Mr. Qian was slightly taken aback. He had been managing the Shen family's accounts for over a decade. Even when the Second Madam took over, she relied on him and spoke politely to him.
This Third Madam, at such a young age, is so harsh in her words and actions?
Does he really have someone to rely on, or does he simply not know how to manage the household and win over the accountant?
He guessed it was the latter.
Thinking of this, Mr. Qian smiled and said, "Yes, I will listen to the Third Madam."
If the Third Madam acts so arrogantly today, she will have to beg him for mercy tomorrow. Having been in charge of accounts for so many years, she has some confidence.
Second Madam Yang hadn't expected Su Qingyu to be so displeased the moment she entered the house. She thought to herself that she was still young and naive. If she wanted to manage the household well, the person she couldn't afford to offend the most was the accountant.
Yang looked at Su Qingyu and said, "Third sister-in-law, do you want to see the account book first? If there is no problem, I will give you the key and seal."
Su Qingyu smiled and said, "No need to look at it, second sister-in-law, just give them all to me."
What are you looking at? They're all evened out, it'd be strange if you could spot anything wrong.
Mr. Qian looked more relaxed after hearing what Su Qingyu said. This Third Madam looked strong on the outside but weak on the inside. She looked very imposing, probably just trying to scare them.
I guess she wouldn't be able to understand the accounts even if I gave them to her.
Yang thought so too, and wondered, he wouldn't give up in two days, right?
After receiving Yang's seal and key, Su Qingyu left the accounting office and went to the kitchen with a few maids.
The Shen family's kitchen is a two-entry courtyard. The first entrance is the kitchen, and the back entrance is the warehouse for storing food.
When Su Qingyu arrived there, the kitchen manager, Mrs. Li, was busy with her people.
Mrs. Yan, who was in charge of purchasing, was receiving the goods, which were newly delivered shad and lamb legs.
Yan Pozi also had another identity: she was the younger sister of Hua Mama, the old lady's personal attendant. Because of this relationship, the old lady relied heavily on Yan Pozi. Yan Pozi was also a good talker. During the holidays, she would visit the old lady to pay her respects, and she would always keep her entertained for a long time.
Seeing Su Qingyu coming in person, several people stopped what they were doing and bowed to her. They had also heard that from now on, the Third Madam would be the housekeeper.
Mrs. Yan smiled and said flatteringly, "The Third Madam is here? Do you have any instructions?"
"You go ahead and do your thing, I'll just take a look." Su Qingyu said casually.
Hearing her say this, Mrs. Yan continued to instruct her subordinates to weigh the goods and stamp their seal on the delivery account book.
Su Qingyu glanced at it out of the corner of her eye and saw that it said eight pounds of lamb legs, one hundred coins per pound.
But Su Qingyu looked at the lamb leg and thought it was only about five pounds. A hundred coins seemed too expensive. She was the housekeeper in the Su family, and the most expensive lamb leg on the market was only sixty coins.
This leg of lamb is only five hundred coins short.
Although five hundred coins might not seem like much, it was only the price of a leg of lamb. The Shen family, including the masters and concubines from various courtyards, numbered dozens, with hundreds of servants. The daily expenses for food and clothing were enormous, and even a small amount here and a tenth there would still add up to a considerable sum.
Su Qingyu remained calm and went back to the kitchen.
When the kitchen takes things from the warehouse, they check the weight and quantity. This is also to check and balance each other and have a constraint.
The kitchen manager, Mrs. Li, happened to bring the lamb leg over and also pressed her fingerprint on the handover account book in the warehouse, indicating that she did take an eight-jin lamb leg.
Su Qingyu feigned curiosity and casually asked, "How much does this lamb leg weigh?"
Mrs. Li's eyes flashed for a moment, then returned to normal in an instant.
"Third Madam, how could you possibly know how to do these rough jobs? This leg of lamb may not look big, but the bones are heavy."
As he spoke, he weighed it in his hand again, "Well, I think it weighs more than eight pounds. Don't worry, Third Madam, my hands are scales. Things that have been handled for many years will not be bad."
Su Qingyu nodded, as if she believed what Mrs. Li said.
Coming out of the kitchen, Feicui whispered, "Madam, when I was with my third cousin, we went to a cattle and sheep market in the north. The lamb legs looked like they weighed less than eight pounds. They're trying to trick us by thinking we don't know anything."
"Should I tell the old lady about this?"
Su Qingyu walked back while saying, "What do we have to tell? The kitchen shopper said they bought eight kilograms, the kitchen said they cooked eight kilograms, and the accountant paid out eight kilograms of money. The lamb leg is already in the pot. No matter who we tell, we can't produce any evidence."
After all, Feicui had followed Lin Wuchen before, and was much more sensitive to business matters than Zhenzhu.
After a quick thought, he exclaimed in a low voice: "Madam, are you saying that these people are in collusion?"
"Then should we catch them in the act tomorrow?"
Su Qingyu shook her head. "It's useless to attack this in the kitchen. At most, they will say it was negligence or they were deceived. If we want to solve it thoroughly, we have to start from the accounting office."
Her goal wasn't just to tidy up the inner chambers; she also wanted to take action against the first wife. The hatred from her past life was still fresh in her mind. She couldn't let go of the hatred until the first wife paid the price.
Pearl asked in confusion, "Such a big thing, doesn't the old lady know about it?"
Su Qingyu chuckled, "How could I not know? But if the water is too clear, there will be no fish. As long as nothing serious happens, the old lady won't ask too much."
But she knew something big, something big enough that Chen couldn't bear it.
In early July of this past life, the son of Mr. Qian, the accountant, assaulted a young master from a prominent family in a restaurant. The master refused to relent and threatened to kill Mr. Qian's son. Mr. Qian then sought help from Chen, who happened to overhear their conversation in the waterside pavilion.
Mr. Qian wanted Chen to help save his son, but Chen, already overwhelmed by her own troubles, refused to intervene. Mr. Qian threatened, reminiscing about the death of the Shen family's grandfather. Though he didn't explicitly state it, judging by their reactions, Chen was directly responsible for the death.
Mr. Qian also said he had another set of account books, containing the true accounts of the Marquisate over the years. Chen's face paled, and she asked him why he hadn't burned them. Mr. Qian replied that it was to protect himself one day. He feared retribution for his repeated bad deeds.
Chen agreed to Mr. Qian's request and the next day she spent money to hire someone to get Mr. Qian's son out of jail. That night, Mr. Qian's house caught fire and all of his family members, over a dozen of them, died.
Early July... there was still more than a month left, and she had the patience to wait for Mr. Qian to come to her door.
Before that, she couldn't reveal any clues. She didn't know where Mr. Qian's accounts were, and without evidence, she couldn't tell Shen Zhixiu about her eldest sister-in-law and the accountant.
So waiting is the best way.
The master and servants chatted as they headed towards the west courtyard. Su Qingyu planned to meet with the housekeeper later to discuss the rules.
But before she could meet the managers, a manager came to her.
The person who came was Xiangdong, the manager of the large warehouse in the inner courtyard of the mansion.
"Third Madam, the Second Miss is going to the Xuanwu Marquis's Mansion to attend a flower show tomorrow. The Second Madam has selected three paintings and said that you can choose any one of them."
"Now that I'm your housekeeper, could you please help me choose a painting as a gift?"
A sneer flashed across Su Qingyu's eyes. She was just worried about who to choose for the operation. But this Xiang Guanshi was a "good man" who came to her door on his own initiative.
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