Chapter 496.1: End of Matter, The Cause and Effect Becoming Clear
“Yes, yes, yes, you are the most reasonable. Then, Jin Qinwang, after this matter, what you want to do, why don’t you tell me in advance, letting me also be mentally prepared. What do you think?” Jing Wan said with a smile.
Li Hong Yuan, pretending to be serious, shook his head, hooking a smile, “Can’t say.”
Jing Wan shrugged, expressing that it didn’t matter. This kind of thing long wasn’t the first time. She was already used to it. Jing Wan’s curiosity wasn’t as strong as it was in the beginning. In any case, when time comes, she will be able to know. The final outcome was probably just three, tranquility, shock, or delight. It won’t exceed this range. Just don’t know which it will be this time. However, seeing his smile, the possibility of it being delight was relatively high. Then, it’s just nicely waiting.
Regardless of how lively the capital was, and regardless of how cruel it was in the northwest, Jing Wan’s days at the estate were more or less the same. Everyone all didn’t have the time to bother them. And the people that came to the neighboring estate also because of Le Cheng Emperor’s highly irritable temper lately, the great majority of them, all got warned by their family’s elders, so the number of times they went out also lessened, leisurely relaxing, purely relaxing, seemingly like Jing Wan and them, appearing to be not that affected.
Under this kind of circumstance, the people that went to investigate the whereabouts of the missing grains returned, stirring up another storm.
Several hundred thousand stones of grains disappearing, it was still fine if not discovered, but once discovered, under careful investigation, there will certainly be clues. After all, it was impossible for that much grain to disappear into thin air, and no one is capable of having it transported away without a sound. That’s why, in the end, can only say, the people that touched the granary this year were out of luck.
This kind of thing, it goes without saying, wasn’t the first time happening, but this year, or rather, after the fall harvest last year, someone’s greed multiplied, their appetite becoming too big. Just, they’d always been fine, and by the fall harvest of this year, the matter can be taken care of. But, in the end, the war occurred, and the granaries were opened in advance. The grains were already a lost cause, so they naturally could only helplessly watch and hope that they won’t be found out, or that the people above won’t have them thrown out to take the blame.
When going out, the people of the Ministry of Revenue all didn’t look well, and when coming back, they were further dejected. In fact, their treatment even changed completely. It was more than enough to see that the large amount of missing grains this time most likely were the result of ’embezzlement’. Perhaps it had nothing to do with the Head Minister of Revenue, but seeing that listless appearance of his, either it was being vexed at his ‘own people’ for being disappointing, or a certain important individual that was involved in this matter had a big connection with him.
However, because of Le Cheng Emperor deliberately suppressing this matter, when the matter broke out, it was relatively late. After all, at the very start of the war, the people that did these things already knew that it will sooner or later be discovered. That’s why, during these last few months, they all cleaned up the matter as much as possible. Although it was impossible to be completely clean, but a lot of the evidence indeed couldn’t be found. As such, in the end, it’s possible that only some relatively important people will get thrown out, while the true mastermind, or the person that obtained the greatest benefit from within, instead escape.
Having been busy for that long, yet unable to catch the main culprit, quite a few people were still gloomy inside.
Even if Luo Pei Shan’s body was good, he was ultimately still elderly in age. After returning home from an exhausting trip, his condition wasn’t too well, his body and mind both worn out.
Luo Pei Shan was someone that was strict with himself to begin with. The matters for one day easily won’t be left for the next day. However, this time, after returning, he instead directly returned to the main courtyard, not wanting to move.
Just, not long after, a servant came to report that Jin Qinwang Manor’s manor doctor, under wangfei’s orders, came to take Head Minister Luo’s pulse.
Having such a filial granddaughter, even if tired, the heart was still warmed, the body seemingly all relaxing quite a bit.
Gong Jiu took Luo Pei Shan’s pulse. There weren’t any major problems, for the most part, still because of old age, the body functions weakening. After resting for a period of time, it won’t affect the longevity. Just, whether or not the body will somewhat worsen, he nevertheless didn’t dare to guarantee. After all, a person’s situation really wasn’t easy to say.
