Chapter 1: Perplexity

  Gao Huaiyuan looked at the old man with his tail up and secretly sneered, this guy really wanted to take over the accounts of the old house, it seems that he must have made a fortune inside.

  "It seems I should thank you first! You tell me about the situation here!" Gao Huaiyuan picked up a cup of tea, took a sip, and looked at Gao Laogen with a slanted eye.

  "This is simple, the old house only has 300 mu of thin fields, some are paddy fields and some are dry fields, all of which are rented out to tenant farmers. Every year, we collect two seasons' worth of rent. There's also a small porcelain kiln that doesn't operate much, and the income is sent to Shaoxing Prefecture twice a year, where it's handed over to Master. That's about it! I'll take Young Master around later!" Old Gao replied nonchalantly, feeling a bit tipsy at this point, his eyelids starting to droop.

  Gao Huaiyan verified the information he had obtained from Gao Jian before coming, and it was basically consistent. Listening to it, it seemed that this was indeed the case. He nodded and suddenly said: "Since there are so many fields, bring me the account book to take a look!"

  Gao Lao Gen was startled and had a chill, he immediately woke up from his drowsiness, his face turned pale with panic, stuttering and not knowing what to say. Gao Huai Yuan's words scared him badly. As the accountant, he hadn't expected someone would come to take over the old mansion's affairs. The accounts were in a mess, and after Gao Huai Yuan arrived, he didn't have the chance to tidy up his ledger. If he took it out, if Gao Huai Yuan understood accounting, he should be able to see the irregularities immediately, how could he dare take it out easily?!

  "What? Can't be that many, so many people, you don't even have an account book? If that's the case, then the old house's affairs would be a complete mess! Does it exist or not?" Gao Huaiyuan suddenly glared, slapping his palm heavily on the table. Now he was certain that Old Gao was not a good person and had probably embezzled money here.

  Gao Lao Gen's whole body shook, and he hastily replied: "Yes! Yes! How could there not be?! It's just that... recently the mansion has been busy, and with the move earlier, everything is in disarray. Could I tidy up first before presenting it to Young Master for review?"

  "Who could have given him the opportunity to destroy the evidence?" So he immediately replied: "Don't worry about the mess, as long as it's there. Li Tong, Xue Yan! Come over and accompany Gao to handle things now. Bring me all the accounts he has handled over the years, I want to review them slowly!"

  After hearing Gao Huaiyuan's call, Li Tong and Xue Yan quickly ran over and stood beside Gao Laogen, waiting to go with him to get the account book.

  Gao Lao Gen's cold sweat flowed down uncontrollably, everything that had happened was too unexpected for him. If the account book were to be taken out, he would be completely finished. This guy didn't know where he got the courage from, but he glared at Gao Lao Gen and shouted: "Third Master, although I was disrespectful when you came over today, it was just a misunderstanding! Why must you press me so hard? If we're talking about seniority, I'm also a member of the Gao family. You should address me as Uncle, this is my territory to manage, even if the master were to come, he couldn't be so rude to me. How could you, a junior, be so disrespectful to me?!

  "If you want to see the account book, I'll give it to you, but right now things are still in a mess. After a few days, I will naturally hand it over to Young Master. Tonight, I'm not feeling quite up to drinking, let's talk about it again tomorrow!"

  "Bang!" Gao Huaiyuan slapped the table and stood up, immediately shouting: "How dare you! I don't care if you're a distant relative of our Gao family or not, but now you're the manager of our old mansion, just a servant of our Gao family. Show some respect and call him 'Manager' properly! What are you otherwise? You even dare to be arrogant in front of me, Young Master? Put away this attitude!"

  Don't think that I, the young master, am still a fool. Open your eyes and take a look at what you've turned our old mansion into! A perfectly good house, everywhere is covered with straw and fallen leaves, and the roof is overgrown with weeds. What did the Gu family pay you all those years for? Was it just to let you live here in luxury, eating well until you die?

  Since you're not willing to hand over the account book today, I understand the reason. You know what you've done! It's up to you whether or not to hand over the account book, Xue Yan! You keep an eye on him, Li Tong! Call Huang Yan and Zhou Huan to go to his residence together and find all the account books for me! I want to see how much money our Gao family has lost due to his corruption over the years!

  Xue Yan and Li Tong had long been displeased with Gao Lao Gen, and today they took the initiative to give him a warning as soon as he entered. This was the perfect opportunity to deal with this guy, and they were all aware that they were now under Gao Huai Yuan's command. Gao Huai Yuan wanted to take over things here, so it was inevitable that there would be some friction with the people in charge. However, they did not expect Gao Huai Yuan to take action so quickly and with such a strong attitude. After receiving his orders, Xue Yan swiftly grabbed Gao Lao Gen's arm, while Li Tong nodded in agreement and ran out.

