Chapter 677 Fanglan Embroidery Shop Came Again
“Miss, First Young Master went to see Madam!” When Qing’er came back to report, Shao Wanru was still reading the medical book under the lamp. She put down the medical book in her hand and reached out to rub her forehead. Shao Wanru asked with a little tiredness, “Did First Miss go there too?”
“First Miss didn’t. Only First Young Master went there. The old maid who guarded the door didn’t dare to stop him, so she let him in!” Qing’er saw it clearly. Although the servant girl was Shuqi, the person in the cloak was not First Miss. When they went in, she didn’t see them clearly. Later, when they went out, though in the shadow side, she still clearly saw their faces.
“Don’t worry about him. You ask people to keep an eye on Duke Xing’s whereabouts these days!” Shao Wanru raised the corners of her mouth and said slowly with her long eyelashes fluttering.
“Yes, Miss! I will take my leave!” Qing’er replied and left.
Shao Wanru picked up the scissors by her hand and cut the candlelight in front of her eyes. The trace of a smile in her eyes faded a lot.
Her second uncle had a mistress, which was something Shao Wanru suddenly remembered. In her last life, she had known this by chance.
At that time, she had been called over by Shao Yanru and then been slapped twice because of a trivial matter. When she had been kneeling in the corridor, she had heard two little palace maids talking about this secretly. They had said that Shao Yanru had been so angry in the hall because of this that she had vented her anger on many palace servants, which had made everyone need to be careful.
There were some things in her last life that she couldn’t remember clearly. She didn’t think of it at first, but when she inexplicably thought of it, she immediately came up with an idea and went to the ancestral temple.
In fact, she didn’t know what had been going on, but it must be true. Otherwise, Shao Yanru wouldn’t have been unable to control herself like this.
Since it was true, she could expose the matter to Madam of Duke Xing, especially at this critical moment that Duke Xing wanted Madam of Duke Xing to admit all these crimes but she would not suffer silently in terms of her character.
She was not afraid that Madam of Duke Xing would check it out. Since it was true, there would naturally be some clues that Madam of Duke Xing had not noticed at the moment. After Shao Wanru pointed them out for her, Madam of Duke Xing would definitely check it out.
Shao Wanru didn’t know how this matter had been dealt with in her last life. But as long as it was true, it would work!
Nothing happened this night. Early in the next morning, Shao Wanru went to see Old Madam and asked for leave, saying that she wanted to see Old Madam Qin.
Old Madam Qin had raised Shao Wanru and protected her. Since Shao Wanru had gone down the mountain to cultivate in seclusion, although she still could not attend the banquet too much, she could visit her elders.
This time, Old Madam didn’t make it difficult for Shao Wanru. She agreed her leaving even without letting her in. It was all because of Shao Wanru that the mansion was in such a mess now, so how could Old Madam be in the mood to see her? She only felt that the more she saw Shao Wanru, the more she disliked her.
Shao Wanru acted as if she didn’t know that Old Madam treated her coldly. She stood in the corridor and bowed to Old Madam’s main room before leaving slowly. She didn’t expect that she would meet Third Madam and Shao Caihuan and Shao Cailing on the way.
Standing aside, she waited for the Third Madam to come over and then bowed to her. This was the first time she saw the Third Madam walking in front of others. It was said that the Third Madam’s body had been in poor health since she had collided with Qin Yuru. At this time, her face looked extremely pale and she was in low spirits.
After looking at Shao Wanru from head to toe a few times, the Third Madam turned around in silence and left with her two daughters.
“Miss…” said Yujie.
Shao Wanru reached out to grab her sleeve, and then turned around to walk out with a calm look, “It doesn’t matter!”
“Miss, there is no grudge between you and the third branch. What do they mean?” Yujie took two steps forward to catch up with Shao Wanru and said angrily.
The disdain in the eyes of Third Madam and the two Misses could not be hidden. Her own Miss had nothing to do with the Madam and Misses of the Third branch, but why did they treat her without proper respect?
“They think I am the root cause of all these, including the Third Madam’s injury, as well as the rumors that the Miss of Duke Xing’s Mansion bullied Qi Rongzhi!” Shao Wanru’s long eyelashes lowered slightly, casting a shadow on her eyes.
“What does this have to do with Miss? That thing was done by First Miss Qin. If they want to take revenge, they should go to find First Miss Qin. If they can’t, they should go to Madam of Duke Xing. Obviously, it was First Miss Qin who led Third Madam to get on the carriage at that time. How can they blame it on us? As for First Miss Qi’s matter, it completely has nothing to do with you!”
Yujie became more indignant.
She glared at a rockery that she passed by and felt that everyone in Duke Xing’s Mansion was hostile to Miss. All of them deliberately put all the blame on Miss.
When all these things were put together, it was obvious that her Miss was the most innocent one.
“Well, do not care about other people’s affairs. Come on! Let’s go to see Madame Dong later!” Shao Wanru smiled slightly and didn’t care about it at all.
“Miss, you haven’t been to Butterfly Clothing Shop for three years, so you should go to have a look. Nanny Dong has managed Butterfly Clothing Shop well. Every time I go there, I see a lot of people shopping there.” Yujie smiled with her eyes lit up.
Shao Wanru had been in Yuhui Nunnery for so many years and had not gone down the mountain. However, Yujie had gone down the mountain and had been to Butterfly Clothing Shop several times. She was much more familiar with Butterfly Clothing Shop than Shao Wanru.
