An official approached them very solicitously and asked, "Masters, shall we begin the teaching immediately?"
Xiao Youran looked at Madam Su and said, "Mother, how about we set aside one hour each day to teach at the Ministry of Revenue?"
Ms. Su nodded. "Agreed."
The official was very pleased. "Please come this way, gentlemen. We will go and prepare paper and pen."
Xiao Youran waved her hand, "No need. Today I'll just teach you a simple explanation of ten Arabic numerals and the usage of multi-digit numbers. Once you've memorized them, just pass them on to your colleagues. Let's go back and prepare our lesson plans today, and we'll officially begin classes tomorrow, okay?"
The official nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, I was too hasty. The two masters also need to make some preparations."
So Xiao Youran used the pen and ink she had just used in the competition to write down ten Arabic numerals and gave a brief explanation.
The officials were initially puzzled by the winding numbers, but when they heard the representations for two-digit, three-digit, four-digit, and higher numbers, they exclaimed, "Brilliant! Brilliant!"
Jiang Mingli stood awkwardly to the side, unsure whether to leave or stay.
Ye An stood smugly to the side, whispering to Madam Su about the arrangements for the first audit of accounts two days later.
After Xiaoyou finished speaking, she took her mother's leave.
Ye An invited the Imperial Guards to escort the two into the inner palace to pay their respects to Consort Zhou.
Once inside the inner city, a eunuch led them to Yikun Palace.
Halfway there, a senior palace maid approached them and said arrogantly, "By order of Her Majesty the Empress, Princess Huihe and Princess Fengle are requested to come to Feng'an Palace for an audience."
Su was caught off guard by this unexpected turn of events and was in a bit of a predicament.
The young eunuch was unaware of the reason behind it and naturally dared not disobey the Empress's decree, so he simply lowered his head and remained silent.
Xiao Youran was also puzzled. Why did another Empress suddenly appear?
The two hesitated, when another palace maid ran over, panting, and said, "You two must be Consort Huihe and Princess Fengle, right? Her Highness the Imperial Concubine sent me to guide you. I am truly sorry for the inconvenience."
Su quickly replied, "It's alright, it's alright."
The head palace maid snorted coldly, "Her Majesty the Empress invites you both to come with me."
The palace maid behind her then noticed her presence and said angrily, "Bichun, Huihe Yiren and Fengle County Princess are here to pay their respects to the Imperial Concubine on the Emperor's orders. Even if the Empress wants to summon them, she will have to wait until they have finished paying their respects to the Imperial Concubine!"
Bichun refused to back down and sneered, "Ling'er, Her Majesty the Empress has the highest rank. As a newly appointed noblewoman entering the palace, she should pay her respects to Her Majesty the Empress first, both in terms of etiquette and reason!"
Su Shi and Xiao Youran exchanged a glance, both looking completely bewildered. They had no idea why the Empress and Consort Zhou were suddenly fighting over people right in front of them.
Without saying a word, Ling'er grabbed Xiao Youran and headed east.
Without saying a word, Bichun pulled Su Shi and headed west.
The young eunuch who had led the way was left completely bewildered.
Madam Su, holding Xiao Youran's hand, pulled her close and said calmly, "Please do not argue. We entered the palace today to compete with the Ministry of Revenue by imperial decree. Now that the competition is over, we have not failed the Emperor's grace. As for paying our respects to Her Majesty the Empress and the Imperial Concubine, let's discuss it another day."
Bichun and Ling'er exchanged a glance, snorted loudly, and then turned and left.
Su Shi led Xiao Youran back the way they came.
Xiao Youran pondered to herself, "Consort Zhou is the younger sister of my maternal aunt Zhou, so they are related by marriage in a roundabout way. But why does the Empress want to see them?"
As the young eunuch led them out, Madam Su, with the same confusion, slipped a purse into his hand.
During their hushed conversation, they learned that the Empress had never been favored by Emperor Shunqing, while Consort Zhou was the most favored concubine in the harem and was basically on equal footing with the Empress.
Xiao Youran guessed that the Empress was probably trying to sabotage their meeting with Consort Zhou.
Forget it, Consort Zhou isn't someone I absolutely have to see.
As the mother and daughter boarded the carriage to return to the county princess's mansion, Jiang Mingli had already returned to the Yong'an Earl's mansion by carriage.
Upon returning to the mansion, Gao Shi, with a pained expression, came to greet him.
He knew what the woman was about to say, so he quickly raised his hand to stop her.
He was currently filled with frustration and had nowhere to vent, so he didn't want to listen to Gao's nagging anymore.
The financial difficulties of the Yong'an Marquis's mansion caused great anxiety to the matriarch, Madam Gao.
She mentioned the lack of funds in the household finances of the Earl's mansion to her husband, Jiang Mingli, more than once.
Since last month, Jiang Mingli has been in charge of the use of one million taels of government-raised funds. Originally, he would never have had any crooked thoughts after taking office.
Moreover, he was originally a military officer who had managed military affairs and salaries in Dingzhou for several years without much success. His father ordered his third brother to take over, and he himself retired to Dingzhou as a registrar. A registrar in a prefecture was of the same rank as a military advisor in the capital, both being third-rank officials, in charge of household registration, farmland, taxes, and other affairs in a prefecture, similar to a local official under the Ministry of Revenue. Fortunately, he had the experience of a registrar, and this time, thanks to the recommendation of Prince Rong's mansion, he was able to take over the position of Minister of Revenue in a time of crisis.
After being nagged by his wife for a long time, he started to have the idea of finding a way to make money.
If someone is looking for ways to make money and happens to have a large sum of money, wouldn't they have crooked thoughts?
Although Su was there as a guest advisor, ostensibly to oversee the accounts, in his heart, he still thought she was just a merchant's daughter; how could she possibly understand the Ministry of Revenue's accounts?
So he began to test his skills, secretly using underhanded tactics when allocating funds.
They also manipulated the ledgers.
All of this happened in the last two weeks. Just a couple of days ago, Gao was lamenting that the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching and they still hadn't settled on the gifts.
So, during the most difficult time for the Earl's family, he took a big bite out of the flesh.
He was originally very confident. Although the Tingmu Department had its own set of accounts, he was the Minister of Revenue and had the authority to decide how the Tingmu funds were used. He had also made a foolproof scheme.
But the skill that Xiao Youran displayed in front of the Ministry of Revenue officials today made him feel vaguely uneasy.
Furthermore, he had not personally witnessed Su's so-called new accounting method, so he did not know where the loopholes might be.
In fact, Madam Gao did not want to complain to her husband about the household affairs, after all, the two thousand taels of silver she had just received could help her get through the current difficulties.
What she really wanted to say was that she felt like the Earl's Mansion was plagued by bad luck lately. From the calligraphy and paintings that her father-in-law, the Earl of Yong'an, had sent to buy inexplicably falling into a puddle and getting soaked and ruined, to the rice and flour that the old women bought always having bugs in them. The servants were fine after eating them, but the Jiang family members got diarrhea as soon as they ate them and had to get medicine and brew it. Money was leaking everywhere!
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