Chapter 22: Yun Manxia Framed

The maid who'd received the box had been terrified the entire time. Something this valuable - if it broke, the consequences would be unthinkable! Seeing Xiao Mei volunteer to take over, she eagerly surrendered the task.

Yun Manxia was about to take a nap when a knock startled her awake. She got out of bed, pulled open the door, and saw Xiao Mei standing there. She asked coldly, "What is it?"

Xiao Mei respectfully presented an antique-looking box. "This was sent from the Old Madam's quarters, intended for the Ninth Master. He's not home, so I brought it to you, Madam."

Yun Manxia glanced at it and nodded. "Leave it."

Xiao Mei stepped inside, set the box down, and withdrew respectfully.

Yun Manxia went over and looked at it but didn't touch it. Opening someone else's belongings without permission was basic courtesy.

After her nap, she came downstairs and found Bai Hedu had returned.

As she descended, she caught Xiao Mei saying, "The item is with the Madam. I saw that the Ninth Master hadn't returned, and something so valuable shouldn't be left lying around, so I delivered it to her."

Realizing they were talking about the box, Yun Manxia spoke up. "It's with me."

She turned back, retrieved it, and handed it to Bai Hedu, asking curiously, "Is it the jade Guanyin that Grandmother sent you?"

Bai Hedu gave a low "Mm." "It is."

Lin Shen, standing to the side, added, "This jade Guanyin was personally procured by the Old Madam from the temple for the Ninth Master. I heard--"

His voice cut off abruptly.

Dead silence.

Bai Hedu's face turned glacial.

There, beside his hand, in the opened box, the jade Guanyin - once flawless - had shattered into several pieces.

The maid who'd originally received the box went pale. She stammered, "It wasn't me, Ninth Master! I didn't take the box - Xiao Mei did!"

Xiao Mei wore a perfectly bewildered expression and looked at Yun Manxia.

"I - I brought it straight to the Madam the moment I received it!"

Yun Manxia immediately became the center of everyone's attention.

Her eyes turned cold in an instant.

The moment she'd seen the shattered Guanyin, she'd realized something was wrong.

The maids stole glances at her, their eyes full of sympathy and pity.

It was over. The Ninth Master didn't care about much - but when it came to things from the Old Madam, he was fiercely protective. Let alone something the Old Madam had gone to the temple and painstakingly obtained for him!

The new madam was finished!

Yun Manxia knew this too. She turned to the man urgently. "I didn't do it! After I took the box from Xiao Mei, I never touched it. I don't know how it broke!"

The item had been intact when delivered. Now it was broken. She hadn't touched it - which left only one other suspect.

Xiao Mei.

Seeing her anxious defense, her obvious fear of being misunderstood, Bai Hedu's expression softened slightly. He was about to speak when--

"The Old Madam is here!"

Everyone turned toward the entrance. An elegant, dignified elderly woman walked in, supported by Wu Xiaoya.

"What's going on here?" the Old Madam asked. Then she saw the shattered jade Guanyin. Her face transformed instantly. She strode forward. "What happened? Who broke this?!"

"Old Madam! You have to do me justice!" Xiao Mei dropped to her knees with a thud.

She sobbed, "I was the one who received it. After that, I delivered it to the Madam. Now the Guanyin is broken, and the Madam will probably say I did it! But I didn't! If this crime falls on me, I couldn't pay for it even if I sold everything I own. This would ruin me!"

Wu Xiaoya chimed in: "To shatter like this, it would've taken a forceful throw. Why would Xiao Mei do such a thing? She's just a maid. As she said, she could never afford to compensate for it even if she sold everything. Why would she deliberately break it? Is she out of her mind?"

Eliminate Xiao Mei as a suspect, and only one person remained with the greatest suspicion.

Yun Manxia.

The Old Madam looked at Yun Manxia, her expression far from pleased. "You're Xiao Jiu's new wife? Tell me honestly - did you break it?"

Yun Manxia hadn't expected her first encounter with the Old Madam after rebirth to unfold like this.

She didn't know if the woman would form a negative first impression.

In her last life, she wouldn't have cared. But now - she wanted to build a real future with Bai Hedu. These things mattered.

By now, she had regained her composure. "Grandmother, it wasn't me."

Wu Xiaoya immediately pressed: "What proof do you have?"

Yun Manxia's sharp gaze snapped to her.

The Guanyin breaks. The Old Madam appears. Everything timed so perfectly?

Wu Xiaoya flinched under that look, instinctively shrinking back. Then she caught herself and felt a surge of shame and indignation. The Ninth Master and the Old Madam were both here - what could Yun Manxia possibly do to her?

She pressed on aggressively: "Without any evidence, what gives you the right to--"

"Enough."

The low voice cut through. It was Bai Hedu who spoke.

Wu Xiaoya bit her lip. "Ninth Master?"

Bai Hedu didn't acknowledge her. He addressed the Old Madam instead: "Let's consider it an accident - someone dropped it. There's no need to investigate further. It's a pity about Grandmother's kind intentions. Once my leg heals, I'll go to the temple with you personally and get another one."

Wu Xiaoya seethed inwardly. The Ninth Master was protecting that woman!

Yun Manxia also looked at him, startled - a tangle of relief and disappointment.

Relief that he'd stepped in to defend her. Disappointment that perhaps he didn't believe her either, and thought she'd done it.

As for the Old Madam, her fury evaporated in an instant, replaced by profound surprise and quiet joy.

Her grandson was speaking up for someone?

She couldn't help stealing another glance at Yun Manxia. Perhaps this young woman truly was different. If she could make Xiao Jiu's remaining days happy - let him live like a normal person - then one jade Guanyin meant nothing. Even ten, a hundred - she'd let her smash them all!

Her eyes reddened. The Old Madam said warmly, "Good, good. We'll do as Xiao Jiu says."

Wu Xiaoya objected: "Old Madam--"

Just then, Yun Manxia gave the man's sleeve a light tug. "I have proof."

Bai Hedu: "What?"

"I said - I have evidence proving my innocence."

Instantly, every eye in the room locked onto Yun Manxia.

The girl stood beside Bai Hedu, poised and unflinching.

"You have evidence? What evidence?" Wu Xiaoya demanded.

Yun Manxia ignored her and looked at Xiao Mei instead. "After you received the item, you brought it directly to me. No one else touched it in between. Correct?"

Xiao Mei felt a flicker of unease. But she thought it through carefully - she'd been so discreet when she damaged the box. How could the Madam possibly know?

She answered with absolute conviction: "Yes. I took it and delivered it to the Madam immediately. I didn't hand it to anyone else. And earlier, downstairs, during the handover - everyone saw. At that time, the jade Guanyin was perfectly intact!"

Yun Manxia's lips curved in a mocking smile. Then she said:

"There's a security camera in my bedroom. Whether I touched the box after you gave it to me - we'll know the moment we check the footage."

Wu Xiaoya and Xiao Mei's faces changed simultaneously.

A camera? Since when? How did they not know?

Xiao Mei's heart pounded. She instinctively looked at Wu Xiaoya.

Wu Xiaoya gave her a look: Don't admit anything!

Yun Manxia was probably bluffing.