The Imperial Study.

"Your Majesty, are you sure you didn't mishear? You've sent me to settle accounts?" Xin Chenchen asked again.

Li Qiji laughed and said, "Yes, that's right. Even if I'm the only one who misheard, Hua Quan and Ji Wu are here too. Ask them."

“Lord Xin, this servant heard that Xiao Dezi from the Cold Palace said so, it can’t be wrong,” Hua Quan said.

Ji Wu echoed, "Yes, that's what I heard Xiao Dezi say too."

"Alright! Then Your Majesty, I will take my leave and come to the palace first thing tomorrow morning." Xin Chenchen said, clasping his hands in a gesture of respect.

Li Qiji quickly said, "Cousin Xin, you've finally managed to come to the palace, aren't you going to pay your respects to your aunt?"

"Your mother misses you terribly. She says you haven't come to the palace to see her! If you come to the palace but don't pay your respects to her, she'll definitely scold you again when she finds out."

Xin Chenchen could only say, "That's fine then, it really has been a long time since I've seen my aunt."

"Let's go and pay our respects to the Empress Dowager!" Li Qiji also stood up from in front of the dragon desk.

"Hua Quan, send someone to inform that brat Qi Shang what he's doing, and bring him to the Empress Dowager's palace. We'll have a small gathering tonight," Li Qiji said in a good mood.

Upon hearing that Li Qishang should be called, Xin Chenchen immediately said, "Why don't we invite my cousin and sister-in-law as well? That way, I can ask them in person if they really want me to be their accountant tomorrow."

Li Qiji thought so too. He didn't have any reason to go to the Cold Palace anyway, so it would be good to have Guan Zhiyue come along.

"In that case, let's send someone to fetch them both!"

"Yes, this servant will make the arrangements immediately." Hua Quan respectfully clasped his hands in a salute and headed towards the door.

Li Qiji chatted with Xin Chenchen about the Imperial Academy for a while, and after a few more casual words, he headed towards the Empress Dowager's Cining Palace.

When the eunuch delivered the imperial edict to the Cold Palace, Guan Zhiyue had already written down the simplified version of the numbers, which were essentially modern Arabic numerals, on a piece of paper.

Furthermore, the capitalization, abbreviation, and traditional characters have all been rewritten. The top is traditional, the middle is capitalized, and the bottom is abbreviation, making it clear at a glance and understandable to anyone.

In addition, a multiplication table was attached, also in three forms, all of which were copied onto a huge sheet of white paper.

——

The Cold Palace.

"Your Majesty, someone from the Emperor's side has arrived. They say they'll be attending a family banquet at Cining Palace tonight, and you'd like to join them," Bilian said.

After receiving the imperial edict, Cuijuan began looking for clothes for Guan Zhiyue, while Shiliu was already preparing the hairpins and beads that would be needed for her later dressing up.

Guan Zhiyue looked up from her desk, her face full of confusion. The Emperor had come to invite her to some kind of family banquet?

"Who are they?" Guan Zhiyue asked.

Bilian said softly, "There is Lord Xin, the Emperor, Prince Xiaoyao, and the Empress Dowager; there is no one else. The eunuch who delivered the imperial decree is still waiting at the door, saying that he is waiting for you to go together."

"Oh, I see. Go and have someone boil some water for me. I'd like to take a bath before I go!" Guan Zhiyue said.

Bilian nodded and then went to get busy. After Bilian left, Guan Zhiyue took out a lot of food from her space and replaced all the packaging bags with the kraft paper from here.

"Your Majesty, the water is ready, you may bathe now," Bilian called out from the doorway.

Guan Zhiyue nodded, then opened the door to the study and came out. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Go find a few food boxes and put the food I hid in the study inside."

Bilian was speechless. How long had it been since her mistress had secretly hidden food from her again?

"Oh? Your Highness, when did you hide food again? Is it still edible?"

Guan Zhiyue pouted and said, "It's edible, and incredibly delicious. The ones that weren't wrapped up are for you. You little rascal, you've really become more and more resilient lately."

Bilian stuck out her tongue, and upon hearing that there was a share for her, she said happily, "Thank you, Your Highness. Please go and take a bath quickly!"

Guan Zhiyue snorted and headed to her room. She quickly took a shower and then had Shiliu and Cuijuan dress her up. Guan Zhiyue was particularly confused when it came to putting on formal makeup. Why did she have to wear so many clothes?

With so many layers inside and out, it will be inconvenient to go to the toilet later. It's just a burden. But I still have to keep wearing it, so I just closed my eyes and let the two of them do it.

