Sun Yulian took a deep breath. Now, the great power of managing the Marquis Manor was in her hands. The madam’s happiness could only be temporary—very soon she would realize what she had lost.
But the problem was, this was already the third day. From what she heard, the madam was still living quite joyfully. Wasn’t this “temporary” a bit too long?
Sun Yulian listened to the bursts of cheers coming from the direction of Jixue Courtyard. She raised her hand to rub both her temples, but this could not relieve her headache—instead, it made her feel even more uncomfortable. She felt that her body wasn’t in great condition, but right now was definitely not the time to rest and relax. She must throw her limited life into the unlimited work of checking accounts.
The Marquis Manor had new expenditures and income every day, and the account figures always changed. But the results she calculated every day were completely different from what she had imagined. If it were really as the account books said, then in about two months, this Marquis Manor would be finished. How could that be possible? Such a large Marquis Manor, even if not overflowing with riches, could not possibly be so tight on funds, so poor and destitute.
Sun Yulian believed that the madam must have miscalculated before. In order to pick out the madam’s mistakes and at the same time show off her own capabilities to the Old Madam, she had no choice but to go over the past few months’ accounts again and again. However, no matter how she calculated, the final numbers always matched those from before. But if they were the same as before, how was she supposed to handle the series of expenses in the Marquis Manor next?
Impossible, absolutely impossible—there must be a problem somewhere.
Sun Yulian irritably raised her hand to scratch her head, and then she was shocked to find that she had actually pulled out a clump of hair. Only a few days had passed, and she had already started losing hair? How could this be!
Wu San saw that Sun Yulian still hadn’t replied to him. He sniffled and said while sobbing, “If you think it’s difficult, I can go to Luoyu Hall and ask the Old Marquis. I know you just started managing the accounts, and you’re not familiar with the affairs in the residence. It’s hard to handle things without experience. If the madam were still here…”
Wu San seemed to realize that bringing up Meng Fu in front of Sun Yulian was a bit inappropriate, so he quickly changed his tone and said, “Actually, I don’t really have the face to go look for the Old Marquis either. Back in the day, I just followed the Old Marquis around in war for a few years, got injured for him a couple of times, even saved his life once. Sigh, these are nothing really. I’m just grateful the Old Marquis still remembers those old sentiments and often thinks of us.”
Sun Yulian was not a fool—how could she not hear that Wu San was using the Old Marquis to pressure her? It was because of the commotion caused by people like Wu San that the madam had suffered a loss, and she had gained an advantage. How would Sun Yulian dare let Wu San go complain about her to the Old Marquis again? Wasn’t it just a few dozen taels of silver? It wasn’t a big deal. Even if the Marquis Manor was no longer wealthy, it shouldn’t be short of this little bit of silver.
Wu San took the silver and returned to Ronghui Hall in great satisfaction. Heh heh, this Concubine Sun really didn’t have much brains—he could definitely squeeze more from her in the future.
When the others in Ronghui Hall saw how easily Wu San got silver from Sun Yulian, they were moved as well. There’s a saying: “It’s not poverty that’s troubling, but inequality.” They had all followed the Old Marquis through wind and rain—why should only Wu San be given silver and not them? Their families had sick members too. If Sun Yulian didn’t give them money, they would go to the Old Marquis to ask for an explanation.
Sun Yulian hadn’t even looked at much of the account books but was already busy dealing with these people’s annoying affairs. Fortunately, there weren’t many people in Ronghui Hall, and even if she gave each one a share, it only amounted to three hundred taels. Sun Yulian simply sent them to the steward to collect the silver.
It’s fine—she comforted herself—the Marquis Manor couldn’t possibly be so poor that it couldn’t come up with a few hundred taels. Besides, satisfying Wu San and the others could also make the Old Marquis and the Old Madam satisfied.
When the steward heard that she was giving out silver to Wu San and the others again, his head almost exploded. Was Sun Yulian unable to read account books? Didn’t she know what kind of state the Marquis Manor was in right now?
But the steward didn’t dare confront Sun Yulian. Not long ago, because he questioned her about the rent collected from the estate, he had been harshly rebuked by her.
After sending off the people from Ronghui Hall, the sky outside had completely darkened. Sun Yulian hurriedly ate a few bites, had the maid light the lamps, and started checking accounts late into the night again.
After just a few days like this, Sun Yulian felt like she was going to collapse. When she looked in the mirror in the morning, she almost didn’t recognize herself. She couldn’t go on like this. Checking accounts was important, but if she tortured herself to death over it, it just wasn’t worth it.
