Chapter 212 Missing Jade Jewelry Case of Four Great Manors
When Mo Huawen returned, Mo Xuetong had finished dinner and was tidying his study.
Mo Huawen stepped in and saw the lights were on. Under the lights, seeing the girl in white smiling delicately, a trace of brightness flashed through his eyes. Once, he used to be happy. A woman loved him wholeheartedly. However, those outside matters made them took separate ways. In the end, death tore them apart.
Mo Xuetong put down the books in hand and warmly greeted him. “Father, have you eaten? I’ve had the kitchen prepare a few hot dishes, and been waiting for you.”
Seeing his daughter’s gentle smile, he felt tender in the heart. He reached out to stroke her head and smiled. “I’ve eaten outside, so you don’t have to prepare them for me now.”
Mo Xuetong protected her head and pouted, acting coyly. “Father, please be careful. Don’t tousle my hair. What if others see me like this?”
Seeing his daughter’s cute face and her affectionate innocence, totally different from the alienation feeling when she first came to the capital, Mo Huawen couldn’t help feeling lighthearted. Then, he involuntarily stroked her head again and teased her. “How come you can’t be seen by others? My Tong’er is the most beautiful girl that no one can compare.”
Mo Xuetong complained. “Father! You’ve messed up my hair!”
Mo Huawen didn’t mind it and pulled her hand to lead her into the study. “It doesn’t matter. It’s at night. You don’t have to meet anyone. Just let it be.”
Mo Xuetong angrily stomped her feet. “Father!”
Seeing the usual indifferent daughter like this, Mo Huawen laughed.
Mo Huawen tried to justify himself. “Because your hair feels so smooth, just like satin.” After the joke with his daughter, he thought he finally relaxed a little and also felt more lighthearted.
Sitting before the table and opening the case scroll he carried from the court, he couldn’t help sighing.
Mo Xuetong thoughtfully cooked Longjing tea picked before Grain Rain and poured a cup of the tea for him. She stuck her head and curiously asked, “Father, have you been busy with this case scroll the whole day? And that’s why you came home so late?”
“Recently, Mingguo Manor was stolen. Not only the stuff was stolen, but a young miss was also said to be missing too. A married miss of Ding General Manor went to visit her family and ran into burglars halfway. If King Yan hadn’t arrived in time, she might have been held hostage. That day, when your grandmother threw a party, a maid got killed. Yesterday, something happened in Ping General Manor. Burglars barged into their family shrine, threw the tablets all over the place and even a family tree book went missing too.”
Mo Huawen sighed and told everything in details.
He really found it hard to solve these cases. These cases seemed not related, but he somehow felt they were connected in some way. Especially, they were connected to Fu General Manor, and how could he not be alert? He didn’t fully know the thing that happened years ago, but he knew that his wife had always cared. Back then, whey they lived in Cloud City, as long as hearing about the imperial decreed, his wife always looked startled and afraid.
Her poor health might have something to do with that thing as well. She had never confirmed one of his speculations. He didn’t ask her either, but he couldn’t stop doubting!
Thinking of this, he remembered that strange matter again!
That day, he received Luo Bin’s letter, which mentioned his wife. Luo Bin asked in the letter if his wife’s old jewelry still remained. Luo Bin said the old madame missed her daughter so she wanted Luo Xiao’s old things as tokens. Because of the old madame’s age, Luo Bin said it would be the best if he could have some jade accessories, such as jade bracelet and pendant. In that way, it would not only remind the old madame of her daughter, but also improve the old madame’s health.
Though in doubt, Mo Huawen still did as Luo Bin requested. Later, he sent some of the jade bracelets and pendants Luo Xiao used to wear. Then, Luo Bin hadn’t written back.
He failed to explain this matter no matter how hard he thought. Thinking about the things in those great manors these days, he always deemed something was secretly connected.
With Four Great Manors’ great power, who could have easily shaken them without a trace? He, a newly-selected Lord Mayor, and the four manor’s people were all investigating it. However, so many days had passed, and not a single clue was found.
If someone could hide so well with his connections, then he must be someone from the royal family!
Was it King Chu, King Yan, or the rakish King Xuan? Or, was it just…
That idea left him restless. He even didn’t know if he should work hard on it or just pretened to be working on it as long as people didn’t see him slacking.
Mo Huawen considered for a moment and asked, “Tong’er, did your mother leave something special for you? Like jade bracelet or jade pendant?”
Mo Xuetong blinked her watery eyes, smiled, and said, “Mother indeed had left a few jade accessories for me. They are in the secret cabinets in Father’s old study. When I first came to the capital, I don’t know how long I’ll stay… so I didn’t bring them and left them there.”
Except a jade bracelet she had taken, she really didn’t touch anything else.
“Tong’er came to the capital but didn’t bring the jewelry her mother left for her. She might fear that I wouldn’t accept her and sent her back to Cloud City so that she wanted to save herself a backup plan!”
Mo Huawen felt so sorry for her and he had to apologetically said, “Tong’er, I won’t send you away in the future again. If you should go back to Cloud City, I’ll go with you too.”
