As they were talking, Lingli also came in, entered the main hall, and nodded slightly to Zi'an.
Nanny Yang stepped forward and said, "Princess, since you all refuse to admit it, why don't we search every house and then we can use the stolen goods to prove it."
Zi'an said, "That's a good idea. I have no evidence, and I'm afraid I'll wrongly accuse you. After all, you all came out of the palace under the order of the emperor, and I can't wrongly accuse you."
Nanny Liang was immediately alert. She leaned half of her body on Nanny Huang, but still raised her eyebrows. "I don't think it's necessary. Why don't you tell me what you lost first? We will look around and maybe we can find it."
Nanny Yang came out and reported, "The princess has lost a string of red coral bracelets, a pair of agarwood Buddhist beads, two jadeite hairpins inlaid with gemstones, an eight-treasure flowing cloud hairpin, and two jadeite bracelets."
Madam Liang said, "In that case, I will look around for it."
She had a hunch that these things must be in their room and the princess was trying to frame them.
Zi'an did not object and said, "Lingli, follow them and look around. If you can't find it, search every room."
"Yes!" Lingli replied.
Seeing that Madam Liang had only ordered one maid to go with them to look for it, she felt relieved, thinking that with so many of them, wouldn't it be possible for them to lose a maid
Zi'an watched them go out, a faint smile on his face, and picked up the tea again, asking, "Is the food ready?"
"Princess, it's been prepared long ago, just waiting for you to eat it when you are free." Wang Jun said with a smile.
"I'm hungry, come on." Zi'an smiled.
Only when you are full will you have the strength to fight the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager summoned these eight people to give her a warning. She wanted to shock her by hearing their voices before seeing them.
She might as well make a show of force to scare the enemy and then send him back slowly.
Beimo is a relatively cold place, and spicy food is often used in meals. Although Zi'an likes spicy food and is not very picky, he still finds it hard to eat spicy food every day.
Now when I eat the meals at home, I feel extremely satisfied.
People really don’t ask for much.
While they were eating, Lingli brought the people back, but this time, there were finger marks on the faces of several old women.
Lingli pushed hard, and they all fell down like a domino effect. Lingli shouted angrily, "Kneel down!"
Madam Liang knelt down, raised her wonderful face and said angrily: "Princess, why do you play tricks on me like this? If you want to punish me, you are the princess, just punish me. Even if you tell me to die, I dare not disobey you. Playing these tricks will inevitably make people laugh."
Lingli kicked him and said angrily, "How dare you be so arrogant after taking the stolen goods? These things were all found under your bed. The princess just returned to the mansion and doesn't even know where you live. How could she frame you? As for the servants in the mansion, didn't you see them all here just now?"
Madam Liang was kicked by Lingli, and she rolled on the ground holding her stomach, crying loudly, "Queen Mother, I feel so ashamed of you. You asked me to serve the princess, but I am not liked by the princess. I am guilty!"
Lingli got angry, squatted down and slapped her several times, "Cry, cry as much as you want, and see if the Queen Mother can come to save you. I don't believe that the Queen Mother will turn against the Princess for a dog slave like you."
Nanny Liang was beaten so hard that she became dizzy and fell to the ground, fainting.
How could Lingli let her go? She grabbed her hair with one hand and said, "Pretending to faint? I, your aunt, have been in the martial arts world for many years. How could an old servant like you in the deep palace hide this from me?"
Madam Liang was so frustrated that she could not live or die. She could only angrily say, "Shut up, slave. Aren't you a slave?"
Lingli smiled coldly, "You are right, I am not a slave. I am not a slave, I am just being driven by the palace to make some money."
She stood up and clapped her hands. "Come on, first lock up these four old slaves. As for the other little girls, send them to my room. They look so delicate and tender. If I'm not happy, I'll have to scratch their faces anyway."
How could these four girls have experienced such a vicious thing? They fainted immediately.
The people in the palace had long hated these old women, so they rushed to drag them away upon receiving the order. They were especially ruthless to Madam Liang, and beat her hard all the way down the stone steps, rubbing her buttocks so hard that the skin was peeling off.
After settling these servants who looked down on others, Madam Yang said, "We sent someone to investigate Guiyuan. He went to the farm to do hard labor. We have passed on your message to ask him to come back. However, the head of the farm said that the Empress Dowager ordered him to go. Without the Empress Dowager's order, they dare not release him."
Zi'an snorted, "You don't dare to let him go? My manor is still under the control of the Empress Dowager?"
"We have to go to the palace to pay our respects tomorrow. How are we going to explain this to these people?" Nanny Yang asked worriedly.
"So I detained them today, so that they wouldn't have to cry in the palace first, which would have given Empress Dowager Shengde a plan to deal with it."
Zi'an thought for a moment and said, "As for Guiyuan, I will go there in person tomorrow after I come back from paying my respects."
"yes."
Zi'an pondered for a moment, "There are four manors in the palace. Were the heads of these manors sent down by the noble concubine in the past? Did the prince never ask about it?"
"We need to ask Wang Jun in for help." Nanny Yang said.
"Go and ask him to come over. We can't let the wealth of this palace fall into the hands of others. I have been busy in the past and can't take care of it. Besides, when he was here, he took charge of everything, so it's not easy for me to interfere. Now it's time to clean up."
Nanny Yang went to call Wang Jun over. Wang Jun was a retainer of the palace and had been there for many years. In the past, he was not well respected when the noble concubine was in power. Later, all the people on the noble concubine's side were sold out, so she promoted him.
"In reply to the princess, the four farms have a total of more than 6,000 acres of land, including more than 3,000 acres of good farmland. The noble concubine's fiefdom is also here. Originally, there was more than that, but the noble concubine sold more than 700 acres without telling the prince. The previous accounts were all in her hands. After the prince married in, she had to manage the household, and the accounts were returned to her. However, the head of the farm is still someone the noble concubine trusts, and the princess has never asked about the affairs of the farm. I'm afraid that a lot of money has been taken from her."
Zi'an said coldly, "If you take advantage of the situation, you will definitely hope that someone will deal with me so that I can't check the accounts."
She thought for a moment and said to Wang Jun, "Guiyuan is in the manor now. Go and tell him that I will bring him back, but I have to wait a few days so that he can understand the things in the manor."
"Yes!" Wang Jun responded.
After sending Wang Jun away, Zi'an began to think about going to the palace to pay his respects tomorrow.
Before I could figure it out, Xiaosun came in quickly, "Princess, the princess is here."
Zi'an sighed, "The palace is really bustling today."
Having said that, I was also very happy. After all, I hadn't seen Zhuangzhuang for a long time.
Zhuangzhuang didn't come alone, he also brought Hu Huanxi with him.
Because the Empress Dowager's funeral had not yet passed, Zhuangzhuang was dressed very simply. He had his hair tied up in a fairy bun, which was only held in place by a silver and kingfisher ruyi hairpin. He wore a moon-white skirt with dark cloud patterns and a light blue palace sash around his waist. His black-bottomed white satin shoes were faintly visible under the hem of his skirt. His face was as rosy as a peach.
(End of this chapter)