Chun Tao stepped forward to take the bamboo slips from Old Gu’s hands and handed them to Bai Qingyan.
Old Gu raised his head, his piercing gaze fixed on the clan leader, his voice booming like a great bell: “Over the years, everything the Great Capital’s Bai family sent back to the clan, the clan leader said that to show proper respect, it would always be received by the clan leader himself and his eldest son Bai Qiyun. Whenever this old man suggested checking accounts with the clan steward, the clan leader would ask in front of Duke Zhenguo whether this old man didn’t trust you as clan leader, and the matter of checking accounts would be dropped. Who would have thought that behind all this was such a mess of corruption?”
Before Old Gu finished speaking, Duke Zhenguo knew the clan leader was embezzling behind his back, but always felt that one shouldn’t be too wise or too keen-eared to be a family patriarch, so he had been lenient, not expecting such leniency to lead to this situation.
Bai Qingping looked shocked – he had no idea that his grandfather had been embezzling silver sent back by the Great Capital’s Bai family.
After all, Bai Qingping didn’t manage household affairs and had never been very knowledgeable about the family’s income, only receiving his monthly allowance.
After Bai Qingyan roughly looked through the bamboo slips, she handed them to the guard protecting her, speaking indifferently: “Take them for the clan elders to see!”
The guard responded and carried the account books to the few remaining clan elders, who eagerly grabbed the bamboo slips and opened them…
One set of bamboo slips recorded the total amount of silver the Great Capital’s Bai family sent back to the clan each year in recent years, while below recorded the total amount the clan’s accounts showed as received from the Great Capital’s Bai family. The comparison was shocking – the clan leader had been embezzling more and more… eventually privately swallowing nearly half.
Another set of bamboo slips recorded the imperial gifts sent back to the clan, and what the clan leader had delivered to the clan was missing various items.
The more the clan elders read, the angrier they became. These were originally all clan property, but the clan leader had privately embezzled them relying on his position as clan leader!
“No wonder earlier Bai Qiyun’s wife was holding Bai Qingjie… saying she would find ways to beg Magistrate Zhou to release people! So the clan leader has deep pockets! The Great Capital’s Bai family’s men all sacrificed their lives to bring glory to the Bai name, yet you took the silver the Great Capital’s Bai family gave to the clan to line your own pockets, let your descendants harm the people, damage the Bai family’s reputation, and even use the silver earned by the Great Capital’s Bai family’s sacrifices to save your descendants. What a calculation! Truly a fine calculation!”
“Deceiving superiors and concealing from inferiors for so many years… embezzling more than anyone else, yet putting on an act of being honest and devoted to the clan members. What a fine clan leader! No wonder your descendants are like that – when the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be askew!”
The eldest clan elder, remembering the clan leader’s background, sneered sarcastically: “A concubine-born son is still concubine-born! Even if recorded under the legitimate mother’s name, what’s in the bones can’t be changed – something that can’t be brought to the table! When the previous clan leader was alive, though he also embezzled, he at least knew restraint. With our current clan leader, he’s exactly like his concubine-born mother – grabbing everything good and fragrant for his own nest, stretching out both claws and daring to say with open eyes that he didn’t take anything!”
Bai Qingyan caught sight of Shen Qingzhu standing outside the door and nodded slightly.
Shen Qingzhu clasped his fists, turned, and quickly left.
The clan leader forced himself to remain calm, but his hand gripping Bai Qingping’s kept trembling: “This matter has nothing to do with me! I knew nothing about this! Cousin, I respect your age, you may scold me! I have no complaints! But my father has passed away, and he was still your elder. Cousin should accumulate virtue with your words.”
Over the years, the clan leader had maintained his dignity and never personally handled the silver exchanges between the clan and the Bai family, always having Bai Qiyun deal with it. Since Bai Qiyun had been expelled from the clan, succeeding as clan leader was hopeless, so he couldn’t lose his position as clan leader. As long as he remained clan leader, he could still use the clan leader’s authority to protect his son! If he lost the clan leader position, he would no longer be able to protect his son and grandson.
The clan leader made up his mind, gritted his teeth, and said: “Over the years, Qiyun has been handling the exchanges. I originally thought that since Qiyun was the next clan leader, I’d let him get some practice! Your Highness… Magistrate Zhou, why not call Qiyun back and hear what he has to say? Qiyun is my son… I believe that no matter how wayward he is, he wouldn’t embezzle the silver and imperial gifts the Great Capital’s Bai family gave to the clan.”
The clan leader knew that if he insisted it was his son’s doing, it would be inferior, so he put on an attitude of “let’s investigate together.”
As soon as the clan leader finished speaking, his old wife came in crying, leaning on a walking stick: “Husband… Bai Qingyan’s guards, along with the Crown Prince’s guard troops, rushed into our house and smashed open the storeroom doors, taking everything from our house like bandits. What is this all about!”
The clan leader couldn’t catch his breath.
Soon Shen Qingzhu led the Crown Prince’s guard troops, watched by the Bai clansmen, unhurriedly carrying jewels, jade articles, and tribute furs and fabrics that the emperor had rewarded over the years into the courtyard.
Though it was already dark, the flickering torches illuminated the area around the Bai ancestral hall like daylight.
The people watched as boxes of dazzling jewels and coral were openly carried in, their eyes burning with anger in their hearts, cursing that the clan leader was no good thing, actually embezzling so many treasures!
The remaining clan members were even angrier, gasping for breath, wishing they could skin the clan leader alive.
The elderly clan elder sneered: “This is the clan leader’s ‘not knowing’? The things are all in your family’s storeroom, and you still don’t know? Are you blind?”
The clan leader’s old wife, not understanding the situation, looked up at her husband.
The clan leader’s face turned deathly pale and iron-blue. Looking toward Bai Qingyan, he finally understood… Bai Qingyan had come prepared. She wasn’t just trying to expel those children and Bai Qiyun from the clan, but to clean up the entire clan, including him as clan leader!
Shen Qingzhu entered carrying bamboo slips, clasping his fists to Bai Qingyan: “Your Highness, following the list compiled by Old Gu and the clan steward, your subordinate searched the clan leader’s family storeroom and found items that the Bai family sent back to the clan but never entered the clan accounts. Many are tribute items and not difficult to verify! Items that are missing and haven’t been found, your subordinate has already circled with red ink. Please review them, Your Highness.”
Saying this, Shen Qingzhu placed the bamboo slips on the small table temporarily set beside Bai Qingyan for teacups, his gaze turning to the clan leader’s wife standing anxiously in the courtyard: “When your subordinate sent people to move the items, the clan leader’s wife tried to stop us in every way, claiming these were their private possessions and not allowing anyone to touch them. Your subordinate had no choice but to… offend the clan leader’s wife by restraining her. Please forgive me, Your Highness.”
Bai Qingyan didn’t look at the bamboo slips, her fingers tapping intermittently on the small table: “Clan Leader… you’ve truly wasted my grandfather’s trust!”
The clan leader stood there for a long time, unable to speak. With the items already searched out from his family’s storeroom, anything more he said would be sophistry. After a long while, he said: “I didn’t expect that Qiyun would do such things that shame the clan. As Qiyun’s father… I cannot escape responsibility and dare not continue to hold the position of clan leader.”