The Search

"Yun Wan, what on earth happened?"

Old Madam Lu asked with a frown, though her heart had at least settled back into her chest.

Lin Yunwan said, "The matter was too serious for me to let everyone know about it."

"So I told everyone that someone had stolen a valuable item from your wedding dowry, and used the opportunity to search the inner quarters with Mother-in-law."

"Now everyone in the residence thinks you lost something. No one suspects anything of that sort."

"If we could find out who it was, it would be best to deal with it quietly. If not, this would at least serve as a warning to that person not to cause trouble in front of our relatives again."

Her reasoning was sound, and Old Madam Lu could not refute it.

Wei Shi was even more baffled. She pressed Lin Yunwan, "What sort of thing? What on earth are you talking about? The more I hear, the more confused I get."

Old Madam Lu said impatiently, "Why all the questions? Just listen to what you're told."

Wei Shi twisted her handkerchief and pursed her lips. Lowering her head, she said, "Yes."

Old Madam Lu turned back to Lin Yunwan. "Did you find anything, then?"

Lin Yunwan shook her head.

"After we searched from top to bottom, everyone's rooms were clean. We didn't find any 'filth.'"

Wei Shi muttered, "How strange. Who on earth stole it? Could the stolen goods have been sold already?"

Old Madam Lu's expression stiffened. "If you didn't find anything, let it go. Perhaps you've already stirred the grass and startled the snake, and we'll never find it now."

"That's not quite right, Old Madam. There's still one place we haven't searched."

Wei Shi spoke without thinking.

Old Madam Lu frowned. "Didn't you say you'd searched everywhere?"

Sure enough, Lin Yunwan said, "Cousin Miss is a guest, after all. It wouldn't be proper to search her bedchamber. I was just about to ask you, Old Madam, whether we should search her room."

Old Madam Lu's hand tightened around her prayer beads.

Wei Shi said as though it were only natural, "We've searched everyone else's room, so of course we should search hers too."

Nanny Yan shot Wei Shi a meaningful look, but Wei Shi didn't quite understand. Instead, she asked Nanny Yan kindly, "What's wrong with your eye? A twitching left eye brings wealth, and a twitching right eye brings disaster. Your right eyelid keeps twitching, Nanny Yan. That's not a good omen, so please be careful these next few days."

Nanny Yan gave a dry laugh. "...I'll remember that."

Did Eldest Madam have no brains at all?

"By rights, since everyone else's room has been searched, Bao'er's should be searched as well, to avoid suspicion..."

At that, Lin Yunwan stood up. "You're very reasonable, Old Madam." She looked ready to go out and gather people for the search.

"Stop right there!"

Old Madam Lu hurriedly called her back. A trace of anxiety crept into her voice as she said, "She's an unmarried young woman, staying as a guest in the Lu family. If we really searched her room, how could she bear to stay here afterward?"

"Yun Wan, I gave you authority over the household, but not so you could treat our relatives poorly."

Lin Yunwan looked as though she didn't understand. "How could this be treating a relative poorly? It's precisely because I'm treating everyone alike that I must search her room."

"If you put it that way, Old Madam, then I absolutely must search it. Cousin Miss lives in your courtyard. If I don't clear her name today, I'm afraid everyone will suspect her of stealing your things in the future."

Wei Shi said, "Exactly."

It was far more than a simple case of theft!

Old Madam Lu hastily changed her tone. "She's a guest of the Marquis's Residence, so let it go. Let her keep some dignity."

Lin Yunwan lowered her head and replied mildly, "Yes."

"This matter ends here. No one is to mention it again. Go back, all of you."

After Old Madam Lu sent them away, she all but collapsed into her chair.

Nanny Yan was deeply alarmed. She went to support her and felt her back—it was drenched in cold sweat!

"That was close..."

Old Madam Lu said, trembling.

"Indeed. Madam's methods are formidable. After all that searching, only Cousin Miss's room remains unchecked. If anything happens later, sooner or later suspicion will fall on Cousin Miss again... It would be one thing if it were just her, but if trouble breaks out later, what will become of the Heir Apparent's reputation?"

Old Madam Lu's face was pale. "Summon her here."

