"You, you don't have any evidence. Don't slander me!"
Lin Shuwen's face turned from green to white and then to green again. A trace of disbelief quickly appeared on his face, but it soon disappeared. He pointed at Lin Wanru and said, "You want to firmly control the Lin family and can't bear to let go of power, so you used this despicable method to frame your second uncle. You don't care about the Lin family, do you still care about me, your second uncle?"
"It's because I care about the Lin family and second uncle, so I wanted to suppress this matter …"
Lin Wanru sighed and said, "But after Second Uncle's reminder, Wanru suddenly realized that the Lin family is not my Lin family, nor is it Second Uncle's Lin family. It is everyone's Lin family. Everyone trusts me so much, but Wanru actually wants to play favorites. I'm really ashamed …"
"As for the evidence …"
Lin Wanru took out a few pieces of paper from her sleeve and put them on the table beside her. She said, "These are the evidence of Second Uncle's corruption in the past year. They are written clearly, one by one. Everyone, take a look."
Lin Shuwen grabbed the pieces of paper and glanced at them. His face immediately turned pale and bloodless.
He knelt on the ground and cried, "Wanru, Wanru, please let me go. Second Uncle was wrong. Second Uncle was bewitched. I beg you, I beg you, don't report me to the authorities. I don't want to go to jail, I don't want to go to jail!"
The Second Master of the Lin family, who had been righteously indignant and said that he was thinking for the sake of the Lin family, was now in tears and snot. He no longer mentioned the matter of breaking up the shop. He knelt on the ground and cried bitterly, almost kowtowing.
The others looked at each other when they saw this. Someone took the pieces of paper and glanced at them. His face immediately changed.
"Second Brother, you, why did you …"
"18,000 taels of silver. You've taken all the money that was missing!"
"You, you said Wanru, so it was you!"
Looking at Lin Shuwen's performance, they didn't doubt the authenticity of these pieces of paper at all. The hall immediately burst into an uproar.
Lin Wanru shifted her position slightly and stood beside Lin Shuwen, not letting him face her directly. She looked at the crowd and said, "After all, this is our Lin family's matter. What do you all think we should do about it?"
The noise in the hall decreased slightly. Everyone looked at each other and didn't say anything. This matter was really difficult to deal with.
After all, Lin Shuwen was a member of the Lin family. If they really took him to court, it would be a disgrace to the Lin family, and it would be detrimental to the stability of the Lin family.
However, if they just let it go and pretend that they didn't see it, they wouldn't be able to convince the masses.
After a moment, an old man sighed and said, "Although Shuwen is wrong, he is still a member of our Lin family. We don't need to trouble the authorities with this matter, right?"
Another man nodded and said, "Third Uncle's words are reasonable. We shouldn't wash our dirty linen in public. If it gets out, our Lin family will become the laughingstock of Feng State City."
"We don't need to trouble the authorities. Wanru, what do you think we should do about this matter?" Someone shook his head and looked at Lin Wanru.
Lin Shuwen suddenly raised his head, and a glimmer of hope emerged in his eyes.
Lin Wanru was silent for a moment. Then, she said, "Second Uncle, you don't need to worry about the supply of goods in the store. I will slowly deduct the money from the second branch's money …"
"Thank you, Wanru. Thank you, Wanru!"
Lin Shuwen stood up from the ground, wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, and said repeatedly.
Lin Wanru turned her head and looked at the other two men. "Third Uncle, Fourth Uncle, you don't need to busy yourself with the matters of the store for the next two days. I will arrange for a new shopkeeper to go there in a few days."
The two men were stunned. They weren't the ones who were embezzling. What did it have to do with them?
"Wanru, this … I'm afraid this isn't appropriate …"
One of the men opened his mouth with a troubled expression. Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by someone behind him.
"Let's do it this way. Wanru, you can arrange these things. We will listen to you when it comes to the business."
"Yes, yes, yes. Third Brother, Fourth Brother, just do what I ask you to do. Why are you asking so many questions?" Someone else said.
"Okay …" Seeing that people kept speaking up, the two men's faces gradually showed despair. In the end, they could only grit their teeth and agree.
"The store is busy. If there's nothing else, I will leave first." Lin Wanru looked at the crowd and said.
"No, no. Wanru, you go ahead."