—Cining Palace.

"Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects! May Your Majesty enjoy boundless blessings!" Xin Chenchen said.

Empress Dowager Xin looked at Xin Chenchen with a sorrowful expression, beckoned to her, and said, "Chenchen, it's been so long since you've come to see this old woman."

"Your Majesty, I am humbled. However, I am burdened with many tasks at the academy, so I have not been able to pay my respects to the Empress Dowager for the time being," Xin Chenchen said.

Upon hearing this, Empress Dowager Xin shook her head and said, "What talk of subjects? We are just one family now. Why are you calling me Empress Dowager? Call me Aunt."

"Yes, Aunt!"

"Hmm, very good, very good. How is your mother?" Empress Dowager Xin asked.

Xin Chenchen cupped her hands in greeting and replied, "Thank you for your concern, Aunt. My mother is doing very well in the capital!"

"Oh well, that's good. I sent an invitation to your mother to come to the palace and keep this old woman company, but she kept making excuses!"

Xin Chenchen smiled and said, "Aunt, my mother has been looking for a husband for me recently, so she hasn't been able to come and visit you. When I get home today, I will definitely give my mother a good talk about it."

Empress Dowager Xin and Li Qiji were overjoyed upon hearing this, and said with a smile, "Oh dear, Aunt is finally going to find me a cousin-in-law!"

"Alright, alright, you're not getting any younger, you should start taking care of things. Other people's children are your age and they're already grandmothers. It's a pity that this old woman is still all alone! Don't you know you should be worried?" After Empress Xin finished speaking, the two people present were petrified and didn't want to respond.

Just then, that silly boy Li Qishang rushed in from outside, with Shang Yao behind him holding something covered with a red cloth.

Li Qishang swiftly opened his folding fan, circled around the group, and then looked at the Empress Dowager, saying, "Your subject greets Your Majesty!"

"Oh dear, come quickly to your mother's side and let your mother see you. You're always in the palace, and it's still hard for your old mother to see you. It's one thing for your elder brother to be busy with court affairs, but you, you good-for-nothing, don't have any job to do. Why don't you come to see your old mother more often?"

Li Qishang grabbed Empress Dowager Xin's arm and said coquettishly, "Mother, although I don't have any official duties, I am now shouldering the heavy responsibility of filling the national treasury!"

"Wow, that's amazing! Tell your mother what you've done to replenish the national treasury?" Empress Dowager Xin asked.

"Shangyao, take the item to the Empress Dowager for a look."

Shang Yao stepped forward and lifted the red cloth covering the tray in her hand, revealing a set of glass teaware: six straight glass teacups without any decorations, and a straight glass teapot that was narrow at the top and wide at the bottom.

"Is this made of glass?" Empress Dowager Xin said, looking at the white and transparent tea set.

"Yes, Mother, do you think what I have made can replenish the national treasury?"

Li Qiji and Xin Chenchen stepped forward, carefully took a cup, and examined it closely. Because they found it strange, they looked particularly amazed!

As the group sighed, Guan Zhiyue walked in from the doorway. After greeting the Empress Dowager, she glanced at the glass tea set but said nothing and didn't look at it again. To her, it was nothing more than simple and ordinary.

"Lord Xin, I have something to give you. Since we met at the Empress Dowager's place tonight, I won't bother you any longer tomorrow. I've already brought the item," Guan Zhiyue said, glancing at Xin Chenchen.

Xin Chenchen laughed and said, "Could it be the account books? I heard that Her Majesty the Empress has been sorting out the palace accounts recently. Did she summon me here to be her accountant?"

Guan Zhiyue shook her head and said, "Not at the moment! But we will definitely need Lord Xin's support later."

Xin Chenchen became interested upon hearing this and asked with a smile, "Oh, then may I ask what Your Majesty the Empress requires me to do?"

Guan Zhiyue handed a folded piece of paper to Xin Chenchen. Xin Chenchen opened it and saw that Guan Zhiyue had simplified the numbers, and there was something written on the other side that she couldn't understand.

"This is?"

"I've been looking at the account books these past few days, and they're full of complicated numbers. Sometimes just one number takes up a lot of space, and the final numbers are always long and complicated. I've invented this simplified version, where you can combine numbers from 1 to 10 in any way."

“It’s simple, convenient and easy to remember. Lord Xin, you can take a look at it. This mnemonic table is a magic weapon for arithmetic. Lord Xin, take a look!” Guan Zhiyue said to the three big men.