"Okay." Xu Yixing stared at Siqin and saw her pull out a secret compartment from the bottom of the dressing table. She then carefully took out the things in the compartment, as if she was afraid of breaking them.

Every movement made her tremble with fear. What on earth could this hidden thing be?

Could it be that Xu Yiyan really has something secret to tell Dad? Should I tell him then?

If I don't tell her, Siqin will definitely be suspicious, but if I tell her, my current situation is already chaotic enough, and it will be even more complicated. Is it really necessary to add to the confusion?

Siqin presented Xu Yixing with something that looked like a few books. Xu Yixing took them and flipped through a few pages. He realized that he was overthinking it. It turned out to be an account book.

No, the mansion has its own accounting office and the Gu family is in charge of it. Where did this account book come from?

She quickly lowered her head and read a few of them carefully, and instantly understood: these were some of the private properties of the Gu family, probably given to Nanny Gu to manage, and could not be seen in public. It seemed that Xu Yiyan wanted to let his father know about this.

But what good would it do to let my father know? Every mistress in the capital had a private fortune worth tens of thousands of taels of silver, a few acres of land subsidized by her parents, and farms, shops, and real estate. For example, when I got married, the private property my father gave me was much more than what was shown in this account book.

Could it be that Xu Yiyan was dissatisfied with the way Gu treated her, so she deliberately collected these evidences and wanted her father to punish her?

What a fool! Even if Dad knew, that was all he knew. Could he possibly ask the Gu family for the money? Spending my wife's little stash would make me laugh to death.

Besides, maybe my father knows about these private properties, but he just doesn't say it.

Alas, after all, Xu Yiyan is a concubine's daughter, and she has no biological mother to teach her how to manage household affairs, so she regards this open secret as something shameful and wants to expose it.

Thinking of this, Xu Yixing shook his head with regret. Xu Yiyan knew how to fight back against injustice. She was a person with a temper, but unfortunately she didn't understand these things and used the wrong means.

Seeing her young lady shaking her head, Siqin thought she was backing out. She quickly knelt beside the bed and said anxiously, "Young lady, don't hesitate. We've been collecting evidence for so long, and now we can finally bring Mrs. Gu down! If you back down at this critical moment, what will happen to your mother's revenge?"

Xu Yixing looked at Siqin, as if he had just misunderstood. They were going to deal with Gu Pozi instead of Gu Shi? And from the sound of it, Gu Pozi had a grudge against Xu Yiyan's mother?

So she spoke tentatively: "Siqin, if I give these property accounts of Gu Madam to Dad, will he punish her?"

"Of course! The amount of these private properties is so huge, it's obvious that Mrs. Gu has been accumulating wealth on a daily basis. How could she, a servant, have so much money? If the master knew about this, he would definitely investigate thoroughly!"

It seems that Xu Yiyan and Siqin regarded the money managed by these Gu ladies as their own. No wonder they wanted to complain.

"Siqin, you also know that this much money can't possibly belong to Mrs. Gu herself. So, who does this money belong to?"

Siqin woke up as if from a dream, but still couldn't believe it: "Miss, are you saying that this is the Madam's money? That's impossible... Such a huge fortune, she actually let a maid manage it, put it in her name, isn't she afraid that she will embezzle it?"

"I went to see my eldest sister today, and suddenly I figured out a lot of things. Siqin, if Dad gave my sister a lot of dowry, but he didn't want Madam to know and think he was partial, and he didn't want the Sun family to get jealous, who do you think he would give it to?"

Siqin swallowed her saliva and said, "Leave it to... Aunt Bai..."

"Yeah, so you say, is this account book useful?"

"I...but...we've been busy for so long, and finally the young lady is not at home and won't come to cause trouble. Are we just going to let it go like this?"

When did I ever mess with you?

Xu Yixing held his forehead, feeling extremely wronged. "Of course I won't just let this go. It's just a matter of giving Mrs. Gu a hard time. I have plenty of ways to deal with this."

Xu Yixing showed a smile that could be considered "sinister" in Siqin's eyes. Siqin looked very familiar with it. What's wrong with this lady?

She soon realized that she had lost her composure. The real Xu Yiyan would not laugh like that. "Hurry up and get up. I'm the only one with a bad knee in this family. Who will take care of me if there's another one?"

Siqin couldn't help laughing when she heard that. She stood up and stood beside the bed: "Miss, do you have any other way to punish that old woman?"

"Of course, your young lady has ten thousand ways to make her unlucky." Xu Yixing was not exaggerating, and he didn't decide to do this just to stand up for Xu Yiyan. Today he found out that the old hag was so arrogant behind the scenes, which really made him unhappy!

But Siqin thought that the young lady was clearly just trying to comfort herself. If there were other ways, she wouldn't have spent half a year carefully collecting these things. Alas... Poor young lady! If she had been lucky enough to be born in the womb of the eldest young lady's mother, she would be as happy as she wants now. There would be no need to spend all this effort.

"You've done a great job and are very loyal. Go over there and take away a piece of jewelry you like. I'll give it to you as a reward." From Xu Yixing's perspective, Siqin was truly dedicated to protecting her master and deserved a reward. Furthermore, Xu Yiyan's willingness to let her handle such a private matter showed that he truly trusted her.

"Ah? No need for that. Thank you for the reward, Miss."

Siqin didn't accept the reward, which made Xu Yixing feel unhappy. She had never failed to reward others, but this was not acceptable! She jumped out of bed and opened the jewelry box. She was dumbfounded.

In the jewelry box, apart from the standard jewelry that must be worn during the New Year and other festivals in the mansion, there were only the headdresses that were used to save face when going out. Apart from that, there was no personal jewelry belonging to Xu Yiyan. How could this happen?

Those custom-made jewellery were all registered and had to be worn every year during festivals. If she gave them away as a gift, she wouldn't have any to use. Besides, the jewellery was too conspicuous. It would be embarrassing if someone investigated and said it was stolen by a servant.

Siqin came forward and closed the jewelry box: "I know that the young lady loves me, and I appreciate it. You should keep this reward. When the young lady becomes rich, you can give it to me as a reward!"

"No, no, no, tell me first, besides these, where are my own jewelry?"

Siqin frowned, not knowing what she meant.

"I don't think I have any jewelry of my own..." Xu Yixing sat down with a guilty conscience, looking in the mirror. He still couldn't get used to this face. "What about the rewards from the past? These are from this year, what about the previous years?"

"Well... every year when new jewelry is given out, the old ones will be taken away..." Siqin looked at her young lady worriedly. Could it be that she was mad because she couldn't take revenge on Nanny Gu?