Chapter 212 - Missing Jade Jewelry Case of Four Great Manors (2/2)

Mo Huawen considered for a moment and asked, “Tong’er, did your mother leave something special for you? Like jade bracelet or jade pendant?”

Mo Xuetong blinked her watery eyes, smiled, and said, “Mother indeed had left a few jade accessories for me. They are in the secret cabinets in Father’s old study. When I first came to the capital, I don’t know how long I’ll stay… so I didn’t bring them and left them there.”

Except a jade bracelet she had taken, she really didn’t touch anything else.

“Tong’er came to the capital but didn’t bring the jewelry her mother left for her. She might fear that I wouldn’t accept her and sent her back to Cloud City so that she wanted to save herself a backup plan!”

Mo Huawen felt so sorry for her and he had to apologetically said, “Tong’er, I won’t send you away in the future again. If you should go back to Cloud City, I’ll go with you too.”

Mo Xuetong cutely smiled, pouted, and coyly said, “Tong’er doesn’t want to leave Father. Father can’t leave Tong’er aside, otherwise, Tong’er won’t talk to Father again.”

Seeing his young daughter acting coyly, his heart somehow twitched. He knew very clearly that even if she bore no grudge against him now, he had abandoned her before. At that time, he must have hurt her a lot. Looking back at it now, he almost thought he had gone mad back then so as to cruelly leave behind his young daughter, who had just lost her mother.

Nimbly rolling her eyes, Mo Xuetong changed the topic and asked, “Why does Father ask about Mother’s jade accessories? Are they really relevant in this case?”

Mo Huawen managed to collect himself, opened the case scroll, and pointed at a note, saying, “It was said that the married miss from Mingguo Manor packed a lot of jewelry when she set off. Among them, jade pieces were the most. The miss was a concubine’s daughter but was favored by a widow lady in You Family. That lady didn’t have any child so she almost gave all of her dowry to this miss.

“That lady of Ding General Manor used to be the most favored daughter of the old madame in Ding General Manor. When the lady married, they performed a luxurious ceremony, and they said that even the tables were decorated with jade. Though the little maid in your grandmother’s house wasn’t born n.o.ble, she served your grandmother. It was said on that day, many of your grandmother’s jade pieces were stolen.

Frowning, Mo Huawen said, “Then there was the Ping General Manor. During New Year, they put some jewelry, most of them jade, before the ancestor’s tablets. However, they were all stolen, as if someone had been looking for something and that something should be a piece of accessory.”

Plus, Luo Bin had been asked for Luo Xia’s old jade bracelets and pendants, which made Mo Huwen guess that thing should be made of jade somehow. Nevertheless, what kind of thing was relevant to Four Great Manors and was at the same time a vaulable jade piece? Mo Huawen really couldn’t think of it now.

Rubbing his head, he only felt dull pain after a day’s thinking.

Mo Xuetong considered and said, “The cases of Four Great Manors seem relevant. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have happened one after another. If Father guesses right, then something should be in the four manors, only they don’t know which manor. That’s why the four manors are consecutively in trouble. Maybe Father can think about why Four Great Manors, which seldom hold parties, would hold banquets in turn during New Year. Was it by design or just a coincidence?”

Mo Huawen didn’t expect his slightly childish daughter could say something like that, thus, he increasingly deemed this daughter smart and felt tender for her.

Mo Xuetong added, “Father, please think about it again. When these things broke out together, was it really coincidental? Or, someone did it on purpose. Which kind of thing could stir four n.o.ble families? According to Father’s words, these things seemed to happen some time ago, then who was after it? In other words, whoever benefited the most from the item would be the top suspect.”

Her words made Mo Huawen’s eyes light up again and again. In his heart, there were some dots and his speculations, but he failed to connect. However, now, his daughter had a.n.a.lyzed it for him. Suddenly, he felt all the stars had aligned and he could see something clearly. Four Great Manors’ acting weird was a sign. Or, they knew the fact but couldn’t have told othersiders of the families.

That was why Ming General’s son would personally chase after the burglar. It was not only for the miss with a ruined reputation. Therefore, Ding General denied the theft and didn’t think it mattered; General Manor adopted the same att.i.tude, saying the maid got attempted and was killed by her companion after the theft; Ping General Manor even wanted to accept the bad luck. They had especially sent people to let the officials drop the case and said they would catch the thief by themselves.

His daughter was really a genius; she even got such insight when she only kept to herself in the boudoir. Indeed, she deserved to be Luo Xia and his daughter… she was really amazing! If Luo Xia were still here, she must have been pleased to see her daughter like this…

Suddenly, he felt hot in the nose, so he hurried to turn his head to hide his weakness!

Mo Xuetong and Mo Huawen thought alike. Since such a case, what would Emperor Zongwen act? They heard that before, a lord mayor was discharged from office because of the Mingguo Manor case. Did the Emperor press on Father? If that was so, then her guess went a little astray. “Father, how does His Majesty think of this case?”

Mo Huawen leaned on the seat. This was also the part he didn’t understand. Since the emperor had taken it so seriously that he dismissed the previous lord mayor. How come the emperor just casually said something like that since he took charge? “His Majesty didn’t issue any decreed. He just said I should thoroughly investigate and couldn’t let Four Great Manors take the blame.”

It shouldn’t be like this. According to practice, Emperor Zongwen’s att.i.tude should have been tougher. Even Mo Xuetong couldn’t see why.

When the Ming General case just broke out, Emperor Zongwen fired the lord mayor for incompetence. However, after Father ran the affairs, when other three manors got into trouble one after another, Emperor Zongwen, instead, didn’t press Father at all. Did Emperor Zongwen just want anew lord mayor? Or, Emperor Zongwen just pretended to try to solve the cases, while secretly, he was glad to see them unresolved?

Suddenly, she remembered that day, Feng Yuran was also present. Mo Xuetong also recalled what the people said, and then she seemed to discover something vague…

<script>