On the day Yuan Chun received the housekeeper's keys, she ordered people to bring over all the account books from previous years.
She sat upright in a side hall of Rongxi Hall, with piles of yellowed account books in front of her. Now that she had been given this task, she had to make a good impression so that the old lady and her mother could rest assured.
She first opened the account books for the most recent year and examined them carefully.
At first, his expression was relatively calm, but the more he flipped through the pages, the more his brows furrowed.
When she saw the land rent item, she slammed the ledger shut, her fingertips trembling slightly.
"How could this be?" Yuan Chun muttered to herself, her eyes filled with disbelief.
The Jia family owned thousands of acres of farmland in Jinling, and should have received tens of thousands of taels of silver in rent every year, but the accounts only recorded less than half of that.
What's even stranger is that the silver was spent on various pretexts before it was even put into the treasury.
She quickly flipped through the account books from previous years and found that the situation was exactly the same, and the deficit was even more severe each year.
Yuan Chun took a deep breath, suppressing her shock, and summoned Zhou Rui's wife: "Go and invite Madam over. Tell her I have something important to discuss with her."
Before long, Madam Wang rushed over and, seeing Yuan Chun's grave expression, asked, "What happened?"
Yuan Chun pushed the account book in front of her and said in a low voice, "Mother, please take a look. There's something wrong with our family's land property accounts."
Madam Wang took the account book, quickly flipped through a few pages, but was completely bewildered: "What's wrong with these numbers? Wasn't it always like this in previous years?"
Yuan Chun smiled bitterly: "Mother, our family's land should yield 50,000 taels of rent every year, but the accounts only show 20,000 taels. Where did the rest of the money go?"
Madam Wang was taken aback, then waved her hand and said, "What's the big deal? It must be that the estate managers haven't paid yet, or they were delayed on the way."
Yuan Chun shook her head and pointed to a line of small print in the account book: "Look here, it clearly says 'Wang Demin, the head of Jinling Manor, has paid the full amount of silver,' but the amount doesn't match up. And the accounts have been like this for years. I suspect... someone is embezzling."
Madam Wang then realized the seriousness of the situation, her face gradually turning pale: "This...how is this possible? Those estate managers are all veterans of the manor!"
Yuan Chun said in a deep voice, "Precisely because they are old, it is easier for them to deceive their superiors and subordinates. Mother, this matter must be thoroughly investigated, otherwise the foundation of the Jia family will be hollowed out sooner or later."
Madam Wang panicked and grabbed Yuan Chun's hand: "What should we do? Should we tell the old lady?"
Yuan Chun pondered for a moment, then shook her head and said, "The old lady is getting on in years, and it's not good to worry her. Why don't we talk to Sister Feng first? She's managed the household for so many years, she might know the inside story."
Madam Wang nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, Feng'er is clever, she'll definitely have a way!"
However, when they sent people to look for Wang Xifeng, they were told that she had left early in the morning and had been leaving early and returning late for the past few days, and even Jia Lian rarely saw her.
At this time, Wang Xifeng was in a courtyard in the south of the city, directing the craftsmen to renovate the workshop.
She wore a neat blue dress, her hair simply tied up, a stark contrast to her usual luxurious attire, yet the glint in her eyes was brighter than ever before.
“Break down this wall and turn it into a large kitchen,” she said to the foreman, pointing to the room on the east side. “That area will be divided into three small rooms, each large enough for only one person to work in, and the doors will be locked.”
Xiao Hong followed behind her and whispered, "Grandma, does this workshop really have to be so secure?"
Wang Xifeng sneered, "What do you know? That recipe is priceless. If it gets leaked, how will we do business?"
She turned to the foreman and said, "The work must be finished before sunset today, and the pay will be doubled!"
The craftsmen dared not slack off and quickly sped up their work.
Just then, Jia Lian strolled in, fanning himself with a fan, looking curious: "Feng-ge'er, what are you doing all this mysteriously?"
Wang Xifeng's face darkened, and she quickly stepped forward to stop him: "Why has Second Master come here? This place is dirty and messy, it's not a place for you."
Jia Lian smiled and said, "I'm just concerned about you. I heard you've been traveling a lot these past few days, so I came to see you."
Wang Xifeng remained unmoved and pushed him out, saying, "This is a restricted area; outsiders are not allowed to enter. If you're bored, Second Master, why don't you go and see the newly purchased actors?"
Jia Lian stumbled from her push, feeling embarrassed, and said in a low voice, "What kind of attitude is this? I'm your husband!"
Wang Xifeng narrowed her eyes, her tone chilling: "If Second Master still remembers that I am his husband, he should know that this deal was ordered by the Empress. You should not treat it as a joke."
Jia Lian was speechless after being choked by her words and could only leave dejectedly.
After he walked away, Xiao Hong said worriedly, "Grandma, isn't it inappropriate to treat Second Master like this?"
Wang Xifeng snorted coldly: "What's there to be afraid of? This workshop is just meat hanging in front of him. Are you afraid he'll cause trouble?"
She dusted off her sleeves, turned and walked toward the backyard. "Let's go see if the people I had the broker choose have arrived yet."
In the backyard, more than ten girls stood in neat rows. They were all around fifteen or sixteen years old, dressed simply, and looked uneasy.
The slave trader greeted her with a beaming smile: "Grandma, these were all found according to your requirements. They come from respectable families and are honest and law-abiding citizens."
Wang Xifeng's gaze was sharp as she swept across their faces one by one, then suddenly pointed to one with bright, lively eyes: "She won't do, she's too clever and will cause trouble." She then pointed to another with her head down, "Keep this one, and screen the rest again, only the most dull-witted one."
The slave trader repeatedly agreed, but secretly thought to himself that this Second Mistress Lian was indeed difficult to deal with.
That evening, Wang Xifeng returned to the Jia family mansion. As soon as she entered, she was stopped by Jin Chuan from Madam Wang's room: "Second Madam, Madam has been looking for you for a long time. She said there is an urgent matter."
Wang Xifeng raised an eyebrow: "Oh? I'll go right now."
In Madam Wang's room, Yuan Chun was still looking through the account books when she saw Wang Xifeng come in. She quickly stood up and said, "Sister Feng, you're finally back."
Wang Xifeng smiled and said, "What's wrong, Madam and Sister? Why do you look so pale?"
Madam Wang said anxiously, "Feng'er, there's a big problem with our accounts! The land rent is severely short, do you know what happened?"
Wang Xifeng's eyes flashed, and then she showed a look of surprise: "Is that so? When I was in charge of the household, I only took care of the household expenses and did not check the land accounts in detail."
Yuan Chun looked directly into her eyes: "Sister Feng, you've handled all the accounts over the years. Have the estate managers noticed anything unusual?"
Wang Xifeng sighed, looking helpless: "Sister, you don't know, those estate managers are all old hands in the manor. They often delay paying rent because of their seniority. Although I have reprimanded them several times, they only pay lip service and do nothing about it."
Madam Wang slammed her hand on the table and exclaimed, "This is outrageous! I'll send someone to teach these unruly servants a lesson right now!"
Wang Xifeng quickly dissuaded her, saying, "Madam, please calm down. The eldest young lady has just taken over the household affairs, and it's not advisable to cause any unnecessary trouble. It's better to wait until things are settled before dealing with them slowly."
Yuan Chun frowned, feeling that something was wrong, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
Just as she was about to ask again, she suddenly heard Wang Xifeng say, "By the way, now that you've discovered the deficit, is there any way to remedy it?"
Yuan Chun paused, then shook her head and said, "I haven't figured it out yet."
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