Going through the Red Mansions quickly means going against the system.

Lai Da thought twice and went to see Jia Zheng with the account book he had corrected.

His mother, Aunt Lai, was right, this matter still needs to be thought about by the rightful owner.

"What's the matter?"

Jia Zheng glanced sideways at Lai Da. His master looked very majestic. Ever since he saw Lai Da's powerful aura that day, every time he saw Lai Da, he showed off his official power.

After all, not all young masters like the feeling that the valet Long Aotian is sworn to guard the young master Liu Bo.

He is the head of the family!

Lai Da was stunned for a moment when he saw him like this.

"Master, I have something to report."

Lai Da handed over the account book and sighed, "Originally, I shouldn't have said this, but now that the family is in trouble, I can't help it. It's time for the master to take care of the family."

"What do you mean?"

Jia Zheng was stunned and followed Lai Da's hand and saw a large pile of ledgers. "It's so out of character. Why are you keeping track of the ledgers?"

Lai Da complained in his mind about Jia Zheng, the head of the family, but he said calmly on his face: "It's just about taking advantage of the leisure time. When the festival gets busy, you won't be able to take care of it."

He opened the account book and explained it page by page, and finally came to the conclusion: "There is no money in the Jia family's public account!"

"How could this be?"

Jia Zheng frowned. He went through what Lai Da said one by one and found that just in terms of the cost of hiring the sweepers, he spent nearly 400 taels of silver every month.

And his monthly salary is only more than one hundred and sixty taels. Of course, this is not considered extra income.

But this is too much!

"I have never used so many flowers before..."

Jia Zheng was shocked.

"Master, every expense is recorded. I was afraid of offending someone, so I didn't dare to say anything. Now... I really can't bear it anymore."

Lai Da started to explain the expenses of the Qingke with a heartbroken look on his face.

Originally, Jia Zheng had five or six Qing guests, but some came and some didn't come every month, and the cost was about one hundred and fifty taels.

Later, after the wedding ceremony in Yuanchun, this group of Qingqing guests came to support me every day and consumed more than 20 taels of tea and snacks every day.

Later, there were rumors about the "deposed queen" in the emperor's office, and they actively promoted empress Yuanchun's reputation. Jia Zheng was so happy that he rewarded her with fifty taels at a time. Later rewards were considered to be higher than this reward, so it gradually became a convention.

Because this was a serious matter, Jia Mu's office subsidized Jia Zheng a little. Therefore, Mr. Zheng's monthly salary was all spent every month, so it was not replenished to the public account.

"I see."

Jia Zheng put away the account book with a guilty conscience, "Next time, be careful, is there anything else?"

Lai Dadu was shocked. Jia Zheng didn't even listen to what he said at the beginning!

"I have clearly explained the expenses of the master's place, and there is also a place for pardoning the master!"

"Well, I don't need to worry about my brother's affairs, right?"

Although Jia Zheng said this, he still opened the account book handed over by Lai Da and read it.

"Master Pardon has no customers, but there are many concubines in the backyard. The concubine I just bought two days ago cost 800 taels, and it was taken away from the public account."

"Although Mr. She's monthly expenses are less than Mr. She's, his place has big expenses at least four times a year. So although Mr. She's monthly salary is higher than Mr. She's, it actually hasn't been paid into the public accounts for the past five or six years. Save the money."

"is it?"

Jia Zheng suppressed the raised corners of his mouth, looked at the account book carefully, and decided to talk about this matter when he saw Jia's mother later.

"Brother is too naughty."

Regardless of his petty thoughts, Lai Da thought that it was too ridiculous for these two brothers to be the eldest brother and not talk about the second brother, so he continued:

"Second Master Lian is not a serious errand, and his monthly salary is only a small sum. Moreover, the old lady feels sorry for her grandson, and his money has never been entered into the public account. Therefore, in recent years, all the public property in the government has been spent on the public account. Proceeds.”

"Well, I remember this. There are so many real estate shops at home, and the income is more than 10,000 taels a year. Why is there no money in the account?"

Jia Zheng was confused, and he finally began to take Lai Da's report seriously.

"The master is talking about the good years before. When our Jia family was at its best, we had an income of more than 20,000 taels a month. This was just the income from the farm shop, and it did not count the income from the war."

"Today, the weather is not good, and the household expenses are high. Since the old lady left the house, my wife and grandma are very careful about everything. It is difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice."

"What do you mean?"

Jia Zheng stood up, took the thickest account book handed to him by Lai Da, quickly flipped through the beginning to the last page, and found that since the last two years, the family's annual income has become more than 6,000 taels of silver. .

"Why so much less?"

Jia Zheng's eyes almost fell out!

"Since the year Baoyu was born, there have been constant natural and man-made disasters all over the country. Many rivers have changed their courses, and the family's farmland has changed from fertile fields to thin fields. It is unproductive and burdensome for people. My wife took the initiative and asked the Xue family to help sell many of them. .”

"Originally, my wife wanted to exchange the money for new land, but bandits were recruited in my hometown, and there were no more tenants rushing to farm. The land was deserted for two or three years. When the old lady found out, she felt distressed, so she decided to stay. Relatives in my hometown have rented their own crops."

"Nowadays, there are things like this in the capital, and they are all approved by the masters. For example, this Mantou Temple, Tiekang Temple, etc., because there are relatives with weak blood living there, the properties there are all used by the masters. Xinci gave it to the monks and sisters-in-law in the temple. Now it is the harvest of these fields that ensures that the orphans, widows and children have houses to live in. "

"This... this is a good deed, and it is what it should be. It cannot be saved."

Jia Zheng felt helpless, and then he realized why his family's property had shrunk so much.

"The shops were not very experienced, and many of them fell down and were never put up again. For example, our Jia family's grain shop and noodle shop were slowly squeezed out because the family had no extra output."

"Another one is that my wife is proposing to marry. I originally thought that the old emperor would reward me with money, and the house I built was really too extravagant. But then I didn't see the emperor coming to visit, so..."

Therefore, the subsequent expenses are not earned back!

Jia Zheng put down the account book in despair and sighed, "My Majesty, this is a necessary expense, and it cannot be saved in the first place... I already know about this, please don't make it public, and do your part first..."

Suddenly, a boy knocked on the door outside.

"Sir, Second Master Lian's servant came over to reply and said that Second Master Lian has been feeling unwell recently and can't come on errands, so he needs to take two days off."

"what happened?"

Jia Zheng opened the study door and asked with a sullen face.

The boy immediately got close to Jia Zheng's ear and reported everything about Jia She looking for Jia Lian and how he beat Jia Lian badly.

"Now he is being carried back bleeding, so Second Mistress Lian sent someone to ask for leave from Second Master Lian!"

As soon as Lai Da heard this, he knew that this was news caused by the father and son trying to get married.

Jia She couldn't get the mandarin duck, and he suspected that Jia Lian was the one causing trouble. In addition, because he failed to steal the fan from "Stone Dumb", he beat his son half to death due to "new and old grudges".