Chapter 288 The Jade Pendant Wrapped in the Handkerchief
w.a.n.g Yishu said, while mysteriously pulling out a handkerchief seemingly with something in it. Qin Wanru had an intuition that she had seen the cloth.
With her watery eyes slightly fixed, she had recognized it was the cloth from the clothes given to her by Madam of Duke Xing. The set of clothes was left in the Mansion of Rui’an Great Elder Princess, and Rui’an Great Elder Princess had told her not to wear it, because it violated the emperor’s taboo.
Was this Colorful Yarn? It had been exposed in an aroma and quite fragrant!
Qin Wanru did not like using aroma and was very sensitive to aroma!
“Miss w.a.n.g, where did you get this handkerchief?” Qin Wanru reached out to press w.a.n.g Yishu’s hand in astonishment.
“What’s wrong?” w.a.n.g Yishu was dumbfounded and looked down at the handkerchief in her hand with a mocking smile. Qin Wanru was exactly a petty country girl as her aunt described. “I have a lot of them. If you like it, I will ask someone to send you some next time!”
“Miss w.a.n.g, you have a lot of them?” Qin Wanru asked again.
w.a.n.g Yishu nodded and said with an increasingly kind smile, “This handkerchief is common. There are a lot of them in my aunt’s mansion!”
She got the handkerchief from Madam of Duke Xing, but there weren’t as many as she said. This handkerchief was especially given to her by Madam of Duke Xing as a reward. Madam of Duke Xing told her that she would give her a few more pieces after she accomplished the task. She was just pretending to be generous in front of others in this moment in a tone which was gentle but showed her arrogance
The eyes of several young ladies around them were also attracted by this paparazzi. It seemed to show different colors from different angles, looking extremely resplendent and gorgeous.
“Miss w.a.n.g, let me have a look!” The Miss, who sat over and was the closest to them, reached out and said with a smile in this moment.
Seeing the Miss reach out, w.a.n.g Yishu quickly grabbed the stuff in the handkerchief, and then the handkerchief was taken by the Miss and immediately pa.s.sed to another Miss. Everyone marveled at the handkerchief which was gorgeous and fragrant！
When everyone was focusing on the handkerchief, w.a.n.g Yishu approached Qin Wanru, reached out to stuff the jade pendant hidden in her hand into Qin Wanru’s hand and then said in a low voice, “Second Miss Qin, my aunt asked you to turn it over to First Miss Qi.”
This jade pendant should be given to Qi Rongzhi, so Qin Wanru had to take it over.
“Why doesn’t Madam of Duke Xing give it to First Miss Qi directly?”
“It was supposed to be given to her when Madam of Duke Xing adopted her as her daughter, but she forgot it at that time and considered it embarra.s.sing to give it to her later. So she thinks it won’t embarra.s.s anyone if you can give it to her quietly.”
w.a.n.g Yishu whispered in an increasingly low voice.
It meant that Madam of Duke Xing adopted Qi Rongzhi reluctantly, so she just gave Qi Rongzhi something at will and even forgot to give this important stuff. If she directly sent it to Qi Rongzhi, she seemed to do that intentionally and would even lose her face. So she wanted to ask Qin Wanru to turn it over.
It made sense and was quite plausible. If Qin Wanru had never seen this jade pendant, she almost believed it.
Qin Wanru had never had the memory of how she was engaged to w.a.n.g Shengxue in the last life. However, when she saw this piece of jade pendant, suddenly some memory came to her mind…
“You are such a b*tch with an affair with Childe w.a.n.g, and even secretly took the jade pendant pa.s.sed down in his family. You did something like this in Jiangzhou, and now you are doing this again. You are really shameless!”
“So she is. But we have to agree on the marriage between them. He’s the cousin of our young master anyway. Our Madam suggests she could be Childe w.a.n.g’s co-wife. A lady legally married should be considered a wife, and a lady eloping with a man should be considered a concubine. Our Madam allows her to be a co-wife for the sake of First Miss, otherwise she can only be a concubine.”
“Qin Wanru, you should marry Childe w.a.n.g as a co-wife, since you have abandoned yourself to vice and have an affair with Childe w.a.n.g!” …
She seemed to hear the blame from Qin Yuru, the arrogant old maid from Duke Xing’s Mansion and Madam Di. She held the jade pendant firmly and then relaxed her hold slowly. It turned out she had been engaged to w.a.n.g Shengxue at that time because of this jade pendant not as a legal wife, but as a co-wife.
This was also an important reason why her engagement was easily broken off after Ning Xueqing made a scene at the birthday party of the Old Madam of Duke Xing’s Mansion. Since she was not a legal wife, others naturally wouldn’t respect her.
Ning Xueqing had been pregnant at that time. Although Ning Xueqing was inferior, she was no better than Ning Xueqing. Moreover, it was more justifiable for Childe w.a.n.g to marry Ning Xueqing for the sake of the offspring of the w.a.n.g family.
What was more, they grew up together, while she “tricked” him in an indecent way, and this jade pendant was the evidence!
“Clang!” The jade pendant fell to the ground from her hand with the sound of breaking, and everyone looked back with fear.
“Miss w.a.n.g, I am so sorry for breaking the jade pendant you gave me. How much is it? I will pay you!” Restraining the rage in her heart and raising her head, Qin Wanru said in panic.
It happened all of a sudden. The jade pendant fell and smashed into pieces before Qin Wanru held it firmly. w.a.n.g Yishu was stunned, but then stood up said with a blank face, “Second Miss Qin, what do you mean by saying that? Isn’t this your jade pendant? Why do you say it’s mine?”
