After rebirth, I became a treacherous minister Black Moonlight

"That's right!" The second wife had long been fed up with the old lady's behavior of subsidizing her parents' family.

The old lady frowned and said to Meng Qianqian, "Saving people is important, take it out first."

Meng Qianqian sighed: "It's not that my granddaughter-in-law is unwilling to pay this money, it's just that I only have 10,000 taels left."

Madam Zhao was surprised and said, "You...you have so much dowry silver...but only 10,000 taels are left? How did your Lu family spend it?"

Meng Qianqian sighed again: "I don't know either. In the past few years, I just paid the bills. My grandmother decided how to spend the money."

Fortunately, the old lady didn't trust her, and all the managers in the mansion were the old lady's own confidants, otherwise she would have been unable to explain herself.

The old lady's face suddenly looked a little embarrassed. She cleared her throat and said, "Let's not talk about this for now. Take out the ten thousand taels and let your great-aunt help you out."

Meng Qianqian smiled and said, "It's OK for emergency use, but let's make it clear first, this money is a loan from me to the Zhao family, with both principal and interest, and it's in writing."

The old lady was unhappy when she heard this: "Why would we set up this for our family? Can we still rely on your money?"

Madam Zhao said, "Yes, Qianqian, you are being too polite!"

Meng Qianqian ignored the two of them and turned to look at the Second Madam: "What do you think, Second Aunt?"

The Second Madam knew the Zhao family's moral character very well: "Write the IOU! Sign a written agreement! Otherwise, don't lend me the money! Sister-in-law, don't you agree?"

Mother Lu nodded: "Brothers should be clear about the accounts. Let's write an IOU."

Meng Qianqian looked at the old lady and said, "Grandma, I'll put the IOU in your hands. I won't rush you to pay it back."

Although the old lady supported her natal family, she was still worried that if the money could not be repaid, the Lu family would not be able to survive in the future.

What's more, I am the one who holds the IOU, so if just in case my parents really can't pay it back... or pay too little, I will have the final say.

Old Madam Zhao knew very well how much this aunt favored her mother's family. If the IOU was in her hands, wouldn't it be the same as not having fought at all?

Old Madam Zhao also readily agreed.

The old lady looked at Meng Qianqian suspiciously: "Do you really only have 10,000 taels left?"

Meng Qianqian took out a key from her purse: "Grandma, this is the key to the storeroom. If you don't believe me, go check it yourself."

The old lady took the key: "Go to the warehouse!"

The second lady's eyes flashed, and she took Mother Lu's arm and said, "Sister-in-law, let's go too!"

She had to watch it personally and must not let the old lady and the Zhao family take away the extra money.

The group went to the warehouse in a mighty procession.

Although the key is in Meng Qianqian's hand, there are always security guards who know martial arts guarding outside the warehouse. The security guards were arranged by Lu Xingzhou. The security guards know exactly whether Meng Qianqian has moved things in the warehouse without permission.

Therefore, when they counted again and again and confirmed that there were only 10,000 taels of silver left in the box, they were all dumbfounded.

"Why did it cost so much..."

The second wife gritted her teeth secretly.

The old lady's heart was no less sad.

Meng Qianqian saw the shock of the two people. The money was almost spent. Are they stupid?

In fact, even in the capital, ten thousand taels is a considerable sum of money. However, compared with the huge dowry that Meng Qianqian brought that year, the remaining amount is not much.

Meng Qianqian and Lu's mother have always been frugal, as has the old lady, so it is easy to imagine who squandered the money.

Unfortunately, the person involved doesn’t think so.

The old lady thought that the second wife must have stolen a lot from it, while the second wife thought that the old lady gave too much to her natal family.

Meng Qianqian looked confused: "Grandma, Second Aunt, you look very unhappy. Is there something wrong? Otherwise, let's call a few managers and check the accounts together?"

"No need!"

"Need not!"

The old lady and the second lady said in unison.

Meng Qianqian saw through it but didn't say anything. She continued, "In fact, my daughter-in-law has also looked at some account books recently and feels that there are indeed major problems with the accounts."

