C116
With the mention of the Lady Zou, Xie Jingxi understood the crux of the matter. The reason why the Zhang Family was so bent on reaching the top of the Second Prince, was naturally because she had to build good relations with the Shen Family, and the reason why the Marquis Mansion was so dirty like the Shen Family, was no wonder Mrs. Zhang was so angry, in truth, Xie Jingxi was also completely implicated and had nothing to do with her at all. However, since the Zhang Family was so unhappy, why did she come here today?
"She should have been invited by the Aunt Fang. When she was in her room, she was very close with Miss Zhang Family." The Lady Zou continued to pull her along and chat, "So that's why our Aunt Fang is not simple, we already know to pave the way for the future. Even though we know what the Zhang Family is thinking, we still invited them.
As expected, the water in the noble circle is only deeper, Xie Jingxi thought, if she were to go out and socialize with others later on, she would need to be more cautious about it, and might unknowingly offend others. On the other hand, in the Lady Zou, although the Fu Family's position was not that high, but they could still be well-liked in the circles of these wives.
"How have you been? "Are you busy at home?" Xie Jingxi asked.
"Isn't it just like that? A few days ago, Fourth Miss gave birth to a son, and I went to take a look, then I gathered some things and gave it a look."
"Oh? That is a good thing, how is Fourth Miss doing? "
"It was born quite smoothly, just that the living conditions in the house are different from before. There are many missing items, but the child was born healthy and strong, it was just that it needs Fourth Miss to feed it."
Counting it, she could be considered to be the eldest grandson of the emperor. If not for the crown prince losing his power, he would be considered extremely impressive, but unfortunately, he was also destined to die. In the end, the second wife and the Fourth Miss did not have that kind of fortune. However, since the Former Crown Prince had the emperor as his grandson, it was hard to say whether the His Majesty would be soft-hearted or not.
Of course, the inside of the Marquis Mansion was not as peaceful as before. Ever since the accident with the Yuecao Hall, Gu Heng almost had no home, and the Shen Family didn't give any room for retreat at all. Helpless, the Yuecao Hall had closed down a few branches of families in the northwest, allowing the Shen Family to calm down a bit. After all, it was impossible for Shen Maotian to come to the Marquis Mansion to pay with his life, so as long as his little son died innocently, he could only vent his anger on the Yuecao Hall and indirectly find some trouble with the Marquis Mansion.
However, they had indeed gotten themselves into trouble, the Yuecao Hall had shrunk a lot, and the losses were extremely heavy, but under such circumstances, the Aunt Fang actually urged the Lady Zeng to check their debts.
During Lady Zeng's birthday banquet, she had invited a lot of ladies who were on good terms with him and praised Aunt Fang to the skies, saying that the birthday banquet was organized in a very magnificent way, that the Aunt Fang was capable and virtuous, and that she was the mistress of the Marquis Mansion. Lady Zeng, on the other hand, had received some face, so she had begun to praise for Aunt Fang, and had even left Xie Jingxi to the side.
When Aunt Fang transferred the Marquis Mansion's account book, she was able to tell that there was a problem. Different from Xie Jingxi, since she was young, she had learned how to be a butler, so the matter of settling accounts was not a problem. After carefully looking at the accounts for a year or two, she naturally saw through the problem.
It could be said that Lady Zeng was the housekeeper for the past few years, her energy was limited, all the small matters were given to Senior Servant Liu and the other manager lady, of course it had nothing to do with Xie Jingxi, the reason why Aunt Fang did this was purely to show off her skills, and to compare it with Grand Mistress's ability which was limited.
Aunt Fang said so to Lady Zeng. "Madam, look at this, it's really shocking, who knows how many assets these mothers have secretly coveted from their Marquis Mansion, it's a waste that you trust them so much, and actually did such a deceptive thing, not to mention that the Grand Mistress has a gentle personality, she probably wouldn't be able to suppress them, when she takes over, she definitely doesn't dare check the debts, maybe she knows, and purposely did good things for her reputation, and all these mothers are saying that the Grand Mistress is kind, but the team you have single-handedly nurtured, in less than a year, they actually went to the Grand Mistress."
Lady Zeng's face dropped when she heard this, of course she did not know what was up with the accounts. She was the dignified Madam Marquis Mansion, obviously, she could not go covet her own property, so the property was naturally left behind by her subordinates. Just this point was enough for Lady Zeng to make up her mind to check the accounts, not to mention, Aunt Fang's words did not forget to arrange the Grand Mistress's butler to take advantage of them, who knows, she might not even be able to manage it, but in less than a year, her household expenses were already several times more than in the past.
Furthermore, at the critical juncture of the incident with the Yuecao Hall, his Marquis Mansion had decreased by thirty percent, and under him, he had raised another batch of worms. Also, he also had a daughter-in-law who did not know how to take care of things, which, without a doubt, made the situation even worse.
