After the replacement marriage, I was forced to fight at home

"Third sister, do you mean that I have to be present at every household where the gifts are sent out? Or do I need to count them one by one? Oh, Princess, you should have told me earlier. If I had known this rule, what would those maids and servants be for? It seems that this is all my fault."

"Okay, you know Yingning didn't mean that, why are you saying these useless things?" Zhou Yiheng said unhappily.

"Oh? Then father, tell me, what did our Third Miss mean? My husband and I are not knowledgeable enough to understand what she meant. Just after the Third Miss said that, I thought that the monthly allowance issued by our mansion was also delivered personally by the princess to each courtyard?" Zhou Yu said coldly.

"You, now we are talking about the second daughter-in-law's job, why are you talking about all this nonsense?"

"Oh, so you are talking about the Meng family? Just go ahead and say it. Aren't you tired of going around in such a big circle?" Zhou Yu changed his sitting position, still looking lazy.

Hu looked at the bulging blue veins on Zhou Yiheng's forehead and knew that it was time for her to take action.

"It's like this. Today we delivered the last few New Year gifts to the three families your sister-in-law mentioned. We just delivered them this morning. Before noon, they sent their steward to say that they delivered them to the wrong family."

"Yes, my sister-in-law just said it." Meng Wan looked at Hu with an innocent face.

"It's not what you think, but you gave something you shouldn't have given."

"No, the orders are all based on old examples. Please have a look at them. Could it be that the people in the warehouse took the wrong ones?" Meng Wan asked in confusion.

"That's the problem. The warehouse just took the items according to the list, but the people who checked and inspected the loading were all from your yard. How could they be so careless and take such an important thing by mistake?" Hu said angrily.

"But did you accidentally give the heirloom away?" Meng Wan asked.

"You, why don't you understand?" Mrs. Hu said somewhat unhappily.

"Understand? Princess, ask her about this and see if you didn't make it clear or if Meng didn't understand." Zhou Yu turned to look at Hu. "It's so evasive. If anyone can understand it, he'd be a god."

Zhou Zheng raised his head abruptly, looking at Zhou Yu fiercely. He wanted to say something, but heard Zhou Yiheng speak, "Okay, you consider their face, but they don't appreciate your kindness."

After saying that, he looked at Meng Wan and said, "It's like this. The three families sent their butlers to say that the gift list said three bags of sugar, but when they took it back, they found that it was actually salt, and there were twenty bags in total. The three families gave away sixty bags at once. Do you know what sixty bags means?"

Meng Wan shook his head. Zhou Yiheng said, "According to the court regulations, this is the three-month quota for our mansion. And the salt needs to be collected monthly. Even if we have it, we can't give out so much at once. If this matter gets out, how do you ask the Shenjunwang Mansion to explain it?"

"But didn't the mansion also give salt as part of the annual gift?"

"That's not much, at most two bags, and they're given to old friends and relatives who have trouble buying salt. We can tell others about it, but you've emptied the salt warehouse. If outsiders know that the Prince Shen's Mansion gave twenty bags of salt as a New Year gift, does the palace make a living by selling 'private salt'? If someone with ulterior motives reports it, you'll just have to wait for the censor to come."

Zhou Yiheng snorted, he was already past the anger he had at noon. Now was a time of trouble, although there were not many things, they were the most sensitive, how could those who wanted to find fault with the palace miss this opportunity.

"I find this strange. If it was one or two packages that were packed by mistake, it would be understandable. But now there are 20 extra packages per household, and they are salt that is not on the gift list at all. This is too... 20 packages, even if they are stacked up, they will be a high layer, right? How could they not be discovered?"

"You mean, these three families lied?" Mrs. Hu said unhappily, "Brother Yu's wife, when the prince and I heard the news at noon, we were really scared. We dare not think about what impact it would have on the palace if someone with ulterior motives heard about it and used it. Fortunately, these three families are our close relatives. As soon as they found out that they were wrong, they immediately sent someone to tell us and sent the things back. I called you here to tell you the seriousness of this matter. You know you are wrong. Be more careful next time and keep an eye on it. Don't just think about going out to play all day long."

"Of course I know the importance of this matter, but solving a case requires evidence, and the suspect must be given a chance to defend himself. I still say that if it's just one or two bags missing, I will admit it, but if so many are missing at once, Your Majesty, please be careful."

"Oh, so you don't admit that you did something wrong?" Zhou Yiheng said.

"Of course, sending New Year gifts is not as simple as taking them out from the warehouse, counting them and loading them onto the truck. There are also accidents that may happen during transportation and after they arrive, so we always have to check them thoroughly."

