Chapter 41: The Impoverished Mansion of the Champion
Chu Zishan looked at the closed door and sighed. The palace was now like a piece of loose sand.
Gu Yimo knew that there was a door in the backyard of her residence that connected with the next door. He knew all her preferences and could enter and exit her residence as if there was no one around.
It is a very dangerous hidden danger for servants to be bribed with money at will. My mother has no sense of crisis at all. Although she can't stand it, she is unwilling to go against her mother.
Now that she is in charge of the family, she will eliminate all uneasy factors and turn the Chu family into an iron wall so that no one can pry into her Chu family.
At noon, Ji Dong and Gui Qiu brought meals over and glanced at Chu Zishan, who was still immersed in his account book.
"Girl, it's time for lunch."
Chu Zishan raised his head, put down his brush and shook his numb hand: "By the way, how was the child yesterday?"
Gui Qiu said: "I gave her a bath last night. The child was biting and scratching, and she was quite strong. I had to tie her up. Giving her a bath was more tiring than fighting a battle. After that, she huddled in
He went to the corner of the bed and said nothing to her, ignored anyone, and refused to eat or drink from yesterday to now.
However, just now in early spring, I took Sister Shu to play in the girl’s yard, and the child may have heard Sister Shu’s laughter, and she looked at Sister Shu through the crack of the window.”
Chu Zishan stood up and stretched, "Take the meal to Cuiwei Pavilion and call Sister Shu over."
After a while, she pushed open her bed and saw a figure flashing onto the bed. She walked in and looked at the child crouching at the corner of the bed.
The cleaned child had a pretty and lovely little face, with long black hair hanging loosely. Her big, watery eyes looked at her with fear. The clothes on her body were a little fat, huddled in that small space.
group.
Chu Zishan stretched out his hand to her: "You are hungry, let's go and eat."
The child looked at her steadily, motionless.
"By the way, there is also Sister Shu, she will eat with us."
As soon as Chu Zishan finished speaking, he heard a cute voice.
"Aunt Zishan, are you free to play with me?"
Then, the cute pink sister Shu ran in and held Chu Zishan's hand with a smile.
Chu Zishan saw the child move, as if he wanted to come over but then retracted, looking at Sister Shu with big eyes without blinking, full of curiosity.
"Hey, who is she? Why doesn't she comb her hair? She looks like a little lunatic." Sister Shu pointed her chubby finger at the child.
Chu Zishan picked up Sister Shu and sat on the bedside, saying softly and dotingly: "You have to call her sister. Let's comb her hair, okay?"
"Okay, Shu'er knows how to comb her hair." Sister Shu shouted happily. She slipped from Chu Zishan to the ground, ran to the dressing table, reached the wooden comb on tiptoes, and ran back.
Chu Zishan carried her to the bed, and she walked towards the child.
"Little sister, Shu'er will comb your hair."
"hiss"
The child shrank back in fear and bared his teeth at Sister Shu.
Sister Shu was so frightened that her little body trembled, and she turned around and threw herself into Chu Zishan's arms. Her face was filled with fear and grievance, and her little mouth curled into a crescent moon.
"Aunt Zishan, she is so scary, Shu'er is scared."
"Sister Shu, you're not afraid." Chu Zishan patted Shu'er on the back.
The child lowered her head in grievance, and a large tear fell on her lap.
"Sister Shu is not afraid. If you want to play with her, she won't be cruel to you."
Shu'er raised her head and looked at Chu Zishan with tears in her eyes: "Really?"
Chu Zishan nodded.
Shu'er stood up, looked at the child timidly, and approached step by step.
"Little sister, I'm playing with you, please don't be cruel to me, okay?"
Her little hand touched the child's head. She turned around and smiled sweetly at Chu Zishan, "Young lady, you really didn't mean anything to me. Hehe, young lady, I'll comb your hair."
The child was very obedient and allowed Sister Shu to comb her hair. She curled her lips when the combing hurt, but she would not be harsh to Sister Shu.
Chu Zishan took the velvet flowers and bead flowers and helped comb the child's hair.
After a while, she showed the child a bronze mirror. The child tilted his head left and right and looked at himself in the mirror, his big eyes shining with joy.
Chu Zishan took his two children to have lunch with Sister Shu. The children were very well-behaved and quiet.
She just wanted to try her luck that day, and she met him without even thinking about it.
This child will be the biggest variable between her and the Chu family.
After a busy day, Chu Zishan returned to her bed. Chu Chun waited for her to take a hot bath. As soon as she came out, she saw Chu Zhinan walking in with the account book.
"Zishan, there are two accounts I need to talk to you about."
Chu Zishan sat slumped on the imperial concubine's couch and groaned feebly: "It's not a matter of life or death. Let's talk about it tomorrow. I've been exhausted this day."
"It's not that life is at stake, but it's pretty much the same." Chu Zhinan tapped the ledger.
Chu Zishan rolled his eyes: "Okay, you speak and you listen."
"In a few days, I will be giving monthly payments to the servants in the mansion, and there is also money for the clan. I can use the money I have in hand to top up the money for the clan, but the monthly payments for the servants are not enough."
