After transmigrating into the book, I helped my mother reconcile with her divorced husband.

"Lu Zhiyuan, do you even respect me?" The Empress Dowager slammed her hand on the chair. "You dare threaten people right in front of me? What kind of people is your Xie family?"

Lu Zhiyuan remained composed and fearless: "Your Majesty, are you senile? My surname is Lu, not Xie. What do my words have to do with the Xie family? The person was brought by my second uncle and has been falsely accused of theft. I would like to ask you what your intentions are?"

Lu Zhiyuan stood up, walked over to Lu Yun, and examined his injuries: "There are more monks in Huguo Temple, but there is also more than just Lu Yun. What makes you think you can pin this on Lu Yun? I'll say it again: if you have evidence, show it. If you don't, apologize and release him."

“If he didn’t steal it, then it could have been stolen by us officials’ families.”

Someone couldn't help but speak up, and was glared at by Lu Zhiyuan.

"Why can't it be you officials' families who stole it? You are human beings, and Lu Yun is also a human being. If you can't steal it, then he can. What kind of logic is that?"

"How can a servant like him compare to us?" the man retorted. "We've seen all those good things, but he hasn't. It's no wonder he's tempted by wealth."

Lu Yun raised his eyes and said, "I came out of Chaoyun Villa with my young lady."

Upon hearing the words "Chaoyun Villa," everyone present paled. It was common knowledge that Xie Chaoyun was General Xie's most beloved daughter, and her dowry alone amounted to no fewer than twenty carriages, filled with gold, silver, jewels, silks, satins, and priceless paintings and calligraphy—everything imaginable. The Pingnan Marquis's mansion had squandered that dowry for ten years without finishing it.

The Xie family's three sons and one daughter are all outstanding individuals, with Xie Yu'an and Xie Chaoyun being business prodigies. As the most beloved niece of the three Xie brothers and Xie Chaoyun's only daughter, Lu Zhiyuan has seen all sorts of treasures. Servants follow their masters, and Lu Yun is certainly not the kind of person who is easily swayed.

In other words, Lu Yun didn't even bother to take the Empress Dowager's jade Guanyin.

The Empress Dowager realized what was happening, and her face turned as black as ink.

Seeing this, the old woman spoke up: "At the time of the incident, he was the only one near the meditation room, and someone searched his carriage... to be precise, found the wooden box containing the jade Guanyin in Lord Xie's carriage. With witnesses and physical evidence, there is no way for him to deny it."

Lu Zhiyuan tightened her clasped fingers. "Since we have both witnesses and physical evidence, please present them!"

The so-called witness was a young, unfamiliar eunuch, whose attire suggested he worked in the Empress Dowager's palace. The so-called physical evidence was a rosewood box inlaid with gold thread. The box was rather ostentatious, unlike the Empress Dowager's usual persona.

Upon seeing the box, Lu Yun became agitated. This scene was witnessed by the nanny beside the Empress Dowager, who exclaimed, "He confessed that he stole the Empress Dowager's jade Guanyin."

“Granny, you’ve misunderstood. That box belongs to Lu Yun.” Xie Yubai said calmly, his voice not loud but clear enough to be heard: “Lu Yun brought that box with him when he returned to the capital. It was a gift that Yuan’er’s friend asked him to give to Yuan’er.”

He paused for a moment, then continued, “The Empress Dowager’s belongings were lost, and the nanny was ordered to search for them. I should cooperate. However, it is inappropriate for the nanny to touch other people’s things without permission. Mistaking someone else’s belongings for the Empress Dowager’s lost jade Guanyin shows that the nanny does not care about the Empress Dowager’s things.”

The old woman was taken aback, then explained, "Although this box is not the one that originally contained the jade Guanyin, it is indeed the jade Guanyin that the Empress Dowager intended to give to the abbot."

Lu Zhiyuan had not yet met Lu Yun, so she did not know that he had brought something back, nor did she know what was in the box. Seeing that her second uncle was not flustered, she guessed that the box originally contained something like a jade Guanyin.

