Yang Ning was stunned, and Gu Qinghan frowned and said, "What did you say? Why can't we meet the general manager?" She had been in the old house for a few days and had a very good memory. She had some impression of the little old man who opened the door, but she didn't know what his name was.
The little old man said: "The Chief Manager Qi Hong you mentioned is no longer in the old house, so naturally I can't see him."
Gu Qinghan was very surprised and said in dismay: "Qi Hong is not here? How is that possible? Hasn't he been taking care of the old house?" Before he could get started, he found that the old house was really weird.
"Don't talk nonsense first, open the door and let us in." Yang Ning stretched out his hand and pushed them away, but the old man blocked them and said, "I advise you to leave earlier and pretend to be the prince. The people in the house know that you can't leave even if you want to."
Yang Ning was stunned and wondered how this old man knew that he was pretending to be the prince?
Gu Qinghan was a little angry and said coldly: "Qi Hong is not in the old house, where is he? Who is in charge of the old house now?" Thinking of something, he took off the hat on his head, his hair dispersed like a waterfall, stared at the little old man, and said: "Do you know me?"
The old man looked at it, looked surprised, and said in a dismay: "Yes... it's the third lady!"
Gu Qinghan thought to himself that you, the old man, had a good memory, but the old man had already opened the door and knelt on the ground: "I'm rude, please forgive me for your sins!"
Yang Ning was still wondering whether he pretended to be the prince was seen through by this little old man. When he saw that the old man recognized Gu Qinghan, he realized that he had a wrong understanding. He thought to himself that even Gu Qinghan and the Grandmaster did not see his flaws. This little old man was afraid that he had never even seen the prince in Jinyi, how could he see through it?
"Get up first." Gu Qinghan walked past the old man and entered the yard. Yang Ning also followed him in. As soon as he entered, he felt a chill in the broad daylight. I don't know if it was because there were too many old houses and few people living in it, so he seemed deserted and lush.
The old man got up, closed the door, followed from behind, and then Yang Ning realized that the old man limped while walking, and turned out to be a cripple.
As we walked in, we saw deep courtyard with rockery grass inside. We reached the hall of the old house, but we didn't see any other figures. Gu Qinghan's pretty face was solemn. He entered the hall and turned around to follow the old man behind and asked, "Where have people gone? Why has this place become so deserted?"
The old man hurriedly said, "Mr. Cheng went to the city and said he would come back tonight. There were more than ten people in the mansion. The old slave went to call them over now."
"Wait a minute." Gu Qinghan frowned and said, "Who is Mr. Cheng you mentioned? Why haven't I heard of it?" He asked again, "By the way, I think you look familiar, but I can't remember your name."
The old man said, "Old slave Wei Tong, when the third wife passed by, the old slave was in this old house. The third wife had a good memory and she still remembered the old slave."
"Your memory is not bad, you can recognize me." Gu Qinghan sat down on a chair, and Yang Ning also sat down on the side, sweeping his eyes around.
"The third lady doesn't know Master Cheng?" Wei Tong was a little surprised. "Mr. Cheng is the son of the chief executive. Mr. Cheng has been taking care of the old house in the past two years. The old slave thought the third lady had already known it."
"The son of the chief executive?" Gu Qinghan was even more surprised: "You said that he has been managing the old house in the past few years. Where has the chief executive gone? You just said that we can't see the chief executive, what does it mean?"
Wei Tong explained: "The chief manager suffered a sudden stroke three years ago and was paralyzed. He could only lie on the bed and was served by someone. It happened that Master Cheng... Not long after Qi Cheng came here, Qi Cheng temporarily took over the chief manager's affairs in the old house."
Gu Qinghan said in surprise: "Three years ago? What do you mean is that over the past three years, the old house and fief have been managed by the one named Qi Cheng?"
Wei Tong obviously didn't expect Gu Qinghan to react like this and said strangely: "Does the third lady know nothing? Master Cheng goes to Beijing every year, and the third lady hasn't seen him?"
Yang Ning didn't expect that there would be such a change in the old house. He frowned and said, "Sanniang has never heard of Qi Cheng? Does the chief manager have a son? What did Qi Cheng do before?"
Gu Qinghan shook his head and said, "Qi Hong was originally a clan of the Qi family. I don't know much about him. I remember that his hometown is in Jiangxia. Later, he joined the old marquis and worked in the old house. I don't know that he has other families."
Wei Tong said: "I rarely hear the chief executive mention his family, but I also heard that the chief executive has also bought some industries in his hometown Jiangxia, and it seems that he has a few children. This... Qi Cheng has been doing business in Jiangxia. When he suddenly came to the old house to meet the chief executive, the chief executive was also surprised at that time. However, we don't ask much about the chief executive." He lowered his voice and said, "But the chief executive seems to have a bad relationship with Qi Cheng, the father and son. Someone heard that they had a quarrel several times. Once, the chief executive suddenly had a stroke and could never get up again."
"The origin of Qi Cheng is interesting." Yang Ning chuckled and said, "The chief manager has been doing well. When Qi Cheng comes here, he suddenly suffered a stroke. Sanniang, is there anything strange here?" He looked at Wei Tong and asked, "The chief manager has a stroke and cannot take care of the old house. Have you sent someone to Beijing to report?"
Wei Tong said: "Qi Cheng sent someone to Beijing that day. The chief general could not get up and there was no one in charge of the old house. Qi Cheng temporarily took over the chief general manager."
"The Marquis' Mansion doesn't know about this." Gu Qinghan's beautiful eyes were full of surprise: "Qi Cheng takes over the chief executive, and the rest of the old house have nothing to say? What qualifications do he have to take over the old house affairs?"
