Zhao Luoming, who had been outwitted by Zhao Luojing many times, felt a chill run down his spine just staying in this room.
"Second brother, since you're okay, I'll leave first."
Zhao Luoming asked tentatively. Seeing that Zhao Luoning didn't respond, he summoned up his courage, crouched down and opened the door. Just as he was about to step out, he was startled by a suddenly appearing long sword and took several steps back.
Zhao Luoming had no choice but to turn back.
"Second brother, you went through so much trouble to call me here. You don't tell me what it's for and you won't let me go. What on earth do you want?"
"If I tell you to do something, will you do it? Just stay here quietly. You don't need to do anything."
Zhao Luoming had a sudden idea and quickly said,
"Nature calls."
Little did he know that Zhao Luoning had already anticipated his plan to use this as an excuse to escape. She was flipping through the ledger without even raising her head.
"Let the steward accompany you."
Zhao Luoming glanced at the steward.
Going to the toilet with this man? Just thinking about it made him feel sick.
"No need. I was just joking."
Zhao Luoming jumped around the room like a monkey, rummaging through this and looking at that.
This room was really strange. There wasn't even a single thing for entertainment. There was neither a chessboard nor any miscellaneous books.
Zhao Luoming was not the kind of person who could sit still. After rummaging around and finding nothing, he picked up the inkstone on the table, moved a table over, lay his head on the table, and used the inkstone as a toy to grind ink in circles.
On the other side, Zhao Luoning was checking the ledger with the old steward, Chen.
"Old Chen, why do I think the accounts don't match?"
Old Chen was puzzled. The accounts were clearly in order. Why did the second young master still claim they didn't match?
However, when he received a meaningful look from Zhao Luoning, he instantly understood.
Old Chen cooperated very tactfully.
"Yes, I wonder if it's the eldest young master who..."
Old Chen deliberately lowered his voice but still made it audible to everyone in the room. He whispered about the eldest young master's faults in front of Zhao Luoning.
As he spoke, he took out a few more ledgers and pretended to point out the discrepancies in the accounts to Zhao Luoning, shifting all the blame onto Zhao Luochun.
According to what he said, Zhao Luochun seemed to be a corrupt person who secretly embezzled money for personal gain.
Zhao Luoming finally couldn't stand it anymore. He threw the ink stick into the inkstone, rushed to the desk, and snatched the ledger from Zhao Luoning's hand.
"How can you suspect big brother like this? Big brother may have done some things improperly, but he's definitely not the kind of villain you described. Take this ledger for example. He must have just recorded it in a disorderly way. As long as the income and expenses are recorded separately and sorted out a bit, the accounts will be clear."
When Zhao Luoming opened the ledger to demonstrate, he was stunned.
After looking at the ledger, Zhao Luoming realized that he had fallen into Zhao Luoning's trap again.
The ledger was well - organized and the accounts were carefully and detailedly recorded. Obviously, it was no longer the ledger that big brother had originally recorded.
"Second brother, you tricked me again!"
Zhao Luoming protested discontentedly. He was very familiar with the handwriting in this ledger. It was clearly the ledger that Zhao Luojing had sorted out himself.
Since he had already sorted out this ledger, he must have known that there was nothing wrong with the accounts!
And yet he had been shouting that Zhao Luochun was embezzling money, clearly trying to provoke him.
"I'm doing this to help you. Look, you're clearly very capable. Why don't you want to take over the family business?"
There was no earnest exhortation, no disappointment that iron couldn't be turned into steel. It was just a statement of fact.
Zhao Luoning took out a warm jade hairpin from the drawer and handed it, along with the ledger, to Zhao Luoming.
"She asked me to give this hairpin to you before she got married. I didn't return it to you all this time because I was afraid you'd miss her when you saw it. I understand you. You think you're sorry for her, but that's all in the past. If you indulge yourself like this now, you'll only let more people down. Don't you even think about little mother and Luoyue? As a man, I hope you'll take responsibility."
Zhao Luoning patted Zhao Luoming on the shoulder earnestly and then walked out of the room, leaving Zhao Luoming alone to think it over.
After leaving the room, Zhao Luoning told the bodyguards guarding the door to go back and rest.
Old Chen was puzzled and asked,
"Second young master, why don't you tell the third young master the truth? Back then, it was the second mistress who..."
"Stop talking, Old Chen. It's better to avoid unnecessary trouble. After all, little mother is his biological mother. Even if I tell him, he may not believe me. Instead, I'll be accused of sowing discord between them."
Old Chen kindly reminded, "But if you cultivate the third young master so painstakingly now, you may be raising a tiger only to invite disaster."
The faces of little mother and Zhao Luoyue instantly popped up in Zhao Luoning's mind.
Wasn't father always raising tigers? Two tigresses, no less.
The Zhao family was a coveted treasure for the second branch, but for her, it was a heavy burden.
If they wanted it so badly, she could just give it to them.
However, she had to make plans for her elder brother and mother earlier.
At this moment, Mrs. Zhao was still waiting for her son to come back in her room.
"Has the third young master not come back yet?"
"No."
"What about the second young lady?"
"The second young lady went to the Ning Mansion early this morning."
Mrs. Zhao was so angry that her face turned green.
"Send someone to bring that unfilial daughter back for me. She hasn't even married into their family yet. Running to their house every day is a disgrace. She may not care about her reputation, but I do!"
As soon as Mrs. Zhao finished speaking, a hearty laugh came from the door.
"Mother, I'm back."
As she spoke, Zhao Luoyue lifted the curtain and walked in with a bag of preserved fruits in her hand.
Zhao Luoyue had been going to the Ning family's house every day for the past few days. She always had snacks in her hand. It was obvious that her face had rounded up a bit. Mrs. Zhao felt a headache just looking at her.
She reached out her hand, trying to take the preserved fruits from Zhao Luoyue's hand. "If you keep eating like this, the reputation of the most beautiful woman in Huangcheng that I've worked so hard to build for you will be taken away."
Zhao Luoyue leaned to one side to protect the preserved fruits in her arms. "Brother Huaizhi bought these for me." As she spoke, she popped a piece of preserved fruit into her mouth. "Mother, Brother Huaizhi will definitely marry me. This reputation of the most beautiful woman is useless anyway."
Mrs. Zhao said in a tone of disappointment.
"Do you think I built you up as the most beautiful woman just for you to marry anyone casually?"
Zhao Luoyue stared at Mrs. Zhao with wide eyes.
"Then what else? If it's not for marriage, what is it for? Besides, the Ning family is also a big family. Even grandmother's family is not half as luxurious as the Ning family. Why do you always look down on them, mother?"
Mrs. Zhao was speechless.
The first branch did nothing, but their children were outstanding. Needless to say, Zhao Luojing now had the entire Zhao Mansion under his control. She even had to live under his mercy.
What was even more hateful was Zhao Luoning. After going through such a thing, she could still sit firmly in the position of the mistress of the Ji family.
It seemed that she had been pretending to be silent at home before she got married.
The more Mrs. Zhao thought about it, the angrier she became.
It wasn't that she didn't work hard. She really couldn't do anything with her two children.
God knows how much effort she had put in for them!