Chapter 196 False Accounts
"We are family, what does it matter? Mrs. Chunyu, what do you think?" Zhou threw the hot potato over.

Ye Jiayao looked at the two of them with a smile. They sang in unison and had such a tacit understanding. It really is true that there is strength in numbers!

What should she say? Say it's okay? Liuli would never take this as a polite remark. Did she really cook for Liuli every day?
Say no? Wouldn't that make her seem not generous enough?

This is really a difficult problem, which requires some language arts.

"It's my honor that my third sister-in-law wants to eat the food I cook, but I still have to take care of the Tianshangju business, and I don't know when I will be free. How about this, I will teach the cook brought by my third sister-in-law to cook. This way, she will have food to eat whenever she wants." Ye Jiayao smiled.

You Shi could tell that Zhou Shi was deliberately embarrassing the second son's wife, so she said, "That's very good."

This one sentence shut Zhou up. If she continued to talk too much, she would not be polite.

Liuli was a little disappointed. This Ye guy was really cunning. After a change of mind, Liuli asked with a smile, "Second sister-in-law, are you still going to manage the business of Tianshangju yourself? It's so tiring, and it's not good for a woman to show up in public. Why don't you hire a manager to manage it? Are you going to cook for yourself?"

"My third sister-in-law doesn't understand business matters. There are so many tricks involved!" Ye Jiayao was too lazy to explain to her. Such questions were not well-intentioned.

"Isn't it? Things in the business world cannot be explained clearly in a few words. Sometimes even your own family members are unreliable, let alone outsiders. You still have to rely on yourself!" Xia Peishan chimed in, glancing at Zhou with a suggestive look.

Mrs. Qiao hadn't figured out what was going on yet. She just wanted to say a few words to show her ability. She said, "Second Aunt is right. The manager I hired is quite experienced. But I found that when I was in the store, the business was good. If I wasn't there, the business was terrible. Those people just ate the food and didn't work."

Liuli sneered: "You all do business and seem so powerful, but I am the most useless."

Zhou immediately comforted her: "You are a princess, you are of noble status, there is no need for you to do something that will expose your reputation."

Xia Peishan couldn't bear to hear this any longer: "Third sister-in-law, can you please eat your meal properly and stop disgusting me here?"

I can't help but get mad.

Zhou jumped up and said, "You are the only one allowed to speak, but I am not allowed to speak? If you find it disgusting, why don't you just go? No one is stopping you."

Xia Peishan stood up and glared at him, "Is this your home? Is it your turn to make decisions? Your house is next door, so you should get out of here right away. You are so shameless that you stay here and eat and drink for free. The Xia family is really unlucky to marry a daughter-in-law like you."

"What did you say? How dare you say that to me?" Zhou was furious. She pointed at Xia Peishan and wished she could bite her to death.

Yu Shi had a headache. Why did it start again?

"Shut up, everyone. Can't you let me eat properly? You don't talk while eating and you don't talk while sleeping. Have you forgotten the teachings of our ancestors? You are still members of the Xia family." Yu Shi put down the bowl and chopsticks and said in a deep voice.

The two of them stared at each other like two fighting cocks, neither willing to give in. After a while, they both sat down angrily. Whoever left first would lose.

"From now on, no talking is allowed at the dinner table," said Mrs. You.

Ye Jiayao breathed a sigh of relief, finally she could have a good meal.

Compared to the tense situation here, the men's side was much more harmonious. They were talking and laughing, and having a great time.

After dinner, Youshi pretended to have a headache and told Qiaoshi and others not to pay their respects. She went straight back to her room and secretly sent someone to invite Second Aunt, as Second Aunt was very angry today and she had to persuade her.

Ye Jiayao told Xia Chunyu what happened during dinner. Xia Chunyu was silent for a long time and said, "It's time to find a way to get Uncle San's family to move out as soon as possible."

Since Chunyu will find a solution, Ye Jiayao will no longer have to worry about it. She will start preparing to govern the village.

He passed a message to Xiaojing, asking him to find a steward who was experienced, capable and reliable. Xiaojing himself didn't know what to do, so he went to ask his mother. Yide knew that Ye Jiayao needed people at the farm, so he sent a capable steward from his side over.

The steward's surname is Bai, he is in his forties, his ancestors worked for the Helian family, and he is very loyal and reliable. After receiving the eldest princess's order, he came to Tianshangju to see Ye Jiayao.

It’s not that Ye Jiayao doesn’t trust Manager Bai, but she wants to test his abilities.

"This is the farm's account book for the past three years. Can you take a look at it first? Can you spot any problems? I don't know much about the farm."

Manager Bai took the account book, flipped through it briefly, and said, "Second Young Madam, in my opinion, this account book is fake."

Ye Jiayao's heart trembled: "What do you mean?"

"The tenants make their living from the fields. They have considerable experience and skills. It doesn't make sense that other people's fields have good harvests, but ours have poor harvests. In my opinion, there must be something fishy going on. Either someone is pocketing the profits, or the crops have been subcontracted."

