The logic was sound, but somehow it still stung.
Lady Shen, the Second Wife, was on the verge of fainting from anger once again at Yan Mingli's example. She dug her nails into Shen Minghua's arm, forcing herself to calm down. "There's a box buried under the third brick at the corner of the back gate of the Shen Mansion. Inside it is a hairpin, which serves as the proof for the bank. Minghua, take that hairpin and go to the bank to withdraw money. The password is my birthday."
Most bank tokens were jade pendants or seals. It was the first time His Highness the Prince of Rui had ever heard of a hairpin being used as proof. "Using a hairpin as a token? Aren't they afraid of it being counterfeited?"
On an impulse, His Highness the Prince of Rui took out the wooden hairpin from his bosom and showed it to Lady Shen, the Second Wife.
She took the hairpin and ran her fingers over it with her eyes closed until she felt a slight bump. Only then did she open her eyes. "This wooden hairpin is also a bank token. Since Your Highness has this, you should know the bank's rules. It only serves ladies and young misses when the token is a piece of jewelry."
"And this tiny bump is the mark. It's very hard to counterfeit."
Before His Highness the Prince of Rui could recover from the shock, Shen Minghua revealed the origin of the hairpin. "What? This wooden hairpin is also a bank token? You old hag! You're so rich, yet you spent my mother's money!"
Lady Shen, the Second Wife, caught the implication and stared at the hairpin in shock, her eyes filled with so much hatred that it seemed to engulf the hairpin.
Everyone noticed the tiny bump on the hairpin after Lady Shen, the Second Wife, pointed it out, except for the three kids who were too short.
Shen Baozhu stood on tiptoe and asked curiously, "What's a bank token? Can we exchange it for delicious pastries?"
"Of course we can exchange it for money! We exchange the token for money, and then use the money to buy pastries!" Qiuqiu's logic was flawless.
The Fourth Prince was a bit slower. "We take it, exchange for money, buy pastries for Baozhu."
The Dragon King: [The Fourth Prince is quite smart. We can do that.]
But Qiuqiu wasn't satisfied. She reminded them, "This is very valuable. We can't spend it all on pastries. We should buy a pastry shop instead. Then Baozhu will have endless pastries."
Shen Baozhu thought Qiuqiu's idea was brilliant. She looked at Qiuqiu with teary eyes. "Qiuqiu is the best! I'll also open an embroidery workshop for you so you can have lots and lots of beautiful embroidery threads."
"Okay! I'll embroider handkerchiefs for Baozhu for the rest of my life." Qiuqiu took Shen Baozhu's hand, and the two little girls reached an agreement.
The Fourth Prince watched silently and committed their words to memory.
Lady Shen, the Second Wife, was inspired by the Fourth Prince's words. As if waking from a dream, she handed the wooden hairpin to Shen Haiyan. "Although this old hag doesn't like you and Baozhu, you're still my grandson. I do care about you a little. You go and try to get the password for withdrawing money from this hairpin from her later."
Shen Haiyan took the hairpin and looked conflicted. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said, "Fine, I'll go!"
He picked up the food box he had brought for Lady Shen, the Second Wife, and turned towards the cell where Lady Shen, the Elder Wife, was being held.
Lady Shen, the Elder Wife, was locked up with the female members of the Shen family. The men were in the neighboring cell, and Shen Qingshan was locked up in another direction. So Lady Shen, the Elder Wife, only heard some commotion from Shen Qingshan's side and had no idea that Shen Haiyan had brought Shen Baozhu there.
When Shen Haiyan appeared in front of her, Lady Shen, the Elder Wife, immediately grew wary and sized him up.
This scrutiny didn't bother Shen Haiyan. He frowned and took out a silver ingot from his money bag in front of everyone in the Shen family. "What's going on? The cell is filled with hay. How can anyone sleep here? Go and prepare some brocade quilts."
The jailer trotted over. He remembered Shen Haiyan. He weighed the silver ingot in his hand and said with a smile, "Each quilt costs ten taels of silver. This ingot of yours is probably worth twenty taels. I'll bring two quilts tonight."
