“Your Majesty, the one who suffered the most in this matter is none other than my daughter. Not only was she framed, but Prince Rui even slapped her. And now, that woman is going to be elevated in rank. How is my daughter supposed to hold her head high after this? She is the daughter of the dignified Chief Grand Secretary, yet she has been treated this way. If this continues, won’t the daughters of my Xiao family become people anyone can bully at will?”
“Chief Grand Secretary Xiao, there is no need to be so anxious. As for the grievances your daughter has suffered, I’m sure His Majesty will compensate her appropriately. Your Majesty, wouldn’t you agree?”
Emperor An looked completely baffled.
What was wrong with the Ninth Imperial Uncle today?
Why did he keep speaking up for others while digging pits for the emperor to fall into?
How was Emperor An supposed to respond to that? What exactly was he supposed to give Xiao Yu as compensation?
However, Emperor An was extremely perceptive. Seeing the indignant expression on Xiao Xingzhi’s face, he thought for a moment and immediately understood what the Ninth Imperial Uncle meant.
Xiao Yu had an older half-brother who was currently serving as an official outside the capital!
“I heard from the Empress Dowager that Xiao Yu’s elder brother was unable to return in time to attend her wedding. Minister Xiao, your eldest legitimate son passed the imperial examination in the eighth year of Anyou, correct? His name is Xiao…”
“Xiao Wang!”
“Right, Xiao Wang. I remember he originally had the opportunity to remain in the capital, but he personally requested an appointment elsewhere. He seems to be an ambitious young man. It has already been several years, so it is about time for him to be transferred. Didn’t the Hanlin Academy mention recently that they were extremely busy and short-handed? Why not transfer him to the Hanlin Academy?”
“Your Majesty! This subject thanks Your Majesty for your grace!”
Xiao Xingzhi was overjoyed.
He had never expected such a wonderful opportunity to fall into his lap!
It seemed the emperor was trying to compensate his family so that he would stop complaining.
But almost immediately, Xiao Xingzhi became troubled again.
His daughter was clearly the one who had suffered, yet his son was the one receiving the benefits.
How was he supposed to handle this?
If word got out, people might think he favored sons over daughters!
“As for Princess Rui…”
Before Xiao Xingzhi could worry any further, Emperor An spoke again.
“Prince Rui, your Princess has suffered quite a grievance. You should find a few valuable things to cheer her up. I remember Imperial Consort Dowager Yu left behind a small private treasury. Since Xiao Yu will be managing the household from now on anyway, why not give Imperial Consort Dowager Yu’s private treasury to her as compensation?”
The moment those words were spoken, even Xie Jin was shocked!
Emperor An actually knew that Imperial Consort Dowager Yu had left a private treasury inside Prince Rui’s Residence.
More importantly, the emperor’s tone was not one of discussion.
It was an order!
Xie Jin was filled with regret.
If he had known this would happen, he would have transferred his mother’s belongings into the residence’s communal treasury long ago!
But now, it was too late.
The small private treasury Imperial Consort Dowager Yu had left him was filled with valuable treasures.
If everything was given to Xiao Yu, those items would not become part of Prince Rui’s Residence’s communal assets.
They would become Xiao Yu’s personal property!
How could his heart not ache?
Meanwhile, Xiao Yu was delighted after receiving such generous compensation.
Gu Jiuci had indeed kept his word.
It was only when Nanny Yuan came to formally hand everything over to Xiao Yu that she discovered Imperial Consort Dowager Yu’s private treasury contained more than just treasures.
There were also two estates and three shops.
Xiao Yu suspected that Xie Jin had already taken away most of what had originally been there. Still, receiving what remained was an unexpected windfall!
She had not expected Xie Jin to leave even this much behind after Imperial Consort Dowager Yu’s death.
Nanny Yuan had been primarily responsible for managing these estates and shops.
“Princess, aside from some belongings that Imperial Consort Dowager Yu accumulated herself, most of these items were bestowed by the late emperor. These two estates are both in excellent locations and produce good harvests. Your Highness even visited them when you were still unmarried. As for these three shops, one is a restaurant, while the other two are medicinal herb shops.”
Xiao Yu’s eyes immediately lit up.
Gu Jiuci had only recently instructed her to stockpile medicinal herbs, and now she had two medicinal herb shops!
She had a feeling that Gu Jiuci had known about Imperial Consort Dowager Yu’s private treasury all along.
Of course, among the items in the treasury, Xiao Yu kept those she particularly liked.
As for the many imperial gifts that could not legally be sold, she had Qingfeng and Fuliu record and catalog everything just as they had done before, then handed them over to Gu Jiuci.
He would definitely have a way to turn them into silver.
“Nanny Yuan, I’ll have to trouble you to continue managing these estates and shops for the time being. I don’t have enough trustworthy people at my disposal right now. Once I have suitable people in the future, we can arrange the transfer then.”
