Chapter 11: Chu Junfeng

In a side room on the second floor of Cuiyu Pavilion, Qiu Liyue looked at the jewelry laid out on the tray, unable to help feeling a hint of disappointment. Given An Xiaoman's personality, she wouldn't like these things.

"What? Didn't they say Cuiyu Pavilion was the best jewelry shop in the capital? Is this all you have? Can't you see my sister is unsatisfied? Bring out your truly fine goods—or are you looking down on the Qiu Estate?" Qiu Lixing said loudly, her face darkening, intentionally placing extra emphasis on the words "Qiu Estate."

"Oh! So it is the young lady of the Qiu Estate, how rude of me!" A middle-aged man entered after lifting the door curtain. His eyes swept over the few pieces of jewelry on the tray in the room, and he spoke with a face full of smiles. "I am the manager here, my surname is Feng. I wonder what kind of items the young lady of the Qiu family is looking for? If you give me a general idea, I can go to the warehouse to find them for you."

"Sister!" Qiu Lixing shook Qiu Liyue's arm. "Has sister decided what gift to give Miss An?"

Facing Qiu Lixing's obsequiousness, Qiu Liyue felt a slight sense of unease, feeling that things were not quite that simple, yet she couldn't figure out where the problem lay. She could only suppress this unease in her heart. After pondering for a long while, she finally spoke, "I wonder if Manager Feng has any pieces that are roughly red in color?"

Whether based on what she had seen yesterday or her memories from her past life, An Xiaoman loved red; giving her a red gift would never go wrong.

"Red?" Manager Feng raised an eyebrow, his forehead wrinkles nearly forming a character for 'river,' but then he relaxed. "There actually are a few pieces. Please wait a moment, I shall go fetch them for you immediately."

While Qiu Liyue looked down on these pieces of jewelry, Qiu Zhen's gaze never left the tray. A flash of disdain crossed Qiu Lixing's face as she said, "Sister Zhen, see if there is anything you like. Mother said when she left that she wanted each of us to add a few pieces of jewelry."

"Thank you, Second Sister! Thank you, Madam!" Qiu Zhen's eyes grew even brighter. Every single piece of jewelry here was of immense value, several levels higher than what she usually used.

"Ladies, Madams, please, you must judge this fairly! This is a family heirloom..." A noisy commotion suddenly came from outside the door.

What happened? Qiu Liyue walked out instinctively, only to see that the hall on the first floor of Cuiyu Pavilion was already in a state of chaos.

On the first floor of Cuiyu Pavilion, a man with the appearance of a scholar was saying something to the surrounding ladies and madams. At his feet, a pile of green fragments and an overturned sandalwood brocade box lay scattered on the ground.

After going downstairs and pausing in the crowd for a moment, Qiu Liyue understood what was happening. It turned out this scholar-like man had come to Cuiyu Pavilion to sell a family heirloom jade bracelet. When he handed it to the young shop assistant, something must have gone wrong in the middle, and it fell to the ground.

The shop assistant claimed the scholar had let go before it reached his hands, while the scholar claimed he had already placed it in the assistant's hands and that the assistant had failed to hold it steady, causing it to drop. Both held to their own versions of the story, and a quarrel had broken out.

The scholar looked frail and weak, and the fabric of his clothes was of poor quality, but he was quite handsome with a thick air of scholarly elegance. Consequently, the ladies and madams were unconsciously biased toward him.

In a short moment, the shop assistant's face had turned bright red with anger.

In her heart, Qiu Liyue could not help but sneer repeatedly. Because this scholar was none other than the newly successful top scholar of her past life, Chu Junfeng. It was Chu Junfeng who had knelt for a long time outside the palace gates for the sake of Qiu Lixing to refuse the marriage on behalf of the Emperor; it was the cold-blooded, selfish Chu Junfeng who would not hesitate to use any despicable means to achieve his goals.

Looking at the scattered jade fragments on the ground, just as Qiu Liyue was about to speak, she heard a man say loudly, "I will come to seek justice for you! Shop assistant, bring me five jade bracelets!"

Everyone looked toward the sound and saw a gentleman entering from the door with a smile in his eyes, wearing a purple auspicious cloud robe with a coiled dragon jade pendant hanging from his waist. It was the Third Prince, Nalan Can.

"Young Master, the jade bracelets you requested!" Another shop assistant carefully brought over five jade bracelets.

The ladies and madams could not help but turn their gazes toward Nalan Can.

Nalan Can gestured toward the brocade box on the ground, and the servant behind him immediately walked to the scholar, picked up the box, and handed it to him.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Chu Junfeng's expression changed involuntarily upon seeing Nalan Can's actions.

"To seek justice for you from Cuiyu Pavilion!" As Nalan Can spoke, he took a jade bracelet and placed it in the brocade box. Then, he released his hand; the box fell to the ground, and the jade bracelet fell out of the box with a "crack!" breaking into two pieces.

The servant picked up the box again. Without changing his expression, Nalan Can placed another jade bracelet into the box and released his hand again. With a "crack," the box fell to the ground again, but this time the jade bracelet merely slid out of the box, completely intact.

By this time, Chu Junfeng's face was deathly pale. Seeing Nalan Can place another jade bracelet into the box, he suddenly turned and ran toward the door. As he passed Qiu Liyue, he even shoved her, making her grit her teeth in anger.

In the blink of an eye, Chu Junfeng had run out of the doors of Cuiyu Pavilion. But before anyone could process what had happened, they saw a figure fly back in from outside.

With a "thud," he landed on the ground—it was the Chu Junfeng who had just bolted out. Subsequently, another person entered the entrance of Cuiyu Pavilion unhurriedly; it was the Fourth Prince, Nalan Xuan.

"Third Brother!" Nalan Xuan greeted Nalan Can.

"Fourth Brother, this..." Nalan Can glanced at the lying Chu Junfeng on the ground.

"You took someone else's things and thought you could just leave?" Nalan Xuan looked at Chu Junfeng slowly and spoke, "Will you bring the item out yourself, or shall we go have a chat with the Ministry of Justice?"

"Th-this... this accidentally caught onto me," Chu Junfeng said tremblingly, pulling out a small jade pendant he was clutching in his hand.

Looking at the small hibiscus jade held in Chu Junfeng's hand, Qiu Liyue was startled. She reached for her waist and, sure enough, the jade pendant that had been hanging there was gone. This was a pendant she had always worn with her; if it were lost, there was no telling what kind of trouble it might cause.

Nalan Xuan reached out, picked up the jade pendant, and brought it before Qiu Liyue. "Qiu Liyue, returning the item to its original owner!"

"Thank you!" Qiu Liyue bowed to Nalan Xuan in thanks. She glanced at the empty doorway; she had seen it clearly just now—the reason Chu Junfeng had "flown" back in was entirely because Ye Liuyun, who had just been with Nalan Xuan, had kicked him.

"Thank you, Fourth Prince, for helping Sister retrieve her jade pendant. The Third Prince's clever method of identifying a fraud has truly opened Lixing's eyes!" Standing beside Qiu Liyue, Qiu Lixing suddenly stepped forward and bowed to the Fourth Prince, then turned to the Third Prince, Nalan Can, implying that the Third Prince was truly brilliant to have used two broken jade bracelets to make everyone see clearly that this scholar was a liar.