Chu Zishan jumped up and said: "What? Such a big houfu can't even pay out the monthly payment to the servants. Chu Zhinan, you are treating me like a fool, thinking that I can't understand the account book. I will give it to you today."
I have gone through all the income and expenditure accounts in the house, and there must be thousands of taels of money left in the accounts..."
Chu Zhinan shook his head: "Originally, I had some, but the eldest aunt gave all the money to the third aunt a few days ago, and now I really have no cash."
"Why did mother give money to Third Aunt? Why does she need so much money? Also, why do we give money to the clan?" Chu Zishan asked a series of questions.
"The third aunt is now in charge of four or five shops on Jinghua Street, but the business is not very good. She keeps asking the eldest aunt for money to stock the goods. As for the clan's money, it is because my grandfather placed the old, weak and disabled soldiers in the old house. It costs a lot to support these people.
It’s a big expense.”
"Old, weak and disabled soldiers!"
Chu Zishan slapped his head fiercely. In his last life, his grandfather was framed by traitors, one of which was to garrison troops to rebel. The so-called garrison troops were the old, weak and disabled soldiers raised in the old house.
Where are the soldiers? They were all injured on the battlefield and returned home. They should have received pensions from the court, but corrupt officials withheld them. The injured had no livelihood, and many of them starved to death and froze to death.
.
Some of them found their grandfather, but his grandfather couldn't bear to see the soldiers who had fought bloody battles end up in such a miserable end, so he gathered those people together and sent them to their old home to be looked after by the clan members.
In this life, she must think carefully about how to deal with these "old, weak and disabled soldiers".
She looked at Chu Zhinan: "Third aunt's shop will be closed if it doesn't make any money. Why don't we just make money from it?"
"Actually..." Chu Zhinan bit her red lips and said, "It's not that the shop doesn't save money, it's the third aunt..."
"I'm going to get the money back." Chu Zishan said and rushed up.
"It's been several days. I must have gone to restock the goods long ago, otherwise I won't be back."
"Then what should I do? I don't have the money to pay my servants monthly, so I start a fight, but I get laughed out of my head."
"There are two ways. There is a thank you gift from Mr. Gu in the first treasury..."
"This money must not be touched." Chu Zishan said firmly.
Gu Yimo approached her with unclear intentions. If it was really a treacherous official and traitor who was short-handed in taking the money, the Chu family would be in a passive position.
Gu Yimo's money must not be touched until his identity is revealed.
Her mother, who loves money as much as her life, did not touch the money, which surprised her.
"Is there any other way?"
Chu Zhinan sighed: "Second, you go to the Ministry of Household Affairs and get back all the salary you owe the Marquis Mansion."
"What? I owe the Marquis a salary, right? Is Daxia so poor? Is he even owed a salary?"
Chu Zhinan looked at her helplessly: "Chu Zishan, Chu Zishan, when I look at you now, I feel just like when I was a child, and my teeth are itching with hatred.
There is no way that the Daxia treasury has no money. The Ministry of Revenue is targeting me, the Champion Houfu. Ever since I was a child, I have heard my mother say that every month when someone is sent to the Ministry of Revenue to collect their salary, they will be told that they have no money temporarily. Basically, they are just entrusting a few people.
Issued month after month.
I have checked the account and it turns out that the Ministry of Accounts has owed us ten months' salary. If you can get it back, it will greatly solve the current tight situation of the Marquis."
Chu Zishan stood up and walked around the room.
"What has my mother been doing all these years? Just like my grandmother said, she has managed the Chu family into such a mess. It's impossible to uncover the truth. Let me clean up this mess for her."
"You still have the nerve to talk about auntie." Chu Zhinan snorted angrily: "Don't you think about how much trouble you have caused to the Chu family when you were a child. Not to mention anything else, the current Minister of Household Affairs, his little
Ten years ago, you chopped off one of your son's legs.
The salary issue is caused by the Minister of Household Affairs who made things difficult for me, the Chu family, because of what happened back then."
"Ten years ago?"
Chu Zishan recalled that when she was ten years old, her grandfather made her the first gilded phoenix-winged boring machine. She was so happy that she went out to play with the gilded boring machine.
As soon as she went out, she met several young men about the same age as her. They insisted on grabbing her gold-plated boring machine. One young man punched her in the chest. Her grandmother had told her that that was a girl's secret part.
She must not be touched by a man, otherwise he would be a scoundrel who would ruin her reputation. In a fit of anger, she used her gold-plated boring machine and chopped off the young man.
It happened that her father came back and saw her, so he quickly pulled her away, otherwise, the young master would have been hacked to death by her.
After that, she was punished by her grandfather to kneel in the ancestral hall. She was imprisoned for half a month before she was released. She followed her grandfather to the border town and knew nothing about what happened to the child who was beheaded.
She got into so many troubles back then that she barely remembers them. Now it seems that her childhood lawlessness was all retribution in the Champion House, but she has no idea about it.
The karma you sow will be the fruit of your own karma.
"Tomorrow, I will go to the Ministry of Finance to ask for my salary." This chapter has been completed!