They checked every room one by one but found nothing. Finally, the group stopped at the door of a house. Yu Dong hesitated for a moment.
"What's wrong?" Qu Mingcheng asked, his attitude as gentle as ever.
"This is my room!" Yu Dong said timidly, lowering her head.
"Who do you live with?" Qu Mingcheng asked.
"I live here alone." Yudong shook her head. According to the rules of the Qu Mansion, two senior maids live in a room alone, but Yudong's situation is special, so he lives alone, and Yuchun naturally lives alone as well.
"Do you live alone?" Qu Mingcheng stopped and asked again in an even gentler voice.
"Yes... I live alone. There are quite a few rooms in Qianyue Residence, and the young lady asked me and Yuchun to live alone." Yudong felt uneasy, holding the handkerchief in her hand, and looked very flustered.
"Let's go in and take a look!" Qu Mingcheng waved his hand and two maids went in to check.
Yudong followed in cautiously.
The two maids searched skillfully and soon found all the things. They looked around and found that nothing was prohibited. They were about to leave when one of the maids noticed a purse hanging behind Yudong's bed. They had only turned over the front part and didn't notice that there was another purse tied at the corner behind the bed.
When she saw the position of the purse, it seemed a bit strange. The old woman walked over and wanted to take out the purse and open it to take a look.
"If there's nothing else, go somewhere else!" Qu Mingcheng was startled by the old woman's movement. He looked at the old woman's actions, then looked at Yu Dong's hands, which were lowered and tightly holding the handkerchief, trembling slightly. He knew that this should be the purse he had given away before, so he waved his hand and said.
"Second Young Master, there's something over there..." The old woman pointed behind the bed.
"Let's go!" Qu Mingcheng turned around and walked out without even looking at her. The old woman thought about it and finally did not go over. Since the Second Young Master had no intention of checking, there was no need for her to offend the Fourth Young Lady's personal maid.
Just pretend you didn’t see it. Anyway, you didn’t see it before.
The next few rooms were searched one by one, but nothing was found. The only room left was that of Nanny Yan. The maids did not dare to search it casually. Everyone knew that Nanny Yan was a female official of high rank in the palace, and it was not something that the maids like them could search.
Several maids stood at the door, hesitating and not daring to go in. In the room, Nanny Yan was sitting there drinking tea, her eyes lightly sweeping over the maids.
A servant came hurriedly over, ordered the old woman to leave, then bowed deeply to Nanny Yan at the door and slowly walked out. This was a way to give Nanny Yan face and show respect for her.
Nanny Yan stood up, walked to the window and looked at the second young master Qu in the yard. The second young master Qu was not very old and looked quite good. He was dressed in brocade and jade robes, and could be considered a handsome young man. His eyes were particularly like Yu's, revealing a hint of smile, and he looked gentle, but in fact, there was a bit of calculation in his gentle eyes.
Nanny Yan has seen a lot of people, especially since she used to work in the Queen Mother's palace. She has seen many people who seem gentle but actually have other plans. Therefore, she can tell at a glance that this Second Master Qu is not as casual as he seems.
Came towards the young lady.
Fortunately, the young lady had told her to just sit there quietly and she didn't need to worry about anything going on here.
After several maids checked, they found nothing. Qu Mingcheng then turned to the front of Qu Moying's main house. After thinking for a while, Qu Mingcheng walked forward. Yuchun, who was in the house, had already seen him and walked forward and lifted the door curtain high.
Qu Mingcheng walked in. Yu Dong hurriedly made a cup of tea and placed it on the table in front of Qu Mingcheng. Then he hesitated for a moment, but still stood in front of Qu Moying. His eyes involuntarily looked at the desk by the window, where the writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone that Qu Moying used to use were placed.
He especially looked at the bottom drawer on the left side of the desk for a few more seconds, then as if frightened, he quickly looked away.
Although the time was short, it caught the attention of Qu Mingcheng, who was sitting opposite Qu Moying. He already had an idea in his mind. As expected, Qingmei's ability to do things was quite good. She had put the jade pendant to Qu Moying very early.
"Fourth sister, third sister lost an important item, and we need it tomorrow. My father just went to my grandmother's house and asked me to come and ask you. If I have offended you in any way, please forgive me." Qu Mingcheng said to Qu Moying with a smile as warm as the spring breeze.
"Second brother, what did third sister lose? Why did she make such a big fuss and even disturbed grandma?" Qu Moying said indifferently.
This was quite a big move. Even my grandmother was alarmed. What else could I say
"It's actually a jade pendant, but this jade pendant... is not ordinary. If an ordinary servant picked it up, they might just think it's a valuable toy. Third sister hasn't been out for the past few days. Apart from visiting grandmother, she has been in contact with fourth sister, so she made this trip to fourth sister's place."
