The courtyard fell into a dead silence once again.
After quite a while, someone finally muttered in a low voice, “Where did that person just go?”
No one answered him. Because no one had seen clearly how that person had disappeared.
Chu Huan was trembling all over like a sieve.
He had only one thought in his mind—it was over.
It was all over.
In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Ling Ji appeared again.
He still stood silently behind Wen Lingrao, but there was an extra, heavy bundle in his hands.
The bundle was wrapped in green cloth, bulging, and it looked anything but light.
“Master.” He offered the bundle to Wen Lingrao.
Wen Lingrao did not take it; she merely lifted her chin. “Open it.”
Ling Ji placed the bundle on the ground and untied the green cloth.
A collective gasp of cold air rang out in the courtyard.
Inside the bundle were neatly stacked a dozen or so gold bars. Golden and gleaming, they reflected a dazzling light under the sun.
Next to the gold bars was a thick stack of silver notes; it looked to be at least several dozen sheets.
Beside the silver notes were a few pieces of paper, folded neatly, which were clearly title deeds at first glance.
Pressed at the very bottom was a blue-covered account book, with nothing written on the cover.
Tong Meng’s throat bobbed as he swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
He was a martial artist who had seen the world, but this was his first time seeing so many gold bars and silver notes.
Those gold bars were at least ten taels each. A dozen or so meant over a hundred taels of gold; converted to silver, that would be over a thousand taels. Adding on those silver notes…
He made a rough estimate; this money was enough for him to live for ten lifetimes.
The surrounding servants’ eyes almost popped out even more.
Their monthly allowance was only a few taels of silver; they couldn’t earn this much money in a lifetime. But this money was just piled under Chu Huan’s bed like this?
Chu Huan collapsed on the ground, his face ashen, like a puddle of mud.
Wen Lingrao sat in the seat of honor, flipping through the account book in her hands, turning the pages very slowly one by one.
“Tap.”
She turned a page and tapped her fingertip on the paper.
“Last August, the estate purchased one hundred shi of polished round-grained rice at two taels of silver per shi, spending a total of two hundred taels of silver.” She lifted her eyelids and looked at Chu Huan, “Steward Chu, this entry in the account book bears your signature, right?”
Chu Huan’s back stiffened, and he replied with an apologetic smile, “Yes, it was signed by this servant.”
“Then could Steward Chu tell me,” Wen Lingrao said in a mild tone, “the market price outside for a shi of polished round-grained rice is no more than one tael and two mace of silver. How did our estate spend an extra eighty taels on these one hundred shi?”
The smile on Chu Huan’s face couldn’t be maintained. “These purchasing matters, this servant hands them over to the subordinates to handle. Perhaps the subordinates were swindled and bought overpriced rice.”
“Swindled?” Wen Lingrao smiled. “Steward Chu has managed the household for twenty years. Your subordinates were swindled out of eighty taels, and you were completely unaware?”
Chu Huan opened his mouth but couldn’t speak.
Wen Lingrao lowered her head and continued flipping through the account book.
“Last September, three hundred taels of silver were spent to repair the western side courtyard. The materials account states: five thousand black bricks, five wen each; two thousand roof tiles, eight wen each; a certain amount of timber…” She read slowly, every word clear and distinct. “But I had someone inquire about it. The market price outside for black bricks is three wen each; for roof tiles, five wen each. On these two items alone, there was an overspending of…”
She paused, raising her eyes to look at Chu Huan. “Twenty-six taels.”
Sweat began to bead on Chu Huan’s forehead.
“Last October, one hundred and fifty taels of silver were spent distributing charcoal to each courtyard. But the weight of charcoal recorded in the account was a full eight hundred catties more than what was actually delivered to each courtyard.” Wen Lingrao turned a page. “Last November, the Old Madam said she wanted to add some furnishings, spending two hundred taels of silver, but where are those furnishings now? I’ve gone to pay my respects to the Old Madam, but I haven’t seen a single one.”
With every sentence she read, Chu Huan trembled.
The maids and old female servants quietly exchanged glances.
Anyone could tell that none of these accounts matched up, and every single entry had a problem.
Wen Lingrao turned another page, and suddenly paused.
