When Guard Xiao Song returned to the palace, Aunt Jun Ling finally agreed to find him a wife, but she still felt bad at the thought of going back to eat dog food.

Su Wan and Xie Pei were concentrating on their work.

Their situations are different, but they are still busy.

In fact, Su Wan had already briefly reviewed some accounts before the New Year. At that time, she counted the number of people in each palace and found out that many people were drawing salaries without working.

But at that time, only the number of people was counted, and the specific account was only seen now.

Even though this was the first time Xie Pei had ascended the throne, many people did not dare to falsify information, but there were serious problems with the previous accounts.

In fact, if you think about it, it is also related to Concubine Jiang.

Concubine Chu had exposed the matter at the beginning, but that was it, and the matter was quickly resolved.

If Emperor Huaizong at that time had been willing to conduct a serious investigation, it would not have taken so long.

After Su Wan finished looking at the accounts, she felt a bit overwhelmed, but she still had to patiently deal with them one by one.

While handling the matter, they also have to monitor the twelve government offices that have opened shops there.

Led by Shangshisi, they went to twelve places in total. People like Fang Yingfang were basically earning extra money outside and basically never came back.

Su Wan intends to move them out completely and let them be responsible for their own profits and losses. To put it bluntly, there is more freedom outside, and it is still a government-owned place for you to live in, but there will be no fixed monthly salary in the future.

See if you are willing to report every time you enter and leave the palace, but still receive a monthly salary, or are you willing to come and go freely outside without the palace keeping such strict controls.

It is equivalent to separating it completely.

Places like Fang Ying Fang are purely for entertainment purposes. Xie Pei doesn't like these things, and Su Wan is just here to watch the fun. They can earn hundreds of taels of silver at a time outside, so there is no need to keep them around.

There are quite a few places like this in the palace. They are all located in the residences of criminal officials that had been sealed off before. They are not far from the imperial palace, but just across the road in Nanxunfang.

This place is close to the imperial palace and can be managed under one location.

After they moved out, the office was cleaned up and temporarily sealed.

The Tianxiang Palace was indeed very large, and it was expanded several times, so it could accommodate more people. But after all, it was not only the royal family who lived here, it also served more as an official office.

After several changes, each place has its own organization. What Su Wan has to do is to find out the situation in all places, check the accounts, and verify how many people are needed in each place, so as not to waste precious manpower.

She was also responsible for any repairs needed in the palace or any unjust, false or wrongful cases that occurred.

Especially the last unjust, false and wrong case, which was basically about which boss was too harsh and which palace maid was lynched, and it is unknown whether someone was killed.

The Grand Secretary of the Dongge originally thought that giving this task to Su Wan was just to give her some practice, and it wouldn't be a big problem if she didn't do it well. Unexpectedly, she handled each item in an orderly manner.

The arrangements on the surface are clear and visible, but there is also a set of rules that are slowly being implemented internally.

Finally, he encouraged the twelve government offices that had opened shops to expand their scale, and even contacted the famous wealthy county governments in Tianxiang State, hoping to open government shops in other places.

Suzhou, Hangzhou, Guangdong, Fujian, etc. can all be visited, and it was also stated that it would be best if the palace people whose ancestral homes were in those places could have the palace open branches. If so, part of the income could be given to the local treasury.

If we just talked about this, people in different places would not care.

When they heard that the income would be handed over to the local treasury, they naturally became enthusiastic.

The profits from government-run stores are not small, a drop in the bucket for the national treasury, but for many places, the tax revenue alone is good, not to mention the profit sharing.

In fact, this proposal is a bit beyond the line.

So Su Wan easily used the alias Kong Zhang Sheren.

Kong Zhang Sheren suggested that if Su Wan did it, it would not be crossing the line.

It’s nice to have a vest.

However, when Su Wan was in the Qinzheng Palace, the Dongge Grand Secretary was also there. The Dongge Grand Secretary said, "These government-run stores in Kyoto are prone to disloyalty. After all, the profits are huge. Aren't you afraid that they will leave Kyoto and go to the local areas, and become even more unruly?"

Su Wan smiled, looked at Xie Pei, and explained: "Don't worry about them having other intentions. If they leave quickly, it will be a good thing."