Qu Mingcheng didn't beat around the bush at this time and directly stated his purpose, "Fourth sister, can you let me take a look at the things in this room? It's not that you would like a jade pendant, but I'm afraid those unprofessional servants would secretly hide the jade pendant in your room."
Qu Moying's face darkened: "What do you mean, second brother? Are you talking about the two maids beside me? Or the housekeeper beside me?"
Qu Moying This is the main house of Qianyue Residence. Only a few of Qu Moying's confidants can come into this house. No one else can enter the house at all.
"Fourth sister, there's nothing we can do about it. I don't want to think this way, but father has gone to grandmother's house... He also wants to take a look at grandmother's room. If we don't check here, father will ask about it later, and neither of us will be able to explain!" Qu Mingcheng said with a smile.
This is using Qu Zhizhen and the lady to suppress Qu Moying.
"Second brother, is Third Sister's jade pendant really lost?" Qu Moying's face was a little cold, and her cherry lips were tightly pursed.
"Of course it was lost. How could you say it was lost if it wasn't lost?" Qu Mingcheng said with a smile.
"That's hard to say. I clearly sent a Buddhist scripture before, and it was indeed borrowed from the Ling'an Marquis's Mansion. But when I sent it to Third Sister's yard, it broke. But I don't understand what happened later. Madam Duan from the Ling'an Marquis's Mansion actually said that the Buddhist scripture was taken by mistake and it was not the Crown Princess's Buddhist scripture. This reversal of events is really unexpected."
Qu Moying said coldly.
"If the fourth sister doesn't
If I can't find it from you later, let's go to Third Sister's place together, how about that?" Qu Mingcheng looked like he wanted to keep things quiet.
In Qu Mingcheng's opinion, this was just one explanation. How could the jade pendant not be with Qu Moying? He had deliberately shown his goodwill to Yu Dong before. At the beginning, he used Qingmei's words, and then he sent the purse over himself. Yu Dong didn't say anything after receiving it, and it seemed that he had tacitly agreed.
Afterwards, she asked Qingmei to take the jade pendant and let Yudong hide it, saying that it was for the good of the two young ladies in the mansion, but in fact it was also for Yudong's own good. The two young ladies did not get along, and she, a maidservant of the fourth young lady, would inevitably face many difficulties if she wanted to go to the third young lady's brother. Not to mention that the fourth young lady might not agree, even the third young lady might not agree.
Once the bait is cast, just wait for the bite to come.
The message Qingmei passed on was for Yudong to hide the jade pendant in Qu Moying's room as soon as possible, otherwise if someone saw it, she would have no way to defend herself. After today, take out the jade pendant and throw it somewhere in the yard, let other maids and old women pick it up, hand it to Qu Moying, and then return it to Qu Qiuyan, so that the two ladies could be reconciled.
Qingmei repeatedly warned Yudong not to keep it by her side, because if someone saw it, she would be speechless.
Having said that, anyone with a thoughtful heart would never keep the jade pendant with them, and Yu Dong has always been smart and clever when she is with Qu Moying.
There are actually some loopholes in this, and it is not so perfect. But if a maid wants to make the two young ladies in the mansion get along well for her own benefit, she may be blinded and only see what she thinks is right. The most important thing is that this calculation does not seem to do any harm to Qu Moying, and the starting point is still good.
Qu Mingcheng felt that it was not so easy to make Yu Dong betray Qu Moying directly, but it was still feasible to let Yu Dong put some things in Qu Moying's room, tempt her with "good" ideas, and her own interests!
"Go to Third Sister's place and see if the jade pendant is there?" Qu Moying raised his eyebrows.
"Yes, as long as it can make Fourth Sister calm down." Qu Mingcheng said it generously, as if as long as Qu Moying was happy, it would be fine.
Yu Dong behind Qu Moying was becoming more and more uncomfortable. He looked up at Qu Mingcheng, then at Qu Moying's back. His feet moved unconsciously, and he looked very uneasy.
"What if Third Sister doesn't allow the search?" Qu Moying said calmly.
"I will take care of everything!" Qu Mingcheng patted his chest. The jade pendant was given to Qingmei by Qu Qiuyan, and it was also given to Yudong by Qingmei. There was no way it could go back.
"Since second brother has said so, then let someone search!" Qu Moying said coldly, but these words were a compromise.
Qu Mingcheng nodded and glanced at a maid beside him. This maid had followed him in just now. After hearing Qu Mingcheng's instructions, she bowed to Qu Moying and began to check carefully.
Qu Moying looked at her with a cold expression and did not say to avoid her. Qu Mingcheng sat aside with a smile and seemed to have forgotten to remind Qu Moying to avoid her.
There weren't actually many things in the outer room, and the old woman checked them all in a few minutes. Only a few drawers of the desk in front of the window were closed. After looking at the things on the table, the old woman turned around and looked at Qu Mingcheng, her meaning was very clear.