eurekapd Chapter 464: Tearing Others' Umbrellas After the Rain
Chapter 464: Tearing Others' Umbrellas After the Rain
After saying that, Qiutou immediately went out and brought Chongfeng in.
Without waiting for Gu Jianchu to inquire, Zhongfeng replied swiftly, "According to the Majesty's instructions, I led people to search the residences of the two maids in the Shangshu Mansion, as well as the residences of their families. In the two maids' residences, I found these gold and silver jewelry. I asked Qinghe, who is with Miss Pingxi, to identify them. These jewelry pieces are all from the most popular Jinlou in the capital, and the styles are relatively medium. Only merchants or officials in the capital can afford such styles. I specifically sent people to the Jinlou to ask, and the people there said that no one in the Shangshu Mansion has ever bought any, but many wives of officials in the capital have. This is the complete sales record of this style provided by the Jinlou."
Chongfeng handed the booklet and jewelry to Zhu Xia who came over, and Zhu Xia then delivered them to Gu Jianchu.
"That's strange. No one in the Shangshu Mansion has ever bought it. Then how did this jewelry end up in the hands of these two maids? These two maids don't look like people who can afford such expensive jewelry. The ruby on the gold hairpin alone is not cheap. Has Miss Mu ever bought it from the Xibo Mansion?" Gu Jianchu asked casually.
Gu Jianchu knew the truth, but it was not convenient for her to say it out loud.
Hong Qiao couldn't afford such jewelry, so she naturally took it from a man.
As for how the man got it, he must have used the women he deceived and coaxed them from the hands of high-ranking officials.
If you want more money, you have to spend some money now. The man can only give these things to Hongqiao and let Hongqiao take care of the two girls.
Gu Jianchu was not sure whether Hong Qiao would confess the man at that time. After all, some people had no empathy. They might not choose to shelter others from the rain if they themselves got wet. They might even tear up the umbrella and let the women who were deceived by men continue to suffer. So she had to use this incident to implicate the man's crime and deal with it together to save those women from the dire situation.
Mu Yao took a look and shook her head repeatedly, "Your Majesty, I have bought jewelry from Jinlou before, but I have never bought this style."
"I have never bought it either." Lady Pingxi and Lady Crown Prince shook their heads, indicating that they had never bought such jewelry either.
"That's even more strange. It's impossible that these two little girls ran to someone else's mansion and stole it. This is even more unrealistic. Jewelry is usually kept in the room. They probably can't even enter the door of those officials." Gu Jianchu muttered to himself.
What is even more strange is that things that do not belong to the Shangshu Mansion appear in the Shangshu Mansion.
Minister Kong couldn't help but frown, his face full of suspicion. He thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure it out, unless these two maids were thieves, but that was obviously impossible.
"Maybe someone dropped it on the ground and they picked it up." Mrs. Pingxibo expressed her guess.
"Then we have to ask the parties involved." Gu Jianchu's eyes fell on the two little maids.
Even though the parties involved are present, they don't ask questions, but instead keep guessing.
The maidservant had been in the room the whole time, so the two heard everything they said clearly. They were so frightened that they immediately knelt down and said, "Your Highness, this golden hairpin was not stolen by us. It was given to you by your Highness as a reward for doing errands for you. As for where your Highness got it from, I don't know."
When the maid handed the ball to Madam Wen, everyone's eyes fell on Madam Wen again. Madam Wen looked at the Queen with a guilty conscience and hesitantly explained, "This gold hairpin was... bought by me."
"Before, I was a poor person. Occasionally, a high-ranking official would generously give me some silver. After I saved up some silver, I went to the Gold House and bought these ornaments, hoping that they would be useful in the future."
After just a few words, Madam Wen felt her mouth dry and her tongue parched. Because she was lying, she didn't dare to look anyone in the eye.
"Oh, really?" Gu Jianchu asked softly while flipping through the booklet in his hand.
Concubine Wen lowered her head in guilt and said, "I dare not lie to the Queen."
"But Madam Wen's name is not in this booklet?" Gu Jianchu flipped through the booklet briefly and closed it naturally.
Hearing this, Concubine Wen felt even more guilty. The room was obviously cold, but a layer of sweat broke out on her forehead, and even her voice was trembling. "Maybe I bought it too hastily at the time, and this booklet was not recorded. Or maybe I bought it too long ago, so they didn't give it to the Empress."
Gu Jianchu said nonchalantly, "When did Madam Wen buy it?"
"Last year." Madam Wen blurted out.
In order to confirm the truthfulness of what she said, Madam Wen nodded to herself.
He didn't dare to say the time was too recent, the longer the better, but he couldn't say it was too far away, otherwise it would easily reveal a flaw.
As soon as Aunt Wen finished speaking, before Gu Jianchu could raise any questions, Xie Qingzhi, who had been watching the show silently, spoke up, "That's not right."
"What's going on?" Gu Jianchu looked at Xie Qingzhi.
Xie Qingzhi said truthfully, "I'm a frequent visitor to the Gold House. All the jewelry on the second floor and above is designed by the owner's special craftsmen. They only sell about a hundred sets at a time. They won't sell more. Once they're sold out, they'll sell it. They won't have new styles. On the other hand, the more expensive jewelry on the third floor is only sold in ten sets, and they'll sell them out as well. The owner's business philosophy is that scarcity makes things valuable. He would rather sell less than sell more to ensure that his products are unique. Because there are so many gold houses in the capital, this is the most popular one."
"But Jinlou also has common items. Those are sold without a limit on the number of pieces and are specifically provided to ordinary people. However, every quarter, they will select some new products and eliminate some of them. The more popular ones will also be kept and continued to be sold. After all, ordinary people buy these just to get a good price and don't care whether the style is unique or not."
Xie Qingzhi stood up and walked over to where the evidence was placed. She picked it up and took a look at it. "I also have this iris pattern set. It's a new model sold this spring, and it's on the second floor. This set alone is worth two thousand taels of silver, and they're not sold individually. I heard it was a huge hit, selling out in less than a month. I just don't know how Madam Wen managed to buy this model last year when it's only on sale this year."
Xie Qingzhi's questioning was so aggressive that Madam Wen was speechless in an instant, and a layer of cold sweat broke out on her back.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me, Princess. I remembered it wrongly. It was bought this spring." Madam Wen said with a dry mouth, and picked up a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from her forehead.