Jiang Jiuniang reached out to take it naturally, but to her surprise, the shopkeeper recoiled warily. Realizing what he was doing, he broke out in a cold sweat and forced a smile, saying, "Third Madam, please feel free to stroll around. I will take care of these matters..."
Jiang Jiuniang gave him a cold look, ignored him, reached out and forcibly pulled the ledger over, flipped through a few pages at random, and found nothing wrong.
Just as I was about to ask questions, I saw many accounts marked with cinnabar ink, all of which were high-priced expenses in the building, and then the cinnabar ink indicated that they were charged to Boss Lu.
Jiang Jiuniang: ? ? ?
She suddenly felt strange and discovered that these red accounts had increased from a few to many. At first, there was only one page occasionally, but then it became a regular occurrence, and in the last two months or so, there were almost daily entries.
"Explain."
Jiang Jiuniang placed the account book in front of the shopkeeper and pointed to the red entries, her meaning quite clear.
The shopkeeper was sweating profusely and couldn't utter a word for a long time. He kept looking towards the back kitchen, hoping that his boss would come out and help him.
"Manager Qian, didn't you hear me?"
Jiang Jiuniang waited for a while and began to get impatient.
Seeing that Madam Yu still showed no sign of coming out, Manager Qian put on a mournful face and said, "Third Madam, please don't be offended. This is what our master instructed us to do. It's really...sigh!"
He patted his thigh and gave a brief account of what happened after Boss Lu went to work at the yamen.
The officials in the yamen knew that the restaurant belonged to Boss Lu and his wife. At first, they only came to dine as a test, often asking Boss Lu to accompany them. With Boss Lu present, it was naturally inappropriate for them to spend money, so Boss Lu would voluntarily put it on his own account, thinking that it wouldn't matter once or twice.
Unexpectedly, their appetite grew bigger and bigger as they ate. Every time they came, they wanted the most expensive wine. Boss Lu deliberately avoided it a few times, but they didn't care at all and continued to come to eat and drink. After they finished eating and drinking, they would ask the waiter to put it on Boss Lu's tab, saying that Boss Lu had asked them to do so.
Lu Laoda had no way to express his bitterness. Those people had always made things difficult for him in the yamen, and they would try to take advantage of him after the yamen was over. He really didn't want to do this job, but he thought that he got the job because of his younger brother, so he didn't want to give it up easily, and he didn't want to make things difficult for his younger brother, so he chose to endure it.
As a result, those people saw that Boss Lu didn't seem to care, and even treated the restaurant as their yamen's canteen, coming to eat and drink there on time every day.
After the shopkeeper finished speaking, he didn't dare to look at Jiang Jiuniang's face, and instead stared at his toes with his head down.
Jiang Jiuniang's face turned green with anger, and she asked, "Sister-in-law, you're not going to resist at all?"
"The master said it was not advisable to make a fuss about this. Third Master is walking on thin ice in the court. If this matter gets out of hand, those people in the court will definitely cause trouble for Third Master. They said it's better to avoid trouble, so they have been letting it go."
Jiang Jiuniang then understood why Madam Yu was so busy. If it weren't for the fact that the eldest son's family couldn't come up with much money for this investment, which Jiang Jiuniang found strange, she wouldn't have made this trip.
After all, the restaurant owners also participate in profit sharing, which is distributed every three months. Their share has always been large, so they feel that their share is already large, and the owner's share must be even larger, so they don't see any problem at all.
Until now, I've heard this ridiculous truth.
The eldest son's family has been using their share to fill those gaps, isn't that because they're short of money?
If those people cared about their image, they could just eat whatever they wanted, and it wouldn't cause much pressure. But they always order the most expensive and troublesome dishes, and they order so much that they can't finish it all, which is wasteful. Even if the main house is very rich, it can't withstand such consumption.
Where are those people today?
Jiang Jiuniang picked up the account book again and tapped it gently on the table.
The innkeeper immediately replied, "They're in the first deluxe private room on the second floor. We just had a lot more dishes added, and they're still drinking right now."
Jiang Jiuniang nodded, lifted her skirt, and was about to go upstairs when she instructed the shopkeeper, "Take four or five servants with me."
She handled the things that Madam Yu dared not deal with due to concerns about the overall situation, making her trip out tonight worthwhile.
Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper became excited. He knew that with Jiang Jiuniang's arrival, the headache that had been troubling the master would be easily resolved. He immediately called a few servants to go up with him.
It was a busy time with many guests, and as soon as Madam Yu arrived, she started cooking herself, completely ignoring what was happening outside. No one told her, so she had no idea what was about to happen outside.
Upon reaching the outside of private room number one on the second floor, I heard a burst of unrestrained laughter and chatter.
"This Xilai Tower is great in every way, except for the lack of a beautiful woman to keep me company. It's so lonely to enjoy this wonderful night view with no one to share it with!"
"Who says otherwise! I've mentioned it to Lu Jingxuan a few times, but he acts like he's deaf. He either ignores me completely or gives irrelevant answers. It's infuriating!"
"Tch, he's just a country bumpkin. If it weren't for his brother having some influence with the Emperor, how could such immense wealth have fallen into the hands of a country bumpkin like him?"
"Exactly! Otherwise, how could he have gotten to know people like us?"
...
These people became increasingly arrogant as they spoke, as if their act of dining and dashing was a favor to Boss Lu.
Unable to bear it any longer, Jiang Jiuniang kicked open the door to the private room.
The group's conversation was interrupted, and they were about to turn around and curse when they saw a beautiful woman looking at them. They instantly revealed a lewd and sly smile, thinking that this was the stunning beauty that Boss Lu had arranged for them.
Not everyone has seen Jiang Jiuniang before, especially now that she's drunk and confused.
These people are not high-ranking officials, and they are not even qualified to attend court. However, their families have been officials for generations. Even though their own positions are not high, they are used to looking down on others, which is why they do not take Boss Lu seriously.
"Beautiful lady~ Hehehe, I didn't expect Lu Jingxuan to be so shrewd, managing to find such a stunning beauty!"
One of them couldn't help but step forward, and Jiang Jiuniang kicked him so hard he was crippled. In that instant, the man turned pale and fell to the ground, unable to make a sound from the pain.
This kick startled the others, instantly bringing them to their senses. Their faces darkened with hostility: "How dare you! Who are you?!"
"This old lady remains true to her name and surname, Jiang Jiuniang."
As he spoke, he stepped directly on the scoundrel on the ground and walked forward, and unsurprisingly, another painful sound was heard.
Everyone was stunned. Jiang Jiuniang, wasn't that Lu Baichuan's legendary wife?
Why would she come?
"Are those red entries in the ledger from you shameless freeloaders who ate and drank for free?"
Her tone was calm, but her actions were anything but gentle. She grabbed a person and forced him to look at the contents of the ledger.
The man was sweating profusely, fearing she might kick him too, and hurriedly nodded, "Yes, it was Lu Jingxuan who invited him..."
He was still a little guilty, and he even stuttered a bit when he spoke.
"Smack!"
Jiang Jiuniang slapped him across the face, knocking him dizzy and disoriented.
"Say it again, I didn't hear you clearly."
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