Seeing that Dongge Grand Secretary was puzzled, Su Wan continued, "The purpose of opening the government-run store was not to compete with the people for profits, but to give them a new way out so that they would not be afraid to leave the palace. When they leave the government-run store, we will send new palace servants there."

"We have decided to observe a three-year mourning period for the late Emperor Huaizong. No palace maids will be recruited during these three years."

"These three years are enough for the entire palace to get back into a healthy state. Instead, I hope they can discover how good the outside world is, and then leave the government-run shops and open their own shops, or accept more generous rewards."

To put it bluntly, it's just a stepping stone.

If it were a private enterprise, it would certainly be unpleasant to be used as a stepping stone.

But as a government-run store, it’s not that annoying.

After all, no matter where you make money, the goal is to make sure the money eventually goes into the treasury of Tianxiang State.

It’s hard to say that the government-run store really made a lot of money and earned a huge amount of money, all of which went into Xie Pei’s pocket?

So is he governing the country or becoming a wealthy man?

In this way, the number of people in the palace will be less bloated over the long term, and some institutions will be able to reintegrate their responsibilities.

Departments with overlapping responsibilities are gradually merged and their positions are reorganized.

This situation is very normal. Take someone’s home for example. Today, I bought a storage box for this kind of item.

I bought another storage box tomorrow to store other things.

As time goes by, I find that I have more and more storage boxes, and the things inside them are becoming more and more messy.

There are even situations where storage boxes need to be stored in storage boxes.

It may look tidy on weekdays, but after half a year or a year, you still need to take some time to reorganize and plan, which can free up a lot of space.

Governing a big country is like cooking a small fish, everything must be just right.

The situation in the palace is just a microcosm of the entire Tianxiang Kingdom.

It was so troublesome for Su Wan to solve these things, let alone the Tianxiang Kingdom with such a vast land.

So as soon as the Dongge Grand Secretary left, Xie Pei said, "Look, you're almost done with your side, and I still have a lot of things to do here."

Su Wan raised her eyebrows and ignored it.

It’s everyone’s business to take care of it. She didn’t agree to do these things.

In fact, if she had just arrived, Su Wan would not even interfere in the affairs of the harem.

But the more I understand, the more I realize that it is okay to hide my shortcomings during times of peace and prosperity, and it is okay not to be exposed to these things.

Now that she knew and had Xie Pei's full trust, she wanted to do something for Tianxiang Country.

Reading the history books of Tianxiang Kingdom and seeing the efforts made by the late emperor and General Ding for this place, it is hard not to be moved.

Su Wan looked through another list: "Are these the people?"

"Well, once they visit government-run stores across the country, we will have spies everywhere." Xie Pei said, "They are all trustworthy people."

The two of them didn't need to say much, the matter was already settled.

It is true that the purpose of sending people out was to give the palace servants a way out, but it is even more true that supervisory agencies were gradually being installed across the country.

Children's homework must be checked every day, and naturally the officials below will check it. Today's supervisory agencies are almost corrupt.

It was not uncommon for local governors and prefects to collude with each other.

Just because Huai Zong doesn’t understand doesn’t mean Su Wan and Xie Pei don’t understand.

So when the official stores were opened across the country, Su Wan gave Xie Pei this suggestion.

The result is self-evident.

What else can be said except to make Xie Pei surprised and agree.

Su Wan also looked at him. Sometimes she wondered what else Xie Pei could do.

Both of them are busy with their own things, and this is just a small part of dealing with the complicated affairs.

After Su Wan had completely taken the time to send the palace maids back to their hometowns, she was reminded by the letter from the Su family.

It seemed like she had planted a bomb for the Su family on New Year's Day.

Now the thunder can finally be ignited?

The last time was on New Year’s Day, and now it’s already the fourth day of March. It’s taken two months to solve two problems. This won’t do.

After receiving the letter, Su Wan took time out to leave the palace and return to the Su family.

Naturally, she was not restricted from leaving the palace now. The Su family watched her come back in the palace carriage, and then looked at the light green official uniform she was wearing. They also saw that her demeanor was different from before, and she was even accompanied by palace maids to serve her.

If you compare Su Wan before entering the palace with Su Wan now, you will not believe that the beautiful and lively woman in front of you is the same person.

