Ask the Nine Ministers

Chapter 50 Audit
Good things don't go out, bad things pass thousands of miles.

On that day, the farce of this wedding spread throughout the capital.

In teahouses, taverns, and the streets, people always talk about something when they meet.

"The Marquis of Jingyuan married a new bride, but her dowry was robbed. During the wedding, the bride had morning sickness and polluted the tea served to her mother-in-law. She also vomited filth in the faces of her parents-in-law. Have you heard about this?"

"Now this matter has almost spread all over the capital, and everyone is talking about it as a joke."

"This Fourth Miss Xue is too shameless. She's pregnant before she even got married. If this gets out, how will the reputation of the Marquisate be preserved?"

"I heard there's a hidden story. It's said that the original plan for this marriage was to marry the sixth girl, but the fourth brother used some shameless means to climb into Gu Wulang's bed and snatched away the younger sister's marriage..."

"Princess Pingle even gave her so much dowry. I don't know what evil spirit possessed her."

"In my opinion, this is a nest of snakes and rats. Princess Pingle is not much better. There is no guarantee that there are some shameful things going on in the women's club in Pinglefang."

In the Jingyuan Marquis Mansion, Xue Yueying's eyes were swollen from crying.

On the wedding night, there was no "yuanpa" in the bridal chamber, which implied that she was unclean.

The next day, she forced herself to get up before dawn, and carefully dressed up, thinking only of serving tea to her parents-in-law, fulfilling her duties as a new bride, and saving face.

Unexpectedly, she was stopped outside the door by the nanny in Madam Chun's room, who said that her mother-in-law had exempted her from the etiquette.

The maid spoke slowly and carefully, "Madam has told you that you are pregnant now, so you must take good care of the baby and avoid overexertion. You can skip all these formalities and wait until your body is stable before you continue."

Xue Yueying was full of enthusiasm, but it was as if a basin of cold water was poured over her head, chilling her to the core. She went back and threw herself on the bright red wedding quilt, sobbing bitterly.

"I've never heard of a new bride having such an experience upon entering the marriage. Your mother showed me her power on the first day she entered the marriage. Your family treated me like this, but you didn't say a word..."

Gu Jie also felt helpless.

He wanted to say that he had never heard of a bride spitting in the face of her parents-in-law in the wedding hall.

It's normal for parents to be unhappy given how embarrassing the situation is.

But he still had to coax her with words, and hurried forward, holding Xue Yueying's shoulders, comforting her with a loving heart.

"Mother doesn't let you go to pay respects and offer tea, but it's because she loves you and is doing it for your own good. You should think more positively. You just got married and are not familiar with the mansion yet. After a while, mother will naturally know how good you are."

It would have been fine if she hadn't been coaxed, but once she was coaxed, Xue Yueying became even more irritable.

"Your mother is deliberately making things difficult for me. Things will never get better no matter how long they last... She only has Xue Liu in her heart, and Xue Liu is the daughter-in-law she wants. This is clearly a sincere disrespect to me..."

"No, mother didn't blame me yesterday."

"She was just pretending. She hated me in her heart."

"Mother is not that kind of person..."

"You only talk for her and don't think about me at all!"

One sentence to act, one sentence to coax.

Gu Jie was caught in the middle and suffered from both sides, gradually becoming impatient.

Seeing that he looked unhappy, Xue Yueying threw herself into his arms and cried bitterly.

"Now everyone outside is gossiping about me. I am too embarrassed to see anyone anymore."

Gu Jie frowned, "It will be fine after a few days. Others will not focus on our family's affairs. In Shangjing City, strange things happen every day. After a while, people will forget about it. Let them talk about it..."

Gu Jie's idea was originally correct. Rumors are like the wind. They will disappear after a while. As things slowly pass, people will naturally stop mentioning them when they have something new to say.

But who would have thought that he would be called over by the treasurer that afternoon.

