Chapter 066: Checking the Accounts of the Marquisate
Shen Ningyuan leaned on the chaise longue, lazily resting her eyes.
At this time, Lu Ying's voice sounded outside the door, "Young Madam, Uncle Chen, the accountant, is here."
"Well, let him in."
After the words fell, Shen Ningyuan sat up straight, his expression had become cold.
Uncle Chen, the accountant of the Marquis's Mansion, walked in hesitantly with a stack of account books in his hands, and bowed to Chen Ningyuan, "I greet the young lady!"
"Well, get up." Shen Ningyuan pointed to the table beside him, "Put the account book here."
Uncle Chen stood up, but did not move.
Seeing this, Shen Ningyuan's face turned cold, and he asked in a deep voice: "What? I want to see the account book, is there any problem?"
Uncle Chen shook his head. "Young Madam wants to see the account book, of course there is no problem, but I don't know if you have Madam's permission?"
When he spoke, the expression on Uncle Chen's face was very subtle, with a hint of arrogance.
Chen Ningyuan also noticed this, her face darkened instantly, and her tone was not as polite as before, "If I remember correctly, when I married into the Marquis' Mansion a year ago, the Marquis' Mansion had a serious deficit in its accounts and owed a lot of debts. The lady was crying miserably to me in her words, so I had no choice but to merge half of the shop from my dowry into the Marquis' Mansion's property."
"Does Uncle Chen still remember this?" Shen Ningyuan asked coldly, emphasizing his tone.
Uncle Chen paused, then quickly said, "Of course I remember. I personally arranged the connection of these industries."
"In the past year, the businesses of the Marquis' Mansion have gone bankrupt one by one due to poor management and serious losses. Is this true?" Shen Ningyuan asked again.
At this time, Uncle Chen’s face was a little panicked, and he looked up at Shen Ningyuan.
But Shen Ningyuan's face remained calm, and it was impossible to tell what she was thinking.
After hesitating for a moment, Uncle Chen dared to nod, "Young Madam is right. In the past year, many businesses in the Marquisate have indeed gone bankrupt."
"In this case, this huge mansion is supported by my dowry, right?"
Uncle Chen could only nod, "Yes."
"In that case, why do I need Madam's consent to see my own things?" Shen Ningyuan asked coldly.
After hearing this, Uncle Chen had nothing to say and obediently put the account book on the table.
"Young Madam, please."
His attitude was also much more respectful than before.
Shen Ningyuan didn't say anything, picked up the account book and began to read it carefully.
During this time, Uncle Chen stood not far away, occasionally tilting his head to stare at Shen Ningyuan, his face very flustered.
After a while, Shen Ningyuan pointed to an expense in the account book, "Here, since I married into the Ji family, I have spent one thousand taels every month, and there is no clear record. What is it used for?"
Hearing this, Uncle Chen walked over to take a look, a hint of panic flashed across his eyes.
But he quickly covered it up and said hurriedly, "Madam, this is for the renovation of the school in the old Ji family mansion."
Shen Ningyuan raised her eyes to look at Uncle Chen and asked coldly, "How come I don't know anything about such a huge expense?"
Uncle Chen became even more nervous and pushed Chen out, "Replying to the young lady, Madam said that there is no need to tell you about this little thing."
Shen Ningyuan couldn't help but sneer.
Such a huge expense came from her dowry, but she didn't even have the right to know?
Thinking of this, Shen Ningyuan said directly and coldly: “Stop this expenditure for now.”
"This..." Uncle Chen hesitated, "Young Madam, this is for the Ji family's old house. If we stop using it hastily, I'm afraid the people from the old house will come to Beijing to make trouble and say that our mansion is not kind."
It was obvious that Uncle Chen wanted to use the people in the Ji family’s old house to put pressure on Shen Ningyuan.
But he was obviously going to be disappointed.
The current Shen Ningyuan is the last one to fall for this.
He immediately smiled coldly, "As far as I know, the cost of repairing a school will not exceed 500 taels, but the repair of the school in the old house costs 1,000 taels per month? Do you think I'm a fool?"
"Madam, this is the Marquis's request, and I dare not disobey him!"
Uncle Chen became ruthless and brought up Ji Zehai to put pressure on him.
Seeing this, Chen Ningyuan was no longer polite, raised her eyebrows and said coldly: "Now all the expenses of the Marquis' Mansion are paid by me. Do I have the final say or does the Marquis have the final say?"
This Uncle Chen repeatedly used other people to pressure her.
She, Shen Ningyuan, was really treated as a soft persimmon!
Shen Ningyuan's words left Uncle Chen speechless.
Finally, he gritted his teeth and said in a muffled voice: "Okay, I will go and tell the Marquis later."
Hearing this, Shen Ningyuan said nothing more and continued to look down at the account book.
When he saw an expense, he said bluntly, "Now that the Marquis's Mansion has just lost a family, it is not appropriate to be extravagant. Madam should also stop eating two blood ginsengs every month."
Uncle Chen was stunned again, "Young Madam, this blood ginseng is Madam's medicine. Madam has been taking it for a year. If you stop taking it suddenly, it may affect Madam's health, so--"
Before Uncle Chen could finish his words, Shen Ningyuan interrupted him, "How much is a blood ginseng?"
Uncle Chen was stunned, obviously not expecting Shen Ningyuan to suddenly ask this.
At that moment, he could only answer truthfully: "Because I am a regular customer of the store, the price is cheap, about two hundred taels of silver for one."
As soon as the voice fell, Shen Ningyuan began to count:
"Two hundred taels, two ginsengs a month, that's four hundred taels, nearly five thousand taels a year. The annual salary and subsidies of the Marquis's Mansion would not add up to more than two thousand taels. Madam, do you think it's appropriate for you to eat such an expensive blood ginseng?"
As soon as these words came out, beads of sweat slowly appeared on Uncle Chen's forehead.
He could see that Shen Ningyuan was determined to check the account books of the Marquis' Mansion today.
I just don't know what she wants to do?
At this moment, Uncle Chen certainly could not have imagined that Shen Ningyuan would take back all the things given to the Marquis' Mansion and would start with him first.
In the following time, Shen Ningyuan used his keen intuition to point out all the unreasonable expenses in the Marquis' Mansion.
Each of these items left Uncle Chen speechless.
As the accountant of the Marquis's Mansion, he naturally knew that both Ji Zehai and Chen were trying to cheat money from Shen Ningyuan's dowry.
In the past, Shen Ningyuan pretended to be unaware, or perhaps she never thought that her in-laws, whom she loved so much, would plot against her in secret.
But now, Ji Yunchuan is dead.
As a widow, it is understandable that Shen Ningyuan thinks more about herself.
Realizing this, Uncle Chen became even more flustered.
If Shen Ningyuan found out all the bad debts in the Marquis' Mansion, how would he explain to Chen?
Seeing Uncle Chen’s increasingly flustered expression, Shen Ningyuan knew that there were still many problems with the remaining accounts.
But it doesn’t matter, now is not the time for a thorough investigation.
She has plenty of time, so take your time!
Thinking of this, Shen Ningyuan closed the account book, put it heavily on the table, and held his forehead with his hand, pretending to have a headache.
Seeing this, Lu Ying hurriedly came forward with tea and said with concern: "Young Madam, don't be anxious, drink some tea and relax."
Chen Ningyuan took the tea, drank it slowly, looked at Uncle Chen with cold eyes, and said in a deep voice: "I just read a book, the Marquis's unnecessary expenses are nearly 10,000 taels per month, which is more than 100,000 a year. Stop all these expenses!"
Upon hearing this, Uncle Chen's expression changed immediately!
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