"The matter of the store is more important. It's fine here."
"Remember to inform the authorities and say that it's a misunderstanding …"
When the crowd heard this, they all spoke up. If it wasn't necessary, they wouldn't want to stay with her. Even if she stood there without saying a word, she would give them an invisible layer of pressure …
Today was clearly a drama of the second branch forcing the Lin family to abdicate. In the end, the second, third, and fourth branches suffered a double loss. They had completely lost their business with the Lin family. Delegating power had turned into taking it back. In the future, her words in the Lin family would only have more weight …
Watching her leave, then looking at Lin Shuwen who was covered in cold sweat, many people secretly shook their heads. They had underestimated the eldest daughter of the Lin family!
…
Lin Yong leaned against the door and grinned. When he saw Lin Wanru coming out, he hurriedly followed her.
"Miss, where are we going now?"
Lin Wanru walked past a moon door and said, "To the store."
Lin Yong scratched his head and asked doubtfully, "Ah, to the store? Isn't that going to the yamen?"
"Why are we going to the yamen?" Lin Wanru said as she walked, "There's a new batch of goods that was delayed for two days. Remember to hurry them up …"
"Won't the authorities send people to arrest Second Master?" Lin Yong was stunned, but he didn't care too much. Of course, he wanted to go to the store and not the yamen.
Seeing that it was almost mealtime, it wasn't a bad idea to go to the Li Brothers' place for a bowl of porridge. To be honest, he had never tasted such delicious porridge in his life.
Although it wasn't full, he felt full of energy after drinking it. He could finally raise his head in front of his mother-in-law at night. It was just that he was prone to nosebleeds after eating, so he always had a cloth to block it …
In the small courtyard next to Fanglin Park, the mealtime today was 15 minutes earlier than usual.
If it was mealtime and Brother Lin got two bowls of porridge, there wouldn't be enough food for two people.
These were all things that burned money. Times were different now. Even a penny had to be split in half. With those medicinal herbs, Miss.Liu's body recovered very well. Now she could walk on her own without help. Of course, she still couldn't use her True Qi. Most of the time, she could only listen obediently. Li Yi could do whatever he wanted for the time being and didn't have to worry about her revenge …
However, he had to think of another way to earn more money. This time, he couldn't find a jade pendant that was worth a thousand taels of silver.
Just as he was worrying, there was a knock on the door. Lin Yong didn't have the habit of knocking on the door. Li Yi looked up at Lin Wanru and asked, "Has the matter of the account been settled?"
After all, he had received so much kindness from the girl. If he could do something for her, it would be a way to repay the favor.
"It's settled."
Lin Wanru nodded and said, "Thank you this time."
If it weren't for those pieces of paper, the matter this time would actually be a little troublesome. She had never doubted that there would be so many problems with the accounts that had been checked.
This time, the scholar that she picked up really gave her a big surprise.
Li Yi waved his hand and said, "You're welcome. This is the duty of an accountant."
A rare smile appeared on Lin Wanru's face. She said, "It's just a temporary measure. You don't have to take it seriously. To be honest, this time, you have indeed helped me solve a big problem."
Nearly twenty thousand taels of silver had permanently swept away the unstable elements within the family. A few days ago, Lin Wanru had never thought that this scholar she had picked up from the streets would be of such great help to her.
Lin Wanru looked at him and said, "I don't like to owe favors. If you have any difficulties, feel free to tell me. If it's something that I can do, I will do my best to help you."
Li Yi looked at her and asked, "Do you really have to thank me?"
Lin Wanru nodded.
"To be honest, I don't like to owe favors either." Li Yi thought for a moment and said, "Actually, in the past, when someone asked me to check the accounts, something terrible would happen. The price was not small … but this time, let's forget about it. You've helped me, and I've helped you. We don't owe each other anything. How about it?"
Lin Wanru nodded and turned to walk outside. When she reached the door, she stopped and turned back to ask.
"I don't know. What do you mean by 'something terrible'?"
After saying this, she felt that this sentence was a little redundant. Without waiting for Li Yi to answer, she shook her head and turned to leave.
In the courtyard, Li Yi sighed and said slowly, "The court is unstable. Officials are stripped of their titles, their properties are confiscated, and they are exiled. People are beheaded …"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
