In order to eat, I signed a contract with the system

Unfortunately, no one in Rongguo Mansion could answer the Second Wife's questions. No matter how she questioned Zhou Rui's wife or the servants in her courtyard, they could not find out who had taken those things.

The Second Wife made a big fuss in the Rongguo Mansion, causing panic among the people. Naturally, this attracted the attention of Jia Mu and others. In order to calm everyone's panic, Jia Mu had to call the Second Wife to inquire about the details.

"I heard something was lost in your yard? And the thief hasn't been found yet?"

"Madam, I am really scared. In a dignified Rongguo Mansion, thieves come in and out as if there is no one around. How can I not be afraid?"

What the Second Wife said this time was truly sincere. You know, the small Buddhist shrine was right in her bedroom. If the thief could steal things from the small Buddhist shrine, doesn't it mean that he could also easily kill her?

At present, the Second Wife has not discovered that Jia She's seal and other things that she had hidden away are missing, and she is only concerned about her missing private property. However, Jia Lang is sure that once the Second Wife discovers that Jia She's seal is missing, she will definitely suspect that someone from the First House did it.

"What on earth did you lose that made you so panic? It's not something special, is it?"

Grandmother Jia knew that most of the things in the Second Madam's storehouse were not lost. According to her thinking, all the things in the Second Madam's dowry were still there, and at most some private items were lost, so the loss was not that big.

But what Grandmother Jia didn't know was that the Second Wife really didn't have much private property originally. But after she took over the management of the Rongguo Mansion, she enriched herself and sold inferior goods as good ones. Her private property kept increasing, so now hasn't she really lost a lot of her private property?

"My daughter-in-law... lost some spare money."

How could the Second Wife dare to tell the truth? No matter whether it was the private money embezzled by her housekeeper or the usury slips hidden in the Buddhist temple, the Second Wife dared not reveal any of them.

“Although the loss of my daughter-in-law’s lost items is not a big deal, this is no small matter.”

"The people coming and going in Rongguo Mansion are all servants of Jia Mansion. Even the housekeeper's yard has lost things. This is not only a dereliction of duty on the part of Jia Mansion's management, but also means that there is a thief among the servants of Jia Mansion, old lady!"

It must be said that Jia Mu did listen to what the Second Madam said. Although she was unwilling to investigate thoroughly, she couldn't just let it go since the Second Madam had mentioned it. After thinking for a while, Jia Mu finally said, "Second Madam, what you said makes sense."

"Since there is a thief in the Jia Mansion, we should investigate it thoroughly."

"Once we have investigated thoroughly, we will hand over the housekeeping power to Sister Feng."

"This Rongguo Mansion should be managed by the eldest wife!"

As early as when Jia Lian and Wang Xifeng got married, Jia's grandmother had this idea. However, on the one hand, Wang Xifeng had only been married for a short time, and the new bride was shy and inexperienced, so Jia's grandmother didn't want to say it directly. Secondly, the Second Lady had been in charge for so many years, and even if she had no merits, she had worked hard. She couldn't ask the Second Lady to give up power just because the nephew of the eldest wife got married.

No matter what, the Second Madam's housekeeping has made a mistake. Now that the Second Madam has investigated, I'm sure the long-time servants in the Jia family will have a lot of opinions about the Second Madam. It would be better to take this opportunity to ask the Second Madam to let go.

Jia Lang doesn't know yet that he has actually brought forward the plot of Dream of the Red Chamber in order to teach the Second Wife a lesson. As far as he can remember, Wang Xifeng will officially take over the housekeeping power of Rongguo Mansion after she gives birth to Qiaojie the next year.

Although it doesn't seem to make much difference for the time being, judging from the way the second wife stepped down, it is obvious that this matter is still beneficial to the first wife of the Jia family.

At the very least, the finances of the Rongguo Mansion that Wang Xifeng has taken over now have not been messed up by the Second Wife to the point where she needs to put money into it. And because the Second Wife took on the task of thoroughly investigating the thieves within the family before stepping down, most of the offending things had been done for Wang Xifeng in advance. It seems that when Wang Xifeng officially takes over, there will be much fewer obstacles than in her previous life.

Jia Lang himself had no opinion on the struggles in the Jia family, but he was born in the eldest wife's family in this life. From the perspective of interests, he naturally sided with the first wife. The first wife having the upper hand did not mean much benefit to Jia Lang, but the second wife having the upper hand would definitely not bring any benefit to Jia Lang. If he had to choose between the two, Jia Lang would naturally choose the first wife to have the upper hand.

Originally, Jia Lang and Aunt Li, who were far away in Jinling, would not know about these things, but the servants in the Jia family could not help but gossip. They were ordered to deliver New Year gifts to Jia Lang and his mother. During the conversation, they revealed everything. Jia Lang happily rewarded them with a lot of money.

You can get the information you want without having to bribe the servants in Rongguo Mansion. It's a complete win.

Calculating the time, I am one year older after the Chinese New Year, and I am exactly nine years old. In "Dream of Red Mansions", Jia Yingchun was nine years old when Lin Daiyu entered the Jia Mansion. It seems that the day of Lin Daiyu's mother Jia Min's death is not far away. I wonder if the Jia Mansion has received the letter sent by the Lin family in Suzhou?

"I find what you said interesting. If you come again in the future, I hope you can tell me more about what's going on in the mansion."

After receiving the reward money, Mother Li nodded repeatedly as she listened to Jia Lang's words. She didn't think much about it. She just thought that Jia Lang was paying more attention to the affairs of the Jia Mansion in the capital because he was assigned to another place, and he hoped that she would bring some news when she came next time.

"Don't worry, Third Master Lang. My daughter is a maidservant in the old lady's courtyard. There is nothing in the mansion that doesn't go through the old lady, big or small."

This is to assure Jia Lang of his source of information and let Jia Lang rest assured. Jia Lang suddenly feels that he still has a lot to learn in the world of "Dream of Red Mansions". At least this roundabout way of speaking will take Jia Lang a long time to experience.

After Mother Li and others left, Aunt Li talked about the theft at the Second Wife's residence and felt quite emotional.

"When I was a maid, I knew that there were many famous children in that mansion. Who would have thought that someone would be so bold as to do something in the housekeeper's wife's courtyard!"

"I just hope that this incident can help to sort out the situation in the mansion to some extent."

"Hmm..." Jia Lang, who was listening at the side, suddenly felt guilty. Aunt, aunt, that brave man is your son.

However, Aunt Li's words were also very clear. The corruption of the Jia family did not start suddenly, but there were signs of it a long time ago. People like Aunt Li who entered halfway saw it best. This was also the main reason why she gave up the wealthy life in the Jia family and chose to bring her son Jia Lang to Jinling.

The atmosphere in the Jia family is corrupt from the root. It would be good if the child stays in the Jia family and is not affected. The only thing is that if the child is affected, he will grow up in a bad way. Then there will be no hope at all.

The mother and son expressed their feelings about the news brought by Mother Li, and that was all. As for whether the Second Wife found the thief who stole her private property after all her trouble, of course she didn't.

But she did catch quite a few house-born kids with dirty hands. She couldn't touch those with connections, but couldn't she use those with weak connections to vent her anger?