Dream of the Red Chamber: I can see the hidden labels of the beauties.

Banmei was quite pleased to see Jia Can obediently take out the antique, assuming that her words had worked. She thought to herself, "He's still scared after all."

He snorted, reached out and snatched it, a smug smile playing on his lips:

"Hmph, that's more like it. If you had been this sensible earlier, I wouldn't have had to waste my breath."

After saying that, he turned and left arrogantly with the antique in his hand. When he reached the door, he deliberately turned back and gave Jia Can a contemptuous look before walking away.

Jia Can stood still, his expression calm, watching Banmei leave, but a cold glint flashed in his eyes, filled with a murderous indifference, as if he were looking at a dead man.

After a while, he slowly withdrew his gaze, sat back down by the window, picked up the book on the table, and continued to read it, as if nothing had happened.

Banmei held the antique as if she had obtained some incredible treasure. She walked with her head held high and her steps hurried, clutching it to her chest as if afraid that someone would snatch it away.

Passing through the covered walkway and around the artificial hill, he went straight to Jia Zhen's main room. Upon reaching the door, he put on a fawning smile, stepped over the threshold, and approached Jia Zhen, presenting the item with both hands, his expression full of smug satisfaction.

"Master, these are the antiques that Second Master Can bought."

He wanted to tell Jia Zhen about Jia Can's unusual behavior today, but he held back the words.

Thinking to himself, he figured it wouldn't be too late to say anything after Jia Zhen had finished looking at the antiques and was in a better mood. He could then add fuel to the fire and say a few more words to make Jia Zhen hate Jia Can even more, and might even punish Jia Can severely.

When Jia Zhen saw her carrying things in, he seemed quite expectant and reached out to take them.

In a few quick movements, the outer paper wrapping was removed, revealing only a wooden box inside.

The box is well-made, made of high-quality wood, with smooth and rounded edges. There are also a few simple patterns engraved on the lid, and it looks quite old.

But when I opened the box, it was completely empty; there was nothing inside.

Jia Zhen, after all, was a hereditary nobleman, and had seen many fine things, including antiques, calligraphy and paintings, and precious jade artifacts.

He could tell at a glance that although the wooden box was well-made, it had nothing to do with antiques; it was just an ordinary container, probably not even worth a tael of silver.

Feeling immediately mocked, his face darkened, and he slammed the wooden box heavily on the table, staring at Banmei and demanding:

"Are you sure this is the antique he bought?"

Banmei was all smiles, waiting for Jia Zhen to praise her for handling things well, but she never expected Jia Zhen to suddenly change his expression.

Startled, the smile on his face froze, and he hurriedly replied:

"Reporting to...Master, I am certain. I saw him take it out with my own eyes. You saw it too. The packaging is intact and it hasn't been opened yet. There's no mistake."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Jia Zhen slammed his hand on the table, his eyes wide with anger, and shouted sternly:

"You shameless servant girl, how dare you deceive the master! And you still dare to argue!"

Banmei was completely stunned, her face turning deathly pale. She didn't know what she had done wrong, and quickly forced a smile.

"Master, this servant...this servant doesn't understand what you mean. This servant is utterly loyal to you, how could I dare to deceive you?"

Jia Zhen stared at her, sneered, and pointed at the wooden box, saying:

"It's all over the manor that Jia Can bought two antiques today, one of which is priceless and a rare treasure."

"Why did you only bring one item? And it's just a worthless, broken box. Did you intercept the other one and secretly keep it for yourself? Tell me!"

Upon hearing this, Banmei's face turned deathly pale, as if she had been doused with a bucket of ice water. Her heart turned cold, her legs went weak, and she collapsed to her knees with a thud. Her whole body trembled, cold sweat poured down her forehead, and she cried out repeatedly, "I am innocent!"

"My lord, you are right. That's not true at all. Second Master Can only gave me this one item. I saw it with my own eyes. There is absolutely no other one."

"How could this servant dare to keep Master's things for herself? I wouldn't dare even if I had a hundred lives!"

Jia Zhen flew into a rage, abruptly stood up from the kang (a heated brick bed), kicked her in the chest, and pointed at her while cursing:

"You vile woman, how dare you try to deny it? Everyone in the manor is talking about it, how could it be false?"

"That coward Jia Can is utterly useless. He wouldn't dare lie to me even if he had ten times the courage. It must have been you, you lowly servant, who coveted that priceless antique and then tried to fool me with this broken box!"

Banmei was kicked so hard that she felt a sharp pain in her chest and fell to the ground, clutching the spot where she had been kicked, tears streaming down her face, too painful to speak.

Unable to defend myself, I felt dizzy and had nowhere to express my grievances.

She couldn't understand how Jia Zhen had found out that Jia Can had bought two antiques. How come she hadn't heard a thing?

She saw Jia Can with her own eyes that he only brought that one item back with him, so where did the second one come from?

Moreover, she did only get one item from Jia Can, but Jia Zhen didn't believe her at all. The more she explained, the more Jia Zhen felt that she was denying it and that she was guilty.

She trembled all over, then suddenly seemed to remember something, quickly scrambled to her feet, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed repeatedly, crying out her innocence:

"I'm innocent, sir! I really didn't do it! Even if I had a thousand times the courage, and a thousand times the wrongdoing, I wouldn't dare to deceive you!"

"Someone must be spreading rumors, deliberately trying to frame me. It must be Second Master Can! He's acting like a completely different person today, speaking in a sarcastic and insinuating way. He must have set a trap for me!"

However, Jia Zhen simply did not believe that Jia Can would dare to lie, nor did he believe that Jia Can would dare to disobey his instructions.

In his eyes, Jia Can was nothing but a cowardly, weak, and incompetent good-for-nothing who wouldn't even dare to breathe loudly in front of him, let alone dare to play such tricks.

Convinced that Banmei had secretly kept the priceless antique, he then angrily rebuked her:

"Frame you? You think you're worthy of being framed? A lowly maid dares to covet what belongs to me, you're courting death!"

As he spoke, he sternly ordered towards the door:

"Guards, drag this greedy wretch away and give her a good beating. Let's see if she dares to argue again. Beat her until she tells the truth!"

"Go back to her residence and search carefully. If you find anything of value, bring it to me. Don't miss a single item."

Banmei was so terrified that she collapsed to the ground, crying and begging for mercy.

"Master, spare me! Master, spare me! I really didn't..."

Before she could finish speaking, two burly old women rushed in, grabbed her arms on either side, and dragged her out like a dead dog.

Banmei struggled and cried out, even kicking off one of her shoes, but she couldn't break free and was quickly dragged out of the room.

Before long, her pitiful cries echoed through the courtyard, one after another, accompanied by the sound of being beaten with a cane, reverberating throughout the Ningguo Mansion, sending chills down one's spine.