Chapter 31 A Plan to Turn the Tide
Li Nanke blinked her grape-like eyes.
“My maternal grandmother admitted that Lord Wei’s judgment in judging cases was accurate.”
"you....."
Speechless, Zhang realized that she had been tricked by this little girl, Li Nanke.
He composed himself, tapped Li Nanke's forehead with a disgruntled expression, and took a breath.
"You silly girl, have you forgotten how much your grandmother loves you? How could your grandmother bear to rob your mother's shop?"
Li Nanke pouted, looking troubled.
"Both Manager Liu and Granny Qian said the money was given to Grandma, but Grandma says she didn't receive it. What's going on?"
"Bang."
Lord Wei, who was sitting in the hall, withdrew his gaze from Li Nanke's wrinkled little face and lightly tapped the gavel.
"Has the accountant finished checking the accounts?"
A thin, middle-aged man immediately came out from the back room, carrying two thick stacks of account books.
"Your Excellency, I have made a detailed comparison between the account books provided by Madam Song and the account books found in the two shops."
Upon investigation, it was found that the two shops had made a total profit of 16,000 taels over the past eight years, and had paid 6,000 taels to the Marquis's residence in total.
The remaining ten thousand taels don't match the accounts; they must be the embezzled silver.
Li Nanke's eyes lit up when he heard the number.
Sure enough, the government's accountants were quicker to calculate accounts when there were more people in the office.
This morning, when she asked Zisu to go and complain, she brought along the fake account book that Qian Mama usually used to fool her mother.
Given Lord Wei's temperament, he would definitely instruct his yamen runners to search the shops for purchase and sales records before going to Gaoshenglou.
By comparing the two, it's easy to quickly calculate the actual amount of money earned by each shop.
She gently tugged at Song Yi's hand.
"Mother, did you hear that? Our shop is really making money!"
Song Yi gripped her daughter's hand tightly, her teeth chattering with anger, and tears involuntarily streamed down her face again.
Over the years, Aunt Qian and Manager Liu have always been telling her that business is tough and the shop isn't making money.
Sometimes she would only bring back a little over a hundred taels of silver after two months, but in some years she could earn a thousand taels, which made her very happy.
Little did they know that the thousand taels was just something they used to fool her after they had divided it among themselves.
How can people be so evil!
Song Yi looked at Lord Wei with teary eyes.
"I beg Your Honor... to uphold justice."
Lord Wei nodded and asked Madam Zhang, "What is your explanation for this, Madam?"
A dark glint flashed in Madam Zhang's eyes.
Damn it, I forgot that there are daily records of incoming and outgoing goods in the shop.
Song Yi, that idiot, can't understand the ledgers and never thinks to check them. They actually overlooked this.
Madam Zhang clenched her fists and cried out that she was extremely wronged, but she was not particularly panicked.
He spoke with the same calm and composed demeanor as before.
“I never instructed them to take money from Song Yi’s dowry shop. You can’t just listen to their side of the story, can you?”
The ledger can only prove that there are indeed discrepancies in the accounts, but it cannot prove that they gave me the money. Where is the evidence?
"Without evidence, they are framing me, sir. Such audacious and despicable people who dare to falsely accuse their master should be beaten to death on the spot."
Manager Liu was, after all, the manager of Song Yi's dowry shop, and being an outsider, it was inconvenient for him to come and go from the Song family home.
The account book and the silver were given to her by Money Mother.
Mrs. Zhang was very confident that they could not produce any evidence.
Sure enough, as soon as the words were spoken, both Madam Qian and Manager Liu looked ashen-faced.
They really had no evidence.
Manager Liu said, "After each month's settlement, I will give the account book and money to Money Mama, who will then hand it over to Madam."
Without hesitation, Madam Zhang blurted it out.
"I have never seen any silver given by Madam Qian, so this old bastard must have pocketed it himself."
"Sir, such a wicked servant should be interrogated rigorously so that she can tell the truth."
Madam Qian was so angry that the wrinkles on her face were trembling, and she looked at Madam Zhang in disbelief.
"Madam, you...it was clearly you who told me..."
"Shut up, you old hag! You're Yiyi's stewardess, the one who's served her since she was little. How could you do such a disloyal thing?"
Madam Zhang raised her hand and slapped Qian Mama hard.
The burns on Qian's mother's face hadn't healed yet, and this slap, delivered with great force, broke the blisters on her face.
Pus and blood streamed down her face, causing her to feel dizzy from the pain. She covered her face and glared at Madam Zhang.
In that instant, she understood that Madam Zhang was sacrificing the pawn to save the king, and that she was to take the blame.
Madam Zhang's eyes were filled with venom as she pointed at her and cursed angrily.
"If I had known you were this kind of person, I would never have let you serve Yiyi."
You should have kicked your son, daughter-in-law, grandson, and daughter out and sold them off long ago.
“You have sons and daughters, and even grandchildren, so why don’t you accumulate any good karma for your descendants?”
It's clear that our family has been too lenient with you, which has allowed you to become so greedy.
Qian's mother's pupils contracted sharply, and the anger in her eyes gradually turned into despair.
She understood the meaning behind Madam Zhang's words.
Her son, daughter-in-law, grandson, and daughter are all still slaves in the Song family. If she doesn't take the blame, Madam Zhang will beat her whole family to death when she goes back.
This was the master she had been loyal to her whole life, who pushed her out without hesitation when something went wrong, wishing she were dead immediately.
Mrs. Qian squeezed her eyes shut, a surge of overwhelming regret welling up inside her.
She regretted it.
Song Yi was so close to her and respected her, always listening to her. She could have enjoyed her old age in the Marquis's mansion. Why did she have to look at the grass and listen to Zhang Shi?
How foolish!
Mother Qian's lips trembled and she knelt on the ground, her whole body shaking.
"It was all my doing. I was greedy and embezzled the silver from the young master's wife's shop."
Madam Zhang breathed a barely perceptible sigh of relief.
It's good that Madam Qian is willing to admit it. As long as Madam Qian insists that she embezzled the money, without any evidence, the Bianjing Prefecture can't continue to interrogate her.
She had only just begun to breathe a sigh of relief when she heard Li Nanke looking at her with a puzzled expression.
"Grandma, where did you hide all that money that Mama Qian embezzled?"
Madam Zhang's expression froze. "How would I know? Maybe that old geezer spent it all."
“But she lives and eats at the Marquis’s residence, and her children are with the Song family, so she doesn’t need to spend any money.”
Li Nanke frowned slightly, then suddenly clapped her hands.
He said, "Oh, I know! She must have hidden the silver at the Song family's place. Why don't we go to the Song family's place and look for it?"
Madam Zhang's eyelids twitched involuntarily.
Lord Wei in the hall gave a cold laugh.
“What Miss Li said makes sense. Since Mother Qian has admitted it, we need to find the stolen money or the items that were sold with the stolen money before we can close the case.”
"Madam Zhang, please lead the way. I will personally search the Song family's residence."
Madam Zhang was so anxious that she broke out in a cold sweat.
In broad daylight, if the Bianjing government were to search the house, not tomorrow, but this afternoon, an imperial censor would impeach the Song family.
Her face darkened. "How dare you! My master is the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, a dignified fifth-rank official. How can you search him as you please?"
Lord Wei smiled slightly.
"We searched the servants' quarters of the Song family, didn't we?"
Madam Zhang...
She suddenly felt a sharp pain, as if she had shot herself in the foot.
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