Chapter 662 The Missing Pages
“Nanny Hu, the warehouse is so messy. Please help me look for it. I’ll stay here. It’s so messy. How can I put my foot in it?” Luo Mingzhu shook her handkerchief and looked at the door of the warehouse with disgust. She frowned, which made Nanny Hu smile bitterly in her heart.
Nanny Hu didn’t know what Luo Mingzhu was thinking. She had never been to the warehouse before, but this time she insisted on coming here in person, but she felt disgusted as she reached here, which made Nanny Hu flustered. She didn’t know if she should look after this lady first, or find the painting first.
“Second Miss, why don’t you sit here for a while? I’ll go in and look for it with others,” Nanny Hu said with a helpless smile and secretly wiped her sweat. It was more difficult to serve her than before she got married. With her keeping on asking, it was hard to find what she wanted.
So she’d better get rid of her first!
Luo Mingzhu looked at the small wing room outside the warehouse and then at the huge warehouse. She hesitated for a moment before asking, “Sit here? Are you fast to look for it?”
“Well, I can’t tell you now…” Nanny Hu’s face suddenly became bitter. She didn’t know why this young lady remembered it today. Nanny Hu still had some recollections of the painting and it seemed to be a very beautiful landscape painting, but that was all.
It was a painting many years ago, and it was Luo Mingzhu’s favorite one when she was about 10 years old. After hanging in her room for a while, this young lady didn’t like it anymore. She threw it into the warehouse and put it away. Until now, five or six years had passed. At this time, Nanny Hu really didn’t know when she could find it.
“Alright, alright. I know that you are in a difficult position. Let her find it with you later. I will sit here. Is there anything nice here to read? Let me read something, or it would be too boring.” Luo Mingzhu pointed at her personal maidservant Xiaohuan and said impatiently, looking as if she would sit here and watch their work today.
“Second Miss, what do you want to read? Look, I don’t…” Nanny Hu shook her hands and asked with a bitter expression. This small wing room was her office when she usually cleaned up the warehouse. She could not read much, so she did not have any books for Luo Mingzhu to read.
Luo Mingzhu sat on a chair by the side, covered her nose with a handkerchief and turned around casually. Suddenly, she pointed at a stack of tall account books in a cabinet and said, “They are okay. I have nothing to do anyway. Cousin Tong has gone to learn how to manage the back courtyard from Mother. I’ll learn it by myself to surprise them.”
Nanny Hu was speechless when she saw how Luo Mingzhu was proud. The second miss had always been spoilt, and didn’t manage family after she got married. So she did not know how complicated it was. Since she did not think it was troublesome, what else could she say? Nanny Hu nodded and took out the key to open the cabinet. She was about to get someone to bring out the account books.
Luo Mingzhu was already waving her hand impatiently and assigned the servants. “Nanny Hu, you can all go in and look for it. You must find the painting for me. I used to like it the most, so you have to find it. Just keep one maidservant here, and everyone else can help Nanny Hu find it. I don’t have much time here, so I can’t waste it here. I have to take a nap later. I’m really sleepy now.”
“Yes, yes, yes, I’ll tell them to hurry up and not to delay your nap.” Nanny Hu nodded with a smile. She did not dare to hesitate and took the other servants away obediently, leaving Luo Mingzhu and one of her maidservants behind. The painting might not be easy to find. Many hands made light work, and there would always be people who would discover it!
When Nanny Hu took the other people away, Luo Mingzhu nodded at the maidservant beside her. She lifted her dress, and regardless of the dust on the cabinet, she squatted down and started to search. The maidservant stood at the door of the wing room that led to the warehouse. She could see what Nanny Hu and the others were doing inside better from that position. She could remind Luo Mingzhu when Nanny Hu came over.
The books in the cabinet were arranged in perfect order. There were various categories of them. Some were daily account books, and some were about the daily record. Madam Qu was kept by Mo Xuetong, and Nanny Hu had opened the cabinet and was looking for the painting inside. Since she could not find it in a short time, Luo Mingzhu had plenty of time to look for what she really wanted.
Her fingers ran quickly over the words on the covers of account books. After looking through dozens of books, she finally found a book that recorded the entry and exit of the servants in Fu General Manor. There was a detailed record of the height, weight, structure, and appearance of a person entering the manor.
As for when a servant was released, these things were also recorded. The address of the person who would live next was also left. It was convenient for others to contact the servant. Luo Mingzhu flipped through the pages one by one and there were some records every year. It was normal for a noble family like Fu General Manor to accept a few servants every year and let a few people go out.
The information about servants an aristocratic family had employed for many years had been recorded in books.
Luo Mingzhu flipped through more than 20 books before she found the information about 30 years ago. Looking at the book that omitted years of information in shock, Luo Mingzhu could not react at that moment. She flipped through it carefully and realized that years of records were missing here. It happened to be shortly after her aunt was born.
How could that information not be recorded?