"What do you mean? Could it be that my grandfather's family would tell lies?" Zhou Yingning spoke again with an unfriendly tone.

"It's hard to say. It's New Year's Eve, and the door to Viscount Lecheng's house for gifts is almost broken. Maybe there was a mix-up. What do you think, Third Brother?"

Zhou Zheng looked up in surprise when he heard Zhou Yu say this. What did he mean? Could it be that he knew that I had sent that to my grandfather's house... Impossible, how could this uneducated guy pay attention to these things?

"What are you investigating? How will it sound good if you let the servants know? I don't think the second son's wife is cut out to be a housekeeper. You should think more about it when you assign tasks in the future." Zhou Yiheng said to Hu with dissatisfaction.

Hu felt secretly that this was exactly the result she wanted. It was not that she did not give Meng Wan a chance, but that if Meng Wan could not be helped, she would have something to say in the future.

"It's my fault, luckily it didn't cause a big disaster. It would have been terrible if I had caused trouble for the prince outside." Mrs. Hu pressed the corner of her eyes with a handkerchief.

"Okay, let's forget about this matter. Let's end it here." Zhou Yiheng said.

Meng Wan once again despised this prince in her heart. After exchanging a glance with Zhou Yu, she walked up to Zhou Yiheng, bowed deeply, and cried, "Please investigate this matter and give justice to my daughter-in-law."

Before Zhou Yiheng could speak, Hu raised her voice and asked, "How do you want to check?"

Zhou Ming spoke for a rare moment, "Second brother, second sister-in-law, I think this incident has not caused serious consequences, so why not just leave it as it is. Father and mother were also frightened by this incident at noon, and this cannot be entirely blamed on second sister-in-law. After all, it is the first time, and servants will always bully their superiors. In my opinion, second sister-in-law should send away these servants who have no masters in their eyes, and after the New Year, let your eldest sister-in-law find a better courtyard for you, how about that?"

Meng Wan looked at Zhou Ming's honest and conciliatory face, "Thank you, big brother, for thinking of us like this." She emphasized the word "think". "Just now everyone said that such a big thing happened in my first year. Although we are all close relatives and it is unlikely to spread outside, as the saying goes, there is no wall that is impenetrable. If it is discussed later, there will be no evidence at that time. It is better to clarify it today."

"Then tell me, how do we figure it out?" Zhou Yiheng said in a deep voice with a frown.

"It's very simple. Bring up the sixty bags of salt and call the people who loaded the truck and the escort today." Meng Wan said.

"What are you going to do with the salt? Can you make a mistake from it?" Zhou Yiheng said unhappily.

"Maybe. Sometimes, the words of those who can't speak are more convincing than those who can speak." Zhou Yu stood up, and without waiting for Hu's instructions, he shouted for someone to bring in the salt.

Mother Hong went to see Mrs. Hu, who asked Zhou Yiheng softly, "Your Highness, look, I originally wanted to tell them everything and never do it again, but Brother Yu and his wife just wouldn't give in, this..."

"Bring it up here. I want to see what truth this mute person can tell you." Zhou Yiheng said angrily.

Just as Mrs. Hong was about to turn around and leave, Zhou Yu shouted, "Wait, I'm worried about you going. Who knows where you got it from?"

This one sentence made Mother Hong blush.

"What do you think?" asked Mrs. Hu.

"Each courtyard should send one person to bring it here. I want to see what this salt that almost caused the palace to be sued looks like."

"What are you talking about? What do you mean by lawsuit? Can you be sued over a few bags of salt?" Zhou Yiheng was displeased.

"Oh, you can't? Isn't there a quota? Isn't it controlled by the government? Isn't it once a month? Isn't it hard to explain so many things coming out all of a sudden? It turns out that there is no need to go to court. I was scared to death. You should have said it earlier."

After saying that, Zhou Yu sat down, and Meng Wan hurried forward and gently stroked Zhou Yu's chest.

"I was also shocked. So this is what happened with the salt. I was just thinking about what the prince said about being used by someone, and I was worried. Since there is no need to go to court and outsiders don't know about it, why did your family make such a big scene? I thought they were going to arrest two people."

Mrs. Hu looked at the couple and felt very uncomfortable. She said in a bad tone, "How could such a dignified palace be involved in a lawsuit over such a small matter of salt? The prince and I are worried that someone will find a handle to make a fuss about it. We will have to work hard at that time. We can't afford to cause any unpleasantness in this new year. The reason why I called you to talk about this matter is to teach you a lesson. When you are in charge of things in the future, you should always do it yourself."

"Why do you care? I think you are too soft-hearted. It's good enough that she can manage Qinghe Garden well." Zhou Yiheng said unhappily.