Peaceful Farm Life

Chapter 2472: Chapter 2473: Return to Tianyun (Part 39)

Seeing that Mrs. Cao’s trusted maidservant was leaving, Su Xing did not stop them. She had her own plans. She was determined to make Mrs. Cao spit out everything she had eaten into her husband’s mouth!

Soon, Zhong Dasheng arrived. Before Zhong Dasheng came, he was prompted by Mrs. Cao’s trusted maidservant, urging Zhong Dasheng to take the blame alone. Mrs. Cao promised to reward him well afterward.

Therefore, as soon as Zhong Dasheng arrived, he knelt before Mrs. Cao, knocking his head repeatedly, begging for mercy: ”Madam, the slave was blinded by greed and stole the large young master’s rent, it’s all the slave’s fault, but considering the slave has served here since childhood and has only committed this one mistake, please spare the slave!”

Before Mrs. Cao could speak, Su Xing yelled sharply: ”You’ve been collecting rent for my husband for six years. My husband has a total of five shops. You privately took ten taels of silver from each shop every month, which amounts to fifty taels monthly. In one year, that’s six hundred taels, so over six years, you’ve secretly taken a total of three thousand six hundred taels. If you don’t return it all to me, I’ll send you to see the officials!”

He didn’t embezzle at all; it was all handed over to Mrs. Cao, who embezzled it. How could he repay it?

Moreover, with so much embezzlement, if this is seen by the authorities, how will he survive? Mrs. Cao couldn’t protect him either!

Zhong Dasheng was too terrified and was considering exposing Mrs. Cao, but he saw Mrs. Cao’s trusted maidservant hiding behind the screen secretly giving him a look, clearly indicating he should continue to take the blame, but the silver would be provided by Mrs. Cao.

Zhong Dasheng was a bit doubtful and looked at Mrs. Cao. Taking advantage of the situation while others were not paying attention, Mrs. Cao nodded, confirming Zhong Dasheng’s belief. He quickly kowtowed to Su Xing: ”Grand young mistress, please give me one day’s grace. I’ve deposited all the silver in the money bank, I will retrieve it and repay the grand young mistress!”

Mrs. Cao needed to shell out three thousand six hundred taels to fill this huge gap, hating Su Xing even more in her heart, yet at this moment she could only pretend to be a peacemaker and say: ”Xin’er, Zhong Dasheng’s parents used to work for the Tao Mansion, both were dedicated and never had any mishaps. Since Zhong Dasheng said he would return the money taken from Ye’er, and you’ve made your statement as well, let’s call it resolved.”

But Su Xing was unwilling to back down: ”How can it be resolved? Such a large sum of silver! Only when he returns all the silver can we speak of resolution! Who knows if he’ll seize the chance to flee?”

”His wife and children are here, can’t we detain them? There’s no need to wait for tomorrow, let him go to the money bank to retrieve the money today.” After speaking to Su Xing, Mrs. Cao instructed her faraway trusted maidservant—Manjuan: ”Manjuan, take some people to follow Zhong Dasheng to the money bank and ensure he retrieves those three thousand six hundred taels!”

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Manjuan understood immediately. After she and Zhong Dasheng left the courtyard where Mrs. Cao lived, she sent a maid to fetch three thousand six hundred taels worth of silver notes from Mrs. Cao’s room, planning to give it to Zhong Dasheng to solve this trouble, ensuring Mrs. Cao was not implicated.

Su Xing wasn’t intending to expose Mrs. Cao’s ugly facade, even if she inferred Mrs. Cao’s true intentions from her words, she chose silence.

On the contrary, after seeing Manjuan leaving with Zhong Dasheng, Mrs. Cao turned apologetically to Su Xing and said: ”This is my subordinate, and he still dared to deceive me. Once he returns the silver he took from Ye’er, I will no longer employ him and will expel him from the mansion.”

Su Xing replied with a smile: ”Whether to expel him is up to you, I merely want justice for my husband and hope you recognize your own people, to avoid being deceived unknowingly again.”