In order to prevent omissions, Ye Luoxin decided on a method of checking in turns.
Xu Cai read the first volume first, Xiao Jing read the second volume, and Ye Luoxin read the third volume.
After reading them all, Xu Cai passed the first volume to Xiao Jing, Xiao Jing passed the second volume to Ye Luoxin, and Ye Luoxin passed the third volume to Xu Cai.
In this way, it can be ensured that each account book has been reviewed by two people, preventing omissions from being viewed by one person.
The account book was boring, and after reading it, several people felt a little sleepy.
Xiao Mu brought them tea.
Ye Luoxin looked fascinated, holding the tea cup with one hand, but did not pick it up yet.
Xiao Mu had no choice but to pick up the tea cup and bring it to her mouth.
"It's so late, drink some tea to moisten your throat."
Xu Cai raised his head when he heard the sound and looked at Xiao Mu's doting look. He couldn't bear it anymore and looked sideways at Xiao Jing.
The two of them looked at each other in silence, with expressions of being shown off.
"here!"
Just as a mouthful of tea entered her throat, Ye Luoxin suddenly discovered a strange place.
"It doesn't seem right here."
She pointed to an entry in the book.
As soon as she spoke out, she attracted everyone's attention.
"What's wrong?" Xu Cai looked at the account book, which he had just read and then handed over to Ye Luoxin.
When he looked, he saw no problem.
"There is an expenditure here. I clearly remember that this expenditure was not included in the previous ledgers." Ye Luoxin pointed to a place in the ledger.
It was an expenditure of five hundred taels of silver, and it was written on it: Jingxing Pavilion.
Jingxing Pavilion is the property of the Xu family.
Specializing in selling some valuable items such as porcelain, calligraphy and paintings.
"Shopkeeper Xu never keeps such vague accounts. He will write down buying vegetables, buying salt or giving gifts. But look,"
She pointed to that place again: "It only says Jingxing Pavilion, not even any remarks."
"Yes, the amount spent on the kitchen's purchases is about the same every month. This month there is an extra 500 taels." Xiao Jing said after looking at it.
Ye Luoxin closed the account book. The month of the account book was clearly recorded on the outside of the account book.
Exactly last month.
"Look through the July one again to see if there is this one."
Xu Cai quickly checked the account book for July in his hand, and there was nothing there.
"Why did my father give Jingxing Pavilion 500 taels of silver? Is my father really involved in selling illegal salt?" Xu Cai looked at the account and his heart dropped.
"Not necessarily." Ye Luoxin said.
"The current price of salt is 200 taels per catty. If all 500 taels of silver are used to buy salt, we can buy 2,500 catties.
Didn’t you say that the government only dug out one stone from Xu Ji Restaurant, so where did the rest of the salt go? "
Xiao Mu continued:
"Private salt has always been strictly controlled in our government. If Shopkeeper Xu wants to sell it, he must have a fixed channel.
Before August, he had never had any operating expenses in this area, so where did his business channels come from? "
Ye Luoxin paused:
"I'm more inclined to believe that Shopkeeper Xu used the money to buy a batch of private salt, possibly without his knowledge."
"Yes, my father must not have known about it. By the time he reacted, Yan had already arrived home, so he secretly sent me to the countryside." Xu Cai said.
Ye Luoxin: "It depends on what he says."
Xiao Mu continued: "Xu Zhongyuan went to the study today to look for something. I suspect that what he is looking for is this account book. He must know something."
Ye Luoxin: “But this account book alone cannot explain anything.
There are many things you can do with 500 taels of silver. "
"Since this account book cannot explain the problem, Xu Zhongyuan must be looking for something else." Xiao Mu analyzed, "That thing must still be in the study."
"Impossible!" Xu Cai immediately rejected this view.
"My father would never leave valuable things outside, and we also looked in the darkroom. There was nothing in there except account books."
Is it really a ledger?
Several people fell into silence.
Ye Luoxin thought about the possibilities and continued to read, trying to find clues between the lines.
There is no acrostic!
Strange hint no!
If there is really something wrong with this account book, then Shopkeeper Xu has hidden it too deeply!
Ye Luoxin had a headache.
She wanted to put the account books on the desk and take a rest first.
Suddenly, an idea flashed.
She seemed to have noticed something was wrong.
She quickly picked up the account books for January and February, opened the title page, and carefully compared the differences between the three.
"What's wrong?" Xiao Mu asked.
"I think the cover page of this account book seems a little different." Ye Luoxin said.
The cover pages of the account books are made of kraft paper, which is thick and hard.
But August is a little thicker than January and February.
"Let me take a look." Xiao Mu reached out and took the account book.
He weighed it with his hands and looked at it carefully.
"It's indeed different." Xiao Mu said.
Just when everyone was looking at him and waiting for him to answer their questions, Xiao Mu suddenly stretched out his hand and pulled the cover page off the account book with a "tear" sound.
"What is this doing?" Xu Cai immediately stepped forward and asked in surprise.
This is the last hope to overturn his father's case.
What if it gets destroyed...
Before Xu Cai spoke again, Xiao Mu said: "There is something inside this cover page."
"Something is hidden? Really?" Several people all looked at the intact cover page, and they couldn't tell that there was anything hidden inside.
"Third brother, go get a basin of water." Xiao Mu ordered.
Xiao Jing immediately went to fill a wooden basin with a bucket full of water.
Xiao Mu put the cover page into the water and let it float on the water.
After soaking for a while, several people saw a small gap opening at the edge of the intact kraft paper.
“Kraft paper is waterproof, but paste is not waterproof.”
Xiao Mu said as he fished the cover page of the account book out of the water.
After wiping away the moisture on the surface, he took out a small knife and reached into the gap.
The other three people didn't dare to express their anger.
Watch Xiao Mu carefully cut the gap and peel off the two pieces of kraft paper.
Soon, two pieces of plain paper were revealed.
"Wow!"
"He really hid something!"
"My dad is so good at hiding, wuwuwu!"
The three people sighed differently.
Xiao Mu did not pick up the plain paper, but still let it cling to the vellum, and read the contents of the plain paper from beginning to end.
Writing is a bit slow today, there will be another chapter later, (,,´•ω•)ノ"(´っω•｀.)
