Chapter 709 Fundraising
When Wei Lan challenged her, not a single person present spoke up for Li Ruoxue. They sympathized with Li Ruoxue's plight but couldn't afford to offend Wei Lan, so they remained silent.
“Miss Wei invited us here to contribute to the Northwest military supplies. I saw in the ledger that Li Ruoxue donated a box of jewelry. She is really generous.”
Lin Yuesha changed the subject and looked down at the account books.
"I did good deeds to pray for the health of my unborn child, but who knew that my good intentions in participating in the fundraising would lead to..."
After thinking it over, Pang Pang realized that Li Ruoxue was truly pitiful.
"Hmph, it's just a box of jewelry. Only the shallow-minded would make such a fuss. I'll donate double!"
In a fit of anger, Wei Lan spoke without thinking. After realizing what she had said, she regretted it and wanted to take it back, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.
She glanced at Lin Yue'e, signaling Lin Yue'e to give her a way out.
However, Lin Yuesha was lost in thought and did not notice Wei Lan's wink.
"Perhaps I was too naive and only brought a few pieces of jewelry. Since Miss Wei is so generous, I am willing to donate my salary as head chef."
Lin Yuesha cut off Wei Lan's chance to back out.
"you……"
Wei Lan was furious. She had gone to great lengths to take on jobs in order to clear her name, but things didn't go as planned, and she ended up being labeled as malicious.
Mo Dong confessed, leaving her with no room for defense, and she remained seething with resentment.
"I'm not some country bumpkin. The Wei family has been wealthy for three generations."
Wei Lan glared at Lin Yuesha. She had made a bold statement and had no choice but to comply. She increasingly suspected that Li Ruoxue had set a trap for her.
“Miss Wei, you were the one who initiated the fundraising. Mo Dong was originally in charge of keeping the accounts, but now that Mo Dong has committed suicide, shouldn’t we change the person in charge?”
Lin Yuesha, with a look of concern for Wei Lan, said, "The accounts should be made public. We need to have a plan for how much we raise, whether to pawn it or auction it off."
"Yes, once we have the money, should we use it to purchase military supplies and send them to the Northwest, or should we hire a caravan to escort the silver?"
With Lin Yuesha leading the group, the ladies raised questions one after another, effectively turning the page on the farce.
"this……"
Wei Lan recalled what her mother had said before she came to the Prince's villa: the money must be managed by the Wei family.
Now that Mo Dong, who was in charge of bookkeeping, has died, someone needs to take over. However, she remembered her mother's advice and was determined not to relinquish the authority.
"Do you mean you don't trust me?"
Wei Lan was furious that someone of her status would dare to stand up and contradict her.
“Miss Wei, I’m doing this for your own good. You’re not going to be tempted by money, but with such a large sum of money, what if some blind fool embezzles it and tries to cover it up, and you might not even know it?”
Lin Yuesha used Mo Dong as an example, saying, "Miss Mo Dong is deeply trusted by you, yet she has done such things behind your back."
The implication is clear: don't argue, because if you do, it means you're the one who instructed Mo Dong.
Wei Lan opened her mouth, but a breath of stale air stuck in her chest, neither rising nor falling.
"If you don't trust me, then you can..."
Wei Lan has the final say on how to use the money she raises. If Lin Yuesha questions it, she can organize a fundraising event herself, and Wei Lan won't stop her.
"How about this, we elect a few people to jointly manage the accounts?"
Pang Pang pushed Lin Yuesha forward and said, "I choose Yuesha. She's been in business before, and she's incredibly good at using abacuses."
The people nominated should not be from the same group to avoid collusion and greed. Several people who have disagreements should be selected so that everyone can supervise each other.
Surprisingly, Lin Yuesha and Li Ruoxue received the most votes when the ladies voted.
"Okay, haha!"
Pangpang, always eager for a good show, refused to listen to Wei Lan. If Wei Lan didn't agree, she would take the jewelry back and try to raise funds in another way.
In the end, Wei Lan had no choice but to nod, pondering how to explain herself to her mother.
Privately, Lin Yuesha asked Pang Pang, "You know perfectly well that Wei Lan is the Empress's younger sister, so why do you still go against her? Aren't you afraid of being retaliated against?"
The daughters of high-ranking officials often chose to remain subservient, as such situations made them easy targets for criticism.
Lin Yuesha was willing to take risks for money, but Pang Pang had no reason to do the same.
"I'm not afraid."
Pang Pang snorted, but didn't explain why.
Lin Yuesha stopped asking questions, but in her heart she was thinking that none of the young ladies from the high-ranking families in the capital were simple. Those who seemed honest and simple might be pretending to be weak while actually being strong.
The fundraising ended in the afternoon.
Lin Yuesha, Wei Lan, and others tallied the appraised value of everyone's jewelry, and finally estimated it to be over 200,000 taels of silver.
Little by little, the amount raised amounted to a huge sum of money, no wonder the Wei family was unwilling to give up.
"More than two hundred thousand taels!"
The ladies looked at each other in shock.
"This is just an estimate of the jewelry; if it were auctioned off, it would be worth even more."
The capital city is not short of suckers; the jewelry that Li Ruoxue took out, with its huge ruby, was worth a thousand taels of silver.
No wonder Li Ruoxue acted so recklessly, yet she still managed to marry Bai Dingfeng as she wished. With money following her, she married a god of wealth, and the Bai family didn't lose out.
The ladies participated in the fundraising, but ensuring that not a single penny was used to supply the Northwest military was a difficult problem.
Wei Lan really wanted to drive these things away; how to distribute them was a matter for the Wei family and had nothing to do with everyone else.
“After all, it’s something we all contributed to. I think we should go all the way and deposit it directly into Wantong Bank, then hire bodyguards to deliver the token to the Northwest.”
There are branches of Wantong Money Shop in the Northwest. Whether the money is used for procurement or as compensation for soldiers is up to them.
"no!"
Wei Lan objected, saying that once the money was deposited into Wantong Money Shop, there was virtually no chance of withdrawing it, making it difficult for the Wei family to intervene.
"Does Miss Wei have a better idea?"
Lin Yuesha agreed that the silver should be deposited in a money exchange, as the token was equivalent to a modern savings account, which would be more convenient to carry.
If it were to transport official silver, the journey would be long and fraught with unforeseen circumstances, and it would also be unsafe.
"Since it's for military supplies, it should be used for procurement. If the money is sent to the Northwest and embezzled, we won't see a drop of the money."
Wei Lan rolled her eyes and made an excuse.
"For example, when we purchase grain and cotton in the capital and transport them to the Northwest, not to mention the manpower and resources, we have to endure the hardships of the journey and avoid bandits. The loss of goods alone is a huge waste of money."
Traveling from the capital to the Northwest, if it rains, it's difficult to preserve food, cotton, and medicinal herbs.
Lin Yuesha had thought about this issue before. Grain in the capital was cheaper than in the northwest, and considering losses and labor costs, it was not an advantage.
Bai Youran escorted Li Ruoxue to her room to rest and immediately joined the discussion. She took out a map and spread it out for the ladies in the front row to see, "Deposit the silver into Wantong Bank, and then make purchases in these cities along the way."
For example, in Cangzhou, which we passed through along the way, the local people liked to weave their own cloth. Buying cloth from the locals was at least 30% cheaper than buying it from merchants.
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