When Xie Mulin heard this, he couldn't help but ask Xie Huizhi: "How can there be such a thing?" That official eunuch is not an ordinary person, and he would go to a black shop to buy jade pendants? And since Miss Cao's jade pendant was given by the palace, there should be a mark on it, right? He didn't even recognize it? ”

Xie Huizhi: "I heard the little servant of the Cao family say that when the ornament was given from the palace, it was actually a group of three, and the internal mark was on the first piece, but the one engraved with the name of Miss Cao was the third piece, and the second piece was engraved with two auspicious words. This seems to be a new model from the Ministry of Internal Affairs this year. When the eunuch's son bought the jade pendant, he only saw the word 'Ying' engraved on it, and there was no other mark, so he naturally couldn't recognize that it was made inside. Moreover, although he is the son of an official eunuch, he is actually a concubine, and he is not valued by his father and brother, so he is bent on settling with the Cao family, so as to show what he can do at home. He didn't have much knowledge, just a sweeter mouth. will buy that kind of thing of unknown origin, and it is also because he sees that the ornament is good and cheap, but he will not be ashamed in front of the sons and daughters of the Chengenhou Mansion. ”

I see. was vanity for a while, but he bought the stolen goods and asked the owner to recognize them on the spot, which was really unlucky.

Xie Jinzhi asked Xie Huizhi: "You said that this matter has something to do with Jiang Shaoliang, just because there is a jade pendant on the ornament that belongs to him?" ”

Xie Mulin also nodded again and again: "Yes, you also said that this matter is related to Wang Angui's eldest daughter, what can it have to do with it?" Could it be that she stole it? ”

Xie Huizhi chuckled: "Who knows? She cursed that it was impossible for the Cao family to have another queen, and the daughter of the Cao family who was about to enter the East Palace was discredited. Does this really have nothing to do with her? ”

Xie Jinzhi frowned: "This is too far-fetched." I would rather believe that this was secretly planned by Jiang Shaoliang. ”

Xie Huizhi clasped his palms together and smiled: "Second brother guessed so well! To be honest, many of the Cao family suspected that this matter had nothing to do with Young Master Jiang. After all, he almost got married to Miss Cao, and now even if Miss Cao is about to enter the palace, he still goes to Cao's house from time to time. Who believes that he doesn't care? ”

When Cao Wentai sent people to check the shop, the banquet still had to go on. Because Cao Wenxiang was careless for a while, he shouted about the matter, and there were many people at the scene, and after a while, someone spread the word to the ladies in the inner courtyard. Miss Cao Wenying learned that her jade pendant appeared on a strange man's body, and she was so embarrassed that she almost couldn't sit still. The chaotic gossip made her even more embarrassed. Even if Jiang Shaoliang tried his best to control the whole thing in the nature of the theft, he still couldn't stop the whispers of the three aunts and six mothers-in-law.

And the Cao family is also suspicious of Jiang Shaoliang, and from time to time they focus on him. Jiang Shaoliang himself was very calm, laughing, eating and drinking as usual, as if nothing had happened.

Jiang Yuliang once asked him, aren't you worried?

Jiang Shaoliang also said with a look of surprise: "What is there to worry about? It's just a matter of catching a thief. Didn't I get what I lost back? ”

Everyone present was speechless.

But the children of the Cao family think about it carefully, and it seems that this is all there is to it. Rumors or something, the Cao family has endured enough recently, and they don't care about one or two more. Anyway, there are only a few people who see the jade pendant, and the guests who came today are either relatives and friends, or potential allies, so it shouldn't be difficult to ask them not to talk about this little thing. When the thief is caught, the matter is over.

However, things didn't end so easily.

The people of the Cao family found the shop, and the owner admitted that he did often collect some gold jewelry and jade from unknown sources, and was suspected of selling stolen goods for thieves, but he refused to say more. The people of the Cao family planned to press the shopkeeper back to the Chengenhou Mansion to interrogate him slowly. Who knew that as soon as the shopkeeper who had been honest walked to the street, he pounced on the official not far away, saying that the subordinates of the Uncle Guo's Mansion were going to arrest him and kill him, and begged the official to save his life, he didn't know that it was the personal thing of the eldest lady of the Cao family, it was really not intentional!

