"I really didn't expect it. The second young lady is usually very well-behaved, and the old lady has never treated her badly. There was no sign at all that she had so much cash on hand..."
Madam Qi wanted to explain further, but Madam Yang stopped her, saying, "Mother, be careful what you say. Wuyou is, after all, the master. It is not appropriate to make up stories about the master without evidence."
Qi's mother's pale face instantly turned bright red.
He Caiqiong then said, "Let's take a look at the others. I'd like to trouble you to bring out all the things that Wuyou has taken away and returned over the years so we can see them."
As her stepmother, she had watched Wuyou grow up and knew her temperament quite well, so she didn't think the child would do such a terrible thing.
However, given that Qi's mother had earned the old lady's trust for so many years, it was unlikely that she was someone who would steal from someone else.
What exactly is the problem?
Mother Qi went back into the storeroom and brought out several more brocade boxes.
When the three opened it, they found that the items, like the original gold and ruby jewelry, had been replaced with counterfeit goods that resembled the originals.
A quick mental calculation showed that the stolen jewelry was worth more than a thousand taels of silver.
Wuyou is a young girl who rarely leaves the house. She has no bad habits, and her food, clothing, and daily necessities are all taken care of by the old lady and He Caiqiong. She simply doesn't have a place to spend so much money.
The same goes for Madam Qi. Her husband and son both work in the Marquis's mansion. If something serious happens in the family that requires so much money to cover it up, it can't be kept secret. The news would have already reached the ears of the masters of the Marquis's mansion.
Therefore, to find out the truth of the matter, we must report it to the old lady and ask Wuyou for a proper explanation.
Now, seeing Wuyou kneeling on the ground, even without asking, the old lady understood that she was inextricably linked to this matter. (Download txt ebook: http://wW/)
“Tell me, over the years, has your mother and I ever treated you poorly? Or has there been anything you desperately needed that we absolutely refused to buy for you? To the point that you didn’t even consult us before doing this on your own?”
"There are no people in this world who have treated me better than my grandmother and mother," Wuyou said, choking back tears. "It was Wuyou who was wrong."
Wushuang stood in the middle of the main room, completely bewildered. She tiptoed slightly and peeked discreetly at the brocade boxes on the couch. Unfortunately, those boxes had never been opened, leaving her completely baffled as to what riddle the old lady and Wuyou were playing.
Seeing this, Madam Yang glared at her daughter, then quietly beckoned Wushuang to her side, pressed her down to sit properly, and forbade her to overstep her bounds.
The old lady dismissed all the unrelated maids before speaking to Wuyou again: "It's not that you're wrong. Those things are yours to begin with. You can do whatever you want with them. If you don't like them, you can sell them, melt them down and make new ones, or even give them away to others. It's all up to you. Although this storeroom is located in Fuyou Residence, I told you from the beginning that it was only because you are still young that we were afraid you would be tricked by unscrupulous people, so the elders were entrusted with its safekeeping, right?"
Wuyou nodded, sobbing.
The old lady continued, "Over the years, whenever you wanted to take something from the storeroom and came to me for permission, did I ever stop you, making you feel that your grandmother was unreasonable and unreasonable, so you had to sneak around and switch things out?"
Wuyou wiped away her tears and shook her head.
"Don't just keep crying."
How could the old lady not love and cherish the child she had raised herself? Seeing Wuyou silently shedding tears, her heart softened considerably. However, women are different from men. Junheng misjudged people in his youth and fell in love with Tang Biqiu, but that didn't stop him from achieving great things and bringing glory to his family. If Wuyou were to make a wrong move, at best it would ruin her good marriage to the Pang family, and at worst it would ruin her life. She had to get to the bottom of this.
"You rarely go out. Who made those counterfeit jewelry pieces? Did you sell your original jewelry? What happened to the money? Where did you spend it?" The old lady pressed on with questions. "Did you give it to someone for money? You... if you had someone else in your heart, why didn't you say so earlier? If the other person was a reliable person, your grandmother would have helped you. But seeing how he tricked you into selling your jewelry, his behavior was furtive and not at all aboveboard. He can't possibly be a reliable and ambitious person. You should cut off all ties with him."
Wuyou looked up, listening blankly to her grandmother's question. When she realized that the old lady's words implied that she had an affair with a man outside, her originally pale face instantly turned bright red.
“Grandmother, it wasn’t me,” she hurriedly protested. “I have never disobeyed your and Mother’s teachings. I am reserved and respectful, and I do not meet with men outside my family. How could I…”
The old lady interrupted her: "Then tell me, what exactly are you going to do with all that jewelry you've changed?"
Wuyou covered her face and wept, saying, "Back then, my birth mother, Aunt Fang, made a mistake and was driven out of the manor. It was thanks to you, Grandmother, that I was taken in and raised. This kindness is like a second birth to me. I am deeply grateful and will never forget it. But... Aunt Fang is still my birth mother. Without her, I would not have come into this world. She is destitute and struggling to make ends meet. Since I know this, I have no reason to sit idly by..."
"You gave it all to her?" the old lady asked.
Wuyou nodded and said, "Yes. I thought those items originally belonged to my aunt. I have my grandmother and mother to take care of me, and I have no worries about life. She is all alone outside, without relatives or friends, and no one to help her. It would be fine to return them all to her."
The old lady flipped through the account books sent by Qi Mama and saw that the stolen jewelry was marked with red circles. Just as Wuyou had said, these were all items from when Aunt Fang was still in the mansion.
