Madam Zhao hurriedly covered Yunmeng's mouth. "A child's nonsense, the Princess Consort must not take it seriously!"
Yunmeng pulled Madam Zhao's hand away, extremely angry.
"Mother, I'm not speaking nonsense. Grandmother clearly said it would be saved for my dowry in the future!"
Madam Zhao hurriedly comforted her daughter. "You saw it wrong. This isn't that one. Your grandmother is keeping that one for you!"
Yunmeng was a little confused. "Really?"
"Really, really. If you don't believe me, you can go back and ask your grandmother!"
Madam Zhao coaxed her daughter.
Yunxi tugged at Madam Lin's sleeve. "Grandmother didn't say she would give it to Seventh Sister. She only said that it has a good meaning and would make a nice dowry."
Yunjing also nodded beside them.
"Exactly, my sister and I were both there! Grandmother never said she was leaving it for Seventh Sister!"
"It was Seventh Sister who heard Grandmother say it had a good meaning and insisted that Grandmother give it to her, but Grandmother didn't agree."
Madam Lin glared at her two daughters. Weren't they just adding to the chaos?
Sure enough, Yunmeng was unhappy.
"Mother, Grandmother clearly promised me that she would leave it for my dowry. You were there too!"
After Yunmeng finished speaking, she looked at Duoduo very angrily.
Duoduo held the jade Buddha's hand, not knowing whether to put it down or hold onto it.
The Princess Consort of Pingyang gently patted Duoduo's hand.
"Lianxin, go and bring the sandalwood box from my dressing table."
"Yes." Lianxin walked out quickly.
A moment later, Lianxin returned, carrying a red sandalwood box.
The Princess Consort of Pingyang took the box, opened it, and handed it to Duoduo.
"What kind do you like? Just take whatever you want!"
As soon as the box was opened, Madam Lin and her two daughters, who were closest to them, were stunned.
"Wow! So many Buddha's hands! So pretty!"
Yunjing was the first to cry out.
A look of envy also appeared in Yunxi's eyes.
Duoduo's mouth opened wide, and she turned her head to look at the Princess Consort of Pingyang.
"These are all things I bought for fun when I had nothing to do. I originally wanted to give them to you when you grew up a little."
"However, since you like them, there's no harm in giving them to you now."
Duoduo put the jade Buddha's hand she was holding back into the chest.
Then, she took out a larger one from the box, looked at it, and took out a super small one.
Putting the two together, they formed a charming contrast.
"Mother, how do you have so many Buddha's hands?" Duoduo was very curious.
"Because I like them. I saw them, liked them, so I bought them," the Princess Consort of Pingyang said casually.
Madam Zhao's face flushed bright red. She understood that her aunt was angry.
"Oh, right, this one has a different meaning. This was bestowed by His Majesty."
The Princess Consort of Pingyang pointed to the largest one in Duoduo's hand.
Duoduo looked at it. Aside from being big, she didn't quite understand what was so different about it.
Madam Lin, who was standing to the side, understood clearly.
Every single Buddha's hand in the Princess Consort of Pingyang's box was more precious than the one her mother-in-law had given.
Come to think of it, no matter how down and out the Prince of Pingyang was, he was still a prince.
A starved camel is still bigger than a horse. Even a single hair plucked from the prince was thicker than their waists.
Her third sister-in-law was just shallow and short-sighted.
The child she raised was exactly the same.
Madam Lin now somewhat regretted bringing the third daughter-in-law along.
No wonder the second daughter-in-law immediately fell ill as soon as she heard the third daughter-in-law was coming.
She had wondered at the time, not coming on such an important day, wasn't the third daughter-in-law afraid of offending their aunt?
Now it seemed that the second daughter-in-law was the smartest one.
Madam Lin braced herself and smiled at the Princess Consort of Pingyang.
"The jade quality of these jade Buddha's hands of yours is truly excellent, sister. They look so translucent."
The Princess Consort of Pingyang saw that Yunxi and Yunjing were both looking curiously at the jade Buddha's hands in the box.
She casually picked up two suitably sized ones and stuffed them into the hands of the two children.
"Take them and play with them. Auntie has plenty of these, I've even thrown away quite a few."
Yunxi hurriedly pulled Yunjing to bow and thank the Princess Consort of Pingyang.
Yunmeng, who was standing to the side, saw that her two older sisters both had one, but she alone did not.
Yunmeng bit her lip, unwilling to accept it.
Why did Yunxi and Yunjing both get one, and her aunt deliberately left her out?
It was all because of her aunt's adopted daughter!
Just now, if she hadn't gotten into an argument with her, her aunt wouldn't have treated her so differently!
Yunmeng was very angry and glared resentfully at Duoduo.
Duoduo sensed the malice in Yunmeng's eyes, so she deliberately ignored her.
"Mother, since I have so many Buddha's hands now, should I still keep this one?"
Duoduo looked at the Princess Consort of Pingyang.
"This is a token of your grandmother's affection. Since she sent it, we will accept it."
"When we have some free time another day, Mother will take you back, and you can kowtow to your grandmother to thank her for her kindness."
"Okay!" Duoduo nodded obediently.
Madam Lin immediately broke into a smile. "That's wonderful, Princess Consort. When will you be going back? Your sister-in-law will arrange for someone to pick you up."
The Princess Consort of Pingyang shook her head.
"There's no need for so much trouble. Once I've made the arrangements, I'll send you a message, sister-in-law."
"Alright, alright, alright!"
Madam Lin was very happy.
While they were talking, other female guests entered the manor.
The Princess Consort of Pingyang was busy receiving the other female guests and suddenly couldn't pay much attention to Duoduo.
Because of Yunxi's defense just now, Duoduo naturally started playing with the two sisters, Yunxi and Yunjing.
Yunmeng saw that the adults were all busy socializing and no one was paying attention to her.
The red sandalwood box that the Princess Consort of Pingyang had brought out earlier was sitting right on the side table.
Yunmeng blinked her eyes. Making up her mind, she began to carefully approach the side table.
She really liked the jade Buddha's hands too much.
However, Grandmother had clearly said she would save one for her, but then turned around and gave it to an outsider.
Moreover, the Princess Consort of Pingyang clearly had so many jade Buddha's hands, yet she didn't share even one with her.
She was unwilling to accept it!
Yunmeng crouched down and carefully took small steps, approaching the box from behind the side table.
She finally managed to get close to the side table, but just as she was about to stand up, she suddenly heard voices.
"I heard that the daughter the Princess Consort adopted is the jinx of the Song family."
"No way, that child looks very obedient!"
"Of course she has to be obedient, otherwise, how could she deceive the Prince and the Princess Consort?"
"That's impossible, I heard that His Majesty even issued an imperial edict."
"His Majesty issued an edict? To let the Prince of Pingyang adopt a jinx?" The person speaking sounded so surprised that her voice cracked.
"Yes, shh, stop talking, lest the Princess Consort hears us."
Yunmeng heard a burst of footsteps walking away.
She crawled out from under the side table and saw the retreating backs of several officials' wives.
Yunmeng rolled her eyes thoughtfully.
Then, she saw that at the very top of the box lay the jade Buddha's hand that the Princess Consort of Pingyang had said was bestowed by the Emperor.
An idea suddenly popped into Yunmeng's mind.
She stood on her tiptoes and reached out to grab the jade Buddha's hand.
"What are you doing?"
A voice suddenly came from behind Yunmeng.
Yunmeng was so startled that her whole body trembled. The jade Buddha's hand slipped from her grasp and fell toward the ground.
