Mistress

Chapter 60

Steward Lin hurriedly recruited more than a dozen servants, and within a short while shoveled out all the snow.The ground was very slippery, Nanny Cui and Qing'er helped Li Yan into the yard, and Steward Lin opened the doors one by one.

The inside is still the original furnishings, but there is a thin layer of dust everywhere.When Zhang Yuliu left, it was too late to tidy up the room, so it remained as it was when she left. There was still a teapot on the table, and there was still half a cup of tea left in the cup.

Li Yan walked from the outer room to the inner room, and then looked at the side room, the ear side, and a few rooms next to her. She found that the layout of Zhang Yuliu's room was no worse than that of Jinxiu Courtyard, only not as big as Jinxiu Courtyard.

Finally Li Yan came to the back room, Cui Nanny found the fluff duster, dusted a chair clean, and helped Li Yan to sit down.

Li Yan made a round of inspection just now, and found that there are many valuable things, there are five jewelry boxes alone.Li Yan sent Steward Lin back, but asked Qing'er to find Ma Xing instead.

After Ma Xing arrived, Li Yan ordered: "Ma Xing, Nanny, Qing'er, you all look for it vigorously, and bring all the valuables in front of me, and let's count them together later, and stay in the middle of the night." They all moved to Jinxiu Courtyard."

Ma Xing first went out to close the door, and then got busy with Cui Nanny and Qing'er.At first, they thought that all the valuable things would be worth eight thousand if they were returned to the cage. After they searched carefully, they were all a little dumbfounded.

First they pulled out five large boxes of silver, which I didn't think was a big deal, and then they pulled out ten boxes of bright yellow gold coins. Li Yan was a little surprised when she saw it.These were nothing, but when they dug out a few more boxes of ancient artifacts and treasures, everyone was a little dumbfounded. These things should have been in the warehouse, but why did they come to Zhang Yuliu?

At first they also thought that Zhang Yuliu only had five jewelry boxes, because they were easy to see at a glance, and then they found five large boxes after rummaging through them.Nanny Cui opened the lids of the jewelry boxes one by one for Li Yan to see.

Li Yan took a deep breath, and said: "Almost everything is better than mine, where did she get it? Every year, there are countless jewelry, and there is absolutely no such precious thing as gold inlaid jade. And this white jade hairpin with plum blossoms, why have I never seen it before?"

Cui Momo thought about it carefully, and said in surprise: "This is something from Mrs. Tai's life. Back then, the emperor paid homage to the master and rewarded him with many valuable things. This plum blossom and white jade hairpin was given to Mrs. Tai by the master. I estimated these five big boxes. The precious jewellery, and these ten boxes of gold lockets are all accumulated by Mrs. Tai throughout her life, and the old Duke also received a lot of rewards from the emperor back then, but all the things are at Mrs. Tai's place."

Li Yan couldn't help feeling chills, "Madam Tai is so attentive to Zhang Yuliu, she actually stabbed Madam Tai in the end. The reason why Madam Tai went so hastily was because of her anger. It's just that Madam Tai is strong, no Ken just showed it."

Nanny Cui looked at the boxes of ancient artifacts and treasures again, and said, "Half of these are from Mrs. Tai's place, and some were stored in the warehouse before. Zhang Yuliu must have secretly obtained them during the two months when Mrs. Madam was ill." .She is so heartless, she hides so many things and finally wants to pull out the whole warehouse, what an appetite she has."

Li Yan was also shocked by Zhang Yuliu's greed, so she took a moment to say: "People in the house thought it was stolen by Dr. Xu and Sun Deng, and finally Zhang Yuliu's father chased him back. Don't worry about this matter." No more publicity. It's just... We have been to Mrs. Tai's house, and the master often goes in to worship, and those boxes are still locked. Could it be that Mrs. Tai gave Zhang Yuliu the things in her hand, and now those boxes are just empty ?”

Ma Xing whispered: "Why don't Madam ask the little one to find out the truth? Although we don't have the key to the box in the Madam's house, we will know if it is empty."

Li Yan nodded, "Ma Xing, you can go at night when there is no one around."

Mother Cui was still there sighing and angry, and said: "Zhang Yuliu is too greedy. The old man has spent his whole life fighting on the battlefield, and the things left behind are all earned with his life. She...she... ..." Nanny Cui was so angry that she was speechless.

Li Yan sighed: "Sister, don't be angry. Speaking of which, she is also used to by Mrs. Tai, otherwise why would this be the case? But in the end Zhang Yuliu couldn't be taken away, isn't she still the master's?"

After Li Yan said this, Madam Cui finally relaxed her tense heart.

Li Yan said again: "Let's count these first and see how much it is worth in taels of silver, so we can report it to the master when the time comes."

Li Yan doesn't know much about some things, so she doesn't know what the price is. After all, they are all ancient things, but Cui Mama is different. She used to be in the General's Mansion, and then followed Li Nianyun in the Prime Minister's Mansion for 11 years. , She has seen a lot of good things, so she naturally understands them better.

After the three of them counted one by one, they took paper and pen to record it, and then sat together to estimate, and finally came up with a total value.Nanny Cui handed the brochure to Li Yan and said, "Madam, these are estimated to be worth 50 taels, and I don't know if our estimates are accurate."