The third daughter of the Su family, the woman who had originally put the blame on Su Wan for entering the palace, was finding it increasingly unbelievable.

It seemed as if my initial pity was funny.

Even if I had the chance to choose again, I still wouldn't enter the palace. Entering the palace would waste my time, and I wouldn't be able to get married at the right age.

But she didn't feel sorry for Su Wan at all. She should be grateful to him for giving her the quota, otherwise how could she have the good life she has now.

Now, not only is she so beautiful and awe-inspiring, but the whole family also pampers her.

Her aunt said that what Su Wan stole from the palace was enough to make the whole family richer than their grandfather had.

There is no need to respect something that has been stolen.

However, the fact that the whole family welcomed them still shows how much importance they attach to it.

Su Wan said to the palace maid who followed her: "Walk around here and take a walk."

As he said this, he took some loose change from his purse and said, "Buy whatever you want. If it's too expensive, wait for me to pay."

"Thank you, Lady Official! I won't be polite then!" Palace maid Wenqin said immediately.

Everyone only knew that her name was Wenqin and that she was a palace maid following Su Wan, but they did not know that she was actually sent by Xie Pei to protect Su Wan. Although she was not tall, she had good martial arts skills. Su Wan must be good to her bodyguard.

But in the eyes of the Su family, it was a sign of prosperity.

Looking at the loose change, doesn't she feel any pain?

He must have made a fortune in the palace.

I heard that she has been working in the palace's Imperial Household Department recently. What's that place? It's a lucrative job.

Given her personality, since she was willing to take baking soda, how could she not take other things? Look at how generous she was, there must be a reason for that.

When Su Wan entered the Su family, the third aunt naturally sat next to her.

Mr. Su, his wife, the second aunt's family, and her son and daughter are all on the opposite side, giving a clear sense of separation.

However, there was a young man next to Su Zheng's wife, obviously her nephew.

After everyone sat down, Jing Ju brought the tea and left quietly.

Su Wan smiled and said, "I saw the letter, saying that there was an emergency at home, so he quit his job and asked the superior for grace to come back. What's the matter?"

"What's the matter? Did you forget?" Su's wife immediately asked, "About our store opening."

Su Wan almost said it clearly at the beginning.

There are three things to consider when opening a store: how to resign from Qingfenglou, how to distribute the profits, and how to take back the store.

Everything is done, it’s no problem for her to supply more baking soda.

Now the Su family is doing their best to complete these things. Seeing Su Wan's puzzled eyes, how can they not be anxious?

Aunt Su Er said, "Look at how forgetful our Fourth Miss is. Have you forgotten that our family opened a shop relying on the baking soda from the palace?"

"You won't regret it now."

"You are already a female official. Although you are only of the eighth rank, you still have a rank. It's not good to go back on your word."

Su Wan suddenly realized: "So it's this matter. Has Qingfenglou already resigned? The store is also to be returned, and how to divide the profits?"

Mr. Su looked unhappy, but he still nodded and asked his wife to briefly explain what had happened.

He didn't need to tell her, Su Wan knew it before she came.

With her aunt and Jing Ju, as well as the available guards Zhou Zhao and Chai Huan, Su Wan knew what was going on even better than they did.

Let’s talk about Qingfeng Tower first.

The owner of Qingfeng Tower knew the "inside story" of baking soda and also thought it was stolen from the palace.

So when Mr. Su showed his intention to leave, the boss was naturally unwilling. But when he learned that his son was also leaving and was going to open his own shop with Baking Soda, his attitude changed immediately.

They must have tried everything, including threats and inducements.

When Su Wan thought about opening her own shop, she would definitely put in more effort and she wouldn't have to look at the boss's face.

Master Su naturally insisted. The old man in Qingfeng Tower had said before that he was not someone to be trifled with. Since Master Su insisted on leaving, he had two conditions: either they had to compensate them with a large sum of money, or he would go to the authorities and accuse Master Su's daughter of stealing property from the palace.

The palace has been conducting a very thorough investigation recently. If something happens at this critical juncture, their whole family will be implicated.

Moreover, the boss of Qingfenglou had spent a lot of effort to find out that Master Su's daughter was actually helping to investigate the matter. Wasn't that embezzlement? An even greater crime?

