Aunt Chen is back from the world of cultivation

Yesterday I only went to the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Imperial Household Department to give gifts.

However, from what these two people said, this incident was too serious and the people were angry. If they did not report this to His Majesty, the risk would be great...

That means you have to pay more.

Pei Xiao secretly hated these people's greed, but he had to accept their threats.

There are indeed many powerful people who take advantage of their power to bully others and manipulate things behind the scenes, but only their family has been made known to everyone.

He cannot leave any handle for His Majesty to strip him of his title.

The Jinyiwei and Silijian will each send another 5,000 taels today.

The total cost was thirty thousand taels.

In this case, how could the reward from the Right Deputy Censor-in-Chief of the Supervisory Office be less than the last time's five thousand taels?

Even the office of the Minister of War and Admiral Caojiang, who can make direct suggestions to His Majesty, will have to be taken care of this time.

The total amount for the three of them would be at least 16,000 taels.

After he had people send out the silver to supply the Jinyiwei and Silijian, he planned to go to the Ministry of War and the Supervisory Office.

Just as he was about to ask the butler to get the banknotes, the butler looked embarrassed:

"My Lord, the money in the treasury...is not enough!"

Pei Xiao frowned in disbelief.

Not enough money?

He is a marquis with millions of assets, but someone actually told him that the money is not enough!

"What's going on? I remember that there was still 110,000 taels of silver when the year-end bill was settled. It's only February now, how could there be no money?"

The chief steward counted with him the expenses of the Marquis' Mansion in the past two months.

The New Year gifts, daily expenses of the Marquis' Mansion, year-end rewards for servants, and the cleanup of two arson cases had cost more than 80,000 taels.

Now, there are only ten thousand taels left, and the cash is not enough.

Pei Xiao was not bad at math. After adding up all the numbers, he was still short of 19,000 taels.

It's only February, and there are already 19,000 taels that can't be counted.

This is not a small amount of money. The total assets of some middle and lower-level officials of ordinary backgrounds in the court are less than this amount.

This can only mean that someone is secretly stealing his money!

"There is still a shortfall of 19,000 taels. Where is the money?"

He stared at the butler with eyes as sharp as knives.

The butler was sweating profusely:

"This... this, these are the only expenses I know about... Why don't you ask Madam?"

How could he have the guts to take so much money from the Marquis's treasury?

But he didn't dare to say openly that it was his wife who did it.

How could Pei Xiao not understand the hidden meaning of his words?

He couldn't help but turn pale.

He originally thought that Zhang was a good person, gentle, virtuous, and good at managing the household.

Who would have thought that besides constantly causing herself huge troubles, she was actually a huge rat!

In just two months, he embezzled 19,000 taels from his treasury, and no one knew how much he had taken before!

Even if the Marquis's Mansion had millions of assets, it couldn't withstand her spending!

"Go get the account book."

In the Marquis's Mansion, Zhang and the chief steward each had their own set of account books, which was meant to check and balance each other.

But in recent years, Pei Xiao has trusted Zhang more and more, and the chief steward could only turn a blind eye to Zhang's attempts to make money in the Marquis' Mansion.

At this moment, the anxious Zhang asked for a meeting again.

Hearing the report from the attendant, Pei Xiao gritted his teeth:

"Just in time, let her in!"

Zhang finally got to see Pei Xiao and felt a little relieved.

However, as soon as she arrived, she saw Pei Xiao staring at her unkindly.

She rushed over, grabbed Pei Xiao's sleeve with one hand, raised her face and looked at him with tears in her eyes:

"My Lord, please listen to my explanation! I didn't mean to bring disaster to the Marquis' Mansion. I was coerced by that cunning servant Liu Ma to let Zhang Gui take the name card and banknotes to redeem He Wang! Who knew that I would fall into someone else's scheme..."

There was no trace of emotion on Pei Xiao's stern face at this moment.

But the attendant who knew Pei Xiao well knew that this was the calm before the storm.

When he gets furious, there isn't much emotion left on his face.

He will directly launch a counterattack that will cause people to feel pain to the bone.

Madam, I'm afraid you're going to be in trouble this time.

Pei Xiao narrowed his eyes and looked at her for a while, then pulled her hand away and pushed it away.

"Go away!"

Zhang was weak to begin with, and after being pushed, she fell to the ground and let out a scream.

