In the past few days, she had dug out all the account books and account books and some detailed records from previous years, and found a very strange account.
One of Wei Jingwei's dowry shops that makes a lot of profits every year, the money flowing into the account every month is very strange, except for the cost, it is either not accounted for. Or it's just a very small amount of money. Compared with previous years, it's not even a tiny bit worse.
There are also some accounts that were taken away for some unfounded reasons.
Roughly calculated, I received about 200 taels per month.
So this year, it will be as much as 2,400 taels. In the first year after marrying into the Mei family, her main thoughts were on the inner curtain, Mei Yuanqing himself, and Mei's mother, Mei Xiaoqin, and she kept these things unattended.
I thought that these shopkeepers were all used by my mother. After all, she was old and experienced, so she wouldn't make any big mistakes. Just let it go.
But I didn't expect that a loophole would be taken advantage of by someone with ulterior motives.
After taking away so much money, basically the past two years have been wasted.
Thinking of this, she made a bold guess in her mind, but whether this guess was correct or not, she still needed to verify it herself.
But if it was true, Wei Jingwei sneered in her heart. She would make the other party spit out as much as she ate.
"Ask the shopkeeper of Jingli Restaurant to come to the house and talk to me. Just tell me that I have something important to do and ask him to bring the account books that he has kept with him over the years."
Su'er nodded and went out.
Lian'er looked at Wei Jingwei looking at the account books with a frown all the time, and said doubtfully: "Miss, is there something wrong with the account books? The shopkeepers have never made any major mistakes in these years, so why do they suddenly want someone to come to the house to answer the question. "
Wei Jingwei sighed in her heart, she was so negligent, no wonder the maid next to her was also negligent.
Thinking about her last life, she didn't realize this until her death, and her heart felt cold.
While waiting for others, the weather outside today was not very good. Wei Jingwei looked at the sky and turned to ask the maids to prepare things. She would practice calligraphy in the yard today.
The room was filled with smoke from the incense burner. As soon as the shopkeeper entered the door, he saw that Wei Jingwei had just finished writing a flowing character "Duan".
There was something sudden in his heart, so he just walked up to him silently and saluted and said hello.
"Madam, the shopkeeper of the little Xianju Building."
Hearing the sound, Wei Jingwei stopped the brush in her hand, looked at the shopkeeper in front of her coldly, and then slapped the brush on the table with a "bang".
Never spoke.
Lian'er picked up the handkerchief that had been prepared and wiped her hands. She dipped her slender white fingers into the basin full of petals. After she finished scrubbing slowly, she slowly sat down on the bed and picked up a cup of tea. Take a bite.
The exquisite flower-painted tea cup collided with the small table and made a "ding-" sound.
"Shopkeeper Ma, we haven't seen each other for a while."
Shopkeeper Ma was worried and uneasy. Hearing that Wei Jingwei didn't complain, he breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "I have been helping Madam take care of the restaurant, but I have lost my etiquette and haven't come to say hello for a long time. Madam these years That’s good.”
Wei Jingwei looked at him pretending to try to cover up the past, and a faint smile appeared on his face, "I'm okay. Shopkeeper Ma must be living a good life."
In the past few years, Shopkeeper Ma has been living a good life indeed. He probably ate so much that he was almost torn to pieces.
"It's thanks to my wife that I have trusted this villain all these years. I have been working under my wife and have been doing pretty well."
Wei Jingwei nodded helplessly, picked up the thick account book next to her, flipped through it casually with her fingers, then pointed at one place and said: "I have a few doubts, and I want Shopkeeper Ma to help me clear them up. "
"Ma'am, please tell me. This villain must tell you everything he knows and tell you everything he wants to say."
"Well, I have free time these days, so I took a look at Xianjulou's account books. I found that in March last year, the store's revenue was only fifty taels. As usual, the store's revenue has always been good, and fifty taels is a real bargain. I find it strange. Please ask Shopkeeper Ma to explain it to me."
Shopkeeper Ma bowed and said: "Madam, you don't know something. In March, due to the weather, the prices of many rice, noodles, vegetables and meat increased. The restaurant did not prepare in advance. In order to maintain the restaurant's business, the villain did it. I spent some money to buy it."
Wei Jingwei guessed that he would find a reason to deal with it, looked at Su Er and said: "Read the prices of the grains, vegetables and meat you collected and read them carefully to Shopkeeper Ma to see if they are correct."
Su'er nodded, took out a book, turned to the time in March last year, walked to the middle with great momentum and read loudly: "In March, the price of food increased by ten cents, and the price of meat and beef increased by fifteen cents." Wen, mutton has increased by 20 Wen, and pork has increased by 10 Wen. There are some differences in the amounts in some places, but in general the difference is not big."
Wei Jingwei: "Yeah." She tapped her fingers lightly on the table, making a "knock, knock, knock—" sound.
"I totaled it up and found that even after subtracting the money spent on buying these things, there is still one hundred and fifty taels left every month. I am not good at arithmetic, so I would like to ask shopkeeper Ma where the remaining one hundred and fifty taels went. Or Did you say that the shopkeeper miscalculated the number?"
Shopkeeper Ma's heart skipped a beat. He thought he would come to the house to ask about the restaurant's revenue as usual. Unexpectedly, Wei Jingwei was so well prepared that he even tried to make up excuses, but he couldn't find any that he could come up with.
"I...little man..."
After he finished speaking hesitantly, cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and he kept wiping it with his sleeve, but the sweat continued to flow.
Wei Jingwei continued reading: "In April, the silver account book showed thirty taels, in May, it was twenty taels, and in June, it was still owed twenty taels. There are still a few blank accounts this year. These are When I calculated it with pen, it turned out to be a few thousand taels. I thought this matter started when I married Meifu, but it turned out that this matter has been going on for more than two years. You - are - really - good ——Big——Courageous person!”
At the end, Wei Jingwei's voice was cold and stern, word for word, each word seemed to have the power of a thousand pounds, and each word struck shopkeeper Ma's heart.
His face turned pale. He didn't expect that this matter would be discovered one day. He almost couldn't stand, and he shook his head before he regained his balance.
"I realize my mistake, madam... madam... because I have done things for your mother... and you these years. Please give me a chance!"
Wei Jingwei sneered and looked unmoved as he knelt on the ground and kowtowed.
At this point, shopkeeper Ma hasn't told her what she wants to know yet, which shows how deeply her assets have been eroded by the Mei family!
How abominable!
