"What?" Su Yueyue stared at them in disbelief, her eyes wide open. "Impossible! I saw her this morning."
Xia Mian shrugged helplessly. "Why would I lie to you? Everyone in Sinnan Pavilion can testify that our boss has been away for many days."
A young girl who was shopping for clothes chimed in. "I remember that about ten days ago when I came here, I saw Miss Sinnan telling Shopkeeper Xia Mian that she was going to buy some silk. I was curious and asked her why she had to go there in person. Miss Sinnan said that she would only be at ease after seeing it herself. You said you met Miss Sinnan? When and where was it?"
Su Yueyue was stunned for a moment and then shouted immediately, "Just a few days ago. I even saved her from being harassed by hooligans!"
Xia Mian wiped the tea off his face and shook his head. "That definitely wasn't our boss. You must have misidentified her, miss."
"Absolutely impossible!" Su Yueyue shook her head without thinking. "A white dress and a large bamboo hat. I couldn't have been mistaken!"
Hearing this, Xia Mian felt even more helpless. "As you described, there are plenty of people dressed like that in the whole capital."
The girl who was shopping for clothes nodded. "It's too unreliable to identify someone just by their clothes."
Su Yueyue still argued, "She admitted herself that she was Sinnan."
Xia Mian sighed. "May I ask if that person got some benefits from you in the name of the boss of Sinnan Pavilion?"
Su Yueyue glared at Xia Mian angrily. "You still say that person wasn't Sinnan!"
"Miss..." Xia Mian seemed a bit sympathetic. "I'm afraid you've been deceived. You'd better report it to the authorities."
"Deceived!" Su Yueyue shook her head. "Impossible!"
Xia Mian pursed his lips. "To be honest, you're the third person who came to look for our boss. Their stories were the same as yours. They also told me that they had been cheated out of their silver."
Su Yueyue staggered backward in disbelief and almost lost her balance. "What... did you say?"
Seeing how shocked she was, Xia Mian shook his head. "Miss, you'd better go and report it to the authorities quickly..." Then he waved to a servant. "Escort this young lady to report it to the authorities, in case she blames our Sinnan Pavilion."
Su Yueyue was pushed forward by the servant. When she was about to reach the gate of the yamen, she suddenly woke up.
If she reported it now, she would lose all her face.
This was a crucial moment for her relationship with the King of Yu.
If the King of Yu knew that she had been so stupid as to lose so much silver, what if he didn't like her anymore?
Thinking of this, Su Yueyue waved away the servant and ran back to the Su Mansion like crazy.
When Wang Manwen saw Su Yueyue with disheveled hair, a bad feeling suddenly rose in her heart. "You... did you find Sinnan?"
Su Yueyue's face was pale. "Mother... I... I... I've been deceived!"
Su Yueyue cried and told her the whole story. Wang Manwen was so angry that she almost spat out blood.
She raised her hand to slap Su Yueyue. That was her life - savings!
All of it had been cheated away!
But when she saw Su Yueyue's tear - stained face, she took back her hand.
Letting out her anger was a minor matter. If this beautiful face was damaged and the King of Yu didn't like her, it would be a disaster.
She glared at Su Yueyue angrily. "I'll tell your father about this euphemistically and ask him to help find that swindler."
Su Yueyue wiped her tears. "Mother... you mustn't let the King of Yu know about this... or he'll look down on me..."
Wang Manwen sighed heavily. "Do you think I don't know that! Think carefully about what exactly happened in the middle!"
Su Yueyue also felt very aggrieved. "I... I saw Su Mingyu bring back so many clothes. Out of curiosity, I asked her what was going on. She told me that the person was the shopkeeper of Sinnan Pavilion and wanted to cooperate with her... That's why I went to look for Sinnan."
"Yes, yes, yes! Mother, do you think it's possible that Su Mingyu and that swindler colluded to deceive me?"
Wang Manwen rolled her eyes at her. "Do you think she looks that smart?"
Su Yueyue looked at her contemptuously. "Then what on earth happened! I tell you, mother, I even saw that swindler with the King of Ruixian. A noble king like him doesn't need to deceive me, does he?"
"The King of Ruixian?" Wang Manwen frowned. "What exactly happened?"
Su Yueyue told Wang Manwen everything she had seen last time.
Wang Manwen's face immediately darkened. "You're really stupid! It was the swindler who went to talk to the King of Ruixian first, not the other way around! Maybe she just went up to pay respects and flatter him a bit!"
"Ah?" Su Yueyue never thought of this possibility. She frowned bitterly. "That's two hundred taels of silver... so much! What should I do?"
Wang Manwen glared at her angrily. "You still have the nerve to say! You're good for nothing but causing trouble!"
After scolding her for a while and seeing that Su Yueyue looked very bad, Wang Manwen sighed heavily. "I'll figure out a way about this! You try to recall the whole process of your interaction with that swindler and write it down in detail for me!"
Su Yueyue was a bit confused. "Why do I need to write this?"
Wang Manwen was so frustrated that she wanted to beat her. "So that I can see if there's a breakthrough! And see how you, a fool, got trapped!"
Su Yueyue replied meekly with an "oh". Just as she was about to leave, Wang Manwen called her back. "Wait a minute!"
"What's the matter?" Su Yueyue turned around and looked at Wang Manwen. Obviously, she was afraid of being scolded.
Wang Manwen snorted. "Since the problem started with that little wretch Su Mingyu, you go and find her to see if you can get anything out of her."
Su Yueyue understood what she meant, and a trace of cruelty flashed across her eyes.
That damned Su Mingyu had made her suffer such a heavy loss. She must have a good talk with her.
Su Mingyu was just having lunch in the yard when Su Yueyue rushed in angrily with a group of people.
As soon as she entered the yard, without saying a word, she overturned Su Mingyu's dining table, scaring Zhizhu half to death.
Fortunately, Su Mingyu was quick - witted and pulled Zhizhu to her side. "What's wrong, sister? Why are you so angry?"
Su Yueyue looked at her coldly. "What's wrong with me? You're really a good sister of mine. You colluded with outsiders to bully me, didn't you?"
"What do you mean? I don't understand." Su Mingyu looked at Su Yueyue, with a trace of anger in her eyes. "It's okay for you to barge into my yard with so many people. Now you've smashed my bowls and almost hurt my servant. Do you really think there's no one in charge in the Su Mansion?"
"Humph!" Su Yueyue looked disdainful. "Don't use these things to intimidate me. You know exactly what you've done!"