Yangzhou is very close to Nanjing. Jia Lian and others rode fast horses and set out in the morning, but arrived at Jinling City in the afternoon.
Walking along the spacious and quiet avenue of Stone City, we arrived at Ningrong's old house in less than half a stick of incense.
"Who dares to break into this place without permission!"
The sound of galloping horse hooves by Jia Lian and others woke up the two sleepy gatekeepers at the door of Rongguo Mansion's old house. As soon as they raised their eyes and saw the person coming, they immediately scolded them.
"Jia Lian!"
Jia Lian reined in the horse's reins, and after the horse's hooves hit the ground, he calmly uttered two words.
"Lian...Second Master Lian...!" When the two disciples saw the person clearly, they were all shaken up and hurriedly paid their respects.
"Don't open the door yet."
"Yes Yes Yes……"
…
"Uncle Jin, Uncle Jin~!"
Jin Cai was still sleeping in the steward's room when he was woken up by the boys outside. He felt very unhappy and cursed a few words.
The two boys pushed the door open and rushed over to them: "Oh my Grandpa Jin, why are you still sleeping? Second Master Lian is here!"
"Who? Which Mr. Lian?"
Jin Cai thought for a moment that he had heard wrong.
"Where is the second Mr. Lian? The old man, Mr. Lian, has come down from Beijing. He just arrived, and now he has gone straight to the accounting room with his people!"
Hearing what he said, Jin Cai almost fell down from the bedside. He hurriedly put on his shoes, didn't even bother to put on his clothes, and ran outside with the two boys who were pulling him.
When I came outside the accounting room, I saw that it was quiet here. A dozen servants who were always on duty in the outer courtyard all gathered in the small courtyard here, and they all peeked in secretly.
Jin Cai slowed down, straightened her clothes, and then walked carefully into the hall.
Sure enough, after that big case, who else was sitting upright and looking through the account books, not Mr. Lian?
Jin Cai couldn't help but panic. She didn't know what happened. Second Master Lian came all the way to check the accounts? They actually didn't receive any news in advance!
Seeing that Jia Lian also noticed him and looked over, Jin Cai hurriedly bowed and stepped forward: "I have seen the second master..."
"It's Butler Jin, long time no see."
Although Jia Lian was quite polite to him, it made Jin Cai even more uneasy. He didn't dare to do anything else, so he just curled up and waited for Jia Lian's next move.
"Is this this year's general accounts?" Jia Lian put down the account book he had roughly thumbed through, picked up the new one next to him, and asked the old accountant standing beside him.
The old accountant was obviously frightened by Jia Lian's surprise attack. He couldn't help wiping the cold sweat from his head and nodded: "Go back to the second master, this is exactly this year's account book..."
Jia Lian also flipped through it casually, and finally asked: "According to the accounts you reported, you should still have more than 22,000 taels of cash left. Why is the amount in the account now so much less?"
Jin Cai hurriedly said: "Back to the Second Master, there are a few things that happened later and have not been reported, such as the gifts sent to various families during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the birthday gifts prepared by the old lady of the Zhen family for her seventieth birthday, and the governor
Mr. Zhang’s family has given birth to their eldest son, and they have prepared gifts... These are all recorded in the account book at the back, and the second master can check it."
Jia Lian nodded. He was not here to help Jia Zheng check the accounts. If it was roughly correct, he didn't want to care about it. He just remembered their reaction when he came over just now and smiled again: "In other words, this
The number recorded in the account is correct. Is there sufficient cash in the treasury now?"
"This..." Jin Cai's expression immediately became troubled.
Normally, he would definitely have gone along with it and wouldn't reveal anything unusual. But today, the master's family suddenly attacked, and he still can't figure it out. If there is something wrong and angers the master's family, he will spend his whole life.
His old face is all in?
Sure enough, Jia Lian knew something was wrong as soon as he saw his appearance, and immediately said coldly: "Take all the money out of the library and let me count it on the spot."
Jin Cai was immediately frightened and knelt down, "The slaves are guilty, please spare your life, Master Lian!"
Seeing Jin Cai like this, other people in the hall either looked a little pale or looked gloating.
Jia Lian looked at the neatly dressed Jincai and asked with a smile: "I just want to count the silver in the treasury, and I don't want to kill you. Why did I scare you like this? Could it be that all the money in the treasury is...
Have you been corrupted by your butler Jin?"
Jincai bang bang carved several heads, "How dare I, my slave... I dare not deceive the second master. Most of the money in the warehouse now has been lent out by the masters in each room. There are only a few coins in total in the warehouse now."
Thousands of silver..."
As Jin Cai spoke, he explained the matter in "details".
There used to be twenty members of the Jia family, but now there are still twelve members of the Jia family left in Nanjing, but they are all concubines, with basically no basic family background. Even because of laziness and dependence on the relief of the Rong and Rong governments, even ordinary people can't live as well.
Not as good as!
There are many such people, not to mention the Twelfth House in Nanjing, but also the other Six Fangs who followed the Ningrong Second House to the capital.
Since we can no longer survive, we have to seek relief from the two governments.
In the past, the housekeeper reported to the capital, and only then did he dare to borrow the money after the other party agreed. Later, he started asking for this, and wanted for that. The heads of the Ning and Rong houses gave up on this idea. Except for
Let's prepare some money and food during the New Year to give to those who are really lonely, and we are not allowed to borrow anything else.
But the sky is high and the emperor is far away, and there is no serious master in the two palaces staying in Nanjing. There is money in the warehouse. If there is collusion between inside and outside, there will always be a way to get some out...
Of course, according to Jin Cai, they agreed to lend it out because they saw that their "masters" were really in a miserable state and couldn't resist begging.
