“This headdress is fake,” she lowered her gaze. “This is not my headdress.”

The crowd fell silent for a moment.

Madam Liu was the first to speak. She asked: “Second Miss Jiang, what do you mean by this?”

Jiang Li smiled and handed the headdress in her hands to Madam Liu, saying lightly: “I spent four hundred taels of silver to buy a ruby headdress at the Jixiang Building in Yanjing. That ruby headdress—there are only three sets in all of Jixiang Building, precisely because the gemstones are of exceptional quality with vibrant colors.” After a pause, Jiang Li continued: “But this set in my hands right now has crude workmanship and dull colors. Forget four hundred taels of silver—it’s not even worth forty taels.”

“Miss, do you mean…” Tong’er couldn’t help but ask.

“Even if I truly wanted to curse my Third Sister, I wouldn’t use such a shabby little thing.” Jiang Li’s tone was contemptuous. “This is not my headdress. Someone took my headdress and switched it with this broken trinket.”

Someone had taken her headdress!

The situation took a sharp turn in an instant. Everyone suddenly understood, but after a moment, they fell into even deeper confusion.

Old Madam Jiang said: “Li girl, someone took your headdress—what does this mean?”

Jiang Li turned back and smiled faintly at Old Madam Jiang, saying: “Old Madam, no rush. I’ll clarify right now what exactly is going on here.”

Old Madam Jiang was stunned. In front of the guests, Jiang Li addressed her as “Old Madam” instead of “Grandmother”—the distance between them was immediately apparent. This was resentment toward her, because she hadn’t stood on Jiang Li’s side just now when Jiang Li was trapped in difficulty?

Both Jiang Youyao and Ji Shuran’s faces flashed with surprise. This wasn’t how things were supposed to develop. Ji Shuran’s heart stirred. Not wanting Jiang Li to disrupt her plan, she said: “Li’er, how could this gemstone headdress be fake? Could you have mistaken it?”

“Impossible!” It was Madam Liu who spoke, declaring decisively: “Things from Jixiang Building cannot possibly be of this quality. Everyone here is a regular customer of Jixiang Building—test it and you’ll know.” Madam Liu passed the headdress to the ladies beside her. Several ladies examined it in turn and all nodded.

This confirmed Madam Liu’s words.

Ji Shuran’s brows knitted tightly. She looked at Jiang Li and suddenly realized that from beginning until now, from when the cracks on the gemstone headdress were discovered, whether facing everyone’s accusations or strange looks, Jiang Li had never shown any panic.

Jiang Li was puzzled, confused, regretful, apologetic—but she was not flustered, angry, helpless, or desperate.

Even now, Jiang Li still wore a gentle smile at the corners of her lips, exactly the same as at the very beginning.

At a time like this, why was she still smiling? What was there to smile about?

Ji Shuran thought, feeling increasingly that something was wrong. Instinctively, she saw Jiang Li look down at the person on the ground, and following Jiang Li’s gaze, she discovered that Xiangqiao was kneeling there, looking as if she was about to collapse.

Xiangqiao was trembling.

Jiang Li crouched down and reached out to help Xiangqiao up. Her gaze toward Xiangqiao was kind and gentle, her tone as amiable as before.

She said: “Xiangqiao, you’re the one who stole my headdress, aren’t you?”

“No, no.” Xiangqiao insisted firmly. “This servant didn’t do such a thing.”

“Then this is strange.” Jiang Li murmured to herself again with a puzzled air. “You say you personally watched me carve the ruby headdress with a knife stroke by stroke, but now that headdress has clearly been switched by someone. What you saw, could it have been… a ghost?”

Those last two words, Jiang Li spoke especially softly, but to Xiangqiao’s ears, they sounded eerie and ghostly.

“Third Sister, you say Xiangqiao took your headdress—do you have proof?” Jiang Yu’e said unwillingly.

“Proof?” Jiang Li stood up again and smiled at Ji Shuran. “Mother, as the mistress of the main household, please immediately send people to search Xiangqiao’s room for the whereabouts of that ruby headdress. All the ladies and young misses are here, which happens to serve as witnesses. This way, after Jiang Li proves her innocence, she won’t still have to bear false accusations.”

The guests felt somewhat guilty upon hearing this.

These words of Jiang Li’s were criticizing them for placing themselves in a high position while remaining outside the matter when watching the drama unfold earlier, condemning Jiang Li as the instigator without asking any questions.

Ji Shuran smiled on the surface, her teeth clenched tight. She wasn’t stupid either—she knew that today’s scheme against Jiang Li had come to nothing. She was surprised that Jiang Li could actually turn defeat into victory. A person without connections or money in the Jiang household actually had the ability to overturn the situation. But she was also afraid Jiang Li still had more tricks up her sleeve, and instinctively looked at Xiangqiao again.

Upon hearing Jiang Li was requesting a room search, Xiangqiao immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing this, Ji Shuran’s heart instantly made its calculations, knowing that Jiang Li probably wouldn’t find anything. She assigned several people who indeed went to search Xiangqiao’s room.

The entire main hall returned to quiet.

At this moment, Jiang Yuanbai finally came to his senses, feeling that he seemed to have done something wrong. He looked at Jiang Li and saw his daughter standing not far from Jiang Youyao. Jiang Youyao’s clothing was exquisite, her hairpins magnificent, while Jiang Li wore plain and simple clothing. If not for her graceful bearing, judging by dress alone, she really was as unremarkable as a maid.

Jiang Yuanbai suddenly felt somewhat uncomfortable again.

Jiang Yuanbai cared about appearances and protected his own. Even if he disliked and was angry at Jiang Li, he was unwilling to let Jiang Li damage the Jiang household’s reputation in front of guests. Moreover, at this scene and moment, the facts proved that there was something fishy about the headdress matter. Jiang Yuanbai began to feel that perhaps his tone toward Jiang Li earlier had been too harsh.

What everyone was thinking in their hearts, Jiang Yuanbai’s regret, Ji Shuran and Jiang Youyao’s disappointment—Jiang Li didn’t care about any of it at all. She stood in the central courtyard, staring with great interest at Xiangqiao who was forcing herself to appear calm, and suddenly felt like laughing.

She had known all along what Ji Shuran and Jiang Youyao were plotting. However, what she needed to do wasn’t merely prove her innocence—it was far from that simple.

One may have no intention to harm the tiger, but the tiger has intent to harm people. Having Ji Shuran’s people remain in Fangfei Courtyard was always a disaster waiting to happen. She had already learned this lesson from her tragic experiences in her previous life. Prevent trouble before it starts, eliminate problems at their root.

Before long, the people sent to search Xiangqiao’s room returned. To show fairness, Old Madam Jiang had also assigned a nanny from her side to go along.

Nanny Zhang returned to Old Madam Jiang’s side with the others. She glanced at Xiangqiao on the ground and said: “Reporting to Old Madam, we found a ruby headdress in Xiangqiao’s room with no knife marks. It should be the real one.”

Xiangqiao’s body went soft as she murmured: “Impossible.”

Jiang Youyao was also stunned. Seeing Jiang Li’s smile grow wider, Ji Shuran’s scalp suddenly tightened.

Sure enough, after hesitating a moment, Nanny Zhang said in front of all the guests: “This servant and the others also found quite a few valuable jewelry pieces in Xiangqiao’s room—they should be the gifts Madam of the main household gave to Second Miss.”

Jiang Li showed surprise for an instant. For the first time, there was anger in her voice, yet if one listened carefully to that anger, it seemed to carry three parts mockery.

She said: “So it was Xiangqiao coveting wealth and treasures, framing an innocent person!”