After all the tussling, Mr. Su had no choice but to accept the loss, but he secretly remembered in his heart that he must earn it back in the future.

The government-run dessert company earns a thousand taels a day. How can he not earn it back?

The boss of Qingfeng Tower also wanted to extort money from them. After all, if the matter was really reported to the police, Qingfeng Tower would not be able to escape the connection. The girls in the palace were all serving as court ladies, and he might get into trouble himself.

From the sky-high asking price of three thousand taels, it was finally settled down to eight hundred taels.

It is equivalent to using eight hundred taels to buy out the secret material. From now on, the boss of Qingfeng Tower will just shut up.

But I don't have the eight hundred taels at all. Fortunately, they gave me a deadline of a few days.

When Mr. Su got home and did the math, he found out that he used to earn ten taels of silver a month, and one hundred and twenty taels a year, which meant he had worked for about seven years for nothing.

But Mr. Su’s troubles were not over yet.

Su's wife brought her nephew to live at home. These two people were at loggerheads with the second aunt, her mother and her children. They had a small quarrel every day and a big quarrel every two days.

This is not a time for random quarrels. Whoever suppresses whom will get more money in the future.

However, Su's wife still had to free up her hands to take back the shop, which was near Chongnanfang where they lived, on Yongchong Street where Aunt Su Wan and her family opened a shop. The Su family's shop was located in the most prosperous location of Yongchong Street before, while Aunt Su Wan and her family were in a slightly remote location, so there was some distance between them.

Su Zheng's wife told the owner of the store she rented that she wanted to buy the store. The owner agreed readily and only asked her to give him a month to sort things out. He said he had been thinking about moving to another place for a long time but had been hesitant and had not made up his mind.

This matter was easy to handle, and Su Zheng's wife was proud for a while. However, they had to officially move out in early February, and not only did they have to return the rent of the store, but they also had to pay three times the compensation. From February to June, there were exactly five months, which was 150 taels of silver.

Adding up both costs, the store has not even opened yet, but it already costs nine hundred and fifty taels of silver.

Moreover, Mr. Su and the eldest son of the Su family are no longer employed.

Not only is the family living beyond their means, but they also have two weddings to take place in May and June.

When the two relatives knew that they had quit their jobs, they came to ask them in confusion, especially the eldest son of the Su family, who didn't even have a job, so how could he get married?

I felt relieved when I found out that they wanted to open their own store.

The Su family was worried. Even if they emptied their family savings, they could only take out more than 300 taels of silver.

Even if he pawned his belongings and borrowed money from everywhere, the most he could get was four hundred and fifty taels.

What about the remaining five hundred taels?

These people were so short of money that they went to ask Aunt Su Wan, thinking that she should have some.

Following Su Wan's reminder, the aunt only gave more than ten taels, saying that this was the money she had saved from working and she really had nothing left.

In their eyes, Aunt Su Wan was just working for others. They never imagined that she had two silver notes worth five hundred taels in her arms. But how could Aunt Su Wan possibly take them out?

This was left for her daughter as a dowry.

Thinking about how they knew it was dangerous for their daughter to use things from the palace, but they didn't care and just waited to make money.

Aunt Su Wan was very impatient.

If something goes wrong, what will happen to Su Wan? Have they thought about it?

Since they don't care about their daughter, how can they expect her to be a good person?

In fact, the aunt didn't want to give the more than ten taels, but she did give it according to Su Wan's request.

Su Wan's idea, of course, was to buy peace of mind with more than ten taels of silver so that she could pay them back later.

Anyway, the issue with Qingfeng Building has been resolved and the shop has been taken back.

What remains is profit distribution.

We had been arguing about it from the beginning of February until yesterday, and now it’s settled.

Of the net profit, Master Su gets 40%, his wife gets 20%, the second concubine and the other two get 20%, and Su Wan gets 20%.

It seems fair and reasonable.

But a careful calculation shows that Su Wan bears the greatest risk, but the second aunt said sourly: "Look at me, the eldest brother, and the third brother, a total of three people, only get 20%. You and your aunt only get 20%, which is great."

Su Wan said directly: "If you hadn't given birth to the eldest son of the Su family, would you have been able to get a share?"

