Chapter 14 Why Doesn't My Wife Call Me?
“The Prince’s Mansion doesn’t have many other businesses outside the mansion, just one or two small shops. There’s not much people in the mansion who know how to run them, and business is usually not very good. Their food, clothing and other necessities are covered by the monthly subsidies from the palace. These days, the palace subsidies are slowly decreasing, and we can no longer support so many people.” Steward Li said as he handed the account book to Ye Wanning, “I’m really worried about what to do.”
Ye Wanning took the ledger without looking up, "In that case, let's lay off employees!"
"Huh?" Butler Li was taken aback. What did the princess mean by layoffs? He had never heard of this term before, even though he was so old.
Seeing that Butler Li was confused, Ye Wanning continued, "If the company is having financial difficulties, the first step is to lay off employees, so that we can plan for future development!"
Butler Li looked at Ye Wanning with some confusion. What was this princess talking about? What company? What plan? He had never heard of it before!
Cui'er felt somewhat helpless. She had thought her young mistress's habit of talking nonsense had gotten better a few days ago, but now it had started again. What was she going to do? She didn't know what to say, so she could only stand silently to the side, thinking about how to get Granny Sun to accompany her to fetch the doctor. After fetching the doctor, she would have to figure out how to coax her young mistress to go see a doctor. It seemed she would be quite busy from now on.
Seeing that Butler Li did not respond for a long time, Ye Wanning looked up and happened to meet Butler Li's questioning gaze. She was stunned and suddenly realized that she was no longer in the modern world. Butler Li might not have understood what she had just said. She pounded her head in frustration. Damn it, she had forgotten about this again.
"Ahem." Ye Wanning coughed twice, pretending to be calm, and said, "Actually, what I mean is to reduce the number of servants in our mansion. With fewer servants, the expenses will also decrease, and we will have enough money to do other things."
“But…” Butler Li frowned. Most of the people in this mansion were spies for the Crown Prince’s faction. Wouldn’t it offend the Crown Prince to expel them now?
As if anticipating Steward Li's concerns, Ye Wanning patted Steward Li's shoulder righteously, "Steward Li, don't worry, I'll cover for you. I don't believe they would dare to openly do anything to me, the Princess Consort of Jin!"
Knowing that the princess had made up her mind, Steward Li could only sigh. After a pause, he asked, "How many people does the princess want to keep?"
Ye Wanning frowned. She really hadn't thought about how many people to keep. She thought for a moment, "The manor needs people to cook, right? We need a cook, a gatekeeper, a sweeper, and one..." Ye Wanning pouted and looked at Steward Li apologetically, "I'm sorry, Steward Li... I'm really not familiar with the distribution of servants in the manor. How about this, you decide how to cut them?"
Steward Li was taken aback, inwardly wiping a bead of sweat from his brow. "Oh dear, this unreliable master!" he thought. "Although Ye Wanning is somewhat unreliable, she's ultimately doing it for the good of the Prince's manor." Steward Li sighed. It seemed he had no choice but to play the villain. He nodded, "Leave the Princess Consort to this old servant!"
Ye Wanning looked at him with satisfaction. This steward was quite useful! After a while, as if she had thought of something, she turned to look at Steward Li, "By the way, what kind of shops did you mention that the Prince's Mansion has outside?"
“It sells cloth.” Butler Li looked at her. “However, there’s not much people in the manor who know how to manage a business. This Duyang City is so prosperous, and there are so many shops like this, so there’s not much business.”
Ye Wanning looked at Butler Li, but her thoughts drifted elsewhere. Although she was just a white-collar worker in her previous life, she had absorbed some business knowledge through her upbringing. Moreover, in this era, unlike her time, all the good ideas had already been thought up by others. Thinking of this, Ye Wanning couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement. It seemed that she was destined to achieve great things.
Standing to the side, Cui'er and Steward Li were startled by Ye Wanning's appearance. Her eyes were practically glowing; she was practically a demon. Cui'er rubbed her forehead; it seemed her young lady's illness was getting worse. Steward Li wondered if the princess had something wrong with her mind.
Ye Wanning was completely unaware of Cui'er and Butler Li's thoughts. She was lost in imagining what she would be like as a business tycoon in the future, her face beaming with excitement, almost drooling. After a while, she finally came to her senses and excitedly patted Butler Li on the shoulder, "Let's go, Butler Li, take me to see our manor's cloth shop!"
"Ah?" Butler Li exclaimed in surprise, "Your Highness, are you going now?"
"Otherwise what?" Ye Wanning was clearly still caught up in her joy. She smiled broadly and looked at Butler Li with what she thought were bright and sparkling eyes. "Wouldn't it be better to finish reading it sooner and come up with a solution sooner, instead of dragging things out and getting it done all at once? Don't you think so, Butler Li?"
Forced by Ye Wanning's intimidating presence, Butler Li nodded. No matter how he looked at her, he felt like his princess was about to devour him... Thinking of this, he couldn't help but get goosebumps all over his body. "Since the princess wants to go, then I will take you there immediately!"
"Wife, where are you going!" A resentful voice suddenly came from outside the door.
Upon hearing the voice, Ye Wanning's eyes involuntarily glanced towards the door. Sure enough, she saw Su Wenzhen standing outside the accounting room, looking as if he had just woken up. She was stunned. "Wenzhen, what brings you here?"
"My wife didn't even wake me up in the morning." Su Wenzhen pouted. "Does my wife perhaps dislike Wenzhen?"
"No way!" Ye Wanning waved her hands in a flustered manner. Seeing so many people watching, she couldn't help but blush. Oh my god, she had completely lost face!
"You still say you didn't!" Su Wenzhen pointed at Butler Li with teary eyes and said, "I just heard you saying you were going out. If you're going out, why aren't you taking me with you? Don't you hate Wenzhen!"
Ye Wanning, with a bitter face, quickly walked to Su Wenzhen's side, but didn't know what to say. She suddenly felt a little helpless. Good heavens, she couldn't pretend to be stupid in front of an idiot, but the problem was, she wasn't very good at coaxing people!
She pretended to pat Su Wenzhen's head. Su Wenzhen, who was over 1.8 meters tall, was much taller than her, who was only 1.6 meters tall. While comforting him, Ye Wanning secretly cried in her heart, "Damn it, why is he so tall!"
Seeing Ye Wanning lower her head obediently, Su Wenzhen's mood improved a lot. He was really startled when he suddenly found Ye Wanning missing after getting up. Su Wenzhen was stunned. When did he start to care about her so much?
Seeing that Su Wenzhen was no longer angry, Ye Wanning said good-naturedly, "I got up too early and didn't want to disturb your sleep, so I didn't wake you. Right now, I'm going out with the steward to check on our manor's cloth shop. Since you want to go, then come with us!"
Su Wenzhen remained silent, obediently taking Ye Wanning's hand. Seeing this, Butler Li felt a chill. Although the prince was a fool, he was still a grown man. For him to be acting so coquettishly in front of such a petite princess was... really, really strange...
"Alright." Ye Wanning looked at Su Wenzhen and then at Cui'er. "Cui'er, take the prince downstairs to wash up. I'll wait for you at the door." With that, she made a move to leave.
Upon hearing this, Su Wenzhen became anxious and refused to get up from the ground.
Ye Wanning was taken aback. What was going on this time?
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