Xiyan quickly brought out a wooden case from one side. “Third Young Madam, the accessories you were wearing this morning are all here. As for your clothes, the princess’s senior servant said that they were stained with bad luck, so they were burned together with the royal princess’ clothes in the braziers.”
Chu Lian nodded and took the wooden case from Xiyan’s hands. Xiyan had only been injured on her elbows and legs. The rest of her body was completely fine.
She opened the case and rummaged through its contents. Chu Lian’s expression instantly darkened. She searched once again; all the accessories she had been wearing were still there, except for that lucky jade amulet!
“Xiyan, when you were putting my things away, did you see that jade amulet I was carrying at my waist this morning?”
Xiyan was also extremely tired and tense. When she heard Chu Lian’s words, her face immediately turned pale. She looked into the wooden case and recalled that Third Young Madam had indeed been wearing a jade amulet this morning. However, now it wasn’t in the case.
“Third Young Madam, when this servant was putting away the accessories, this servant didn’t… didn’t see the jade amulet at all…”
What!
Chu Lian collapsed against the side of the carriage, the events from the original story continuously flashing through her mind.
That lucky jade amulet had been gifted by Matriarch He during the tea ceremony. Later on, ‘Chu Lian’ had given it to Xiao Bojian during one of their clandestine meetings as a token of their love.
Xiao Bojian had worn the amulet at his waist every day after that. Of course, He Changdi coincidentally caught sight of it and quarrelled with ‘Chu Lian’ when he got home.
However, ‘Chu Lian’ had completely ignored He Changdi’s anger. She had also been brazen to the point of meeting Xiao Bojian in front of He Changdi’s very nose.
Chu Lian felt a headache coming on. Xiao Bojian couldn’t possibly have picked up the jade amulet that she lost by accident, right? If that really happened, she wouldn’t be able to wash her sins away even if she jumped into the Yellow River.
However, thinking back to the events at Defeng Teahouse and recalling the distance she had run to avoid the assassins, she had most likely dropped it somewhere along that path. If the city guards picked it up, there might even be a possibility that they would return it to her.
That thought helped Chu Lian calm down a little.
Her mind was a mess right now. However, Xiyan suddenly knelt in front of her with a thump. “Third Young Madam, it’s all this servant’s fault! This servant failed to take care of your possessions. Please punish this servant!”
Chu Lian’s eyes opened wide in shock. She then sighed and helped Xiyan up. “This has nothing to do with you. I was the one who carelessly lost my amulet. You couldn’t possibly have kept an eye on my accessories the entire time! Forget it, it’s just a single jade amulet. I’ll ask Royal Princess Duanjia if she has seen it the next time we meet. Perhaps it’ll turn up somehow!”
Xiyan secretly checked Chu Lian’s expression and found that she really wasn’t angry. Her heart was full of guilt, but at the same time, she felt that Third Young Madam’s temper had gotten much better.
If this had happened when they were back in House Ying and Third Young Madam had lost something, it would have been their fault for not taking care of her things, and they would have been punished severely.
Now that she thought about it, back then, Third Young Madam had been obsessed with riches. However, now she seemed not to care about these material possessions as much. Perhaps Third Young Madam had become more forgiving after marriage?
As she thought along these lines, Xiyan started to sympathize with Third Young Madam.
Chu Lian didn’t have the time to care about the direction of Xiyan’s thoughts. She was near speechless at how she had been able to bump into Xiao Bojian despite all her effort in dodging him. She had a strange feeling that there was some hidden hand guiding all these events along.
Chu Lian pouted in a fit of temper. She was going to be more careful the next time! She refused to believe that she wouldn’t be able to dodge that Xiao Bojian!
She didn’t want to be involved with that damned Xiao Bojian one bit. Her carefree days were much more important.
Anyone who dared to disrupt her lazy days would be making an enemy out of her!
