After the replacement marriage, I was forced to fight at home

In fact, Su Qing regretted it the moment she gave the jade pendant to Chuan'er. It happened so suddenly that she was a little confused for a moment.

Su Qing went to see Xie Fen. She no longer had the gentle and cheerful look she had just now, nor did she have the anxious look as if she had lost something precious. Instead, she met his gaze with a half-smile.

She had fallen into a trap, so she made two preparations. If she didn't give them the trick, they couldn't do anything, but they would bring everything upon herself. She just needed to let everyone misunderstand her, and then spread some rumors about her that were beyond her control.

If it falls into Chuan'er's hands, he will definitely search it. Haha, wait and see if he can find it from the maid of the second young lady of the Meng family. Su Qing is sure that the whole capital will know about it before tomorrow.

Therefore, Hu's strategy is really a strategy that can be used for both offense and defense. He has not done anything yet, but he is already establishing his authority? He wants to test his own strengths?

But with so many people watching, it would be impossible for Chuan'er to throw away the jade pendant without anyone noticing.

How to do?

"In my opinion, it must have been done by some short-sighted and lax maid. We must investigate thoroughly. If it is a maid from our Hong family, kill her immediately." The second young lady of the Hong family said loudly, then turned to Xie Fen and said apologetically, "I'm so sorry, how come I can't find her?"

"It's okay, maybe I dropped it accidentally. I'll ask the maids to look for it later. It's nothing serious, just a jade pendant. But the jade pendant was not only the betrothal gift that the princess gave me, but I heard that it was given to the princess personally by the late queen mother. So, it can't be lost." Xie Fen looked embarrassed.

Su Qing raised her eyebrows. Haha, if it was really given by Zhou Yu's great aunt, how could Hu give it to Xie Fen? It was really funny.

The two were just singing in unison when the housekeeper of the Hong family came over in a hurry and said, "I have brought the servants to look for her. We have searched all the places where the eldest young lady of the Zhou family could go, but she is not there."

Hearing this, Second Madam Hong raised her eyebrows and looked at the people standing in the yard, "If any of you have taken it, it's not too late to hand it over now. Don't force me to search one by one. If I find out by then, not only you, but also your master will be embarrassed."

"What do you think it is? Since you want to ask about the maid, what's the point of us staying here with her? May I ask Second Madam Hong, is it the rule of your Hong family that the master has to accompany you when you ask about the maid?" Just as everyone was looking at Second Madam Hong, a slightly childish girl's voice suddenly emerged from the crowd.

Su Qing followed everyone's gaze and saw a young woman who looked about twelve or thirteen years old, bright and pretty, with heavy makeup and a snow-white fox fur cloak walking out.

That’s right, even though she’s young, she has a bun on her hair.

Mrs. Hong pursed her lips slightly. Seeing the woman coming out, she quickly bowed and said, "I dare not, I dare not. I was confused. Let you nobles suffer the cold here."

After saying that, he quickly turned around and ordered, "Come here, quickly lead the nobles to the back house to sit down. As for the others, those who were serving in the inner hall just now will have to stay for a while. We must find out what is wrong. What do you think?"

Who could say no at this time? Saying no would make people suspect that there was something wrong with their girl, so no one spoke.

Xie Fen took the lead and asked her two maids to cooperate fully.

The woman raised her head and looked at everyone with disdain, then walked over arrogantly past the crowd. When she passed by Chuan'er, she seemed to be disgusted that Chuan'er was blocking her way, so she bumped into him hard before slowly walking past.

Su Qing looked at Chuan'er and asked the maids to stand still. Her face turned red and she didn't know what to do. After the woman bumped into her, she staggered back a few steps before she stood firm. However, her face had turned from red to white.

At this moment, Su Qing couldn't say or do anything more. She could only look at Chuan'er worriedly.

Chuan'er also looked at Su Qing, and suddenly smiled broadly at her. Su Qing didn't understand, and her heart skipped a beat. Would Chuan'er take any extreme measures to prove his innocence?

But Chuan'er's heart was in turmoil at this moment, because when the woman bumped into him just now, she took away the jade pendant in his hand under the cover of her fox fur cloak.

Originally, there were not many young ladies standing behind the screen on the east side of the hall watching the fun. After the masters had left, more than a dozen maids and old women were standing there, and each of them had a different expression on her face.

