As the late spring willow catkins drifted into the hanging flower gate, Jiang Wan was standing under the gallery, going over the account books with Nanny Zhou. Wanqing hurried over clutching a pile of fabric, her face pale beneath her veil: "Miss, the small kitchen in the front courtyard is spreading rumors... they say you are mistreating your younger half-sister and embezzling funds from the household treasury to buy yourself new clothes."
Jiang Wan’s hand, which had been pinching a piece of lake-blue satin, paused. Her fingertips lightly brushed over the entwined lotus pattern on the fabric. "Oh? Do you know who is spreading them?"
"It is Madame Li’s personal maid, Xiuju," Wanqing said, lowering her voice. "Every day at the hour of the rabbit, she goes to the street corner to buy tofu, telling everyone she meets that you melted down the Second Miss’s jade bracelet to make a hairpin."
Chapter 25