A few days later, when Monk Wuwang received the letter, he was tormented to the point of ecstasy by Xiao Youran's description. Although the letter emphasized twice at the end, "Mother and child are safe, do not worry," he kept thinking of this woman as if he were under a curse.
Disturbed, she noticed that her good disciple Jiang Youchen was also restless. Upon asking, she learned that Xiao Youran had caused a scene at the Earl's mansion in the capital.
Both of them knew that Guigu Mountain was not a place to be entered or exited easily, so they had no choice but to suppress their anxiety, write a reply, and intensify their studies, hoping to leave the mountain as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Wen Yuanbai received Xiao Youran's letter, along with the ten truckloads of flour she sent every month to supply the instant noodle workshop. After reading Xiao Youran's letter, he felt half relieved and then summoned Nan Zhuo to relay a message that the manpower in the capital had been doubled.
That's a story for another time.
The next day, after breakfast, the mother and daughter were preparing to go to the construction site to check on the progress.
Just then, Zhao Mama rushed in anxiously, "Miss, young lady... someone from the palace has come with an imperial edict!"
Madam Su was stunned. "An imperial edict?"
Xiao Youran was also stunned, "An imperial edict?"
Mrs. Zhao stamped her foot, "You two hurry up, because... your father-in-law is still waiting outside!"
Madam Su took Xiao Youran's hand and hurried outside. When they arrived at the flower hall, they saw a pale-faced, beardless eunuch. She quickly knelt down and paid her respects.
The eunuch, in a high-pitched voice, announced, "His Majesty's decree: Consort Huihe, Lady Su, is to bring Princess Fengle to the palace for a duel to settle scores—"
Mrs. Su looked at her daughter in shock, "Settling accounts through a fight?"
Why?
Why a daughter?!
My daughter is only five years old, isn't she?
Xiao Youran was also surprised, "Could it be that the Eldest Princess has entered the palace?"
She also thought it was impossible after asking, since the princess had only given birth a few days ago and it was impossible for her to enter the palace.
The phrase "competition and settling accounts" made her feel that this matter was related to the court disputes she had discussed with her mother before.
Zhao's mother was so anxious she wanted to stomp her feet again, but since the woman was still kneeling, she could only whisper, "Never mind who's going to the palace, it's you two who are going to the palace now, hurry up and get ready!"
After admiring the mother and daughter's panic for a while, the eunuch was satisfied and told them to rise. Then, Zhao Mama continued, "I think your current attire is quite appropriate. The Emperor and several officials are still waiting in the Imperial Study. You two should come to the palace with me immediately."
Madam Su then pulled Xiao Youran to her feet, looked down at her clothes, and frowned, saying, "These clothes are really too casual. Please wait a moment, sir. I am wearing court attire. Since I am going to the palace to meet the Emperor, how can I not wear court attire?"
She invoked her official status, and the eunuch could only shrug and say, "Alright, then please go and return quickly, lest His Majesty and the other officials keep you waiting."
Su took Xiao Youran's hand and headed towards the backyard. Zhao Mama, with great tact, slipped her a purse and asked respectfully in a low voice, "May I ask your surname, sir?"
The eunuch was pleased to be addressed as "Your Excellency," and when he squeezed the purse again, he found it to be as thin as paper. Knowing it must contain silver notes, he felt even more delighted. "I dare not call myself noble; my surname is Gao."
"So it's Eunuch Gao," Zhao Mama lowered her head even further, her voice also dropping a few decibels, "but I wonder what brings the Emperor here..."
Eunuch Gao gave a forced smile, "I'm merely following the imperial decree; as for other matters..."
Before he could even refuse, another purse was stuffed into his hand.
He immediately put on a sincere smile, "I don't know anything about other things, I just saw Grand Secretary Zhang go into the Imperial Study."
Seeing that Zhao's mother looked blank, he whispered again, "Grand Secretary Zhang is Prince Rong's man."
Zhao's mother immediately understood, bowed to thank Gao Gonggong, and hurriedly went into the backyard.
Lady Su solemnly donned the court robes of a "guest minister" female official that had been sent by the Imperial Recruitment Office, and led Xiao Youran onto the carriage to the palace.
This was her first time entering the palace.
This was also Xiao Youran's first time entering the palace.
When Zhao's mother mentioned the words "Prince Rong" to them, she could roughly guess that some officials must have raised objections to her mother's appointment as a guest minister in the Imperial Recruitment Office.
I don't know why the Emperor would think of having her "compete to settle accounts"?
However, when the two arrived at the palace, the eunuch who led them there said that the emperor wanted them to go directly into the Taige Tower.
So the mother and daughter stepped through the gate of the Taige Tower.
The Taigelou is an outer city building of the imperial palace, located next to the Xuanyuan Hall where the emperor held court. It is an independent building, and all the six ministries of the central cabinet were on duty in the Taigelou.
The Tingmu Bureau had been established for a little over a month, and the day for auditing the accounts with Ye An was set for two days later.
Before Su could fulfill her duty of supervising the accounts as a guest minister as required by Emperor Shunqing, she stepped into the Taigelou ahead of time.
This was the busiest time for the civil officials, with people coming and going in and out of the Taigelou Pavilion. They all cast sidelong glances at the two mothers and daughters who had suddenly appeared.
She was not in the court and had no idea how much of a stir her status as a guest minister had caused.
The title of "Imperial Pardon and Conferment of the Title of Yiren" was, in the end, an imperial decree and had nothing to do with anyone else.
But the fact that the guest advisor was a female guest advisor who came to oversee the accounting of the Imperial Recruitment Office was a sensitive matter.
The Imperial Fundraising Office raised one million taels of silver, but the money wasn't spent all at once. Madam Su understood Emperor Shunqing's intention: the funds raised should have a proper purpose and generate interest when spent, otherwise, how would they repay the debt next year?
Previously, Ye An had consulted her about the intended use of this huge sum of money. She suggested that there should be a reasonable investment plan, preferably one that would benefit the country and its people, with a detailed plan that would be evaluated before a decision was made on whether to invest, rather than having a few officials make decisions on a whim as is the case now.
Of course, Xiaoyouran told her all these ideas.
As for the simplified accounting method, she doesn't want people to accept it so quickly. She can only start with Arabic numerals, right?
So, by chance, when she and Xiao Youran were doing their accounts at home, Ye An happened to come over to ask for advice on investment. He stumbled upon their new Arabic numerals and simple accounting method. With the spirit of learning until old age, he studied it carefully and was immediately amazed.
So at this moment, she guessed that perhaps this "fight to settle accounts" was Ye An's idea.
She guessed correctly; Ye An, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and concurrently the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Finance, was already waiting at the entrance of the Ministry of Revenue.
Upon seeing the two enter, Ye An greeted them and briefly recounted the events of the day in a low voice.
Sure enough, someone in the court raised the issue that it was inappropriate to appoint a merchant's daughter as a guest minister, but the emperor impatiently suppressed the suggestion.
After the court session, in the Imperial Study, Grand Secretary Zhang raised his objections again.
The Emperor then summoned Ye Ning.
Ye Ning immediately began debating with Grand Secretary Zhang, advocating that the Su family should improve the accounting methods and mathematical abilities of the Ministry of Revenue officials in order to speed up the investigation of the national treasury. He also ridiculed those Ministry of Revenue officials for being incompetent and saying that their accounting abilities were probably not even as good as those of the five-year-old Princess Fengle.
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