He is a servant, and he is the servant beside the Second Young Master Qu Mingcheng!
"What's going on?" The servant pulled Qingmei behind the rockery and asked in a low voice, "Just now I saw you handed the things over, right?"
The servant actually followed Qingmei and was watching Qingmei and Yudong talking from a distance, but because it was far away, he couldn't see clearly.
"Don't worry, it has naturally been handed over." Qingmei said proudly.
"This is a reward from the Second Young Master!" The servant took out a purse from his bosom. It was bulging and you could tell at a glance that it was a lot.
Qingmei took it, pinched it, smiled, and said repeatedly: "Thank you, Second Young Master, thank you, Second Young Master."
"Then you go back. I will report to the second young master. If someone sees you coming to the outer courtyard at this time, there will definitely be some bad rumors." said the servant.
"Yes, yes, I'll go back right away!" Qingmei said with a smile, then turned around and walked back. However, when she turned around, she glanced at the servant and curled her lips slightly. The Second Young Master was really interesting. On the one hand, he seemed to trust her, but on the other hand, he didn't trust her and let a servant stare at her.
He tossed the purse in his hand in the air, looking quite proud...
Little did she know that all this was seen by Yu Dong who was watching her from a distance!
"Miss, Qingmei went to the outer courtyard, but was intercepted halfway. It was the servant next to the Second Young Master. When I saw her coming out, she was holding a purse in her hand. Coincidentally, this purse is exactly the same as the one I got from the Second Young Master before. It can be seen that they were all rewards from the Second Young Master."
After Yudong entered the room, Qu Moying first reported what she had seen while staring at Qingmei.
He was not Qingmei, so he had his own way of staring at people without being discovered. He stared at Qingmei until she entered the third young lady's yard before coming back.
Qingmei could never have imagined that Yudong, who had been persuaded by her before, would turn around and stare at her.
"Miss, I think Qingmei is very strange!" This is another new situation that Yudong discovered, "I think she doesn't have much respect for the Second Young Master!"
"What do you mean?" Qu Moying looked at her and asked.
"From what I saw from her behavior and appearance after she came out, I found that she was not very respectful to the Second Young Master. If she were an ordinary maid, she would not dare to show such contempt." Yu Dong saw it more clearly and saw a hint of contempt on Qingmei's face. An ordinary maid would not dare to do such a thing.
"Miss, I heard from Qingmei that she used to be a maid in a mansion, but she accidentally broke something and was kicked out. After that, she was bought to the East Mansion. The second young master thought she was good and saw that the third young lady had fewer servants around her, so he transferred her to the third young lady's side."
Yudong had already checked the origins of Qingmei, so this didn't seem to be a problem.
Some strict families are very harsh to their servants. They will sell their servants if they are not satisfied with the slightest thing. This is not uncommon in the capital.
"No matter who you are, since you are involved this time, don't run away!" Qu Moying smiled coldly and looked at the other thing that Yu Dong had just taken out.
A jade pendant, which Qingmei had just given to Yudong, saying that it would help the two sisters Qu Moying and Qu Qiuyan become friends, and would benefit everyone.
Reaching out and picking up the jade pendant,
After looking through it, I found that the jade was good jade, and top quality at that. It was made into the shape of a jade pendant, and looked no different from ordinary jade pendants.
"Qingmei said that this is the third young lady's new jade pendant, and she is very fond of it. If she finds it missing, she will be anxious. Then the fourth young lady will say that she found it and send someone to give it to her. The third young lady will definitely thank the fourth young lady, and then she will persuade the fourth young lady a few more words, and the third and fourth young ladies will become good friends."
There was another benefit that Yu Dong didn't mention, but he felt sick just thinking about it. What Qing Mei meant was, of course, that the two young ladies should become friends. He could also think that by following the Second Young Master, he wouldn't be bothered by the Third Young Master and wouldn't be unhappy when he was around the Second Young Master.
Qu Moying listened to him talking, her brows slightly furrowed. She looked again carefully, but couldn't figure out what was going on. She simply stood up, walked to the window, looked at the light from outside, and squinted her eyes to look at a tiny gap on the ring where the jade pendant was hanging. There was a deep look in her eyes.
"Yudong, can you see if there are any words inside?" Qu Moying handed over the jade pendant in his hand.
Yu Dong took it and shone it against the window. His eyesight was better than Qu Moying's, and he could immediately see clearly that there was indeed a small word inside.
It was the word "Sheng", which was not very common. Considering that it was sent by the maid of the Third Miss, Yudong understood it immediately.
"Is it the jade pendant of His Royal Highness Prince Jing?"
"It should be, you are really willing to spend a lot of money!" Qu Moying sneered, took the jade pendant presented by Yu Dong and looked at it carefully, and finally confirmed that there was indeed a word "Sheng" engraved on it. King Jing's jade pendant fell into his hand, so the next step was to surround King Jing.
