Yu Shu slaps Zhan Xueyuan, who is shouting, and the others are also stunned and don't know what to do.
"What are you shouting for? Who dares to say one more word? If the nobles in the garden hear you, I want to see who will have a good ending!"
Yu Shu takes the opportunity to scare them and calm them down. Then she asks Wen Shaoan to go out quietly to find Lord Wang and tell him not to disturb others.
As soon as Wen Shaoan leaves, Zhan Xueyuan starts to cry. Yu Shu raises her hand without saying anything, which makes her behave. She just holds her face and sobs in a low voice, as if she has been greatly wronged.
As the saying goes, a bitch will be tortured by a wicked person. She doesn't listen to Yu Shu and is even more domineering than her, so she doesn't dare to say anything.
Not long after Wen Shaoan leaves, he comes back with Lord Wang, who is out of breath. Lord Wang has heard about what happened from Wen Shaoan on the way. As soon as he enters Yu Shu's room, he closes the door with a sullen face. He calls all the people in the bedroom to the living room and reprimands them in a low voice,
"Do you all want to die? Where is this place? Tomorrow is a special day. How dare you make trouble here!"
Cui Yun says timidly, "Lord Wang, we didn't mean to. Xueyuan's Tianyu was stolen."
Yu Shu snorts coldly.
Lord Wang glances at Yu Shu. Seeing that she doesn't speak, he turns his eyes to Zhan Xueyuan, who is covering her head and crying, and asks,
"What Tianyu? When did you lose it?"
Lord Wang is an official of the Ministry of Rites, not a teacher, so he doesn't know much about Jiangxi Fengshui Zhan family.
Zhan Xueyuan thinks that Lord Wang is going to stand up for her, so she becomes bold. She rubs her eyes and stops crying. She first explains the rarity of their family's Tianyu, and finally points at Yu Shu and says,
"I was wearing it in the morning and left it in the room in the afternoon. When I came back, it was gone. I couldn't find it anywhere. It must have been stolen by her."
Yu Shu denies it before Lord Wang asks, "It's not me. I was sleeping in the afternoon and didn't go to her room."
"It's you, and you still don't want to admit it!"
"I didn't do it. Why should I admit it?"
"Then do you dare to let me search your room?"
"Who do you think you are to search just because you said so?"
"You have a guilty conscience, you —"
Lord Wang felt a headache when he saw them quarreling. He immediately said in a low voice, "Enough! Don't make any more noise. If anyone says another word, they can forget about attending tomorrow's ceremony. Pack up and leave tonight!"
Zhan Xueyuan angrily shut his mouth, and the room became quiet. Official Wang looked at this and then at that, not knowing what to do. It was true that he was in charge of these six people, but he was a ceremonial official, not an inquisitor. How could he judge right from wrong, and he had no right to search the body of an oracle.
Yu Shu saw Lord Wang's difficult expression and frowned inwardly. She knew that this matter couldn't be resolved peacefully. With the muddle-headed behavior of Zhan Xueyuan and the others, this matter would definitely blow up. Unfortunately, no one was listening to her. Her identity as the Fortune Teller did not carry much weight here, so she could not make any decisions.
At this time, there was another knock on the door.
"Miss Yu, this servant is here to deliver dinner."
It was the little eunuch Xiaojizi.
Yu Shu moved and walked over to open the door a crack. She looked at the little eunuch outside and had an idea. She didn't hurry to take the food box in his hands.
Instead, she asked, "Eunuch Xiaojizi, where is your master?"
After two days of delivering food, Yu Shu was aware of the relationship between this little eunuch and the senior eunuch, Qiu Tongren, who served Noble Consort Xue.
Xiaojizi saw that Yu Shu was blocking the door, so he stood outside and didn't enter. When he heard her ask about his master, he said,
"Master is serving Her Highness. What's the matter, Miss?"
Yu Shu was speechless. She wanted to find Xue Rui to deal with this matter, but she didn't know where he was. Only eunuchs with special status could come and go as they pleased in Huazhen Garden. She thought that Qiu Tongren would know where Xue Rui was, but Eunuch Qiu was serving Noble Consort Xue, so it would be difficult.
Xiaojizi was clever. He looked at her and carefully asked, "Miss, if you have something to say, this servant might be able to help."
Yu Shu asked with a trace of hope, "Do you know where Eldest Young Master Xue is in the garden?"
"I know, Eldest Young Master Xue lives in the South Courtyard."
Yu Shu was delighted and quickly said, "Then I'll have to trouble you to ask Eldest Young Master Xue to come here. Tell him that I have an urgent matter to discuss with him.
Xiaojizi remembered that he had received a hundred taels from Yu Shu from his master the day before yesterday, so he was willing to help her run errands. Thus, he readily agreed and gave the food box to Yu Shu before he ran off to find Xue Rui.
Yu Shu closed the door and returned. Seeing a group of people in the living room looking at her, she said to Lord Wang, "Lord, please wait for a moment.
I've already sent someone to inform Lord Xue, the Junior Minister of the Supreme Court. Let's wait for him to arrive before we discuss the matter. "
Lord Wang had heard of Xue Rui's reputation before. His expression had relaxed, but Zhan Xueyuan was still staring at Yu Shu with a face full of suspicion. Cui Yun, who was standing at the side, pulled Yu Shu back and remained silent.
Yu Shu was too lazy to explain in front of them. She brought the food in the food box to the table and politely asked Lord Wang about it. Seeing that he shook his head and refused, she called out to Wen Shaoan and gave him a pair of serving chopsticks. The two ignored everyone else and sat at the table to eat.