No two jade Guanyin statues are exactly alike. Even if the same piece of jade is used, carved by the same craftsman, and on the same machine, the finished products will still differ. This is determined by the nature of the jade itself. Unless it is fake jade, only fake jade can possibly be exactly the same.

That said, who would ask Lu Yun to bring her a jade Guanyin?

Prince Yong'an?

Ghosts? Absolutely not!

Could it be that my second uncle knew all along that the Empress Dowager was going to tamper with the Jade Guanyin?

My second uncle is truly shrewd and calculating.

The rosewood box was opened, and a white jade Guanyin statue appeared before everyone. No, it wasn't Guanyin, it just looked a little like Guanyin.

"Isn't this the Lady of Pingnan Marquis?"

"What do you mean, 'Lady of the Marquis of Pingnan'? She has already divorced the Marquis of Pingnan, and it was by imperial decree. Now she is just a young lady of the General's Mansion."

"It's my fault, I forgot for a moment. Could you please tell me quietly if that carving is of Miss Xie? Guanyin isn't like this; it's different from the ones in the temple."

“She doesn’t look much like Miss Xie to me; she looks more like Miss Lu as she grows up.” The ladies all looked at Lu Zhiyuan.

Lu Zhiyuan raised an eyebrow, also feeling that the jade carving in the box resembled her somewhat.

The old woman was dumbfounded. Although both were made of jade, what was inside was definitely not the Empress Dowager's jade Guanyin. She caught a glimpse of Xie Yubai out of the corner of her eye, and her body trembled. She almost knocked over the wooden box, causing the jade carving inside to fall to the ground.

Seeing this, Lu Yun pushed away the people holding him, snatched the jade carving and the box together, and handed them to Lu Zhiyuan: "Han Ting asked me to bring this to Miss, saying that it is what Miss has been longing for, and it is what she looked like when she was sixteen."

Lu Zhiyuan looked at the jade carving with a puzzled expression until Lu Yun reminded her that the day before Han Ting left the capital, she had mentioned to Han Ting that she didn't know what she would look like when she was sixteen.

It was an open secret in the Marquis's mansion that Lu Zhiyuan would not live to adulthood. Han Ting did not say it, but he kept her words in mind.

Seeing Lu Yun defy everyone in public and whisper to Lu Zhiyuan as if no one else was around, the Empress Dowager was furious and ordered Lu Yun to be taken away. Xie Yu, his face darkening, stepped in front of her: "May I ask Your Majesty, what wrong has Lu Yun done? The wooden box and its contents have been confirmed not to be the Jade Guanyin that Your Majesty lost. I beg Your Majesty to give my niece and Lu Yun an explanation."

The Empress Dowager remained silent, but the nanny spoke up, insisting, "Even if the box didn't contain the Jade Guanyin, it doesn't mean he didn't steal the Empress Dowager's Jade Guanyin. Little Zhezi saw it; it was him, sneaking around outside the meditation room."

"He sent a message in my young lady's name, asking me to move some things near the meditation room." Lu Yun stared at the eunuch, making him unable to look directly at her.

"I sensed something was wrong as soon as I entered the courtyard. The courtyard was huge, and although there was no one guarding the meditation room, there were many messy footprints on the ground. I know my young lady; she finds things troublesome and only takes three things with her when she goes out. First, a change of clothes, two sets are enough; second, banknotes and loose silver; and third, medicine."

Lu Zhiyuan snapped her fingers: "Lu Yun understands me best. If you don't believe me, you can check my baggage."

Lu Yun continued, “The things in the meditation room are not my young lady’s, but I was deliberately lured here, and the purpose is self-evident. I have never stepped into that meditation room, so how could there be stolen items? I know you don’t believe me, but that’s alright. As long as the items were lost in the meditation room, and as long as the thief entered the meditation room, my young lady will definitely be able to find him.”