Chapter 63.1 - Ledger

Currently there was an aura of low pressure in the great hall of the An family residence.

An Zi Ran sat in the main seat. His face was covered with frost. Fu Wu Tian sat in the seat beside him. In contrast to An Zi Ran, his expression was quite leisurely and was not affected at all.

To the left and right was Zheng Bi, her daughter, Wang Qing Lan, and her maid Qi Qiao. Both Wang Qing Lan and Qi Qiao had anticipatory looks on their faces as if there was about to be a great show.

Steward Su and his son, Su Zi, stood in the middle. The father and son pair looked at each other.

"Young Master, this is my fault, please don't blame Su Zi."

Steward Su was the first to break the deadly still atmosphere of the great hall. If it weren't because he didn't pay attention to the second concubine, then this kind of thing wouldn't have happened. The young master clearly told him to be vigilant, but he was negligent. It was his fault.

Hearing that his father wanted to shoulder the responsibility for him, Su Zi hurriedly explained. "It's not father's fault. It's my blunder. If I wasn't so careless, then…"

"Don't say anymore."

An Zi Ran interrupted his words in a light voice.

At this time, Zheng Bi said in Schadenfreude delight, "Zi Ran, this is not a little matter. If he made a mistake, then he needs to be punished. You can't hesitate just because you're bias. Without rules, how will you manage the An family in the future!"

"That's right!" An Ke Xin immediately agreed.

An Zi Ran glanced at them indifferently and said nothing.

Seeing that punishment was not meted out, the two were unhappy. Just as they were about to say more, Ge Qian An, who had returned from Jun Zi City, suddenly came into the great hall.

"Lord, I have finished investigating."

Fu Wu Tian said, "Then tell everyone what happened."

"Yes, Lord!"

Ge Qian An then reported his findings.

The blame of this incident really couldn't be laid on Su Zi's head. Two days ago, Fang Jun Ping and her daughter had their maid go outside to buy some knockout drops. Those two prepared for two days, and then waited for both An Zi Ran and Steward Su to be absent from the house before they struck.

Ever since Su Zi was able to keep accounts by himself, An Zi Ran handed over the accounting task to him. Sometimes Su Zi would be so busy that he would eat inside the accounting room. Today was also the same.

Fang Jun Ping and her daughter planned for one of them to lead Su Zi away, while the other one spiked his food with knockout drops.

After successfully knocking Su Zi out, they took the key from him and stole ten thousand pieces of silver along with some precious pieces of jewelry from the An family storehouse.

This was obviously an act of thievery!

Even if Fang Jun Ping and her daughter were members of the An family, under the laws of the Da Ya Empire, this was still an act of crime.

An Zi Ran wasn't distressed about a few pieces of jewelry and the ten thousand pieces of silver. When An Chang Fu was still alive, the dowry that he had prepared for An Qiao E was much more than what they had stolen. After all, he was hoping for his daughter to marry some big official, so the dowry couldn't be too shabby. An Zi Ran was simply surprised by the actions of those two.

The An family didn't treat the mother and daughter pair badly. Unless they did something wrong. Otherwise, what was meant to be given to them was still given. What's more, there will come a day when that amount of money will be spent, whether it was now or later. Looking at it long term, it was definitely not wise to leave the An family. If the main perpetrator of this incident was Zheng Bi and her daughter, then perhaps An Zi Ran could still understand.

"Even if Su Zi was not entirely wrong, he still holds some responsibility. Ten thousand silver is not a small amount, not to mention a few pieces of valuable jewelry, which adds up to a large sum of money."

Zheng Bi said, unwilling to overlook this point and spare Su Zi.

Who in the An family did not know that An Chang Fu's storehouse held a lot of valuable things. The jewelry that Fang Jun Ping and her daughter stole must be very expensive. Even if the total value did not add up to ten thousand silvers, they must still cost several thousand silvers.

When Su Zi heard this, his vision turned black.

Ten thousand silvers. Even if they sold him it would not be enough to cover that amount.

Steward Su also looked worriedly at An Zi Ran. He didn't mind serving the An family like a dog for the rest of his life, but Su Zi still has to get married in the future. If he has such a large debt on his back, which girl would want to marry him in the future?

"This matter cannot be laid on Su Zi's shoulders," An Zi Ran calmly summed up. "The money and jewelry that the second concubine and her daughter stole, we will just say that it is An Qiao E's dowry. This is their own choice. I will not report this to the authorities. But if they want to return to the An family in the future, the door will not be opened for them."

This level of dowry, perhaps it was enough to marry a rich businessman. But if the match was a big official or a member of the imperial family, then this paltry amount was not enough. Who didn't know that the bigger the dowry the bigger one's face, and the higher one's status will be in the husband's household? An Qiao E wanted to marry into the imperial family with this amount of dowry, she was simply too naïve.

But no one knew what those two were thinking.

At this moment, Zheng Bi was actually a little envious of Fang Jun Ping and her daughter. At least they have money, but there wasn't even a shadow of Ke Xin's dowry.

After the matter was resolved, everyone went back to their rooms. Except for two people.

(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ A big hug to Pollinere for joining us on !