She looked at that page of the account, stayed silent for a moment, and smiled.
This time it wasn’t a cold sneer, but a smile born out of genuine exasperation.
“Steward Chu,” she raised her eyes, looking at Chu Huan with a half-smile, “I really didn’t know your guts were even bigger than I thought.”
Chu Huan’s heart tightened.
Wen Lingrao turned the account book around and pointed to a line of text on it. “This January, the Heir was going out to meet friends and drew fifty taels of silver, saying it was to buy a new robe. But I asked the pageboy by the Heir’s side. That day, the Heir didn’t get these fifty taels at all. It was you who said the accounts temporarily couldn’t dispense it, and asked him to cover it with his own private savings first.”
She paused, smiling profoundly. “So, you even embezzled the Heir’s money?”
Chu Huan’s face turned completely white.
He opened his mouth, wanting to explain, but couldn’t utter a single word.
He had indeed acted despicably in this matter.
The Heir, Chu Qirui, usually didn’t manage affairs and was loose with money, giving it out whenever asked. Chu Huan figured that since the Heir wouldn’t remember how much he had withdrawn anyway, he might as well record fifty taels in the account book, and then tell the Heir there was no money in the account and have him cover it himself.
Those fifty taels naturally went right into Chu Huan’s own pocket.
But he never expected Wen Lingrao to audit the accounts so meticulously.
Things that the Heir himself didn’t even remember, she actually managed to uncover.
“Pfft—”
A laugh came from behind.
Wen Lingrao turned her head; it was Hongying.
Hongying quickly covered her mouth, but her shoulders were still trembling.
She truly couldn’t hold it in anymore. The accounts the Princess Consort read out were more outrageous one after another. When she read the entry about the Heir, Hongying really couldn’t hold it back.
Where could you find such a servant, even embezzling the silver his master needed to go out and meet friends? And as if embezzling it wasn’t enough, he even made the master pay out of his own pocket to cover it? How massive must his guts be?
Wen Lingrao glanced at her, said nothing, and turned back around.
Chu Huan, however, was already trembling like a sieve.
He knew that this matter today could not be resolved peacefully.
“Steward Chu,” Wen Lingrao closed the account book and weighed it in her hand. “Before I married into the family, I heard you had been a steward in the Marquis’s estate for twenty years and were a capable person. After I married in, I have always respected you as a senior and left you some face in everything. But this face, you threw it away yourself.”
Chu Huan’s legs gave way, and he fell to his knees. “Spare my life, Young Madam, spare my life! This servant had a moment of folly, this servant will never dare do it again!”
“A moment of folly?” Wen Lingrao smiled. “With this moment of folly, how much did you embezzle? A thousand taels? Two thousand taels?”
Chu Huan didn’t dare to reply, just continuously kowtowing.
Wen Lingrao stood up, walked in front of him, and looked down at him from above.
“Chu Huan, what kind of person do you take me for?”
Chu Huan lay prostrate on the ground, trembling all over.
“My mother is the Eldest Princess, my maternal grandmother is the Empress Dowager. I grew up in the palace since childhood, what kind of accounts have I not seen?” Wen Lingrao’s tone was terrifyingly calm. “These tricks of yours might be fine to fool a master who doesn’t care about affairs, but to fool me?”
Chu Huan burst into tears. “Young Madam, this servant knows his wrongs. I beg the Young Madam for mercy, I beg the Young Madam to spare this servant’s life.”
“Spare you?”
Wen Lingrao suddenly raised her hand, and the account book in her hand smashed fiercely into Chu Huan’s face.
With a crisp “Smack”, the account book fell to the ground. Chu Huan’s face was knocked to the side, and a red mark instantly appeared on his forehead.
Wen Lingrao looked down at him, her gaze as cold as ice.
“Chu Huan, I don’t care about the silver you embezzled. But of all the things you shouldn’t have done, you absolutely shouldn’t have taken me for a fool.”
Clutching his face, Chu Huan did not dare to make a sound.
Wen Lingrao bent down, picked up the account book from the ground, casually flipped through it, and turned to the last few pages.
Looking at those few pages of accounts, her eyes grew even colder.
“These pages, did you and the Old Madam scheme these together?”