Chapter 157 - Bait
Chapter 157: Bait
After being reminded by Su Qi yesterday, Mo Qianxue checked the inside and out of her room. The person who had rummaged for things was very skillful, basically restored the place where things had been moved in order to cover up the traces of his presence. However, they didn’t know that Mo Qianxue had a habit.
Mo Qianxue had received military training at the university, and the instructors strictly required everyone to fold the quilt into cubic tofu block. Later, after the military training was over, the university also often checked the hygiene of the dormitory, which also required the quilt folded into cubic block. Over time, she developed this habit of folding quilt into a neat cubic.
For this reason, she had been laughed by Ning Shaoqing for many times, because the quilts folded by her felt like hard stones. She just gave him a glare, hem, what do you know? This is art. And Ning Shaoqing had burst into laughing…
Later, they had Mingyue and Caixia, and she also specially taught them how to do it. And then, Chiyi and Shiwu came. Clever as Chiyi, without being told, she voluntarily asked Mingyue to teach her how to fold the cubic. Every time Mo Qianxue got up, her quilt would become a neat cubic soon.
After they moved to the Founder mansion, this habit followed along to her Snow courtyard.
In her gaze, her bed was the same as the last time. Although the quilt was folded, it wasn’t a neat cubic. Obviously, the person had done it in a hurry without the knack. It couldn’t be done by Chuyi.
Then she scanned other places. Although they were the same clean, slight traces of movement were left…
This time before she left for the training filed, she had especially urged nanny Mo to arrange two servant girls to guard her room. hence, the spy couldn’t be outsiders but one of the two girls or both…
Standing in the room finishing checking, Mo Qianxue pulled her small face, turned to the two girls, asking coldly, “Who came into my room after I left?”
The two girls replied with a joyful smile, “Lady, no one came.”
Mo Qianxue’s eyes became bottomless and freezing, asking meaningfully, “Oh?”
At this expression, the two girls kneeled to the ground together, the one called Luer frightened, “Please forgive me lady. No one came into your room. We never dare to let outsiders come in…”
“Tie up these two girls.” It seemed they wouldn’t tell the truth without some tough methods. The house-cleaning would start with the servants around her. These two girls were sure to cleared away.
Seeing Mo Qianxue decided to punish them without asking many questions, the one called Liuer looked up and asked, “Could I know what wrong did we do?”
“What’s wrong?” Since Mo Qianxue had decided to punish them, certainly she had already worked out the next moves. She wouldn’t spell out the real reason about the quilt and then question them who had ordered them to do so, which would be an offending against the Emperor.
What she wanted was to clear away disloyal people around her, not to openly challenge the Emperor.
Mo Qianxue took a deep breath and took a seat in the hall, “You two stole on duty. The jade hairpin on my dressing table is missing. If other people didn’t come, then it must be you.” Her voice wasn’t loud and even a little muffled, but it carried authority and pressure which couldn’t be ignored.
Did they think she was a useless doll and keep searching her room every day? After the hidden guards, now came the servants around her that had been bribed.
Even if there was nothing valuable, who could bear their rooms being searched every day?!
Was that black wooden token that important that the Emperor tried so hard?! She’d like to know the military force distribution. Would this little token summon a troop of hundreds of thousands of riders?
Xue had told her that it could summon at least two hundred thousand riders! Now since the arrow was on the string, it must be shot out.
If she could really employ the force, she would have one more amulet as well as one more chip to negotiate with the Emperor.
Who knew the best of the current distribution of military forces? The Su family, of course…
Just as Mo Qianxue finished her words, nanny Mo stepped forward and slapped the two girls in the face. Certainly nanny Mo, Chiyi and Shiwu were clear that nothing was missing, but lady must have said that for a reason. She had seen all kinds of scenes in the big mansion. What lady said must be a truth, even if it wasn’t.
Then, she gave a look to Mo Qianxue, “This morning, I saw lady putting the hairpin on the dressing table. Now, it’s gone. It must be one of you. You’d better explain it.”
An old ginger is spicier. The one single sentence became the proof to the theft.
Being slapped, Luer defended for herself, “I didn’t see a hairpin on the dressing table.”
She said she ‘didn’t see’ instead of ‘didn’t enter the room’. Obviously, she did come into the room. Mo Qianxue sneered.
