C119
With regards to the past affairs of the Marquis Mansion, every one of them had grabbed onto what they thought they knew, and had extended their guesses. In truth, none of them were complete, and other than the Marquis himself, no one knew the real internal affairs of the Marquis.
The moment Xie Jingxi saw Marquis's first reaction, she was clearly aware of this point, and Aunt Fang must have caught hold of onto something she did not know, which was why she dared to take the risk, and the only thing she did not expect was Marquis's attitude.
The purpose of the Aunt Fang was nothing more than to take charge of the Marquis Mansion, and the only people that could stop her were Xie Jingxi and the entire room. She must have wanted to give the long room a go for it, so this Manager Wang must be related to the long room.
As for the deeper matter, she would never be able to guess it. The Marquis's reaction was very secretive, it was really hard to fathom. Maybe he even knew about Manager Wang, just like how he tolerated Gu Yun, and indulged the old family of the Lady Ji?
Manager Wang was naturally related to Marquis, so there were many small matters that could not be hidden from him. For example, when he was hoarding food before, both Manager Wang and Marquis knew that the price of the food was higher than it actually was, but Marquis didn't care about it as usual, it wasn't anything big of a deal, he just saved up the food for the second room. Although they did not think about the lack of food that Aunt Fang had mentioned later on, it was impossible for Marquis to go back and investigate after this matter had passed, the only thing was that the second room was far longer than he could imagine.
Furthermore, not to mention Marquis, even Supervisor Wang did not know much about the affairs of the inner courtyard. As a loyal man, he was not proficient in the twists and turns of the inner courtyard, and was not clear on the accounts, even if he was told that the account was fake, he would probably not be able to tell.
"Marquis, I really do not know about the matter regarding the couple in our family. If it is true, then Marquis will not care about my face, and will definitely punish them severely."
Manager Wang's character, Marquis trusted Manager Wang, so it was not false for him to say that he did not know anything. Marquis did not have any strict punishments, but if Accountant Li's hands and feet were not clean, then he could only remove the position from her account.
"Get up. For your sake, I won't make things difficult for her. It's just that regarding the matter of hoarding food last time, do you know what other tricks the Second House did?"
Manager Wang was still kneeling, "Marquis, you know that the matter of hoarding food is caused by Young Master Gu Quan creating a connection, you also told me not to fuss too much over it, at that time I also compared the prices of the other several foods, the price I gave was not too far off, so I handed over the price to Young Master Gu Quan to negotiate with him, even if the price was reported by Young Master Gu Quan, I believe that it wasn't too far off, so according to what you said, there is no difference, as for the other things, they are divided equally, I did not ask for more details."
The Marquis thoughtfully nodded his head, "Then what is the relationship between the Accountant Li and the Second Branch?"
"This .." Manager Wang thought for a moment, "That shouldn't be the case. According to what I know, she is only a few of the stewards' wives. I have some connections with these stewards, could it be that Marquis suspects her .."
"I'm just asking, it's fine as long as you know what I'm doing. Accountant Li can't stay in the account room any longer."
Supervisor Wang left with a heavy heart. On the other hand, the Lady Zeng was furious because of the audit of the accounts.
"I never thought that Li Zhangfang would actually do such a good deed behind my back. It was a waste for me to trust her like usual, and to even have connections with the people from the second house. They have been fishing for benefits in our residence everyday, I have never said anything to them, it can't be that we will make things difficult for the family, why must we do such a thing!"
The Aunt Fang said: Who knows, our Marquis Mansion has done everything they can to help them, the second house is too small, but our rewards are limited, they cannot satisfy us, and we do not even know how many benefits we have dug up from the darkness.
Mentioning Manager Wang was tantamount to poking at Lady Zeng's heart. However, Lady Ji had already been in her heart for dozens of years, and it probably wouldn't be pulled out that day, so it was best not to mention Lady Ji at all. Therefore, Lady Zeng could only feel stifled in her heart, which was really tight.
Seeing that the Lady Zeng was not willing to intervene, the Aunt Fang had an unresigned look on her face. Seeing that she had found such a great evidence, and the Marquis was also in a rage, what use was there to just take down a Accountant Li? The Marquis Mansion Sect Leader's wife was still her, Xie Jingxi.
"Madam, as far as I know, Fang Dai who is in front of the Grand Mistress is an expert in looking at accounts. You said that she has been in charge of the family for close to a year, how could she not see through the problems in the accounts, or do you intend to pretend that you don't know anything? Furthermore, I found that the hands and feet of a few manager lady s are not very clean. Grand Mistress being so used to them being good people is truly a little irresponsible.
She only thought that Xie Jingxi did not have much dowry and eldest young master was always busy producing, so he must definitely be short on money. Since the Marquis Mansion did not split between them, she should take this opportunity to earn more.
The Lady Zeng understood more than her, although she did not know what Gu Yun was doing, she was very smart and did not want to get involved, "Boss's house does not lack money, they have always been firing on their own, and do not use the official's money, you do not need to take it to heart."
