintang still stood there gracefully, holding the ebony begonia - patterned box with her fingertips. She looked calm and only said, "Since that's the case... Aunt, please read out the birth date on the innermost secret clasp of this jade carving in front of everyone."
Cui Chunnian's face turned pale instantly, " ... Birth date?"
She stole it. How could she really know what the birth date was?!
Cui Jintang sighed softly. Her voice was not loud, but it was clear enough for everyone in the hall to hear.
"Aunt, I don't know why you want to plot against me with Miss Luo. But just now, out of our aunt - niece relationship, I didn't expose you. But you're so heartless?"
"If I really entrusted the thing to you, how could I not tell you the secret mark under this jade carving."
After saying that, she gently twirled her fingertips, and with a "click", a gilded leaf as thin as a cicada's wing popped out from the bottom of the carving—
On the gilded leaf, there was a line of tiny characters written in small regular script, which was exactly Cui Jintang's own birth date.
"Madam Pei," she turned around and bowed gracefully to Madam Pei, "This thing was indeed made by my own hands, and the secret mark was also left by me. If my aunt really took care of it for me, how could she not know about this leaf?"
Cui Chunnian was speechless. Big beads of sweat rolled down her face, and a trail of powder fell off. She could only dejectedly explain, "No... It's not like this..."
Madam Pei sneered coldly, "She's really a 'good relative' of Tang'er. She even dared to sell her niece's birthday gift as a favor!"
She raised her hand and sternly ordered, "Drag her out and punish her according to the family rules!"
The rough - working maids responded and moved. Cui Chunnian wailed and begged for mercy, and her voice gradually faded away.
Luo Xiang stood there, her fingertips ice - cold.
Next, it was her turn!
The lingering fragrance still filled the hall, but there was only a silent atmosphere full of contempt left.
Madam Pei waved her hand tiredly, "I'm tired. Tang'er, you're in charge here. Yingying, help me back to rest."
Cui Jintang responded. After seeing Madam Pei off, she turned around and gave Luo Xiang a faint smile.
"Regarding today's matter, please write down the whole story clearly with your own hand and present it before the fifth watch tomorrow. And you must kneel three times and offer me tea in public to apologize."
"Otherwise, I will definitely cut off one joint of your little finger according to the current law and hang it up for public display for three days."
Luo Xiang was so frightened that her face turned as white as a sheet. She looked at Cui Jintang as if she were seeing a ghost!
How could there be such a vicious woman in the world!
—
There had always been noises from the women's seating area next door, and the men's seating area could hear some of it.
Many people came up to Pei Zhaolin.
"Lord Pei, don't you go and take a look?"
Pei Zhaolin gently placed the tea lid aside. His voice was not loud, but it just managed to cut off the noise of the crowd.
"What's there to see about the girls' frolics?"
His fingertips rubbed against the rim of the teacup. His eyes still fell on the unfinished chess game in the distance, as if the moves of the black and white chess pieces on the chessboard were more important than the gentle voices of the girls next door.
When others wanted to persuade him again, he slightly raised his eyes. His eyes were calm, like a pool of water wrinkled by the spring breeze but without ripples.
"Miss Cui is in charge of the ladies' gathering today. With her around, there surely won't be any trouble."