I'm in the Red Mansion

Chapter 159 Catch Lai Er!
The next day, the six accountants came to report to Jia Cong excitedly, "Third Master, Third Master, we found out, we found out!"

"This year, at least 30,000 taels of silver in this account are missing!"

Hearing this number, Jia Cong was stunned.

Obediently boom!
Is Lai Er really so cruel?

In this year alone, he embezzled 30,000 taels of silver?

He has been working as a steward in the East Palace for fourteen or fifteen years.

By this calculation, wouldn't he have embezzled about four or five hundred thousand taels of silver?

This amount of silver could almost build a Grand View Garden.

Of course, in the first few years after he became the chief steward, he would not dare to embezzle so unscrupulously.

However, over the past ten years or so, he must have embezzled at least hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, right?

This Lai Er is indeed the biggest pest in Ningguo Mansion!

If Lai Er is not removed, Ningguo Mansion will never be clean!
Thinking of this, Jia Cong could not help but send someone to call Lai Er over.

After entering, Lai Er could not help but bow respectfully and said, "What instructions do you have, Third Master?"

Jia Cong said, "By the way, Steward Lai, I wonder if the account books of the mansion over the years have been preserved?"

Hearing this, Lai Er's heart skipped a beat, but he remained calm and said, "Master San, the account books in the mansion must be kept for ten years."

"It will be destroyed after ten years. Therefore, all the accounts within the past ten years are sealed in the warehouse."

After hearing this, Jia Cong could not help but order: "In this case, Steward Lai should find someone to send all the accounts for the past ten years here."

"This account is not to check you, but to check the income reduction of the Jia family's assets and other industries in the past ten years."

"Only after finding out these things can we regulate these family businesses in a targeted manner."

Lai Er was half-believing and half-doubting, always feeling that something was wrong.

But he did not dare to disobey Jia Cong, so he had to find someone to bring all the accounts for the past ten years.

Next, these tasks would naturally have to be done by the six accountants found from the Xue family.

Jia Cong was just about to send someone to call Jiao Da over, but at this moment, Jiao Da came to him in a hurry.

Jia Cong ordered someone to invite Jiao Da in.

When he saw Jia Cong, Jiao Da immediately said, "This old servant greets the Third Master. This old servant has lived up to the Third Master's trust and has found twenty reliable people to form a guard team."

After hearing this, Jia Cong's eyes lit up and he said, "Good, very good! In that case, send a few people to secretly keep an eye on Lai Er."

"We need to prevent him from escaping and record who he has met in the past few days."

Jiao Da immediately said solemnly: "Yes, Third Master, I will go find someone to do this right away."

Three days later, the six accountants had completed the liquidation.

During the ten years, Lai Er embezzled a total of 150,000 taels of silver in Ningguo Mansion.

In total, he embezzled 15,000 taels of silver every year.

Lai Er worked as the chief steward in Ningguo Mansion for a total of fourteen and a half years. Jia Cong rounded it off and counted it as fifteen years.

Based on the calculation of 15,000 taels of embezzlement per year, the total amount of embezzled in 15 years was 225,000 taels of silver.

Of course, Jia Cong believed that he should not have embezzled so much silver.

Because the amounts that Lai Er embezzled were decreasing from the back to the front.

In other words, the further up you go, the less corruption there is.

And in the first five years that he became the steward, he must have embezzled less than 75,000 taels of silver.

But since the account books for the previous five years are gone, we can only average them out like this.

Now that we have found evidence of Lai Er's embezzlement, the next step will be easy.

Jia Cong directly called Jiao Da over and brought 20 members of the escort team. Soon, all the people arrived.

Jiao Da stood behind Jia Cong with twenty guards, looking very impressive.

Immediately afterwards, Jia Cong ordered someone to call Lai Er and his wife over.

Not long after, Lai Er and his wife walked in with an uneasy look on their faces.

After Lai Er and his wife exchanged greetings, Jia Cong could not help but ask, "Lai Er, let me ask you, how many years have you been the chief steward of Ningguo Mansion?"

Lai Er replied: "Master San, it has been fifteen years."

Jia Cong continued to ask: "Then I wonder how much money has Steward Lai embezzled in the past fifteen years?"

Hearing this, Lai Er was shocked and said, "Third Master, I am innocent. I am really innocent!"

"I have done my duty conscientiously and diligently, and I dare not embezzle a penny. I hope Third Master will understand!"

"Third Master, someone must have been harsh on them because I was the housekeeper, and they were upset, so they came to you to complain!"

"Please judge clearly, Third Master. I dare not lie!"

Jia Cong asked with a half-smile, "Really?"

"In that case, let me ask you something. Let's not talk about the distant things first, let's talk about Brother Zhen's funeral."

"According to this account book, you bought three thousand kilograms of lamp oil, and spent a total of five hundred taels of silver."

"But according to the distribution of supplies in various places within our tribe, only less than 500 kilograms of lamp oil were used in this funeral."

"Where did the remaining 2,500 kilograms of lamp oil go? Where is it stored now?"

Hearing this, Lai Er was stunned!

He never expected that the Third Master would check the accounts in this way!

It turns out that when the Third Master checked the accounts, he was not just calculating the numbers in the account book.

It even makes a horizontal comparison of the records in different account books!
After this comparison, there is no mistake in the amount.

But it was discovered that 2,500 kilograms of lamp oil had disappeared!

And it just so happened that Lai Er really did embezzle the two thousand five hundred kilograms of silver for lamp oil.

Therefore, when asked this question, Lai Er immediately became speechless.

Next, Jia Cong took the account book and asked a few more questions.

With all the facts and irrefutable evidence, it was difficult for Lai Er to tell the difference.

Jia Cong sneered and said, "Looking at the account books for the past ten years, you have embezzled a total of 150,000 taels of silver."

"And you have been the housekeeper of Ningguo Mansion for a total of fifteen years. If calculated, you have embezzled 225,000 taels of silver."

"You, Lai Er, are really a good housekeeper!"

"The surplus money of such a huge Duke's Mansion in a year is actually not as much as what you embezzled!"

"You are so brave! Lai Er, now that the facts are in place and the evidence is irrefutable, how do you want to die?"

Hearing this, Lai Er hurriedly said, "Third Master, it's unfair, I am innocent!"

"Third Master said that I embezzled 150,000 taels of silver in the past ten years, so I admit it!"

"But in the past five years, I really didn't embezzle 75,000 taels of silver!"

"In the first three years since I became the chief steward, I didn't dare to be greedy for even a tael of silver."

"In the last two years, the total amount of embezzlement did not exceed 10,000 taels of silver."

"Let's calculate it as 10,000 taels of silver, a total of 160,000 taels of silver. I will pay it back even if I have to sell everything I have. What do you think, Third Master?"

(End of this chapter)