The estate servants dug up the entire area around the tree, practically on the verge of knocking it over.
The servant from earlier came running back to report, "Reporting to the Third Young Miss, nothing."
"Nothing? How can there be nothing? Keep digging! You lazy lot must have missed a spot."
Before Xing Zhenzhen could speak, Xing Youran let out a shrill cry, snapping her whip through the air.
"B-but we've already dug a meter deep. There really is nothing," the servant explained frantically.
"Impossible!" Xing Youran shrieked.
Xing Beiluo wore a half-smile. "Oh? Why are you so certain?"
"I..." She could not come up with a reason.
Xing Zhenzhen immediately tried to smooth things over. "My sister is just anxious, given how many crucial items have gone missing. Look a little longer."
With a dismal expression, the servant said, "We really have been searching for a long time, and the tree is about to collapse..."
"Then maybe Xiaotao remembered incorrectly. Check under the other trees."
The replying servant glanced at Xing Beiluo. Seeing no objection from her, he grunted, "Yes!" and went back to digging.
Before long, the servants had torn up the entire grove.
"Are you satisfied now? Not a single patch of ground in the North Courtyard is left intact, yet you've found nothing," First Madam's voice rang out, carrying a hint of suppressed anger.
The faces of Xing Zhenzhen and Xing Youran shifted from pale to green, and then to dark.
How could there be nothing?
To frame Xing Beiluo, they had planted numerous high-value, priceless treasures—jewelry worth a thousand pieces of gold.
Seizing the opportunity to kick them while they were down, Xing Beiluo asked, "Well? Did you find anything?"
"Nothing? In that case, according to our wager, hand over your most precious weapons to me."
She held out her hand with a beaming smile, as if she could already see piles of money flying her way.
"Don't get cocky! You must have hidden the stuff somewhere else. Men, search this courtyard from top to bottom. Search every single corner!"
Even Xing Zhenzhen lost her composure, snapping the order in a foul mood.
Still, Xing Beiluo made no move to stop them. There was no way they could find anything anyway; this was merely their dying struggle. Besides, she would use this chance to clear her name.
Sure enough, the servants scoured the courtyard inside and out multiple times, yet found absolutely nothing. Those jewels seemed to have vanished into thin air.
Everyone looked at Xing Zhenzhen and Xing Youran suspiciously.
Feeling rather unnerved, Xing Youran quickly turned to her elder sister. "Sister, what's going on?"
"Shut up! How am I supposed to know what's going on?" Xing Zhenzhen was equally baffled.
"Weren't all those pieces of jewelry kept together? How could they just disappear?"
A sudden realization lit up her eyes. "Right! She must have mixed my mother's dowry in with her own jewelry. Since they're all ornaments, of course you couldn't find them if she deliberately mixed them together! Step aside, I'm going to inspect her jewelry."
The most dangerous place was the safest place—how could she not have thought of that sooner?
Perhaps Xing Beiluo had discovered the plot, but how could she have bypassed the heavy guards posted around the outer courtyard? Therefore, in such a short span of time, the places she could hide things were limited.
It had to be this!
Convinced that Xing Beiluo had mixed the dowry into her jewelry, Xing Zhenzhen didn't hesitate. Pulling Xing Youran along, she shoved the maid at the door aside and barged inside.
They both recognized their mother's jewelry. Once they found even a single piece, the crime would be sealed.
However, Xing Beiluo spread her arms, blocking the doorway like a wall, and sternly barred the two girls from entering. "Are you planning to search my bedchamber now? You're going too far!"
Yet Xing Youran and the other girl refused to see it that way.
"You're blocking us like this—don't tell me you really have a guilty conscience? Is Mother's dowry actually with you?"
"I..." Xing Beiluo put on a perfectly calibrated look of nervousness.
Seeing this, the two girls grew even more certain that she was hiding a guilty conscience.
Thus, as stubborn as mules, they relentlessly tried to force their way inside.