After breakfast, Sun Yulian decided to go out for a walk to clear her head, compare notes with others, and at the same time let the servants in the residence know that times had changed—now she, Sun Yulian, was the one in charge.
Sun Yulian walked out from her own Qiuxiang Pavilion, and after just a few steps, she ran into Hua Xiaoling, who was heading to Jixue Courtyard to learn boxing from Li Yue. Sun Yulian thought her current status was different from the past and didn’t want to pay any attention to Hua Xiaoling. But Hua Xiaoling, aside from when facing the Old Madam, was never good at reading the room. From afar, she waved and greeted Sun Yulian:
“Yah, isn’t this Concubine Sun? I haven’t seen you in days. Why do you look like you’ve gotten uglier?”
Sun Yulian’s smile on her face instantly stiffened. If Hua Xiaoling’s mouth didn’t know how to speak, she could have kept it shut!
Hua Xiaoling not only used her mouth—she also used her hands. She directly gave Sun Yulian’s face a rub. After rubbing, she didn’t care how Sun Yulian felt inside, and immediately showed an expression full of extreme disgust, as if she had touched something dirty, shaking her hand hard. She scolded Sun Yulian, saying: “Why did you put on so much powder? Just scraping it off could wrap a meal of dumplings. Is there something wrong with your face?”
Hua Xiaoling didn’t hide the gloating on her face at all. If Sun Yulian’s face really got ruined, she was willing to use her monthly allowance to buy a string of firecrackers to celebrate.
How could Sun Yulian not tell what Hua Xiaoling was thinking? She forced herself to maintain a smile and said to Hua Xiaoling: “I was up all night checking accounts, didn’t get good rest, and was worried it’d be improper if the Marquis saw me like that, so I put on a little more.”
“Checking accounts—” Hua Xiaoling deliberately dragged her tone, “Checking accounts is great. I really envy you, ah, the Old Madam actually gave that job to you.”
Sun Yulian smiled and said, “The Madam’s health isn’t good. The Old Madam had no other choice.”
Hua Xiaoling sighed, “Yeah, the Madam’s health truly isn’t good. Just yesterday during pitch-pot, she only scored fifty points more than me. Qingping also said the Madam is going out to the lake this afternoon, and it seems she also signed up to play polo. You know, oh—forgot, you don’t know—after they play polo, they usually have a banquet in the evening. The Madam’s health isn’t good, don’t know if she can hold on until the banquet ends.”
When Sun Yulian heard this speech from Hua Xiaoling, she felt a wave of fury surge straight to the top of her skull. Her vision went dark, her legs staggered, and she almost smashed head-first to the ground.
Fortunately, the maid’s hands reached out in time and supported her: “Yiniang [Concubine], what’s wrong?”
Sun Yulian gritted her teeth and said, “Nothing.”
Hua Xiaoling also came over to help support her, pretending to be concerned as she said: “You must really take good care of your health. If your body breaks down again, the Old Madam will have to let me check the accounts—that wouldn’t be too good, ga ga ga ga.” [“嘎嘎嘎嘎” is onomatopoeia for smug laughter.]
Hua Xiaoling said it wouldn’t be too good, but the corners of her mouth couldn’t help but curl upward as she let out a series of laughs. She already seemed to see herself in the future, holding the account books with full authority, basking in glory.
Seeing her like this, Sun Yulian sneered silently in her heart. Only if the Old Madam had gone mad would she let someone like Hua Xiaoling, who doesn’t even recognize a single character, manage the accounts.
Hua Xiaoling patted Sun Yulian’s shoulder and said: “Madam said this morning she wanted to do some kind of standing-post meditation or something in the courtyard. I’m going over to see if she needs any help. You work hard.”
What helping—Hua Xiaoling just wanted to go watch the spectacle.
Sun Yulian hadn’t even finished showing off her authority before getting a stomach full of anger because of Hua Xiaoling.
Ever since she no longer had to handle housework and accounts, Li Yue had been living especially leisurely. Now he even had time to renovate his little courtyard. It was only in the afternoons that he needed to look at the reports delivered by the secret guards from the palace, which mainly wrote about the content of that day’s court meeting and memorials that Meng Fu didn’t handle well. Since recently everything in the country was in good weather and peace, nothing major happened. The performance review matters were being well handled by Wei Jun’an. As for things like so-and-so being corrupt, so-and-so taking bribes, so-and-so getting ambushed in a sack and beaten up—those could just be left to Meng Fu to handle.