Chapter 194 Xia Zhong recommends himself
Not long after Guo Ren left, Xia Zhong returned with a stack of books recording the embezzlement!
"Master, we have checked everything! According to you, there are 113 people who embezzled more than 50 taels of silver, and the total amount of embezzled silver is more than 28,000! There are 156 people who embezzled less than 50 taels of silver, and the total amount of embezzled silver is more than 6,800."
You know, there are fewer servants in the East Palace than in the West Palace, with a total of only more than 300 people. In other words, only about 20% of the total number are truly innocent and have not embezzled money. It is possible that these 20% have no chance because they have no power, or like Jiao Da, they are excluded by others. This shows how corrupt this palace has become!
"There is another person who needs instructions from the master!"
"Oh?" Jia Cong was surprised to hear this, and only heard Xia Zhong say, "This person also has dozens of taels of extra silver, but most of it was given by others on their own initiative, so it can't be considered as embezzlement. Master, please tell me whether to follow the rules or deal with it at your discretion!"
Jia Cong raised his eyebrows. It seemed that this person's identity was somewhat unusual, otherwise, Xia Zhong would never say so much for a servant.
"Who is this person?" Jia Cong asked.
" My Lord, it's Qin Xianjia who is in charge of the kitchen!"
Jia Cong immediately understood that Xia Zhong was doing this because Qingwen was his maid! Qingwen was favored by him, so she naturally had her own dignity. Qin Xian's family was somewhat related to Qingwen, so Xia Zhong would naturally not deal with them together. The others were probably just excuses to save Qingwen's dignity.
"Master!" Qingwen was stunned, then she knelt down in front of Jia Cong crying.
"Is Qingwen going to plead for Qin Xianjia?" Jia Cong asked with a smile.
Qingwen cried and shook her head, "Master has always been considerate of servants. These evil-hearted people should be punished. Not to mention them, even if my biological mother or father made a mistake, it cannot break Master's rules. Qingwen only asks Master not to... not to drive me away! Even if I have to be a servant in the mansion, it's fine!"
Xiangling, who was standing by, also knelt down beside Qingwen and said, "Master, Qingwen is usually the best. If you are angry, Xiangling is willing to be punished together with Qingwen."
Xiao Que'er took Jia Cong's arm and begged, "Master, let's not let Sister Qingwen go!"
As for Xiao Jixiang and the others, they also knelt down behind Qingwen and Xiangling.
Jia Cong didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "When did Master say that Qingwen would leave? You little girl hangs around everywhere all day, and Master's room is still entirely taken care of by Qingwen. If Qingwen leaves, where can Master find such a good maid?"
"Hurry up and get up! Um... Qingwen's fault, I will punish him tonight!"
"Thank you, sir!" Qingwen cried with joy and kowtowed to Jia Cong before standing up.
Jia Cong thought for a moment and said, "The master's maidservant must be respectable! For the sake of my Qingwen, Qin Xian's wife doesn't have to hand over to the authorities! But she can't do this job in the kitchen anymore. She should be transferred to the front yard as a rough maid after fighting twenty battles!"
"Also, tell her that her life was spared by the master for the sake of my Qingwen, so she should use the money she embezzled to bribe my good Qingwen!"
Xia Zhong took the order and left!
"Sister-in-law, Keqing, we must pay the compensation from the government office. We must not skimp on it. All the rest of the confiscated money should be turned over to the public treasury!"
The two of them responded, and then You said, "Brother Cong, look, half of the servants in this mansion are gone. If something happens, we may not be able to support you!"
"Sister-in-law, just do it yourself! If there is not enough, just send someone to buy it back, and sister-in-law and Keqing will teach it to you! For the time being, I'll trouble you to take care of the treasury and accounts in the mansion. I'll ask Jia Yun to find someone to take care of the farm outside the city! As for the position of the chief steward..."
"If the master thinks that I am acceptable, I will help you first!" Xia Zhong knelt down in front of Jia Cong and said.
From the day when Jia Cong entered the palace to express his gratitude, and these people were not able to return to the palace, but were instead directly given to Jia Cong by the emperor and the empress, his mind changed.
First of all, this meant that from now on they were no longer people in the palace, but Jia Cong's people! Life and death, honor and disgrace, were tied to Jia Cong! Secondly, although he didn't know much, as Xia Shouzhong's godson, and being picked by Xia Shouzhong to serve Jia Cong, he was obviously Xia Shouzhong's confidant, so he naturally understood how favored Jia Cong was.
Besides, who can use eunuchs? Only those above the rank of king can do so! The emperor and empress gave them to us openly, so they must have some ulterior motives!
Although the palace is good, how many people can survive to become the chief steward? I'm afraid that 99% of people die on this road!
Therefore, being able to become a confidant of Jia Cong might not be a bad way! Of course, he also knew that it was not easy to completely gain Jia Cong's trust, but he was confident that he could do it. Therefore , he recommended himself only after hearing Jia Cong's words.
Jia Cong thought for a moment and said, "In that case, I will temporarily hand this mansion over to you! If you do a good job, I will reward you generously, but if you make a mistake, you should know my methods! In addition, since you are the chief steward of the mansion, you don't need to use the name Xia Zhong, change it to 'Jia Zhong'."
Xia Zhong kowtowed without hesitation, "I am Jia Zhong, your servant, thank you for the name given to me by my master!"
Wang Xifeng, who was standing by, almost had her eyes sparkling. To make the eunuchs in the palace work as slaves was the first of its kind among the eight dukes and twelve marquises, except for the few princes' palaces of the founding dynasty. It was extremely majestic.
"Choose a few skilled and loyal servants from among the servants and have them approved by the eldest sister-in-law and Keqing, and assign them to positions in the kitchen! Wait until the eldest sister-in-law buys back the insufficient servants and trains them, then you can make your own arrangements."
"Yes!" Jia Zhong responded straightforwardly.
After taking care of the chores at home, the group returned to Ningzheng Hall to have dinner. Youshi and Keqing were somewhat uncomfortable with today's events, but Wang Xifeng was very excited and wished she could go back to the West Mansion immediately to show off her power as well.
In the afternoon, Lu Feng sent someone to report that the Lai family's property had been searched.
Looking at the account books, Youshi and Keqing were furious, and Wang Xifeng cursed loudly, "These evil-hearted devils should all be beaten with sticks! Relying on the power of the Jia family, they have embezzled more than 600,000 taels of silver. Add to that the house deeds, land deeds, antiques, etc., and you have a fortune of millions. The old lady is still thinking about the loyalty of the Lai family all day long. I'm afraid that old woman lives a more luxurious life than the old lady!"
"Fortunately, Brother Cong took ruthless measures to deal with them. Otherwise, wouldn't our Jia family really have been hollowed out by these bastards?"
