Chapter 292 Burned to death?
"Why does this ledger only have serial numbers and corresponding revenue? What do these serial numbers mean?"
Li Mu scratched his head, completely bewildered.
Li Nanke also couldn't understand it.
Each box contained a thin ledger, which recorded the total amount of gold and silver in the box and when it was put in.
But the way it was recorded was strange.
For example, on the second day of the sixth lunar month, the balance of the first day was 1,000 taels of gold.
For example, on the fifth day of the tenth lunar month, three thousand taels of gold were deposited on the second day.
After pondering for a while, Li Mu said, "These should be serial numbers he created. What they actually represent, only he himself probably knows."
Li Nanke nodded.
“Father is right, but I don’t understand why he never spends any of the gold and silver he has in his hands.”
This led everyone to believe that the Marquis of Anping's residence was now just an empty shell.
Li Mu was also completely baffled.
He bent down and took out all the account books from the fifteen boxes one by one.
"Take these back first, we'll take a look at them."
The father and daughter did not touch the gold and silver in the box, but only took the account book and went upstairs.
Then he put the wooden door and the outer bookshelf back in their places before leaving the study.
It was late at night, and the sound of the night watchman's gong could be faintly heard coming from the street.
It has already reached midnight.
Li Mu patted Li Nanke's head.
"It's too late, Ke'er, go back to sleep."
Li Nanke was so tired that he went straight back to his own courtyard.
Nothing was said that night.
The next morning, the whole family was having breakfast together when the housekeeper rushed over.
"My lord, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review has arrived."
Li Mu was taken aback.
"You're here so early in the morning? Looks like you must have something urgent to attend to."
He grabbed a steamed bun, stuffed it into his mouth, and hurried away while chewing.
Song Yi ate absentmindedly.
"I went to their door on the second day of the Lunar New Year, but I don't know what happened."
Li Nanke's eyes darted around, and he jumped off the chair.
"Mother, I'm going to listen in the front yard. Wait for my news."
Before the words were even finished, the person had already run out the door.
Song Yi shook her head and chuckled, "This child."
Before Li Nanke even reached the front yard, he ran into Chang Yuan, Li Mu's personal servant.
Chang Yuan looked flustered.
"Young lady, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review said that there was a fire in the dungeon last night, and Li Yongfeng and Li Yao were both burned to death."
Li Nanke was so startled that she almost tripped and fell to the ground.
"The dungeon caught fire? What a coincidence! Besides those two, were there any others who burned to death?"
Chang Yuan shook his head.
"The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review did not explain clearly. He only said that the Marquis had seen the two of them last night, so he asked the Marquis to cooperate in questioning them and identifying the bodies."
Li Nanke's delicate brows were furrowed tightly.
There is no such thing as coincidence in the world.
She felt that Li Yongfeng and Bai Sanniang's attitudes were very strange last night.
Unfortunately, they had just visited the prison when a fire broke out inside.
Those who don't know the truth would surely guess that the fire is related to the father.
Fortunately, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review was with them when they went in last night, otherwise they really wouldn't have been able to explain themselves no matter how hard they tried.
Remembering something, Li Nanke quickly turned and ran.
He ran all the way back to Fanghua Academy.
"Why are you running so fast, kid? Did something happen?"
When Song Yi saw her running in breathlessly, her expression changed slightly.
Li Nanke took a breath and quickly relayed Chang Yuan's words.
Upon hearing that Li Yongfeng and Li Yao had been burned to death, Song Yi was so shocked that she stumbled backward and fell into a chair.
Her lips trembled, and she grasped Li Nanke's hand tightly.
"Why did the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review summon your father?"
Li Nanke quickly comforted her.
"Mother, don't worry, Father will be fine. The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review stayed with him the whole night."
Father's trip is just a formality.
Song Yi's pale face eased slightly.
Li Nanke asked her, "Does Mother know where the booklets Father brought back last night are?"
Song Yi was stunned for a moment before she realized what was happening.
He got up and went to the inner room to take out a small stack of booklets.
"Take a look and see if this is it. Your father stayed up all night looking at it last night when he came back."
There's also a piece of paper on it; it's something he wrote.
Song Yi pulled out a piece of paper from inside and handed it over.
Li Nanke's eyes lit up.
The paper contained all the serial numbers that appeared in the fifteen ledgers, as well as the gold and silver received after each serial number.
There are seven serial numbers in total.
It seems that Father stayed up all night last night to finish reviewing the account books.
Li Nanke put the paper away, then took the account book and said to Song Yi, "Mother, I'm going out for a bit. I'll be back before noon."
"Hey, you haven't even finished your breakfast yet, where are you rushing off to?"
"Go to Prince Xuan's residence."
Li Nanke hurriedly left after saying a few words.
She could be heard outside instructing Zisu to prepare the car.
She only brought Nangong Qiang with her when she went to the Prince Xuan's residence, and they still went through the northwest side gate.
After entering through the side gate and walking further in, Li Nanke discovered that despite it being the Lunar New Year, the Xuanwang Mansion had absolutely no festive or joyous atmosphere.
This is even worse than her house.
Although her home was once again ravaged by fire, and the arrest of Li Yongfeng and Li Yao caused widespread panic, the servants still made ample preparations for the New Year in advance.
Unlike the Prince Xuan's mansion, which had few servants to begin with, and whose servants were all listless and lifeless.
While Li Nanke was inwardly complaining, he had already entered Shen Cong's courtyard.
The door to the main room was open, and Shen Cong was having breakfast, sitting cross-legged on the blanket.
On the small table in front of me was a bowl of porridge and a few side dishes.
He held the bowl of porridge in one hand, sipping it half-heartedly, while using his other hand to pick up a piece of meat and tease the snow eagle.
The snow eagle smelled the meat and excitedly raised its neck, sticking out its tongue to lick the meat on the chopsticks.
But just as it was about to touch the chopsticks, Shen Cong withdrew them.
After these two incidents, Xueying got angry and slammed both front legs down on the table.
Staring at Chen Cong, it strongly expressed its desire to be served.
"Woof woof woof!"
Shen Cong stared at it expressionlessly.
Xueying was defeated, shrank his neck, and cowardly took his legs down again.
Seeing this, Li Nanke couldn't help but chuckle.
Upon hearing her laughter, Xueying jumped up and darted out of the house in an instant.
Excitedly, it pounced on Li Nanke, rubbing its head against her repeatedly, and letting out two pitiful whimpers.
Li Nanke stroked Xueying's fluffy head.
"Want to eat meat?"
"Woof woof!"
Li Nanke whispered, "I'll give you a big chicken leg tomorrow."
"Woof woof woof!"
The snow eagle excitedly called out twice to Chen Cong inside the house, then turned around, its back to Chen Cong, and vigorously wagged its tail.
They ran off happily.
Shen Cong snorted and raised an eyebrow at Li Nanke.
"You promised to give it chicken legs again. If it keeps eating like this, it won't be able to run anymore. Haven't you noticed how much fatter it has become?"
Li Nanke blinked his dark, grape-like eyes.
"Has Xueying gained weight? I didn't notice, but I noticed that Ninth Brother, you've really lost weight."
Chen Cong scoffed lightly.
"What kind of eyesight do you have? You didn't even notice Xueying got fat, how could you notice I've lost weight?"
Li Nanke took off her shoes and sat down on the ground opposite him.
He pointed to a bowl of porridge in front of him and spoke eloquently.
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