Wei Tong was also surprised and said, "This... this is what the Marquis' Mansion means. Xiao Cui, who was sent to the capital, brought back a letter from the capital, telling the old house that Qi Cheng would take over all the affairs in the future, and everyone in the old house would obey Qi Cheng's instructions."
"Sanniang, it seems that we don't know more than we imagined." Yang Ning sighed: "I changed the old house to the chief manager, and you don't even know."
But Gu Qinghan calmed down, pondered for a moment before asking, "Are you saying that Qi Cheng will be back tonight?"
"He went out yesterday and said he went to Jingzhou City to visit the boss manager." Wei Tong said: "After the boss manager had a stroke, Qi Cheng sent him to Jingzhou City for maintenance. The old slave had not seen the boss manager for a long time, and he didn't know what the situation is now. Before leaving, he only said that he would come back tonight at the latest."
Gu Qinghan sneered, "That's great, I want to see who Qi Cheng is." He asked again, "Do you know the tax silver? The tax silver here in Jiangling has been more than a month late, so why hasn't it been sent there?"
Wei Tong said confusedly, "The old slave is just guarding the gate and... is not clear about these things." He said, "Yes, Mr. Zhao is in the house, he is the accountant of the old house, and the accounts in and out are in his hands. The old slave goes to call him over, and he should be very clear about the tax silver." Just as he was about to call Mr. Zhao, Gu Qinghan shouted, "Wait a minute, Wei Tong, is there a manager named Luo in the old house?"
"Manager Luo?" Wei Tong was stunned and shook his head, "There are only sixteen people in the mansion. In addition to the accounting, the kitchen and the warehouse and the horse shed, there are only a few young men hired by Qi Cheng. This time they all went to the city with Qi Cheng. The old slave remembers that there is no surname Luo here, and except for the general manager, Mr. Zhao, who has an accounting in the house, is a scholar and has no management. It is enough to have a general manager. It is not as good as the marquis of the capital, so there is no management."
Although Gu Qinghan was smart, she was just a little confused at this time. Even Yang Ning felt that there was strangeness everywhere in the old house.
"You go and invite Mr. Zhao first." Gu Qinghan raised his hand and signaled Wei Tong to call someone first, and Wei Tong bowed and retreated.
Gu Qinghan put his elbow on the chair handle, his jade hand supported his cheeks, his pretty face was solemn, thinking about something. Yang Ning knew that Gu Qinghan must be full of suspicion at this moment, so he approached and asked softly: "Sanniang, is there no shortage of taxes in recent years?"
"Apart from this time, although the tax bank was occasionally delayed before, there was nothing missing." Gu Qinghan looked up slightly and frowned and said, "Wei Tong said that after the general manager had a stroke, he sent someone to the Beijing city to report the news, but I knew nothing. If the tax bank had not been delivered this time, we would not have come back to the old house. I was kept in the dark about everything that happened here." He said annoyedly: "The lady handed over all the family affairs to me, but I...oh, I'm really useless."
"The sky is high and the emperor is far away, and there was no delay in the tax bank before, how could Sanniang expect something to happen to the old house?" Yang Ning whispered: "But there is one thing that is certain now. If the old house really sends people to the Marquis' Mansion to report everything here, Sanniang knows nothing, that is, someone deliberately blocked the news and prevented Sanniang from knowing it."
"Then it's only the Chief Qiu." Gu Qinghan said: "There are people entering Beijing in the old house, and the Marquis' Mansion will never be rejected. Not to mention the old house, even if there are people coming from Jiangling, the Marquis' Mansion will also receive them. However, when the former house is receiving foreign guests, General Qiu has always been there. General Qiu knows that the Chief Qiu has suffered such a big incident. Why does General Qiu hide it from the Chief Qiu? Don't he know that the paper cannot cover up the fire. I will know one day, how can he explain to me when the time comes?"
The more Gu Qinghan thought about things, the more strange things he became, and she was frowning.
At this moment, he heard footsteps outside, and a man hurried into the door. Before Yang Ning could see the man clearly, the man had already kneeled on the ground and said respectfully: "Little man Zhao Yuan, pay homage to the prince and the third wife!"
When Yang Ning saw this man wearing a long gown and a blue cloth hat, he looked like a scholar.
"Are you Mr. Zhao? Get up and talk first." Gu Qinghan handles family affairs all year round, and is a noble family with outstanding temperament. She is calm and calm at this time.
The accountant Zhao Yuan stood up, with a thin body, with a horoscope under his jaw, and a strand of blue beard under his jaw. He was in his early forties and looked quite elegant. In his elegance, he had a hint of shrewdness. At this time, he had a smile on his face and was full of respect. He said, "I really don't know that the prince and the third wife will come back suddenly. There is no preparation here. I would like to ask the prince and the third wife to forgive me."
"Zhao Account Office, I ask you, why has the tax and silver in Jiangling been sent to the capital for a long time?" Gu Qinghan said with a cold face: "What happened?"
"Tax silver?" Zhao Yuan looked surprised, "Three Lady, when were you talking about the tax silver?"
"Of course it's Qiuyin this year." Gu Qinghan frowned and said, "Can I still ask you for tax silver next year?"
In the old house, tax silver will be sent to the capital twice a year, once in the spring and summer handover season, and once in the autumn and winter seasons.
Zhao Yuan immediately said: "The third lady was joking. Qiuyin left and sent it to him as early as the end of September. Qiuyin was delayed for several days last year, so this year he specially sent it to him early to avoid worrying about the other end of the Marquis' Mansion. Logically speaking, it should be sent to the Marquis' Mansion in the beginning of October, and it will never be slow."
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Chapter completed!