Everyone in the room stood up. Madam Wang said, “Please, everyone sit down.” Being somewhat dull-witted and lacking observational skills, she failed to notice the various expressions on everyone’s faces and simply sat on the edge of the kang bed.

Xiang Lan thought to herself: “Madam Wang is far from clever and has no skill with words. She likely can’t handle these difficult personalities. I’m worried someone who loves stirring up trouble will use this opportunity to create more chaos. As they say, ‘The one who tied the bell must untie it.’ We should resolve this matter at its root.” With this in mind, she said to Lin Dongxiu, “The Master should be returning soon. I’ll go check and come back.” She left the group and encountered several maids and servants, asking, “Have you seen Fourth Young Master?” All replied they didn’t know. Xiang Lan continued searching until she reached the small garden, where she met Rui Zhu, the young maid attending Lin Zhaoxiang. Rui Zhu said, “Fourth Young Master is behind the flower trellis.”

Xiang Lan walked around the trellis and indeed found Lin Jinyuan sitting on the ground, hugging his knees. She slowed her steps, hiding behind a tree to observe. She saw Lin Jinyuan frowning as he plucked magnolias, roses, and crabapple blossoms one by one from the trellis, with red petals already scattered across the ground. Xiang Lan thought to herself: “Though Lin Jinyuan can be mischievous, having been raised before the Old Master, he’s usually a well-behaved child. Growing up in a wealthy family, he wouldn’t normally dare to destroy flowers and plants. His current state shows that though he can’t speak of it, something is weighing heavily on his mind.” She sighed softly and walked over to gently pat his shoulder.

Lin Jinyuan was startled and sprang to his feet. Seeing it was Xiang Lan, he let out a relieved breath, patting his chest and saying, “You nearly scared me to death.” He glanced furtively at her and stammered, “How are the Old Master and Old Madam?”

Xiang Lan kept a stern face and replied, “Naturally, they’re furious.”

Lin Jinyuan’s spirits sank, and he lowered his head to pull at more flower buds. Xiang Lan grabbed his hand and bent down to whisper, “Young Master, do you know what a storm this incident has caused? First, the Old Master was enraged, and then the Old Madam nearly fell ill. It would be one thing if only family members were involved, but with outsiders like Jiang Xiuyun present, we’ve become a laughingstock.”

Lin Jinyuan startled and raised his head to ask, “Did you tell the Old Master that I lost the bracelet?”

Xiang Lan slowly shook her head: “I promised you I wouldn’t tell, so I won’t.”

Lin Jinyuan breathed a sigh of relief.

Xiang Lan said softly, “Come, I’ll accompany you to apologize to the Old Master. He dotes on you like the apple of his eye. Even if you’ve made a mistake, he’ll just be angry for a while and punish you, then his anger will pass. We’ll all help plead for you. Given it’s the Old Madam’s birthday, even if the Old Master is upset, he won’t be too harsh.”

Lin Jinyuan pouted, turning his head away, his delicate white face full of reluctance.

“Because of this bracelet, your sisters are all suspicious of each other. First Young Madam, Second Young Madam, Second Madam, and Miss Jiang, who all entered the inner room, are quarreling over this. In such a large family with elders and youngsters, brothers and sisters, in-laws of all sorts – many people with different temperaments – it’s inevitable that incidents cause discord. But what’s truly worrying is when small matters brew into big disasters, when trivial things lead to broken relationships. Once people’s hearts scatter, the family falls apart. Not to mention, can you feel good about letting your sisters take the blame for your wrongdoing?”

Lin Jinyuan lowered his head to think, then suddenly looked up, blinking his eyes, “Of course, it can’t be my sisters. Why don’t we… say Jiang Xiuyun took it!”

Xiang Lan’s breath caught in her throat, and she immediately said, “How could we do that?”

“Why not?” Lin Jinyuan clutched at Xiang Lan’s sleeve: “I’ll just say I saw her take it with my own eyes, and sister just needs to play deaf and dumb.” He shook her arm, “She’s not part of our family, and besides… besides, I heard the maids gossiping that she once tried to poison you. If we pin this on her, she’ll take the blame for the bracelet and we can get revenge for you too. Wouldn’t that be perfect?”

Xiang Lan looked into Lin Jinyuan’s grape-like eyes, and for a moment felt tempted to agree. Yes, why shouldn’t she? Jiang Xiuyun had hurt her deeply, yet because of her status as a noble family’s daughter, she’d escaped unscathed and transformed herself, coming to the Lin family acting all eager to please, without showing even a hint of remorse, as if her past actions were perfectly justified. Why should she show any kindness to such a selfish person? Wouldn’t it be more satisfying to take revenge this way and let Jiang Xiuyun taste punishment? This way, she’d earn Lin Jinyuan’s gratitude and satisfy her grudge – why not do it?

Seeing Xiang Lan with half-closed eyes, frowning in deep thought, Lin Jinyuan sensed an opportunity. He shook her arm like twisted candy, repeatedly asking, “Will you? Will you? Let’s do it this way! Dear sister, please!”

Xiang Lan opened her eyes, looked at Lin Jinyuan, and after a long moment, very difficultly uttered two words: “We can’t.” After saying this, she let out a deep breath, as if lifting a thousand-pound burden, and repeated firmly: “We can’t!”

Lin Jinyuan asked in surprise, “Why not?”

“Because if I did this, I would never be able to respect myself again.” Xiang Lan spoke calmly, holding his hand, “Living in this world, trying to live honestly and uprightly isn’t easy. But at the very least, we must take responsibility for our own mistakes. No matter what punishment we face, our conscience stays clean. Otherwise, we’ll be troubled later, making excuses that we had ‘no choice’ or that the other person ‘deserved it’ and we were just ‘going with the flow.’ Deep down, we know the truth.”

