By the time he returned to the capital, the city had already undergone tremendous changes and was paralyzed. He had no idea how the Prince Gong's Mansion operated, so when Emperor Yuanhe sent over the mansion's seal, it remained untouched.
However, Yu Nanqing knew that the official seal was a symbol of the prince's power.
"Take this to the Taicang Bureau in the palace, right?" Su Wanyan tucked the seal into her bosom. "Okay, I understand. I'll go."
Seeing that Su Wanyan was about to leave, Yu Nanqing suddenly grabbed her hand.
"What?" Su Wanyan was still not used to it.
Knowing that Su Wanyan didn't like it, Yu Nanqing quickly let go of her hand and said, "Take Mingyu and Xiaobu with you. Mingyu will be in the open, and Xiaobu will be in the shadows. If anything happens, they can protect you."
"Okay." Su Wanyan tucked the blanket around him. "You should get some rest."
silver!
Su Wanyan's mind is now filled with nothing but money!
Even if she can't get back her previous salary, she's determined to get the salary she hasn't received this year!
Winter is just around the corner. There are over thirty people in the mansion now, and we need money for charcoal, cotton-padded clothes, and food to get through the winter.
That's incredibly stupid. When it came to dividing the money, all they thought about was getting their share so they could easily run away later.
But she forgot that she has more to consider than just herself now.
Moreover, the lists Wang Zhang gave her included not only the thirty-six people who had entered the mansion, but also more than fifty others who were not in the capital; they were all spies.
Because Yu Nanqing ordered them to go into hiding a year ago, those spies outside have not returned to the capital.
Let's set aside those who live in seclusion for now, since Su Wanyan doesn't have that much energy right now. She needs to deal with the immediate issues first.
"Sister, I'll wait for you at the palace gate." Su Wanyan boarded the carriage directly in the backyard. There were no steps at the side gate of the Prince's Mansion, so the carriage could go straight out.
Knowing that Su Wanyan was going to enter the palace again, Su Chien couldn't help but worry.
Su Wanyan poked her head out of the carriage: "You must stay in the Prince's mansion."
She lowered her voice and said, "The Prince's mansion looks peaceful now, but Emperor Yuanhe's people are still everywhere. If anything happens, you should hide and tell me the whole story. This is very important to me."
Su Chien perked up immediately: "Great! I'll wait for my sister to come back at the manor!"
Su Wanyan patted his head: "Good boy."
Su Chien is only two years younger than the original owner of this body, but he is really small and needs to be raised more.
Meanwhile, Su Wanyan left the Prince's Mansion through a side gate in a carriage.
Over there, Lady Yuanning was cooling cup after cup of tea in the flower hall in the front hall.
After waiting and waiting for no one, Lady Yuanning's face had long since darkened. She was, after all, the lady of a noble family, and had never been neglected like this before.
This is an utter disgrace!
Lady Yuanning, holding her breath, stood up and walked to the door: "Someone come here!"
A maid stepped forward and heard the Lady of Yuanning Marquis suppress her anger: "Why hasn't your princess arrived yet?"
She only sent that illegitimate daughter to marry in her place, not to put on airs like this in front of her!
Did she think that entering Prince Gong's mansion would make her truly Princess Gong?
To elevate her status, she even adopted Su Wanyan into her own family. Now, Su Wanyan is repaying kindness with enmity.
This maid, sent from the palace, seemed quite proper. She curtsied and replied, "Madam, the Princess Consort has left the residence."
"What?" Lady Yuanning Marquis's eyes widened in disbelief. She angrily approached the maid: "What do you mean by 'left the manor'? Didn't you just say you were going to report it?"
Is Su Wanyan deliberately avoiding her?
Has she forgotten that she comes from the Marquis of Yuanning's family?
Faced with the furious Lady Yuanning, the maidservant simply curtsied and hurriedly retreated.
Lady Yuanning was truly furious. A married daughter is like water spilled from a bowl, especially one who has married into a place like Prince Gong's mansion. If it weren't for the Princess's orders, she wouldn't have come to see her. Now, she's even been turned away at the door.
This is outrageous!
What an ungrateful wretch!
Lady Yuanning was furious, but there was nothing she could do. She gritted her teeth, swallowed her anger, and headed back home.
Su Wanyan, she'll remember this grudge. We'll see!
Taicang Office was a department located within the palace.
The salaries of officials were verified and distributed by the Ministry of Revenue, while the salaries of imperial relatives were managed by the Taicang Bureau and reviewed by the emperor himself.
The salaries issued by the Taicang Bureau were generally for princes in the palace, or for princes, dukes, and princes who had already been granted the titles of king, duke, or prince.
Besides princes and dukes, princesses also receive stipends. The Grand Princess of the Great Jin Dynasty received 10,000 taels of silver a year, in addition to extra rewards from Emperor Yuanhe, such as fertile fields and land.
Meanwhile, the princess's husband could also receive a considerable salary.
Because the salaries of imperial relatives were enormous, Emperor Yuanhe needed to review them personally. He wanted to know how much money these imperial relatives received each year, how many people lived in their residences, and how much their residences cost each year.
This can also be seen as a way to guard against their ulterior motives.
"What?" In the imperial study, Emperor Yuanhe paused in his work, raising his furrowed brows. "Su Wanyan is going to the Taicang Bureau?"
"Yes." Eunuch Liu nodded respectfully. "The person is currently at the palace gate, but has been stopped."
Emperor Yuanhe put down his vermilion brush, his brows furrowing into a deep frown. What was bound to happen had finally arrived.
The Taicang Office, to put it simply, was the place that managed the national treasury.
The Taicang Bureau not only distributed salaries to imperial relatives, but also required the Taicang Bureau to review the silver distributed by the Ministry of Revenue to officials.
Three years ago, when Yu Nanqing returned to the capital, he was already on the verge of death. The mansion was filled with grief. At that time, he thought that as long as he put some pressure on him, Yu Nanqing would immediately pass away.
Therefore, he didn't pay much attention to the matter of Prince Gong's salary.
When they finally realized it, they found that no one in Prince Gong's mansion cared, especially since he was focused on eliminating his remaining followers, so they had even less interest in the matter of salaries.
I thought that was the end of it.
But unexpectedly, Yu Nanqing, who was barely alive, has survived until now.
Yu Nanqing's title and honors were bestowed by the late emperor. He left the capital at the age of ten and went to the battlefield in less than a year after joining the army.
Emperor Yuanhe remembered very clearly that Yu Nanqing was only thirteen years old when he first made a military achievement. When his father saw the victory report from the frontier, he held a celebration banquet in the palace that very night and directly bestowed the title of king upon Yu Nanqing.
To be made a king before reaching adulthood—what an honor that is!
Since then, whenever news of victory came from the frontier, his father, the emperor, would praise Yu Nanqing highly and would issue edicts to summon Yu Nanqing back to the capital on several occasions.
If it weren't for the tense situation on the border, if Yu Nanqing had really returned to the capital, I don't know how much his father would have doted on him!
With his father's death, he became the emperor, and Yu Nanqing naturally went from being a prince to a prince of the first rank.
He couldn't escape the prince's salary no matter what excuse he used.
Moreover, withholding his brother's salary is not something an emperor should do.
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