When Zhan Xueyuan saw Yu Shu acting like this, he became even angrier. Earlier, his head had hurt from being hit by her. Now that he was angry, he felt dizzy. Cui Yun helped him to sit on a chair. When he thought of the lost Tianyu, tears fell from his eyes again in a daze.
Xue Rui came faster than Yu Shu expected. She had just put down her chopsticks to wipe her mouth when she heard a knock on the door. It was Xiaojizi again.
"Miss Yu, I've invited Eldest Young Master."
Everyone in the room, who had been silent, suddenly had a change of expression.
Yu Shu hurriedly went to open the door. It was already dark outside, but she still saw Xue Rui, who was wearing a bamboo green robe, standing behind Xiaojizi.
When their eyes met, she could see the worry in his eyes.
"What happened?" Xue Rui wasn't in a hurry to go inside. Instead, he used his height to look over Yu Shu's head to see the situation in the room. He guessed and asked her.
Yu Shu briefly told him, "You've heard of Jiangxi's Zhan Family's Tianyu geomancy, right? The Tianyu that Miss Zhan carried with her was lost. She suspected that I stole it, so she set it up. Official Wang from the Ministry of Rites is also there."
Needless to say, Xue Rui knew why Yu Shu had asked him to come. He nodded and followed her into the living room. He didn't care that Xiaojizi was poking his head around outside and didn't leave.
Official Wang went forward to greet Xue Rui. In terms of official rank, Xue Rui was half a rank higher than him. Most of the young people in the room recognized who Xue Rui was. Those who were originally sitting there all stood up to avoid being rude.
Xue Rui didn't exchange greetings with Official Wang. He walked to the chair at the head of the table and sat down. He looked around at the expressions of the people in the room and asked first,
"Who lost it?"
Zhan Xueyuan hurriedly said, "It's me. My Tianyu was stolen."
"How can you be sure that someone stole it and you didn't lose it yourself?"
"I, I …" Zhan Xueyuan stuttered because of Xue Rui's question. Cui Yun, who was supporting her, spoke quickly and helped her,
"It's like this, Your Excellency. Zhan Xueyuan's Tianyu never left her. She was still wearing it this morning. In the afternoon, Official Wang brought a dress for us to try on. Because it exposed her neck, the palace maid sister asked her to take it off. She kept it in the room and forgot to wear it. We walked in the garden in the afternoon and when we came back, the Tianyu was gone. "
Cui Yun didn't point out that Yu Shu did it, but Zhan Xueyuan immediately found her confidence. She said to Xue Rui confidently,
"In the afternoon, only Yu Suanzi stayed in the backyard alone. We all went out. I'm sure that she entered my room and stole my Tianyu. On the first day when we lived in Huazhen Garden, she asked me about it and borrowed my Tianyu. She must have been greedy at that time. In the afternoon, when Official Wang took us to learn how to walk, she saw the Tianyu above my neck and stole it when I was not in the room. "
Yu Shu said bluntly, "Are you kidding me? Why would I stare at your neck? I'm not interested in women."
"Puff."
A muffled laugh sounded at the wrong time. Everyone turned around. Feng Jun covered his mouth awkwardly and lowered his head.
Zhan Xueyuan's face turned red and white. She clenched her fists and was about to argue with Yu Shu, but she was interrupted.
"Take me to your room."
Xue Rui stood up and gestured for Zhan Xueyuan to go out. When they reached the door, he took the lantern from Xiaoji's hand and the others followed him.
Zhan Xueyuan's room was next to Yu Shu's. It was in the middle of the three rooms in the backyard. The door was not closed, so Xue Rui pushed it open. He raised the lantern to illuminate the room. The room was a little messy. It could be seen that the owner had lost something and was anxiously searching for it.
Xue Rui asked them to stay outside the door and walked around alone. After a while, he came out and lit the candles in the room. He walked to the door with the lantern, looked down at the feet of everyone, and led them back to Yu Shu's room. He also walked around the room and came out again. He asked Zhan Xueyuan,
"After you took off the Tianyu, where did you put it?"
"I put it under the pillow."
"Are you sure? Did you remember wrongly?"
Zhan Xueyuan pulled Cui Yun anxiously and said, "I can't remember wrongly. Yunyun also saw it. You can ask her if you don't believe me."
Xue Rui nodded and turned his dark eyes to Cui Yun. "Did you see it?"
Cui Yun was stunned by his stare. She pursed her lips and said, "Yes."
"Alright, then take it out." Xue Rui spoke with a calm expression.
"Ah?"
Cui Yun was stunned. Not only her, but everyone present was stunned when they heard Xue Rui's words. Yu Shu was the first to react. She looked at Xue Rui and then at Cui Yun. She suddenly sneered and said,
"It turns out that you are trying to frame me."
Cui Yun hurriedly refuted with a pale face, "What are you talking about? Are you suspecting that I stole Xue Yuan's Tianyu? How is that possible? It's not me. I have been with her all the time. How could I have the chance to sneak into her room?"
Zhan Xueyuan also didn't believe it. He angrily said to Xue Rui, "Why do you like to wrongly accuse people? You did the same thing at the observatory. You casually said that Academician Jing killed someone, and now you are wrongly accusing Yunyun. What kind of official are you? You are not fair at all! Don't say anything. I'm sure it's not her. It's Yu Shu. If you don't believe me, let me go and search. "
When she heard this, Xue Rui hadn't said anything, yet Yu Shu was the first to become displeased. She could tolerate these idiots slandering her, yet she couldn't bear to hear anyone speak ill of Xue Rui. So she turned around and glared at Zhan Xueyuan before she narrowed her eyes and said,
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