After he finished speaking, Jiang Tingting was stunned and didn't react for a long time.

All that’s missing is Ju Niu’er coming up and kicking him!

Jiang Tingting immediately said,

"I didn't! I definitely didn't embezzle any of it! Madam has entrusted me with such an important matter, how could I dare to pocket it!"

"My allowance is more than enough for me. It will do me no good to take the penalty all by myself! Madam, please understand!"

Ju Niu'er was shocked. "Who else could it be but you? I'll leave this matter to you! You still refuse to admit it in front of the lady?"

Watching them arguing, Yuan Xueyue suddenly felt something was wrong.

They lived in the same courtyard and seemed to have a good relationship before, so why did this happen?

Ju Niu'er knelt down and said, "Madam! This matter has nothing to do with me. After you gave it to me, I handed it over to Jiang Tingting and asked her to contact Rong Mama. I have no idea how such a large sum of money came about!"

"Bitch! Why don't you explain yourself clearly?" Ju Niuer yelled at Jiang Tingting.

Jiang Tingting refused to admit defeat and knelt on the ground and kowtowed,

"Madam, please understand! I am innocent! I was the one who coordinated with Mother Rong, but the numbers are definitely correct, and the items were purchased. As for why the numbers are wrong, I don't know!"

The two of them each said something, and Yuan Xueyue became even more confused.

This made Ju Niuer so angry that she wanted to go up and beat Jiang Tingting, but fortunately the maid stopped her.

Cuiping said coldly,

"You are both concubines, how can you do something in front of the lady?"

"If you have something to say, can you please speak nicely?"

Cuiping is the head maid of the Pear Garden and also the lady's personal maid, so naturally her status is more important than theirs.

So when I see them like this, I can't help but scold them.

The words were also spoken on behalf of the lady. Yuan Xueyue was quite confused and signaled Cuiping with her eyes to ask the maid to call Rong Mama.

Cuiping turned her head and signaled the low-level maid behind her to go find someone.

Rong Mama soon arrived, knelt down and saluted, saying, "Greetings, Madam. The maid told me about this, and I've counted the things. There are indeed fifteen items. I thought it was Madam's arrangement."

"After all, in previous years, the mansion didn't have any extra money, so we always purchased eight or ten pieces of porcelain. This year, I didn't know that Madam purchased twenty pieces. The inventory and records show that there are only fifteen pieces. Madam, please review them."

Mother Rong also handed over the registration books of the backyard under her jurisdiction to the lady for review.

Yuan Xueyue took it, read it, and returned it.

"Okay, there's nothing for you to do here, go down." Yuan Xueyue waved her hand to let Rong's mother leave.

Now, Ju Niuer and Jiang Tingting, who were left kneeling on the ground, were dumbfounded!

Their expressions were equally surprised, and they all felt that they were not wrong!

Yuan Xueyue narrowed her eyes and asked, "Raise your heads."

Looking at their expressions, Yuan Xueyue had a lot of ideas in her mind.

Girl...

"I can't make up my mind about this matter. You guys go back and think it over first."

After saying that, Yuan Xueyue stood up and walked away.

She wanted to go to Zhongsi Hall to talk to Nian and see what Nian’s attitude and thoughts were!

Especially when it comes to matters involving concubines, of course we have to ask Nian!

After all, Jiang Tingting was married into the Nian family and was also the general's favorite girl!

But Ju Niu'er is Cui Mama's daughter and was born a family slave, so it is difficult to deal with her because of her status.

She, Yuan Xueyue, would never do such an offensive thing.

She just wanted to leave in style.

Although reporting this to Mrs. Nian is troublesome and annoying, it at least saves a lot of trouble!

Let them go back to Yaoyu Pavilion first to discuss it clearly, communicate privately about who has the problem, and then come to Zhongsi Hall to admit it!

Yuan Xueyue spoke first.

Just after taking a nap and having some snacks, Nian heard her daughter-in-law coming to look for her, and she began to wonder!

This daughter-in-law is quite scheming!

Ever since Liangxian returned home, she almost always comes to ask about herself!

Even concubines are not allowed to make decisions on their own!

What's the use of a mistress who is just an empty shell like this?

Fortunately, Mrs. Nian is not very old and can still listen to her daughter-in-law's complaints, but when she hears some things, her blood pressure will inevitably soar!

"Tell me, what is it that even you can't make the decision on?" Nian said unhappily.

“…”

After Yuan Xueyue explained the whole story, she said,

"Both Niu'er and Tingting said it wasn't their fault, so one of them must have lied."

"Please understand, mother-in-law."

Nian's eyes widened. "You're asking me about something so uncertain?"

Nian couldn't believe it. This daughter-in-law was becoming more and more unreasonable!

"Where is the replacement maid? Who took the silver and how much did they take?" asked Nian.

"To my mother-in-law, it was a maid from Yaoyu Pavilion who took the silver. It was exactly twenty pieces of porcelain. I trusted her, so I gave it to her. The final count and record showed fifteen pieces."

"Where is the maid? Tie her up and bring her here!" said Nian.

Yuan Xueyue said,

"My maid... I just took leave a few days ago and returned to my hometown. It's over 200 miles away from the capital, and it would take at least several days to travel day and night."

Nian, "..."

"No, how come you only discovered such an important thing now?"

Yuan Xueyue said, "In order to entertain the prince, everyone in the mansion has been working very hard these days. I thought that my aunt could share the burden and do a good job. I didn't know that this would happen. Mother-in-law, please calm down."

Nian said, "Why calm down? If you don't know what to do with it, how much is a piece of porcelain?"

"One piece of porcelain can have several styles, and it costs seven or eight taels. Choose one with better quality than in previous years."

"Five pieces of porcelain, and forty taels missing?"

"Yes." Yuan Xueyue nodded.

Nian knocked the ground with her cane and said, "Forty taels, deducted from Yaoyu Pavilion!"

"They are all equal, and their regular payment will be halved until they are fully repaid!"

Yuan Xueyue was slightly surprised.

This is a good solution, pretty much what I expected.

But after hearing what Nian said, Yuan Xueyue felt much more relieved.

As long as you are not the one making the decision, you will have less worries.

Nian said again, "We are all mistresses of the mansion, can you save some money? Just buy something good and decent!"

"Now you're short of forty taels of silver. Do you think it's easy to get silver?"

If his son hadn't tried so hard to win over Lord Xiao Zhao and get close to Prince Xian, he wouldn't have been able to build such a good manor!

Yuan Xueyue nodded in agreement, but said, "My daughter-in-law thought that the palace did not need the silver we offered as a filial gift, so she took over four hundred taels and put all the military pay in the palace into the account."

"Adding the extra rewards from the palace and the partial salary from the court, it's enough to cover the expenses of the palace. Nearly a thousand taels of silver a month."

"The general specifically instructed that now that there is money in the mansion, we should not live too shabbily, so as not to be looked down upon by outsiders. This is the general's intention, and I hope my mother-in-law will forgive me."

When Nian heard this, her eyes lit up!

This year I made a fortune! Over a thousand taels!

Hearing Nian's elated expression, she coughed lightly and said, "Ahem, well, just keep the accounts. This is your responsibility."

"I won't ask about anything else. How are the clothes being prepared?"

"Get some bigger sizes for the boys, since this year's harvest is good. This way, they won't get too big and too tall after the New Year."