Ye Jiayao was secretly delighted, he was indeed an experienced person. She pondered over it for a long time before she was sure that the account book was fake. She secretly sent people to investigate. It turned out that Manager Lu had contracted all the farmland to his nephew, who then subcontracted it to the tenants. The profits were taken away by the middlemen, and the concealment and false reporting led to this situation.

After Chunyu bought these fields, he never took care of them and didn't pay much attention to them. He put all his attention on shipping, so he made a lot of money there, but things here were a mess.

"Since it's a man-made disaster, it's easy to deal with. Manager Bai, come with me to the farm this afternoon!"

So, after Ye Jiayao had lunch at Tianshangju, she took Manager Bai and Jiang Yue to the outskirts of the city. Today, she was going to see how bad the situation was. Some things were not as simple as she thought. After all, they had been in charge for three years, and the root was deep-rooted and not so easy to deal with.

On the way, Ye Jiayao instructed Manager Bai to just look and find out any problems and make plans after returning.

Chunyu's farm is outside the east city. About ten miles out of the city, you can see endless tracts of fertile fields.

Song Qi had been here twice and knew the way, so he took Ye Jiayao straight to the farm.

Manager Bai said, "Second Young Madam, the fields that the Young Master bought are really good. The land is fertile and the water is good. It is along the river bank, so irrigation is not a problem."

Ye Jiayao opened the curtain and looked out. The carriage was driving on the path beside the river.

Indeed, whether in modern times or ancient times, irrigation of farmland is the most critical. When I was a child, I heard my grandmother tell me about her trips to the countryside. Several villages often fought over water sources, and sometimes people died.

Manager Lu was lying in the yard at the moment, basking in the sun, holding a cup of tea, looking very comfortable.

The servant hurried in to report: "Manager Lu, the second young lady is here."

Manager Lu didn't even open his eyelids and asked lazily, "Which Second Young Madam?"

"She is the second young lady of the Dong family."

Manager Lu suddenly opened his eyes, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes. Why is the second young lady of the Dong family here?

"Hurry, prepare to welcome them. Go call Huang Yuan and ask him to get ready as well. The Second Young Madam might want to ask some questions later."

Manager Lu hurriedly stood up and ran out of the yard.

"Second Young Madam, why didn't you inform me in advance when you came? I could have prepared to welcome you early." Manager Lu smiled in a flattering manner.

Ye Jiayao smiled slightly: "I came out today to see where there is good farmland to buy. Song Qi said that his farm is nearby, so I came to take a look."

Manager Lu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that they were not targeting him specifically. That was good.

"The Second Young Madam is going to buy some land again? Is there any that you like?" Manager Lu thought for a moment. This was a good opportunity to make some money. If he could get this job, he would become rich.

"All the ones I like are taken. Well, let's go somewhere else some other time." Ye Jiayao said perfunctorily. The gleam in Manager Lu's eyes did not escape her sight.

"Second Young Madam, I do know of some fertile fields not far from here, owned by a wealthy man who is looking to sell them. If you are interested, I can go and contact him." Steward Lu would not give up such an opportunity easily.

Ye Jiayao smiled and said, "Okay, let's go check it out some other day."

After entering the house, a little girl came to serve tea. Manager Lu said with a smile: "This is my daughter, Qiu Niang."

"Qiu Niang greets the second young lady." Qiu Niang bowed.

"She looks like a well-behaved kid." Ye Jiayao said softly.

"Manager Lu, how is the harvest on our farm?" Ye Jiayao went straight to the point.

Manager Lu frowned and sighed, "The harvest has not been very good in recent years!"

Ye Jiayao asked in surprise: "The harvest is not good? I heard from Madam that the farm in the mansion has a good harvest."

Manager Lu said, "The tenant farmers are not good enough. When I took over this farm, it was already spring ploughing season. The experienced tenant farmers had already been hired away by other families, leaving only the inexperienced ones. There is a big difference between having experience and having no experience in this kind of crops. Moreover, we were in a hurry to recruit people at that time, so the rent was cheap and we signed a three-year contract, so..."

“Since we know these tenant farmers lack experience, why do we still sign a three-year contract?” Ye Jiayao asked puzzledly.

"Second Young Madam, you don't know that if we don't do this, those tenants will not sign! Aren't they in a hurry for spring ploughing? I'm afraid of missing the time, so I asked the young master for permission. He nodded, and I did as he wished." Steward Lu said innocently.

Ye Jiayao sneered in her heart, it was a very clean push.

"So that's how it is. Then the three-year deadline will be up next year. What measures will Manager Lu take?"

Manager Lu said, "I have put a lot of effort in the past few years to build canals to ensure that they will not dry up during droughts and will not flood. I have also invited experienced farmers to share their experience. I believe that by next year, the harvest will definitely increase significantly."

Now that the master has asked about this, I can no longer make excuses as before. I must improve.

Ye Jiayao smiled and said, "Can we ask a few tenant farmers to come over? The farm's income depends on them. Let's see if they have any difficulties..."

(End of this chapter)