The meaning behind his words was that the Marquis Mansion had not been divided yet, and the major wife only ate and lived in the Marquis Mansion. He had already spent his own money on it, so even if he wanted to take some, it wouldn't be a problem.
Only now did he realize that major wife was not as easy to deal with as she thought. Lady Zeng's authority in Marquis Mansion was truly limited, whether it was or the Marquis, they were both not under her control.
Lady Zeng called Senior Servant Liu in: "You usually manage the Marquis Mansion, are you clear about the tricks these manager lady s are doing in private?"
Senior Servant Liu was troubled, "Madam, you are aware of some things, but normally, they are greedy for small advantages, I would say a few things, but these kinds of things are always impossible to eliminate. Who would have thought that Accountant Li would have such guts, when I heard it, I was shocked, but on account of my years of experience, why don't you ask Accountant Li in private?"
Senior Servant Liu was reminding Lady Zeng to remember some old friendships, after all, she was married to her parents and did not need to shout for her family to get old. Lady Zeng nodded her head, "Call her over, the other stewards are waiting for her, I need to ask her about them one by one."
Lady Zeng seemed to have already tacitly agreed with Aunt Fang's suggestion. If these manager lady s could not be changed using this method, then they would have become Marquis Mansion's master due to their seniority.
However, when Lady Zeng told him to summon the Accountant Li, he did not bring him, but instead brought back the news of him hanging himself in the Accountant Li.
Madam, I haven't even reached the accounting office yet, but I heard that Accountant Li hanged himself. He said that he wanted to prove his innocence, and even left a will, saying that she didn't let you down nor did he falsify his accounts.
"Hanging?" Lady Zeng stood up from her chair in shock, "Is he still there?"
The Senior Servant Liu said: "I was just a step away. Manager Wang rushed here in time to save him, but he hung up for a long time and still hasn't woken up yet."
This was not like acting, hanging himself was not fun, what if no one saw it and breathed their last, then Accountant Li was truly wronged? Lady Zeng's head was spinning, all of these things were endless, who should he trust!
Whether Li Zhangfang was really innocent or not was unknown, but with her acting like this, a few of her overseers were thoroughly angered, and they ran out of the accounts room, yelling for Accountant Li to speak up for them. They were all dedicated and hardworking for the Marquis Mansion, and would be framed by an aunt already.
The Marquis had sent Manager Zhao to lead people to persuade them, but they were all scolded by the women. In the end, the Marquis had even personally stepped in and promised not to mistreat the steward so easily, but ever since then, the hearts of the people in the Marquis Mansion were all unsettled, and it was as if there was smoke in the sky.
When Xie Jingxi heard the commotion in the front courtyard, she immediately asked Fang Dai to step in and pacify the managers while she went to the accounts room. While everyone was making a ruckus, she set the accounts room on fire, no one expected Xie Jingxi to burn the tent down, and by the time everyone reacted, the place was already mostly burnt down.
The previously restless Marquis Mansion was now burned into a collective state of shock. No one could care about anything else, putting out the fire was more important than anything else. Lady Zeng was scared out of his wits, "Who set the fire, how is the fire, we can't let the fire spread!"
Senior Servant Liu said: Madam, please do not be so anxious. The fire has already been extinguished, Grand Mistress probably did not do it on purpose.
The Aunt Fang snorted coldly, "I think Grand Mistress did this on purpose. Even though she knew that Li Zhangfang made a fake account and even helped her solve the problem, she still said that she did not know the situation and did not protect him. Who would believe that!?"
Senior Servant Liu could not help but say: "Aunt Fang, quickly say less! Marquis s can distinguish the difference between black and white. "
Aunt Fang held in her anger and gritted her teeth in dissatisfaction.
The Marquis in the carriage was also enraged, "Who was the one that dared to make such a scene!"
Steward Zhao faltered, "Yes .."
"It was my wife who lit the fire."
Xie Jingxi came uninvited, and immediately knelt down towards the Marquis, surprising the Marquis: "You, what are you doing?"
Xie Jingxi said: Father, please forgive me, my wife will go first, but please punish me, but before father goes to punish her, first I will listen to my wife's words, although my wife has not been in the Marquis Mansion for too long, and some rules are not very clear, but my wife thinks, after all, my wife has always been friendly with me, and if my wife does not have sufficient money, then I might as well burn everything clean, regardless of whether it is the Marquis Mansion or the second house, it is my entire lineage, so there is no need to be so careful with the accounts, at most it is tens of thousands of silver.
Marquis couldn't help but be stunned when he heard her words. Her eldest son's wife was truly not simple, being able to say such words, it could be seen that her magnanimity was not inferior to a man's. Even Gu Heng and Mu Yurou found it difficult to achieve what she had done, and they thought that if there really came a day that they were able to have such a family together, they would really die with their eyes closed.
In the end, he only sighed and said, "You are right, once the account book is burnt, it will be burned. It's just that since it's like this, Accountant Li cannot continue to stay, let's send her to the manor."
Xie Jingxi was startled, but still agreed: "But it is Father's decision."