"Ten taels of silver! Are the quilts made of silk and embroidered with Su embroidery? Why are they so expensive!" someone in the cell exclaimed in surprise.
This remark annoyed the jailer. He shouted at the cell, "What do you know? Those are real quilts. If you don't want to sleep, that's fine."
Shen Haiyan took out all the silver from his money bag and handed it to the jailer. "There are thirty taels here. Together with the twenty taels just now, that's a total of fifty taels. I hope you can arrange things so that my family can live more comfortably."
The jailer took the silver and replied repeatedly, "Sure thing!"
Lady Shen, the Elder Wife, watched everything and felt a bit less wary.
Shen Haiyan walked closer. His tone was far from friendly, even a bit sarcastic. "You've done so many bad things in your life. Now you're locked up. Serves you right."
"If it weren't for fear of big brother being sad, I wouldn't help you."
Lady Shen, the Elder Wife, knew that Shen Haiyan didn't like the Shen family. Every time he came back, he would cause a ruckus. If he suddenly changed his attitude, she would surely suspect that he had ulterior motives.
But seeing Shen Haiyan's gloomy face, Lady Shen, the Elder Wife, steadied herself. After a moment of thought, she figured that Shen Heqing was always a well - behaved child. He got along well with the family and was very kind to his younger siblings. It was normal for Shen Haiyan to help them for Shen Heqing's sake.
Once she thought it through, Lady Shen, the Elder Wife, felt completely at ease. She called Shen Haiyan over and asked about the situation outside.
The jailer, holding the fifty taels of silver in his hand and thinking about the thousand taels he had received a few days ago, pretended to clutch his stomach. "No getting too close to talk. Oh, my stomach hurts so much. I'll go out for a while."
Meanwhile, Shen Haiyan was casually dismissing the Shen family. "It's chaos out there. Besides Prime Minister Sima accusing the Shen family of embezzlement, the Yin family claims that the Cui family swapped the Third and Fourth Princes, and the Shen family was also involved secretly."
"What! The Third and Fourth Princes were swapped!" Lady Shen, the Elder Wife, exclaimed in surprise and quietly passed the news on to Shen Qingshan in the other cell.
Shen Haiyan also looked at Lady Shen, the Elder Wife in surprise. "You didn't know about this? It's spreading like wildfire outside. They say that in the embezzlement case back then, the Queen lost the Eldest Princess. Grandfather was afraid that the Crown Prince would find out about it when he grew up, so he colluded with Cui Zhengping and Concubine Li to swap the Third and Fourth Princes. Later, when the matter was exposed, grandfather sent people to burn down the Cui family."
This rumor was fabricated by Shen Haiyan, and he was quite proud of his invention.
Lady Shen, the Elder Wife's face changed. The rumor was too vicious. It was like throwing the Shen family into the fire, pitting them directly against the Yin family, the Queen, and even the Emperor, not to mention the Eldest Princess.
Seeing Lady Shen, the Elder Wife's face turn pale, Shen Haiyan added fuel to the fire. "Hey, it seems the Queen believes the rumor. Before the case was even tried, people from the palace ransacked the Shen Mansion from top to bottom. They didn't find anything, so they burned things in anger. They've already reached the Second Branch."
Hearing this, Lady Shen, the Eldest Wife was first horrified, then angrily shouted. There were many valuable things in her room, and now they were all burned.
Shen Haiyan leaned against the wall, looking like he was enjoying the show. "Aunt, shout louder. I hope the jailer hears you questioning His Majesty's order."
This threat silenced Lady Shen, the Eldest Wife instantly.
The older one was always the wiser. Lady Shen, the Elder Wife didn't get angry. Instead, she calmly thought for a moment and casually asked, "What did they burn? Did they melt the gold jewelry or just burn a few pieces of wood?"
"Of course they burned everything! Aunt's dressing table was thrown into the fire." Shen Haiyan was just making things up.
Hearing this, Lady Shen, the Elder Wife lost her composure and suddenly stood up.