Chapter 176 Because he doesn't need you anymore
"father……"
Just as Fu'er was about to pounce, her mother grabbed her arm and pulled her onto the carriage.
"Mother, it's Father."
Meng Shilan patted his head. "But it's not like that now."
"Why?"
She put her arm around her daughter's shoulder, saying, "Because he doesn't need you anymore."
Fu'er lowered her eyes, feeling sad. Why didn't her father need her anymore?
Danniang held Xuan'er and looked at Madam Yao, no, now it's Miss Meng.
She only learned about Meng Shilan's hardships now.
If these things had happened to him, she probably would have been driven to her death long ago.
The current prosperity is nothing more than walking on the tip of a needle.
With two children by her side, she's likely to be bombarded with criticism.
When the carriage returned to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, there were two familiar figures at the gate.
"elder sister!"
Shuang'er burst into tears as soon as she saw Meng Shilan.
She almost died in Yuzhou!
"There's nothing left; His Highness Prince Cheng took it all."
"All our hard work over the years!"
Meng Shilan's fingers trembled slightly as she touched the scab on Shuang'er's eyebrow.
"Does it hurt?"
Shuang'er shook her head, "It's alright, I'm still alive!"
Wei Xun said, "It was my carelessness that put Shuang'er in danger."
He paused for a moment, then continued, "I also discovered some secrets about His Highness Prince Cheng..."
Meng Shilan understood. "I know. You go first, Shuang'er will stay here."
Wei Xun remounted his horse and rode away.
Shuang'er followed her into the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, and only now did she look at her sister with mixed feelings.
They were forced from the capital to Yuzhou, and then forced back to the capital from Yuzhou.
"Sister, what do we do now?"
She was somewhat resentful; her business, which she had run for two years, had now all vanished.
"I still haven't received the money back."
She allowed several merchants with whom she had established good relationships to pay her only after the goods arrived at the warehouse.
Now there's nothing left.
Meng Shilan smiled and said, "With a capital city this big, are you worried about not having enough money to earn?"
Over the years, the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion has received so many rewards that the warehouses can't hold them all.
There were countless farmhouses and shops.
After Madam Meng's death, the capital's industries almost came to a standstill.
The person in charge was greedy and lined his own pockets.
Meng Yushan's swift and decisive crackdown only emboldened those in charge to operate more discreetly.
After Meng Shilan returned, she only glanced at the account books and discovered quite a few problems.
Now that Shuang'er, the best helper, has arrived, it couldn't be more perfect.
"The Yao family's trading company has branches in Yuzhou, and it also has branches in the capital!"
Shuang'er paused for a moment, "Sister's current household registration..."
The register has been changed; the surname is no longer Yao.
"Does your surname matter?" She smiled nonchalantly.
"You just need to be the head of Yao's Trading Company."
She blinked. "I promised to earn you a generous dowry."
“If we can make money using Xiao Shu, why can’t we make money using the Duke of Zhenguo’s mansion?”
She moved closer to Shuang'er, "Rather than let those ungrateful parasites eat you up, I'd rather give you some."
Shuang'er smiled, her eyes crinkling. "Then we'll divide it the same way we did in Ding County."
Dan Niang laughed and said, "We're just like we are in Ding County again now."
"The only problem here is that we don't have a pavilion to barbecue."
"When we were in Dingxian, the kittens craved roasted meat the most!"
"That's easy," Meng Shilan said, turning to the green willows outside.
"Green Willow, go and tell Uncle Qi to have the craftsmen add a pavilion here."
"Yes." Green Willow immediately went out.
Shuang'er frowned as she watched Green Willow's retreating figure.
Meng Shilan noticed, "What's wrong?"
"I feel like I've seen her somewhere before."
"She used to be a maid in the Xingyang Marquis's mansion, and it is said that she served in front of Miss Gao Si."
She thought for a moment, "The heir of the Marquis of Xingyang and Zhou Congxian are classmates and good friends. You may have met him when Miss Gao Si came to visit sometime."
Shuang'er previously served the old lady at the Duke of England's mansion.
He has seen far more than she has.
"Maybe..." If it was just a one-time encounter, she really couldn't remember.
"Anyway, sister, you should be careful; it's not reliable yet."
Meng Shilan nodded, "They went to great lengths to arrange this place, hoping to find out about Lord Meng's affairs. I have no value here."
Shuang'er: "No, that's not true. If you're worthless, why would His Highness Prince Cheng go to such lengths to capture you?"
"His Highness Prince Cheng is watching you, and so are everyone else."
Meng Shilan seemed to be deep in thought.
She couldn't help but think of Gao Zhian, who had drunkenly emerged from Dexinglou that night.
Could it be that he arranged this?
But he had already recognized her. Wasn't he afraid that by doing this, he wouldn't even be able to be friends with Zhou Xian in the future?
She narrowed her eyes slightly; she had to test her.
Many of the Meng family's shops were located on the most bustling streets, including calligraphy and painting shops, music shops, writing brush and ink shops, porcelain shops, and jade shops.
But they didn't even make enough to cover the land rent.
These shops all belong to the Meng family, so there are no land rent expenses.
Meng Shilan and Shuang'er sat in the teahouse across the street.
The two watched the people coming and going in the shops across the street. Green Willow stood by the window, taking notes on the people coming and going with paper and pen.
Shuang'er's face was full of excitement, "Then we'll throw the fake account books in the faces of these managers!"
