The atmosphere in the dining hall suddenly froze upon hearing this.
Yu Wenquan keenly sensed so undercurrents, looked up at Aunt Hui, then followed her flickering gaze to Shang Ruyi, and asked, "What’s wrong?"
Shang Ruyi imdiately said, "Father, there is sothing I haven’t had the chance to report until now. Now that mother’s funeral is over, it’s ti you know."
With that, she recounted the theft in the tea room.
The more Yu Wenquan listened, the tighter his brow furrowed.
Yu Wenye had been in a daze, guarding the spirit during those days, unaware of the tea room incident. Now, hearing Shang Ruyi speak of it, he frowned and asked, "Why didn’t you tell ?"
Shang Ruyi softly replied, "Given how you were those days... I didn’t want to worry you further."
Yu Wenye said, "But—"
He didn’t finish his sentence as Yu Wenquan interrupted, asking, "Ruyi, why did you have Chang Wan locked up? Do you think she’s the one who stole it?"
Shang Ruyi shook her head and said, "Locking up Chang Wan was a temporary asure. With guests flooding in, so ca to mourn, while others later ca to congratulate the husband; anyway, they were all dignified events. The tea room theft, though minor, is quite disgraceful, and if it got out, the Duke Mansion’s reputation would be ruined."
Yu Wenquan nodded, "You did the right thing."
Aunt Hui smiled, "The Young Madam is indeed insightful, managing to resolve the situation right away. However, with the cup unfound today, we’ll have to let the Duke use a different cup."
Yu Wenquan looked down at the white porcelain cup in his hand, his brow slightly furrowed.
Shang Ruyi said, "It might not be impossible to find."
"...?!"
The atmosphere in the dining hall shifted once again upon hearing this.
Even Yu Wencheng, who had been eating with his head down, looked up at her, "Second Sister-in-law, how do you know where the cup is?"
Aunt Hui said, "Could it be that the Young Madam intends to search the mansion now?"
Shang Ruyi chuckled, shaking her head, "I ntioned searching the mansion the day it happened, but so many days have passed. The person who took the cup would surely worry about it being found and likely dealt with it long ago. Searching now, where could we find it?"
Aunt Hui said, "If not searching, how can we find it?"
Shang Ruyi looked up at the sky outside and then said, "It seems Aunt Hui is also uneasy, so let’s have a search to dispel doubts. We don’t need to make a big fuss; since we originally suspected Chang Wan, let’s search her room."
As she spoke, she looked up at Yu Wenquan, "Father..."
Yu Wenquan waved his hand indifferently, "Send your people."
"Yes."
Shang Ruyi then instructed Tushere and Wo Xue; the two imdiately turned and left. After roughly the ti it takes to finish a al, they returned. Tushere reported, "We’ve thoroughly searched Chang Wan’s place, and indeed, the cup is not there."
Wo Xue said, "I even checked the crevices in the walls, there are no loose bricks."
In grand households, there might be such household thieves who, when the air is tense, will not easily sell the stolen goods. Instead, they will find a hidden spot, loosen a brick, hide the stolen items inside, and seal it back, seamlessly concealed, making it hard to find even during a thorough search.
Unexpectedly, this girl knows about this.
Shang Ruyi glanced at her and smiled, nodding, then turned to Yu Wenquan, saying, "When the incident happened, I imdiately had Chang Wan locked in the firewood room. If she really stole it, there’s no way she’d have the ti to hide or deal with it, so she’s mostly cleared of suspicion."
Yu Wenquan said, "So you locked her up for this reason."
Shang Ruyi replied, "Rest assured, Father, I didn’t have her mistreated. She still received food; only the cold weather made it hard on her."
Yu Wenquan waved his hand, "Release her later."
Aunt Hui sighed, "Though she’s been cleared, surely soone else did it. Sadly so many days have passed, the person might have dealt with the goods. The cup might be hard to recover."
Shang Ruyi said, "Don’t worry, Aunt Hui. Since the cup is a cherished item of Father’s, I, as a junior, will do my best to try to recover it."
Aunt Hui smiled, "Really? How does the Young Madam plan to find it?"
Shang Ruyi replied, "We are in the process of finding it."
"Hmm?"
Aunt Hui was taken aback, as were others at the table. Yu Wenye turned to look at her, suddenly thought of sothing, and looked outside the dining hall; usually accompanying him, those individuals were nowhere to be seen at this ti.
Yu Wenye’s gaze flickered, imdiately understanding.
Aunt Hui said, "The Young Madam says we are looking, what does that an? Is there still soone searching the mansion right now?"
Shang Ruyi shook her head and said, "Aunt Hui just ntioned that so many days have passed. The person who took the cup would have handled it long ago to avoid my search of the mansion. Therefore, if we are looking, we can only search outside."
"Outside?"
Hearing this, Yu Wenquan was also puzzled, "The outside world is vast; how are we supposed to search?"