Xiao Yu accepted the property deeds but left the actual management to Nanny Yuan.
Nanny Yuan had been deeply trusted by Imperial Consort Dowager Yu and had practically watched Xiao Yu grow up. Naturally, Xiao Yu trusted her as well.
Nanny Yuan smiled and agreed.
While Xiao Yu was still immersed in the joy of her newfound wealth, Gu Jiuci gave her another instruction.
She needed to stockpile medicinal herbs.
And charcoal as well.
Xiao Yu instinctively assumed the medicinal herbs were preparations for the coming war.
“The medicinal herbs are for the soldiers, but why do we need to stockpile charcoal?”
“Have you noticed that this summer has been unbearably hot for an entire month?”
Xiao Yu thought back carefully.
He was right.
She even remembered placing two basins of ice inside her room and still feeling unbearably hot.
Gu Jiuci’s voice grew solemn.
“There will be a severe snow disaster this winter.”
“Ah!”
Xiao Yu jolted in shock.
A snow disaster!
Whenever natural disasters struck, it was always the common people who suffered the most.
She had to start preparing.
Although she could not change everything by herself, she could at least do whatever was within her power.
Food, medicinal herbs, warm clothing…
Xiao Yu’s mind raced as she began mentally listing everything she could think of.
“I understand!”
“Later, I’ll have Fufeng give you a list of medicinal herbs. When the time comes, we can make money from this as well. As for the disaster victims, we need to find a way to convince the imperial court to prepare early and take action in time.”
Xiao Yu took the matter seriously and kept it firmly in mind.
Because of this, when the ceremony for Jinniang’s promotion to Secondary Consort was held, Xiao Yu delegated nearly all responsibility for it.
She was already extremely busy taking over management of the residence, and she had no desire to exhaust herself over Jinniang’s ceremony.
Therefore, the two nannies in charge of the inner residence, Nanny Chen and Nanny Yuan, handled everything according to proper protocol.
Xiao Yu only appeared when her presence was absolutely necessary.
Afterward, Xiao Yu remained mostly within her own courtyard.
First, Nanny Chen delivered the servants’ contracts to her and gathered everyone in the residence to formally pay their respects.
This was equivalent to announcing to all the servants that, from now on, Princess Rui was the true mistress of the inner residence.
Xiao Yu instructed Anxiang to reward the servants with extra dishes and money, creating another lively celebration.
She then began calculating the money she currently had while familiarizing herself with the various businesses and properties belonging to Prince Rui’s Residence.
The residence owned a surprisingly wide range of businesses.
There were gold and silver jewelry shops, restaurants, and all kinds of other stores. There were also farmlands and entire hills under its ownership.
More importantly, the residence maintained its own merchant caravan.
The caravan returned once every six months, traveling throughout the country and trading regional specialties from different areas. In truth, it also served as a way for Xie Jin to collect rare and unusual items.
Such arrangements were quite common.
Most wealthy and influential official families in the capital maintained merchant caravans of varying sizes.
According to Nanny Yuan, the leader of Prince Rui’s merchant caravan was the son of Chief Steward Qian.
Chief Steward Qian was specifically responsible for managing the residence’s numerous businesses and properties.
That day, he brought over a large stack of account books.
Xiao Yu spent a long time going through them. When she reached one particular ledger, she was rather surprised.
She immediately summoned Chief Steward Qian to ask about it.
“Which business does this account book belong to?”
Chief Steward Qian stepped forward and looked at the ledger.
His expression immediately became somewhat unnatural.
“This is one of the shops His Highness previously entrusted to Concubine Jin to manage.”
“Concubine Jin?”
Only then did Xiao Yu discover that the shop’s profits had originally been relatively stable.
However, starting a little over half a year ago, its monthly income had begun steadily increasing.
“Yes. This old servant didn’t know about it before either. I only discovered it after Concubine Jin entered the residence. However, the shop was merely placed under her management for a period of time. His Highness personally reviewed the accounts, and naturally, all the profits still belonged to the residence.”
“Besides this shop, which others did she manage?”
Chief Steward Qian pulled another three account books from the pile Xiao Yu had not yet examined.
“The one Your Highness is holding sells scented oils. This one belongs to a general goods store, this one to a clothing shop, and this one to a toy shop. There are only these four.”
Seeing that Xiao Yu remained silent, he hurriedly explained further.
“These shops were barely surviving before. After Concubine Jin took over their management, however, she came up with quite a few new ideas and managed to bring all four businesses back to life!”
Xiao Yu found the explanation rather intriguing.
She carefully flipped through the account books.
Chief Steward Qian had indeed been telling the truth.
Each shop was now earning more than a thousand taels of silver in profit every month.
Such earnings were truly astonishing!
It seemed Jinniang really was quite capable.
No wonder Xie Jin doted on her so much.