Meng Shilan sipped her tea. "It seems you've learned quite a bit from Steward Wu."
Shuang'er's eyebrows twitched. "Of course. If he wants medicinal herbs, he has to show some real skills, enough for me to learn from."
As she spoke, she looked up at Green Willow and asked, "Green Willow, do you remember?"
Green willow, "nearly 60% of people buy it, business is very good."
Meng Shilan snorted coldly, "These people are really insatiable!"
Shuang'er looked away. "That's enough. Sister, we can go now."
There are five or six shops in a row here, all owned by the Meng family, and their business is booming.
When Shuang'er led her people to surround the shop, the shop manager hadn't even reacted yet.
"What are you doing? Do you even know whose shop this is!"
After Meng Yushan handed the housekeeper's keys and account books to Meng Shilan, she never saw the housekeepers again.
This also gave these managers some misconceptions.
Lord Meng won't care, and the new master who returned home doesn't know how to manage things either; they can continue to be greedy.
However, what they didn't know was that Meng Shilan had hired more than a dozen accountants to sort out all the old accounts in the mansion.
She's not just settling scores for the past few years.
Shuang'er stepped forward, "Bring out all the account books from the shop!"
Who are you?!
The managers looked at each other in bewilderment; the shop hadn't had its accounts checked in all these years!
What's wrong with me today?
Shuang'er produced the Zhenguo Duke's mansion's token, "Who are we? We're here to settle accounts!"
Several managers' expressions changed, and then one of them calmed down.
“Young lady, we have never received any notification from Uncle Qi.”
“Young Master, we know that a new official is bound to make a big show of himself when he returns to the manor, but what you’ve done, doesn’t it break the hearts of us old-timers who have served you for so long!”
Meng Shilan smiled. "The manager is embezzling, and the accounts are in deficit. How else do you expect me to treat you?"
"What? The accounts are in deficit!"
The manager stammered, "You...you all, stop spouting nonsense!"
Meng Shilan nodded to Shuang'er.
Shuang'er immediately opened the ledger, "Zhang Kiln porcelain, purchased for seventy taels, sold for twenty taels?"
"Are you in business, or are you doing charity?"
"A famous jade vase from the previous dynasty, bought for 630 taels, sold for 50 taels?"
Shuang'er suddenly looked up. "Manager, this business of buying high and selling low, I don't understand it."
The manager wiped the sweat from his brow. "These...they're all damaged..."
"Damaged?" Shuang'er retorted angrily, "Spending tens of taels of silver to buy something damaged? Do you think I'm stupid, or is Lord Meng stupid?!"
The steward immediately knelt down with a "plop".
Even when he talks about money, he doesn't dare to openly call Meng Gong a fool.
Guo Fang had been standing by the side the whole time, and the general knew all along that the steward was embezzling.
However, there is no one at home now, and the general has no time to attend to it.
Now it's all good; Miss is swift and decisive, and her mind is clear.
All these long-standing old stories from the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion will be thoroughly investigated and resolved.
Shuang'er grew angrier the more she looked at the account books. "Tie them all up!"
Guo Fang raised his hand and waved his hand, and all the employees and managers were tied up.
All of these shops are now closed.
There are many other shops, large and small, in the capital city that make a living.
But making an example of them is enough; catching these big shots is enough!
In the teahouse across the street, in another private room, the window was half-open.
"Did you see it clearly?" Gao Zhian didn't move, but slowly took a sip of tea.
Zhou Wanqing's eyes were filled with shock.
"I saw it clearly, yes, yes..."
Meng Shilan is Jiang Shiyao, and the decisive girl next to her is Shuangjiang.
She would never admit her mistake.
Gao Zhilin glanced at his wife, then at his elder brother.
"Brother, are you saying that the young lady the Meng family just recognized is... is Zhou Congxian's former concubine?!"
He didn't turn around for a long time. "Hasn't he been dead for several years already...?"
"Could it be that Lord Meng deliberately let her die so that it would be easier for her to go home?"
He still couldn't figure it out.
"There's no need for that. Since Prince Zhou hasn't married yet, why not just make him his official wife?"
Zhou Wanqing didn't say anything; she knew perfectly well what was going on.
Back then, Song Jiyun almost killed Jiang Shiyao.
That's probably why she faked her death and left.
Gao Zhian glanced at his younger brother and sister-in-law, "Alright, this has nothing to do with you. You can leave now."
Gao Zhilin dared not disobey his elder brother, so he immediately got up and pulled his wife away!
Zhou Wanqing glanced at the closed door of the side room.
She hadn't misread Gao Zhian's fleeting scheme.
Her lips were slightly pursed.
In the past two years, her eldest brother has become so obsessed with the Jiang family that she hardly recognizes him anymore.
Now, Jiang has transformed into the object of contention between her elder brother and his longtime friend.
She truly is a femme fatale...
The Gao family's carriage drove out of the intersection, and Zhou Wanqing got out of the carriage.
Gao Zhilin leaned out of the car window, "You really don't need me to come with you?"
Zhou Wanqing glanced at the car in front of her, then turned away without looking back.
"No need, you can go back first."
She strode towards the carriage ahead.
Zhou Wanqing took a breath outside the carriage, and just as she was about to speak, the carriage doors suddenly opened.
Suddenly, she met that familiar face.
The other person smiled slightly.
"haven't seen you for a long time."
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