Su Muyao, wrapped in a quilt, nestled on the warm kang, leisurely cracked sunflower seeds while listening to Yun Mo enthusiastically recount how Zhou De’an had looked utterly stifled at the time.
She realized that Yun Mo had quite a talent for storytelling.
Such a short tale, yet she narrated it with twists and turns, flowing endlessly, utterly captivating!
“As soon as I stepped out, I saw Zhou De’an standing at the palace gate with a group of eunuchs, all poised and ready. I took a deep breath in secret to calm my turbulent heart, then used the tactic you taught me from The Art of War—the ‘arrogant enemy’ strategy, feigning weakness to deceive the opponent…”
“Sure enough, Zhou De’an couldn’t resist the flattery and grew haughty. While he was distracted, I kicked over a charcoal basket, and the damp charcoal tumbled out. At that moment, Zhou De’an’s face turned pale and then flushed, yet he had no choice but to bow and scrape to me. It was such a relief to finally vent my anger!”
Seeing Yun Mo ramble on endlessly, Su Muyao chuckled, “You’ve said so much, but was the charcoal issue resolved or not?”
“Of course it was!” Yun Mo replied cheerfully. “Just now, Yingzaosi sent us a total of one thousand catties of Heitan, all of it high-quality charcoal for imperial use.”
Why so much?
A flicker of surprise crossed Su Muyao’s eyes, but she quickly lowered her gaze in thought and understood, then smiled.
Of this one thousand catties of Heitan, aside from the five hundred and eighty catties allocated for this month, the remaining four hundred and twenty catties included three hundred catties of damp charcoal from last month, plus an additional one hundred and twenty catties as compensation and apology.
Zhou De’an, the eunuch in charge, was indeed a shrewd individual.
Upon realizing that Qianxi Sisuo was not to be trifled with, he immediately adopted an obsequious and ingratiating posture, making it difficult for anyone to hold a grudge against him.
Yun Mo rested her chin in her hands, grinning foolishly. “Miss, the method you taught me—inspecting one basket of charcoal each month—I’ve been thinking about it more and more, and it’s truly brilliant! From now on, if they try to tamper with our charcoal again, it’ll be difficult for them!”
More than just difficult—as long as Zhou De’an wasn’t foolish or inept, he would never attempt such a thing again.
After all, Su Muyao had already shown him considerable face. She had uncovered his leverage but hadn’t exposed the matter, avoiding a mutually destructive outcome.
Instead, she subtly pointed it out, used the opportunity to admonish him, and then gave him a way out. If he didn’t take the offered escape route promptly, would he rather choose to plunge off a cliff himself?
Understanding the ways of the world is knowledge; mastering human relations is an art.
Within the extra one hundred and twenty catties of charcoal lay the intricacies of human relationships and social graces.
Just over ten days ago, Su Muyao and Yun Mo, mistress and maid, had been worrying about insufficient charcoal. In the blink of an eye, they now had more charcoal than they could possibly burn.
The Heitan they had previously gathered still amounted to over seven thousand catties. Adding today’s one thousand catties brought the total to over eight thousand catties.
Eight thousand catties of charcoal, equivalent to one hundred and thirty-three large baskets, represented only their stored reserves. Yingzaosi would continue to deliver charcoal monthly, and the allocated portion would be more than enough for their needs.
Thus, it was as if they possessed a form of immovable property measured in units of charcoal.
Of course, everything has its pros and cons. Having an excessive stockpile of charcoal also brought about some delightful troubles.
For instance, the issue of charcoal storage.
Now, the row of vacant side rooms in the rear courtyard, counting from the western wall, from the first to the fifth, were all used for storing charcoal.
There was simply no other way.
Fortunately, Qianxi Sisuo was spacious enough, with plenty of rooms. A few rear annexes were hardly enough to disrupt Su Muyao and Yun Mo's daily lives.
In the blink of an eye, it was already February, the early days of spring.
Spring—a season of hope—brought the thawing of the earth, the growth of grass, the flight of orioles, and the revival of all things.
And within the Forbidden City's rear palace, a joyous occasion was also approaching.
The Hubu submitted a memorial stating that due to the late emperor's passing last winter and the ensuing busy state affairs, the monthly stipends for everyone in the rear palace had been delayed. Now that the late emperor had been laid to rest in the imperial mausoleum, it was time to distribute the overdue stipends and New Year bonuses according to the consorts' ranks and statuses.
That was the official explanation, but in reality, during a dynastic transition, delaying monthly stipends for a while was quite common.
With the change of dynasty came changes in the imperial harem. In such turbulent times, who could be sure of anyone's exact rank or who would remain in the palace? To avoid wasting money, it was better to wait until everything stabilized before considering the next steps.
The first day of February was just such a joyous occasion.
Early in the morning, Yun Mo received a notice instructing her to go to the accounting office to collect the money.
Before she left, Su Muyao handed her a folded list and said, "These are the items we need to purchase. After you collect the money, stop by the procurement office on your way back."
Yun Mo unfolded the list and saw it read:
One tael of chili seeds, one tael of crown daisy seeds, one tael of spinach seeds, one tael of coriander seeds, one tael of cucumber seeds, two taels of white radish seeds, three taels of tomato seeds, three taels of various bean seeds, five taels each of potato and sweet potato seeds, five taels of leaf lettuce seeds, one catty of wheat seeds, and one catty of corn seeds.
