"What 300,000 taels of silver? What nonsense are you spouting?" Lu Renjia was already in a bad mood these past two days, and now that Pan Shi was pointing her finger at him and scolding him, he became even more unhappy.
"Here!" But Madam Pan didn't care whether he was happy or not. She still glared at him and slammed an account book in front of Lu Renjia: "Take a good look! It clearly says that you went to the account last night and withdrew 300,000 taels of silver. You have to explain to me clearly where this money went?"
Pan glared fiercely at Lu Renjia, whose face was dark.
Decades ago, Madam Pan still had a tiny bit of unrealistic fantasy about Lu Renjia, but now, after so many years, watching him bring new brides to the backyard one by one, Madam Pan has gradually lost heart. She just holds tightly to the silver in her hand and refuses to let go, while ignoring everything else.
Lu Renjia glanced at the ledger and saw that it indeed recorded that 300,000 taels of silver had been withdrawn in his name last night. His expression immediately changed. "How is this possible? Last night..."
"It's all clearly recorded here! Several servants have testified that you took the silver, and you still dare to deny it? Where did you spend this silver? This is 300,000 taels of silver!" Madam Pan said angrily.
She would usually scrutinize Lu Renjia's withdrawals from the account, but the amounts were small, only a few dozen or a hundred taels, which was still within her tolerance range.
But now it's a full 300,000 taels of silver!
Let alone how much, people couldn't save up that much money in their entire lives. Even second-rank officials in the imperial court probably couldn't save up that much in their entire lives.
Pan couldn't help but take it to heart.
"I..." Lu Renjia opened his mouth to refute, but then he remembered what happened to him in that brothel last night.
While the image of being tormented by the female ghost in his dream was indeed terrifying, it seems that he did indeed spend a fortune, spending 300,000 taels of silver to buy the female ghost for one night in order to seize her!
But that was just in a dream.
Could it be that the things in my dream have become reality?
"Call the accountant over here, I need to ask him something!" Lu Renjia said with a gloomy expression.
The servants quickly summoned all the accountants from the Lu family's accounting office.
The Lu family is a large and wealthy family, and the accountants who manage their finances are people who have been with the family for many years and are deeply trusted.
The men, who had all been on night duty the previous night, answered in unison, "The master sent someone to collect the silver around midnight last night. Although we were curious, the master had given the order, so we could only send someone over... As for where it went, we really don't know."
Although they were accountants, they were still servants and couldn't really control Lu Renjia.
But when Lu Renjia heard this time, his face turned pale, and his eyes and tongue seemed to feel the same waves of pain he had felt the night before.
"Master, are you alright?" A servant asked hurriedly when he saw Lu Renjia trembling all over.
"Get out! Get out!" Lu Renjia covered his eyes with his hands to make sure that his eyes were still there and that the ghost hadn't gouged them out of their sockets. Only then did he feel a little relieved. He then said to the accountants, "Don't mention what happened last night again, and don't let me take so much silver anymore."
Hearing Lu Renjia's own guarantee, Madam Pan's expression softened slightly, and she added, "You all hear this from now on: you are not allowed to give the master any silver exceeding one thousand taels! You must get my permission first."
Although the accountants found the couple's behavior puzzling, they all nodded in agreement.
After everyone left, Madam Pan put on the act of a virtuous wife and loving mother, and gently advised, "Master, who did you spend all this money on last night? This is 300,000 taels, which is not a small amount. You just took it without thinking. I wonder which sister you spent it on."
"You can't blame me for talking behind people's backs, but this younger sister spends money too much, doesn't she? If you really like her, then bring her into the manor. After all, I've taken care of so many younger sisters over the years without ever saying a word. Why don't you bring her into the manor?"
Should we lure that female ghost from last night into the mansion?
Lu Renjia shuddered just thinking about it.
"?" Looking at Lu Renjia's appearance, Madam Pan didn't quite understand why he looked so panicked. However, for the sake of the money, she gritted her teeth and said softly, "Master, if you really don't want to, even if you're thinking of the family, the money can't just be spent like this. How about I take over the accounting from now on?"
The Lu family's money is divided into internal and external accounts.
Even though Madam Pan had been married to Lu Renjia for over forty years, all she could manage was the money in the household; she had no control over the large sums of money in the business outside.
Thinking of what happened last night, Lu Renjia worried that the female ghost's influence was no longer limited to his dreams. He was also experiencing a splitting headache and felt panicked. He even gritted his teeth and nodded, saying, "Of course I believe you. I haven't been feeling well these days, so you can take care of her for now... After the boss settles down, we can hand her over to him."
"Of course, of course!" Pan agreed at the door, his heart already bursting with joy.
Unexpectedly, Lu Renjia, such a shrewd person, actually agreed to her request this time.
If all the money were under her control, Madam Pan had already planned how to siphon more money off her for herself in the future.
Overjoyed, she no longer cared which vixen Lu Renjia had taken a fancy to, and immediately made an excuse to go to the accounting office.
Lu Renjia found his dream from last night too bizarre. He felt that simply sending people to the temple to burn paper money wasn't enough; he also wanted to invite a consecrated Buddha statue to protect his family's safety.
It just so happens that the Pan family had set up a small Buddhist shrine in their backyard more than ten years ago.
However, she was a hypocrite; although she spent a lot of time in the small Buddhist shrine, she also did a lot of scheming.
Upon hearing that Lu Renjia was going to invite a Buddha statue, Madam Pan immediately advised him, "Master, you are not a Buddhist, so you probably don't know that if you are looking for a consecrated Buddha statue, you should go yourself to show your sincerity."
Lu Renjia rolled his eyes at her: "Haven't you seen how exhausted your master has been lately? Me! You want me to go up the mountain to pray to the gods and Buddhas? That would be too tiring. Just have someone bring him back! As long as my family can afford it, how could the gods and Buddhas not bless me?"
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