The Fourth Lady

She'd never expected that this hairpin was one of the first madam's dowry, and she'd never expected that Su Qingyan would try to pull this. As she stared at the hairpin on Su Qingwen's head, she could only feel that hairpin becoming more and more bothersome. Even to the point where she wanted to immediately rip it out and throw it away.

Su Qingyan turned to Su Qingwen with a pitiful look and said, "Second sister, if you'd really liked my mother's hairpin that much, then you should have told me. I definitely would have endured the pain of parting with it and given it to you. Why trouble someone to steal it?"

Su Qingwen looked to Su Qingyan with a puzzled look and then turned her gaze towards Chai Yiyun.

Sensing her daughter's gaze on her, Chai Yiyun bowed to Su Jiashi, "Mother-in-law, I didn't know this was fourth girl's hairpin."

Su Jiashi looked to Chai Yiyun and stomped her cane on the ground, "Chai Yiyun, what is this? Yan'er is also a lady of the Su manor, why would you steal something from her?"

Chai Yiyun grudgingly gritted her teeth as she glared at Su Qingyan. She then turned her attention back to Su Jiashi, yielding even further, "Mother-in-law, I'd bought this hairpin off of a servant, I didn't know it was something of the fourth miss's."

Su Jiashi glared at Chai Yiyun as she spoke and yelled out, "Someone, quickly find me that servant girl!"

Hearing Su Jiashi's severe tone, Chai Yiyun could only let Lanzhi go and find Xiaocui. Right now, the only way to save herself from this mess was to push everything onto Xiaocui and make Xiaocui her scapegoat.

When Xiaocui saw Lanzhi, she knew the situation was already out of hand. However, she still didn't understand why Su Qingyan wanted to push this onto her. But nevertheless, from the start, she was the one that'd betrayed their yard.

When Xiaocui saw Qingyan and recalled what had happened the day before, she knelt to the ground begging, "Old madam, that hairpin was given to me by the Miss, it's not stolen."

"Insolence! How could you still lie in front of the old madam." Zizhu looked to Xiaocui and coldly berated her, "That was miss's favorite hairpin, how could she give it to a servant like you? Even first-ranked servant girls like us have never gotten a reward like that."

When Xiaocui looked to Qingyan, she found that her gaze was as cold as ice. It was as if she'd already known everything from the start. Looking at Qingyan's appearance, she bowed her head to the ground, "Old madam, have mercy! Old madam, have mercy! I didn't mean to steal from the miss."

Xiaocui was sure a loyal servant. Even as things stand now, she was unwilling to let Chai Yiyun bear the consequences; this was something Qingyan didn't expect.

Su Jiashi turned to Qingyan with a smile, "Yan'er, this servant belongs to you. How do you plan to deal with her?"

Qingyan looked to Xiaocui that was on the ground and coldly said, "Drag her to Yingshuangyuan and give her 50 beatings with the staff. Zizhu, have Qingdai carry it out for me, and also tell all the servants that if anyone dares to betray my Yingshuang residence, they'll end up worse than Xiaocui."

Chai Yiyun stood the the side silently, not once speaking up for Xiaocui. Xiaocui was devastated; she'd already seen how granny Ruo ended up last time. Instantly, she charged out of the crowd and head first into a rock. Her eyes, however, never left Chai Yiyun as she glared at her with resentment.

And with Xiaocui's death, the hairpin incident came to an end. Su Qingyan also got her hairpin back.

After returning to Yingshuangyuan, Qingyan continuously played with the hairpin in her hand. She couldn't help but to regard the hairpin coldly.

"Miss, seeing the third madam suffer in defeat, sure let's one feel relieved. Normally, she would urge even the servants to bully you." Zizhu looked to Qingyan and said seriously, "But I've yet to find a trace of happiness on miss's face."

"Zizhu, only you can tell what I'm thinking" Qingyan played with the hairpin in her hand. "But from now on, just put this hairpin in some corner. Something Su Qingwen had worn before, I sure won't touch again. "I understand." Zizhu stared at the hairpin in Qingyan's hand with a regretful look.

"Fengqing, go tell Yiniang that we can carry out the plans tonight. After all, Chai Yiyun is about to make her move." Qingyan smiled as she said this, "I sure don't want to let third aunt wait too long."

As soon as Qingyan finished speaking, she heard Huangcen say that Chai Yiyun's Meixue came to deliver some deserts. Qingyan let Huangcen accept the deserts so that Meixue could leave.

Seeing the deserts that Huangcen brought in, Qingyan more or less knew there was a thin layer of poison powdered on top. Although it wasn't lethal, it was highly addictive. Because this was precisely pastries made from poppy pollen.

Heh. Qingyan coldly smiled.

"Miss, is there something wrong with the pastries?" Zizhu worryingly asked.

"That's right, there's poppy pollen in these pastries." Su Qingyan looked to them and casually stated.

"What! How could that third madam do this! That's something that is be addicting!" When Chishao heard that word, she instantly yelled out in frustration. "Miss, I'll throw that thing away for you right now." Baizhi and Huangcen looked to the two of them, since they didn't understand what they heard. Lue explained, "You don't understand, although this thing in small amounts is good for the body, it's highly addictive. Once addicted, it's not easy to stop."

(*TN: A bit of a side note for more insight; there's a specific species of poppy in which opium drug is made from and I think this is implying that.)

Huangcen glanced at contents in the basket, before trying to take it out of the basket, but was stopped by Qingyan.

"Miss, what are you trying to do!? This thing isn't good for you!" Huangcen saw Qingyan's look and couldn't help but to speak up. But then, her eyes lit up, "Perhaps miss thought of a new way to deal with the third madam?"

"Fengqing." Qingyan called out to the air, "Is the pastries Chai Yiyun sent to Wenshuangyuan the same?"

Fengqing immediately appeared next to Qingyan's window and said to her politely, "Yes, it's the same as the ones given to miss."

"Oh!" Qingyan smiled as she handed the basket to Fengqing, "I believe you already know what to do."

"Understood." Fengqing disappeared with the basket. About a moment later, Fengqing appeared again with a food case in hand.

After Qingyan opened the case and saw the pastries inside, she smiled and said, "Come over and have a taste, I heard my third aunt's skills were quite good." As she said this she divided the pastries in the container into their hands.

Fengqing looked at the pastry in his hand and quickly disappeared.

"Miss, why was Fengqing's face so red!?" Huangcen said as she also jabbed Chishao, who was happily eating next to her.

"Probably because he's embarrassed! At Shizi's place, rarely would people care for us." Chishao turned her eyes to Qingyan again and said with her teeth stained from the pastries, "To be able to serve miss is just great."

"Chishao, you know too much. When have I ever been embarrassed?" Fengqing's voice flusteredly sounded from the air.