The old lady quickly frowned, "What accounts can you understand? Do you think the Lu family in the capital is a small family like yours in Youzhou? Not to mention the expenses of the various courtyards in the mansion, your father-in-law is an official outside, and he has to deal with favors. You are a merchant girl, so naturally you don't understand the ins and outs of officialdom!"

Madam Zhao looked at the old lady eagerly: "Sister, we are still short of 10,000 taels...what should we do?"

The old lady glanced around.

The second lady immediately took a step back and said, "I didn't!"

Mother Lu said, "Neither does my daughter-in-law."

Mother Lu really had nothing; her dowry had been supplemented in her early years.

The old lady said to her younger brother and sister-in-law, "I remember that the Zhao family has two shops on East Street, which should be worth 10,000 taels in total."

Madam Zhao's face changed: "Big sister——"

The old lady waved her hand: "It's settled."

Old Madam Zhao originally wanted to take everything from the Lu family, but she never expected that Meng Qianqian's dowry was squandered by the Lu family until only the last ten thousand taels were left.

In fact, she was somewhat resentful of her aunt. In recent years, her aunt had been taking advantage of the Meng family's maid and must have saved up a lot of money for her coffin, but she insisted that the Zhao family buy out the two most valuable shops.

But she couldn't say it, after all, the two shops were secretly bought for her mother's family by her aunt using the dowry money of the maid from the Meng family.

Meng Qianqian wrote an IOU in front of everyone, asked Madam Zhao and her grandson to sign it, and then handed the IOU to the old lady.

The second wife complained, "We gave it all to the Zhao family. What are we going to eat? Are we going to starve?"

Meng Qianqian said helplessly: "There are still some gold and silver jewelry in the storeroom. If the family is really in trouble, we can pawn them to get by. Grandma doesn't have to return the key to Qianqian."

This is totally not the way to be a boss.

But what can the old lady say?

Meng Qianqian has indeed been "squeezed dry"!

Back at Haitang Courtyard, Nanny Li was heartbroken.

"Miss, you just lent your last ten thousand taels to the Zhao family without even taking the IOU. What if the Zhao family refuses to pay you back in the future?"

Meng Qianqian said: "Of course the Zhao family won't return it."

If you are powerful, no one will dare to owe you money even if you don’t have an IOU. But if you are powerless, no matter how many IOUs you have or how much evidence you have, the other party will be fearless and will refuse to pay you to the end.

Unfortunately, Meng Qianqian is the latter.

So from the very beginning, she didn't expect the Zhao family to pay back the money.

midnight.

Meng Qianqian woke up from her sleep.

She was not awakened by a nightmare, but she opened her eyes at the right time out of habit.

Lu Yuan sat on his exclusive rosewood official hat chair again, roasting smokeless red charcoal, and flipping through her new storybook lazily and comfortably.

"This one is not as good as the previous one. It's so ugly!"

It's ugly, but you still watch it?

Meng Qianqian glanced at the bedside table, on which was placed a thick stack of silver bills and two shop deeds.

It was a good deal to make a deal with the Grand Commander. Not only did he successfully transfer out 10,000 taels of dowry, but he also made the Zhao family give up their two most valuable shops.

In front of him, Meng Qianqian checked the authenticity of the deed and counted the silver bills on the table.

"Two thousand taels more."

The Zhao family only took 10,000 taels of silver from her.

Commander Lu flipped a page of the storybook and said nonchalantly, "Baozhu gave it to you."

The little guy can already pay for his own milk?

Meng Qianqian said, "Oh!" and counted out two thousand taels of silver notes: "Please ask the Grand Commander to hand this money over to the Commander."

It's not easy for others to put on a performance, and she understands the social etiquette.

He was originally worried that this gentleman would refuse, thinking that she was taking the opportunity to curry favor with him and his men.

She had even thought of what to say, but unexpectedly, Admiral Lu just said "hmm" indifferently.

Meng Qianqian secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

This person is a little unruly, but it's not tiring to get along with him.

Meng Qianqian asked: "Where is Zhao Zhao?"

Lu Yuan: "In the basket."

Meng Qianqian: “No.”

Lu Yuan was stunned and turned to look at the basket with only an empty swaddling clothes.

"..."

Uh, where's the little pig?