Yun Mo had long known that her young mistress planned to farm, but she hadn't expected her to prepare such a detailed list of seeds. She couldn't help but smile and say, "Young Mistress, the people in charge of procurement in the palace might not be able to gather such a comprehensive list for you."
If they were to spend extra time and effort, it would require additional compensation.
Su Muyao waved her hand dismissively. "It's fine. Give them ten taels of silver and tell them this list is just for reference. They can buy any vegetable or grain seeds they come across in the market, but not too much of any one kind."
She had carefully prepared this list precisely to prevent the procurement office from taking advantage of her as an easy target.
After all, in the eyes of the eunuchs and matrons in charge of procurement, the consorts in the palace mostly came from noble families, raised in luxury within the inner chambers, rarely stepping outside their gates. Naturally, they wouldn't understand the market prices outside.
Thus, they could charge whatever they pleased.
In fact, it wasn't just the consorts—even the emperor could be deceived by those in charge of procurement.
Wasn't there a famous story in history?
When Emperor Qianlong once discussed breakfast with his ministers, one minister mentioned that his family was struggling and had only eaten a few eggs that morning. Qianlong was shocked and said, "My dear minister, you must be joking. One egg costs ten taels of silver. Even I dare not eat like that on ordinary days. Your family is far from struggling!"
This shows just how bold those in charge of procurement could be.
If she didn't take precautions beforehand, what would she do if they casually bought a couple of taels of seeds and demanded an exorbitant price?
If she paid, she would suffer a loss for nothing; if she refused, it would inevitably lead to a dispute.
Thus, this list served as written evidence to be kept on record.
The items listed on the slip, though detailed and trivial, totaled no more than ten taels. She had listed them so meticulously for two reasons:
First: To show they were well aware of market prices, preventing the Procurement Department from using "insufficient funds" as an excuse to refuse their purchases.
Second: Once they accepted the money and saw the list, if they couldn't procure equivalent goods, the fault would lie with them.
Su Muyao's move effectively trapped the Procurement Department, forcing them to purchase seeds of equal value—a rather "ruthless" tactic.
But "ruthless" or not, as the saying goes, when resources are scarce and you still want to get things done, you have to be thick-skinned.
Of course, it was also possible she was being overly cautious. Perhaps the Procurement Department's manager was exceptionally honest, with no corruption or graft at all.
That would be even better.
Around noon, Yun Mo returned, carrying a money pouch.
She had been gone for over two hours, not because she encountered any difficulties or conflicts, but because there were too many people from various palaces collecting money this morning!
She had spent over an hour just waiting in line, and that was considered fortunate.
When she passed by on her way back, a long, winding queue had already formed outside the Accounting Department. It seemed unlikely they would finish settling everyone's accounts even by tomorrow.
Yun Mo explained, "There were only four or five people ahead of me in line. Two treasury stewards were handling the accounting. The one using the abacus was the slowest—adding, subtracting, calculating back and forth, taking half a day just for one person. The other was a bit quicker. After recording everything in the ledger, he had me sign and stamp it, then issued a slip. With the slip, I went inside to collect a token, and with the token, I went to the treasury to get the money…"
As she recounted her morning experience, her hands remained busy.
First, she placed the silver pouch on the table, then retrieved a key from the cabinet. Using the key, she opened a redwood chest and took out a shallow basket containing a few taels of broken silver—their entire fortune just over ten days ago.
Su Muyao poured the silver from the pouch, and a slip of paper fluttered out. She unfolded it and read it, exclaiming in surprise, "It's actually over two hundred taels?"
Could it be that the slow, abacus-tapping treasury steward had miscalculated?
The more Su Muyao thought about it, the more likely it seemed.
She was a former emperor's consort candidate. Since she had never received the emperor's favor, her status remained that of an official maiden. However, according to the old system of the Qing Dynasty, after a change of dynasty, all former emperor's consorts could be promoted one rank. Thus, her current status should be equivalent to that of a daying.
During this period, all her allowances had been issued according to the daying standard.
A daying's monthly stipend was thirty taels. For the two months of the New Year, that would total sixty taels. Because this year was a Guo Sang, the New Year bonuses and subsidized items (such as silks and satins) would be converted into cash. Su Muyao calculated that this should amount to at least ten or twenty taels.
So, the total should have been seventy or eighty taels at most, but now the amount in her hands had more than doubled to two hundred and thirty taels.
If it wasn't a miscalculation, there was no other explanation.
Just as Su Muyao was pondering this, Yun Mo firmly replied, "Miss, it's not a mistake. It really is over two hundred taels. I asked about it."
"How so?"
Yun Mo said earnestly, "Because you are a consort specially granted permission by His Majesty to remain in the palace, the Hubu has assigned you the rank of Changzai. You receive fifty taels of silver per month, totaling one hundred taels for two months. The additional one hundred thirty taels are subsidies converted into cash."
Could there really be such a stroke of good fortune?
Su Muyao blinked and said, "Since we have received His Majesty's great favor, it would be impolite to decline. So… ahem… let's accept it."