As soon as Shen Tianshu arrived home, Grandma Yang came to greet her.
"Girl, I finally have news about Mrs. Tong, who I have been looking for for so long. I heard that I specially sent a housekeeper to invite someone, which is a great honor. It seems that Xu's illness is about to get better this time. "
Judging from the tone, Grandma Yang felt quite regretful about this.
Isn't that right? My girl has just taken over as housekeeper. If Mrs. Xu gets better like this, wouldn't it mean that the job she got was taken away again before she could warm it up?
"Didn't the doctor tell me that my mother's illness is a heart disease? If the heart knot is not removed, the disease will naturally be difficult to recover from." Shen Tianshu said and entered the room and ordered, "Bring over the account book you found last night and let me take a look inside. What's so tricky about it that Mrs. Yan has been pushing and refusing to hand it over."
Although the family's population is simple, the family's annual expenses are quite large.
Moreover, as Shen Zhonglei was the prefect, he kept records of all the people and relationships in the past year. There were more than a dozen accounts laid out, and the amount alone was enough to scare away many people.
Shen Tianshu first took out the account book from February last year, took out the Hua Chao Jie part and browsed it, then handed it to Ming Hui and said, "Copy out the Hua Chao Jie part separately."
She then began to open the other ledgers.
Shen Tianshu read the account book very quickly. She first only looked at the amount column to find out the large expenditures, then checked whether the previous items were reasonable, and picked out the few unreasonable ones and wrote them down.
Shen Zhonglei had never cared about the accounting matters, and there was no one in the back house who could compete with the Xu family, so over the years, she had become accustomed to being the one on her own, so her memory of the accounting books was astonishingly straightforward, full of loopholes, without any cover-up.
Shen Tianshu quickly picked out several questionable expenditures, almost each of which cost more than a thousand taels of silver. In total, tens of thousands of taels of silver went unaccounted for a year.
"Mom is too careless." Shen Tianshu closed the last account book and threw it back on the kang table.
Mingyu said excitedly: "Girl, let's bring these to the master. Madam, will you..."
"You are still too young." Shen Tianshu leaned on the pillow and said, "Dad may not know these things, but he just turns a blind eye. Even if he doesn't know, it is between them and their husband. Do you think that if I, a daughter, reveal these things, he will be happy?"
"Ah?" Mingyu obviously didn't think so much, "Then, why are you doing all this? Isn't it a waste of effort?"
"Just because we can't talk, it doesn't mean we can't let others talk." Shen Tianshu already had a plan in mind, but he didn't want to reveal more yet, so he directed Mingyu out and said, "Go to the front and see if the housekeeper is back."
The housekeeper Shen Liang had just returned from Renhe Street after a bad experience.
"Sir, I haven't even seen Mrs. Tong in person. The servants in the Tong Mansion said that Mrs. Tong doesn't go to see a doctor. Whoever wants to see a doctor has to take the patient there."
Shen Zhonglei frowned when he heard this: "Didn't Mrs. Tong go to Luo's house for medical treatment before? Why did she suddenly say she can't do medical treatment again?"
Hearing this, Shen Liang smiled bitterly and said, "Young man said this, but the servants in Tong Mansion are very aggressive. Even if they bite me to death, they won't come to see a doctor. I can't lead someone to break in, right?"
Shen Zhonglei had nothing to do when he heard this. If he were an ordinary doctor, he might be able to exert some pressure as a prefect.
But Madam Tong was different. First of all, she took action in a critical moment and saved Mrs. Zhao's life, which made Shen Zhonglei very grateful to her.
Secondly, not everyone is as utilitarian as Gong Lihua. From his previous contact with Mrs. Tong, to some of the deeds he heard about later when he was looking for someone, this Mrs. Tong is not only excellent in medical skills, but also has no utilitarianism.
Such people are generally relatively noble, have their own inherent persistence, and will not give in just because of the oppression of power.
If you don't get it right, you might miss out on a master of the apricot forest.
This is different from other experts. If others miss it, they may lose money or opportunities, but if the Xinglin master misses it, one day in the future, the price may be his own life or the life of his family.
Thinking of this, Shen Zhonglei sighed and turned back to the main room of the back house.
Mrs. Xu still had a low-grade fever at this time and was feeling very lethargic. Lying on the bed, she felt uncomfortable everywhere, and she was very irritable. The few maids who were serving her had been scolded a lot in the past few days.
Suddenly, a little girl ran back from outside, opened the door and came in and whispered a few words to Hanqiao.
Hanqiao's face lit up with joy when she heard this. She quickly asked someone to pour a basin of warm water and went into the house to give Mrs. Xu a scrub.
"Madam, the master has come to the backyard, please wash your face!"
"It doesn't matter if you come to the backyard, you're not here!" Mrs. Xu turned her head to the bed uninterested, "I feel very uncomfortable, please stop tossing me."
As soon as she finished speaking, the little maid at the door hurried in and said: "Madam, the master has entered the courtyard."
Hanqiao hurriedly took the opportunity to persuade: "Madam, since the master is willing to come to see you, he must be submissive. Please don't choke the master anymore."
Mrs. Xu was stunned when she heard this. She quickly turned around and urged Hanqiao: "Hurry up and wipe your face for me. Is my face too ugly? Come here, bring the rose powder!"
But there was no time for her to freshen up. As soon as Hanqiao wiped her face, Shen Zhonglei had already stepped into the house.
After Shen Zhonglei entered the house, he ignored Mrs. Xu and only told Hanqiao: "Hurry up and take someone to pack Madam, so that she can change into clothes suitable for going out."
Hanqiao was stunned when she heard this. Xu has been ill for so many days and her fever has not completely gone away. Where are you going to take your wife?
She then thought about the news she had received in the middle of the night last night. Madam Yan had failed to keep it, and all the account books from last year had been collected by the eldest girl.
Seeing Mr. Xu in a bad mood today, she didn't dare to tell Mr. Xu about it!
Could it be that the older girl went to complain?
Master, are you trying to drive your wife out?
Mrs. Xu was stunned when she heard this. Her good mood was immediately ruined when she learned that Shen Zhonglei had come to see her. She collapsed and said, "I'm not dead yet. Are you going to kick me out to make room for the newcomer?"
"What nonsense are you talking about again! What kind of newcomer? Where did the newcomer come from!" Shen Zhonglei's train of thought was instantly led astray by Mrs. Xu, "The doctor told you not to think randomly and take a good rest. These are the things you think about every day.
How can you possibly get better with such messy things!"
Hearing this, Hanqiao quickly smoothed things over and said, "Madam, weren't you still talking about me before? Now that I've come to see you, you should be happy!"
"He didn't come to see me, he just came to make me angry to death!"
"If I wanted to piss you off to death, why would I ask Mrs. Tong to treat you? I think I'm just full!"
Shen Zhonglei dropped these words, turned around and walked away.