Chapter 33 Framed
Siqi immediately asked, "Was it that woman who did this?"
Su Wanyu nodded slightly: "Although the method is simple, it is just right."
Yun Yi asked anxiously: "Who could it be?"
Su Wanyu walked towards the door, her eyes fixed on the direction of Yaxuan Courtyard. After a moment's hesitation, she said, "Whoever Taoxing went to see yesterday, she would have offended."
Yun Yi suddenly realized, and said in unison with Si Qi: "It's Aunt Jiang."
"Let's go." Su Wanyu adjusted her skirt and walked out resolutely, "Let's go see what happened."
"Yes, Miss." Yun Yi and Si Qi followed closely behind.
The world outside was shrouded in thick dark clouds, thunder roared, and heavy rain poured down, the sound of rain hitting the eaves was noisy and harsh.
The stone pavement of Yaxuan Courtyard had been soaked by rain, becoming shiny black, and water had accumulated on both sides of the corridor like a river.
Tao Xing's cries pierced through the dense rain, mournful and desperate.
"Second Master! I have really been wronged! Please believe me, Second Master!"
Su Wanyu walked slowly forward, and Yunyi followed her with an umbrella.
As soon as I stepped into the yard, I saw Tao Xing being dragged by several servants. The rain had already soaked her clothes, making her look particularly embarrassed.
Su Wanyu stepped forward and stood in front of everyone: "Zheng Chengyan, what is going on?"
Zheng Chengyan stood under the umbrella, looking sideways. The rain curtain was like an invisible barrier, separating the two people in two completely different worlds.
He stared through the hazy rain and fog at the gentle face hidden under the beige oil-paper umbrella in Su Wanyu's hand not far away. Her eyes seemed to hide dark clouds, and her expression was gloomy and deep, making it difficult to understand.
Perhaps to avoid showing his embarrassment in front of her, he suddenly turned his head and pointed at Tao Xing beside him with a trembling finger, and said with an imperceptible indifference: "Ask her!"
Upon hearing this, Su Wanyu frowned slightly and her gaze slowly moved down to Tao Xing, who was kneeling in the mud and looked extremely helpless.
"Aunt Tao, what is going on?"
Tao Xing was heartbroken at the moment. When she saw Su Wanyu in despair, her tears mixed with rainwater as she cried and confessed her innocence: "Second Young Madam, I really didn't meet any outside men in private. I really don't know why that belt appeared on my bed."
In the courtyard, under the eaves, there were crowds of people, maids and old women were whispering and talking.
Among them, Liu'er and Jiang Yingying were also hiding in the crowd, as if they were waiting to see Tao Xing make a fool of herself.
However, Su Wanyu's appearance was completely beyond her expectations.
In Jiang Yingying's opinion, Su Wanyu, as the legal wife, should share the same hatred with her and be happy to see Tao Xing's misfortune.
At this time, Su Wanyu, wearing a water-green long dress, stood under an umbrella, her eyelids slightly drooped, her long eyelashes trembling like butterfly wings, and her cold gaze swept across everyone's faces one by one.
"Someone, bring me that belt."
The servants looked at each other, and finally turned their eyes to Zheng Chengyan, waiting for his instructions.
The corner of Su Wanyu's eyes lightly glanced at Siqi, the personal maid beside her. Before Zheng Chengyan could react, Siqi had already swiftly picked up the belt lying in the mud, respectfully handed it to Su Wanyu, and called softly, "Miss."
Su Wanyu took the dirty belt and examined it carefully without any care. The people around her held their breath and the whole yard was dead silent except for the crackling sound of raindrops hitting the ground.
Jiang Yingying's palms were sweating due to nervousness, and she kept rubbing the delicate embroidered handkerchief in her hands.
Zheng Chengyan stood with his hands behind his back, looking away, not daring to look directly into Su Wanyu's all-seeing eyes.
After the inspection, Su Wanyu sneered, "Second Master, it is too hasty and arbitrary to conclude that Aunt Tao is having an affair with a man outside the family just based on a belt."
Zheng Chengyan disagreed and asked, "Madam, how can this be considered arbitrary? Can't a man's personal belongings be used as evidence?"
Su Wanyu walked slowly towards Zheng Chengyan, and under the umbrella held up by Yun Yi, she handed the belt to him again: "Second Young Master, please take a closer look. Is there anything special about this belt?"
Zheng Chengyan glanced at it nonchalantly: "What else could be different?"
Su Wanyu gently unfolded the belt to show the details on the inside: "Although this belt is black and covered with leather, it has a small jade ring inside. Perhaps you don't know that there is a kind of jade belt designed specifically for women. It looks the same as men's, but the size of the jade ring is obviously different. Men usually use large jade rings, while women use small jade rings."
As a member of a wealthy and noble family, Zheng Chengyan knew very little about these subtle differences.
And a beautiful girl like Jiang Yingying was even more confused by this.
Su Wanyu continued, "The young lady of Pingxuan Marquis's Mansion loves riding horses and archery. She once asked me to customize a set of women's equipment for her based on the style of men's riding clothes, and this belt is very similar to it."
Zheng Chengyan suddenly realized: "You mean, this belt originally belonged to a woman?"
Su Wanyu nodded slightly, with a hint of pride in her smile: "That's right."
As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd was in an uproar, and even Tao Xing herself looked stunned and puzzled.
Although Zheng Chengyan was half-believing and half-doubting, once the doubt took root, it was difficult to erase it easily: "Then why did she hide the woman's riding belt in private?"
Su Wanyu asked another question: "Did you notice the embroidery on the belt?"
Zheng Chengyan looked at it carefully again and found that it was a string of emerald green willow leaf patterns, exquisite and unique.
The belt clearly belonged to the woman, and Qingyue, the reckless child, might have mistakenly taken the package containing the woman's belt when she was looking for the man's belt last night.
But the embroidery was added recently. Jiang Yingying was eager to achieve results, so in order to create some kind of hint, she specially embroidered willow leaf patterns representing peach and apricot to confuse the audience.
When Jiang Yingying heard this, she felt her hands and feet go cold, and her heart seemed to be tightly bound by invisible ropes.
"Is there anything wrong with this embroidery?" Zheng Chengyan asked doubtfully.
Su Wanyu smiled but said nothing, "Second Young Master, why don't you take out your belt and compare it."
Zheng Chengyan's belt was embroidered by Jiang herself when she entered the family.
When he placed the two belts side by side, he was surprised to find that the embroidery techniques on the two were surprisingly similar, and even the way of gathering and tying the threads were exactly the same.
Tao Xing suddenly realized what was going on. She raised her head abruptly, staring at Jiang Yingying with a sharp gaze, and asked angrily, "It's you! You framed me!"
Jiang Yingying's figure swayed, her teeth clenched, and she argued, "You secretly met with a stranger, don't try to put the blame on me!"
Zheng Chengyan was not a dull person. This comparison had given him a rough idea of the truth of the matter.
But considering that Jiang Yingying was pregnant, he did not want to make a big fuss about it and let his elders know.