I'm in the Red Mansion

Chapter 163 Jia She investigates Lai Da

At Ningguo Mansion, the large-scale dismissal and replacement of servants not only caused panic among the servants at Ningguo Mansion.

Even people in Rongguo Mansion were talking about it.

Jia's mother, Mrs. Wang, Wang Xifeng and others were all sarcastic and disdainful of this.

They want to see just how far this little beast can go.
After Lin Daiyu and other girls, as well as some relatives and friends of the Jia family, learned the news.

He was full of praise for Jia Cong, the new head of Ningguo Mansion.

Everyone can see how bad the atmosphere in Ningguo Mansion is.

If the servants in Ningguo Mansion were not dismissed in large numbers, even if the head of the family was replaced, it would be difficult to reverse the bad impression of Ningguo Mansion in a short period of time.

And the most humiliating family in this process was the Lai family.

Lai Er, the chief steward of Ningguo Mansion, not only had his property confiscated by the Ningguo Mansion, but he and his wife also had their limbs broken and were expelled from Ningguo Mansion.

Even if Nanny Lai reported the matter to Grandmother Jia, she could do nothing about Jia Cong.

This matter was eventually left unresolved.

But when this matter reached Jia She's ears, Jia She couldn't help but be delighted.

Jia She never expected that Lai Er, who had been the steward of Ningguo Mansion for less than fifteen years, had embezzled so much silver.

Lai Da has been the steward of Rongguo Mansion for two years longer than Lai Er.

How much silver has Lai Da embezzled from the treasury over the years?
I'm afraid it costs tens of thousands of taels of silver more than Lai Er?
As long as he could find evidence that Lai Da had embezzled money, he could also raid Lai's house.

This is more than 200,000 taels of silver!
Even if part of it has to be put into the public treasury.

But once it's passed through his hands, at least tens of thousands of taels of silver could be intercepted.

Thinking of this, Jia She immediately became excited.

Next, Jia She immediately found a few accountants in the shop and began to check the accounts of Rongguo Mansion.

Lai Daming knew clearly that Jia She was targeting him, but he could do nothing about it.

After all, the master wanted to check the accounts, could he stop it?
If he wanted to stop it, it would just show that he was guilty.

Lai Da had already learned from Lai Er how Ningguo Mansion checked the accounts.

And the accounts done by Lai Da are not much better than those done by Lai Er.

It can even be said that the accounts kept by the two brothers were passed down from generation to generation.

As a last resort, Lai Da had to ask Lai Ma to come forward again and cry and complain to Lady Jia.

As expected, Grandmother Jia was extremely angry. She called Jia She and gave him a severe scolding.

Jia She admitted his fault and said with a smile, "Mother, I know that the Lai family has worked hard and made great contributions."

"In fact, this time my son checked the accounts of the previous years in the mansion. Far from targeting the Lai family, he was trying to exonerate them."

"Ever since the East Mansion found out that Lai Er had embezzled more than 200,000 taels of silver, the servants in the mansion have been talking about it."

"It is said that Lai Da embezzled a lot of money in the West Palace."

"Son, you know that Lai Da is loyal to our Rongguo Mansion and works hard without complaint. How could he embezzle so much money from the mansion?"

"But the servants don't know this! If we let them talk nonsense, it will ruin Lai Da's reputation."

"So my son thought, why not just check the accounts of previous years? As long as the accounts are clean, these rumors will be refuted, and Lai Da will be cleared of all charges."

Grandmother Jia scolded Jia She again and asked him to investigate the matter quickly and leave it at that.

When Nanny Lai saw this scene, she felt a chill in her heart.

Because she came to Lady Jia to cry for the second time, Lady Jia's attitude towards her underwent some subtle changes.

The most fatal point is that Grandmother Jia did not ask Jia She to stop checking the accounts immediately.

Instead, he was asked to investigate the matter as soon as possible. What if the real amount of Lai Da's embezzlement was found?

As the old lady of the Lai family, Nanny Lai naturally knew how much money her two sons had embezzled from the mansion over the years.

In fact, the amount of money Lai Da embezzled in Rongguo Mansion was no less than that embezzled by Lai Er in Ningguo Mansion.

If the real number is really found out, will the ancestors really let the Lai family go?
It is true that the Jia family is lenient towards me, but this forgiveness is ultimately limited.

By then, the ancestor might be able to forgive the Lai family for their kindness.

But by then, I’m afraid the Lai family’s property will no longer be preserved.

Moreover, Lai Da’s position as steward might be lost as a result.

After Nanny Lai returned home, she began to discuss a way out with her two sons.

They prepared to transfer their property secretly first.

Even if the master really finds out the amount of Lai Da's embezzlement and really wants to confiscate their property again.

They were also able to secretly save some property.

Unexpectedly, they soon discovered that someone was secretly watching their house.

I'm afraid it's impossible to transfer the property without anyone noticing.

Needless to say, the person who was secretly following their family must have been sent by Jia She.

It seems like this time, they are done for.

When they thought of this, Lai Ma and her family felt a chill in their hearts.

As for Jia She, he was in high spirits and asked several accountants of the Jia family to check the accounts overnight.

It is imperative to find out the concrete evidence of the Lai family’s embezzlement.

However, two days passed and these accountants did not make much progress.

Lai Da's accounts were not perfect.

In the past two days, they still found several thousand taels of silver in bad debts.

But in ten years, he only embezzled a few thousand taels of silver.

Not to mention that he couldn't get past Lady Jia, even Jia She was too embarrassed to do it.

Embezzling several thousand taels of silver over ten years is already considered a rare act of integrity!
Jia She could not help but angrily asked, "How on earth did you, a bunch of good-for-nothings, check the accounts?"

"Lai Er embezzled more than 200,000 taels of silver in the East Palace, and Lai Da spent ten years embezzling only a few thousand taels of silver?"

Not to mention Jia She, even the accountants who checked the accounts did not believe this number.

But unfortunately, they did not get the East Palace's auditing method. They knew there were problems with the accounts, but they just couldn't find them. What could they do?
Jia She couldn't help but get furious, but the accountants were really at a loss.

They really could not do anything to stop Jia She from going on a rampage of impotence.

At this time, an accountant offered a suggestion:

"Master, since the East Palace can find out the problem with Lai Er's account."

"This means that the East Palace knows how to check the accounts."

"But we are so ignorant and incompetent that we can't find out anything."

"Why don't you go ask the East Palace how they checked the accounts?"

"Once we have mastered the method of checking the accounts, we may not be unable to check them out here."

When Jia She heard this, he couldn't help but feel moved.

(End of this chapter)