Nong Zhaohua

Chapter 31

When Liu said he would send someone, he really did.

On the fifth day after she came back from her birthday banquet, ten accountants were sent to the Marquis of Changning, and Liu Cheng, the chief steward of the Duke's Mansion, sent them personally. Mrs. Xie met him in the hall, and Liu Cheng took the initiative. Asked to see Yan Zhaohua, saying that he was following Liu's order, and told Yan Zhaohua the history of these accountants. After all, Liu sent them here to help the eldest lady manage the accounts, and she had to meet the eldest lady. .

Mrs. Xie had no reason to refuse, so she ordered someone to pass Yan Zhaohua over from Qingqueju. After Yan Zhaohua arrived, Liu Chengcai brought a group of accountants to salute Yan Zhaohua, and then introduced these gentlemen one by one. Let Yan Zhaohua know that the general accountant is Zhang, named Zhang Fu, in his 50s, and is Liu's companion. Thank you once, Zhang Fu is kind, and he speaks politely.

"Madam, I don't know if I can order the steward to take out the dowry list left by the former Mrs. Hou. Before the handover starts, check the items on the list. If there are no problems, then check the physical objects and sign for receipt. Do you think this is appropriate?"

Liu Cheng must have received Liu's instruction when he came here, and he was confident when speaking to Xie. Yan Zhaohua thought that Xie would obstruct him, at least he would not be as forthright as he is now:
"My sister's dowry list has already been prepared, Zhang Ping, take Guanshi Liu and them to the accounting room to check."

Zhang Ping replied without looking sideways: "Yes, the little one will go now."

Liu Cheng and the others followed Zhang Ping and left, only Xie and Yan Zhaohua were left in the hall. After a moment of silence, Xie beckoned to Wang who was waiting on the side, and Wang took out a hollowed-out bird from the inner room. The gold-rimmed agarwood box came out and placed it on the huanghuali table between Xie Shi and Yan Zhaohua. Xie Shi had a handy and loving smile on her face, as if the unhappiness between the two of them some time ago was nothing more than It was a dream, she is still the good mother who loves her daughter, and Yan Zhaohua is also a good and obedient child...

Mrs. Xie pushed the exquisitely carved agarwood box to Yan Zhaohua. The fragments are cleverly taken out, and then inlaid with beautiful patterns and unique ingenuity.Yan Zhaohua knew this box, it was indeed something left by Xie Wei back then. This box was also taken out by Mrs. Xie and given to her when she got married in her previous life. If she remembered correctly, there were 3000 taels of silver in the box. Tickets, two pairs of gold hairpins with phoenix tails, two pairs of silver tassel walking handles, five or six pairs of jewel earrings, and some unusable rouge and gouache.

Back then, Yan Zhaohua suspected that Xie Wei, the eldest daughter of the Duke's Mansion, only had a small private treasury of 3000 taels of silver and a few not-so-expensive hairpins?Although Yan Zhaohua didn't remember when Xie Wei died, she also heard from the later mother that her mother, Xie Wei, wore red makeup when she married into the Changning Hou Mansion, and she wore red makeup on the road from the Duke's Mansion to the Changning Hou Mansion. The dowry was all Xie Wei's, and even Zhuque Street couldn't fit it. At that time, no one in the capital knew that marrying the eldest daughter of Duke Ding's mansion was equivalent to moving half of the property of the Duke's mansion. No matter how stupid Yan Zhaohua was, she knew that this was unreasonable.

It's a pity that when she realized it was unreasonable, it was too late.Mrs. Xie had already grown up, and after Yan Xiu led the troops out, Mrs. Xie took full control of the Marquis of Changning. Yan Zhaohua fought her like a mantis with arms like a cart, eggs and rocks. She was close to Xie's family, and at that time, the Gong family also made her family fall into poverty, and no one could help her.

Yan Zhaohua looked at Mrs. Xie calmly, pretending not to know, and asked, "What is this?"

"It's the small private treasury and some personal items left by your mother back then. I've been asking Mama Wang to keep them safe and untouched. I thought I'd hand them over to you when you're older. Although you're not very old now, But obviously I already have my own ideas. Since your grandmother wants to take care of your mother’s dowry for you, I can count as an errand. During this time, I don’t know what I did wrong. There was a little misunderstanding, but sister Hua, don’t forget that I am not only your aunt, but also your aunt. Your mother and I are half-sisters. We grew up together and have a very good relationship. Take care of the dowry for her, take care of you and Brother Qian for her, it is undeniable that I have done something bad, don't take it for granted. Auntie will return all your mother's things to you, so that you are not allowed to be with your auntie again. It's awkward, from now on we will be in harmony as before, okay?"

Xie's words made Yan Zhaohua feel chills all over her body. If she was still Yan Zhaohua back then, maybe she would have been moved by Xie's sincere words. It's a pity that she would not make the same mistake. Do it a second time.

Following the trend, Yan Zhaohua lowered his head and stroked the corner of the agarwood, his eyes seemed to be a little red, Xie seemed a little moved when he saw her like this, he secretly smiled in his heart, after all, he was just a little girl, but he just said a few good words She was shaken, Mrs. Xie knew that her words had worked, and looked at Yan Zhaohua with more compassion.

Yan Zhaohua stood up, blessed Xie Shi, and said in a low voice, choked with sobs:

"I wrote down what my aunt said." She would also remember clearly the hatred from her previous life.

