Chapter 293 Confession

Chen San filled in the information and gave it to Qiao Youyou for review.

Qiao Youyou took a quick glance at the shelf and pretended to flip it forward casually.

Sure enough, there are many anonymous consignment records. Although the names of the people are not clearly written, there are detailed time records and descriptions of the consigned works.

However, Qiao Youyou could not be sure whether Min Yuan was the only anonymous owner. What if there were others?

She glanced sideways at Chen San, her mind working rapidly.

He couldn't tell the difference himself, but as the shopkeeper, Chen San had to have a way to tell the difference, otherwise he wouldn't know to whom the silver belonged after it was sold. He must have his own way.

Qiao Youyou looked down again and found that there were some sesame-sized ink dots at the footer of each page, some were one dot, some were two dots, and some were three dots.

The most recent page I just filled out also has three dots in the footer.

Qiao Youyou immediately understood.

"Miss, if there is no problem, then I will..." Chen San reached out to take back his steps, but Qiao Youyou suddenly took a step back and smiled, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

"Excuse me." Qiao Youyou showed the sign of the Ministry of Revenue, "Your calligraphy and painting shop is suspected of operating fraud. This book is the evidence. I will confiscate it and bring it back to the government office for processing."

Chen San's face suddenly changed and he subconsciously tried to snatch it. Qiao Youyou dodged but Chen San left a red mark on his hand.

"You actually beat up an official appointed by the imperial court!" Qiao Youyou shouted exaggeratedly, "Beating up an official is a disrespect for the imperial court and the emperor! Oh my, I can't help but get into a fight with you now. Come on, let's go to the government office and tell him!"

Chen San was so scared that he almost cried. He almost kowtowed to Qiao Youyou and begged for mercy, explaining incoherently that he didn't mean it.

"Well, I'll tell you the truth. Our Lord Shangshu knows everything about you and Lord Min, otherwise he wouldn't have sent me here." Qiao Youyou said as he straightened his sleeves.

Chen San was frightened and quickly explained that he was just a helper and would not get any benefit at all.

"But if you knew about it but didn't report it, you are an accomplice and should be sentenced to exile according to the law. Don't be so lucky. I, an outsider, know about this. Think about it, how many days can Lord Min still jump around? He can't take care of himself, so how can he protect you?"

Qiao Youyou observed Chen San's expression and felt that the time was right, so she followed the words Zhu Lan taught her and said that she could show him a way forward.

Chen San immediately seemed to have grabbed a life-saving straw and kept asking for advice.

"Tomorrow, the Minister of Revenue, Lord Lu, will hold a banquet in his mansion, and you must come forward as a witness then." Qiao Youyou said casually.

"Of course, it's okay if you don't want to go. Lord Min's matter can no longer be concealed. The higher-ups have already gathered a lot of evidence. One more person won't make much difference, and one less person won't make much difference. I'll give you the opportunity to redeem yourself and make meritorious contributions. It's up to you whether you want to or not."

"Go, go, go. I will definitely go!!!" Chen San had completely lost his composure after being threatened and seduced by Qiao Youyou.

"Okay, write a confession then."

Qiao Youyou didn't seem to be in a hurry at all, which made Chen San anxious.

He quickly took a pen and paper and asked how to write. Qiao Youyou asked him to write down the key information he had just mentioned and everything related to Min Yuan, and finally put his fingerprints on it.

After Qiao Youyou checked that everything was correct, she gave a few more instructions before turning around and leaving.

As soon as he went out, his little face, which had been pretending to be serious, suddenly couldn't hold it together anymore, and he almost laughed out loud in the street with joy.

Humph, if you are allowed to bully others, then you can’t blame others!

Qiao Youyou walked towards home, and couldn't help humming the opera she had practiced for many days.

…

In the evening, Min Yuan returned to his house. As soon as he got off the sedan chair, he saw a man in a cloak at the door, peeking out, as if waiting for him.

"Lord Min, you're back." When Ning Xiang saw him coming back, he hurriedly came forward and personally helped him out of the sedan chair.

When Min Yuan saw him, he frowned slightly and looked around. Fortunately, there was no one around.

"No one saw it, right?" Min Yuan asked.

Ning Xiang quickly said no, he had specially come to see him wearing a cloak.

Min Yuan nodded and told him to go in and talk. The two walked quickly towards the mansion.

After entering the house, Min Yuan sent the servants away, and Ning Xiang could not wait to ask about the account book.

"The account book has been sent to the Ministry of Revenue for a few days, but Qiao Youyou has been reluctant to return it. Could it be that he has discovered something?"

Then he asked Min Yuan, as Qiao Youyou's boss, why he didn't let someone else take over the matter.

Min Yuan sighed, "Do you think I don't want to? This morning, the Third Prince arranged for someone to deliver a letter of complaint. Originally, he could have found a reason to suspend Qiao Youyou, but when it was almost done, the Third Prince sent someone to tell them not to touch her."

Ning Xiang was very puzzled. "But if she really finds out something, not only will the Third Prince not get the 12,000 taels of silver, but the entire Anju Real Estate Company, including you, Lord Min, will..."

"I know that too!" Min Yuan frowned, "But this is what His Royal Highness Prince Qi wants, so I can only do as he says. Alas, I really can't guess what His Royal Highness is thinking."

The two fell into silence, and an anxious atmosphere gradually spread.

After a long time, Boss Ning seemed to have thought of something and his expression suddenly turned very bad.

"That day at Tongyun Bank, I took the wrong fan and she saw it, but I don't know if she noticed anything."

Min Yuan was shocked. "You didn't take..."

Ning Xiang nodded heavily, with a look of regret on his face.

"How could you be so careless--" Min Yuan stopped talking halfway, as if he had thought of something.

Something is missing from the wastebasket in my room...

Min Yuan broke out in a cold sweat.

Unless I remembered it wrongly, someone had sneaked into my office.

Zhao Shengping usually came the earliest, and he had backup keys to all the rooms in the Ministry of Finance. But Zhao Shengping was his confidant and would never do such a stupid thing.

There were not many people in the Ministry of Revenue on holidays, but Zhao Shengping would leave a spare key in the yamen to prevent emergencies. The Ministry of Revenue kept records of people entering and leaving the office, so no one would dare to take the risk and enter their superior's study privately. If any confidential documents of the court were lost, it would be a serious crime if they were found out.

But ordinary people wouldn't dare to do that, especially Qiao Youyou, a troublemaker.

In addition, I arranged for her to be on duty on the day she was on rest, so she must have returned to the yamen.

Thinking of Qiao Youyou's abnormal behavior in the past few days, Min Yuan's face turned pale in an instant.

Ning Xiang still held on to a glimmer of hope, "Lord Min, could it be that we are overthinking? Those things are just ordinary calligraphy and paintings in the eyes of ordinary people, and they may not really be associated with so many things..."

"No, we can't take any risks in this matter." Min Yuan gritted his teeth and quickly made up his mind.

"Boss Ning, you and I will go to Prince Qi's Mansion right now."