Flowers in full bloom

"Do you have any silver now? How much?" Zhenzhu looked at Hualei with hesitation. "Are you asking me about the cash I have? It should be several hundred or several dozen taels, right? I don't know. Qingzhu is managing it for me." Hualei was speechless. Is she really a rich lady who has no worries about food and drink? She doesn't even know how much cash she has. Zhenzhu looked at Hualei and said with a guilty conscience, "How about I ask Qingzhu to bring me the account book now?"

"never mind."

"No, Sister Hua, you asked me so many questions, do you have any good ideas? Tell me, what should I sell in my store? How much money do I need to invest?"

Hua Lei hesitated and said, "Can you really manage the store completely by yourself? Are you afraid of losing money? What if you don't make any money and lose money?"

"I've been losing money since I got the shop." Pearl said with a sad face.

"How about we go to the store one day and take a look at the specific situation there before making a decision?"

"Okay, then let's go tomorrow. We'll go early tomorrow. Oh, no, you still have to go to the girls' school, and you never skip classes. Then we'll go tomorrow afternoon? I'll ask Butler Pei to prepare the carriage for us. Let's go directly after lunch?"

"Okay, then you wear a more comfortable dress tomorrow, and we might go for a walk or something."

"Okay, I understand." "When you go back tonight, count the silver you have in your hand so you have an idea of ​​how much you have." "Okay, then I'll go back now." "It's still early." Hua Lei looked at the sky and it was probably not yet 3 p.m.

"It's getting late. If I have tens of thousands of taels of silver, it will take me half a day just to count it." Zhenzhu giggled. Hualei laughed, "Okay, then go back and count your silver." Zhenzhu took Qingzhu and several other maids back to her own Zhenzhu Courtyard.

What Hua Lei didn't expect was that her normal suggestion actually changed the food in Qihuayuan and the trouble Xiaoyuan encountered in the clan school.

It turned out that after Zhenzhu returned, she asked Qingzhu to take out the account book of her courtyard. After counting it several times, she found that she only had 180 taels of silver in cash. She was a little disappointed, thinking that this amount of silver might not be enough. She had a lot of jewelry, so she could sell one or two of them when the time comes. Then she began to look at her own jewelry and clothing account book.

This is a very normal thing in a wealthy family. From the moment a young lady is born, she will receive various gifts from her elders. No matter what she receives, the maid in charge of the young lady's jewelry and clothing will record it in the account immediately. There will also be a record of each use, and if there is any loss, it must be reported to the mistress in time. This not only prevents the maid from stealing, but also checks each other to prevent them from shirking their responsibilities when jewelry is lost.

Pearl had a carefree personality since she was young, and she rarely checked her account books. Today, when she looked at the account books and compared them with the actual items in the storeroom in the makeup gate, she found that she was missing more than a dozen pieces of jewelry. At first, she thought that some maid had stolen them or forgot to record them, but after a round of investigation in the courtyard, it was said that the cousin had "borrowed" them away, and the longest time she had "borrowed" them was three years ago.

Zhenzhu rolled her round eyes, stood up, took the account book and several maids involved in the incident to her mother's courtyard in Changfeng Garden. At this time, Madam Han had just gotten up from the small couch, her head was still a little dazed, and Han Qingge was standing beside her, handing her tea.

Seeing Zhenzhu coming in with a few maids, she was about to call her over, but Zhenzhu had already sat down beside her, holding her waist with one hand, and said sullenly, "Mother, I lost a lot of jewelry, even the golden hairpin you gave me for my tenth birthday is gone."

"What's going on? Isn't there a record of every time the maid takes out the jewelry?" "There is a record, but I just can't find those jewelry now. Look." As he said that, he took the account book from Qingzhu's hand and handed it to his mother. Han Qingge on the other side turned pale.

Zhenzhu glanced at her and pretended not to see it. She pointed to the numbers on the account book and showed them to Mrs. Han. "Look, mother, the gold hairpin inlaid with pearls that you gave me on my tenth birthday, the gold and jade butterfly hairpin that my grandmother gave me on my eleventh birthday, the red gold peacock hairpin that my grandfather, father and second uncle brought back from Mobei for me on my twelfth birthday, the pearl bracelets and sapphire pearl earrings are all gone, and even the white jade pearl hairpin that my eldest brother gave me is gone.

Look, these are my favorites. I usually don’t wear them and always keep them in my makeup box.” Then she took the makeup box from Qinglan and opened it to show it to Madam Han. There were seven or eight hairpins and step-shaking ornaments in the makeup box, but there were indeed none of the ones Zhenzhu mentioned.

"Will you put it in the warehouse?" Mrs. Han asked hesitantly.

"No, I've already taken Madam Gu and a few maids to look through it, but there's nothing there. If you don't believe me, ask Madam Gu."

Nanny Gu used to be one of the four maids who came with Madam Han as a dowry. After she gave birth to Pearl, she was worried about other people taking care of her. Nanny Gu was very careful and serious in her work, so she specially asked Nanny Gu to go over.

Madam Han looked at Gu Madam, "Madam, I did go to the storehouse with Miss San and the maids just now, and there is indeed nothing like what Miss San said." Gu Madam replied. "Then this thing has grown legs and run away, and it has run so far, bring all the maids in the Pearl Courtyard to me." Madam Han said angrily.

Qingzhu, Qinglan and the maids following behind them all knelt on the ground. "Madam, please be careful. Qinglan has records of these jewelry. They were borrowed by my cousin. These nine pieces are signed by Sister Chunhua, who is by my cousin's side, when she borrowed the jewelry. There are also eight pieces of jewelry that my cousin took directly from Miss Three's makeup box. There are no signatures, only my own records." Qinglan knelt on the ground, tremblingly spread out an account book and held it in front of Madam Han.

Madam Han took the account book, flipped through a few pages, took a look, then looked up at Han Qingge's pale face in disbelief, her heart skipping a beat.

"Pah", Han Qingge was already kneeling on the ground. "Aunt, it was... Qingge who borrowed it, and... I haven't returned it to cousin Zhenzhu yet."

"You haven't paid it back yet? I checked the account book and the longest one has been borrowed for three years. You haven't paid it back yet? You are not ashamed to say that." Zhenzhu couldn't help but raise her voice. "I'm just confused. My mother gave me a golden hairpin inlaid with pearls for my tenth birthday. I couldn't bear to part with it and never wore it once. How come I didn't know about it when I lent it to you? Qinglan, sign the IOU for this golden hairpin and show it to my mother."

"Reporting to Miss San, this is what my cousin took directly from your makeup box on the Mid-Autumn Festival last August. There is no IOU signature, only my record." Qinglan carefully turned a few pages of the account book and held it in front of Madam Han. Madam Han glanced at the account book, closed her eyes, and was speechless.