The expression on Yan Mingzhu's face remained unchanged, without any surprise, and she just said: "Liuxiang, go and talk to Butler Li and ask him to gather everyone in the house, but don't alarm grandma. My eldest cousin needs to be able to raise her baby safely.
Don't disturb her either."
Soon, everyone in the mansion gathered in front of Yan Mingzhu's house.
When Mrs. Yuan Da came over, she was still confused, "Zhuzhu, what happened?"
Before Yan Mingzhu could answer, Jiang Yingying, who had also been called over, said sarcastically: "Auntie, our Yuan family has now become the head of our family, Mingzhu's cousin, so she called us here early in the morning, and called auntie and
My mother-in-law has been invited here, so she’s not asking us to pay her respects, right?"
Because Jiang Yingying was reprimanded by Yan Mingzhu in public yesterday and was forced to eat the snacks that fell on the ground, which made her lose face, she was never happy with Yan Mingzhu.
Mrs. Yuan Er's face darkened and she scolded in displeasure: "Yingying, don't talk nonsense! Zhuzhu, is there something important?"
Yan Mingzhu nodded and motioned for Mrs. Yuan Da and Mrs. Yuan Er to sit down first.
Then he looked around at the servants in the corridor, and then slowly said: "When I got up early in the morning, I found that there was a thief in the yard. The silver in my box just now was stolen."
Mrs. Yuan Da was surprised when she heard about the theft: "How much money was lost?"
"Twelve."
As soon as Yan Mingzhu answered, Jiang Yingying burst into laughter, "This person who mobilized a large number of people invited the eldest aunt and mother-in-law over, but only lost ten taels of silver?"
Faced with Jiang Yingying's ridicule, Yan Mingzhu asked calmly: "Is ten taels of silver very little? Yes, before the Yuan family's accident, ten taels of silver might be just the cost of a meal.
But for now, it is enough to fill the entire house's stomachs for a whole day, does Second Cousin Sister-in-law still think it's a fuss?"
Jiang Yingying choked, but she refused to admit defeat: "Looking at what you mean, do you still think that I stole it? It's only ten taels of silver. You couldn't find it yourself, and you woke us up so early in the morning.
, I am singing an opera here with you, do you think everyone else is as idle as you?"
Mrs. Yuan Er glared at her, "Yingying, if you talk nonsense again, you will go to the ancestral hall and kneel down as punishment!"
Jiang Yingying clenched the handkerchief tightly in dissatisfaction and turned her head to one side, but at least she didn't speak again.
Yan Mingzhu was not annoyed by the provocation of the other party, and said calmly: "The sage has a saying, if the family is in order, the country will be peaceful, and the world will be peaceful. Only when the family is peaceful can you have time to pursue other ambitions.
What's more, now that the Yuan family is in turmoil, people outside are waiting for the Yuan family tree to fall and the hozens to scatter. If we, the Yuan family, get into chaos first, then everything will be over."
Mrs. Yuan Da nodded in agreement, "What Zhuzhu said is very true. Although ten taels of silver are small, if someone in the house dares to steal, it means there is something wrong with the management of the house. This thief must be found out, otherwise he will be lost in the future.
It’s not just money.”
With the support of Mrs. Yuan Da and Mrs. Yuan Er, Yan Mingzhu gave Liu Xiang a look. Liu Xiang immediately understood and took a step forward and said: "My girl said that no one can make mistakes without being a sage. If the person who steals is now himself
If you stand up, hand over your money and admit your mistake, you will be dealt with leniently. Whoever stole it should stand up."
The servants gathered in the corridor looked at each other. After a while, no one came forward.
"Since no one has taken the initiative to stand up, then everyone should stretch out their hands."
Although they didn't know what Liu Xiang wanted to do, the servants still stretched out their hands.
Liuxiang walked down the stone steps and looked at each person's hands one by one. Suddenly, she stopped and shouted: "It's him, arrest him!"
Immediately, the male servant's hands were held down and he was pushed to the ground.
The male servant struggled hard, "I didn't steal the money, why do you think I stole it!"
Liu Xiang raised his hand and said, "Search him, and then search the room where he sleeps."
No money was found on the male servant, but soon a servant returned.
"Cousin, I found a bag of silver from Azheng's bed, exactly ten taels!"
Everyone got the stolen goods, but the servant named Azheng was still complaining: "I saved these ten taels of silver myself. Why do you say they were the stolen ten taels?"
Liu Xiang calmly asked someone to lift Azheng's hands, and then raised the twelve taels of silver that he had found.
"Yesterday, my girl heard from Butler Li that the house has not been peaceful recently, and food is often thrown away from the kitchen. The girl was worried that the silver she had just brought back would also be remembered, so she ordered me to sprinkle silver powder on the silver.
Once this powder is stained, it cannot be easily washed off, and the powder will be left on your hands, which will glow silver in the sun, and everyone will know it at a glance!"
Everyone's eyes fell on Azheng's hand, and sure enough, they saw that his palm was emitting a light like stars, which was exactly the same as the light on the silver!
Ah Zheng didn't expect that Yan Mingzhu would be on guard. Now he was really speechless and collapsed to the ground.
"Please...please forgive me, please! Please spare my life, please!"
Yan Mingzhu said calmly: "The entire Yuan family is under the guard of the Forbidden Army. You can't spend the money even if you take it, so why are you stealing the money?"
Ah Zheng replied tremblingly: "The people your Majesty wants to punish are the Yuan family, and as long as we servants can escape from the Marquis' Mansion, we will be free, so... So we thought of raising money and bribing the guards.
Let us out..."
Yan Mingzhu grasped the key point, "We? So, you still have accomplices? If we recruit them, we can treat you lightly."
As soon as he finished speaking, with a few thuds, several of the servants knelt down and kowtowed on the ground, "Cousin, we know we were wrong! I...we only stole ten taels of silver, and nothing else."
We have done it before, please forgive us this time, please forgive us, we will never dare to do it again!"
Catching a thief once brought a lot of gains. Yan Mingzhu moved her fingers and said, "Drag him down and punish each with thirty sticks."
As soon as Ah Zheng heard the punishment of the stick, he immediately shouted: "You... you are not qualified to punish us! I... we signed a contract of betrayal with the Yuan family. If we want to deal with it, only the old lady is qualified, and you don't have the surname
Yuan, why are you pretending to be a master here?"
Unexpectedly, just as he started to speak nonsense, a voice sounded out: "Who dares to say no to the qualifications given to her by an old woman like me!"
Hearing the sound and looking over, he saw the senator's wife, who was supposed to be resting in the house, walking in this direction with the support of Chang's mother.
Yan Mingzhu immediately stood up and went over to hold the elder's wife's arm, "Grandma, why are you up? Your body is still weak. The most important thing right now is to recover."