Just as Shang Ruyi was about to say sothing, a rapid series of footsteps ca from outside. She turned to look, and her face imdiately lit up, "It’s been found!"
Everyone turned to look outside, only to see Mu Xian hurrying over. He reached the door of the dining hall and cupped his hands in a salute towards the people inside, "Greetings, Duke."
Yu Wenquan squinted slightly, looking at the piece of paper in his hand.
So he asked, "What do you have in your hand?"
Mu Xian hurriedly presented the paper to him. Yu Wenquan took it, squinting slightly as he glanced at it. It was a torn-off receipt, with just two simple lines, and he read aloud, "Dudou South Street Jia Yi Dengfeng Number, the 26th of the twelfth lunar month, received as junk, discarded a cup..."
Stopping here, he angrily tapped the receipt, scolding, "This is nonsense. How could it be reduced to junk?"
Shang Ruyi glanced at it from the side and apologetically laughed, "Father, don’t quarrel with those commoners. That cup is from the Yue Kiln; even if the pawnshop’s tribute experts lack insight, they wouldn’t misidentify it. But since they recognized it was a valuable item, they were sure the depositor wouldn’t dare to reclaim it and purposely called it junk to lower the price."
Yu Wenquan lifted his head from the receipt to look at her, "Ruyi, you understand pawnshop matters too?"
"..."
Shang Ruyi felt sowhat embarrassed—after all, she was from a noble family, and a noblewoman shouldn’t know too much about money matters, especially not such lower-tier pawnshops, so she deflected, "Previously, I heard the staff at ho ntion it."
Yu Wenye turned back to Yu Wenquan and said, "I also ntioned these to her."
Shang Ruyi glanced at him, saying nothing, only gently lowering her head.
Yu Wenquan didn’t mind this undercurrent, and continued to look at the receipt, saying, "This is outrageous, pawned for only thirty taels of silver!"
At this point, he was not angry about the theft or pawn, but rather that his cherished Bright Pearl was sullied and discarded. Fortunately, Yu Wenye comforted him, "Didn’t Ruyi just say? They knew it was valuable and purposely devalued it."
Yu Wenquan simred with anger and then looked up at Mu Xian, "Why did you only bring back this receipt? What about the item?"
Mu Xian said, "The Young Madam instructed us to take the money to verify the cup first. We confird it was the Duke’s lost Yue Kiln Cup, but only paid for this receipt, leaving the item untouched for now."
Yu Wenquan frowned slightly, turned his head to Shang Ruyi, "What does this an?"
Shang Ruyi smiled, "Redeeming the cup is easy, but if we redeem it, the pawnshop erases the record, and then we won’t be able to find who actually took the cup."
"Oh?"
Yu Wenquan seed to comprehend sothing, raising his hand to pass the receipt to her, saying no more, only signaling her to continue. Shang Ruyi took the receipt, glancing over it briefly—what Yu Wenquan had already read out was the most crucial information, leaving nothing else noteworthy. So she looked up and smiled at Aunt Hui, "Could Aunt Hui kindly gather the tea room staff, please?"
Aunt Hui glanced at her, said nothing, and went to call them herself.
It wasn’t long before the tea room servants arrived at the dining hall.
One of them, Uncle Gui, was visibly sweating, almost tripping over the threshold as he entered.
Shang Ruyi looked them over and then said, "I believe you all rember the theft in the tea room that day. I said at the ti, we would search thoroughly to find the cup. We now know its whereabouts, but soone must admit to taking it to Dengfeng Number on South Street."
She paused, but no one spoke.
Shang Ruyi continued gently, "Whoever admits to it will be considered confessing. Though they will be dismissed and no longer employed, there will be no severe punishnt; but if they don’t confess, they’re determined to be a thief, and as thieves, they will not escape being punished."
The maids and servants looked at each other.
So were surprised, so were fearful, and the tallest among them, Uncle Gui, wished he could shrink his head into his shoulders, curling himself up into a ball.
Scanning them with her eyes, Shang Ruyi sighed, seemingly disappointed, and said, "Since that’s the case, I’ll na the person directly."
Aunt Hui chid in from the side, "Young Madam, there’s only a record of the item and money on the receipt, no nas. How do you know who it is?"
Shang Ruyi smiled, "Of course, I know."
She turned her head and said, "Hu Hua."
Upon hearing this, the servant in the crowd exhibited a look of astonishnt, and he gazed at Shang Ruyi, saying, "Young Madam, although I serve in the tea room, I’ve never been dishonest. Besides, the pawnshop’s record doesn’t have my na on it. Why accuse ?"
Shang Ruyi said, "Even though your na isn’t on the receipt, between the lines, it’s written all over it."
Hu Hua was baffled, simply saying, "Young Madam, I haven’t been educated, I don’t understand. In any case, to catch an adulterer, there must be evidence. Without proof, I’ll rather strike my head on the wall here than confess!"
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