King Jing’s things are not only royal property, but also a man’s property. They have never had anything to do with me, but now I have them. Does it count as picking them up
If it was picked up, where did it come from? Qu Qiuyan seldom left her Furong Pavilion recently, and I didn't go there, so the origin of this jade pendant was very suspicious. But, is there only one jade pendant...
"Father, this is a big deal. What should we do?" Qu Mingcheng stood in front of Qu Zhizhen, his face full of worry. "My sister is so worried right now. If this thing is really lost, it will be a big disaster!"
"How could she get lost?" Qu Zhizhen's face looked unhappy and gloomy.
"I don't know either. My sister hasn't gone out these days. She has only been in the mansion. Apart from paying her respects to grandmother, the only person she has seen is probably fourth sister. But that's impossible. Even if fourth sister found it, she would have told third sister." Qu Mingcheng said with a frown.
Qu Zhizhen stared at him deeply.
"Do you think it's possible with your fourth sister?"
"I don't think it's likely. The most likely scenario is that a servant in the mansion picked it up but didn't hand it in. Maybe he thought it was a windfall." Qu Mingcheng shook his head.
Hearing him speak like this, Qu Zhizhen's expression improved a little and he nodded.
"Father, what should we do now? Tomorrow, His Royal Highness Prince Jing will come to our house, and he may ask about the jade pendant then. What should we do if we can't produce it?" Qu Mingcheng said, feeling extremely anxious.
Speaking of this jade pendant, it was accidentally dropped by King Jing that day, and he sent someone to report it.
Prince Jing would be coming over tomorrow, so she didn't send it over directly. She just said that it was in the mansion and would be returned to Prince Jing tomorrow. So she temporarily kept it in Qu Qiuyan's hands. Unexpectedly, Qu Qiuyan actually lost it.
This is not just Qu Qiuyan's problem. Where can she find such a jade pendant tomorrow
"Check, check each courtyard one by one!" Qu Zhizhen stood up, "I'll go tell your grandmother so as not to disturb her."
"Then father, should I go and check it out?" Qu Mingcheng asked.
"Go ahead and check. There are only a few places like this. Check the places your sister has been to in the past few days and the people she might have met on the way. Check all of these." Qu Zhizhen looked at the sky outside. It was already dark, but he had to check.
"Father, should I go to my grandmother first, or to my fourth sister first?" These are the two most suspicious points.
"I'll go to your grandmother's place, you go to your fourth sister's place." Qu Zhizhen said, and after thinking for a moment, he added, "Be careful not to disturb your fourth sister."
"Don't worry, father. I will know about it and say hello to my fourth sister first." Qu Mingcheng nodded.
Seeing that he acted relatively safely, Qu Zhizhen first took people to check the lady's yard, while Qu Mingcheng brought some servants and maids to Qianyueju.
Qu Moying had just finished dinner when she heard a commotion outside the courtyard gate. She exchanged a glance with Yu Dong and waved her hand. Yu Dong understood and went out to check. After a while, she came back to report: "Miss, the second young master is here. He said that something important is missing and he wants to check in each courtyard."
"What's missing?" Qu Moying said lightly.
"He didn't explain it clearly. He just said that important things were missing." Yudong said.
Qu Moying stood up, holding Yuchun's hand and walked out. There were indeed quite a few people in the yard, three servants and five or six old women. It was obvious that they were here to conduct a search.
Qu Mingcheng walked in the middle, came over and bowed to Qu Moying, and said gently: "I came in a hurry and disturbed Fourth Sister. It is really my fault, but it is my father's order and I dare not disobey. Fourth Sister, please rest in your room first. I will ask someone to check the servants' rooms and leave. After today's matter is settled, I will apologize to Fourth Sister!"
This statement was very clear and the reason was also explained. Looking at Qu Mingcheng's expression, one could feel that he was very honest.
Qu Moying sneered in his heart, the thief crying "stop thief", that's all!
"Then please do as you please, second brother!" Qu Moying bowed gracefully, without showing any emotion, and said softly. Since it was her stepfather's wish, she couldn't stop him.
"Yuchun, help your young lady go in and have some rest. It's too messy here!" Qu Mingcheng ordered Yuchun.
Yuchun responded and helped Qu Moying into the inner room. Qu Moying sat down in the main room in the middle, picked up the teacup beside her, took a sip, and then slowly put it down. A hint of coldness flashed under her veiled eyes. She sat here, waiting for Qu Mingcheng to come to her...
"Yudong, you are the head maid in this courtyard, just take me to show around." Qu Mingcheng stopped Yudong, who was about to leave with Qu Moying, and said in a gentle voice.
Since he said so, Yu Dong could not leave and could only accompany Qu Mingcheng to check from the first room on the east side. Nanny Zhou, who came hurriedly, hesitated for a moment when she saw this scene, but still followed.