Chapter 148
Chapter 148: The Misplaced Jade Pendant
Yun Wan Ning wrinkled her nose and sniffed hard, taking the scent very seriously. She kept feeling that it was familiar, yet for a while she could not recall what it was.
Just as she was about to give up the thinking, her gaze fell on the corner beside the soft couch, where a many-hued jade pendant lay quietly. Her eyesight was excellent, so even across some distance she could see the patterns on the pendant as clear as day.
[Huh, that jade pendant looks really familiar.]
[Oh, I remember now, isn’t that the seven-colored Pixiu that hangs from Second Brother’s clothes?]
[No no, it should only look like Second Brother’s seven-colored Pixiu. How could Second Brother’s Pixiu show up here in this place…]
Her heart voice listening cut off. In the next instant, Yun Wan Ning’s eyes flew wide.
[Ah ah ah, not similar, it is Second Brother’s pendant, it even has Second Brother’s scent on it.]
[Speaking of scent, that familiar smell I could not place before, isn’t it the Moonlin incense on Second Brother’s clothes?]
[Second Brother’s pendant fell in the princess’s rooms, so, hehe, the princess sleeping all the way till now, could it be that she and Second Brother did that after drinking?]
[No no, they probably did not do that. This room doesn’t have that kind of smell.]
[Second Brother and the princess most likely only slept, pure sleeping…]
With drinking and that, then sleeping, the little milk bun’s heart voice listening was getting more and more outrageous. Even if Yun Wan Yao wanted to pretend she heard nothing, she could not. Her eyes widened on their own and her heart jolted hard, like waves crashing to the sky.
While Mo Zhao Zhao paused to eat, Yun Wan Yao drew a deep breath and lowered her eyes, following Yun Wan Ning’s line of sight. Sure enough, she saw a jade pendant in the corner by the soft couch. The distance was a bit far and her sight was nowhere near Yun Wan Ning’s, so she did not recognize whether that thing was Yun Wan Ye’s or not.
Yun Wan Ning kept analyzing in her heart.
[The princess drunk, Second Brother appearing, plus that nanny’s reaction earlier, it seems certain that Lu Huai Jin’s affair was thrust right in front of the princess.]
[I knew it. Second Brother has been setting this board for so long, and now his chess piece is already pregnant. He would not just sit still.]
[I just do not know whether the princess knows that the hand behind this matter is Second Brother.]
[…]
None of that heart voice listening entered Yun Wan Yao’s ears. Her whole mind was fixed on one thing: was that pendant Yun Wan Ye’s or not. As if summoned, she rose from the chair with Yun Wan Ning in her arms and walked that way.
Sensing her movement, Mo Zhao Zhao looked up with a pork knuckle in her mouth and saw her as if her soul had flown away. She watched for a moment and could not read her, then mumbled with a muffled mouth: “A’Yao, what are you doing?”
[Exactly, what is Sister doing?]
[I was sitting fine, why did she pick me up and stand up?]
Even Yun Wan Ning noticed something was off about her. Two voices came one after another, and Yun Wan Yao startled awake, stopped, turned to glance at Mo Zhao Zhao, then at the little milk bun in her arms, and finally realized what she was doing. She hurried to say: “Ah, nothing.”
“Lies,” said Mo Zhao Zhao.
[Yes yes, I also think Sister is lying.]
Yun Wan Yao: “…”
Little Sis, why are you joining the fun too? Fine, she almost forgot that Little Sis loved to join the fun most of all.
She pouted, stood staring at that pendant, and suddenly did not know whether to go confirm it. After finishing the pork knuckle, Mo Zhao Zhao picked up a shrimp dumpling. She turned again toward Yun Wan Yao and saw her staring into one spot. Following that gaze, Mo Zhao Zhao vaguely made out a colorful thing.
Not good. Her chopsticks shook, the shrimp dumpling fell to the floor, and her face changed. She tossed the chopsticks, shot to her feet, and ran toward that thing in long strides. At that distance she could not see it clearly either, but from that flash of seven-colored shine under the sun, she could already be sure it was Yun Wan Ye’s.
He always had a seven-colored jade pendant on his clothes; she had seen it before. She rushed the last few steps. When she bent and reached for it, her heart nearly leaped to her throat. Sure enough, this was Yun Wan Ye’s…
Mo Zhao Zhao trembled all over. She blocked the sight of Yun Wan Yao and Yun Wan Ning and hid the pendant in her hands with a guilty heart. Yun Wan Yao: “…”
[…]
[Say, the princess was eating just fine, how did she suddenly notice that pendant?]
Yun Wan Ning was a bit confused, but she soon thought of Yun Wan Yao. [If I think it through, it should be because of Sister. Sister must have seen it first, and the princess was watching her and then noticed it.]
[But did Sister recognize that it was Second Brother’s or not?]
[If Sister recognized it, then there will be a good show.]
[Tsk, the princess’s reflex just now was so guilty, Sister will not be without suspicion, right?]
“Uh, a maid was too careless and dropped this palace’s thing on the floor,” said Mo Zhao Zhao after hiding the pendant. She forced a silly smile to ease her guilt.
She did not expect that the moment her words fell, the serving maids in the hall all dropped to their knees, voices full of fear: “Your servants deserve death, we beg Your Highness the Princess to spare us.”
Mo Zhao Zhao: “…”
She coughed and hurried to say: “Get up, I did not say I blame you. There are always slips among a hundred careful points. I am not that petty. I will not punish you for this.”
“Thank you, Your Highness,” the maids answered with trembling gratitude.
The two Yun sisters watched Mo Zhao Zhao act her little play. From all her reactions, Yun Wan Yao could already be sure in her heart that the pendant was exactly as Yun Wan Ning had said: it belonged to Yun Wan Ye. Otherwise, why would Mo Zhao Zhao react so strongly, and why would she be so guilty?
Yun Wan Yao’s lips curved as she tested with a calm face: “Your Highness, what is that? A jade pendant? It looks very much like one of Yun Wan Ye’s.”
At her words, Mo Zhao Zhao’s eyes quivered and her mask almost cracked. Panic flooded her heart. She could not tell whether Yun Wan Yao was testing her, or whether she had already recognized that the thing was Yun Wan Ye’s.
The more she thought, the more flustered she grew. Her lips trembled and she laughed stiffly, saying with shaking mouth: “Uh, really? A’Yao, could it be that you saw wrong?”
Ah ah ah. As soon as she spoke, Mo Zhao Zhao wanted to smack herself and take those words back. How could she say that? She should have said, “Even if two things are the same, the world has many of them. If it only looks alike, that is not strange.” The guiltier you are, the easier it is to make mistakes.
Sure enough, Yun Wan Yao’s voice sounded again with that unreadable air: “I do not think so, though I am not completely sure. Your Highness, can you let me see your pendant?”