Volume 1: Yun Family Has a Daughter Chapter 31: Punishing the Servant (2)

  "How dare I, an old servant, offend you, young mistress! Please don't make things difficult for me!"

  The housekeeper saw the young lady smile and thought she was afraid of him, so he became even more arrogant.

  "This young lady still doesn't know that there are places in the Yun Manor that this young lady can't go to! You, a dog slave, dare to control me so tightly!"

  After finishing speaking, she didn't look at Yuan Guan's extremely ugly face again, and turned to softly ask the green-clad maid:

  "Which courtyard are you from? Why did you have a dispute with her?"

  "Back to the young lady, I am Bi Hua, a maid of Hu Niangniang in Shunhe Yard. I come here every day to take food. In the past, Yuan Guan Shi always deducted some food, but this time, not only is the amount not enough, but it's also leftover food, which is far from enough for Hu Niangniang and Third Miss! I don't agree with this... Young lady, if you don't believe me, just take a look!"

  Bi Hua hastily made a courtesy, eloquently saying, as if afraid that Mo Mo wouldn't believe her, she quickly opened the lunchbox in her hand to show Mo Mo. At the same time, two other maidservants from the other madams' households stepped out to testify.

  Mo Mo did not neglect the word "before" in her words, and when she lowered her head to take a look, she found that the food was not only completely vegetarian, but also leftovers, and the portion was only enough for one adult.

  Thinking of this woman daring to privately deduct her master's food in a small kitchen, she was furious and scolded: "What else can you say, you sly slave?"

  "Miss, it's unfair! Even if I had the audacity of heaven, I wouldn't dare to embezzle food from my masters! I'm just following the rules of the mansion!"

  Yuanguan Shi knew something was wrong when Momo asked Bihua and had already thought of an excuse.

  "Regulations? Are we, the vast Yunfu, only able to give our master leftover food and scraps? And still limit the amount, letting our master go hungry?" Mu Mu shouted coldly.

  No wonder those younger brothers and sisters looked so weak and malnourished last time, it was all because of this evil slave's doing!

  "This is indeed what was ordered above, this old slave is just a small slave, and can only follow orders!"

  Now, Yuan Guan Shi had no choice but to grit his teeth and stick to this statement. Even if the old lady and the maid didn't get along, even if it was pushed in front of the old lady, she would definitely not let the maid have her way for the sake of face.

  It's just a pity that the old man was very capable, but he didn't understand Momo's way of doing things. From start to finish, Momo never intended to get through to him through that old woman.

  "What are you talking about? You dare to spout nonsense, how could Grandmother do such a thing? It must be that you, this wicked slave, are in charge of the kitchen and have been embezzling from it. If you don't confess the truth, I'll have you punished!"

  She naturally understood in her heart that this matter was inseparable from Li Yiniang, but if she didn't punish this old shrew today, she feared that she would really let her escape in the future.

  "The old slave is right, how can the young mistress use private punishment indiscriminately?"

  Yuanguan Shi stared at Mo Mo with a look of discontent on his face.

  Mo Mo no longer paid attention to her and called two family servants. They put Yuan Guan Shi on the long bench and started beating him with a loud "slap, slap, slap".

  The whole kitchen was filled with the sound of Yuanguan's shrill cries, like a pig being slaughtered, which made people's hair stand on end.

  She stared at them emotionlessly as they carried out the punishment, she didn't stop it, this corporal punishment would continue.

  The maids and wives watching from the sidelines were all scared white, and several of them couldn't bear to watch and wanted to slip away quietly, but were stopped by Mo:

  "Without Miss's order, whoever dares to leave will be considered an accomplice of this slave and will be punished twice as severely!"

  As soon as this was said, those people were so frightened that they didn't dare move and could only continue watching.

  "Does anyone know where that old hag put the kitchen's account book? Whoever finds it will be rewarded by me!"

  Those people were overjoyed when they heard this and hastily expressed their intention to go find the account books, immediately dispersing and running off to look for them.

  Yu Guan originally still held a glimmer of hope, thinking that the young lady was too young to know about account books in the kitchen. As long as he did his job well, he could use it to report to the old lady later and vent his anger. Unexpectedly, the young lady actually thought of the account book, if she really found out something, she would have no choice but to take a dead end, at that time even the old lady might not let her off!

  Thinking of this, Yuan Guanshi was so scared that he broke out in a cold sweat, and the pain on his body seemed to disappear. He rolled his eyes and fainted from fright!

  Mo Yan saw the situation and ordered others to tie up Yuan Guanshi, sending him to Anhe Institute. After this commotion, she didn't have the heart to cook anymore. She took the account book that had been searched out and the stolen goods that the servants had unintentionally found, flipped through them briefly, and then brought Bi Hua and several maids to Anhe Institute.

  The mood of Yun Zhan was already bad today, and now such a thing happened again. Naturally, there's no good face to show, regardless of whose person it is. After inquiring with Bi Hua and others, confirming that it's true, he directly ordered someone to beat this woman thirty times and sell her off.

  He took the account book and looked at it, seeing that the accounts were unclear and also knew that something was wrong. As the head of the household, he couldn't manage these things, so he handed over the kitchen's account book and the one he had just taken from Li Niang to Tong Shi, letting her handle it.

  In the following days, Mo and Tong concentrated on sorting out the account books. The more they sorted, the more frightened they became, until finally, they were covered in cold sweat!

  Yunfu was able to occupy a place in the imperial capital where nobles gathered, all of which were exchanged for Yun Zhan's life on the battlefield! In addition to being appointed as a general by the emperor, he also granted many manors and fields, as well as silver and money.

  It can be said that the Yunfu is not the richest family in Shangjing, but it is also much more prosperous than many old aristocratic families who have only empty frames left. However, when these account books were completely sorted out, the mother and daughter duo discovered just how severe the Yunfu's losses were! Those estates and fields are still there, and every year's output, apart from supplying the estate, actually had no surplus. Not only that, but those shops they invested in were all thriving businesses, yet somehow they didn't make much profit, and some even needed to be subsidized. This can't help but make one suspect that something fishy is going on?

  The expenditures and revenues of the government office couldn't be balanced no matter what, with a lot of silver going unaccounted for every year, and there was no explanation in the account books.

  Digression

  Heave ho! Pull out the radish and bring out the mud!

  Better tomorrow!