Chapter 488: Krypton Gold Palace Struggle System (23)

The First Madam probed the Old Matriarch's tone, only to learn that she didn't have much silver in her treasury either, and even if she did, it had to be saved for her grandsons.

No matter how promising a granddaughter was, once married off, she belonged to another family; providing a little appropriate subsidy was fine, but the Old Matriarch was no fool to drain the entire mansion's coffers to subsidize her.

In the end, she took two thousand taels from her private treasury.

"Eldest daughter-in-law, tell Ping'er to spend sparingly. Bribery is necessary, but there is no reason to spend ten thousand taels at a time."

The First Madam agreed with her lips, but in her heart, she was extremely dissatisfied.

Don't look at how her Ping'er is currently only a Noble Lady; she gave birth to an imperial prince and is quite favored by the Emperor, so she might rise in rank by the end of the year.

At this rate, within a few years, while she wouldn't dare hope for the Empress's position, a Noble Consort position was something to look forward to.

But if she didn't support her, she might just stop at Noble Lady.

So, seeing that the Old Matriarch only took out two thousand taels and was unwilling to give more, the First Madam began to hatch other plans.

Under the guise of reconciling accounts, she had her maid distract the nanny guarding the storeroom, secretly took several valuable ornaments collected in the public treasury, and found a buyer to sell them off.

Xie Yang listened to the Main System's live broadcast of this drama and twitched her lips: The First Madam really is courting death.

The matter of the usury wasn't even over yet, and now she's stealing the mansion's valuables to sell.

Xie Yang had no intention of letting her greed grow before pinning her down all at once.

By then, if the mansion's valuables were all sold off by her, and the money sent into the palace for Xie Ping to use for Krypton Gold, what good would exposing it do for the Third Branch?

Taking advantage of the fact that the ten thousand taels of silver notes in the First Madam's hands hadn't been sent into the palace yet, she immediately had the Main System copy the evidence of the First Madam privately lending out monthly stipends, stealing public property for trading, and the list of silver used to subsidize Xie Ping, then dropped a copy in every branch's study.

She didn't believe that with so many masters in the mansion knowing, they would still shield the First Madam.

"Wicked creature! Kneel!"

The Old Matriarch stomped her cane heavily, her heart filled with raging fury.

She truly hadn't expected that after letting the Eldest daughter-in-law manage the household, this was how she managed it?

Not to mention taking the entire mansion's monthly stipends in advance to lend out privately, she actually stole public property to sell for money.

If the buyer hadn't recognized that these were items flowing out of the Zhenguo Duke Mansion, that would be one thing, but if they were recognized, where would she put her old face?

"The other day you came to find me, saying Ping'er needed silver for bribes, and I gave you two thousand taels. What is this? Is two thousand taels not enough for Ping'er to bribe with? You still need to steal and sell the mansion's property? If you had to sell something, why didn't you sell your own dowry?"

The First Madam hadn't expected the matter to be exposed so quickly.

Originally, she thought that once the silver notes were sent into the palace, even if the Old Matriarch noticed, she could beg the Master to plead on her behalf.

After all, her actions were for her daughter and for the mansion.

Her methods were indeed open to question, but her heart was with the Xie Family!

Once Ping'er entered the inner palace, from then on, she would share the glory and the losses with her maiden family. If she could smoothly climb to the position of Noble Consort, or even better, if the prince she bore ascended to that position, wouldn't the Xie Family be the beneficiary?

It was just that she hadn't expected the silver notes to be discovered by the Old Matriarch before they were sent into the palace.

This old hag, she spoke so nicely, saying the household management power was handed over to her from now on, saying she was old and lacked energy and that future mansion affairs would be hard on her...

But in reality, she was probably sending people to watch her everywhere; otherwise, how could she have discovered it so quickly?

Discovering it was one thing, but she actually called the Second Branch and Third Branch over.

Old Matriarch: It certainly wasn't me who called them.

Second Branch & Third Branch: That's right! We came ourselves!

Such a large page of an anonymous whistleblowing letter exposing the First Branch for embezzling public property and repeatedly sending silver into the palace was spread wide open on their study desks; it would be hard not to notice!

But the First Madam didn't know that; she still thought the Old Matriarch had called them.

And to be ordered to kneel in front of so many people made her feel endless resentment.

"I say, Eldest Sister-in-law, Mother let you manage the household, but she didn't let you betray us! Your actions have truly chilled our hearts."

The Second Madam felt like she could eat the First Madam alive.

Only today did she learn that the First Branch had been subsidizing the eldest niece who entered the palace all along.

If it had come from the First Branch's private treasury, she wouldn't say anything, but the key was that it didn't! Every single sum came from the public funds.

Seeing that long, eye-catching list of expenditures on the list, with every suffix being in thousands of taels, adding up to nearly twenty thousand taels, she was about to be driven mad.

She had given birth to two legitimate sons for the Xie Family, both of whom were studying hard to strive for a scholarly honor to bring glory to the family, yet she had never seen the Old Matriarch subsidize them so generously.

Thinking of her Chan'er, who had suffered in the countryside for the past ten years, while Xie Ping, also a legitimate daughter, was enjoying blessings in the palace and still swallowing up the mansion's silver, she was furious.

She had seen shameless people, but never anyone this shameless!

"Where is my approach inappropriate?"

The First Madam didn't feel she was wrong and stiffened her neck to argue:

"Ping'er did it for her maiden family, bribing the palace time and time again. When she rises in rank, aren't we, her maiden family, the ones who benefit? Do you dare say you haven't benefited?"

"What benefit have we received?" the Second Madam retorted angrily. "The only time we needed her help was three or four years ago, wanting her to whisper in the Emperor's ear to pull her Second Uncle up a bit, but did she help? In the end, it was still me using my dowry, asking for favors and sending gifts everywhere, that allowed my husband to rise one rank."

"..."

The First Madam was left speechless by the rebuttal.

Except for the masters and madams of each branch, the other juniors were not qualified to participate.

Xie Yang was also at the pavilion in Xi Kuayuan, listening to the Main System's live broadcast while enjoying lotus flowers and eating melon seeds.

She actually knew the reason for what the Second Madam was complaining about.

Three or four years ago, Xie Ping hadn't bound the Palace Struggle System yet.

As a marginal Small Promise, she couldn't even see the Emperor's face, so where would she get the chance to whisper in his ear?

But the Second Madam was quite bold; she dared to say things like "whisper in the ear"? Wasn't she afraid of walls having ears and being overheard by the Emperor's people?

Of course, the male descendants of the Zhenguo Duke Mansion were currently all weak; none had real power in the imperial court, and none had any achievements among the people. Even if the Emperor were cautious, he wouldn't waste secret guards to monitor the Xie Family.

Seeing that she couldn't argue with the Second Madam, and seeing the Third Branch couple also glaring at her with indignation, the First Madam let out a whimper and kowtowed to the Old Matriarch:

"Mother! This daughter-in-law was wrong! I beg you to forgive me! But I did this not out of selfishness; everything was for the Xie Family! I beg Mother to see the truth!"

The Old Matriarch certainly understood the reason she did this.

She also knew that if Xie Ping were to ascend to a high position in the future, the benefits to the Xie Family would be beyond doubt.

Yet, to this day, she still had not figured out how that list of evidence had appeared on the desk in the study.

Could it be that someone was keeping an eye on their Xie Family?

Was this person a friend or a foe?

However, since they had not made a scene about this matter, presumably they were more likely a friend?

But since a third party was aware of it, this matter truly could not be raised high only to be set down gently.