The Lady Zeng wanted to check the debts, but she did not notify Xie Jingxi, the Sect Leader's daughter-in-law. It was obvious that they were defending her from the beginning.
Fang Dai saw that she was free so she helped Xie Jingxi settle the accounts outside. Gu Yun had given most of the businesses to Xie Jingxi to take care of, so she was busier than ever, and she had no time to care about the insignificant Marquis Mansion.
Fang Dai said: "I never thought that Aunt Fang still had some ability, to actually let her see through the scheme in the account book. I wonder what kind of results she'll find out with this investigation."
Xie Jingxi was afraid that she would not be able to find anything interesting, "Did Li Zhangfang make any movements?"
The Aunt Fang gave me whatever she wanted, it was coordinated very well. I saw that Wang Fu family had a lot of opinions, and secretly whispered to them, saying that the Aunt Fang was very generous, and wanted to cause trouble the moment they entered the door.
Her hands and feet were not clean in the first place, and the fact that Xie Jingxi was able to take care of it for her did not mean that the Aunt Fang was willing. Seeing that the Aunt Fang was about to settle the score completely, how could the old manager lady be willing to let it be, the Lady Zeng was even trying to support the Aunt Fang in all seriousness. Not long later, the people under the Lady Zeng would be replaced by the people of the Aunt Fang, and the entire Marquis Mansion would be in the Aunt Fang's hands.
"I find Young Mistress Zou's reaction very interesting." Xie Jingxi put down the account book, and turned her stiff neck, "She seems to be very concerned about the Aunt Fang's butler, so she would ask about it whenever she wants."
"Young Mistress Zou?" Fang Dai paused, "I remember what Madam said. Previously, when you were not around, she went to visit Marquis' Wife a few times, but after I heard Feng Jing mention it, she secretly advised Marquis' Wife a few times and told me not to be biased towards an aunt. In fact, I also think it's good intentions, Marquis' Wife, who can't even avoid Feng Jing feeling confused and being fooled by Aunt Fang, but she probably didn't take it to heart."
It's just that I have a plan in my heart, and it's just that Aunt Fang will follow her lead. Everything will suit my wife's wishes, and of course my wife will follow her lead. However, Young Mistress Zou has always been very considerate, and after all, my wife is her aunt, so she's a level closer to us in speech.
Fang Dai pondered and nodded as she mulled over Xie Jingxi's words.
In the evening, Gu Yun came back to ask about recent family matters, "Are family matters troubling you? Why do you look so troubled?"
He seemed to not sweat at all. His palms were a little cool on a hot day, so it just so happens that holding it in his hand would relieve the heat, but after eating, she leaned against him and the entire day's heat disappeared like smoke in thin air. "It's nothing at home, it's just that the medicine in the blue bag has taken a bit of effort.
"The Shen Family hasn't caused any trouble at all in the capital, and is only putting on a show of force in his territory. After the Yuecao Hall closes, there's nothing much to cause, I reckon that the Imperial Consort Shen must have given His Majesty a lot of eyewitnesses, and the His Majesty even secretly asked me about the Yuecao Hall a few days ago."
It just so happened that the death of the young master of the Shen Family was not intentional, he could not really kill a person from the Marquis Mansion to vent his anger, so other than sealing a few branch families of the Yuecao Hall, there was nothing else to cause this incident. On the other hand, the little concubine's heart was broken because her own blood brother had died, and right now, she was pregnant and the His Majesty was naturally coaxing her, thus bestowing the title of Consort in advance.
"After the Imperial Consort Shen is sealed, Shen Family is nothing to be regretful about, it's just a pity. If we throw in those two precious pots in the northwest direction, we would lose a lot of money. Do you think we, Qing Hu, should go over and get a share as well?"
"Hmm? "You are quite ambitious." Gu Yun reached out and knocked off one of the ice grapes that she was holding, then tied both of her hands together, not allowing his to move, "We do have one there, but it's not called Qing Hu, but in reality, let's call it a branch family."
Xie Jingxi was unable to eat the ice grapes, her mouth pouted as she said, "Do you know, I was actually rather interested in the ticket number that rose up in the northwest region. If we have people on our side, we should be able to make contact with them, who knows, maybe we can use them in the future?"
Gu Yun was startled, he felt that ever since she took over the business of the family, her thoughts became even more serious, until he even noticed the ticket number, "My wife, you aren't thinking of running away with the money are you?"
Xie Jingxi pinched him, "If you don't let me eat the grapes, I might really run away."
Gu Yun was angered and personally peeled a grape and stuffed it into her mouth, "Looks like I have to remove all the ice in my house before I leave, if not this greedy cat of yours would definitely not be able to resist the cold."
Xie Jingxi, who was stuck with the grape in her mouth for half an hour, asked in surprise, "You're leaving?"