Gong Jiu applied the needles for Luo Pei Shan, alleviating the body’s discomfort, and it can be said to have immediate effect. Luo Pei Shan clearly felt a lot more relaxed, greatly sighing.
Gong Jiu also prescribed the medicine, and regardless whether it was due to his heart as a doctor, or his master’s instructions, he all urged a few words.
Even if it’s Jin Qinwang Manor’s manor doctor, the people of the Luo family were still relatively deferential. Because Luo Rong Yan’s generation were all still at the government offices, it was Luo Jing De personally sending the person out.
When returning, he just heard Luo Pei Shan saying, granddaughter is good, granddaughter is a considerate little cotton-padded jacket. And towards his grandsons, that was just disdaining in all kinds of ways. Towards his sons that still haven’t returned, it was also thoroughly criticizing. From the looks of it, once they return, they will probably have to enter the study again, receiving their father’s ‘lectures out of love’.
His grandsons all wisely chose to shut their mouth, silently listening. If they dare to open their mouths at this time, they will immediately receive that lecture.
However, at night, Head Minister Luo wasn’t able to lecture his sons, because that second son of his that was determined to climb up truly gave him a big surprise this time.
Luo Rong Yan wanted to be a good father, becoming his daughter’s backing. His own likes and preferences were all abandoned, always leaving early and returning late. During the second and third month, he even left the capital for a period of time. Later, there were also a few more times, but it seemingly was also just that, nothing of importance.
Because he was Jin Wangfei’s father, his colleagues and superiors further respected him, flattering him somewhat. It was just an idle post to begin with, so they further won’t let him do anything. Even during this busy time for everyone else, he seemingly still didn’t have anything to do. As such, how can he make progress?
Luo Pei Shan was also busy, thus too lazy to bother with him, perhaps also somewhat wanting see exactly what he can do.
Reasonably speaking, to want to improve, even if having nothing to do, one still need to find something to do. Luo Rong Yan was indeed like this too. Just, he didn’t take a common path.
That’s why, even Luo Pei Shan didn’t expect that he would actually soundlessly accomplish something big.
Luo Pei Shan flipped through the account book looking thing in hand. Recorded on there was X year, X month, X day, from place A to place B, how much grain was transported, how much the price, and also from which granary. Even the people in charge of selling it, as well as the other receiving party was all included. Compared to ordinary account books, it can be said to be crude, but compared to the information Luo Pei Shan and them brought back from their trip, this thing was just don’t know how many times more detailed. Flipping all the way to the end, there was a total, the amount very close to that batch of missing grains.
Luo Pei Shan looked at the ‘account book’, and then looked at his own son, even genuinely feeling strangely complicated inside, “How did you take note of this?”
“In the Ministry of Revenue, I don’t have anything to do, but since I want to do a bit of something, I naturally need to understand the most fundamental things in my environment. Having nothing to do, I just went and browsed through those account books. At first, I also didn’t notice anything. The reason why I would take notice was because there was a fat boy in the Ministry of Revenue muttering about how the weight of the grains wasn’t right, so I asked. He said, according to his knowledge, the grains that enter the granary were all stored in standardized sacks. The different kinds of grains, after packing into the sacks, how much they would weigh, each would have their own weight, but the same grains should more or less weigh the same. In the account books, each sack’s weight wasn’t that different from normal, but the total sum nevertheless greatly differed. Thus, I realized, the grains might have problems. Shortly after, I discovered, the ones that had problems, for the most part, were all the account books from the later re-inspections. The initial account books from when the grains first entered the granary didn’t have this kind of situation. Because the amount of account books was enormous, mixing together, and when re-inspecting, very rarely would the granary still be full, as such, it thus didn’t attract any attention. After spending some time, organizing the account books from the last ten years, every year all had problems, just a matter of how much. This year’s amount was especially big, but the most serious was still the one from seven years ago.”
T/N: The fat boy is most likely the genius accountant that got introduced to the Ministry of Revenue through Jing Wan’s recommendation. He was first mentioned in chapter 108.
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