Half an hour later.
The head steward stood in an open space in the front courtyard of the imperial palace, facing the group of servants who had been busy for many days. He cleared his throat and then spoke loudly in a booming voice:
"You have all worked tirelessly recently to prepare for the Empress's wedding. For this reason, the kind and generous Empress has prepared a generous reward for you all."
As soon as he finished speaking, the scene fell silent for a moment, then, like a stone thrown into a calm lake, it instantly stirred up a thousand ripples.
The entire palace erupted in cheers and exclamations.
"Everyone gets one, hurry up and line up to collect yours!" the head butler shouted again.
Upon hearing this, the servants, who had been somewhat reserved, immediately surged to the front of the line like a tidal wave, afraid that if they were a step too slow, they would miss this rare and generous gift.
Soon, the maids and servants who had been the first to receive their rewards could not contain their joy and began to whisper excitedly to each other.
"The Sixth Imperial Consort actually rewarded each of us with two taels of silver and two large bags of snacks. That's incredibly generous!" a maidservant exclaimed with delight.
Another maidservant next to her nodded in agreement, "That's right! Normally, our monthly allowance is only one tael of silver, but this time the reward is twice as much as usual!"
Adding in these two large bags of rare snacks, the total value must be at least five taels of silver.
At this moment, a servant chimed in, "Moreover, the head steward just said that as long as we do our jobs diligently and do them well, not only will our monthly salary increase, but we will also receive generous rewards during festivals."
"Oh dear, if this gets out to other mansions, the servants there will be so envious of us!" one of the tall maids said, covering her mouth with a laugh.
Everyone was praising Yun Zhizhi, whether openly or subtly.
In an instant, the entire palace was filled with laughter and joy, and everyone's face was beaming with happiness.
After distributing the rewards to the servants, the head steward, beaming with joy, called over the guard Zhao Yi: "The Imperial Concubine has prepared double rewards for you guards and those secret guards."
"Have them all come to me later to collect their four taels of silver and four large bags of snacks."
Zhao Yi was overjoyed upon hearing this, but at the same time, his curiosity was also piqued.
His eyes darted around, and he leaned close to the head steward with a smile, lowering his voice and asking with a gossipy look, "Head steward, can you tell me the secret? How much silver and snacks did the Sixth Princess give you?"
The head butler was slightly taken aback at first, then puffed out his chest, proudly raised his chin, and beamed with a smug smile.
He coughed lightly and replied mysteriously, "Hehe, thanks to the Sixth Imperial Concubine, this old servant has received quite a reward, after all, my position is what it is."
"As for how much silver and snacks were given as a reward, you'd better not be too gossipy. If you find out and feel unbalanced, envious, jealous, or resentful, that wouldn't be good."
At this moment, Xiao Tao ran over with a piece of paper and said to the head steward, "Head steward, please send someone to post this list of reward recipients on the bulletin board of the Imperial Palace later."
"The Imperial Consort said that, in order to be fair, from today onwards, everyone who receives a reward and what the reward is must be made public."
Just as Xiao Tao was about to hand the list of recipients to the head steward, Zhao Yi suddenly stopped her.
Zhao Yi swiftly grabbed the paper, his eyes scanning the first column of names on it with keen interest.
In an instant, his gaze settled on the prominent name at the top—the head butler.
Then, a sly smile appeared on his lips as he said in a sarcastic tone, "Oh! So the head steward got triple the reward and snacks! Judging from your smug look just now, I thought you got many times more."
"These six taels of silver and six packets of snacks are not enough to make me envious or jealous."
Throughout the entire imperial palace, the only person he envied, was jealous of, and hated was Zhao Wu.
Ever since that sycophantic Zhao Wu started following the imperial concubine, he has not only been eating and sleeping well, but has also gained quite a bit of weight.
Yesterday, his five bodyguards took advantage of his drunkenness, tied him up like a piglet, and weighed him. They discovered that he had gained a full five pounds.
Moreover, when the imperial concubine was only diligently running her stall, he would also slack off.
That was so awesome!
The boastful steward, embarrassed by his public humiliation, quickly snatched the reward list from Zhao Yi's hands and ran away without saying a word.
Yesterday, the Sixth Prince was married. Several interesting things happened during the wedding, and the news spread like wildfire throughout the entire capital city.
Many ordinary people, especially those aunts and uncles who love to gossip and chat, always like to gather together, cracking melon seeds and talking enthusiastically about the interesting things behind the wedding banquet.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
