On the other side, the Su family was busy. After returning home from the city gate, Su Yao began to summon his managers and their wives to the meeting room to assign tasks.
Yu Dong was injured and not at home. It was his wife who came. Her eyes were red, and it was obvious that she had heard the news and cried for a while.
Although no one dared to say anything, most of them still secretly glanced at her.
People say that monkeys scatter when the tree falls. Now that something has happened to the Su family, even Yu Dong, who has always been proud in the mansion, can be beaten like this. The fourth girl is powerful, but she is still a woman after all. Can she really not marry this welfare head for the rest of her life
If she fails, this mansion will eventually fail.
The house-born children were fine, but many of them who had only written a document of surrender could not help but have other thoughts.
Su Yao usually has the final say in the mansion, but now that everyone has other thoughts, they naturally don't think they should listen to the fourth young lady anymore.
Su Yao sat silently in the chair in the meeting room. After waiting for a long time, he asked Yan Cao, "Is everyone here?"
Yan Cao's face was not looking good. She was already very angry for Su Yao after the commotion at the city gate, but now that she had returned home, there were still so many things to deal with. She tried to hold it in, but couldn't help biting her lip and shaking her head: "Miss, it's been an hour, and everyone still hasn't arrived."
An hour later, even the servants who lived the farthest away arrived, but some people still hadn't come. Any excuse seemed far-fetched and evasive.
Su Yao closed the book in his hand, straightened his sleeves and stood up: "If you are not here, then don't come. Let's go out and take a look."
Yan Cao agreed and hurriedly followed Su Yao out of the conference room.
The servants in the yard were already standing in rows, and when they saw Su Yao coming out, they all bowed in unison.
Li Rui wiped the sweat off his head and said in a somewhat awkward tone: "County Lady, some people haven't come yet..."
Su Yao hummed, with no expression on his face. He took the roster from Yan Cao, glanced at it and handed it to Li Rui: "Butler Li, you read it. Except for Yu Dong, circle the names of those who are not here. 0"
Li Rui quickly agreed, took the roster and began to call out the names loudly.
There were many people responding at the beginning, but as the words were read out, no one responded one after another. When all the words were read out, Li Rui's expression became even uglier: "Miss, there are a total of 167 people serving in our mansion, big and small, and now there are 120..."
He was a little nervous. After all, he was the butler. Now that something like this had happened, he could not escape the blame no matter what.
Su Yao glanced at him and saw that he was anxious and nervous, but he did not feel guilty or shirk his responsibility, so he asked in a deep voice: "Except Yu Dong, there are still forty-six people who haven't come, right?"
Li Rui didn't even bother to wipe the sweat off his forehead, and nodded quickly: "But the four maids and two maids who are taken care of by the old lady are not among the forty-six people. The ones in the lady's room and the young masters and young ladies' rooms must also be eliminated..."
Su Yao raised his hand to interrupt, "It has already been agreed in the old lady's room that only Madam Huang will come to listen. As for the young masters and young ladies and the lady of the earl, only one person will be left to guard the door. Everyone else will come. Just tell me, after cutting off these people, how many people are left?"
"There are still twenty-three people." Li Rui couldn't help but lower his voice a lot, and lowered his head, not daring to look at Su Yao's expression.
The family has been cleaned up so many times, but I didn't expect that there are still so many traitors in the end.
He really didn't have the face to see Su Yao.
The field was completely silent. Even if there were some people who had some ulterior motives before, after hearing the conversation between Li Rui and Su Yao, they did not dare to make any move at all, for fear of angering Su Yao.
Su Yao was not angry. She just pulled the corner of her mouth, hummed, and lowered her eyes lightly: "Forget it, Li Guanjia, you count the names of these 23 people. If they have written a letter of surrender, let them redeem themselves and pay the redemption money. They are not allowed to take anything else with them. From this moment on, they are not allowed to enter the mansion again. As for the children born in our family... .. send them all to the government and say that there are runaway slaves in our mansion. Please let the government handle the matter."
The atmosphere in the meeting room suddenly became even colder and stiffer, and for a moment the only sound that could be heard was people's breathing.
Everyone looked at each other, and finally everyone lowered their heads.
How can someone who has written a letter of surrender come up with the money to redeem himself? If he can't come up with it... then he still has to find a way to raise money, right
Those who were sent to the government were even more miserable. Escaped slaves did not have a good ending in the Great Zhou.
Su Yao rubbed his brows.
Although she looked calm on the surface, she had actually already made any plans along the way.
Things in this world are realistic. Everyone has to look at the pros and cons. Even some relatives are like this, not to mention friends and servants, as well as the shopkeepers and clerks outside. Many of them are caused by the master's family getting into trouble, and the servants donate money and abscond. This is not uncommon.
So she had anticipated that people in the mansion would be uneasy.
After the incidents at the city gate where the old lady fainted from anger, Su Xingyi was humiliated, and Yu Dong was beaten, she became even more certain that some of the servants in the mansion must have had ill intentions.
This is just a prelude.
After all, if she didn't respond strongly, these people would become more aggressive and even do worse things.
She looked around at everyone and asked in a deep voice, "I know that the news of my eldest brother's accident has made everyone feel uneasy. They feel that if they continue to stay in the mansion, their future will be in jeopardy. If anyone is unwilling to continue to work in the mansion, just say it. I won't force you to stay. If anyone wants to leave, just stand up and let Butler Li know."
After Su Yao finished speaking, no one moved.
Some people who had actually thought about this idea have given up.
Su Yao nodded and said, "No more? If that's the case, then I'll be frank. If I find out that someone is slacking off on the job or secretly communicating with others and spreading rumors, don't blame me for being ruthless!"
Everyone nodded hurriedly.
Su Yao pointed to Li Rui's wife and Huang Ma and the others and said, "You are responsible for controlling the entry and exit of the maids and servants in the second gate. Anyone who has nothing to do is not allowed to go out of the second gate during this period. If anyone wants to go out, please write down their name, purpose and time and keep it for later inspection."
Li Rui's wife and Nanny Huang both agreed.
Su Yao then instructed Li Rui and Hu Ying: "The stewards and servants in the outer courtyard are now under your charge. During this period, no one is allowed to go out except for shopping."