Li Yan was slightly stunned, it was worth 50 taels, that was a lot of money, it was equivalent to what Xu Cheng asked for in the morning.If Xu Cheng had another 50 taels, he would be able to do things more easily.Li Yan looked at the brochure and saw several pages densely written on it, she smiled slightly and said, "Ma Xing, I didn't expect your handwriting to be correct."

Ma Xing scratched his head embarrassingly, "This is still when I served Young Master Xiao, I waited by the side and learned a little bit, but later I got older and came out of the young master's room according to the rules, and I didn't learn any more after that. , but sometimes when I go back to my residence, I will practice from time to time.”

It turned out that Ma Xing had served Xiao'er before, no wonder he was so loyal, both he and Nanny Cui served the real master.

Li Yan nodded with a smile, as a compliment to him, and then continued to look at the estimated prices of each item in the brochure. She didn't know whether the estimates were accurate, but she felt that there was probably not much difference, and said: "I just look at it and it's not bad." Sure, you put those five small boxes of jewelry aside, and bring out fifty gold cleats. I will keep these for others in the future, and put the rest in the box and seal it. I will ask the master how it is Whether to dispose of these things, whether to store them or use them for other purposes, is of course up to the master."

Mother Cui heard from Li Yan that she only kept five small boxes of jewelry and fifty gold lockets, and felt that it was too little, and the jewelry in the five small boxes was considered ordinary, but Madam did not keep any of the truly precious things. She was a little bit unwilling, so she said: "Madam, is there too little left? Speaking of which, the things in Madam's house are less than [-]% of what is here."

Li Yan waved her hand and said: "What's the use of these things, we usually have good food and clothing, and we have never been in short supply. Didn't Zhang Yuliu get all the money she collected?"

Li Yan is not a noble woman who doesn't eat fireworks in the world, it is impossible not to love money at all, but she is a sensible person, she can't let Xu Cheng look down on her, he has already treated her heart and soul, why should he worry about these things Things outside of her body, let alone Xu Cheng will not suffer her.

She is the mistress of the house, she must be generous and generous, and she must not mess up her position when she sees some money. If she is so petty, she will end up like Zhang Yuliu, earning money but not spending it.

Seeing his wife, Ma Xing, Nanny Cui, and Qing'er were not moved by these things at all. They already admired Li Yan completely, and it was not just a simple respect.To say that these things are not counted, and how much they want to take away is not a word from Madam. They couldn’t help but fantasize when they were counting just now, even if they took the same or different things at random, they would not be able to save this for a lifetime. count.

Li Yan handed a few pieces of jewelry to Nanny Cui and Qing'er, and gave them six big golden scorpions respectively, each weighing about 16 taels, and if each person got two, it would be 32 taels. Two taels of gold are not 32 taels of silver, that is a huge sum of money, really worthy of their share for decades.

When they saw that Madam was not interested in money, how could they dare to ask for it, but Li Yan insisted on giving it to them, saying that she would be angry if they didn't follow her. Money supports the family, unlike her master who never lacks money to spend.

Nanny Cui understood Li Yan's intentions, so she accepted it, and also persuaded Ma Xing and Qing'er to accept it.Ma Xing and Qing'er didn't have the nerve to twitch, so they happily accepted it.

Only then did Li Yan raise her eyebrows and became happy. She was also happy that they could live a good life.After that, the three of them got busy again, putting all the things that had been taken out and counted into the box one by one, and then sealed it.

After finishing all this work, it was almost noon, Li Yan sat down after washing her face, and Xu Cheng came.

Li Yan showed Xu Cheng the booklet she had recorded just now, and said that she was going to check Mrs. Tai's box. The reason why she wanted to go at night was that people in the mansion would find out. thing.She even told him about some jewelry and gold lockets she had left behind as rewards, and she didn't hide a word from him.

Xu Cheng was a little surprised, first carefully read the brochure, and then thought about the things Li Yan said, and said with emotion: "I am really blessed to have such a wise and intelligent wife as you. I really need money urgently now, but it is not good. I spent all the savings in the mansion. After all, I still have to support hundreds of people in the mansion, and it is not easy to use Mrs. Tai's things. My son uses my mother's things, and the servants will laugh at them. What I'm anxious about is getting out Zhang Yuliu's things."

He put his arms around Li Yan's shoulders, and continued: "With these, I don't need to worry about raising money anymore."

Li Yan smiled indifferently, "What's the matter, I didn't earn it by opening a shop, it was originally the family's money."

"Ma'am is very generous. If Aunt Song and Aunt Ji see this, I don't know what will happen. Although I have seen that Zhang Yuliu is a person who likes to make money, I didn't expect that she would have taken the things of Mrs. Tai long ago. , This is what my father earned all his life."

When Xu Cheng talked about the old Duke, he was filled with emotions. Then he thought of his father dying from a poisoned arrow, and he was so worried about his children when he was dying. He was afraid that they would not end well in the future. Perhaps he had already guessed that the emperor would There will be a day when the bridge will be demolished across the river.

His father did not rest in peace. As the eldest son, he was by his side at that time, so how could he not understand his father's thoughts.

Now, he wants to use the money his father earned to bring down the entire country!
(End of this chapter)