Lin Jinyuan angrily pulled his hand away: “Easy for you to say! You haven’t seen how terrifying Grandfather is when he’s angry. My eldest brother has the same temper as my Grandfather – the last time he struck me with his cane, I couldn’t move for half a month in bed. If you want to go, you go – I won’t!”  He kicked the fallen petals violently and stamped his foot in frustration: “No wonder eldest brother says you’re as pedantic as an old scholar. Are you truly foolish? When there’s a chance to kill two birds with one stone, you insist on making things difficult for yourself!”

Xiang Lan looked at Lin Jinyuan silently, thinking: “Young Master Yuan is already showing such calculation at this age. He has the same temperament as Lin Jinlou, both extremely proud and concerned with his face. If I expose his wrongdoing, he might act out in panic and make things worse. Moreover, it won’t be pleasant for me either. The key now is how to resolve this situation. I might as well go all in and provoke him – he’s likely to agree then.” She slowly said, “Very well. We absolutely cannot frame someone else for the bracelet, but I promised not to tell others about your involvement. However, if we don’t clear things up, innocent people will be wrongly accused. In that case, I’ll take the blame.”

Lin Jinyuan was startled and quickly asked, “What did you say?”

Xiang Lan replied, “I said, I’ll take the blame for you and go to the Old Master right now to accept punishment.” With that, she turned to leave.

Lin Jinyuan exclaimed in shock, “Mad! Mad! Have you gone mad?” He hurried after her asking, “You’re just trying to fool me, right? Right?”

Xiang Lan stopped and said, “I’m taking the blame for Fourth Young Master, not so you’ll feel indebted to me, but in hopes that you’ll conduct yourself properly in the future. A true man should be able to take responsibility for his mistakes.”

This remark made Lin Jinyuan blush crimson. He stood frozen, tears welling in his eyes. Seeing Xiang Lan walking away, he angrily called out, “Fine, go ahead! You’re so noble!” After his angry outburst, he felt unsettled standing or sitting, still worried. He stamped his foot and ran after her.

Xiang Lan walked very slowly, watching from the corner of her eye as Lin Jinyuan followed at a distance. She nodded slightly to herself. She thought about how De’er and Lin Jinyuan, though only two or three years apart in age, were very different in temperament. De’er was honest, modest, and courteous, showing proper bearing even at a young age. Yuan’er, on the other hand, was full of cunning tricks, clever but lacking in kindness. Still, his scholarly upbringing meant he understood reason and hadn’t fallen into complete deviousness.

She stopped and turned around. Lin Jinyuan also stopped, head lowered in silence. Xiang Lan went over to take his hand and bent down saying, “When I get back today, I’ll tell your eldest brother that our Fourth Young Master Yuan is someone who takes responsibility.” Seeing Lin Jinyuan still wiping tears, her heart softened. She was usually very close to Lin Jinyuan and couldn’t help patting his head, saying, “I’ll accompany you to face punishment from the Old Master. If you’re scared, I’ll say we lost the bracelet together. How about I stay with you?”

Lin Jinyuan raised his sleeve to wipe his eyes, stealing a glance at Xiang Lan. Hearing she would share the punishment with him, his courage grew somewhat, and he hesitantly nodded.

Xiang Lan breathed a sigh of relief and led Lin Jinyuan to the flower hall. When they entered, they found it empty, with fruits, tea, and wine still neatly arranged on the table, incense still burning in the golden beast censers. Only Liu Bei was there, who said, “The Old Madam said she wasn’t feeling well and went to rest in the inner room.”

Xiang Lan said, “Please trouble sister to announce us. We’ve come to apologize to the Old Master and Old Madam about the bracelet matter.”

Liu Bei was surprised, looking back and forth between them, not daring to say more, and hurried in to report. After quite a while, they heard a cough from inside, and Lin Zhaoxiang said flatly, “Come in.”

They entered to find Lin Zhaoxiang sitting at the kang table, holding his water pipe, while Old Madam Lin sat on the other side, fingering a string of Buddhist beads. Xue Zhan and Rui Zhu stood attending, along with Geng Tonggui, Lin Zhaoxiang’s elderly servant.

Xiang Lan and Lin Jinyuan knelt together. Lin Jinyuan didn’t dare make a sound. Seeing his bloodless face, Xiang Lan spoke up: “We’ve come to ask forgiveness from the Old Master and Old Madam. We lost the Eastern Palace’s gift due to our carelessness. This morning, Fourth Young Master was telling me how precious the Eastern Palace’s gift was, and I had the thought to ask him to let me see it. He couldn’t refuse, so he brought out the bracelet. We were looking at it by the pond in the small garden when we accidentally dropped it into the lake…”

Lin Zhaoxiang’s hand froze, and his eyes flashed like lightning as he looked at them, his gaze sharp and his face frost-like. Staring at Lin Jinyuan, he asked in a deep voice, “Jinyuan, is this what happened?”

Lin Jinyuan stammered, not daring to raise his head.

Lin Zhaoxiang suddenly slammed the gold-inlaid kang table and shouted, “I’m asking you a question – is it true or not?”

Lin Jinyuan jumped in fright, and tears began to fall.

Old Madam Lin hurried to intervene: “Why are you shouting so loudly? Look how you’ve frightened the child…”

Lin Zhaoxiang said angrily: “Don’t interfere! It’s all of you who have spoiled him! I won’t let anyone plead for him today!” He shouted at Lin Jinyuan again, “I’ll ask you one last time – how exactly did you lose the bracelet?”