Thirteenth Lady's Comback: Her Everyday Life as a Bystander-Chapter 68 - 18: Showing Her Might

Susu received the news early in the morning that the First Madam had claimed illness the night before, causing a fuss with doctors and prescriptions. However, it was said that after seeing a few attendants beaten nearly to death by the Old Master this morning, she truly fell ill.

Even though Susu did not favor her, she couldn’t let others gossip, so she went to the First Madam’s courtyard — Brocade Residence — before heading to the storeroom. At that time, Brocade Residence was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Naturally, the First Madam wouldn’t meet them; only a rough servant woman came out to relay a message.

The Sixth Miss, though not oblivious, heard the servant say the First Madam was ill and unable to receive guests. She said, "Since my Aunt is ill, I shouldn’t disturb her. Please tell her I will come visit her another day." Saying this, she instructed Xiang Yu to reward the servant. Xiang Yu poured a six-money silver plum flower ingot from her pouch for the servant.

The First Madam was usually very harsh with her servants, and that one was just a rough, less-favored servant. Seeing the Sixth Miss being so generous, she was so delighted that she forgot to express her gratitude, only nodding repeatedly.

Susu took a few ornate boxes from Ning Xiang and handed them to the servant, saying, "The Old Madam heard the news early this morning and was very worried. This is some fine official swallow’s nest that the second master presented to the Old Madam a while back. The Old Madam said the First Madam should focus on recovering, and she is excused from paying respects on the first and fifteenth of each month." Then she instructed Wu Tong to give her a pouch before heading to the storeroom.

As Susu walked, she thought that if the First Madam knew they were heading to the main storeroom, she might drag her sick body to meet them.

Behind her, the rough servant woman looked at Susu’s imposing figure, thinking about her own daughter, who was already twelve yet still just a rough maid, while Susu became a second-class maid at the age of twelve, feeling envious beyond measure.

Then she noticed the pouch given by Susu, spilling out a pair of silver Agate gourd earrings. Not only were they delicate and exquisite, but the agate inlays were as large as a thumbnail, glowing ruby-red. Such a pair was worth at least five tails of silver.

"Indeed, she is the most favored maid in the Old Madam’s courtyard, spending more generously than a young lady." The servant carefully put the pouch away, with thoughts in her mind.

Susu was indeed intentional with such generosity. She knew at a glance that although the servant was also one of the First Madam’s attendants, she was less favored, benefiting from nothing good and being tasked with unpleasant jobs. While not intending to win people over with just a pair of earrings, Susu didn’t mind letting people know that following the Old Madam means, there’s no shortage of money!

Though ostensibly picking things for the Princely Heir, it was actually an investigation of the main storeroom. Thus, Susu dressed up specifically today, intending to take the lead in momentum and overwhelm others.

Except during festivals, the Old Madam’s gifts of bright clothes were generally tucked away. Last night, Susu rummaged through trunks to find an outfit, brand new, never worn.

Susu was dressed in a long jacket with a white base adorned with red rose prints, wrapped slightly below the neckline with two bright red ribbons, paired with a pomegranate-red skirting with inked floral patterns below, truly free-spirited.

Her hair was styled in a Yao stage bun, decorated with a red-gold rose flower, slightly quivering petals made of ultra-thin gold foil, with ruby stamens; a jasper butterfly hairpin adorned beside it, forming a "Butterfly Love Flower" ensemble with the rose.

On her left wrist was a bracelet of green Jade, while her right displayed seven or eight thin golden bracelets, so graceful that even with every gesture, there was no clatter of the bracelets, evidencing her dignified demeanor.

On her hands, she wore two rings: a piece of red gold with a mutton-fat jade teardrop face, and a delicate Jade ring, enhancing her slender, delicate hand.

This morning, as Susu entered the upper room, everyone was dazzled, and the Fourth Miss, who was usually the most charming, sighed, "Today, I truly admit defeat from the bottom of my heart."

Presently, Susu stood with full momentum in front of the main storeroom, making the already guilty Steward’s wife feel antsy.

Susu smiled amiably, yet her words were entirely different from her usual gentle tone.

"Today, I’ll have Mom open the door as a favor because you serve the First Madam. Since you say the key isn’t with you, why don’t you rest aside then?" Susu finished, pulling out a string of keys from her sleeve, lightly swaying it, "Perhaps you don’t know, the storeroom keys are never just one set. This set was given by the Old Master."

The storeroom Steward’s wife had drunk too much yesterday and only woke when a little maid frantically called. Unaware of the Old Master’s actions yesterday, her family was among those being unraveled.

Despite being on duty, the Steward’s wife hadn’t gotten up yet and showed no signs of shame upon seeing Susu and the Sixth Miss. Dismissing them aside and, when asked to open the storeroom, merely offered excuses. When signaled by a little maid, she even said the keys were with the First Madam.

Now, seeing Susu take out a string of keys, and hearing they were from the Old Master, she began to panic. As soon as she was about to secretly call for the First Madam, Susu’s rough maids gagged and bound her. The other maids and maidservants in the storeroom were all detained in their usual resting side rooms.

The Sixth Miss admired Susu profoundly, never expecting that the usually amiable Sister Su would have such a decisive moment.

Susu unlocked the storeroom and led the inspection starting from the antiques, toys, and famous paintings. The First Madam, not being a fool, ensured these weren’t tampered with much, fearing the Old Master might want to flaunt any of them someday. Thus, the missing ones were not overly valuable.

Next, with furniture arrangements, about a fifth were missing, some of which were crudely made and not worth mentioning.

Upon reaching the jewelry repository, the boxes, trays, chests were seemingly full at first glance, but Susu picked up a box of pearls, casually stirred them, and shook her head.

The Sixth Miss queried, "Is something wrong?" Susu showed her the box, and being familiar with quality goods, the Sixth Miss laughed disdainfully, "No wonder!"

No wonder nothing seemed amiss, turns out there was another way.

Except for the top layer of genuine natural pearls, the entire box was filled with odd pearls that varied in size, shape, and even luster — blatantly cultured pearls. Yet, the inventory was labeled "one box of South Pearls, two hundred pieces."

Things stored in the storeroom could not be ordinary, assuredly intended as flawless natural South Pearls. However, without evidence, one couldn’t claim greed since it was ambiguously listed from the onset, likely prepared for contingencies back then.

Susu rummaged through several gemstone boxes listed merely as "one box of Rubies, two of Sapphires, one of Tourmaline," with neither quality nor sizes specified, nor the number. Thus, tracing was impossible, and the content couldn’t even meet the entry standards, all merely scraps for servants to craft jewelry.

Among gold jewelry, none were pure gold upon close inspection, crudely made, with even gold-plated brass pieces upon searching.

Susu didn’t have time to delve into details, but a rough estimation showed the First Madam couldn’t evade this predicament with mere illness...