"The master's wife deserves it because they are the masters of the Su family. My aunt and I deserve it because we want to contribute. What about you?"

"That's right. You're taking advantage of me and still acting like a good kid. Who gave you the face?" Su's wife said immediately.

Su Wan was just satisfying her urge to talk, so she decided to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

Everyone looked at her, and Su's wife said, "Actually, I asked you to come here today not only to talk about opening a shop, but also for another matter."

"That means the five hundred taels have not been collected yet. See if you can spare some of it. You are also a member of the Su family. I will return it to you when the store makes a profit in the future."

My goodness, they said that everything was settled, but in fact, it was just words, but there was no money.

She was asked to "steal" things from the palace and to pay for them.

Is there such a fool as her in the world?

Su Wan pretended to be embarrassed: "I'm afraid it won't work. I don't have much money. There are too many things to do in the palace."

As for money, of course there is some, as she has basically no place to spend money in the palace.

Not to mention anything else, if I sold any of the small items that Xie Pei sent me, I could buy a small house in Kyoto, but why should I give it to them?

Just as they were about to speak, Su Wan suggested, "Even if you find five hundred taels, don't you want to repair the shop? I remember that the previous shop sold cloth. If you want to sell snacks again, you should at least tidy it up, right?"

"What should I do with the money?"

"It's hundreds of taels of silver, but I don't have it."

"You are so powerful in the palace and you are even a female official. How could you not have this money? Why not ask your boss for an advance?" Master Su said immediately.

In fact, in the eyes of these Su family members, how could Su Wan be without money?

She is a lady-in-waiting!

How can I be without money while working in the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the time being?

I definitely don't want to take it out.

"The key is that we can't turn back now. We have already paid the compensation for the store, 150 taels."

"There is still eight hundred from Qingfeng Tower that we haven't collected yet."

"Add to that the renovations you mentioned, how can this be done?"

"Just move a little bit out, okay? I'll definitely pay you back later."

Seeing them talking at once, Su Wan cleared her throat and said, "How about this?"

When Su Wan spoke, everyone perked up, thinking she was going to agree, and then they heard Su Wan say, "Why don't you mortgage the shop first? I remember that the shop is worth one or two thousand silver coins. As long as you mortgage it, the silver in your hands will be enough to do a lot of things."

"Not to mention that we have the hush money from Qingfenglou, we can make a lot of money. You also know how many snack shops there are in Kyoto now. If they are not repaired better, how can they be sold at a high price?"

"Not to mention that I don't have that much money, even if I had four or five hundred taels, it would still not be enough. I still need to deal with the decoration."

"Let's just mortgage it, what do you think? Anyway, I'm sure I'll make money in the future, and I can pay it back when I make money. Isn't that the best of both worlds?"

Naturally, there was the mortgage business in ancient times, which was divided into government and private ones.

It means asking someone to appraise your real estate, giving you money after the appraisal. If you cannot pay the money within the agreed time, the real estate will be theirs.

The former has lower interest, but pays less silver, while the latter is valued at more silver and has higher interest.

Su Wan didn’t care which one they chose. Since she had already said this, it was up to them to decide what to do.

No matter how they tried to persuade her to stay, Su Wan simply said that it was time to leave the palace and she had to go back immediately.

The aunt also said that if she didn't go to work, she would be fired, and she also left with Jingju.

Now Su Wan is not too worried about her aunt being bullied. Not to mention that Jing Ju and she are already in the same boat, and besides, her aunt herself is not that weak.

The rest of the Su family continued to hold their small meeting.

In fact, they had thought about doing this before, but the risk was too great. It was better to borrow money from Su Wan. Even if she couldn't pay it back in the future, as the daughter of the Su family, she could still sue them.

However, I didn't expect Su Wan to run so fast that she didn't even have time to stay outside the palace for a while. It seems that an eighth-rank female official is just like this.

After saying this, the Su family themselves felt a little sour.

Now that Su Wan is gone, Aunt Su Wan is a taciturn person. If you talk too much, she will just close the door and not let anyone in. She works all day, so it's not good to bring this matter to other people's store.

It's embarrassing enough that my aunt has to go to work, and now it's time to ask her for money.