Jia Lian looked at the gold cai and said jokingly: "Oh, they just borrowed it. You slaves, why don't you also borrow some and get a profit or something?"
"This, it's quite a bit..."
Cash has extra value, and people in this era also understand it.
With so much money guarded, it's strange that they don't think wrongly. Jia Lian even saw through it at a glance. These minions were probably the masterminds of this matter. He only wanted to drag the people in the 12th room with them because they were afraid that the incident would be exposed in the future and the master would deal with them.
That’s it!
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! After all, although the people in the Twelve Houses are poor, they are the same clan in the two houses. For the sake of the same clan, they must show some mercy.
Jia Lian then said: "Since you said that, show me the list of IOUs and so on. You can't do it. You have lent us all the money. We don't know who the debtors are, right?"
Hearing that Jia Lian might get angry at any time, although Jin Cai was worried, he immediately sent someone to the general manager's room to get the list.
Jia Lian took it in his hand and took a look, then looked at Jin Cai and asked curiously: "Oh, is Butler Jin's family also short of money? What is the purpose of borrowing these two hundred taels of silver?"
Jin Cai smiled coquettishly: "I will return the money tomorrow..."
"Today."
"Yes, I will go home later and pay all the money I owe..."
Seeing that Jin Cai was so sensible, Jia Lian didn't intend to attack him. After all, he was Jin Yuanyang's father, so he was somewhat decent.
After accepting the list, Jia Lian looked at the slaves around him: "Before the second watch tonight, I will make up for all the money you borrowed from the treasury. There will be one or two silver short... Butler Jin, tell me about theft."
What should be done according to the law if the master's property is misappropriated and sent to Yingtian Mansion?"
Cold sweat broke out on Jin Cai's head, but he still didn't dare not answer: "It could be as minor as... it can be as severe as having your hand cut off, or as serious as being killed with a stick..."
The law is so harsh on slaves. If they pay more than a few taels of silver, they should be killed with a cane!
Of course, when a situation like this happens to a wealthy family, they won't actually report it to the officials. It would be too embarrassing. They are fully capable of dealing with their own minions themselves!
There were several people around who were also on the list. After hearing this, they immediately knelt down and said that they would definitely return the money today.
"As for the money borrowed outside..."
Jia Lian looked around and said to Jin Cai and several stewards: "Since the money was loaned from you, it is up to you to get it back.
I’ll give you three days, and if you can’t get it back, you guys can make up for it, do you think it’s reasonable or not?”
The faces of the several stewards who came over after hearing the news turned as pale as bitter gourds. How could they recover it in three days...
But Jin Cai immediately said: "Second Master, don't worry, within three days, the slaves will get back all the money they owe."
Jia Lian then smiled and said, "In addition to the cash, do you also take the initiative to help us move out and sell off the old objects left by our ancestors?"
When Jin Cai heard this, he was even more frightened and kowtowed hurriedly: "How dare you slaves do such unlawful things? Second Master can go in and have a look, but if one thing is missing, the slave's life will be up to Second Master."
Take it!”
Jia Lian nodded and said nothing more.
In fact, from the moment he entered the house, he noticed that the pavilions, flowers, plants, trees, etc. in the house were all well taken care of. I guess Jin Cai and others were careful in looking after the house.
On the contrary, even though they are far apart, Jingzhong still sends stewards down every year to check, so I don't worry about them causing trouble here.
As for borrowing money privately...
This mistake can be neither big nor small. However, after all, he is not the head of the Rongguo Mansion yet.
He is not like Wang Xifeng, who is so heartless, helping others with housekeeping, and offending everyone in the family. In the end, he gets nothing out of it and ends up in trouble!
Therefore, as long as he can establish his prestige, it is enough, and he cannot afford to go to war over these things now.
"I'll probably stay here for a few days. You can help me pack up a house in the front yard."
Seeing Jia Lian's calm demeanor, Jin Cai finally breathed a sigh of relief and suggested that Jia Lian live in the main hall.
Jia Lian didn't accept it and asked the extra people to go down. He wrote a list to Jin Cai and ordered: "According to the specifications of the Mid-Autumn Festival, prepare another one for me. Starting tomorrow, I will personally visit the boss.
Several."
Jin Cai looked at the few families, nodded, and said: "Although these are the only ones, I'm afraid the preparations won't be complete in one night, and many things will have to be purchased outside."
Jia Lian said: "Then it's okay to set it a little lower. You just do your best to prepare. I'll come back and take a look later."
Jin Cai agreed and went down to arrange everything.
Jia Lian saw that it was still early, so he called Zhao Sheng, Wang Teng and others, and said: "Go to Yingtian Mansion Yamen and ask the Yamen servants if there is a young monk from Suzhou among the servants."
Zhao Sheng and the other two were surprised and said with a smile: "Second Master is confused. Why is there a young monk in the yamen? If you want to find a young monk, you have to go to the temple."
Jia Lian glanced at them, shutting them up, and then said: "He has had his hair renewed. You just inquire in secret, and if you find him, bring him to see me."
Jia Lian only vaguely remembered that there was a well-informed young novice monk in Shuntian Mansion who seemed to know the whereabouts of Xiangling.
I just don’t know if Xiang Ling and the kidnapper had arrived in Jinling at this time, or if they had met the young monk.
We can only wait until we find someone.
Note: In order to facilitate everyone’s understanding, let’s talk about the concept of time in this book.
One breath ≈ two to three seconds;
A cup of tea≈ten minutes;
A meal takes ≈ twenty minutes;
One stick of incense ≈ thirty minutes.
One quarter is fifteen minutes, four quarters is half an hour, and eight quarters is one hour.
There is no need to be precise, you can have different opinions, but this is not allowed in this book.