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Wu Sao hadn’t reacted at first. Only later did she realize what Madam Guan and Miss Guan had meant, so now she rushed to twist Guan Xuxu’s accusations into something that sounded like a reasonable misunderstanding.
Sure enough, the moment those words left her lips, Jiang Suo—who had overheard—immediately assumed there was some hidden story behind it. The look he cast at Guan Xuxu brimmed with open disgust.
“You’re really too petty. Wu Sao didn’t even do anything to you. Was it worth making such a fuss? It’s only your first day here and already you’re stirring up trouble—you’re nothing but a—”
The words home-wrecker hadn’t even made it out when a cool, steady voice cut in, carrying a faint weight of authority.
“Jiang Suo.”
Just those two words made him clamp his mouth shut. Glancing toward his eldest Cousin, he saw the smile on that face had gone cold. At once he shrank back, not daring to speak again, though the dissatisfaction in his eyes toward Guan Xuxu hadn’t lessened in the slightest.
With Jiang Suo having spoken up for her, Wu Sao’s confidence soared. She straightened her back, her expression filled with the righteous indignation of someone wrongly accused.
“If Xiaojie doesn’t believe me, she can have someone search my room! I live with a clear conscience. I’ve got nothing to hide! Even if I am just a maid doing chores, I can’t let myself be slandered so unfairly!”
The commotion had grown so loud that the villa’s servants and the butler all gathered nearby, though none dared step too close.
From a distance they caught bits and pieces of the quarrel. Instinctively, they began to harbor resentment toward the newly arrived Xiaojie.
They had heard she came from a wealthy family, raised with the best education. Yet now she seemed aloof, looking down on people like them—mere housekeepers and servants.
No one likes to be looked down upon. Inevitably, their first impression of this Xiaojie who had just moved in soured.
Jiang Yucheng, of course, noticed the way the servants were eyeing Guan Xuxu. His face hardened as he turned his gaze toward her, ready to put an end to this farce.
But just then, Guan Xuxu finally spoke again. Her tone was calm and unhurried.
“When did I ever say she stole money?”
The words dropped, leaving everyone present momentarily stunned.
Jiang Suo was the first to lose patience.
“You just said yourself that Wu Sao stole money, and now you’re denying it?”
Guan Xuxu gave him a sidelong glance.
“What I said was that she stole the Jiang family’s fortune.”
The accusation of stealing money had come from Lu Xuexi, standing off to the side.
Whether she had said it to mislead everyone or had merely summarized carelessly, the effect was the same—everyone’s thoughts had been steered in the wrong direction.
“Stealing fortune and directly stealing money are two entirely different matters.”
At the very least, a search wouldn’t turn up anything.
That was precisely why the other party had dared to act so brazen earlier, openly insisting she had nothing to fear from being searched.
Jiang Suo, however, only grew more confused, his expression tangled. “How could anyone steal fortune? Stop spouting such mystical nonsense—it’s obviously just a trick to scare people.”
At that, Jiang Huai’s gaze flicked toward him again, cool and sharp, carrying an unmistakable warning.
Even if Xuxu was bluffing, so what? With her identity, what harm was there in letting her bluff a little?
Besides, something about her calm and steady demeanor stirred a faint conviction in Jiang Huai’s heart that she wasn’t lying at all.
In the circles of the wealthy, metaphysics and fate were not uncommon topics of respect—even Jianghai Group kept ties with several well-known Feng Shui masters.
But his own younger sister… only eighteen years old—could she really understand such things?
Though suspicion lingered in Jiang Huai’s heart, he didn’t share the others’ conviction that Guan Xuxu was simply making things up.
Guan Xuxu could not be bothered to waste more words on the youth beside her—likely her younger Cousin—so she turned her gaze back to Wu Sao instead. Suddenly, she lifted her hand and pointed toward a spot.
“What did you bury over there?”
Her finger was aimed at the corner of the garden, right at a flowerbed—the very place Wu Sao’s eyes had unconsciously flicked toward earlier when she’d been distracted at work.