After a sleepless night, the Su family decided to mortgage the house for money, and they even went to the government to mortgage it. The house that could be sold for 1,800 taels could only be mortgaged for 1,200 taels, and the repayment was within five months. The interest rate was not high, but they still had to pay off nearly 100 taels of interest for five months, which was painful to hear.

In any case, government-run ones are much more reliable than private ones.

As long as they make profits early and pay it back early, they can pay less interest.

This is already very cautious.

Moreover, one thousand two hundred taels was enough for them to pay the hush money to Qingfeng Tower and to renovate the shop.

Around the tenth day of March, the store began to be renovated. After paying off the shortfall of 500 taels to Qingfeng Tower, only 700 taels of silver were left.

Use two hundred taels out of the seven hundred taels to immediately start cleaning up the shop and purchasing items, so that we can open it in early April!

You can make profits immediately after opening your business!

I don't want to make a thousand or a hundred taels a day like a dessert shop, but three thousand a month will be enough, two thousand is also fine.

In one or two months, the mortgaged contract can be taken back.

Mr. Su was absolutely confident about this. First, the peach and date cakes he had made before had regular customers. Second, he had a lot more baking soda, so he could make other snacks.

Anyway, as long as Su Wan brings back more baking soda, any kind of pastry can be made into flowers!

Are you still worried about not making money?

Everyone in the Su family devoted themselves to decorating the shop.

During this period, she also redeemed the jewelry that had been pawned previously. Not only that, the second aunt also found a way to deduct some silver for her children to use for their marriages.

Seeing this, Su's wife also took some and had a big quarrel with the second aunt.

Although Mr. Su was impatient, thinking about the money he was about to earn, he asked them to stop making trouble and suggested that they buy a lamb and slaughter it for everyone to eat.

After hearing the news, Su Wan didn't feel anything else.

It was not the first time that this family had trouble saving money, and the 1,200 taels of silver they mortgaged would not be enough for them to squander for too long.

They originally had 450 taels of silver in their hands. After deducting the pawned items, they only had 300 taels of silver left. Together with the mortgaged money, they had 1,500 taels of silver left.

The rent compensation alone, plus the money to make Qingfenglou shut up, would cost nine hundred and fifty taels.

There were only 550 left in his hand. According to the current decoration, he could not even spend 100 taels of silver each. They were still spending the money on eating and drinking.

Su Wan calculated that if they could have two hundred taels left by the end of March when the renovation was completed as scheduled, it would be considered a success.

This is not an exaggeration, but it is very possible judging by the way they spend their money.

This episode came to an end. Su Wan only went out once, so there is no need to say too much.

Her main focus now is still in the palace.

From the middle of January to the end of March, the palace had basically been arranged. There were originally more than 10,000 people in the inner palace, but now there are only 3,000 or 4,000 left.

Who could blame it on the fact that the previous imperial chefs accounted for two to three thousand people, and the people around Concubine Jiang and Chu Jieyu still made up the majority? Those who should be sent to government-run stores should go to government-run stores, and those who were worried that His Majesty would retaliate against Concubine Jiang and Chu Jie's old friends left first.

They were originally going to leave in May, but Su Wan gave them a choice: they could take the monthly salary for March, April and May and leave now, or wait until May to leave. Most people chose the former.

There were not many arrangements for the palace maids in the inner palace, and everyone knew that they would definitely be allowed to leave.

The old people who stayed behind would be a hidden danger to everyone.

Now the inner palace has basically been replaced by Su Wan, and the people working in the Qianqing Palace were all previously placed in the Chonghua Palace.

As for the outer palace maids whose backgrounds were clear, Su Wan had learned how to investigate them when she followed the chief of the Imperial Food Department, and it was easy for her to do so.

All in all, the inner palace has a small number of staff, except for a few imperial concubines and the two princesses. The main reason is that they had too few staff before, and now they are just making up for it.

The situation is like this in the inner palace, and the more than 20,000 people in the outer palace are now only 11,000.

Basically there is something to do in these cases, and it is no longer like before when there were so many people needed everywhere and everywhere was overcrowded.

Compared with the Inner Palace, people in the Outer Palace have more skills and can be transferred to government-run shops across the country, or return to their hometowns to work.