The housekeeper glanced at Chuan'er and raised the corner of her mouth slightly, "Thank you all, mothers and girls. Please go in front and keep your distance from each other." After that, a few old women came in from outside and surrounded the dozen people to protect everyone.

The group walked to the west room of the main courtyard, where the masters were already sitting and drinking tea.

Chuan'er raised his head and saw Su Qing looking at him with concern. Chuan'er smiled at her and shook his head.

Su Qing suddenly felt relieved, and the tension that had been taut just now suddenly relaxed. Chuan'er must have found a way to deal with it.

Everything inside has been arranged, with a row of screens standing in the middle and curtains behind the screens, a bit like a modern coffee shop.

Su Qing sneered in her heart, they really spared no effort to make her look bad. What kind of deal did the Hu family have with the Hong family that could make the Hong family choose to marry their eldest granddaughter to her and do bad things to her?

Just when everyone was still wondering why they didn't start, Mrs. Hong walked in holding Grandma Hong's hand.

"It really disturbed everyone's fun. How could such a thing happen? Second son's wife, are you sure you asked the servants to check it carefully? Isn't it forgotten somewhere?"

Second Grandma Hong stepped forward and repeated what she had just said.

Xie Fen stood up embarrassedly, "It's all my fault. The jade pendant is so rare that I have never taken it off since I entered the Zhou family. There has never been an accident like this. If it wasn't so precious, I would never say anything. It's all my fault. It's also my maid who lost her temper and made all the ladies, grandmothers and young ladies worry."

Mrs. Hong sat at the head of the table. "No one wants to do this. Fortunately, we are all family. I just sent Princess Jing back. Princess Jing also heard the news. She asked me to apologize to everyone. The princess also said that our Hong family has never had such a thing in all these years. We must get to the bottom of it and give everyone an explanation."

Su Qing thought to herself, this is a nice thing to say. Your Hong family has never had such a thing in all these years, which means that it has never happened in your Hong family banquets, and those who can come today are all people who are on good terms with the Hong family. It is only because Meng Juan is engaged to the Third Master Hong that the Huainan Marquis Mansion came today. What does that mean? The person with dirty hands and feet appeared among those who don't often come to their house.

The housekeeper stood up straight, and seeing that Madam Hong had stopped talking, she stepped forward and said loudly, "The servants who served the masters in the East Hall at that time are all here. Madam, please give your instructions."

Su Qing looked at the old women who were going to check the maids standing in a row. After thinking for a while, she leaned over and whispered something in Meng Qi's ear. Meng Qi squinted her eyes and nodded.

"Wait a minute, Baroness. I have a suggestion."

Everyone went to see Meng Qi. Mrs. Hong frowned. Although the third son deliberately got close to Meng Qi for Hu's sake, if such news were to spread, no matter what the truth was, it would always have a certain negative impact on her son.

"Miss Meng Si, please speak."

"None of us has ever seen that precious jade pendant. We don't know its size or pattern. If we just take out a piece and claim it's the precious item, there won't be any witnesses, right?"

"What do you mean?" Xie Fen put away her pitiful expression and raised her voice to ask.

"Nothing interesting? I just thought that these women who searched people should also be checked first to prevent them from bringing their jade pendants in and accidentally mixing them into the clothes of the people being searched. Besides, we don't know what the jade pendants look like, and it would be bad if there were misunderstandings. Don't you think so?"

Before Mrs. Hong could say anything, someone clapped his hands and laughed loudly, "Oh, what Miss Meng Si said is so right, it's exactly right, I don't know much, but I have read the book about the thief crying thief."

Su Qing looked at the young woman with a woman's hairstyle. Her blood-red lips opened and closed, revealing a row of neat and white teeth.

Second Grandma Hong obviously didn't expect Meng Qi to bring this up, and someone else agreed, and she turned to look at her mother-in-law.

Madam Hong clapped her hands gently and said, "That's right, we are all in a mess. What the Fourth Miss said makes sense, and this is how it should be. Big Boss's wife, send someone to search these old women first."

So, in front of a room full of nobles, several maids of the Hong family were searched from head to toe, and anything they were wearing, no matter whether it was made of gold, silver, jade or stone, was taken off.