The sky was bright, and Shen Lingxi, who had been busy all night, sat in the carriage back to the Yunjiang Palace, and handed over an account book made of red brocade to Chu Yan.

And told Chu Yan the information she got from Mrs. Cao's mouth.

"There are two rooms in the Zhenguo Mansion, since the old grandfather was alive, Xu Yuanda and his son Xu Huan have been stationed at the border with the old grandfather all the year round, and Mrs. Cao is taking care of the house, which involves the chores of money, and part of it is the second master Xu Yuanshan who is idle at home."

"The part that Xu Yuanshan is responsible for, Mrs. Cao didn't care, until the end of eight years ago, Xu Yuanshan and the Ji family reconciled, and married a bride, Mrs. Cao took care of the accounts, and by chance in the part of the general affairs that Xu Yuanshan was responsible for, I found that he was good at advocating, and changed the two best and most profitable antique shops into spice shops."

"At that time, the war between the Great Zhou Dynasty and Beidi and the Western Huns was at a critical juncture, and the southern pirates were also ready to move, and the border was blocked, and many precious spices produced in the Western Regions and the south were all out of stock. At this time, if you open a spice shop, if you don't have spices that you can get your hands on, it is a money-losing business. ”

"Mrs. Cao felt that it was inappropriate at that time, so she privately asked Xu Yuanshan to talk about it, but Xu Yuanshan only said that this was a partnership with his eldest brother, he only provided shops, and other things were taken care of by the Li family."

"This kind of thing, Mrs. Cao naturally didn't dare to hide it, even if she told the ancestor, she also wrote to the Zhenguo Gong at the border to explain the matter."

"At that time, Xu Yuanshan and the Li family had just become married, and it was the time of the newlywed Yan'er, and the old ancestor and the Zhenguo Duke only thought that he was cheering up and wanted to do things, so they were also tossed by him."

"So, for the sake of prudence, Mrs. Cao secretly built an account book, and when she returned to the house twice a year to reconcile the accounts, she ordered someone to copy the silver money flow accounts of the two shops to this account book."

Speaking of this, Shen Lingxi saw Chu Yan open the account book, so he simply stood up, sat down beside him, and opened the first few pages with the account book in his hand, and scratched his index finger on the entry above.

"Your Highness, please see, here is the money flowing in the first six months of the spice shop."

If there was a vague medicinal fragrance rushing into the tip of Chu Yan's nose, he sat up straight, his eyes drooped slightly, and his gaze condensed on her green fingertips for a moment before falling on those accounts.

"Except for the monthly case of the shopkeeper and the guy, there is only an incoming, and no outgoing." He pretended to be indifferent.

Shen Lingxi nodded, "A newly opened spice shop, in the case of such a tight source of spices, the money flow is only in and out, only profit, no principal, basically equivalent to Xu Yuanshan's eldest brother Yiyang Hou, giving silver to this spice shop for nothing." And these silvers were twenty thousand taels of silver. ”

Chu Yanfeng's eyes deepened slightly: "Twenty thousand taels is not a small amount, as far as I know, with Yiyanghou's family background, he can't give away so much money." ”

"Exactly." Shen Lingxi flipped the account book back again, "These two thousand taels are just the beginning, and for two consecutive years, until the end of the war in the north, these two spice shops have earned 500,000 taels of silver." At the same time, he also opened more than a dozen incense shops in the capital, here. ”

Chu Yan looked at the lines of small words, which clearly stated, the location of each shop, and the flowing water, and his eyebrows frowned slightly.

"These spice shops are all the property of the Guogong Mansion?" He asked.

Shen Lingxi nodded: "For two and a half years, Xu Yuanshan monopolized the spice shop in the capital in the name of the Zhenguo Mansion. ”

"The Li family of Yiyang Hou has no such industry." Chu Yan said firmly: "Before coming to Yunjiang, the embroidery envoy had already checked the Li family, and the Li family had very little property in the capital, and there were no heirs in the family who were good at general affairs. ”

"This is exactly what Madame Cao has discovered." Shen Lingxi said meaningfully: "Even for a family like the Zhenguo Mansion, there is so much silver in the income of these incense shops alone, and they also secretly throw the precious spices to the ghost market to sell. Like the 'Qianjin Incense' of the Western Regions that circulated in the ghost market before, it is also recorded on this account. ”

"This kind of thing is not big or small, but it is not small. No one cares, if someone wants to check...... After all, the imperial court was forbidden at the border during the war, and Zhenguo Gong was always at the border. ”

Chu Yan's face was slightly gloomy, "Those spices, with no principal on the books and no channels to buy them, are very likely to be considered as private goods sold by the Zhenguo Gong in defiance of the imperial court's ban." ”

Shen Lingxi nodded again, "Mrs. Cao secretly asked people to go to those incense shops to investigate, and the buddies and shopkeepers of the incense shops only said that they knew Xu Yuanshan, the second master of the Zhenguo Mansion, but they didn't recognize the Li family. In other words, in the eyes of outsiders, this is the industry of Xufu. ”

Chu Yan raised his eyebrows, "So, is Xu Yuanshan lying?" He didn't partner with Yiyang Hou at all? ”

"Definitely." Shen Lingxi said: "On the contrary, Mrs. Cao sent people and spent half a year squatting, every quarter, the incense from these shops was transported into the capital by the Li family's fleet, and the deeds of the guys and shopkeepers in the shops were also in the hands of Mrs. Li. ”

"These incense shops, on the surface, belong to the Xu family, but in fact they are operated by the Li family, and the silver that has been received has indeed entered the treasury of the Guogong Mansion."

"As His Royal Highness said, if no one investigates this matter, if someone investigates, it will never be found on the head of the Li family, but the prince of Zhenguo can hardly escape the blame. Mrs. Cao found out about this matter to this point, so she stabbed it to the ancestor, and therefore there was the well-known matter of 'Xu Yuanshan had a dispute with Mrs. Cao and ran to the border in a rage'. ”

A hint of abruptness flashed in Chu Yan's eyes, "It seems that Xu Yuanshan will be good in the morning, and he will die." ”

"That's right." Shen Lingxi's voice was slightly deep: "With the temperament of the old ancestor and the prince of Zhenguo, knowing this potential risk, he will definitely find out the reason and close those shops." In fact, when the bad news of Xu Yuanshan's death came, the ancestor was so sad that he couldn't afford to fall ill, and the 'Zhenguo Gong' also wrote to Mrs. Cao from the border to put the matter on hold for the time being. ”

As she spoke, she flipped a few pages back to the account book and pointed to the entry on it: "At the same time, not long after the death of 'Xu Yuanshan', the purchasing department in the palace began to buy spices in this incense shop. It wasn't until five years ago that 'Zhen Guogong' returned to Beijing and completely closed down this incense shop. ”

That is to say, from the war between the Great Zhou and Yunguo to the return of His Royal Highness and Zhenguo Gong to Beijing, some of the spices used in the palace were also purchased from this incense shop, and the use of the East Palace was naturally among them...... Among these spices, only I know, a few of them are specialties of Yunjiang. ”

Speaking of this, Shen Lingxi withdrew his hand and looked at Chu Yan's side face that gradually condensed into ice.

She hesitated for a few moments and asked softly: "When His Royal Highness investigated the death of Emperor Xiaode, did he thoroughly investigate whether there was a problem with the spices used in the East Palace?" ”