Chapter 15 Don't rush, there's more to come.

Du Sheng: "..."

You Bingyue was furious: "Stop spouting nonsense! Du Sheng is just an ordinary servant. When I met him half a month ago, he was being bullied by the steward of the mansion. How could someone like that embezzle any money?"

"Are you sure he was bullied by the head steward, and not because he was too greedy and the head steward couldn't keep the accounts, so you wanted to pry him open to recover the embezzled funds for the Prime Minister's residence?"

After Yu Zhiyi finished speaking, she still felt a bit cloying in her mouth, so she took a sip of tea to suppress the sweetness.

Prime Minister Du had already given up his desire to watch the show.

He was initially drawn in by You Bingyue's scandalous gossip, but now that he knows Du Sheng may have really done something to betray the manor, he has no interest in watching the drama unfold.

"Someone, summon the head steward."

Before long, the head steward arrived at the wall, unaware of what was going on.

Prime Minister Du cut to the chase: "Du Hai, did you visit Du Sheng half a month ago?"

The head steward perked up and quickly said, "Reporting to the master, I discovered that many of the accounts in Du Sheng's possession did not match up, so I wanted to ask him what was going on. But as soon as I sent someone to take him away, Miss You kicked us all over in a fit of rage and threatened us that if we dared to cause trouble for Du Sheng again, we would be in deep trouble."

You Bingyue said coldly, "When a group of burly men bully someone, no one with a sense of justice can remain indifferent, right?"

The head steward felt wronged: "I've already explained that it's because Du Sheng is dishonest, and we wanted to investigate him, but Miss You wouldn't listen at all."

Yao slammed her hand on the table. "Such a big thing, why wasn't it reported?"

The head steward was even more aggrieved: "Madam, at that time the manor was busy preparing for the young master's wedding, and... and Du Sheng was later directly assigned to work at the Moon Gazing Pavilion by the young master. I thought the young master had tacitly approved of Du Sheng's matter, so how could I dare to pursue it?"

Du Ziheng frowned: "This matter is not yet settled, and we cannot be certain that Mr. Du really did something wrong."

Yu Zhiyi yawned, wanting to finish quickly and go back to sleep: "There's a hidden compartment under his bed, where HSBC bank stubs are kept. If you take the stubs to the bank, you'll know how much he's embezzled over the years."

"As for witnesses, the butcher shop where he often buys meat, the cloth shop where he often buys cloth, and the clerk at the general store where he often buys groceries are all witnesses. Just ask them, and you'll know what price he pays them and what price he quotes to the Prime Minister's residence."

Prime Minister Du waved his hand, and immediately someone was sent to investigate.

About two hours later, the investigators returned, bringing back the stewards and account books of the estate.

Du Ziheng personally stepped forward to inspect.

After a long while, he put down the ledger, his face extremely grim.

Except for the grocery store, which doesn't keep accounts because it's a small business and the owner is illiterate, the other places all have account books.

The ledger clearly recorded the prices the cloth shop paid to the Prime Minister's residence: coarse cloth was fifteen coins per foot, and one bolt was one thousand four hundred and eighty coins; fine cloth was fifty coins per foot, and one bolt was four thousand nine hundred and fifty coins.

The pork shops paid ten coins per pound to the Prime Minister's residence, and if the meat had bones, it only cost seven coins per pound.

However, the steward's ledger showed that the purchase price of coarse cloth was 20 coins, and that of fine cloth was 55 coins.

Pork was also outrageously expensive, costing fifteen coins per pound, while pork with skin and bones cost twelve coins.

Of course, prices may fluctuate slightly depending on the season and environmental factors at the time.

The only thing that doesn't fluctuate is the price difference.

No matter what it was, Du Sheng always made a profit of five coins per unit.

The Prime Minister's residence makes clothes every year according to the season. The total number of servants in the residence, including both men and women, is over a hundred. This does not include the servants on the estate. If these are included, the number could reach two hundred.

Even if a piece of clothing only requires two feet of cloth, he can still make a profit of ten coins.

Two hundred people, that's two thousand coins.

Each person has three sets of clothes per season, totaling six thousand coins, which amounts to more than twenty thousand coins saved in a year.

The food served was equally appalling.

People need to eat every time. The Prime Minister's Mansion is a high-ranking family, so naturally they don't eat two meals a day like ordinary people, but three meals a day.

There were over a hundred people in the mansion, and Prime Minister Du and Madam Yao were both kind-hearted people. Although the servants couldn't possibly eat meat to the point of being tired of it, they could still ensure that there was meat at every meal.

The mansion buys nearly a hundred catties of meat every day.

This doesn't even include the ingredients needed for banquets for guests and the occasional late-night snacks for the host.

Du Sheng could embezzle nearly five hundred coins a day just from the money he spent on meat, which amounted to more than ten taels a month.

Du Ziheng threw the account book at Du Sheng's face, his face turning ashen with anger: "You audacious servant! The Prime Minister's mansion has treated you well. Although you are just a servant born into the household, you receive two taels of silver a month, which is more than the monthly allowance of many masters in small households. How dare you be so ungrateful! You dare to embezzle the master's money!"

Yu Zhiyi yawned again: "Young master, don't be in a hurry. Wait until you find what he hid in the cabinet before you rush."

Before long, the servants who went to search Du Sheng's room returned, their expressions somewhat strange.

Du Ziheng had a bad feeling.

A servant was seen holding a stack of paintings.

He rushed forward and snatched the painting, only to find everything suddenly went black.

The figures in these paintings are all You Bingyue!

He had no doubt that these paintings were planted to frame Du Sheng and You Bingyue, because the clothes in the paintings were what You Bingyue wore when she first entered the mansion, not the black outfit she was wearing now, but a light gray narrow-sleeved dress. However, that dress had long been damaged and could no longer be worn, so You Bingyue threw it away.

Yu Zhiyi had never seen this outfit before, so there was no way she would use it to frame someone.

Therefore, Du Sheng, that lackey, really coveted his master's woman!

Du Ziheng was furious: "Guards, throw this shameless lackey into the dungeon!"

The dungeon was a place specifically used by the Du family to punish servants who made mistakes. It was also called the water dungeon. It was dark and damp, and the floor was always covered with water that was above ankle level. It was unbearable to stay in there for even a short time.

Even without torture, if someone stays inside for two days, they're guaranteed to break out in rashes all over their body.

If you stay for a few more days, you will be covered in sores.

Once a wicked servant goes in, he can never come out unscathed.

Du Sheng panicked: "Young Master, please forgive me! I truly know I was wrong!"

You Bingyue was also shocked when she saw the paintings, but she quickly recovered. Hearing Du Sheng's pleas for mercy, she frowned but said nothing.

Yu Zhiyi asked in confusion, "Didn't you say we can't kill servants at will? What is the young master doing?"

Du Ziheng felt as if an invisible hand had slapped him hard across the face, leaving his face burning with pain.

You Bingyue sneered, "Womanly compassion! This person has committed a grave error and should naturally be punished."

Yu Zhiyi nodded, agreeing with this.

"So, you have no respect for the government?"

You Bingyue: "?"

Who would hand over a servant in the prime minister's residence to the authorities if they made a mistake?

Is this woman insane?

What are you pretending to be, this innocent and kind-hearted little white flower for!

Yu Zhiyi saw through her thoughts and said calmly, "I never said from beginning to end that I could beat and kill servants at will. You said those words yourselves. I only said that I could deal with them. Young Master Du, as the top scholar of Shengjing, can't be unaware of the difference between dealing with and beating and killing them, can you?"