"I really can't indulge her any longer!"

Nanny Yan went to fetch Ge Bao'er.

Ge Bao'er still didn't know what had happened. She came carrying a bowl of soup to ward off the heat, a cloyingly sweet smile on her face. "Old Madam, why are you sweating so much from the heat?" Recently, Old Madam Lu had been treating her more kindly again, and even Nanny Yan was willing to drink her soup.

Old Madam Lu reached out and slapped her, glaring at her.

"Ah..."

The bowl of soup overturned on the floor.

Ge Bao'er cried out, clutching her face as tears streamed down. "Old Madam, what... what did I do wrong... for you to treat me this way?"

Nanny Yan brought the thing out.

"Look for yourself, Miss. Look at the fine thing you've done! If Old Madam hadn't covered it up for you, Madam would have caught you red-handed today!"

Ge Bao'er glanced at the thing and said in panic, "It's not mine, it's not mine..."

"Not you?"

Old Madam Lu sneered. "Yun Wan managed the household for seven years, and nothing like this ever happened. Yet this thing appeared in the Lu family only after you came. If it wasn't you, who was it?"

How could she possibly have brought such a thing into the residence!

Ge Bao'er had grievances she couldn't voice.

Old Madam Lu ordered Nanny Yan, "Go search her room. Find the rest of those filthy things for me."

Ge Bao'er sat on the floor and wept, but she didn't stop her.

At last, Nanny Yan returned. "...Old Madam, her room is very clean. Apart from a few clothes and her brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, there really isn't anything there."

"Very clean?"

Old Madam Lu was taken aback. She glanced at Ge Bao'er. Could it really not have been her?

Ge Bao'er bit her lip and wept even more bitterly.

Old Madam Lu's expression softened slightly. "After searching everywhere today, yours was the only room left unchecked. Whether it was you or not, it might as well have been."

"From now on, you're not allowed to go out to worship Buddha again."

"Stay obediently in the rear courtyard!"

Old Madam Lu swept away, flicking her sleeves.

Nanny Yan helped Ge Bao'er to her feet. "Go back, Miss. Stop crying, or people will laugh when they see you."

A laughingstock...

Wasn't she enough of a laughingstock already?

Ge Bao'er returned to the side room with the mark of a slap on her face. Wu'er came over and cried out in surprise, "Miss, your face!"

Wu'er searched the room for medicine and applied it to her face.

"Hiss..."

Ge Bao'er cried out and dug her fingers into Wu'er's hand.

"Miss, please let go. You're hurting me!"

Ge Bao'er came to her senses. A bloody scratch had already appeared on the back of Wu'er's hand.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention for a moment..."

Wu'er was in so much pain that tears fell, but she still had to say, "I'm all right. Miss, let me put the medicine on your face."

Ge Bao'er took her hand, tears brimming in her eyes. "Wu'er, sorry for the trouble. It wasn't for nothing that I've treated you like my own younger sister."

Wu'er pursed her lips and said nothing.

Two lamps were still burning in Drooping Silk Hall.

Zhu Qing had stayed with Lin Yunwan to help sort the account books. She had been a literate maid to begin with, so basic household management was no trouble for her.

"Madam, do you think that older maid really found that thing by chance?"

Lin Yunwan looked up and asked her, "Do you think I put her up to it?"

Zhu Qing shook her head. "No."

She thought for a moment before saying, "If it had been you, Madam, this matter wouldn't have ended so easily. With your cleverness, you should have been able to strike at the heart of the matter in one move."

Lin Yunwan smiled faintly.

She really hadn't put anyone up to it, but doing so wouldn't have struck at Ge Bao'er's vital point.

"Madam, do you think that thing had anything to do with Cousin Miss after all?"

Zhu Qing was especially talkative that night. She asked the question cautiously.

"What do you think?"

Zhu Qing smiled. "I can't say for certain, but Cousin Miss's room was the only one left unsearched, so anything is possible, isn't it?" In any case, in everyone's minds, today's affair had most likely been laid at Ge Bao'er's door.

"Don't you know perfectly well who threw it away?"

Lin Yunwan smiled slightly.