Chapter 4
Chapter 4
“If the account is short by even a single copper coin, hand them over to the authorities.”
Pei Guanli stood to the side, watching me.
After the people were taken away, he said to me, “You handled that very well just now.”
I rubbed my aching wrist.
“I thought you would despise me for reeking of money.”
Pei Guanli frowned. “Who said that?”
I smiled faintly. “All of the capital says it.”
He paused, then said seriously, “Gold and silver entered into the books, grain and rice stored in the granaries, the common people fed, the soldiers clothed-these are the foundations of a nation.”
“Knowing how to keep accounts is not vulgar. It is a skill.”
I went still for a moment, remembering how, when I was little, my father had discovered me secretly learning accounts and punished me by making me kneel for an entire night.
He had said, “A girl who only thinks about money will never be able to marry in the future.”
I had not cried then, yet now, hearing these words, I suddenly found myself unable to speak.
In a small voice, I asked, “Pei Guanli, how do you always know what I want to hear?”
He looked at me, his voice softening a little.
“It isn’t that I know. It’s that I thought about it for quite a while.”
I thought the matter would end there.
Who would have known that by evening, Qinghe would come in carrying tea and quietly ask me, “Madam, should the kitchen maids implicated by the stewardess be driven out as well?”
I flipped through their monthly allowance records.
The ones who had truly taken the money were the stewardess and her nephew. Those few young maids had only been forced to press their fingerprints onto the loss reports.
I said, “Whoever took the silver pays it back. Whoever was merely forced to sign will give a statement and stay on to work.”
Qinghe’s eyes lit up.
Pei Guanli stood by the door. Only after hearing everything did he speak. “Why not punish them all together?”
I closed the account book. “Accounts cannot be muddled, and punishments cannot be muddled either.”
He looked at me for a while, then suddenly pushed the blank ledger on the desk closer to me. “Then from now on, this account book is yours.”
I asked, “The estate’s?”
He said, “Mine as well.”
At the time, I did not understand what he meant by that.
Not until the end of the month, when someone from the Song Family arrived.
The man who came was the most capable shopkeeper at my father’s side.
He brought two chests of Jiangnan silk, and his words were very polite.
“The master heard that Young Master Pei has recently been placed in charge of tribute rites at the Ministry of Rites. The register for Jiangnan Tribute Rice must also pass through the Ministry of Rites.”
I was sewing a sleeve pouch for Pei Guanli.
At those words, the needle lightly pricked my fingertip.
The shopkeeper smiled as he took out the silk. “Our Song Family acquired several new fields this year, and the quality of the rice is excellent. If Young Master Pei could show just a little consideration on the register, the Song Family naturally would not forget his kindness in the future.”
I set down the needle. “My father sent you?”
The shopkeeper lowered his head. “The master said that family should not speak as though they are outsiders.”
So only now did they remember we were family.
In the seventeen years I had spent in the Song Family, I had never once heard those words when I needed protection.
Now that they needed me to seek profit for the Song Family, they suddenly remembered I was one of their own.
I said, “I do not interfere in the affairs of the Ministry of Rites.”
The shopkeeper’s expression shifted slightly.
“Young Miss, you may have married into the Pei Family now, but the Song Family is still your maternal home. The master also said that Madam has been missing you at home, and her health has not been very good lately.”
My fingers paused. His words were light, but they struck exactly where it hurt.
My mother was my only weakness in the Song Family.
Over the years, my father had taken three wives and four concubines, and the household had never lacked children. Only my mother was gentle by nature. She did not know how to fight for anything. All she knew was how to secretly slip me a warm flatbread when I was punished to kneel.
I lifted my eyes to the shopkeeper. “Are you threatening me with my mother?”
The shopkeeper hurriedly said, “Young Miss, you misunderstand.”
I rose and walked to the doorway, remembering the day I married out, when my mother had clutched my hand so tightly her nails had nearly dug into my palm.
She had said, “Ah Ning, once you arrive at the Pei Family, don’t cause trouble.”
Back then, I had only thought she was afraid I would be disliked by my husband’s family.
Thinking about it now, she had been afraid my father would use me.
I turned back and asked the shopkeeper, “Is the Song Family’s tribute rice truly as good as you claim?”
The shopkeeper’s face stiffened for a split second, and I understood at once.
I said, “Go back and tell my father that the matter of Jiangnan Tribute Rice will be decided by quality.”
“If the rice is poor, then don’t submit it.”
The shopkeeper’s face finally turned cold. “Young Miss, saying that is rather heartless of you.”
I said calmly, “If you truly cared about family affection, you would not have come to force me into doing this during my very first month married into the Pei Family.”
After the shopkeeper left, I stood alone beneath the corridor for a long while.
Rain began to fall. Standing under the eaves, I only then realized how cold it was.
I did not know how much time had passed before someone came up behind me, holding an umbrella over my head.
Pei Guanli stood beside me and asked, “Why aren’t you going inside?”
I lowered my head. “I was afraid you would think I was troublesome.”
He frowned. “Why would I?”
“The Song Family…”
Pei Guanli took my hand. “I know.”
I looked up, and Pei Guanli said, “I have already checked the register for Jiangnan Tribute Rice. The rice submitted by the Song Family this year was mixed with old grain.”
My face went pale. He looked at me, his voice steady. “This has nothing to do with you.”