Chapter 3: The Locksmith Talks

The locksmith arrived within half an hour. Wanzhao had quietly sent her trusted maid, Xiaotao, to find him before the “trial” began. It was a decision she made on the instinct of someone who had written hundreds of investigative pieces: to overturn a staged story, you have to secure the witness before the other side can silence them.

Trembling, the locksmith testified that yesterday afternoon, besides fixing the window locks, he had been personally told by Madam Song “not to tell anyone” that she had gone into Miaomiao’s room to check the cabinet.

The mood in the drawing room flipped instantly.

Madam Song paled and hurried to explain. “I’m her stepmother. I went into my stepdaughter’s room to see if anything was amiss. What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing,” Wanzhao nodded, her tone still mild. “But, Mother, you ‘happened’ to go in on the very day the bracelet disappeared, and you told the locksmith to keep quiet. That doesn’t look like an accident. It looks more like it was planned.”

Master Qiao looked at his second wife, and for the first time his gaze visibly wavered.

Miaomiao quickly stepped forward. “Second Sister, don’t accuse Mother falsely…”

“I never said Mother hid the bracelet,” Wanzhao cut in, turning to look her half-sister straight in the eye, her gaze slicing through that fragile shell. “I’m only asking: if this was all a misunderstanding, why did neither of you want to find the truth, and only wanted to blame me as fast as possible?”

No one could answer that.

Wanzhao knew she couldn’t bring anyone down completely today, but she had done the most important thing: she had planted a seed of doubt in Master Qiao’s heart. In a family run on interests and face, doubt was the most lasting weapon of all.