When he arrived at the Jinbu Division with trepidation, as soon as he stepped through the door, he felt that his colleagues were looking at him with something strange in their eyes, and their faces were gloomy.

He was full of doubts, so he privately pulled his good friend, the chief clerk, aside and asked quietly, "Brother Su, what happened?"

The clerk looked around and whispered:
"Doctor Qiu came this morning and said that the accounts of the Ministry of Finance were in disarray and that they needed to take inventory of the silver and check the account books... We'll be busy again these days, so how can you be happy?"

Gu Jie's heart skipped a beat.

"Don't we usually do the accounting at the end of the year? We just did it in December last year, and now we have to do it again..."

The clerk sighed, "What can we do? Our superiors just say one word, and we have to run ourselves to pieces."

After saying that, he glanced at Gu Jie's dazed look, then lowered his head and leaned forward to give him instructions.

"Tzuyu, don't blame me for not reminding you. The treasurer will give you trouble soon. You better be smart and avoid bad luck..."

When Gu Jie heard this, he felt that the blood in his body was rushing backwards, and he felt like a rat that had run into a dead end. His heart was pounding, but he had to stay calm.

"What does it have to do with me?"

The clerk seemed to be hesitant to speak, and after hesitating for a moment, he finally spoke.

"Don't blame others for what they say about you. On your wedding day, the 10-mile-long red dowry was really dazzling. The Marquis's Mansion has that kind of foundation, so it's okay to have a grand show. But my sister-in-law is really a bit too ostentatious. I heard that she bought a whole cabinet of jewelry in Baohua Tower... And, your dowry list, once the Jingzhao Prefecture investigated the case, it spread throughout the capital, which really made people jealous..."

Gu Jie felt a darkness in front of his eyes and his heart was pounding.

The clerk's voice seemed distant to my ears.

"The Censorate heard about the incident and reported Lord Luo from the Ministry of Revenue. Somehow the Crown Prince also came forward, saying that the Ministry of Revenue had falsified accounts, embezzled public funds, and wasted money. Lord Shangshu Luo was reprimanded, and he went to trouble Lord Langzhong, who went to trouble Lord Sibao. With so much pressure coming down layer by layer, Lord Sibao must be looking for someone to take the blame, right?"

After the clerk said this, he looked at him standing there in a daze, sighed, and patted him on the shoulder.

"I have to move the account books. The treasurer will be here soon. You'd better behave yourself." Gu Jie nodded, his head feeling groggy as if it was filled with sand.

As expected, he was severely scolded by the treasurer, and his colleagues looked down on him.

When he returned home from work, feeling dizzy and overwhelmed, his mind was still full of calculations on how much silver in the treasury was missing and how to make up for it.

Xue Yueying was very proud, and he originally wanted to embezzle some of the treasury silver first, add it to the dowry, marry her in style, and then make plans for the future. Anyway, those gold and silver treasures are valuable, and they can be sold at a low loss, and the money can be made up by adding some extra money.

Who knew that on the wedding day, the dowry would be snatched away?
It will take who knows when the Jingzhao Prefecture will solve the case...

He looked depressed. Just as he passed through the second door, Qingzhu came running towards him.

"Fifth Master, go and see my wife..."

When Gu Jie heard that Xue Yueying was not well, his heart tightened and he was a little panicked. He hurried to Qiwuyuan and saw her crying out of breath. The first thing she said was to blame his mother.

"Gu Lang, my mother-in-law is bullying me too much!"

Gu Jie was uneasy, his mind full of worries, but he could only force himself to comfort her.

"What's wrong? Tell me calmly, don't be impatient."

Xue Yueying sobbed and said, "As soon as you left the house today, my mother-in-law sent the maid from Qiwu Courtyard to bring me food..."

Gu Jie frowned: "It's a good thing that your mother cares about you?"

Xue Yueying was pregnant, had a small temper, and was repeatedly irritated. She burst into tears as soon as she spoke: "No. I have severe morning sickness. I feel like vomiting when I see the greasy stewed pig's trotters. I can't eat a single bite. But the nanny wouldn't agree. She said it was the mother-in-law's wish and that the daughter-in-law had to eat it whether she wanted or not..."

