A few days later, Kangxi calmed down and resumed his new work, and Yin also began to get busy.

After much deliberation, he decided to deal with the officialdom in Jiangnan. Yin was assigned the task of sorting out the jewelry ordered by the officials' families in Jiangnan, taking advantage of the convenience of Qingyan's Yuelai Inn and Linglong Pavilion.

Qingyan sat in the study, looking at Yin across from her, and couldn't help but let out a bitter smile.

"Fourth Prince, this is a serious problem. We need to check all the ledgers. All these orders of jewelry need to be recorded separately. Those ledgers are considered private ledgers, recording in detail which residence ordered the jewelry. I've already had them all moved over. Look at those cabinets over there; they're all filled with detailed records." Qingyan rubbed his temples. The records from the past few years amounted to three large cabinets. If they wanted to investigate the detailed records, they certainly couldn't do so within the stipulated time.

Qingyan shook her head, feeling very irritated. Stacks of account books were being delivered one after another, containing detailed records of the headdresses, including the raw materials used and their values.

"Little darling, are you sure these are all from the last few years?" Yin asked, looking at the cabinet by the wall, somewhat astonished.

"Yes, they are all detailed records. Moreover, these boxes belong to Linglong Pavilion; the ones from Yuelai Inn haven't arrived yet." Yin's workload is enormous; the information Kangxi needs must be extracted from these boxes.

Qingyan smiled slightly, then rubbed his temples, his face showing signs of fatigue.

“The Cao family ordered the largest quantity of jewelry, but the Salt Commissioner also ordered a lot. These two residences must be influential in the Jiangnan officialdom, with many female relatives attending social events. In addition, they have many female relatives, so they used each of them to order jewelry. Therefore, Granny Cao and Madam Cao were able to get quite a few pieces. Those unfavored female relatives didn’t get any jewelry at all,” Qingyan said directly.

Both the Cao family and the Salt Commissioner's family were places that Qingyan had instructed him to keep records of. Every year, the headwear for these two mansions was ordered according to the number of people.

Whoever Cao Yin or the Salt Commissioner favored would receive an extraordinary amount of attention.

"Therefore, it is reasonable that the Cao family could order so many headdresses," Yin sighed.

Qingyan nodded. In fact, from the beginning, officials' wives had been using this method to order exquisite headwear. Since the beginning of this year, she had specifically asked the shops in the south to start recording the ranks of the female relatives of various mansions in order to prevent any further problems.

The Linglong Pavilion, a fine shop in the south, was recorded exactly as Qingyan had said. The Cao family had been supporting the Linglong Pavilion, and the shopkeepers had done some tricks to help the Cao family and several other residences do more things.

"No wonder Father Emperor demanded a thorough investigation." The manager of Linglong Pavilion also clearly had something to say about it.

After arriving in the south, Qingyan had been investigating and had already noticed the problem.

“I specifically went to see Madam Cao’s jewelry. In fact, every time she appears in my sight, her jewelry is specially made by Linglong Pavilion. Most importantly, these jewelry pieces are all the latest styles this year. I have to say, there must be something wrong with this,” Qingyan said. “Fourth Prince, I know that you were ordered by Father Emperor to conduct a secret investigation when you came here.”

Qingyan lowered her head, wanting to help Yin complete the task, but afraid of hurting Yin's pride.

"Afraid I'll refuse?" Yin pulled her into his arms and coaxed her softly.

She nodded. Yin had always been very assertive. If she were to interfere, the princes would see it, and then Yin would find it difficult to stand among his brothers.

“It’s not just you who can help; even our eldest brother needs your help, sister-in-law. Little darling, we’re all in this together.” Yin liked to investigate with Qingyan; with her by his side, the investigations were much faster.

real? !

Upon hearing this, Qingyan's eyes lit up instantly. Yin Genjueluo was the best example; she had always stood behind Yin, protecting him in every way. In truth, Yin had a very bad temper. If it weren't for Yin Genjueluo mediating for him, the bond between the brothers would probably have broken down long ago.

"Don't worry, how could I not trust you? I will support every move you make," Yin said with a smile.

He opened the ledger and paid special attention to the timing of the Cao family's orders. Every year in April and May, the women's families would place orders, and even the salt merchants would order a lot of jewelry during this month.

"Fourth Brother, look how strange this is. These salt merchants have surrendered to the Cao family, no! They should be called slaves who were separated from the Cao family. It is said that the families of these two families actually call Madam Cao 'Master'." The maids of Linglong Pavilion had just happened to run into this a few times when they went to deliver the jewelry.

"Are you sure?!" Yin looked at her in disbelief.

Before Cao Yin left Beijing, Emperor Kangxi specifically instructed him that none of the servants in his household should be sent into official positions.

"I can confirm that those maids were specifically there to deliver jewelry, traveling between the residences of officials and their families in Jiangnan," Qingyan affirmed.

Yin looked at the table with his right index finger. Now, he had to consider whether to tell Kangxi about the matter.

"Get those people out of here. Don't let them send any more jewelry." Yin was worried that sending these pieces of jewelry might give the ladies an opportunity to silence them.

"Why?!" Qingyan was puzzled. These maids earned extra money; they all came from poor families and relied on this extra income to make a living.

"If we silence them, how am I supposed to hand them over when Father Emperor demands them?" Yin asked in a low voice.

For now, Kangxi won't touch Cao Yin. But once the Jiangnan officialdom is rectified, Cao Yin's good days will be over, and then...

OMG!

Qingyan patted his chest and said he had forgotten about it.

"Sulan, go to Linglong Pavilion yourself and tell Manager Yue that all the maids who deliver the jewelry are working very hard, and transfer them to work in the warehouse." Qingyan quickly instructed.

“We’ll make up for those extra earnings!” Yin understood that those who could work at Linglong Pavilion needed to make up for their family’s financial situation. Now that he had cut off their rewards due to some issues, he naturally had to make up for it.

"Hmph, of course you're the one who should make it up to me!" Qingyan thanked Yin with a cheerful smile.

He flipped through some account books, which had some small annotations on them. Yin couldn't help but sigh that Qingyan was tolerant of his subordinates, which made them loyal. He even recorded some minor improprieties he saw in the mansion, so that later people would not encounter similar taboos.

"Little darling, you've trained her well," Yin said with admiration.

If all his servants were this loyal, he wouldn't have any headaches.

Pfft!

Qingyan smiled and said, "You really have a hard time praising me. This time, I'll gladly accept it."

Yin patted her little head and shook his head with a helpless smile.