Xing Beiluo bit her lips and pushed back with all her might against the aggressive pair. But two fists could not match four hands, and in the end, she failed to stop them. She could only watch helplessly as they squeezed past her and began rummaging wildly through her room.
First Madam spoke up, "They were just too anxious. Please don't hold their discourtesy against them. I will punish them severely later."
Xing Beiluo replied sensibly, "Beiluo won't hold their discourtesy against them." Besides, she would get her hands on their treasures soon enough.
*The thought of what's about to happen is just too funny!* Xing Beiluo chuckled inwardly, watching coldly as the two sisters tore through her piles of jewelry boxes, only to come up empty-handed once again.
"Nothing? How can there be nothing?" Xing Zhenzhen was truly panicked now, her previous certainty utterly shattered.
Realizing the situation was turning south, Xiaotao, who had earlier accused Xing Beiluo, immediately dropped to her knees and began kowtowing loudly. *Thud, thud, thud.* "Second Young Miss, spare me! This servant will confess, this servant will confess to everything!"
"This servant actually... saw nothing at all. It was... it was the Third Young Miss who threatened me, saying if I didn't follow orders, they would kill my entire family. This servant had no choice! I beg the Second Young Miss to spare my life, I beg you to save my family!"
With that, Xiaotao resumed her violent kowtowing, hitting the ground so hard her forehead began to bleed.
"How pitiful."
Everyone in the courtyard felt a pang of sympathy for her—everyone except a certain few.
"You vile wretch, what nonsense are you spouting!" Unable to stomach the truth, Xing Youran whipped out her riding crop and lashed at her.
"Stop!" Xing Zhenzhen barked, moving instantly to block her.
*Fool! If you beat her now, aren't you just confirming our guilt?*
Unfortunately, she was too late to stop Xing Youran. Looking around at the crowd, Xing Zhenzhen saw that every face was filled with shock and resentment.
Everyone had already believed Xiaotao.
Doubts had lingered in people's minds all along, and now that things had reached this point, what was there left not to understand?
As Xing Zhenzhen looked at the expressions around her, she was overwhelmed by bitter regret.
It was over. Today's scheme had failed completely.
Not only had they failed to find the "stolen goods," leaving them under grave suspicion of framing someone, but now the addition of abusing a servant girl completely solidified that suspicion.
Clever as Xing Zhenzhen was, she was ultimately only a twelve-year-old child; even if she wanted to salvage the situation, she had no idea how.
Looking at the dazed Xing Youran and Xing Zhenzhen, First Madam shook her head. "Zhen, Moran, your actions today have truly disappointed everyone. Go back to your rooms and reflect on yourselves. Tomorrow morning, I will tell the Old Madam everything that happened here."
Hearing this, Xing Beiluo breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, most people in the General's Estate were upright and kind—unlike Second Madam's family, who wanted nothing more than to chase her out.
By now, the faces of Xing Zhenzhen and Xing Youran had drained of all color.
"You broke into my courtyard in the middle of the night to wreak havoc. I'll let it slide, treating it as childish mischief. But according to our wager, hand over your precious items," Xing Beiluo said, seizing the moment.
Xing Youran shrieked, "I won't give them to you! What right does an impostor like you have to demand my treasures?"
Hearing this, First Madam flew into a rage. "To talk back to your eldest sister—what incredible audacity! Someone, take the Fourth Young Miss to the Ancestral Hall to reflect on her misdeeds!"
Disregarding Xing Youran's tears and pleas, she forcefully snatched the whip from her hand and passed it over to Xing Beiluo.
Seeing how things stood and knowing she could not escape, Xing Zhenzhen could only obediently hand over her own prized possession: a treasured sword.
Just as Xing Youran was about being hauled away, Xing Beiluo spoke up: "First Madam, there's no need to punish her."
"Ah, Luo, you are far too kind-hearted."
"Once Grandmother finds out tomorrow, they will receive the punishment they deserve."