Daqian Night Emperor

Chapter 38: Yu Zhen Cried in Anger (Part )

When Yu Zhen heard the report from the servants in the mansion, he felt as if his breath was stuck in his throat and his anger rose suddenly.

She raised her eyebrows, gritted her teeth, and rolled up her sleeves: "Take me there quickly!"

After saying this, she ignored the servant who came to report the news and walked hurriedly out of the hall.

This is outrageous! She wants to see which lowly servant in the princess's mansion dares to touch her people!

……

When Yu Zhen angrily led his men to the storehouse of the princess's mansion, he saw several tall and strong men blocking the door of the storehouse.

She walked quickly towards the warehouse, but those burly men stepped forward to block her way.

Seeing that the way was blocked, Yu Zhen was stunned.

Immediately, she said in disbelief: "You... dare to block my way? Do you know who I am?"

Several burly men looked at their noses and their hearts, like sculptures.

But the road was so blocked that there was no way to move.

Just at this moment, the wailing and crying of Butler Hai came from the warehouse:
"Grandfathers, please spare my life. Grandfathers, please spare my life. I confess. I confess everything..."

Yu Zhen's face instantly darkened, and he shouted, "Get out of here!"

The big man who was the leader of the group of guards stepped forward, bowed perfunctorily, and said lazily: "Princess, we are just following orders, please don't make things difficult for us."

"Whose orders are you following?!" Yu Zhen was furious, like a lioness, "You trespassed into the princess's mansion, aren't you afraid of being beheaded?"

The noise outside immediately attracted the attention of the people in the warehouse.

"Squeak~"

The warehouse door opened from the inside, attracting the attention of everyone present.

Yuzhen hurriedly looked in the direction of the warehouse, and saw a group of gentlemen wearing square hats walking back and forth in the warehouse, constantly taking books from the shelves and flipping through them, with abacus clacking in their hands.

The person who walked out of the warehouse was a middle-aged man with an ugly appearance.

He was short and a little hunched, with a sparse moustache twirling in his right hand. He walked out with his feet turned outward: "What's going on? You're making so much noise that my people can't check the accounts!"

When the guards saw this man, they put away their previous arrogance and bowed with fists clasped: "Deacon Gou."

Yu Zhen took a step forward, frowned and shouted, "Who are you?"

In fact, Gou Xiangxi noticed Princess Yuzhen at first sight, but it was not until Yuzhen asked him about it that he seemed to have just noticed it. He let out an "ouch" and quickly walked down the stairs.

"I didn't know the princess was coming. I'm sorry for not coming to greet you. How rude and impolite."

He trotted to Yu Zhen, bowed his body and smiled, "My name is Gou Xiangxi, and I am the steward of the Zhao's Commercial Bank in Kyoto. Your Highness can call me 'Steward Gou'."

Yu Zhen said coldly, "Zhao's Trading Company? When will Zhao's Trading Company be able to get involved in the Princess's Mansion? I don't care whose 'dog' you are. If you don't give me an explanation today, watch out for your dog head!"

Steward Gou shrank his neck, feeling a little scared, but then he chuckled: "As a steward of Zhao's Trading Company, I naturally cannot manage the affairs of the Princess's Mansion, but I am appreciated by my boss and have now been transferred to be the chief steward of the Princess's Mansion, responsible for managing the finances of the mansion..."

"Boss? Zhao Qi'an?!" Yu Zhen's eyes widened, and she angrily asked, "Why? Why does Zhao Qi'an care about the affairs of the princess's mansion?"

Gou Xiangxi narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at the angry Yu Zhen, with a hint of coldness in his eyes.

He slowly straightened up and snorted, "Why? Because every brick, tile, tree, and grass in this princess's mansion was built with the Zhao family's money!"

"How dare you, slave, speak to me like that!"

"There are even more daring ones!"

Gou Xiangxi swept away his previous servile appearance, and even when facing the princess, he said harshly: "The food, clothing and expenses of the princess's mansion are all paid by the boss, all by Zhao's business! Based on this, can the boss control it? Can Zhao's business control it?!"

At this moment, this little person who usually looked down upon others suddenly burst out with an aura that could not be ignored.

Yu Zhen was actually overwhelmed by his momentum for a moment. He choked on his words and subconsciously took a step back.

Gou Xiangxi didn't wait for her to respond and shouted, "Now the financial power of the mansion is not clear, and the servants of the mansion are embezzling money. The chief culprit is the chief steward Hai Huai'en!"

He raised his fist and said loudly, "We are following the orders of the master to thoroughly investigate the case of the steward Hai of the princess's mansion embezzling money! From now on, the internal affairs and financial power of the princess's mansion will be in our hands!"

Embezzlement?! Embezzlement?!
Yu Zhen seemed to have caught the handle and immediately shouted, "Nonsense! I was raised by Butler Hai since I was young, and he was a close friend of my mother before he left the palace. He has no children, so what's the point of greed for money! You are slandering someone's innocence with nothing. If you can't produce evidence, I will question you!"

"evidence?"

Gou Xiangxi chuckled, turned around and looked into the storeroom, and shouted, "Come here, His Highness wants to see the evidence, then bring some evidence!"

After a shout, a man hurried out of the warehouse, holding a thick stack of account books. He half-knelt down and held the books respectfully in both hands, so that the books in his hands were just at the right height for Gou Xiangxi to flip through them.

Gou Xiangxi raised his hand, put his fingers to his lips and spat lightly, then opened the account book in front of him, flipped through a few pages at random, and then took something out from his waist.

It was a golden abacus, not much bigger than a palm, but the beads on it were clearly visible and the craftsmanship was extremely delicate.

"The princess's mansion has a total of 1,300 servants, including 512 private slaves who do not require monthly salary; 120 guards, each of whom receives two taels of silver per month; 200 menial servants, each of whom receives two cents per month; and 312 third-class maids, each of whom receives three cents per month..."

The extremely nimble fingers moved on the abacus so quickly that they almost left afterimages, and the beads made a "crackling" sound.

Gou Xiangxi had just arrived at the princess's mansion, but he knew everything about it.

He listed everything clearly, from the monthly wages of the servants, to the food, clothing and other expenses of the princess's mansion, the gold and silver jewelry bought by Yuzhen, and the interpersonal relationships.

The data seemed to be imprinted in his mind, and he could understand them clearly without even looking at the account books.

"...After calculating everything, the Princess's Mansion's expenses for March were only 3,618 taels and 7 cents. But for the entire month of March, the Princess's Mansion demanded 12,000 taels of silver from the Zhao's Company."

He shook the abacus, and all the beads returned to their original positions. Then he looked at Yu Zhen and smiled, "Your Highness, where did the extra money go?"

Yu Zhen said nothing, but her expression became increasingly ugly.

Where did the money go?

Of course she knows!
But can I say it?
"It seems that Your Highness doesn't know either. Someone must have deceived his superiors and subordinates and enriched himself!"

Gou Xiangxi pretended to be in a daze, nodded, and then shouted into the warehouse: "Drag him out!"

(End of this chapter)