Mrs. Xie smiled and pulled Yan Zhaohua to her face, held Yan Zhaohua's hand, looked at her with a crooked smile, and reached out to pat Yan Zhaohua's hand affectionately. Yan Zhaohua got up and left, and let Ranxiang come in and move the box to Qingqueju.

There is an exquisite small gold lock on the outside of the box. There is a sticker with the word seal on the keyhole, and there are traces of wiping around it. The four corners of the seal are also damaged, but it can be seen that the seal has not been opened for some years.

Yan Zhaohua sneered and tore off the seal. A finger-long key fell out from the back of the lock. Yan Zhaohua inserted the key into the keyhole, and the lock opened. Yan Zhaohua studied it carefully in the previous life. This box, the box is made of agarwood, very heavy, with a finger-length pure gold lock, I really don’t know how Xie made it, Xie Wei has a brain problem, so I put some things in the box that are not as valuable as the box to make a small private treasury ?
After the box was opened, revealing the true contents inside, Ranxiang and Qingzhu leaned over to look at it, Yan Zhaohua pushed the box in front of them and said:
"Clean it up, put it on the table, and see what's there."

Ranxiang and Qingzhu looked at each other, Qingzhu went to put the bead curtain, and Ranxiang went to close the door. After making sure that the doors and windows were closed, the two came over and took out all the things in the box with pious movements.

The things are lined up on the table, which is no different from Yan Zhaohua's impression. After all, Dianxiang Qingzhu is young and has little knowledge, and said:

"Miss, why did Madam suddenly treat you so well? Madam's things are actually given to you like this. God, these hairpins are all pure gold, they must be worth a lot of money, and these gems are so beautiful, hey, There are also bank notes, the bank notes of Tongbao Bank... there are... 3000 taels."

Yan Zhaohua sat on a chair and drank tea from a teacup. Tingranxiang and Qingzhu took out the contents of the box like they were reporting the names of the dishes, and arranged them on the table. It was still those things and the same types, Yan Zhaohua Putting down the cup indifferently, suddenly stopped the movement of his hand, and said to Ranxiang:
"Dye Xiang, show me those banknotes."

"Hey."

Yan Zhaohua took the banknotes handed over by Ranxiang, and spread them out one by one on the coffee table at hand. There were three in total, each worth 1000 taels. Yan Zhaohua picked up one and took a closer look. In some years, there were indeed several seals in the center of the banknotes, with the words 'Tongbao Bank' clearly written on them.

The style of this bank note is still the oldest one in Tongbao Bank, which is different from the current style, so it means that the bank note in this box was not put in by Mrs. Xie later, but Xie Wei's original one. Looking at the six banknotes together, there is a serial number on the lower right corner of each banknote. This is what she learned later. For the convenience of traceability, each banknote is marked with a special symbol. The numbers of several banknotes are consecutive, and the general bank will only appear such serial numbered banknotes when the large amount printed exceeds 10 taels.

Obviously, this bank note is indeed something in this box, it is indeed Xie Wei's thing, but the amount is definitely wrong, such a big box, the materials are so expensive, it is impossible to only put 3000 taels and some unremarkable items Jewelry, the only explanation is that after Mrs. Xie married into the mansion, she cleaned the contents of the box, took out all the good ones, and then pretended to transfer all the contents of the box, and then sealed the box with a seal. Seal it up and make it look like it hasn't been touched, and in this way, if other people want to see it, unless it is Yan Xiu who forces it to see it, otherwise they will see that the seal is sealed well, and they will not deliberately open it to confirm.

It was only then that Yan Zhaohua understood why Mrs. Xie returned the box to her today, because in this way, no one would be able to track down the whereabouts of the things in the box, because she could absolutely say that the box was intact handed over to Yan Zhaohua, and it is impossible for the accountant sent by the Liu family to come to Yan Zhaohua to check the contents of the box.Throwing the hot potato out, and picking up the opportunity to say some words to reassure Yan Zhaohua, Xie's move can be said to kill two birds with one stone, and his calculation is very shrewd.

But she would never have thought that sending the box to Yan Zhaohua at this time actually made Yan Zhaohua think about one thing thoroughly, and sent a more important handle to Yan Zhaohua's hands.

Ranxiang and Qingzhu took out all the things in the box and lined them up on the table. Looking at those things, Yan Zhaohua pondered for a moment, and then let Ranxiang come over. She whispered to Ranxiang:

"This bank note is too worn out. It's still useless. It looks like it's going to fall apart. Don't let me accidentally tear it apart. I'm afraid the bank won't accept it. Take the bank note to Tongbao Bank tomorrow." Get some new ones back."

Ranxiang looked at the old but intact bank note in Yan Zhaohua's hand. She didn't know what Yan Zhaohua's plan was, but she also understood that Yan Zhaohua said this on purpose. What orders did she really have? , she will definitely order again, and Ranxiang immediately reacted, and said to Yan Zhaohua:

"That's right, I don't know how long the banknotes have been stored, and they look like they're going to break if touched. I'll go to the bank tomorrow to exchange for new ones."

Yan Zhaohua nodded to Ranxiang, and Qingzhu walked over and said, "Miss, there are two pairs of gold hairpins with phoenix tails, five or six pairs of gemstone earrings, and..."

In the whole room, there was a sound of "Baby" like the name of the green bamboo dish, and from time to time there was laughter between the master and the servant, and it seemed that the atmosphere was very harmonious.A black shadow flashed past the west window, sneaking towards the main courtyard.

(End of this chapter)