Coincidentally, those officials are all from Jiangning County. And the Jiangning County Commander happens to be a member of the Lin family. As soon as they heard that it was Miss Cao's "close" object, these officials immediately became interested. Even if the people of the Cao family used the name of the Cheng'en Hou Mansion, they refused to return the shopkeeper to the Cao family, but took the shopkeeper back to the Jiangning County Ya for a public trial in the name of the imperial court's prohibition of lynching. If he really deserves it, he should be punished by the government.

At that time, the people of the Cao family probably really thought that this was just a theft case, and they couldn't withstand the large number of officials, so they had to follow the officials back to the Jiangning County Ya, and watched the Jiangning County Lingsheng Hall hear the case, and many officials, officials and passers-by came to observe.

So, dozens of people heard the shopkeeper's confession at the same time: the ornament was indeed a thief, and it was a thief couple he was familiar with to sell the stolen goods, and the woman pretended to be a cook, and when some rich and noble people were holding a banquet, she was hired to cook in the house, asked her husband to help, and then secretly looked for an opportunity to steal other people's property.

The cook has a small reputation, and has a few specialty dishes, but no one knows the details of his husband and wife, and has succeeded in selling them more than a dozen times in the past few years, most of which are sold by the shopkeeper. The origin of this ornament, the shopkeeper still remembers very clearly, it was when the second room of the Cao family invited spring wine last month, the couple touched into the back house and stole it, and it was originally placed in Miss Cao's boudoir, because the jade was very good, and it was a pair, placed in a quite conspicuous position, and the cook took a fancy to it at a glance. It's a pity that a maid came into the house at that time, and she took her things and left quickly, without anyone finding out.

The shopkeeper explained the whereabouts of the thief's wife, but when the official arrived, the building was empty.

The thief failed to be caught, and the Cao family felt disappointed. However, they have a more serious problem to face: Cao Wenying and Jiang Shaoliang's jade pendants did not happen to be connected together after they were stolen, but were stolen from Cao Wenying's boudoir in pairs at the beginning. Could it be that these two people really have a personal relationship?

Such a big event really made Jiangning County Order interrogated in public. The Cao family is invincible, will Cao Wenying's entry into the palace really not be affected?

Xie Mulin blinked: "If it is affected, it will ...... Affected. The loss of the Cao family has a prince Liangdi, which is not a bad thing. ”

Xie Jinzhi shook his head and said, "It's not that simple. Jiang Shaoliang's jade pendant was stolen by someone, and there were many people who knew about it at that time. If this is true, it means that someone stole the jade pendant from him, and then tied it with Miss Cao's jade pendant to make a pair of ornaments, and then placed it in a conspicuous place in Miss Cao's boudoir. It's so weird, it's no coincidence. ”

Xie Huizhi raised his eyebrows: "Of course it can't be a coincidence!" Because Miss Cao's girl later remembered that on the day of the theft, she had seen Wang Angui's eldest daughter come out of their eldest lady's boudoir, sneaky, and when she saw someone coming, she only said that she was here to talk to Miss Cao, and she was empty. After the girl sent the person out of the courtyard, she turned back to the room and examined it carefully, but she didn't find anything unusual, so she didn't say anything. But if then, the thieves just sneaked into the room......"

Xie Huizhi smiled slightly and looked at his brother and sister: "The people of the Cao family are all discussing in private, as soon as Miss Wang came back to the second room of the Cao family as a guest for the first time, she didn't see a few newly acquainted ladies and young ladies from outside, shouting to visit Miss Cao's courtyard. If it weren't for the thief who happened to steal the pair of jade pendants, what would have been the result? ”

The words were not fully spoken, but Xie Mulin and Xie Jinzhi already understood what he meant.