Mo Xuetong cutely smiled, pouted, and coyly said, “Tong’er doesn’t want to leave Father. Father can’t leave Tong’er aside, otherwise, Tong’er won’t talk to Father again.”
Seeing his young daughter acting coyly, his heart somehow twitched. He knew very clearly that even if she bore no grudge against him now, he had abandoned her before. At that time, he must have hurt her a lot. Looking back at it now, he almost thought he had gone mad back then so as to cruelly leave behind his young daughter, who had just lost her mother.
Nimbly rolling her eyes, Mo Xuetong changed the topic and asked, “Why does Father ask about Mother’s jade accessories? Are they really relevant in this case?”
Mo Huawen managed to collect himself, opened the case scroll, and pointed at a note, saying, “It was said that the married miss from Mingguo Manor packed a lot of jewelry when she set off. Among them, jade pieces were the most. The miss was a concubine’s daughter but was favored by a widow lady in You Family. That lady didn’t have any child so she almost gave all of her dowry to this miss.
“That lady of Ding General Manor used to be the most favored daughter of the old madame in Ding General Manor. When the lady married, they performed a luxurious ceremony, and they said that even the tables were decorated with jade. Though the little maid in your grandmother’s house wasn’t born noble, she served your grandmother. It was said on that day, many of your grandmother’s jade pieces were stolen.
Frowning, Mo Huawen said, “Then there was the Ping General Manor. During New Year, they put some jewelry, most of them jade, before the ancestor’s tablets. However, they were all stolen, as if someone had been looking for something and that something should be a piece of accessory.”
Plus, Luo Bin had been asked for Luo Xia’s old jade bracelets and pendants, which made Mo Huwen guess that thing should be made of jade somehow. Nevertheless, what kind of thing was relevant to Four Great Manors and was at the same time a vaulable jade piece? Mo Huawen really couldn’t think of it now.
Rubbing his head, he only felt dull pain after a day’s thinking.
Mo Xuetong considered and said, “The cases of Four Great Manors seem relevant. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have happened one after another. If Father guesses right, then something should be in the four manors, only they don’t know which manor. That’s why the four manors are consecutively in trouble. Maybe Father can think about why Four Great Manors, which seldom hold parties, would hold banquets in turn during New Year. Was it by design or just a coincidence?”
Mo Huawen didn’t expect his slightly childish daughter could say something like that, thus, he increasingly deemed this daughter smart and felt tender for her.
Mo Xuetong added, “Father, please think about it again. When these things broke out together, was it really coincidental? Or, someone did it on purpose. Which kind of thing could stir four noble families? According to Father’s words, these things seemed to happen some time ago, then who was after it? In other words, whoever benefited the most from the item would be the top suspect.”
Her words made Mo Huawen’s eyes light up again and again. In his heart, there were some dots and his speculations, but he failed to connect. However, now, his daughter had analyzed it for him. Suddenly, he felt all the stars had aligned and he could see something clearly. Four Great Manors’ acting weird was a sign. Or, they knew the fact but couldn’t have told othersiders of the families.
That was why Ming General’s son would personally chase after the burglar. It was not only for the miss with a ruined reputation. Therefore, Ding General denied the theft and didn’t think it mattered; General Manor adopted the same attitude, saying the maid got attempted and was killed by her companion after the theft; Ping General Manor even wanted to accept the bad luck. They had especially sent people to let the officials drop the case and said they would catch the thief by themselves.
His daughter was really a genius; she even got such insight when she only kept to herself in the boudoir. Indeed, she deserved to be Luo Xia and his daughter… she was really amazing! If Luo Xia were still here, she must have been pleased to see her daughter like this…
Suddenly, he felt hot in the nose, so he hurried to turn his head to hide his weakness!
Mo Xuetong and Mo Huawen thought alike. Since such a case, what would Emperor Zongwen act? They heard that before, a lord mayor was discharged from office because of the Mingguo Manor case. Did the Emperor press on Father? If that was so, then her guess went a little astray. “Father, how does His Majesty think of this case?”
Mo Huawen leaned on the seat. This was also the part he didn’t understand. Since the emperor had taken it so seriously that he dismissed the previous lord mayor. How come the emperor just casually said something like that since he took charge? “His Majesty didn’t issue any decreed. He just said I should thoroughly investigate and couldn’t let Four Great Manors take the blame.”
It shouldn’t be like this. According to practice, Emperor Zongwen’s attitude should have been tougher. Even Mo Xuetong couldn’t see why.
When the Ming General case just broke out, Emperor Zongwen fired the lord mayor for incompetence. However, after Father ran the affairs, when other three manors got into trouble one after another, Emperor Zongwen, instead, didn’t press Father at all. Did Emperor Zongwen just want anew lord mayor? Or, Emperor Zongwen just pretended to try to solve the cases, while secretly, he was glad to see them unresolved?
Suddenly, she remembered that day, Feng Yuran was also present. Mo Xuetong also recalled what the people said, and then she seemed to discover something vague…