CHAPTER 564: CHAPTER 553: THE MARCHIONESS’S MAID

After a long while, Zhong Lang closed the account book, in fact, he had not really been looking at it.

"So, did you finish going through it, Second Brother? The accounts from the past all had no issues, but ever since Aunt Wei took over, errors began to appear gradually, and with each year, they grew larger. After three years, they have added up to as much as ten thousand taels. This young master wants to ask Aunt Wei, where did these ten thousand taels of silver go?" Zhong Jue didn’t look at Aunt Wei, but instead stared intently at Zhong Lang.

Zhong Lang’s hands tightened, and he forced a smile: "Perhaps Aunt Wei was deceived by the servants?"

"Oh? My brother, so learned, actually believes this excuse?" Zhong Jue mocked with a laugh, looking very disdainful at Zhong Lang’s demeanor.

Zhong Lang’s expression grew increasingly stiff; from a young age, he prided himself on being smarter than his older brother, better at studying too, and somewhat looked down on him. But just within these two months, not only did his older brother attain the third place, but also received a marriage arranged by the Emperor. And now here he was, awkwardly kneeling and defending Aunt Wei with an excuse he didn’t believe in himself, having lost all face.

For the first time, he resented his own mother so much, thinking that if she was going to falsify the accounts, why not make them more covert?

Upon hearing her son’s words, Aunt Wei, as if finding a reason for her own exoneration, cried and crawled over, gripping Zhong Huaiwen’s robe and said: "Cousin, you must believe me, I truly was deceived by the servants, I didn’t know, I really didn’t know!"

Zhong Huaiwen was about to speak when Zhong Jue spoke again: "Aunt Wei should be more careful when she speaks in the future. Since you have become a concubine to Father, our previous relationship no longer exists. In public, it would be better to address Father as ’Master’ and Grandmother as ’Old Madam’. Should an accidental slip occur in front of outsiders, they might think our family is in disarray. Even if outsiders don’t comment, what about when Lord Wenping enters our household? Should she call you Aunt Wei, or should she call you Aunt?"

Aunt Wei’s countenance froze, and she remained silent, pressing her lips together. Zhong Yin was already very annoyed at this point; in fact, she had long been spoiled by Aunt Wei, only accustomed to appearing weak in front of others. Seeing Zhong Jue relentless even when he was in the right, she immediately grew angry, and her little face tensed up: "Big Brother, must you be so unrelenting when you’re in the right? It’s Aunt Wei’s fault for mismanaging, but there was nothing she could do about the servants hiding the truth from her!"

Zhong Lang closed his eyes; he was wrong, he should not have chosen such a flimsy excuse.

Zhong Jue smiled, his tone very innocent: "Second Brother, do you also think there was something wrong with what I just said?"

Zhong Lang’s fingernails dug into his flesh as he struggled to respond: "Big Brother is not wrong, Aunt Wei, you really can’t address Father as ’Cousin’ anymore, change it in the future!"

Aunt Wei’s mouth gaped open; her biggest support had been Zhong Huaiwen, it had been Zhong Huaiwen’s pity for this cousin of his, and now she was being told to not call him that in the future?

She bit her lip; it didn’t matter, she still had her son, her daughter, and her Aunt. Even if her cousin had a change of heart towards her, Zhong Jue wouldn’t be able to punish her.

"Alright, since Aunt Wei says it was the servants who deceived you, then let’s report it to the authorities. Ten thousand taels of silver is no small amount, our family cannot suffer this loss, and we cannot tolerate such servants who deceive their masters." Zhong Jue finished speaking and was about to go out and summon people.

"Big Brother!" Zhong Lang suddenly called out loudly, staring at him as he said through clenched teeth, "Is it enough if the silver is just replenished?"

"How should I put this? The deficit isn’t just these ten thousand taels of silver; there are also the antiques and paintings in the storeroom. The value of those added together is no less than these ten thousand taels." Zhong Jue dropped another bombshell.

Zhong Lang looked at Aunt Wei in shock, never expecting her to be so avaricious. Aunt Wei shrank a little under her son’s gaze.

"Second Brother, let me remind you, many have seen Aunt Wei’s own brother selling our Zhong Family’s possessions at Ranxiang Pavilion. If you don’t believe it, you can ask for yourself. Surely, this time it wasn’t the servants taking things secretly to the Wei Family, right?"

"I..." Zhong Lang was at a loss for words with a stern face.

Whenever Zhong Huaiwen thought about how those things he couldn’t bear to use were sold by the Wei Family for money, he wished he could cut the flesh off Aunt Wei with a knife.

After a long while, Zhong Lang finally raised his head: "Eldest Brother, does it mean that if we replenish all those items, you would let off Aunt Wei?"

Zhong Jue smiled cryptically: "After all, Aunt Wei has served Father for so many years, having no merits but certainly toils. As long as everything is returned, of course, I won’t hold onto this matter. However, if the shortfall is too great, I wouldn’t mind asking the clan elders to decide, or even taking this to the officials."

Zhong Lang gritted his teeth: "Alright, please give us three days’ time, Eldest Brother."

"No problem, I’ll await your good news in three days," Zhong Jue said, then turned to Zhong Huaiwen, "Father, did you hear that? Second Brother said he’ll find a way to resolve this. The antiques and paintings you cherish will all be returned."

But at this moment, Zhong Huaiwen felt reluctant; after all, Zhong Lang was his favorite child. He was only fourteen this year, a half-grown boy, what could he do to make up for the shortfall?

He wanted to speak up for Zhong Lang, but the next words from Zhong Jue shut him up.

"Father, Sister is currently pregnant, you wouldn’t want him to find out about this, right? And what about Duke Wei, if he learns that our Zhong Family has become an empty shell, in his fury, might he not approach His Majesty to call off the marriage? If the marriage graciously arranged by His Majesty is rejected, would His Majesty rage against Duke Wei Mansion or blame our Zhong Family?"

Zhong Huaiwen fell silent, as if he already foresaw the Zhong Family’s grim fate under the Holy Emperor’s wrath, and he walked out of the courtyard in a dejected manner.

"Second Brother, I’ll leave the accounts and storeroom ledgers here. I’ll be waiting for your good news in three days. As for Aunt Wei, let her reflect well in the courtyard during these three days!"

Only after Zhong Huaiwen and Zhong Jue had completely left the courtyard did Aunt Wei’s crying come to a halt. She gripped her son’s hand tightly: "Lang’er, what should we do?"

Zhong Lang’s face was ashen: "What else can we do? Do we have any other choice but to make up for the shortfall?"

"But there’s so much..." Aunt Wei muttered absentmindedly in a daze.

"Mother, why did you have to make it so obvious," Zhong Yin complained discontentedly, "Now, we can only make up for it. Eldest Brother doesn’t seem like he will let this go easily. Don’t worry, once it’s replenished, as long as you coax Father again like before, he will surely lavish his love on you as he used to, and all the money will come back."

Aunt Wei felt somewhat ashamed and annoyed. Make up for it? It sounded so simple. Where would she get so much money?

All three of them, a concubine, a concubine daughter, another concubine daughter—their allocation in the Mansion wasn’t much; most of it had been spent by her, otherwise, how could they have lived so comfortably?