"We'll know if it works after we try it." Shen Weiwan opened the ink box. The vermilion paste inside glowed with an eerie blue light under the candlelight. "Doesn't Liu like to pretend? Tomorrow, let her perform a 'fluorescent hand dance' in front of all the servants in the mansion."

The next morning, an unusual smell wafted through the morning mist at the General's Mansion. A yard-sweeper stumbled upon the woman pouring out the night fragrance and said mysteriously, "Hey, have you heard? The eldest lady wants Madam Liu to check the treasury accounts!"

"Check the accounts?" The old woman dumped the night-scented bucket on the ground. "Mrs. Liu's calculations are more cunning than anyone else's. I'm afraid she's going to make the young lady cry, right?"

"Cheated to tears? I think she's going to cry!" The servant lowered his voice, "I saw the old housekeeper deliver a stack of account books to the eldest lady's room yesterday. They were yellow, like the ones in the ancestral hall!"

These words flew like wings, quickly reaching Liu's ears. She was having breakfast when she heard Lu'e's report and almost dropped her bowl of porridge: "That little bitch Chen Weiwan wants to check the accounts? She knows nothing!"

"Madam," Lu'e handed over a wet towel, "would you like me to go and check it out? I heard that the old housekeeper has dug out all the old account books..."

"What are you trying to find out?" Liu wiped her mouth, her gold-inlaid jade armor scraping against the edge of the bowl, making an ear-piercing sound. "She wants to check the accounts? Perfect! I want to see what kind of trouble an unmarried girl like her can dig up!" She felt a little uneasy. The money she had embezzled over the years was enough to buy ten mansions. If it were really discovered...

"Madam, look at this..." Lu'e came in holding a rosewood box containing several brand new wolf-hair brushes.

"Where did it come from?" Liu frowned.

"The eldest lady sent it over. She said you need a good brush for checking the accounts." Lu'e opened the box, revealing the snow-white brush inside. "She also said...she also said she prepared a new box of ink specially for you, fearing the old one wouldn't work."

Liu picked up a pen, the tip of which was as soft as cotton, but her heart was beating fast. When had Shen Weiwan become so kind? She looked at the box of ink, the vermilion paste shone with a strange luster in the sunlight, and suddenly remembered what the accountant said last night: "Madam, the new key doesn't work. I'm afraid Shen Weiwan has been prepared..."

"Hmph, you're plotting against me?" Liu slammed her pen down on the table. "Lü'e, go get my set of Wannianhong ink! I want to see who's plotting against whom!"

At three o'clock in the morning, two rosewood tables were set up in the open space in front of the storehouse. Shen Weiwan, dressed in a plain white skirt, sat at the main seat, while the old housekeeper stood beside her, holding the account books. Liu, accompanied by the accountant, swaggered in, followed by four maids holding the account books.

"Wanwan," Liu deliberately made the chair creak as she sat down, "I'm not saying anything to you, but checking the accounts is a delicate job, you..."

"That's right, Auntie." Shen Weiwan interrupted her and pushed a brand new account book over. "That's why I asked Auntie to take charge of the situation. Look at this. This is the new account book I recorded for the warehouse. Please take a look at it."

Liu took the account book and sneered inwardly. What could possibly go wrong with a newly recorded account? She flipped to the first page and saw the following: "On the third day of March, twelve pieces of brocade were deposited into the warehouse, fifteen pieces were withdrawn, resulting in a deficit of three pieces."

"Hmm?" Liu frowned. "Why is there still deficit?"

"Yes," Shen Weiwan held her chin in a distressed manner, "no matter how I calculate it, it's not right. Please teach me, aunt."

Liu's heart moved. A deficit of three horses? Isn't this the same trick she did back then? She picked up the wolf-hair brush on the table and was about to circle the word "deficit" when she caught a glimpse of the faint smile at the corner of Shen Weiwan's mouth.

"Wait," Liu put down her pen, "I'd better use my own pen." She took out an old brush from her sleeve pocket, dipped it in the Wannianhong ink she brought with her, and wrote next to the word "deficit": "After investigation, these three pieces were borrowed by Liu and are waiting to be returned." After writing, she blew on the ink proudly, waiting to see Shen Weiwan's deflated look.

"Auntie is really amazing!" Shen Weiwan clapped her hands in praise, "Then please put a seal on this line of words so that I won't forget it later."

Liu didn't suspect anything and picked up her ivory seal, pressing it hard on the signature. When she lifted the seal, she found that there was something wrong with the ink. The color was darker than usual and had a faint blue glow.

"This ink..." Liu's heart skipped a beat.

"Auntie's ink is really beautiful," Shen Weiwan picked up the account book and held it up to the sunlight. "Look at the color, it's red and purple, and it has a little fluorescence!"

"Fluorescent?" Liu suddenly lowered her head and saw that her fingers, which were pressing the seal, were covered with blue powder, sparkling in the sun, like the wings of a firefly!

"Oh, auntie, what's wrong with your hand?" Shen Weiwan pointed at her hand in surprise, "How come your hand is glowing like the thief who stole the chili powder last night?"

The servants around them had been stifling laughter until their stomachs ached, but now, seeing the fluorescent powder on Liu's fingers, they couldn't hold it back any longer, and a series of "puffs" erupted. The accountant, watching the blue light on Liu's fingers, suddenly remembered the glowing chili powder the locksmith had handed him last night when he'd made the key...

"You...you are plotting against me!" Liu was so angry that she was shaking all over. She wanted to hide her hands, but she found that the more she rubbed, the more fluorescent powder appeared, even in the cracks of her nails.

"What are you talking about, aunt?" Shen Weiwan put down the account book and picked up the real account book handed by the old housekeeper. "I just want to ask you, aunt, when can I return the red gold hairpin I borrowed five years ago? And how many winter clothes can I make with these ten pieces of fine cloth?"

The old housekeeper duly unfolded a distribution record: "My dear young lady, in the winter of five years ago, the servants in the mansion received a total of 123 sets of winter clothing, using 120 bolts of cloth. This matches the warehouse's distribution records. However, the ten bolts of fine cloth recorded in Madam Liu's account do not appear in the distribution records."

Liu looked at the real account book and payment record in front of her, then looked at her glowing fingers, and suddenly realized that she had fallen into a carefully designed trap. Shen Weiwan didn't want to check the accounts at all, but wanted her to cover the evidence of embezzlement on the paper herself!

"I...I have made...made those ten pieces of cloth..." Liu was so anxious that she was sweating profusely, and the fluorescent powder on her fingers shone brighter in the sunlight.

"What did you do?" Shen Weiwan stepped closer, a cold light flashing in her eyes, "Did you make the brocade quilt in your room, or the gorgeous clothes on Shen Ruoruo?"

Liu looked at the contemptuous eyes of the servants around her, and then looked at the real account book in Shen Weiwan's hand. Suddenly, her eyes went dark and she almost fainted. She knew that she was finished, completely finished...

Shen Weiwan looked at Liu, slumped in the chair, a triumphant smile on her lips. She knew this was just the beginning. Next, she would make Liu spit out every penny she had taken, including the principal and interest! The old housekeeper stood aside, watching his eldest daughter strategize, his eyes filled with relief - the general's spirit is in heaven, the general's mansion is finally saved!