The Overlord of the Red Mansion

Chapter 68 Master and Servant
After Jia Rong went back to sharpen his sword before the battle, Ping'er was unable to advance or retreat.

Wang Xifeng immediately took Ping'er to check the accounts.

"Ping'er, do you think the Second Master hid the money?"

After Wang Xifeng returned home, she seemed to be thinking about something. She frowned and said softly, "If he hid it, I can just find it out. Why bother with a big fight?"

Ping'er said, "Madam, you may have misunderstood the Second Master. If there really was more than 100,000 taels of silver, where could the Second Master hide it? He couldn't move so much silver by himself, not to mention that the Second Master was very sad those days, so he didn't have time to care about this."

Wang Xifeng thought about it quickly and soon thought of Jia Rong again.

"That's right. Just a thousand taels of silver is too heavy. If there were really a hundred thousand taels of silver, it would be impossible to move it without dozens of people."

After saying this, Wang Xifeng began to become suspicious again.

"Could it be gold? Or a valuable antique painting?"

Ping'er is now only thinking about finding an opportunity to escape at night and go to Ning Mansion to sleep. She doesn't have the time to think about this with Wang Xifeng.

As Wang Xifeng was thinking about it, she saw that Ping'er, who was usually considerate, looked absent-minded today, and she immediately became suspicious.

"Ping'er!" Wang Xifeng scolded fiercely.

Ping'er was startled when she heard this. She looked into Wang Xifeng's scrutinizing eyes and immediately knew that something bad was going to happen to her.

"Grandma!" Ping'er responded quickly.

Wang Xifeng thought for a moment and then said in a gentle tone, "Ping'er, I have always treated you as my own sister. Tell me, are you hiding something from me? How much do you know about Master She's money?"

Ping Er quickly knelt down, raised her head and looked at Wang Xifeng and said loudly: "Madam, it is not easy to manage the family. The issue of money is not a trivial matter, so it is normal to suspect the maid, but the maid really does not know about this matter. In this family and outside, other things can be kept secret, but how can the issue of money be kept secret?"

"Moreover, tens of thousands of taels of silver are not small items. If they were all converted into gold, it would take several boxes. And we are moving things from Master She's yard. How can we hide this from the First Madam?"

"Without my grandma's support, how dare I get involved in this matter? This matter is really none of my business!"

Wang Xifeng thought of Madam Xing and felt that this matter was most likely related to Madam Xing. Even if Ping'er was her confidant, it didn't make sense for Jia Lian to embezzle money with Ping'er and not with me.

"Stand up and talk. I just want to ask about such a big thing. It would be strange if I didn't ask about hundreds of thousands of taels of silver."

Ping'er stood up carefully and really wanted to leave here quickly.

Being a maid is a very hard life, and being an aunt to Master Rong is the only way out in this life.

At this time, Wang Xifeng just felt that the matter of the 100,000 silver coins had little to do with Ping'er, but the doubts in her heart were not completely eliminated.

"Ping'er, you have been absent-minded since you came back today. Do you know something and hide it from me?"

Ping'er thought to herself that this was not good, and knew that if she didn't tell the truth, she would never get over this hurdle.

I also thought about telling a lie, but if the woman in front of me didn't believe it, things would only get worse.

Ping'er knelt down again and begged, "Reporting to Grandma, it was Master Rong. Master Rong said a few more words to me when he came over today. At that time, he jokingly asked me if I dared to come over at night. I was anxious and said yes."

Wang Xifeng frowned and remained silent in thought.

After a few seconds, Wang Xifeng asked, "What are you going to do there tonight?"

Ping'er blushed and remained silent in embarrassment.

Wang Xifeng smiled quickly, "Hurry up, this is a good thing. Although it is not in accordance with the rules for you to do this, and you have no manners at all before you even get married, but after all, you two grew up with me, how can I not help you with this matter?"

Ping Er heaved a sigh of relief, betting that Wang Xifeng would not dare to offend Jia Rong. "Thank you, Grandma! Thank you, Grandma!"

Wang Xifeng smiled and said, "We are all family. It's cold outside and the ground is cool. Sit down and talk. Did Master Rong tell you about the silver?"

Ping'er was granted the privilege of being on an equal footing with Wang Xifeng, but even though they were sitting on the same warm couch, her status remained constant.

Ping'er answered, "Mr. Rong came to ask Madam about the silver. He said he heard that Miss Xing Xiuyan's five taels of wedding money was taken away by the eldest wife yesterday, so he came to ask why she was in such a dilemma this morning, and asked if the eldest master had not found the hundred thousand silver."

Wang Xifeng raised her eyebrows and soon discovered the key.

"What's going on with that girl from the Xing family?"

Ping Erh said quickly, "I have seen that girl. She is dignified and elegant, and behaves well, but she is thin and lives a hard life. I asked Master Rong if he came here specifically for Miss Xing. Master Rong admitted it directly and said that we should not take too many concubines now. We should wait until next year and see which of the You sisters gets pregnant first and then take one first."

Wang Xifeng taunted him, "I didn't expect he still had the energy to do these messy things. The imperial examination will be held next spring, which will take less than three months, and yet he still wants to take a concubine in his spare time."

Ping'er didn't dare to speak, nor did she want to say anything bad about Jia Rong.

Wang Xifeng found it boring to talk and continued to think about the silver.

"Although Master Rong has a bad temper, he always speaks and acts in a reasonable manner. Since he said that the eldest master has 100,000 silver coins, it must not be too much. It seems that my mother-in-law has made a fortune."

Wang Xifeng thought carefully about how to find the money, and soon remembered Jia Rong's reminder.

"Ping'er, go and invite the master's servant and a few concubines over. I want to question them one by one!"

"Yes!"

Ping'er breathed a sigh of relief.

She is Wang Xifeng's confidante and close friend. She knows very well that since Wang Xifeng does not mention what happened in the evening now, she will definitely help to deal with it when the time comes.

Now that I have dealt with my master's affairs honestly, I can go out and meet my lover openly at night.

Wang Xifeng lay on the couch, watching Ping'er, the little slut, leave with cold eyes.

It was only Jia Rong. If it were someone else, Wang Xifeng would not let the maid around her go out to have an affair with someone in the middle of the night.

The story of Jia Rong and Ping'er was told two or three years ago, and they often visited each other.

Both parties are family members, and the three have known each other for more than ten years. It is a favor for them to help each other and cover for each other.

Another thing is that Wang Xifeng herself is not clean. If her trusted maid is from Jia Lian's side, it might cause big trouble in the future and might even frame her to get promoted.

But if it was someone from Jia Rong's side, even if they found out something in the future, they would not tell anyone.

Wang Xifeng quickly finished her breakfast and lay on her side on the warm couch. She was covered with a quilt and rested her cheek with one hand. She fell asleep after lying there for a while.

After sleeping for only half an hour, she heard Ping'er calling her from outside, and Wang Xifeng quickly got up.

"Come in, I need to ask some questions!"

Wang Xifeng soon regained her spirits. After a vigorous interrogation, she actually discovered a lot of assets of unknown origin, which roughly amounted to 10,000 taels.

But it is still not enough, and it is still far from one hundred thousand taels.

(End of this chapter)