  "Huang Yan! Zhou Hao! Young Master wants you to follow me on an errand!" Li Tong stood outside and shouted, the two young boys who heard the call quickly ran out.

  Gao Lao Gen's face immediately turned bright red, and he shouted: "Let go! Young master, you treat me like this, aren't you afraid of making the people in the mansion lose heart? I've been a servant for the Gao family for so many years, but on your first day here, you dare to lay hands on an old slave like me. Don't you fear retribution? Everyone come and see! This is the fate of being a servant for the Gao family!" As he shouted, it was already midnight, and his cries echoed far away, startling the few servants in the mansion, who rushed out one after another to gather at the door and watch.

  "You're a stubborn old man, you're going to die soon, and yet you still dare to be defiant! Take this guy away and lock him up first! Call the others in the mansion over, I have questions for them!" Gao Huaiyuan thought for a moment, since the facade had already been torn apart, he might as well take advantage of the situation and nail down the facts. He didn't bother to deal with this guy anymore, and immediately ordered Xue Yan to come over.

  Xue Yan was also very admiring of Gao Huaiyuan's decisive and ruthless character, so he raised Old Root's arm and said viciously: "Shut up for me, do you believe that if you dare to make another sound, I'll twist off this arm of yours right now? Shut up!"

  Gao Lao Gen's face had turned pale again, and the last bit of drunkenness was gone. He suddenly knelt down in front of Gao Huai Yuan, crying with a mix of snot and tears: "Master, spare my life! Considering I've worked for the Gao family for so many years, I've been diligent and hardworking, please forgive me! From now on, I won't dare to do it again!"

  Gao Huaiyuan waved his hand impatiently, and Xue Yan picked up Gao Laogen with one hand, almost dragging him out of the front hall. He found an empty room in the wing and kicked him inside, then locked the door from the outside and called over Zhou Shi brothers who had rushed to the front yard at the sound. They stood outside watching this guy, then he called out a group of servants to stand in the front yard, calling out their names one by one, letting them enter the hall.

  Gao Huaiyuan took a look at the sky and knew that although it was a bit late today, they had beaten up these people during the day, but it didn't mean they would surrender willingly. Anyway, there were plenty of opportunities to sleep, so he might as well subdue them tonight and avoid any more trouble later on.

  "Call Li Erjin in!" Gao Huaiyuan instructed Xue Yan at the door.

  Before long, the little servant who opened the door in the daytime was brought in. At this moment, his eyes were still swollen like a peach. As soon as he entered the front hall, he hastily knelt down in front of Gao Huaiyuan.

  "Look, Li Er, I'm sure you've seen what happened earlier. I don't want to waste my breath on you either. You must know what kind of things Gao Lao Gen has been up to all these years. As for you, Li Er, whether or not you were involved in his affairs, I won't pursue the matter today. But let me make one thing clear: if you still want to cover for him and I find out, you'll have to face the consequences yourself. Don't say I didn't warn you! Now, speak up if you have anything to say!"

  Gao Huaiyuan played a trick, and at this moment he didn't have any evidence of Gao Laogen's corruption. He really wanted to ask questions but had no way to start, so he used the usual method of interrogating suspects in later generations. Let Li Er think for himself, the more unclear things were, the more tense they became, not knowing where to start. As long as their mental quality was not good enough, after a while, they would spill all the beans like dumping peas from a bamboo tube!

  Obviously, this Li Er is not a man of any kind. He was intimidated by Gao Huaiyuan and immediately surrendered, kneeling on the ground and shouting: "Young master spare my life! I'm innocent, I didn't participate in anything! I used to be a servant bought by the Gao family, and I am loyal to the Gao family. It's all because of this manager that has nothing to do with me! I don't know much, but whatever I know, I'll tell you everything, young master!"

  This guy, who had been intimidated, quickly told everything he knew, and indeed, just as Gao Huaiyuan observed, this manager was not a good person. Li Er knew a lot of things and soon revealed that the manager had privately extorted money from tenants, raised rents on his own, and pocketed the extra income; swapped good land with poor land to rent to relatives, collected high rents while reporting low yields, and embezzled funds; falsely reported expenses, misappropriated money; in good years, claimed to have suffered disasters and embezzled the collected rents; bought porcelain at a high price from small kilns, recorded it at a low price, and profited from the difference, etc.