Evidently, Liuer discovered the flaw in her peer’s speech and added, “We didn’t come to the room. How could we know where the hairpin was? If lady don’t believe us, you can search us. We haven’t leave the yard after you left. Sister Lian and Zhang outside can prove it.”
Luer shivered and hurriedly kowtowing while adding, “Yes, yes, that’s right. We didn’t enter the room or see the hairpin on the dressing table.”
“Really? Let sister Lian and Zhang come to search them. Then everything will be clear.” If she asked nanny Mo to search them, they must have more to argue, and other servants would believe that they were wronged, which would only make them more restless.
The two nannies that followed back with Mo Qianxue and the two guarding sisters were senior servants here and had served the madam, so they were totally trustworthy. Therefore, the other servants wouldn’t find the result unfair.
The nannies summoned sister Lian and sister Zhang to search Luer and Liuer. In fact, without special summon, as the big noise was made, they had come over to wait at the door and just didn’t dare to come in without Mo Qianxue’s order.
As requested, sister Zhang soon found out a jade hairpin from Luer, which was indeed Mo Qianxue’s.
At the sight of the hairpin, Luer, face pale instantly, glanced to Liuer and didn’t understand, “This…I didn’t steal it…no…”
Shiwu had no idea of what was going was, but she hated all those who were disloyal to lady, “You didn’t steal it? Then, why was it on you? Didn’t you say that you didn’t come in?”
Liuer’s eyes flickered, “Since this was on Luer, then she must have stolen it. Why should I be punished together with her?”
Seeing that Liuer didn’t testify for her but tried to shift the blame, Luer pissed off, “You…” But quickly she stopped. Compared with theft, disloyalty was more serious.
Nanny Mo immediately figured out the reason behind her muttering and scolded, “Just now, you said you didn’t get into the room. Then why was this hairpin on Luer? You must have made up the scheme together and planned to hide it away when nannies come back to take your duty, so that when lady finds the hairpin is gone, she has no proof…right?”
Liuer thought faster than Luer and believed herself as smart, “Lady, I don’t dare to. I’m wronged…I have no idea of all this. Probably, someone framed us into this…”
Just now, when nanny Mo had slapped them, she took the opportunity to stick it into Luer’s sleeve pocket. Others didn’t see it, but Mo Qianxue did. She had ordered sister Lian and Zhang to come in and search only after receiving nanny Mo’s look.
Actually she had worn the hairpin this morning and let nanny to keep it after she found it heavy.
So Mo Qianxue wouldn’t allow her to continue talking and said in a stern voice, “What are you doing here? Take her away…”
In a hurry, the two nannies and sisters pulled them away, tied them up, and waited for Mo Qianxue’s judgment.
Mo Qianxue stayed silent for a while, looking unwilling, “Although the stolen thing and thieves are figured out, I don’t want to be harsh. Since they did it the first time and have served me for several days, just take them to the butler for a little punishment and drive them and their families to the manor.”
These two girls were daughters of the mansion’s servants. Theft wasn’t as serious to kill them. Even though they were kept alive, Mo Qianxue was afraid that their families would hate her for it and stir up more troubles, so it’d be better to expel them from the mansion once and for all, which would also be a warn to other servants.
Working in the mansion and in the manor were poles different. After the nannies and sisters took them away under the supervision of Shiwu, nanny Mo and Chuyi all turned to Mo Qianxue with confusion. She certainly understood their question.
She pointed at the furnishings in the room and the unshaped cubic quilt, saying calmly, “I know what you’re going to say. I capped them with the theft, but I didn’t wrong them. Look…”
The reason why nanny Mo was favored by madam was because she was smart and sophisticated. At once glance along Mo Qianxue’s finger, she understood at once and said with anger, “How irritating! Spies were arranged around lady so soon.”
Chuyi made tea and handed over, suggesting with concern, “Should we buy more servant girls?”
Mo Qianxue took the teacup, “We’ll discuss it later. I feel good to have you. Just in the future, when I go out, one of you three must stay at home to keep an eye.”
Nanny Mo and Chuyi looked at each other and replied in unison, “Yes.” Both looked stern.
Another silent moment later, Mo Qianxue ordered, “Make it known that four servant girls in the mansion will be selected, first to be third-level girls and then promoted to the close second-level in a month if they do a good job.”
In order to induce more spies or disloyal ones, a bait must be thrown out…