Ye Qingyu led her people into the jewelry shop. The shopkeeper recognized her—after all, when Madam Gu inspected the shops in the past, she would sometimes bring Ye Qingyu along.
“Miss, why have you come?” The shopkeeper’s expression showed panic.
“Seize him!” Ye Qingyu ordered without asking a single question. She then addressed the customers. “Everyone, this shop will temporarily suspend business. Please forgive the inconvenience. When we reopen, we will offer discounts to compensate for today’s matter.”
In her previous life, Ye Qingyu had managed the entire Prince’s household. She had already spotted the tricks in the account books the night before. That was why she had brought guards with her today—to arrest the culprits. She had the guards secure the shopkeeper and then moved on to the next problematic shop.
In just one year, Old Madam Ye hadn’t been able to buy off every shopkeeper. Naturally, some remained loyal to her mother and refused to betray her.
Ye Qingyu rounded up all the corrupt shopkeepers and brought them back to the Marquis’ household.
Ye Qingya looked at her nervously. “What do you plan to do? Report them to the authorities?”
Ye Qingyu smiled faintly. “Of course not. I’ll demand the silver from those who took it.”
After watching her cousin’s actions all day, Ye Qingya finally understood what Ye Qingyu intended. “But going straight like this… isn’t it improper?”
“What’s improper? I am the granddaughter whose revenue was stolen by these treacherous shopkeepers. Naturally, I’ll complain to Grandmother. She cares for me so much—how could she bear to see her granddaughter suffer?”
Ye Qingyu’s lips curved into a smile so chilling that others shivered.
Ye Yanzhi frowned slightly and sighed. “She is still Grandmother. Qingyu, you must be careful with your approach.” He didn’t tell her to drop the matter—he despised Grandmother’s behavior himself.
“Don’t worry, Eldest Brother. I believe Grandmother will surely feel for me.”
Once back at the Marquis’ household, Ye Qingyu had the bound shopkeepers dragged straight to Chunhui Hall.
As soon as she entered, Ye Qingyu’s face was full of grievance, her eyes brimming with tears. “Grandmother, you must stand up for Qingyu!”
Inside Chunhui Hall, Old Madam Ye was chatting with Aunt Chen Yinyin and Lu Qianqian.
Ye Qingyu didn’t wait for an announcement—she burst in directly, looking as though she had suffered a great injustice, and threw herself into Old Madam Ye’s arms, crying pitifully.
Old Madam Ye’s face stiffened, but she quickly put on a mask of grandmotherly affection, gently comforting her. “What’s wrong, Qingyu? Why are you crying so sadly? It pains Grandmother to see you like this. Tell me what grievance you’ve suffered, and Grandmother will stand up for you.”
“Grandmother, I knew you would care most for your granddaughter.”
“Bring them in!” Ye Qingyu ordered.
The guards dragged several shopkeepers into the hall. At the sight of them, Old Madam Ye’s expression changed instantly.
Ye Qingyu pretended not to notice, sobbing as she spoke. “You don’t know, Grandmother. Today I went to inspect the shops Mother left me. Do you know what I discovered? These shopkeepers dared to hide profits and pocket the earnings. Their audacity is outrageous!”
“Look at these account books—they’re completely falsified. I found the shop’s revenue from last month: it was over two thousand taels. Yet the ledger they gave me shows a loss of twenty taels. For the entire year, they claimed only 180 taels of profit, while the actual records show over 20,000 taels. Two completely different sets of books—they dared to forge accounts!”
“Grandmother, if I hadn’t decided to go out today with Second Sister just to pass the time, I would never have discovered this. Seeing it nearly made me faint with anger. These shameless parasites, these worthless servants, dared to steal from the shops!”
“Grandmother, you must stand up for me. How should I deal with these people? I don’t know what to do—perhaps I should just hand them all over to the authorities.”
Ye Qingyu looked as though she trusted Old Madam Ye completely, her little face flushed red with indignation.
Old Madam Ye was stunned by her actions. She hadn’t expected Ye Qingyu to inspect the shops so soon—just yesterday she had reclaimed them, and today she was already investigating. Her original plans had been ruined before they even began.
“Grandmother, what’s wrong?”
“Ah—no, Grandmother was just shocked. I didn’t expect such a thing to happen.” Old Madam Ye quickly recovered, putting on a look of righteous fury.
“You insolent servants! How dare you commit such crimes—you deserve death!”
“Hmph! I’m going to report this to the authorities. They’ve embezzled all this silver—enough to warrant execution!” Ye Qingyu said angrily.
The Old Madam quickly stopped her, speaking gently, “Qingyu, let’s not involve the officials. This isn’t something honorable. If word gets out, people will say our household is poorly managed, and it will tarnish the Marquis Estate’s reputation.”
Ye Qingya, brimming with fury, interjected, “They committed a crime! No matter what, it isn’t the Marquis Estate’s fault. And if we don’t report it, what happens to the silver they stole?”
“Yes, Grandmother, that’s nearly two years of profits—about a hundred thousand taels!”
“Grandmother, in Great Qing, corruption is never tolerated. Since they’ve broken the law, they must be punished,” Ye Yanzhi said sternly.
The Old Madam’s face darkened as she snapped, “Yanzhi, I know as an official you cannot abide such things. But even if we report it, the silver may not be recovered. Besides, this was my oversight—I failed to supervise them properly and gave them the chance. Do you mean to drag me off to prison as well?”
Ye Qingyu murmured, “This isn’t Grandmother’s fault. It was their greed. How could Grandmother have known? If she had, she would never have allowed them to be so brazen.”
Of course, the Old Madam could not allow Ye Qingyu to report the matter. Those people would surely implicate her.
Looking regretful, the Old Madam said, “Qingyu, leave this matter to me. I will make sure they return the hundred thousand taels to you.”
Ye Qingyu hesitated, wavering slightly.
Chen Yinyin, standing nearby, added, “Qingyu, you should listen to your grandmother. She already feels guilty for failing to supervise them. If you don’t let her handle it, she’ll be tormented with guilt, unable to eat or sleep.”
Ye Qingyu nodded uncertainly. “Very well, I’ll trouble Grandmother with this.”
The Old Madam let out a sigh of relief and smiled. “There’s no need for such formality between grandmother and granddaughter. You’ve had a long day—go back and rest.”
Once Ye Qingyu and the others left, the Old Madam’s face turned dark and stormy. She hurled the prayer beads in her hand to the ground with a vicious crack.
“That wretched girl!”