Repudiating a Good Wife Is Out of the Question

5. Who is Cooking the Book

Translator: Sissy That Walk

Xiao Yi was merely hoping to keep Cao Mo from getting bored at home, little did he expect Cao Mo could see so many loopholes within such a short amount of time.

Xiao Yi had also suspected the authenticity of the account book, but he had never got down to the matter seriously.

Xiao Yi narrowed his eyes, “Qing Xue, go bring the Madam an account book, any account book will do, having a rough idea of the accounts is a great way to help him to learn managing the House.”

Qing Xue nodded and withdrew the house, she went to Auntie Lu’s House to get the account book after she told a maid to inform the Lady about the updates.

Auntie Lu was Lady Lu’s older sister, she married Marquis Valour’s younger brother.

Auntie Lu’s maid Lvzhu didn’t give Qing Xue a hard time, she just fetched some old account books for Qing Xue. Even though Qing Xue knew Lady Lu and Auntie Lu were on the same boat, she was pretty sure Lady Lu couldn’t tamper with the account books in Auntie Lu’s House.

Xiao Yi read the books and chuckled.

“What are you laughing at?” asked Xiao Yi with interest.

“There was a bad year about a decade ago, yeah?”

“Yeah, but why are you asking?”

“Look, all the prices ans expenses are recorded according to the same price as that year, things were naturally expensive due to short supply in a bad year, I’m one hundred percent sure the prices have gone down over the past few years. There’s also a monthly expense of your rouge and powder , I don’t think you are wearing any make up, that’s ridiculous!”

Xiao Yi’s lips twitched, “Those are for the maids in my House.”

“Each maid spends five taels of silver on cosmetics per month? As mush as Lady Lu? Oh my, they are so privileged!” retorted Cao Mo.

(one tael of silver is about one hundred and twenty dollars, five taels is about six hundred dollars)

Xiao Yi was mad and he asked the maids to bring Bailu to his room.

Cao Mo patted Xiao Yi on his back to comfort him, he also poured Xiao Yi a cup of tea.

Xiao Yi accidentally touched Cao Mo’s palm when he took the teacup, Cao Mo’s hand shook as he felt the warmth from Xiao Yi’s fingertip, the teacup fell on the ground.

Cao Mo flushed tomato red, he glossed over the embarrassment by murmuring, “I thought you had already got the cup.”

Xiao Yi wished he could squeeze Cao Mo’s blushed cheek.

There came Bailu’s crying when Cao Mo was cleaning up the teacup, she gave way to a storm of weeping, “Young Master, I know I’ve done something horribly wrong, please forgive me! I will never do such a thing again! I am loyal to no one but you over the years!”

Xiao Yi threw the account books on the ground, “I am so touched by your loyalty! You can mooch over fifty taels of silver every month, that’s as mush as six hundred taels per year!”

Bailu shook her head to deny this, Xiao Yi obviously was in a rage for this was what Cao Mo had found out within an hour, he couldn’t imagine how many problems were there were yet to be found. Lady Lu married his father for about fifteen year now, she had asked her flunkies to mooch money from him for over fifteen year now, how could he stay calm!

“Guards! Bring Bailu to the yard, make sure she kneels down in the yard, she is not allowed to rise without my order!”

The kitchen sent Xiao Yi his meal after Bailu was punished, it was some exquisite dishes and green beans porridge.

Cao Mo and Xiao Yi sat diagonally at the table, Qing Xue distributed food for the two, but suddenly Cao Mo halted and was lost in thought.

Xiao Yi also put down his chopsticks, “What’s going on? You don’t like the dishes?”

Cao Mo frowned, “I’m wondering are we the only House in the mansion who are having green beans porridge?”

Xiao Yi sat back a bit and asked, “Why are you asking?”

Cao Mo frowned, “You cannot have green beans porridge since you are taking medicine on a daily basis, green bean ruins the efficacy of the medicine, you know that, right?”

Xiao Yi became quiet.

Xiao Yi tried to explain, “I suppose everyone is having the same dish, and I have never asked the kitchen to prepare anything special for me.”

“I understand, but this is not about craving, you are taking medicine! Or is it because someone specifically asked the kitchen to… …” Cao Mo shot a glimpse at Bailu who was kneeling in the yard… …

Cao Mo looked at Xiao Yi and said in a soothing tone, “It’s not too late now, the lesson here is to have someone who is really loyal to us to take care of our daily business, no wonder you are not getting better for so long.”

Xiao Yi turned to look at Qing Xue, “You, go inform the kitchen, just say the Madam doesn’t like green bean porridge, just send us regular porridge.”

Cao Mo was dumbfounded, “So it’s me again?”

Qing Xue chuckled, “Young Master is helping you to create a tough image.”

Cao Mo pondered for a while and asked Qing Xue to state like this, “Just prepare the food separately, one serve of regular porridge and one serve of green bean soup is fine.”

He explained to Xiao Yi, “No matter you have the green bean or not, they are going to have the expense anyway, why not make the best of it?”

Xiao Yi’s lips twitched, his bride surely knew how to get back at people, he was doubling the kitchen’s workload by asking them to prepare the food separately.

The two went to Osmanthus House to pay greetings to Lady Lu, Cao Mo asked Xiao Yi on the way, “Why did you keep Bailu for so long when you know she is not trustworthy?”

Xiao Yi’s heart sank, “My mothered died when she was giving birth to me, it was my grandfather who took care of me when I was little, but he passed away when I was five. My father married Lady Lu when I was little, Lady Lu was nice to me in the beginning, but not so much after she had her own son Xiao Jin. I would have died if not for the care from my grandparents from my mother’s side.

Cao Mo connected the dots now, “I see~ so your step brother Xiao Jin aims to challenge you because you are the first born of your father, he wants your share of everything!”

Xiao Yi showed a bitter smile, “Don’t say it out loud, it will bring you trouble.”

Cao Mo nodded, “Don’t worry, I won’t. It baffles me when those people aims to framing others rather than focusing on building up establishment by themselves.”

Xiao Yi nodded.

Seeing the way Xiao Yi reacted, Cao Mo felt a bit emotional, he wanted to protect this feeble man.

“Come on, Xiao Yi, jump on my back, let me carry you.” said Cao Mo cheerfully.

Xiao Yi was already lying on Cao Mo’s back before he could even say no.

“Let go of me,” Xiao Yi said anxiously, “people will talk.”