Chapter 336 I heard that I am the best (23)
"Madam Mu, why have you condescended to come see me like this? What's the matter?" Zhou Shichu asked after taking a sip of tea. Fumanlou is indeed the largest restaurant in Cuicheng, and the tea they make is excellent.
"Didn't I invite you to the flower-viewing banquet? Why didn't you come? I've been waiting for you in the mansion for a long time, but you didn't show up. I wondered if I had offended you in some way..." Liu Yan said to Zhou Shichu in a tone that seemed neither angry nor true, and she looked like a foolish girl blaming a heartless man.
Zhou Shichu couldn't help but get goosebumps all over his body, and hurriedly said: "Madam Mu, you are joking. How could you offend a small commoner like me? On the contrary, I don't know how I offended you... Is your invitation to me mandatory? I can't refuse it?"
When Zhou Shichu finished speaking, his face turned stern and he stared at Liu Yan sharply.
Liu Yan had something to hide, so how could she resist Zhou Shichu's sharp eyes? Therefore, when she was stared at like that, she immediately felt guilty and shifted her gaze.
She always showed a gentle and kind face, how could she admit that her invitation was mandatory? Doesn't this mean that she was using her power to pressure others? Therefore, Liu Yan hurriedly made amends after feeling guilty: "Mrs. Zhou, you are joking. How could you misunderstand that I forced you to come to the appointment? I was just curious about why you didn't come."
"The reason? It's very simple. I'm no longer Li Wei's wife. I'm just a commoner. If I continue to associate with dignitaries like you, our status and position are not equal. Isn't that asking for humiliation? I know myself very well." Zhou Shichu said very frankly, and then narrowed his eyes and asked deliberately, "I think Madam Mu can understand my concerns and won't blame me for this, right?"
"How could that be? Of course not!" Liu Yan shook her head repeatedly. She didn't know what was going on. She was the one whose status and position could crush Zhou Shichu, but when facing Zhou Shichu, her aura inexplicably weakened. She couldn't put on the airs of a city mistress, let alone suppress Zhou Shichu.
"That's good..." Zhou Shichu said with a smile, "By the way, Madam Mu, you haven't told me what you want to see me about."
Liu Yan was immediately alert and said directly: "In fact, I held a flower viewing banquet two days ago and invited so many wealthy families in the city to raise funds for the increasing number of refugees in the city. I wonder if Madam Zhou can lend a helping hand to these poor victims and donate some money or rice?"
"Of course!" When Zhou Shichu heard that this was the reason why she was holding a flower-viewing banquet, he answered readily and agreed immediately.
"The distinguished guests who attended the banquet that day were very kind and generous. They donated a lot of rice and grain. If Madam Zhou could also do her part, those refugees would definitely be very grateful to you... What did you say? You, you agreed?" Liu Yan was still trying her best to persuade Zhou Shichu, but suddenly heard her agree without hesitation. She was stunned and didn't react for a moment.
Zhou Shichu smiled and said, "I said I promised to donate some money to help the refugees."
"Why did you agree so readily?" Liu Yan asked in astonishment. She thought she would have to persuade Zhou Shichu several times before she would agree. However, it was completely beyond her expectation that Zhou Shichu had no intention of refusing at all.
"Why shouldn't I agree? This is a good deed. Donating some of your belongings can save lives. Isn't it worth it?" Zhou Shichu asked back.
"Worth, worth..." Liu Yan said in a daze.
"But I have a request." Zhou Shichu suddenly spoke again.
Liu Yan's heart immediately jumped up, and she had a feeling that "it came as expected", and she was relieved about it. She said, why would Zhou Shichu cooperate with her so well? It turned out that he was waiting for her here. She didn't know what request she would make. If it was too excessive, how should she persuade her?
Zhou Shichu had no idea that she had so many thoughts in her mind, so he said directly:
“I hope that when you use the money I donated, you can keep a detailed account, such as how much money I donated and what it was used for, buying clothes, food or houses for refugees?
If you buy clothes, how many pieces did you buy? Were they for adults or children? For boys or girls? How much did each piece cost? How much did you spend in total? If you buy food, how many kilograms of food did you buy? How many bowls of porridge did you cook? How many refugees did you help? If you build refugee shelters, what materials did you buy? How many workers did you hire? How much did you spend per day?
And so on. All these situations must be recorded one by one. There must not be any ambiguity. Otherwise, I have reason to suspect that you did not use all the donations for the refugees, but embezzled them privately and enriched yourself.
Don't think I'm being too nosy, because I want to make sure that every penny I donate is really used where it should be used. I think you can understand that, right? "
Zhou Shichu looked at Liu Yan steadily and asked back.
Before Liu Yan could speak, Qingyue, the maidservant beside her who was very protective of her master, immediately exploded with rage, and was indignant for her master: "Don't talk nonsense! Madam would never be greedy for your little money, don't slander our Madam. Everyone knows that Madam has always been the most simple and kind, and sympathetic to the poor people. She would even kindly offer food and money to a beggar when she saw him on the street, and you say that she would embezzle your little money? You are insulting the character of the master!"
Liu Yan blushed when she heard what Zhou Shichu had just said. She felt that Zhou Shichu was judging others by his own standards. This obvious distrust was an insult to her. She was so angry that her whole body was shaking. She said, "I didn't expect Madam Zhou to think of me this way! I am the wife of a general, and I have not fallen to the point of embezzling charity funds! Since I can raise these charity funds, I will definitely make full use of every penny!"
Zhou Shichu didn't care about the anger of the master and servant. As the person who donated the money, couldn't she be asked to disclose the accounts and accept supervision?
But seeing that they were still very angry, he continued to persuade them kindly: "I ask you to disclose the accounts, and this is also for your own good.
Think about it, if you don't make your accounts public, will other people who donated money privately think that you are just using the refugee issue to gain fame and reputation, and don't really care about refugees? They may even suspect that you are using public funds for personal gain, embezzling donations, and enriching yourself...
But if you mark the purpose of each donation, record it in detail without any mistakes, then others will think that you are truly upright and smart, and they will definitely trust you more, thinking that you are a person who really gets things done, and it is the right thing to give you the donated money to use.
Also, you can guarantee that you are honest and incorruptible and will not embezzle charity funds, but what about the people under you? Those hired workers you sent out to purchase goods and provide disaster relief, can you guarantee that they will not embezzle a single penny?"
Zhou Shichu successfully used her eloquent tongue to almost quell the anger of Liu Yan and her servant.
(End of this chapter)
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