She could understand these words and numbers individually, but seeing them together was a real challenge for her!
Consort De felt utterly overwhelmed; it was truly maddening!
Purchasing for the imperial kitchen costs money, the little princess's new clothes cost money, decorating Anqing Palace costs money, making invitations costs money, and hiring famous music troupes also costs money...
If she spends too much money, someone will surely accuse her of embezzling the money for the first birthday banquet. If she spends too little money, not only will she lose face for the royal family, but she will also be misunderstood as being unwilling to spend money on the little princess. If someone then files a complaint against her, she will be unable to clear her name even if she jumps into the Wu River.
That's too difficult!
It's harder than climbing to heaven!
"Mother, why do you look so worried?"
Yun Yishu walked in carrying a bowl of peanuts. As he ate, he asked questions. He frowned, puzzled, looking at his mother's worried expression.
Yun Yishu's body grew increasingly fat; his arms and legs were swollen from obesity, and he had to pant heavily after walking just a few steps, needing to stop and rest for a while, making it very inconvenient for him to move around.
"My son, you'd better eat less in the future. Look how fat you've become! You don't look like a prince at all anymore!"
"Look at you, how old are you? You walk like an old man, with a limp!" Consort De was already worried about the first birthday banquet, and seeing her son like this made her even more worried.
"Mother, what should a prince be like? Does a prince have to be as dashing and debonair as my second brother?" Yun Yishu pouted.
"Sons have their own characteristics too, okay?"
"I don't want to be this fat either, but I'm so hungry. I feel hungry as soon as I open my eyes every day!" Yun Yishu felt very wronged. Now is the time when she is growing, so she should eat more.
Consort De did not speak. Her son had been like this for a while now, and the most urgent matter at the moment was the account book.
"Is Mother looking at the account books?" Yun Yishu noticed the three thick, dark blue account books on the table.
He could tell at a glance that these ledgers were used to record different expenses. When he was staying at the outer palace, he had looked through many ledgers with the grandson of the Minister of Revenue.
Consort De nodded expressionlessly. When she took on this task, she was overjoyed and very proud. She thought that if she did well this time, she might be in charge of managing the harem in the future. At that time, power would naturally come, and everyone in the harem would have to obey her.
However, after seeing the ledger and learning what she was supposed to do, she was completely dumbfounded.
Although she also came from a prominent family and had been taught practical skills as the matriarch of the household since childhood, she was the eldest daughter of the family and had been pampered, so she never took these things to heart.
"Yes, Mother Consort has never done this kind of purchasing before." Consort De pushed the account book aside, took a sip of tea, and counted on her fingers the amount of money to be spent and the number of people to be arranged.
She has no appetite now, and the hibiscus cake didn't taste good to her then.
Seeing that their mistress was unhappy, the palace servants in Changqiu Palace stopped preparing hibiscus wine and simply placed a plate of freshly picked petals on the table. The palace was very quiet.
Yun Yishu pulled out a chair, wiggled her obese body, and laboriously sat down. "Let me see."
He placed the plate of peanuts aside, pulled the ledger in front of him, and casually flipped through it. "Ah, these are the purchase records for the things Zhaoyang Palace bought for the last hundred-day celebration."
"I've heard that Mother is going to hold a first birthday banquet. That's easy!"
【Simple?!】
Consort De looked at Yun Yishu suspiciously. Was her son stupid? Did he know how complicated things were?
She sighed. "Sigh, I'll have to make sure my son gets proper lessons from the tutor tomorrow, no matter what."
"We'll just follow this approach," Yun Yishu said calmly, while the palace servants in Changqiu Palace whispered among themselves.
Consort De glared at her son, "Son, you make it sound so easy! With so many things crammed together, where do we even begin?!"
"Of course, we'll start with food!" Yun Yishu chuckled twice. This time, he had plenty of money, so he could openly and legitimately buy delicious food.
He grabbed a handful of peanuts and stuffed them into his mouth. "The food for my sister's first birthday banquet must be made with the best ingredients. I have to send someone to Liu's butcher shop in the west of the city to buy them first thing in the morning."
"The meat at Liu's Butcher Shop is the freshest, and they have a wide variety. If you go too late, it'll be sold out!"
"Third Prince, why don't you just have someone from the palace tell the owner of Liu's Butcher Shop to leave all the meat for us? Why bother queuing up so early in the morning?" Chunhua was a little confused as to why they had to go through all this trouble.
"No, no, we've bought all the meat, what are the others going to eat? We can't do something like that, bullying others!" Yun Yishu completely understood the agonizing feeling of a foodie who couldn't get the good food.
"Even royalty has to follow the rules. They can't take food from the mouths of ordinary people!"
Chunhua nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.
"As for the vegetables, just buy them in the usual way. The Imperial Kitchen has regular partners among the royal merchants."
"There will be twenty officials coming this time, each with two family members, making a total of sixty people. Adding the Emperor and the people in the harem, we need to prepare food for at least eighty people."
“At the current market price, a bunch of scallions costs three copper coins, and potatoes cost ten copper coins. Eighty people would need one shi (a unit of dry measure) of vegetables, which is about fifty taels of silver. If you include meat, wine, and pastries, the total would be about two hundred taels of silver.” Yun Yishu didn’t think too much before the numbers came out in a flash.
"Although the pastries and wines from the Imperial Kitchen are not bad, if we have enough manpower, money, and time later, we should still buy the pastries from Qinxiang Pavilion and Pinxiangzhai, and the wines from Manjianghong Restaurant. The pastries and wines there are the most authentic and have the most of the taste of the capital."
"Since it's a royal banquet, it can't be too shabby. Everything must be done to the best of our ability. Perhaps envoys from other countries will come to offer their congratulations. We can't afford to lose face at this time."
"My imperial sister's clothes need to be made at the Brocade Weaving Workshop. This takes the longest, so Mother Consort needs to hurry and send someone to make them first. Although the Imperial Clothing Bureau in the palace can also make them, the styles are too conservative. We need to find the most fashionable styles in the capital, with jewels and jade sewn on them. This set of clothes will cost at least a hundred taels of silver."
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