Chapter 362: You, the Liu family, shouldn’t be so despicable!

Old Madam Zheng was in a good mood. She took the hand of her maid Nan Yan and sat down on the chair at the head of the room without any hesitation.

Liu Qingyuan swallowed his anger and sat in the lower seat, his face stiff as he said, "Madam, there is something else going on here..."

Madam Zheng did not give Liu Qingyuan any face and laughed out loud: "The inside story, what inside story? Is it the inside story that you gave your own daughter to the useless son of the Cui family as a concubine, or the inside story that you gave your concubine's daughter from the next room to the notorious Earl of Taining as a second wife? Or the inside story that you bullied the orphan girl of the second room who had no parents and took over her property? ... Ridiculous, really ridiculous! When the Grand Scholar Liu retired and returned to his hometown, all kinds of evil spirits and villains ran out! It is really sad that a good Grand Scholar's Mansion has fallen into such a state!"

Old Madam Zheng spoke a long string of words, and her scolding was extremely rude. She was of noble status and looked down upon Liu Qingyuan's actions. Now she scolded him without giving Liu Qingyuan and the Liu family any face.

Liu Qingyuan and several elders of the Liu clan were so embarrassed that they looked like ripe shrimps.

Although Madam Zheng also mentioned the Liu family when she scolded him, Ah Wu felt secretly happy when he heard it. He felt that Madam Zheng was truly amazing.

She should learn from this old lady Zheng!

Xingxing also looked at Madam Zheng with sharp eyes.

Madam Zheng was a little dazed by the admiring and passionate eyes of the two pretty young men. She coughed and calmed down: "...So have you discussed how to deal with it?"

Liu Qingyuan and the Liu family had long been scolded by Madam Zheng, and their faces were still a little stiff when they heard Madam Zheng ask this, and they said: "... Madam Zheng, this is my Liu family's private matter after all..."

Madam Zheng glared at me, "Did I not explain it clearly just now? I was invited by your old lady, obviously because she was afraid that you wolves and tigers would bully the little girl! You want to chase me away now, are you feeling guilty, have you made up your mind to bully your orphan niece?! Then just tell me, I'm leaving now, and I'll come back and tell you how your Liu family bullied a little girl who lost her parents!"

Liu Qingyuan's face twisted, and he almost vomited blood!

Ah Wu is already in her twenties! She has already given birth to a son! But this old lady Zheng keeps calling her a little girl, as if she feels sorry for that fool Ah Wu!

But… no matter how angry Liu Qingyuan was, he knew that he couldn’t afford to offend this old lady Zheng, so he had to grit his teeth and force a smile: “How could it be. Ah Wu has the old lady’s care, it is her blessing in her previous life…”

Madam Zheng snorted and said impatiently, "That's enough. I don't want to hear your nonsense anymore. Just tell me, how are you going to handle this?"

Ah Wu also said, "Yes, uncle, my grandfather and I have been away from Beijing for seven years. You have never sent money to the other villages in Mapo Town. We just thought it was a real loss. But now it seems that someone is deceiving us."

Xing Xing helped, saying in a soft voice, "It's just a loss, the Yin Yang account book clearly states that someone embezzled the money. My aunt and I were going to report the shopkeepers who embezzled the master's money to the authorities, but it was Master Liu's people who came and told us that we would be given an explanation for everything, so we brought the people back. But I never thought that Master Liu would come up and blame my aunt for this and that, and never mentioned paying the money back."

"Now that Madam Zheng is here, Master Liu won't default on his debt, right?"

Liu Qingyuan gritted his teeth.

According to Liu Qingyuan's idea, he was unwilling to give up the industry that was in his hands.

He is the head of the Liu family. So what if he takes the property of the second branch of the Liu family?

but……

At the moment, it seems that Ah Wu, that fool, has caused such a big scene, and the old man has even invited the old lady of Weibei Marquis to escort her. It is impossible for him not to bleed.

Liu Qingyuan gritted his teeth and said, "...Awu is not in the capital, so he doesn't know how hard our Liu family has been through these years. I also used some of the money I earned from the shop to build connections for the sake of our Liu family. This is all for the Liu family, not for my own selfish reasons. Awu is also a member of the Liu family, so it's only right..."

Before Liu Qingyuan could even finish his words "I should contribute to the family", Madam Zheng sneered, "You are not going to say that this money was paid by Ah Wu, a little girl who returned to her hometown early?... Liu Qingyuan, you can be shameless, but you cannot be so shameless without any bottom line! You, a bunch of masters, stayed in the prosperous capital to spend your days in debauchery, while Ah Wu, a little girl, returned to the countryside with her grandfather early to retire, and did not enjoy any of the glory of the Liu family. Yet you want her to pay for you, the masters who stayed in the capital?"

"Liu Qingyuan, don't tell me that your Liu family is supported by a little girl like Ah Wu who has no parents, right?"

"Not to mention that Ah Wu got married so early! I have never heard of her family taking out the money from her daughter's wedding to force her to 'contribute to the family'! You Liu family, you shouldn't be so mean, right?"

Madam Zheng's scolding was powerful and she finished the long string of scolding without even taking a breath.

Ah Wu's eyes sparkled and he couldn't help but applaud Old Madam Zheng.

Liu Qingyuan and the elders of the Liu family were scolded so much that they felt uneasy and embarrassed. They wished they could find a hole to crawl into!

Liu Qingyuan's face turned red like a pig's liver, and he defended himself without any persuasiveness: "...No, that's not the case... Madam Zheng, you misunderstood. I, I just wanted to say that it has not been easy for my family these years, so these mistakes have occurred. Don't worry, even if I have to sell my pot and sell my iron, I will give the money to Ah Wu to make up for it!"

Madam Zheng snorted, turned around and asked Ah Wu, "Little Ah Wu, do you know how much money has 'disappeared' from the account book in these years?"

Madam Zheng didn't come alone this time. Ah Wu was an orphan, and Madam Liu was bedridden, so you can imagine how difficult their situation was.

This time when she came, she also brought three accountants commonly used by the Weibei Marquisate, intending to help Ah Wu with the accounting.

However, Madam Zheng did not expect that when she asked this question, Xing Xing would reply, "Madam, I have calculated that in the past few years, a total of 9,300 taels of silver have been missing from the accounts of the shops run by the young aunt."

Old Madam Zheng frowned upon hearing this.

There are so many!

Almost ten thousand taels!

In fact, Xingxing, this is not even counting the money from the small businesses owned by Old Lady Liu!

After all, Liu Qingyuan is still Old Lady Liu's son.

Liu Qingyuan didn't expect it to be such a large sum, and his face changed suddenly.

He only embezzled a little every year, but he never thought that small amounts would add up to a large sum over the past six or seven years.