After taking a carriage from Duke Xing’s Mansion, Shao Wanru came to Butterfly Clothing Shop with Yujie. She got out of the carriage and saw a lot of people in front of Butterfly Clothing Shop, which made her spontaneously smile. It could be said that Butterfly Clothing Shop was her foundation and painstaking efforts after she had entered the capital.
It looked really good now!
“Miss!” Madame Dong came out to welcome her after she got the message. When she saw Shao Wanru, she was very excited.
Shao Wanru shook her head slightly, indicating that Madame Dong didn’t have to do this, and then she followed Madame Dong upstairs with a smile.
Madame Dong also set an accounting room upstairs. Sitting in it and looking at the lively scenery at the entrance of the street, Shao Wanru felt as if she returned to mortal life. Indeed, she had lived a quiet life on the mountain for so long that she almost forgot how lively the mortal life should be.
Yujie lay on the window and lifted the curtain up.
Their positions were higher than those of the other shops around them, so they didn’t have to worry about being seen when they lifted the curtains.
Madame Dong made a cup of tea for Shao Wanru and suggested, “Miss, you come here at the right time. The people from Fanglan Embroidery Shop will come over later. Do you want to meet them?”
“Do they come to borrow money again?” Shao Wanru immediately understood Madame Dong’s meaning.
“They probably have such intention!” Madame Dong nodded and said, “When I lent money to them before, I checked their account books according to Miss’s instructions. There is no problem with their account books. Indeed, there is something wrong with their capital, but they just needed to make a turnover. They have paid back all the borrowed money!”
Shao Wanru had asked Madame Dong to keep an eye on Fanglan Embroidery Shop before, so Madame Dong had been paying attention to it, especially when Fanglan Embroidery Shop borrowed money from them. She was very careful every time she checked the account books. Madame Dong was quite cautious, but she had not found anything. She also asked the trustworthy accountants to check the account books and they all said that there was no problem with account books.
Just like an ordinary business, this was just a temporary shortage of capital chain, and after clearing this hurdle, it could run again.
“Did you copy them?” Shao Wanru raised the corners of her mouth slightly and smiled sweetly.
“Yes, I have. I have asked people to copy all the account books that I have seen. We have copied them several times, but they are not the same. Maybe it’s because there are too many payments in the account books that they change the account books every three or four months. So they have not used the same account book!”
Madame Dong said after thinking for a while. This was the only thing that puzzled her. Fanglan Embroidery Shop’s business was so good that it seemed to be unbelievable. Madame Dong was also running a shop, and running quite well. However, it was not as good as Fanglan Embroidery Shop, because she only used one account book a year.
“Three or four months to change one book?” Shao Wanru asked again after thinking for a while, and her watery eyes fluttered twice.
“It should be three or four months as a period for them to change one book. Or it is changed every three or four months when business is good and the period will be a little longer in the general case. The reason why I guess this way is that on one occasion they borrowed money just after four months and the account book was completely different from the previous one. I think that they probably have changed a book, but there was no mistake in the account book!”
Madame Dong told her the truth because the interval between the two borrows was a little short. She had the habit of copying account books, and after she finished copying, she scanned through the new account books as well as the previous ones. There was nothing the same she could find, so it could be seen that they had changed their account books.
Besides that, Madame Dong didn’t find anything unusual.
“Are you going to see the supervisor of Fanglan Embroidery Shop here?” Shao Wanru looked around. This was the accounting room, but at this time, the accountant had been asked out.
“Yes, but there is another place to sit.” Madame Dong immediately understood Shao Wanru’s meaning. She reached out and pointed to a small screen at the corner of the room. After thinking for a while, she said, “There is also an accounting room downstairs, and we can also go down!”
The accounting room downstairs was bigger and easier for someone to hide.
There was not only a screen hung at the corner of the room, but also a curtain. And there was a bookcase, in which there were some old account books piled up.
In fact, there was still a small distance between the bookcase and the screen. If she put on a chair and sat there, the people outside couldn’t see her.
“Just stay here! When they come here later, I will sit there first. Fanglan Embroidery Shop always borrows money, but is it really for the purpose of turnover? How did they go through it when we didn’t lend money to them before?” Shao Wanru’s smile was still faint, but there was a trace of darkness in her eyes.
Since she knew that Fanglan Embroidery Shop wanted to do business with her, she had deliberately kept an eye on them. She knew Fanglan Embroidery Shop because of Madam Di. Coincidentally, this Fanglan Embroidery Shop was Madam Di’s dowry, and then it was given to Qin Yuru. It became Qin Yuru’s dowry and turned back to Duke Yong’s Mansion.
In her last life, Qin Yuru had taken some delicate embroidery from Fanglan Embroidery Shop several times. Most of them had been sent to Duke Xing’s Mansion, and sometimes she would also give one or two pieces to Old Madam Qin. And then Old Madam Qin would always call Shao Wanru over and give them to her secretly.
When they came to the capital city this time, it was said that Duke Yong’s Mansion professed that Madam Di’s dowry, Fanglan Embroidery Shop, was in the red. Duke Yong’s Mansion not only took care of this shop for Madam Di for so many years but also spent a lot of money on it, so they asked Madam Di to take out the money to repay Duke Yong’s Mansion. But now, this embroidery shop seemed to be profitable!
She really wanted to see what the purpose was behind this…