bookrebus Chapter 169 Questioning
Chapter 169 Questioning
In official circles, everyone is extremely cautious, but being in the vortex of power, it is inevitable that some people will be tempted by money.
Therefore, buying and selling calligraphy, paintings, and cultural relics has become a common means of bribery and corruption.
It was not until later that she found out that, as long as one wanted, a rare original painting could be purchased for two or three hundred taels of silver, and a worthless fake could be passed off as an authentic work and sold for a sky-high price.
The main point of both parties is that both parties are willing and know each other well.
She had never had access to the Shen family's account books before, so she naturally couldn't think of this. But now these two accounts made Shen Shuyi realize that Qin Xuerong was not just greedy for some money.
Judging from these two paintings, she probably had a lot of shameful things hidden from the public.
Because of this discovery, and because he made Lou Yulan leave in disgrace today, Shen Shuyi was in a good mood.
However, the atmosphere in Jing'an Courtyard was quite serious.
Zhang knew that the old lady hated internal strife in front of outsiders, so she kept it to herself until Qin Xuerong and Shen Jingchuan and others sent the Lou family to the door.
Zhang took this opportunity to put on some eye drops in front of Old Madam Shen.
"Mother, I have to say that the servants in this mansion are getting bolder and bolder. They dare to embezzle such a large sum of money for purchasing charcoal?"
Zhang spoke with a hint of meaning. Old Madam Shen's face was gloomy, and she could clearly understand the meaning of her words.
Any servant who is in a powerful position in the palace will naturally be a little greedy, especially when it comes to lucrative positions, which everyone will scramble to get.
But if they dared to swallow a hundred or eighty taels, that would be the limit.
With over a thousand taels of silver, I'm afraid few people would be bold enough to embezzle it so openly!
Madam Shen looked at Qiu Lian who was standing beside her and said in a deep voice, "How is it? Have you checked it?"
Qiu Lian said immediately, "We have asked the coal shop to check, and their boss said that this is not their seal, and they also checked the accounts. At the end of last year, the Shen family did indeed buy only one batch of charcoal as the second young lady said."
As soon as Qiulian finished speaking, Shen Jingchuan and his group turned back.
Madam Shen glanced at Qin Xuerong and said in a deep voice, "Go and call the buyer who is in charge of the charcoal fire to question him."
"Yes." Qiulian responded and turned to leave.
Qin Xuerong's heart tightened when she met Madam Shen's eyes.
"Mom, I really don't know anything about charcoal fire..."
As soon as she finished speaking, Zhang smiled and said, "Of course, sister-in-law doesn't know. After all, the money is not much, not little, and it didn't go into your pocket. How would sister-in-law know?"
Zhang and Qin Xuerong had always been at odds, and she still resented her for dragging Shen Xinran down with her today.
If it weren't for Shen Shuyi's hard work, how would Xinran put her face!
Qin Xuerong frowned and asked, "What do you mean, sister-in-law?"
Zhang said, "I have no objection to my sister-in-law being the head of the household, but you can't be ignorant every time something goes wrong, right? My brother-in-law is an official in the government, and he can't just say he doesn't know when something goes wrong."
Old Madam Shen knew that the second wife had always been dissatisfied with the head of the first wife's household, but since the money of the two houses was managed together, now that such a mistake had occurred, it would not be excessive for her to ask for an explanation, both publicly and privately.
Shen Shuyi stood aside, her almond-shaped eyes calm, watching the scene indifferently.
As we were talking, the shopping had already arrived.
He was a tall and thin man in his thirties, with a dark complexion and a pair of clever eyes.
"To the old lady, master, madam, second madam..."
The visitor knelt on the ground and asked how he was.
Shen Jingchuan said in a deep voice: "Let me ask you, how many times did the mansion buy charcoal last winter?"
The man was stunned for a moment and subconsciously looked at Qin Xuerong.
Qin Xuerong said quietly, "You are a servant of the mansion, right? You should answer whatever the master asks. If you make a mistake in a single word, you will lose your life!"
Upon hearing this, the man's eyes showed a hint of panic and he quickly lowered his head.
"I bought...I bought it twice..."
Old Madam Shen slammed the account book down and said, "But I sent someone to ask the charcoal shop, and our Shen family only bought charcoal once last winter."
A layer of fine beads of sweat oozed out of the man's head, but he reacted quickly and immediately kowtowed and begged for mercy: "Old Madam, please understand! We did buy it twice in our house, but...it was only the second time..."
Shen Jingchuan asked impatiently: "What about the second time?"
The man's throat tightened, he gritted his teeth and whispered, "The second time I felt that the charcoal in that shop was a bit expensive, and I happened to see a villager pushing a bullock cart on the road selling charcoal, so I... I dared to buy charcoal there!"
Hearing this, Shen Shuyi couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
This guy is really smart, no wonder he can get such a lucrative position as a purchasing agent.
After all, swallowing the entire sum of money is different from making a profit of a few hundred taels, and the severity of the crime is also completely different.
In this way, even Qin Xuerong's faults were lessened.
Qin Xuerong said immediately: "Mother, I do remember that the family bought charcoal again after the New Year last year. Although I didn't check it carefully, I remember that the charcoal was brought back by cart. I just didn't expect this servant to be so bold!"
Seeing that Qin Xuerong easily excused her, Zhang said, "Could it be that my sister-in-law is usually too easy to talk to? Why are the people under her more courageous than one another?"
Shen Jingchuan glared at the man on the ground and said in a deep voice, "Where did you buy the charcoal? What's his name? Where is his stall? How much money did he embezzle?"
The man knocked his head on the ground, "Master! That man was dressed as a villager. I met him on the road and asked him the price, which made me have evil thoughts. I really don't know his name or where he lives... Master!"
Seeing that he understood her situation, Qin Xuerong felt relieved and asked again, "Tell me the truth about how much money you took! And where did you get the seal for purchase?"
The man's throat tightened, and he said in a muffled voice: "My slave...my mother was seriously ill at the time, and I had no choice but to swallow 150 taels of silver...I asked someone to carve the seal out of a radish..."
Madam Shen slapped the table: "You are so brave!"
Shen Shuyi looked at this scene with indifferent eyes, thinking that Qin Xuerong was cautious in doing things. Although most of the money might have gone into her pocket, since she dared to say that she saw charcoal being loaded into the mansion, she must have really bought a batch of charcoal to make up the number.
But the difference lies in quality and quantity.
But this would make it difficult to investigate.
Besides, it is difficult to investigate the man's mother's serious illness, but the matter of the radish imprint should be true. If we investigate in this way, it will eventually come to nothing.
What's more, since this person is a family child, the lives of the whole family must be in Qin Xuerong's hands, so he would not dare to say much.