Xiao Yuanshi left the courtyard and called the butler over.
“Have the people from King Jin’s residence come here before?” he asked.
The butler was Xiao Yuanshi’s trusted aide who had followed him from the general’s residence.
He replied respectfully, “One day, when you were out, a concubine from King Jin’s residence sent a servant girl to bring you a housewarming gift. Madam received it on behalf of you.
“After they left, Madam placed the gifts from King Jin’s residence into the warehouse. They were not rare items, just a few sets of porcelain and some cloth.”
Because this was an exchange between the backyards and the deputy governor had been very busy during those few days, he had not taken the initiative to mention it.
Xiao Yuanshi thought for a moment.
“Secretly bring Madam’s personal maidservant here.”
He emphasized, “Don’t let Madam find out.”
The butler was stunned, but he did not ask further. “Yes!”
After the butler left, Xiao Yuanshi looked through the accounts of the manor.
There was something fishy about it, but it was only a matter of a few hundred taels of silver.
It seemed that Ge Chunru had kept it in a private room.
He also felt a little disgusted because of this.
Ge Chunru was too petty.
However, it was only a few hundred taels of silver, so he couldn’t be bothered to look into it.
After a while, the butler secretly brought in Ge Chunru’s most trusted maidservant.
The maidservant trembled when she saw Xiao Yuanshi.
“Greetings, deputy governor.”
“Raise your head and look at me,” Xiao Yuanshi said.
The maidservant trembled again and carefully raised her head to look at Xiao Yuanshi, but her eyes seemed to be filled with unease.
Xiao Yuanshi’s heart skipped a beat. This was obviously a sign of guilt.
“Let me ask you, when King Jin’s secondary consort sent someone to bring the housewarming gifts, what else did she bring besides the things that were stored in the warehouse?”
As soon as she said this, the maiservant’s expression became even more flustered.
Xiao Yuanshi’s whole body released his power, and he patted the table, “Speak, or I will sell your whole family to mine for ores.”
When the servant girl heard this, she was so frightened that she immediately knelt down.
She had thought that the deputy governor already knew and would not dare to drag the entire family down.
“There’s one more box,” she said with trepidation,” Madam kept it.”
Xiao Yuanshi tightened his grip on the account book. “Are there silver notes in the box?”
The maidservant was extremely flustered. As expected, the deputy governor knew.
Therefore, she didn’t make any excuses. “Yes.”
Xiao Yuanshi was furious. “How much silver was there? ”
“50000 taels of silver,” the maidservant replied honestly.
Xiao Yuanshi’s pupils shrank. “Did Madam keep the money or use it for something else? ”
The maidservant felt Xiao Yuanshi’s anger and trembled in fear. “Madam kept 10000 taels for herself and sent the remaining 40000 taels to the capital to give to Secondary Consort Ge.”
“Bang!” Xiao Yuanshi couldn’t help but stand up and kick the chair towards the maidservant.
The chair smashed on her.
She let out a scream and was knocked unconscious.
Xiao Yuanshi opened the door of the study room and walked quickly to Ge Chunru’s courtyard.
At this moment, Ge Chunru and Ge Chunyi had just finished their meal and were chatting.
Ge Chunyi started to complain about how much he had suffered.
Hearing this, Ge Chunru’s heart ached, and her resentment towards Xiao Yuanshi increased.
“Swish!” Suddenly, the door was kicked open.
Ge Chunru was just about to get angry when Xiao Yuanshi walked in with an ashen face.
She had thought that Xiao Yuanshi had been incited by the Xiao family and Shi Qingluo.
In addition, she had just heard her brother’s complaints, so she was angry.
She did not stand up.
Instead, she sat down and looked at him with a slightly sarcastic tone. “Being a deputy governor is so grand and prestigious!”
Seeing her like this, Xiao Yuanshi was so angry that he laughed.
“Not as impressive as you, the deputy governor’s wife.”
His cold gaze swept over Ge Chunyi and Mdm Niu. “Get out, you two.”
Xiao Yuanshi had been on the battlefield before, and his aura was very sharp, with a bit of killing intent.
That was why both Ge Chunyi and Mdm Niu were shocked.
Seeing him like this, the two of them didn’t dare to ask any more questions and left the door dejectedly.
As for Ge Chunru, who was in the room, the two of them did not bother.
Ge Chunyi knew how much Xiao Yuanshi liked and cared about his sister, so he didn’t think that he would do anything.
After he came out, he was also furious.
Xiao Yuanshi had gone too far by telling them to get lost, but he didn’t have the courage to question him.
When Xiao Yuanshi personally asked them to leave, he could only bring Mdm Niu back to their room.
After Ge Chunyi left, Xiao Yuanshi turned around and closed the door.
Ge Chunru was shocked to see him like this.
“General, what happened to you?
“Did the old lady and Shi Qingluo say something to you about me again?”
“Why didn’t you tell me that the secondary consort of King Jin’s residence sent silver as a housewarming gift?” Xiao Yuanshi asked instead of answering.
Hearing this, Ge Chunru panicked and was even shocked.
How did Xiao Yuanshi know?
“This… this housewarming gift. I saw that you were very busy the past few days, so I forgot to tell you.”
Xiao Yuanshi already knew about the silver, so she had to admit it.
Xiao Yuanshi stared at her coldly, “Then what about the silver notes? ”
Ge Chunru’s eyes flickered and soon revealed an expression as if she had made a mistake.
“I lost a part of them.”
Xiao Yuanshi squinted his eyes and asked, “Lost? How did you lose the silver notes?”
Ge Chunru was a little afraid of Xiao Yuanshi, so she didn’t dare to tell the truth.
“I put them in two separate pouches and took them to Chunyi. Who knew that on the way back, the pouch with the forty thousand taels of silver disappeared.
“I suspect that it was old Xiao’s people who took it. After all, they were the ones who stole Chunyi’s 30,000 taels of silver.”
“But I didn’t dare to tell you, for fear of affecting your relationship with the old master and the old lady.”
She thought that since Xiao Yuanshi knew about the money, it was most likely that King Jin’s mansion had disclosed it.
Xiao Yuanshi was so angry that his face turned even uglier. “Ge Chunru, you’re really good.
“You’re full of lies. You even framed my family for the 40000 taels you gave your sister.
“Why? Why is it that in your eyes, all of us from the old Xiao family are thieves?”
His chest was filled with anger. “Don’t forget that you secretly gave Ge Chunyi 30000 taels using the general’s office’s public account.”
He really didn’t expect Ge Chunru to be so bold.
Not only did she not tell him that she had received so much silver from the King Jin’s manor, but she also sent them to Ge Chunying.
She even accused his parents and others of stealing them.
Their family members looked like thieves, but only her family members weren’t?
For the first time, he realized that he did not know his wife well.
If he had not asked her maidservant in private just now, he might really have been fooled by her.
Ge Chunru’s eyes were wide open.
Apparently, she didn’t expect Xiao Yuanshi to know that she had sent the forty thousand taels to her sister in the capital.
She could not help but panic.
However, she thought that it was nothing.
After all, she had borrowed 20,000 taels from her sister before.
1
It was nothing to return it back in double.
But now, it was obvious that Xiao Yuanshi was very angry. She had to coax him.