As he spoke, the shopkeeper smiled and clapped his hands toward the inner room. Two rows of maidservants emerged in a single file from the inner chamber, each carrying black lacquered and gold-decorated trays. On each tray sat exquisitely painted ceramic boxes with their lids open, revealing fine-textured fragrant powders. Even before approaching, one could smell the rich, fragrant aroma—a single whiff of this scent revealed it was no ordinary product.

After the two women selected their fragrant powders and emerged from Furong Pavilion, Third Madam Li, thinking she was accompanying Second Sister-in-law to relax, pulled Second Madam Liu to a jewelry shop to select accessories.

Third Madam Li wanted to pick out currently fashionable accessories for Bai Jinzhi, while Second Madam Liu sat to the side, drinking tea with little interest.

“Oh my! You’re also wearing a jade cicada!”

“Goodness! You’re wearing one too…”

The clear, delighted voices of two young ladies came from behind them. Second Madam Liu pressed her handkerchief to the corner of her lips, set her teacup aside, turned to glance at the two young ladies, then withdrew her gaze and smiled as she watched Third Madam Li pick up a hair ornament.

Then she heard the lowered voices of the two young ladies behind her…

“Have you heard? That day, the ruler of Tianfeng Kingdom had a jade cicada that could reverse time!”

“I heard! Haven’t people been talking about it these past few days? They say our late Imperial Consort also had a jade cicada before, and if these two jade cicadas are put together, they can reverse time! Before that, Tianfeng Kingdom’s ruler left, he had his subordinate who stayed behind to wait for their Great Shaman’s disciple to contact those practitioners of unorthodox paths, saying that whoever can find our late Imperial Consort’s lost jade cicada will receive five thousand taels… of gold!”

“Is that true or false! Five thousand taels of gold? This time reversal sounds so mysterious—can it be real? If it were true… wouldn’t His Majesty have long ago found that jade cicada and reversed time back to the Southern Border battle, saving his grandfather, father, uncles, and brothers!”

“How could this be false when they’re willing to give five thousand taels of gold? And I heard… that the Tianfeng Kingdom ruler also said that besides the five thousand taels of gold, there would be other rewards worth no less than those five thousand taels. My elder brother serves at the Magistrate of Jingzhao’s office, and he says that recently, even the troublemakers in our Capital City have decreased—they’ve all gone to search for the Imperial Consort’s jade cicada! Besides… His Majesty has already ascended the throne and become Emperor. How could he bear to reverse time? Wouldn’t he lose the imperial throne!”

“I wonder if the Imperial Consort’s jade cicada was buried with him! If it was buried… surely no one would dare go to the Imperial Consort’s…” The young lady’s voice paused mid-sentence as she quickly covered her mouth with her fan, not daring to continue.

“I heard the Imperial Consort lost it long ago. And look now… jade cicadas are everywhere on the streets!” the young lady said with a laugh.

Upon hearing this, Second Madam Liu turned to look at the two well-bred young ladies walking away hand in hand, then turned back and lowered her gaze in thought. She picked up the teacup beside her but didn’t drink, her hand gripping the cup, tightening slightly.

Time reversal? Jade cicada…

Second Madam Liu had heard of this matter before and had always considered it nonsense.

But now that the Tianfeng Kingdom ruler was offering five thousand taels of gold plus rewards worth no less than five thousand taels to find the other jade cicada, this made Liu Shi contemplate for a while.

If this were truly nonsense, would the Tianfeng Kingdom ruler bother creating such a huge commotion to find another jade cicada?

When Third Madam Li finished selecting jewelry for her daughter and emerged from the jewelry shop with Second Madam Liu, Liu Shi carefully observed the street and actually saw that among the passing scholars and even young ladies, all wore jade cicadas at their waists.

She thought of Xiao Rongyan—it seemed that when Xiao Rongyan first came to the Bai family, he always wore a jade cicada.

“Second Sister-in-law, what are you thinking about?” Third Madam Li smiled and gently shook Second Madam Liu, signaling Nanny Hu to hand a red wood brocade box to Nanny Luo beside Liu Shi. She smiled and said, “This is for little Wang Ge’er. I just picked out identical sets of three necklaces for little Wang Ge’er, little Kangle, and Xile. The children are all small now… just right for them to wear. When New Year comes and the three little ones stand together, they’ll look like the children in New Year paintings!”

When Third Madam Li heard the shopkeeper say these were the only three sets in all of Great Zhou, she immediately thought of the three grandchildren of her family and had Nanny Hu pay without hesitation.

This was indeed a century-old shop—the craftsmanship of the accessories was impeccable. However, the madams of the Bai family had seen all manner of fine things, so Li Shi buying these three necklaces was merely for the three children to play with.

“Look at all these people on the street wearing jade cicadas. I remember… our A’Bao’s Imperial Consort Xiao Rongyan also used to carry such a jade cicada with him,” Second Madam Liu observed the bustling street.

“I’ve heard about this matter—it’s all nonsense stirred up by that Tianfeng Kingdom ruler!” Third Madam Li helped Second Madam Liu into the carriage and said in a low voice, “Claiming jade cicadas can reverse time, using some Tianfeng Kingdom legend to make trouble. I asked A’Yun about this, and A’Yun said… it was just that the legendary queen had no heir and her husband died, so to consolidate political power, she invented this time reversal excuse. Otherwise… if such a good thing existed, why would the jade cicadas be separated and sent away?”

Upon hearing this, Second Madam Liu nodded and boarded the carriage with Third Madam Li, but in her heart, she remained preoccupied with this so-called time reversal matter.

Only after seeing the Bai family’s carriages and guards had departed did Hong Qiao, dressed as a married woman, emerge from the jewelry shop with her fan covering half her face and lifting her skirt hem.

The two young ladies who had been whispering behind Liu Shi saw Hong Qiao emerge and quickly approached to link arms with her: “Sister-in-law… how was it? Did we two act convincingly?”

“You two!” Hong Qiao tapped both young ladies on their foreheads. “Just because your brother was punished by His Majesty, you’re here adding trouble for that Second Madam. What did Second Madam ever do to provoke you?”

“Who told His Majesty to beat my brother and strip him of his official position without distinguishing right from wrong! I heard His Majesty respects these Bai family madams greatly. If this Second Madam goes to make trouble with His Majesty, she can at least add some annoyance for His Majesty!” the charming young lady said.

“You! With this temperament of yours, how can your sister-in-law feel at ease when you marry in the future?” Hong Qiao lightly tapped the young lady’s head with her fan. “Alright, let’s go inside to select jewelry. Don’t be polite with your sister-in-law about anything you like.”