Chapter 143: Baoyu checks the accounts of Rongguo Mansion, Ping'er reveals embarrassing things
"Second Brother Lian, Second Brother Lian? Sister Feng!"
It was noon on the day when the results were announced. Ping'er was doing her needlework outside when she heard someone shouting in the yard.
When he peeked out through the crack in the door, he saw Jia Baoyu stretching his neck and shouting there.
Ping'er threw the dustpan onto the pedestal and hurried out to meet them, saying with a smile, "Stop shouting! Our grandfather and grandmother went to Tiekan Temple early in the morning and may not be back until dusk."
When Baoyu heard this, he was deeply disappointed.
When he received the "task" from Sun Shaozong that day, he wanted to find out everything immediately so that Sun Erge would look at him differently.
As luck would have it , a cousin of my uncle Wang Ziteng suddenly fell ill and died.
As there was no male owner at home, Jia Baoyu and Jia Lian took turns to look after the mansion for a few days. They were so busy and sad that they naturally had no time to take care of Sun Shaozong's task.
Those who died young these days were usually given simple burials, so the body was only kept for three days and was buried outside the city at noon yesterday.
After this, Jia Baoyu rested for another day to relax a little, then came over excitedly to check the accounts, but he came up empty-handed.
He walked a few steps out with a frown on his face, then suddenly remembered something, turned back with a smile on his face, and asked Ping'er, "Sister Ping'er, are all the account books for our garden renovation kept by you?"
Ping'er was stunned when she heard this, and thought that the sun was rising from the west - otherwise, why would this person who didn't even help when the oil bottle fell over suddenly ask about the account book?
"It's not that I wanted to check it myself, it was actually Brother Sun..."
Jia Baoyu also knew that this was not in line with his usual personality, and he was afraid that Ping'er would regard him as a "vulgar person".
So he hurriedly told the story of Sun Shaozong's plan to build a garden, but was afraid of being deceived by unscrupulous businessmen, so he asked himself to find out the inside story first, and he told him everything like a bamboo tube pouring beans.
After hearing this, Ping'er's heart became clear as a mirror. She knew that Sun Shaozong's plan to build a garden was fake, but his plan to kill someone with a borrowed knife was real!
However, because of the coincidence that happened that day, she hated Lai Da to the core, so naturally she would not expose Sun Shaozong's plan.
Instead, he frowned, looked panicked, and said anxiously, "Little Ancestor, please take a break. I dare not check this account randomly!"
Given Jia Baoyu's personality, if Ping'er said that she had to wait for Wang Xifeng to make the decision, he would probably leave in anger.
But the words "dare not check randomly" made Baoyu quite unhappy. He stiffened his neck and asked, "What does this mean? Am I not the proper master of the mansion? How can I not look at the account book of the garden renovation?!"
These three consecutive interrogations made Ping Er even more panicked. She gritted her teeth and pulled Bao Yu into the house, stamping her feet and saying, "Little Ancestor, how can you not know what is good for you? I didn't let you check the account book, but it was for your own good!"
"For my own good? What does that mean?"
"How can you, the head of the household, know how many things this villa is involved in?" Ping'er said with a bitter smile: "At the beginning, our grandmother was so worried about this matter that she couldn't sleep well all night. If it weren't for Miss Lin's family..."
When she mentioned the words "Miss Lin", she quickly closed her mouth again, as if she had accidentally let the cat out of the bag.
Jia Baoyu became more and more confused, and asked puzzledly: "What does this have to do with Pin'er?"
"It's nothing, it's nothing!"
Ping Er clumsily tried to cover up, and then advised: "In short, you'd better not check the account. When you see Lord Sun in a few days, tell him that the labor and materials used in our family are the best, and the price is naturally very high. It's better for Lord Sun to find someone else."
With her words like this - especially since it involved Lin Daiyu, it would be strange if Jia Baoyu would give up asking questions!
He stretched out his hand and grabbed Ping'er's arm, twisting her like a piece of candy, and swore and promised that he would never tell anyone else.
Even a fierce person like Wang Xifeng could not resist this move, let alone Ping'er, a maidservant in the same room, so she was even more afraid of being seen by others.
Ping Er could only sigh and say, "Forget it. I will risk my life to tell you a few words of truth!"
Baoyu smiled and said, "Don't scare me, sister. What could be so dangerous? Besides, even if the sky falls, I will go to the old lady and help you to hold it up again!"
Ping Er sighed again, and then said quietly, "When the garden was first built, we estimated that 300,000 to 400,000 taels of silver would be enough - but who knew that other families would also build their own courtyards, and that Prince Zhongshun hoarded the property, so the price actually increased several times, making it impossible for our mansion to continue."
"But since we have already reported the visit to the imperial court, if we stop the work midway, it would be a crime of deceiving the emperor!"
"There was no other choice but to embezzle the money left by Mr. Lin."
"What?!"
When Jia Baoyu heard this, his eyes widened in astonishment: "We actually used Uncle Lin's money to build our garden? How much did he spend?!"
Ping'er stretched out her hand and made the number six.
Jia Baoyu subconsciously guessed a number: "Sixty thousand taels?!"
But Ping Er shook her head and said, "It's more than 600,000 taels!"
“Six…six hundred thousand taels?!”
Jia Baoyu was really frightened now. No matter how extravagant he was, he knew what 600,000 taels meant - even with a wealthy family like the Jia family, it would probably be enough for them to live on for decades!
His first thought was to rush to the old lady and expose this huge scandal!
But then he thought, with such a huge expense, who would dare to make the decision without the old lady's approval?
I'm afraid my father, mother, and even my uncle would have known about it a long time ago!
Ping'er saw him standing there like a wooden chicken for a long time. Fearing that he had another hysterical attack, she hurriedly comforted him, "In fact, this silver is also the dowry that Mr. Lin prepared for his daughter. If you two get married in the future, this silver should belong to our family..."
It would have been fine if she didn't comfort him, but when she said that, Baoyu got anxious and shouted, "What nonsense is that?! Not to mention that Sister Lin and I haven't gotten married yet, even if we really became a family, there is absolutely no reason for me to use the dowry without asking her!"
Ping'er was startled by his sudden outburst and took a step back, but smiled bitterly and said, "What's the point of yelling at me? I didn't spend the money."
Jia Baoyu immediately lost his temper again, and said with a bashful look, "I was just confused for a moment, please don't blame me, sister."
Then he said seriously, "Don't worry, sister. Many people treat me like a fool, but you are the only one who tells me the truth. I am so grateful that I will never betray you even if I die!"
Ping'er heard this and sighed, half moved and half scheming, "Since it's like this, I might as well tell you everything - in fact, our family also embezzled a large sum of money from the Xue family. I secretly guessed that one man was promised to two families!"
One man, two families?
Jia Baoyu felt as if struck by lightning. He staggered back a few steps, tripped over the threshold, and fell on his back like a turtle.
