The young misses and masters had all gathered at the great hall. The meeting was presided over by their grandmother, sitting primly at the head of the room, her mien severe.

Yun Ruoyan was dressed in a moon-white gown. Upon entering and bowing, she retreated to the side in deference. Beside her were her eldest sister, Yun Ruoyao, her third sister, Yun Ruoyu, and her cousin, Yi Qianying. [1]

Seeing that everyone was present, her grandmother glanced at Madam An, Yun Ruoyan’s father’s first concubine. Madam An strode forth and announced, “A few days prior, the empress dowager bequeathed upon your grandmother a rare gift, a jade ornament with mother-of-pearl inlay, but it has gone missing! If you were the culprit, reveal yourself now and there will be clemency, or else!”

Yun Ruoyan stood stock-still as she glanced at Yi Qianying from the corner of her eyes. At this point, Yi Qianying was only fourteen years old, and Yun Ruoyan thought that she could see a hint of panic and anxiety on her slender frame.

What she didn’t expect was that Yi Qianying would raise her head high, her expression level. Her slightly trembling lips were the only hint of her unease, as if she were forcefully trying to keep herself calm.

No wonder everyone in the Yun family liked her; she’d been skilled at deception even as a child.

What Yun Ruoyan didn’t know was that, while she was secretly inspecting Yi Qianying, Madam An was looking at her. Madam An understood Yun Ruoyan’s personality well: whenever something big came up, she would always duck her head and hunker down like a terrified bird. Under usual circumstances, Yun Ruoyan would be trembling with fright, but today, she stood straight up as if she were a different person entirely.

Noticing Madam An’s gaze, Yun Ruoyan tilted her head toward her, revealing the frightening birthmark by the corner of her eye. It was so shocking and so distinctive that Madam An quelled her thoughts, turning her gaze away—what was she thinking? How could this be anyone other than the ugly, useless idiot of the Yun household!

Madam An’s gaze swept over the gathered audience. “Anyone who knows something but doesn’t report it will be subject to the same punishment!”

And as soon as she finished speaking, someone sucked in a breath from within the silent hall. Madam An’s sharp gaze quickly landed on its source. “Qianying, did you have something to say?”

Hearing this, everyone’s gaze landed on Yi Qianying; even the Yun matriarch at the head of the table opened her eyes a crack, waiting for Yi Qianying’s next move.

Yi Qianying appeared to panic as she suddenly knelt on the floor. “Grandmother, aunt… I, I don’t dare say anything!”

Clearly, Yi Qianying knew something. How could Madam An let go of such an opportunity to establish her authority and to raise her standing in the eyes of the matriarch? She immediately raised her voice. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you from any repercussions. Tell us the truth!”

Even the blunt Yun Ruoyu spoke up for her. “That’s right, Qianying! With Grandmother and everyone else here, you don’t have anything to worry about!”

“I, I really don’t dare.” Yi Qianying’s whole body lay prostrate on the floor, her words filled with grievance. She didn’t forget to look toward Yun Ruoyan briefly as she spoke.

Everyone knew what this implied.

Madam An looked at Yun Ruoyan once more and was shocked to notice that, not only did the girl not seem to be scared by this accusation, but she even stood with more elevated a bearing than before.

The Yun matriarch looked at Yi Qianying on the floor, frowned, and turned toward Yun Ruoyan as well. Only when she saw the serene expression on Yun Ruoyan’s face did her own expression turn a little more gentle.

The whole hall was quiet. No one spoke, as if a trap had been laid and they were all waiting for prey to jump in of her own accord—and, in truth, this was what had happened previously.

Yi Qianying was clever and eloquent, and Madam An pressed her tightly at every opportunity. How could the Yun Ruoyan of the past have been their match? Naturally, she had ended up the scapegoat of this entire affair.

But this time, she surely wouldn’t let the same tragedy happen again!

“Why are all of you looking at me? Why have you stopped, sister? Please, keep going.” A smile danced around Yun Ruoyan’s lips.

The development of the affair seemed to have been out of Yi Qianying’s expectations. She stared at Yun Ruoyan skeptically, her eyes filled with shock: Yun Ruoyan’s confidence was something that she had never seen before. All she could do was forge on and exclaim, “I-I saw my sister, Yun Ruoyan, [2] steal the jade ornament!”

These words shook the room.

Madam An immediately called out, “Yun Ruoyan! As the second daughter of the household, how could you do something like this?! The jade ornament was given to your grandmother by the empress dowager herself!”

Yun Ruoyu piled on, “Sister, are you that poor that you have to resort to something like this? Stealing your own family’s possessions—aren’t you afraid of being laughed at?”

Seeing her sisters’ actions, Yun Ruoyao also added, “Sister, I know you usually aren’t given all that many ornaments, neither gold nor jade nor anything else, but we sisters can certainly give you some of our own. Why go to the trouble of stealing something, especially something so precious?”

Madam An gave Yun Ruoyao an approving glance as she sighed and turned back to Yun Ruoyan, urging her earnestly, “How could you do something like this? Quick, apologize to your grandmother and hand back the jade ornament, and we’ll pretend this never happened.”

Yun Ruoyan smirked inwardly, but she kept her lips shut.

After a moment, Madam An became quite annoyed at Yun Ruoyan’s inaction. She had long been a thorn in her eye, but never had she disobeyed and ignored her commands so openly before! How dare she! Madam An raised her hand and voice as she commanded, “Yun Ruoyan, did you hear me?! Return the jade ornament; that’s not something you can take!”

Yun Ruoyan raised her head and met Madam An’s gaze before slowly opening her mouth. “I cannot hand back the ornament.”

“What?! Did you sell it?!” Madam An raised her eyebrows as her tone turned even more severe. “How could the Yuns have such an unfilial daughter as you!”

Yun Ruoyan raised her voice. “Mother, [3] how do you expect me to return something that I haven’t taken?”

The old matriarch, who had been frowning and keeping her eyes shut during this entire exchange, opened her eyes for the second time, her gaze once again on Yun Ruoyan.

Yun Ruoyan strode toward the center of the room. “Madam An, I’ve never admitted to taking the jade ornament. How can you conclude that I committed this theft on the words of my cousin alone?”

“If not you, then who…” Madam An faltered as she met Yun Ruoyan’s penetrating gaze, and quickly passed the buck to Yi Qianying. “Qianying! Tell us, when did you see her steal the jade ornament? Tell us everything!”

Yi Qianying’s gaze flashed. She’d expected that Yun Ruoyan would dig a deeper and deeper hole for herself, but she had ended up being dragged back into the affair in a critical moment instead.

She could only grit her teeth and forge onward. “Yes, Madam An. As I was on a stroll last night, I saw a shadow come out of our grandmother’s rooms. That person was in such a rush that she knocked into me, and only then did I see that it was my sister, Yun Ruoyan, with a jade ornament in her lap!”

Yun Ruoyan smiled coldly. In truth, it was Yi Qianying who had bumped into Yun Ruoyan as she tried to sneak away with the ornament, and she had swapped their identities in her recollection in order to pin Yun Ruoyan with the blame.

1. More precisely, half-sisters. Yun Ruoyao and Yun Ruoyu are both concubine-born, and their only shared parent is their father.

2. Yun Ruoyan is Yi Qianying’s biological cousin, but “sister” is commonly used as a term of endearment, even for biologically unrelated people. The same is true for “brother.”

3. In noble families, where the head of the household commonly has a wife and multiple concubines, all children are expected to address their father’s wife as “mother”, even if she is not their birth mother. In this case, Yun Ruoyan’s mother is actually dead, so the title of “mother” goes to the most senior concubine, Madam An.