Wen and Pei Jing were whispering in the room when Jiang Shuwan finally had a moment to herself, and Qingxing quickly brought her snacks and tea.
"Good green apricot, thank goodness for you."
Jiang Shuwan was so busy at lunchtime that she barely ate anything. She took the osmanthus pastry and ate it in two bites, then ate a brown sugar steamed bun before she slowed down.
Jiang Shuwan slowly sipped her tea while having Qingxing massage her legs.
She's been working as a caregiver for the Wen family these past two days, and it's been exhausting.
“Miss, why aren’t you angry? If you ask me, I’ll complain to the old lady and let her see what kind of face the mistress has. And the young lady is the same. She says she wants to get along well with you in front of the old lady, but as soon as the old lady leaves, she starts to cause you all sorts of trouble.”
"Complain? She didn't hit me or scold me. She just asked me to serve her tea and water and take care of her medicine. This is filial piety. Even if I complained to the Empress, it would be useless. At night, she even gave me a quilt, so I didn't have to sleep on the floor."
"So we're just going to keep taking care of you like this? I'm really afraid that you won't be able to endure the illness, Miss."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Shuwan glanced into the room and said meaningfully, "You're overthinking it. Who will take care of her if I'm sick?"
As she spoke, she glanced at her sleeve, and Qingxing exclaimed in surprise, "Miss, why are your sleeves wet?"
Qingxing touched it in surprise and found that her sleeve was not only wet but also icy cold.
"Miss, you got splashed with ice water? Won't you get sick?"
Inside the house, Madam Wen was questioning Pei Jing.
“Jing’er, what’s wrong with you? Madam Jiang just came back from the kitchen with medicine for me, and she was sweating profusely. You then asked her to bring me a basin of ice water and even pretended to accidentally bump into it. Luckily, I asked the head maid to pull her away. Otherwise, if a basin of ice water had been poured on her, the combination of heat and cold would have probably made her fall ill on the spot.”
"So what if she's sick? She caused my wife to get so sick, I wish she were dead..."
"You're being foolish. Who will take care of me if she's sick?"
Wen looked at Pei Jing speechlessly.
How could her daughter be so stupid?
He was so clever when he was little.
"Madam, does that mean all we can do is make her run around, and that's all we can do for her?"
Pei Jing gritted his teeth and said, "Madam, we can't let her get away with this. She's a lowly woman who came from a minor official background. She's not even qualified to carry my shoes, yet she dares to ask me to apologize and admit my mistakes. If I don't avenge this, I'm not Pei Jing!"
"Otherwise what? You don't actually dare to hit her, do you? Didn't you see how protective the old lady was of her? If you hit her, she might take away the last bit of power you have. Why don't you think of a way to get the housekeeping power back for me? Then you can do whatever you want to her."
“That’s one way. My wife reminded me that instead of nagging her about trivial matters, we should punish her for her mistakes. Then the old lady won’t feel comfortable protecting her.”
Seeing Pei Jing's eyes darting around, Madam Wen asked with a delighted expression, "My son, what good idea have you come up with?"
"Check the accounts!"
"She doesn't like to check the wife's accounts, so let's check hers too. I want to see how clean she really is!"
Pei Jing snorted coldly. She walked a few steps to the outer room and saw Jiang Shuwan sitting in a chair resting. She immediately scolded her with dissatisfaction, "What's wrong with you? You haven't done much work and you're already running here to slack off. Do you even care about your wife?"
Jiang Shuwan, too lazy to listen to her nonsense, stood up and asked, "What are your orders, Madam?"
As she spoke, she stood up. "It's just serving tea, pouring water, cooking porridge, and preparing medicine. In a few days, the usury will explode. The more smug the Wen family is now, the more miserable they will be later."
“It’s nothing. Madam said you manage the shop well, but you’re still young. She’s worried you might be misled by the shopkeepers, so she asked you to bring over the shop’s account books for the past few months so she can take a look.” Pei Jing said, while his eyes darted around, observing Jiang Shuwan’s expression.
Then she saw Jiang Shuwan pause for a moment, "Madam, you still have to look at the accounts while you're sick. Isn't that bad for your health?"
"What nonsense are you spouting? Madam is only doing this for your own good. She is the mistress of the house, so why can't she keep track of your accounts!"
Pei Jing said forcefully. Seeing Jiang Shuwan hesitate, she immediately felt that this matter had a chance, and quickly said, "It's just looking at an account book, is it going to kill you? Why are you making excuses? You don't have something you're hiding, do you?"
"This, this, how could this be? Big sister, you've misunderstood..."
"Hehe, you seem pretty guilty."
Pei Jing snorted coldly, and without waiting for Jiang Shuwan's agreement, he directly ordered the head maid and the storeroom maid to go to the shop to get the account books.
"Yes, my lady, I will do it right away."
The two nannies were very proactive. They got into the carriage and went to various shops to collect all the accounts that had been kept since Jiang Shuwan took over.
"Why are there so many?"
Pei Jing was dumbfounded as she stared at the accounts that were taller than her.
How can there be so much money in just a few months' worth of accounts?
“Grandma, you may not know this, but ever since the young mistress took over, the shop’s business has been getting better and better. In addition to the usual small business, the shop also has various large-scale purchases. The young mistress makes all the decisions on these purchases. We servants felt that there might be something wrong with these purchases, so we brought these purchase orders back.”
The two old women pointed to the various receipts mixed in with the account books and said, "These are all big receipts, with each transaction involving several thousand taels of silver. We also called back a few of the shop managers so that it would be convenient for the young lady and madam to ask questions."
After saying that, the head maid lowered her voice and said to Pei Jing with a smug look, "Madam, the steward I called back this time is known for his honesty and integrity. He is upright and incorruptible. When Madam was in charge of the household, they were very polite to her. I think even if Young Madam wanted to bribe them, she wouldn't be able to."
"I thought that if there were any discrepancies in the young mistress's accounts, they certainly wouldn't cover them up, so I brought them back. They're all waiting outside now. Would you like to summon them, young mistress?"
"Pass it on! Of course we should pass it on!" Pei Jing excitedly paced around the room.
"Great! Great! You did a fantastic job this time!"
"I didn't expect you guys to be so clever."
Pei Jing was full of praise, and she even excitedly rewarded the head maid and the storeroom maid with a piece of silver so they could buy wine.
Then several managers came in and began a life of auditing accounts day and night, and they even had the Wen family audit the accounts together.
“Madam, there must be something wrong with Jiang’s accounts. I just asked her for the account books, and she either made excuses or looked hesitant and embarrassed. It’s obvious that there’s something wrong with them. She’s clearly guilty.”
"Really?"
“Absolutely true! And with so much silver coming and going in the shop every day, money is tempting, I don’t believe she could resist taking advantage of it.”
Pei Jing said smugly, as if he was certain he would find out the problem.
Hearing her say that, Madam Wen perked up.
"My son, you are so intelligent!"
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