The steward of the kitchen took the account book for grocery shopping and headed to Qiushi Courtyard. Along the way, she met maids and servants who greeted her, and she smiled and nodded in response.
When he arrived at the entrance of Qiushi Courtyard, the smile on his face stopped, he sighed softly, and walked up the steps.
In the main room, Qiu Ju, who was pregnant with her belly, was looking at the account book, and Mu Na was sitting on a chair, listening to the manager's report.
"The twenty taels of silver given by Madam at the beginning of the month have been used up. What I bought has been clearly recorded in the account book. Madam can ask Miss Qiu Ju to check everything one by one." The steward said with lowered eyes.
I sighed in my heart and thought, what is this? The mistress of the house is illiterate and can't even read the accounts, and she wants a married maid to come and read the accounts for her.
The general is a dignified general who governs the country, but he married an illiterate general's wife. It is really puzzling. Many people in the house are guessing that the current wife is not a distant relative that the general met in the north.
, but the general’s concubine in the north. He also said that the madam and the young master’s bad diseases might have been contracted by this madam!
Mu Na frowned and said, "Twenty taels of silver were used up in just over ten days?"
"My slave has already been frugal in spending," the steward explained, "but on the sixth day of the month, General invited some of his lieutenants to have dinner at home. The lieutenants loved mutton, so they bought a sheep, some beef and wine, so they just bought that
A table of food cost five taels of silver. The meals for the soldiers and servants are now only the lunch meal, which only includes some fat meat and stir-fried vegetables such as radish and beans." The status of a general is displayed here, and it is natural to entertain subordinates.
We need to buy some good wine and food.
"Our master, servants, and soldiers, totaling a hundred or ten people, will cost one or two taels of silver for food, food, and snacks for this day."
There are so many people in the house, and this lady still wants to control the food in the house to less than thirty taels of silver. How is this possible? There are hundreds of people in the house, and just buying rice in a month costs more than ten taels of silver.
Looking at the entire Kyoto, the amount of money spent on food in a month by the fourth- and fifth-grade officials is only one hundred and eighty taels. They are here in the first-grade general's palace!
For such a large family, the food for a month must be limited to thirty taels of silver. They were too embarrassed to tell anyone.
The kitchen manager used to be a fat guy, but since the new lady came in and took charge of the house, her hair is falling out in handfuls every day, and no matter how much money she saves, it's not enough.
Mu Na looked at Qiu Ju. Qiu Ju closed the account book and nodded: "I remember every account clearly, the amount is correct, and there are no mistakes or omissions."
Obviously, when she was in charge of the house before, thirty taels of silver was more than enough for the entire general's mansion to spend on food. Why is it that now it takes almost thirty taels of silver in half a month?
Mu Na thought for a while and looked at Xia Zhu and Dongmei who were working in the yard. It seemed that there were too many idle people in the general's mansion.
In the past, Qiu Ju was the only one in her courtyard, so she kept the entire Qiushi courtyard in order.
Moreover, now there are only three masters in the General's Mansion: her, her husband, and Zi Ling. With Ziyu gone and the old lady gone, there is no need for so many servants. These servants who are kept in the manor are also raising idle people.
Mu Na asked Qiu Ju to take ten taels of silver to the steward, so that she could come to her with the account book and ask for it after she ran out of money.
The steward said yes, but his eyes rolled up in his mind.
As soon as the steward left, Mu Na asked the pregnant Qiu Ju to sit down.
"Thank you, Madam." Qiu Ju sat down holding her belly.
"Our General's Mansion has only a few masters but a lot of servants. It really has too many idle people."
Hearing this, Qiu Ju's expression changed, and she also heard the meaning of the madam's words. She wanted to reduce the number of servants in the mansion. Although in Qiu Ju's view, reducing the number of servants in the mansion was not appropriate, but this would But the son didn't say anything, waiting for the lady's next words.
"What do you think, how about reducing the number of servants in this house by half?" Shen Wan looked at Qiu Ju and asked, and then continued without waiting for her answer, "Most of the servants in the house are under death deeds, and the ones who signed the death deeds are sold. , and you can also collect a lot of money back!"