She responded quickly. Although it happened suddenly, she, who understood Madam of Duke Xing’s intention, would never recognize the jade pendant was hers in public.
She was supposed to give this jade pendant to Qin Wanru in the palace today. w.a.n.g Yishu didn’t know what was going to happen next, but knew that this jade pendant belonged to her brother.
She could accomplish the task a.s.signed by Madam of Duke Xing after giving this jade pendant to Qin Wanru when there was n.o.body around.
She was supposed to do that when n.o.body was around, but Qin Wanru did not show any intention of accompanying her to meet Rui’an Great Elder Princess. As Madam of Duke Xing expected, Qin Wanru would at least talk with w.a.n.g Yishu for a while even if she might not be willing to. w.a.n.g Yishu could lead her to a corner where she could give her the jade pendant.
Madam of Duke Xing also told w.a.n.g Yishu not to underestimate Qin Wanru, saying that she was a clever girl. Although she had promised before, she might go back on her words at that time. Nevertheless, since she had gone back on her words of introducing w.a.n.g Yishu to Rui’an Great Elder Princess, she would be too embarra.s.sed to reject turning over the jade pendant to Qi Rongzhi.
Unexpectedly, Qin Wanru entered the tent directly after rejecting her. w.a.n.g Yishu had to follow her in and give her the jade pendant when no one was paying attention to them. When w.a.n.g Yishu was complacent, she saw the jade pendant fall and smash into pieces.
Accidents happened one after another. Looking at the debris on the ground, w.a.n.g Yishu was in a daze for a while. But fortunately she had never been a stupid girl. When pleasing Madam of Duke Xing, she was excellent in weighing her words and watching her expression. She immediately knew that she couldn’t recognize this jade pendant belonged to her.
“Miss w.a.n.g, what do you mean? Why do you say this jade pendant belongs to me? It was wrapped in your handkerchief, wasn’t it?” Qin Wanru said with a cold face and deep eyes.
“Second Miss Qin… I, I just show you this handkerchief. Why do you say that there is a jade pendant in it? You can ask these Young Madams, who has seen the jade pendant?” w.a.n.g Yishu was anxious, reached out to point at the Miss, who had held her handkerchief, and said.
The Miss shook her head blankly. w.a.n.g Yishu reacted very quickly, so she saw nothing. When w.a.n.g Yishu gave the jade pendant to Qin Wanru, they talked in a low voice, so she did not hear their conversation clearly. Nevertheless, she clearly heard their discussion of the handkerchief.
“Second Miss Qin, I saw a piece of jade in your cuff and thought it was gorgeous, so I wanted to have a look at it. Why do you say the jade pendant belongs to me after you accidentally dropped it? I obviously have no such jade pendant!” w.a.n.g Yishu said with red eyes, “It… It’s the first time I’ve been to the palace, so I am afraid to do or say anything wrong. How dare I talk nonsense!”
As she said, she anxiously waved her hands in panic, which made others smell a rat in the matter. It was just a jade pendant. It was no big deal no matter who was the owner of it.
With a sign given by her master, a maid knelt down, picked up the jade pendant, which had smashed into four pieces, and looked at it. When she saw a character on the corner of the last piece of the jade pendant, her hands trembled and the fragment fell to the ground again.
“What’s wrong?” asked the Miss.
“Miss, it is… it is a character. It seems to be a character from a man’s name!” The maid stood up in a panic and hurriedly stepped back, as if the stuff on the ground was dirty.
“A character from a man’s name?” The rest of the Young Madams stood up, looked at Qin Wanru and then looked at w.a.n.g Yishu, with no idea of whom they should believe.
Another maid knelt down, picked up the edge of the jade pendant and showed it to everyone. “It’s the character ‘Xue’!”
On hearing her words, w.a.n.g Yishu covered her mouth with a trace of horror on her face and stared at Qin Wanru in astonishment. She seemed to want to say something, but her mouth was immediately covered by herself. She looked extremely panic-stricken, seeming to have discovered something serious.
She did that abruptly, attracting everyone’s attention. Seemingly noticing the horror on her face was too eye-catching, w.a.n.g Yishu put down her hand in embarra.s.sment and forced an awkward smile.
“Miss w.a.n.g, have you seen this jade pendant?” asked a Miss.
“No… I haven’t! I haven’t seen it!” w.a.n.g Yishu said hurriedly and shook her head with her eyes drifting. Her extremely guilty look indicated she didn’t tell the truce.
“Miss w.a.n.g, if you don’t tell the truth, this jade pendant should belong to you. Do you know what crime is it to frame up the daughter of an appointed official?” Seeing her apparently guilty look, several Young Madams felt increasingly suspicious. Some other Young Madams had just entered the tent. At the sight of what was going on, a Young Madam said coldly.
In a word, if w.a.n.g Yishu didn’t tell the truth, she was framing up Qin Wanru on purpose.
Without a prominent family background, the w.a.n.g’s Mansion had relied on Duke Xing’s Mansion. If she really framed up Qin Wanru in front of everyone, Madam of Duke Xing would be too embarra.s.sed to defend her even if she wanted to.
w.a.n.g Yishu was panic-stricken with sweat on her forehead. She seemed to be forced to stamp on her foot, look towards Qin Wanru with a pitiful face and lower her voice, “Second Miss Qin, explain, explain to these Young Madams when you took my brother’s jade pendant!”