Forced to be a third person: I turned around and left the palace to marry a villain

"But my granddaughter accidentally sprained her foot a few days ago, and the imperial physician told her not to walk too much. Could you please ask Sister Changle to bring the gift to me?"

Sprained ankle? Jiang Xue glanced at her ankle. She was still alive and kicking when she came in. How could she have sprained it? She suddenly said this and asked herself to get something. There must be something fishy going on.

"Oh, how could you be so careless? Sit down quickly, don't make the injury worse." The Queen Mother felt distressed when she heard that her granddaughter was injured. She quickly asked someone to help her sit down, and then said to Jiang Xue: "Changle, please come for me."

"No problem, it's a small matter, I'll be back soon." Jiang Xue agreed with a smile and left with the maid.

Chen Xiner also stood up, and when she walked past Xiao Min's desk, the two exchanged a meaningful look.

Soon, Jiang Xue came up with a gift. The large tray was covered with red silk. Although it was difficult to see what was inside, judging from the outline, it should be a set of jewelry.

"Grandmother, these are the top-grade icy jadeite that Caiwei specially selected and had the masters of the treasure house carefully carve into jewelry, including bracelets, phoenix hairpins, earrings, rings, and forehead ornaments. They symbolize good fortune and prosperity!"

Xiao Min's words were pleasant to hear. Who doesn't like to hear auspicious words at a birthday party!

"Good, good, Caiwei is really thoughtful." The Queen Mother was overjoyed when she heard this. She immediately asked Jiang Xue to present the gift and impatiently unveiled the red silk.

But as soon as the red silk was removed, the old lady's face instantly turned gloomy, like a dark cloud pressing down on her head, extremely terrifying!

"Fourth brother, the Empress Dowager's expression suddenly became so scary!"

Xiao Yun's heart tightened. Once the usually kind-hearted imperial grandmother got angry, no one could stop her.

What he feared most was the Empress Dowager’s anger!

"Let's take a look at the situation first." Xiao Zhan restrained the smile on his face and his expression became a little more serious.

He had a feeling that Jiang Xue might be in trouble. His eyes were fixed on the beautiful woman with a straight back, and a trace of worry flashed in his eyes.

"Changle, is there any story behind this?"

The Queen Mother raised her eyes, looked at Jiang Xue, whose expression was as calm as water, and questioned in a serious tone.

The jewelry on the plate was indeed made of jade, but only three of them were top-grade ice jade. The remaining two were quietly replaced with inferior glutinous ice jade!

Ice type and glutinous ice type look similar at first glance, but an expert can tell them apart at a glance!

As a supreme figure for many years, the Queen Mother has seen all kinds of rare things and can identify the high and low grades of jade at a glance!

Jiang Xue glanced at the five pieces of jewelry in front of her, picked up the ring and forehead ornament and examined them carefully, confirming that they were indeed of the glutinous ice type.

She was the princess of Ji State, a country rich in resources and prosperous in business. She had seen countless expensive items like these, so how could she make a mistake!

Humph! She had expected that Xiao Min's move was a trap, and thought that trouble would come on the way to get the gift, but she didn't expect the trap to be here.

Just when the Queen Mother was full of expectations, she was met with such cold water, which would make anyone unhappy.

Besides, she was the one who took the gift, and since the item was replaced, she was naturally the biggest suspect!

Xiao Min wanted to use the Queen Mother's hand to push her into eternal damnation by charging her with stealing royal property!

"What's wrong with the Imperial Grandmother? Why are you so angry all of a sudden? Is it because Caiwei's gift is not to your liking?"

Xiao Min was secretly happy in his heart, but pretended to be terrified on his face. With Xiyan's support, he moved forward to check the items on the plate.

"Oh my! The birthday gift was actually switched! Caiwei clearly prepared an icy jadeite for the Imperial Grandmother! Where did this icy jadeite come from? It was fine when Caiwei brought it into the palace! How come it went wrong when it came into Sister Changle's hands!"

Everything he said hinted that it was Jiang Xue's doing!

"Changle, don't you have anything to say?" The Queen Mother's face was gloomy to the extreme!

The kind smile she had shown to Jiang Xue disappeared. She clenched her palms tightly, trembling as she waited for Jiang Xue's response.

Although she liked Jiang Xue, she would never tolerate her if she really did such a despicable thing!

"Empress Dowager, Changle has not done anything with the birthday gift since he received it from the Emperor."

Jiang Xue spoke softly at the meeting, neither fast nor slow, appearing calm and composed.

The Queen Mother looked at Jiang Xue carefully. Her eyes were clear and there was no flickering. She didn't seem to be lying. Seeing her so calm, the Queen Mother's anger eased a lot.

"Sister Changle, if you really hadn't touched them, how could these jewellery become like this?"

Xiao Min didn't intend to let Jiang Xue go easily, and sneered in his heart: Jiang Xue, do you think you can get away with just one sentence? You underestimate me, the princess!

"As soon as the jewelry came into the palace, Caiwei gave it to the housekeeper. It was confirmed by the Treasury Department that it was all top-quality icy jadeite. It was in good condition when it was delivered, but how come it changed when it came into Sister Changle's hands? No one except you has touched this gift!"

"Yes, I can testify! From beginning to end, only Princess Changle has come into contact with this birthday gift!"

Chen Xiner followed suit and pointed at Jiang Xue.

"Humph! How dare a princess of a country be so unpresentable!"

Xiao Li snorted coldly and cast a contemptuous look at Jiang Xue.

"I've heard that Princess Changle is short of money and doesn't even have money to reward her servants. She must have seen that there will be something good at the Royal Grandmother's birthday banquet today and had some evil intentions!"

Xiao Li had been unhappy with Jiang Xue for a long time! Ever since she embarrassed Wang Changqing at the poetry meeting and caused him to lose a helper, he wanted to teach her a lesson!

Today she was plotted against by Xiao Min, so Xiao Li naturally would not miss this good opportunity!

"Oh my, a princess who looks well-educated and well-mannered actually does such a shameful thing. It really brings shame to the royal family of Ji State!"

"I thought Princess Changle was so gentle and refined, but it turns out she's still wild and unruly at heart!"

"Stealing royal jewels is a serious crime! Tsk tsk, you are so young, but you don't learn your lesson."

Xiao Li's men immediately fanned the flames, talking a lot and pointing fingers at Jiang Xue.

Xiao Zhan was about to speak for Jiang Xue, but he saw her raise the corner of her mouth and look up:

"Fifth Princess, are you sure this jewelry was intact when it entered the palace?"

Xiao Min was stunned for a moment when Jiang Xue asked him this, then nodded firmly: "Of course, Caiwei guarantees it with the princess's reputation! The birthday gift will be absolutely intact when it enters the palace!"

She didn't believe that Jiang Xue could come up with any tricks under the circumstances!

"Your Highness Prince Li, your people are all at the entrance of the venue. Can you ask Changle to confirm whether anyone has left since picking up the gifts?"

Xiao Li frowned. What tricks is this woman playing?

In front of the Queen Mother, he had to respond, so he responded casually: "No problem!"

Jiang Xue lowered her head and said calmly, "Queen Mother, if what the Fifth Princess and His Royal Highness Prince Li said is true, then the thief who stole the jewelry should still be at the venue. The lost jade must be in his possession. As long as he finds it, I can prove my innocence."

"Sister, do you want us all to strip and search our bodies?" Xiao Min said with a sarcastic smile, "Grandmother, this is against the rules! Everyone present is a prominent figure, how can we just do a body search as you said?"