This action shocked the court, and some people even submitted memorials, saying that as a saint and the ruler of a country, how could his travel be so simple and unsophisticated, which would damage the dignity of the country.

When Su Wan heard this, she really wanted to say something, but supporting so many people who do nothing would hurt her wallet.

Some money should always be spent wisely.

What if we detain the palace maids and don't let them leave?

In the past, the palace servants did not leave, not because they did not want to leave, but because their superiors did not allow them to leave.

If they left, wouldn't there be fewer people in my office? How could I make money with fewer people and how could I appear powerful?

This abnormal environment led to more and more people entering the palace.

There are only a few who really don't want to leave.

In the past, Concubine Jiang also wanted to release people from the palace to relieve the financial pressure.

But after waiting for many days, her superiors still refused to let her go. What could she do?

Now that Su Wan has taken over, she has arranged for people to go out and do the work, given them some severance pay, and also suppressed the manager who wanted to make trouble, and finally succeeded in getting the job done.

From then on, the palace was clean and tidy, and daily expenses were reduced by almost half.

The Minister of Revenue was naturally delighted.

In fact, the story is more complicated than that. Su Wan did not do everything smoothly, but she did not worry too much and took advantage of the fact that the court was also clearing out people, so she finally got these things done.

You all say that a new emperor appoints new ministers, and that’s exactly what we do.

Even if he had some complaints in his heart, the Grand Secretary of Jianji Palace had just returned to his hometown not long ago. What did he say when he left?

He stood on the side of the Second Prince, and not only was he tolerated by His Majesty, but he was also given dignity, and his family would not be harmed. Doesn't this show His Majesty's compassion?

Your Majesty has been magnanimous enough.

If it were someone else, you would just be demoted? Wouldn't that mean you would go straight to jail?

We should just be content!

Although it sounds exaggerated, Your Majesty does seem to be using both kindness and power.

Everyone also felt that the palace's actions were probably a signal from His Majesty, so they could only keep silent.

Following this opportunity, almost everything will be easy.

Su Wan felt that she was taking advantage of the situation.

However, people in the palace have begun to say that the female officials in the Imperial Kitchen are of the same lineage and are all difficult to mess with, and this one is the most difficult to mess with.

Seeing him smiling all day long, he always achieves his goal without any bloodshed.

Wherever she goes, she has a manager who is unlucky. It's okay if she honestly admits her mistakes, but how dare she be sneaky? I will arrange for you to go to the laundry department tomorrow.

However, both the chief and deputy chief stewards of the Ministry of Internal Affairs thought that she was right and had no intention of refuting her at all. They even took the initiative to help play the bad guy.

Su Wan smiled, and they worked with gloomy faces.

They sang the same tune, it was so cruel.

By the end of March, the Su Family Dim Sum Shop was officially renovated and had a well-known name as a time-honored brand in Kyoto.

This is true. The Su family’s dim sum was indeed famous in the past, otherwise why would the owner of Qingfeng Tower invite Mr. Su over.

But times are changing, and dim sum is improving, but his craftsmanship remains the same.

But it doesn’t matter, as long as you have baking soda, everything will be easy!

For Mr. Su, everything is ready now, except for the east wind.

This east wind was for Su Wan to quickly take out the baking soda.

Of the 1,200 taels of silver he had obtained through mortgage, only less than 200 taels were left. It was his fault for his recent extravagant eating and drinking, but it was also because Su's wife and second concubine wanted the money.

Anyway, no matter what, the money can be recovered!

Let’s go find Su Wan quickly!

If that damn girl gave him too little baking soda, he would sue her. Just as Qingfeng Tower threatened him, he could threaten Su Wan in the same way.

This is what Mr. Su thinks, and it is also what the other members of the Su family think.

As for Aunt Su Wan and Jing Ju, they go out early and come back late, saying that the store is too busy. In fact, even if it is not busy, they would just rest there.

Who made my family go completely crazy about opening a store?

The store hasn't opened yet, and they're still arguing about who collects the money and who manages the accounts. Mr. Su drinks when he gets angry, and the quality of the wine has improved recently. He probably thinks it will make money in the future, so he just buys it.

Outsiders were envious when they saw that the Su family was planning to reopen a store. Many people even wanted to take advantage of the situation and at least find a job.

