Tang’er and Lian’er, who served Jiang Xuening, vaguely sensed that their young lady seemed somewhat off after returning from this trip.

People from the Earl of Qingyuan’s manor had come to the Jiang household in the afternoon, saying their young lady had been struck by Jiang Xuening in full view of everyone, and they clearly wanted an explanation. Jiang Boyou had persuaded them to leave with kind words, saying he would wait for Jiang Xuening to return and get to the bottom of it before giving the Earl’s manor a proper response.

Everyone up and down the household said Second Miss had caused trouble.

But when she returned and heard that the master and madam were waiting for her to come over, she merely said two indifferent words: “Not going.”

Naturally Jiang Boyou was furious, and Meng Shi threw an even greater tantrum in her room, accusing Jiang Xuening of deliberately causing chaos at the critical moment of selecting Prince Linzi’s consort, purposely not wanting to see her own sister do well.

Jiang Xuening returned to her room and simply took out a ten-tael silver ingot.

Then she handed it to Lian’er, telling her to take it to Jiang Boyou and Meng Shi, leaving only one sentence: “It’s true that I struck You Yue. This bit of silver is a reward for her to treat her face. If they’re not satisfied, they’re welcome to file a lawsuit at the magistrate’s office and drag me to see the officials. When the time comes, I’ll compensate however the authorities judge. As long as the Earl’s manor can afford to lose that much face.”

That was almost all she said the entire evening.

Afterward she ate dinner as usual, washed up, and even went to bed to sleep half an hour earlier than usual.

It seemed extremely ordinary.

But Tang’er and Lian’er had served her for some time and keenly perceived she had something on her mind. They all secretly held their breath, became even more careful and cautious, and didn’t dare let anyone disturb her.

Early the next morning, news came from the Earl of Qingyuan’s manor, saying that after You Yue had been slapped by Jiang Xuening at Shuxiang Inn yesterday, she somehow went mad, fainted from anger, and hit her head on the threshold, disfiguring her face. Not only that, but she remained unconscious for several hours.

With great difficulty they invited a doctor to save her. When she woke up, she was somewhat delirious.

Her mouth only rambled about “silver stocks,” “rose,” “fell.” Most of the time she didn’t recognize her parents, but once she did recognize them, she would throw things, pull her own hair, curse viciously, crying and making scenes.

Some said this Earl’s manor young lady had used all her private savings to buy Ren Family Salt Field silver stocks. She had barely endured through the drop to rock bottom when it was about to rise, but when she returned home she discovered her parents had made the decision for her and coincidentally sold the silver stocks. Who could withstand such a shock? So after knocking her head badly and becoming delirious, she would speak such vicious words to her own parents.

Gossip and rumors spread everywhere, and the entire Earl’s manor lost all face.

Jiang Xuening, who was involved in the matter, naturally couldn’t escape discussion. Even the half-true, half-false things You Yue had fabricated about her and Zhang Zhe at Shuxiang Inn spread throughout the streets.

Early in the morning, a servant woman from Meng Shi’s side came again to summon Jiang Xuening over. Clearly she was already extremely angry and determined to get to the bottom of this with her.

Jiang Xuening was sitting before her vanity mirror combing her hair.

After hearing that servant woman’s words, her expression remained extremely calm. She picked up a flower vase beside her and directly threw it out, hitting that servant woman on the head, saying indifferently: “This is only the beginning. Coming to settle accounts with me now is still too early! Just wait and watch for another couple days.”

In the past two years when she had been arrogant and domineering, it wasn’t that she had never raised a hand against maids and servants.

But never once had it been this frightening.

Her voice even carried a hint of laughter, yet her face held the stillness of an icy lake, as if her heart held not half a ripple of emotion, yet the object she picked up directly broke through the person’s head.

That servant woman knew Jiang Xuening had caused trouble, so naturally her tone wasn’t good when she came to speak, but being hit on the forehead by that vase and feeling blood when she touched it, all her courage was scared away. For a moment she wailed and cried out.

Jiang Xuening acted as if she hadn’t heard.

She picked up a crescent moon earring carved from red coral on the vanity table and hung it on her earlobe. First she instructed Lian’er to have the letter she had written that morning delivered to You Fangying in Sichuan, then instructed Tang’er to have someone prepare a carriage to go out.

Before leaving, she opened a box and tucked away the contract and certificate for ten thousand silver stocks of Ren Family Salt Field, bringing the seal along as well, then directly left the manor, boarded the carriage, and went to Youhuang Pavilion.

Lu Xian was drinking sullen tea upstairs early in the morning.

Lifting his head to see her walk in from outside, his eyelids jumped, and a vague sense of foreboding crept into his heart.

He rose to greet her: “Isn’t this Second Miss Jiang? Coming to visit this humble establishment today, you must want to select a new instrument.”

But Jiang Xuening said: “No.”

Lu Xian raised his eyebrows: “Not buying anything?”

Jiang Xuening directly placed the contract and certificate for those ten thousand silver stocks on the counter before him, saying indifferently: “But selling something.”

The instant she took out this stack of papers, Lu Xian’s eyeballs nearly popped out. His gaze almost stuck to her hands, falling together onto the counter, his heart practically collapsing like mountains and splitting like earth!

These few pages…

Heaven knows how familiar they looked to him? Weren’t these precisely the batch he had sold at a low price from his own hands a few days ago?!

How could they…

End up in Jiang Xuening’s hands?

Lu Xian’s temples throbbed violently. He felt a surge of blood qi rushing straight to his brain, making his lips tremble. He had to raise his hand to press his forehead to suppress the urge to roar: “The one who secretly bought the silver stocks was actually you?!”

If Jiang Xuening herself were in Lu Xian’s position, she probably wouldn’t be able to stay calm either. Therefore, regarding his rare loss of composure, she appeared very magnanimous and completely unconcerned, saying amiably: “It was me.”

Lu Xian nearly went mad with rage: “And now you want to turn around and sell them back to me?!”

Jiang Xuening smiled: “I happen to be a bit short on cash. If Boss Lu can buy them back, that would be best.”

Lu Xian: “…”

You damn well bought the silver stocks from this old man at four hundred coins and now want this old man to buy them back at a high price—wouldn’t that mean this old man goes out and comes in buying from himself and selling to himself while also losing a whole new huge sum of silver for nothing?

Taking this old man for an idiot? Dream on!

Jiang Xuening assessed his iron-blue complexion, understood, and moved to take those certificates and contracts away: “It seems Boss Lu has no interest. I’ll ask around elsewhere.”

“Smack!”

Lu Xian slammed his hand down on those pages of paper, saying stiffly: “Name your price.”

Jiang Xuening: “…”