Luo Mingzhu frowned and pulled the book straight forcefully. Then she noticed that there were some tiny marks on the pages’ link. Some pages had been torn off very carefully. Because they were torn very carefully, one could not see anything on the surface. If not for the fact that Luo Mingzhu had been calculating carefully year by year, she would not have thought that there would be a few missing pages.
And these pages were actually the most crucial. Someone had taken the initiative and tore them off!
This knowledge made Luo Mingzhu’s face turn pale and she almost could not stand still. Luo Mingzhu did not know what had happened back then. She only knew from the quarrel between her father and mother that something must have happened then. Her aunt might not be her grandmother’s biological daughter. It was not a big deal. It did not matter for Fu General Manor to adopt a girl.
The problem was that her father, mother, and grandmother seemed to consider it as a taboo. After hearing Mo Xuetong’s words, Luo Mingzhu already felt that it was not a small matter. No one could afford the crime of deceiving the Emperor. Why did her grandmother do this? Even if her aunt was not her grandmother’s biological daughter, her grandmother could say that she had adopted her. Why did she have to become the eldest legitimate daughter of Fu General Manor?
Everyone had kept this matter a secret for so many years. How could Luo Mingzhu not be shocked when she saw the missing pages of the book in her hands for no reason?
Did this mean that someone was investigating what had happened in the past and had even taken the initiative to rip off the records in the book before she and Cousin Tong got it? Who knew so much about Fu General Manor? The person was able to enter the warehouse where was an important ground in the manor and rip the evidence off right under the eyes of people in Fu General Manor. What was that person trying to do?
“Young Madam, Nanny Hu seems to have found the painting.” The maidservant had her back to her and looked into the warehouse, so she did not find anything unusual about her. She reminded her as she heard someone shout in surprise inside, “I found it.” Then Nanny Hu and the others all ran over to verify it.
“Well, okay.” Putting down the book in her hand, Luo Mingzhu casually took an account book and sat in front of the chair in a daze. She stared at the words on the account book, but her mind was filled with questions that she had thought about before. The more she thought about it, the more frightened and afraid she became. No matter who got the evidence, there must be a purpose. What did that person want to do?
Was the person trying to harm Fu General Manor? Why?
When an old story was brought up, what was the point of it? Her aunt was dead now, and her grandmother was old. More than 30 years was not short at all. At that time, the late Emperor was still on the throne. Maybe the current Emperor would not pursue it. Why did someone still pay attention to it and even find it in Fu General Manor?
What was the person trying to do with such a powerful method?
“No, I have to tell Tong’er that someone has already taken the initiative to investigate this matter. She has to think of a way!”
“Second Miss, We’ve found it. Is it this one?” Nanny Hu spread out the painting in her hand and reported to Luo Mingzhu happily.
“Yes, this is it. Thank you, Nanny Hu. Get someone to pack it for me!” Luo Mingzhu nodded. She closed the account book in her hand and handed it to her maidservant casually, asking her to put it in the cabinet.
“Nanny Hu, are you the one who has been tidying up your wing room?”
“Yes, Second Madam trusts me. I don’t dare to be lazy. Moreover, these things are related to the personnel of our manor. Of course, I have to do my best to sort them out. Many account books correspond to the things in the warehouse. I can’t be careless!” Nanny Hu said proudly. She was Madam Qu’s confidant, and this place was her office.
Luo Mingzhu stood up and asked, “Is there anyone else usually here?”
“Of course not. Usually, I am the only one here. But Madam would come to look for something sometimes. When I told Madam to wait here, she would also sit here and look through the account books.” Nanny Hu smiled and followed behind Luo Mingzhu out. When she was halfway to the door, she remembered that she had not closed the cabinet. She immediately turned around and told Luo Mingzhu about it. Then she went to close it.
Luo Mingzhu took a nap in the courtyard where she owned before she got married. In the meanwhile, Mo Xuetong had already learned from Madam Qu. She chatted with the Old Madam who had just woken up from her afternoon nap for a while before leaving with Luo Mingzhu. The two of them could be considered to be in the same way, but Luo Mingzhu had to take detours.
Just like when they came, they sent all the maidservants to another carriage. Luo Mingzhu told Mo Xuetong about the matter with a grave expression, especially the missing pages. She said worriedly, “Cousin Tong, what should we do now? There is no clue over there!”
She had no idea what to do at this time, and just looked at Mo Xuetong. Unconsciously she took Mo Xuetong as her backbone!
Mo Xuetong looked up with her watery eyes and asked Luo Mingzhu seriously, “Second Cousin, does the sign of where the pages were torn off look new? Is it like that they were rip off not long ago?”
Even though Luo Mingzhu did not know why she asked that question, she thought about it carefully. Then she nodded affirmatively and replied, “That’s right. The book has been some time since the cover started to turn yellow. However, the color of the sign of the pages that have been torn off is much lighter. It is obvious that they have not been ripped off not long ago.”
Someone was hiding the past or trying to expose it…