So it was not Aunt Su Wan and Jing Ju's turn to help at all, as some relatives had already come to the house on their own initiative.

Mr. Su was a very proud person, so he didn't refuse directly, but just said to wait for news.

What news were you waiting for? Naturally, it was news from Su Wan.

All they could do was send letters to the palace, but after trying several times, they still couldn't find Su Wan.

The answer is no, the money spent is not enough, and the letter has never been delivered.

From March 27th to April 2nd, a full five days, we could not get in touch with him.

Even Aunt Su Wan couldn't be contacted. She just said that there were a lot of things going on in the palace and it was normal that she couldn't be contacted.

As for entering the palace directly?

They also need to have this face.

They couldn't even enter the palace gate; the guards with swords were scary.

For a moment, all the members of the Su family were so anxious that they were fuming. They wanted to vent their anger on Aunt Su Wan, but they were afraid that if they vented too much, Su Wan would be unhappy.

Go sue Su Wan now? What if she really has something wrong?

Su Wan actually didn't have anything to do. She and Xie Pei were writing documents together. April was the end of spring and many things had come to an end, so she and Xie Pei could take a break.

Xie Pei started writing another document, which was to summon strong and martial arts young men from Tianxiang Kingdom to go on an autumn hunt on Laixi Mountain in Yuhua Palace in August and September.

Yuhua Palace is a royal summer resort and people go there almost every year, and this year should be no exception.

This year, there is an additional autumn hunting session, which is around the Mid-Autumn Festival. There will be no singing and dancing this time, but hunting as the main focus.

Although it is only the beginning of April, if we want all the young men in Tianxiang Kingdom to know about this, we still have to send out the news in advance so that people in some remote areas can also arrive.

When Xie Pei finished writing, he looked at Su Wan and added a sentence at the end: Regardless of gender or status, all those who have made contributions and are recommended by the county governments will be rewarded equally.

This means that the counties below are doing their best to find people with potential. Even if they are not related to you, as long as you recommend them, they will be rewarded.

This, to a large extent, encouraged local officials to make every effort to find talents and send them to Kyoto and Yuhua Palace within four months.

Seeing this, Su Wan asked, "Have you started preparing?"

"We have already started preparing for this." Xie Pei said, "No matter how powerful the Ding family army is, they are mostly veterans. The same is true for the court."

"There are still options for civil officials, but for military officials, there is only the military examination, which was not taken seriously before."

"Yes, this is the fastest way to find suitable talents." Su Wan said.

After learning literary and martial arts, they were sold to the imperial family.

Many people want to sell their skills to the imperial family but never have the opportunity.

It would be worthwhile to select talents during the autumn hunt and pick a few good seedlings to train. Even if such a large number of people are mobilized and only one or two emerge from millions of people, it would still be worth it.

Moreover, the people selected this time are young and naturally have great potential.

Since ancient times, autumn hunting has been about selecting good martial artists. By doing this, Xie Pei is also sending out some signals and giving many people opportunities.

After this was settled, Su Wan sighed, "Okay, let's just rest for this month, start packing for the trip to the palace in May, leave in mid-May, stay in Yuhua Palace until September and come back?"

"Almost. Thank you for your hard work." Xie Pei pulled Su Wan to sit next to him and talk. It was quite funny to see the boy and girl sitting side by side.

Su Wan said, "It's not that hard. It's really cool over there in Yuhua Palace. We have too many old officials here. Some of them couldn't stand it last year. If we didn't send a lot of ice every day, they would definitely have suffered from heatstroke."

Last year, in order to deal with matters in the palace and the court, many ministers accompanied Xie Pei in the capital. In the hot summer weather, they were sweating all over just sitting still.

Even young people can hardly bear it, let alone the elderly.

Most of the people in their court are elderly.

So Yuhua Palace is a must, because it is cool there.

And the autumn hunting location is also set there, which is just right.

After they finished talking about the court affairs, Xie Pei looked at Su Wan and smiled: "The Su family has been looking for you many times, why haven't you come yet?"

"No, it's not the right time yet." Su Wan certainly knew that the Su family was anxious and angry.

Why does she want to see him?

The other party wanted her to steal quickly.