Her shoulders trembled from crying.

"I hate eating greasy food the most. That damned nanny insisted that stewed pig's trotters were very nutritious and good for the fetus in my belly. In order to report back to my mother-in-law, she watched me and stared at me, forcing me to swallow the nausea and eat it all, leaving no soup. Later, I vomited all over the place, but she didn't show any sympathy and said that I wasted my mother-in-law's kindness..."

Xue Yueying raised her tearful eyes and said, "Gu Lang, your mother is clearly trying to make things difficult for me and torture me..."

At this moment, Gu Jie's mind was filled with the words spoken by Lord Fuku.

Where does the money come from? How to fill such a huge hole...

Hearing Xue Yueying's crying, he felt upset for no reason.

"You should be patient with these little things. Your mother has no bad intentions. She is doing this for the sake of your unborn baby..."

"Gu Lang!" Xue Yueying raised her tearful eyes and looked at him in disbelief, "It was obviously your mother who deliberately tortured me, and you actually think I'm wrong?"

Gu Jie moved his lips and sighed.

"It's not your fault. Sigh... I'll tell my mother to stop sending things to your room... Is that okay?"

Xue Yueying covered her restless stomach, tears welling up in her eyes.

"She did it on purpose, she did it on purpose... Why don't you understand? She hates me, because of Xue Liu, she hates me..."

Gu Jie's suppressed anger suddenly rose up, and he asked irritably:
"Then what do you want me to do? She is my mother, do you want me to scold her and ignore filial piety? Ying'er, since you like me, why can't you be patient for me..."

"Gu Lang? Are you scolding me?"

The husband who used to obey her in everything changed his attitude just two days after marriage?
Xue Yueying's face turned pale and her lips trembled with anger.

"It's only the second day of our wedding, and you're already fed up with me and nagging me like this?"

Gu Jie looked at her unreasonable appearance, his brows furrowed more and more, and the hand that was holding her shoulder slowly loosened.

"I'm sorry, Ying'er. It's my fault. You take a break first. I'll go talk to mother."

Before Xue Yueying could react, she saw him turn around and leave, his footsteps getting farther and farther away.

He actually left?

Just leave me like this?
"Little bitch!" Xue Yueying suddenly grabbed the pillow and threw it hard on the couch, cursing as she did so.

"It must be that little bitch Xue Liu who instigated Madam Chun to take revenge on me. I was fine, why did I vomit? Why did I vomit?"

The two girls, Qingzhu and Qinghong, were so frightened that they dared not even breathe.

It makes sense to say that the other things were caused by the Sixth Girl.

But whether or not to vomit is not the Sixth Girl’s fault...

"Young lady, you are right. It must be the Sixth Young Lady who is causing trouble." Qiao'er quickly fetched some hot water, rubbed a warm towel, wiped Xue Yueying's face, and coaxed her gently.

"The Sixth Miss is jealous of you. She received so many rewards from Princess Pingle and married the man she loves, so she did that. In my opinion, you don't have to be too sad. Madam Chun is your biological mother. How can a biological mother not obey her son? If she doesn't want you to offer her tea and pay your respects, you just don't go..."

"Qiaoer." Xue Yueying hugged her and vented her emotions with tears.

"What do you think I should do? What should I do?"

Qiaoer patted her shoulder, like coaxing a child.

"Don't be afraid, young lady. You are Princess Pingle's best friend. As long as you are on good terms with Princess Pingle, why would you care about others? Young lady, you should hang out with Princess Pingle more often. With the princess's support, everyone will respect you..."

When Xue Yueying heard this, she felt that it made some sense.

"Please prepare some gifts for me, and I will go find the princess."

Qingzhu and Qinghong looked at each other, both of them looked unhappy.

Ever since the girl brought Qiao'er into her room, their status has become lower and lower.