"Could it be that you're feeling guilty?" Seeing everyone struck with awe, Xing Zhenzhen tried a reverse psychology tactic.
Xing Beiluo chuckled inwardly. How could she? She was definitely going to let them search her. But since a windfall was delivering itself right to her doorstep, wouldn't she be doing herself a disservice if she didn't grab a share?
Xing Beiluo put on an aggrieved and indignant look: "As a young lady of a good family, if I let you ransack my room at will, it won't look very good once word gets out. Can you people really be so vicious?"
Hearing this, the crowd thought to themselves: indeed, although the Azure Dragon Empire had an open society, people still cared a great deal about a woman's reputation. If this got out, it would probably be very hard for her to ever marry well.
How could Xing Zhenzhen and the other give up? If they didn't unearth "stolen goods," how could the rest of the show go on?
"But..." Xing Zhenzhen wanted to speak, but before she could finish, Xing Beiluo cut her off: "How about this? To prove to everyone that I didn't steal anything, I am willing to let you search."
"Go, go ahead!" Hearing this, Xing Zhenzhen made a prompt and decisive decision, lest Xing Beiluo regret it later.
"Hold on!"
"What? Are you backing out?" She panicked a slightly.
"That's not it. It's just that if you send people to search my courtyard, my reputation will inevitably suffer damage."
Xing Youran sneered: "Hah, a thief who steals dowries—what reputation do you even have left?"
"The search hasn't even started yet, how can you be so certain? Could it be..." Xing Beiluo smiled sweetly as she looked at the two sisters.
She didn't finish the rest of her sentence, but the crowd had already guessed what she wanted to say, and a look of suspicion flashed across their faces.
Seeing that she had laid the groundwork nicely, Xing Beiluo spoke again: "Well then, how about this? If you find anything, I will gladly accept any punishment."
Xing Zhenzhen and Xing Youran exchanged a glance, both seeing gloating satisfaction in each other's eyes. This was exactly what they wanted.
Pretending she hadn't seen anything, Xing Beiluo continued: "...However, if you find nothing at all, you must take out the most precious treasure you carry and give it to me as compensation for my damaged reputation."
"Bah! Shameless wretch, how dare you lust after my treasures!" Hearing this, Xing Youran immediately lost her temper.
"If you don't agree, I won't allow you to search my courtyard," came Xing Beiluo's cold voice. She couldn't be bothered to play word games with them anymore.
Without even thinking, Xing Zhenzhen agreed. "Fine, I agree."
Xing Youran looked at her in disbelief. "Elder sister..."
She scolded in a low voice, "Shut up! She's been too pampered at home, to the point where she acts like she can blot out the sky with one hand. If you refuse to agree with her, we won't be able to search her courtyard at all... Besides," she lowered her voice, "you're the one who hid the stolen goods, how could they not be there? She's just acting so fearless because she thinks she didn't do it."
"...Fine." Xing Youran thought about it and figured it made sense. Once the "stolen goods" were unearthed, Xing Beiluo would be finished and wouldn't possibly get her hands on any of her treasures.
...The servants immediately swarmed around the tree Xiaotao had pointed out and started digging.
Xing Beiluo sneered. Dig all they liked—how could they possibly know? The things they wanted to find were long gone.
Sure enough, after digging carefully for a while, the group of servants didn't find a thing.
They kept digging until they had excavated a half-meter-deep pit, yet there was still nothing.
They exchanged glances, and one of them reported to Xing Zhenzhen, "Third Miss, Fourth Miss, we haven't dug anything up yet. Maybe we got the direction wrong."
Another servant shouted loudly to Xiaotao, "Tell me, Second Miss... which direction was this thing buried in?" Even if the Second Miss had really stolen something, they wouldn't dare say it out loud if it cost them their lives. Keeping their heads attached to their necks was what mattered.
Seeing this scene, Xing Youran lashed out at Xiaotao with a whip in anger: "Why aren't you talking?!"
It infuriated her to no end that these people all had to cater to the whims of that fake; a bunch of good-for-nothings. That shameless wretch actually dared to covet her treasures—such a bitch!
The whip blow immediately drew blood from Xiaotao, who collapsed weakly onto the ground.
Yet how could she possibly know the exact location? Since she had merely been acting under orders, she pointed wildly in a random direction: "This... right here. I didn't see clearly back then, I only remember it being under this tree."
Glancing back up, she saw that the Third Miss wasn't paying attention to her, while the Fourth Miss looked as though she wanted to beat her to death. A chill ran through her heart, and for a moment she didn't know if what she had done was right.
Xing Beiluo tossed a bottle of ointment to her instead. "This is top-grade ointment. Apply it to the wounds, and you'll be fine in no time."
"...Thank you, Second Miss."
Xiaotao thought to herself that the Fourth Miss had always treated human lives like grass, and this Third Miss was just a hypocrite with a Buddha's mouth and a snake's heart. It seemed she would have to plot a way out for herself.