Wu Sao had already been feeling uneasy. Now, seeing Guan Xuxu point with such accuracy, her heart skipped violently, a chill of sweat breaking across her forehead.
Impossible. Impossible.
She… she actually knows…?
How could this be?
Jiang Yucheng caught the flicker of panic in Wu Sao’s reaction, and in that instant, his suspicions solidified. He turned his head and signaled to the butler. “Go.”
The butler had already been curious. Receiving the order, he strode quickly toward the spot Guan Xuxu had indicated.
Those gathered, driven by their own curiosity, moved along with him to the flowerbed.
Most followed out of interest; Jiang Suo, however, was all skepticism, his expression clearly saying, Let’s see what you think you’ll prove.
At Guan Xuxu’s direction, the butler stopped before a certain flower, then crouched down without a word. With a small trowel in hand, he began digging into the soil.
As the earth was turned, Wu Sao’s face blanched. Her legs grew weak beneath her, but with everyone’s attention fixed on the butler, no one noticed.
The soil in the flowerbed was regularly tended, so it was easy to dig. Within just a few strokes, a small pit appeared. Then, with a faint clink, the trowel struck against something solid. The butler’s eyes lit up at once.
“Found it!”
The butler spoke as his small trowel unearthed a black plastic-wrapped bundle. The wrapping was tightly sealed. He reached out, peeling away the outer plastic layer.
The instant it was opened, everyone nearby recoiled—the stench that seeped out from the paper package inside was foul and nauseating.
The butler’s expression shifted at once. Fighting the urge to gag, he raised his hand to pick it up, but Guan Xuxu’s voice suddenly rang out.
“Don’t touch it.”
All eyes turned toward her. Guan Xuxu stepped forward, producing a yellow talisman from somewhere, and pressed it onto the paper package.
Whether it was their imagination or not, everyone clearly saw the paper covering blacken and wither the moment the talisman touched it.
The butler glanced again at Guan Xuxu. At her nod, he carefully reached out, gloved hand lifting the paper package and gently unfolding it.
Inside was red paper, the kind typically used in temples for writing birth dates and divinations. But as the sheet spread open, it revealed several sets of shengchen bazi—the Eight Characters of Destiny—written as if in blood. The blood had long since dried into a blackish crust, still giving off a rancid odor.
Along with the paper were several strands of hair, and a talisman inscribed with strange, ominous symbols.
The sight was sinister beyond doubt. Clearly, it had been buried here on purpose. Paired with Guan Xuxu’s earlier words, there was no mistaking what these things had been used for.
The only question was whether such things could truly steal fortune.
Jiang Suo, watching as something real had actually been dug up, wore an expression of disbelief. He turned sharply toward Wu Sao.
Wu Sao’s lips trembled, her face etched with panic. “N-no, it wasn’t me who buried it! I’ve never seen these things before… Young Master, xiaojie, you must believe me…”
Jiang Suo opened his mouth to speak again, but Guan Xuxu’s voice cut across, cool and steady.
“Whether it was you or not, the surveillance around the villa will show the truth.”
She had already noted earlier that the Jiang family’s surveillance cameras covered nearly every corner of the grounds. Uncovering the truth would not be difficult.
“The Stealing Fortune Talisman must be written in the blood of the one channeling it—in this case, yours. And the hair inside belongs to members of the Jiang family. Through the Jiang family’s bloodline, it siphons away their fortune. Am I wrong?”
At those words, Wu Sao’s whole body shuddered. Her face turned deathly pale, and she collapsed heavily onto the ground.
With her reaction laid bare, there was no longer any doubt in anyone’s mind—the package had been buried by her.
As for the hair, Wu Sao had been working in the Jiang household for years—getting hold of a strand or two from any family member would have been the easiest thing in the world.
The only question was which unlucky one it had been taken from.
“E-even if she really buried it, that still doesn’t prove she stole anyone’s fortune. Maybe it was just—” Jiang Suo was still stubbornly refusing to admit defeat, clinging to his denial.
But Jiang Huai’s peach blossom eyes swept over him, cold and cutting.
“Shut up. Don’t make me say it a third time.”