When she fell, her injured left hand landed on the ground, adding insult to injury. In an instant, she was in so much pain that cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

Even though her face was as pale as paper and her lips turned even paler due to the pain, there was no trace of pity or worry in Pei Xiao's eyes.

"Being threatened by a slave? Then tell me why you were threatened by a slave."

After a night of thinking, Zhang had come up with a plan.

At this moment, he endured the pain and said with tears in his eyes:

"My Lord, that cunning servant threatened me with the poisoning of Brother Jin, saying that if I did not meet her demands, she would tell Aunt Li who was beside my aunt about this matter."

"She is my confidant, and her words are no less than those of ordinary servants. I dare not gamble with the friendship between the Marquis' Mansion and the Zhang family's direct lineage!"

He explained his plan again.

He said that he had no intention of letting Madam Liu take the banknotes away, nor did he intend to let He Wang actually escape from prison and bring disaster to the Marquis' Mansion.

However, Pei Xiao had already lost trust in her at this point, so how could he believe her sweet explanation?

His eyes were full of sarcasm:

"Oh, so this means that I want to thank you for your wholehearted consideration for the Marquis' Mansion?"

Zhang could hear his sarcasm, but she couldn't find a more reliable excuse for the moment.

At this moment.

"My Lord, I have brought the account book."

The butler who came to get the account book came back.

Pei Xiao took the account book and looked at the amount of cash. As expected, the actual amount of silver in the treasury was 19,000 taels less than what was recorded in the account.

Zhang was still kneeling on the ground, and Pei Xiao threw the account book directly at her face.

"Ah!" Zhang screamed in pain again, and bright red blood oozed from her forehead.

Pei Xiao didn't care at all and asked:

"How do you explain this? It's only been two months since the beginning of the year and the money in the treasury is 19,000 taels less than what's in the account book!"

"Well, I didn't know that the rat was the one beside me!"

Zhang quickly picked up the account book and looked through it, and immediately understood the crux of the matter.

The Marquis somehow discovered that the amount of silver and money in the treasury was wrong, and since she had just caused such a big disaster for the Marquis's mansion, all his anger accumulated together.

I was extremely panicked.

After a while, he finally made up his mind and said through gritted teeth:

"My Lord! To tell you the truth, besides the fact that Jin'er was poisoned, that cunning servant Liu Ma also threatened me with the fact that I took advantage of the housekeeper to enrich myself!"

"I know I was wrong, and I will never do it again... I beg you to forgive me just once!"

Since the Marquis already knew that she had embezzled money, she might as well admit that Nanny Liu was using this matter to threaten her.

It's better than exposing other things.

Pei Xiao then felt that the matter made sense.

Since Zhang would do something to enrich herself, how could she be so nervous about the interests of the Marquis' Mansion as she just said?

She would only take this seriously if it was to protect her own interests.

If he hadn't taken the Zhang family and Concubine Shu's feelings into consideration, he would have divorced this greedy and stupid woman!

"Come here, take the lady back to Yaoguang Courtyard. Without my order, you are not allowed to take a single step out!"

This is what is meant by house arrest in disguise.

Zhang just breathed a sigh of relief, but she didn't expect that Pei Xiao's punishment was not over yet.

And it was the kind that hurt her deeply.

*

Once again, Zhang Liu came at night to report to Chen Qingzhu the news he had obtained at the Marquis of Jingnan's Mansion.

"Oh, they even took away her housekeeper's power and asked her to pay back all the money she had embezzled within ten days?"

Chen Qingzhu smiled happily and said with interest.

"That's right. Right now, the wife of Marquis Jingnan is asking the deputy steward outside to sell properties everywhere to make up for the deficit!"

Chen Qingzhu chuckled:

"It seems that Pei Xiao really spent a lot of money to take care of this matter, but he is so ungraceful that he asked his wife to pay for it!"

Zhang Liudao:

"Of course. Such a stupid and greedy woman has caused so much trouble and cost Marquis Jingnan so much money!"

"Even though the powerful people like Marquis Jingnan may seem noble, they actually calculate their own interests very clearly. It would be strange if they didn't make up for it!"

Chen Qingzhu laughed sarcastically, his eyes full of coldness.

Pei Xiao began to feel sorry for the loss of the Jingnan Marquis Mansion, and he was so ruthless to his beloved and trusted wife in the past.

So what should they do when faced with the thundering blow that follows?