"As you said, since the item was returned to its rightful owner, it should have been done openly and honestly. Why hide it and use a counterfeit?"
Wuyou frowned and hesitated for a long time before stammering, "I didn't mean to hide it, but my aunt said she was worried that my grandmother and mother wouldn't like what I was doing, and that I was afraid... afraid that I would lose my grandmother's love and suffer in the future. So every time, she would have someone make a fake for me first, and when there was an occasion where I needed to wear it, I would take the real one from the storeroom, use it, and then give it back to her."
The old lady, being of advanced age, had recently become somewhat frail and needed a cane to walk. At this moment, she tapped the end of her exquisitely carved mahogany bat-patterned cane repeatedly on the wooden floor, angrily saying, "What an idiot! Would someone who truly cares for you teach you to steal from your own storeroom, and even resort to trickery to deceive your elders? If this gets out and becomes public knowledge, a person of such poor character and treacherous nature will have trouble even getting married. Do you think she'll have a better life than an unloved concubine's daughter?"
Wuyou lowered her head in embarrassment and remained silent, tears still streaming down her face.
"You!" the old lady sighed. "Haven't your mother been teaching you how to manage the household these past two years? You can't still be as clueless about the cost of living as you were when you were a child. You should know how many people in our family there are and how much we need for basic food and clothing each year. Haven't you ever calculated that the jewelry and accessories your aunt has given away over the years average out to more than our entire family combined? How much does she eat and wear by herself? If she's struggling financially and comes to you for help, why does she keep encouraging you to do these things when she clearly has extra money? Haven't you ever thought about any of this?"
"I..." Wuyou wasn't entirely without doubt, but the person lying on the ground was her biological mother. Mother and daughter are naturally inclined to believe Fang Rulan. "I just thought that my aunt, being a woman living alone, needed more money to protect herself."
The old lady said with exasperation, "Kindness and filial piety are good things, but when your kindness and filial piety are used to do bad things, in the end, you're the only one who will be harmed!"
Wuyou had grown up by the old lady's side since she was six years old. Because of her obedience, she had always been loved and pampered, and had never been scolded so harshly as she had today. In addition, every word the old lady said clarified many things that had been uncertain in her heart for a long time, making her realize that she had indeed done wrong, and she felt even more guilty and uneasy.
"Grandmother, I know I was wrong, please punish me." Tears still clung to Wuyou's face, her voice soft and weak, but her resolve was unwavering. "It's all my fault for not being able to distinguish right from wrong. Even if Aunt needed help, I should have discussed it with Grandmother and Mother through proper channels, instead of secretly replacing the items in the storeroom."
"At least you still have some conscience," the old lady snorted, "You didn't hide it again, and you didn't push Qi Mama out to take the blame. As for punishment..." She couldn't think of a suitable punishment for the moment, and couldn't help but ponder.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Wushuang quickly stepped forward and knelt beside Wuyou at the old lady's bedside. She gently tugged at the old lady's sleeve and said sweetly, "Grandmother, Second Sister is just too kind-hearted. That's why she went to such lengths to help Aunt Fang, after all, she's her own mother. If someone knows their own mother is in trouble and doesn't care, wouldn't they be a heartless beast? Second Sister just meant well but did something wrong. No one is born knowing how to do things; everyone learns by making mistakes and accumulating experience as they grow..."
Before she could finish speaking, the old lady interrupted her, saying, "Did I say we could plead for leniency? Anyone who pleads again will be punished along with the others."
Wushuang had a bellyful of pleading words on the tip of her tongue, but upon hearing this, she pouted and muttered reluctantly, "If we're to be punished together, then we'll be punished together. It's better for the two sisters to make a mistake together than for Second Sister to be punished alone and then have all sorts of unpleasant rumors spread about her."
The old lady had initially considered punishing Wuyou by making her kneel in the ancestral hall, or sending her to a nunnery to reflect on her past mistakes, but after hearing Wushuang's words, she changed her mind. Such punishment would indeed be detrimental to Wuyou if it got out, after all, she was the child who grew up by her side. Although the old lady was a grandmother, she often thought of things for Wuyou in a way that resembled that of a mother.
Seeing this, He Caiqiong chimed in, "Mother, I'm not pleading for Wuyou. Of course, he should be punished for making a mistake. However, 'it is the mother's fault if she raises a child without teaching him,' so I can't escape responsibility for this incident either. If I had paid more attention in the past, perhaps I would have discovered it sooner."
"You've seen the account books too. The first time she stole jewelry was before you got married," the old lady said. "But I understand, you mean you should be punished as well, so I'll grant your wish. A girl preparing for marriage always needs to embroider her wedding dress. We have embroiderers in our household, so Wuyou wouldn't normally need to do it. But since she squandered her dowry, she'll have to make needlework a skill to support herself in her husband's family. Starting tomorrow, she'll have to practice diligently, at least three hours a day, embroidering her wedding dress under the embroiderer's guidance. Wushuang and Wuyou are very close sisters, so they'll go together. And you too," she said, pointing to He Caiqiong, "Since you're willing to accept the punishment, you can come along too."
“Mother, everyone is going to the embroidery room to practice their needlework. Don’t leave me behind.” Madam Yang chimed in. “If I’m the only one in the whole family who isn’t skilled, people will laugh at me. I won’t suffer that kind of loss.”
The old lady clicked her tongue and said, "When it comes to managing the household, you all pass the buck when you have real power and money, but now you're scrambling to be punished. What can I say?"