SEHE Chapter 28

Making Money 

Yunsheng frowned, looking at the crossed-out words “Yue Ting,” then glanced at Pei Yanci.

“Yue Ting is from the Yue family of Huainan,” he said. “He absolutely must go. Don’t you understand!”

“Just now you told me to cross names off the list,” Pei Yanci said. He hadn’t known Yue Ting’s background before, but now he did.

“But you can’t be so casual about it.” Yunsheng was very dissatisfied with his perfunctory attitude.

This was the person his foster father wanted him to guard against? How superficial.

Just a minor lackey who caught the Crown Prince’s attention through flattery and boot-licking.

“I didn’t cross it out casually. He and I are on good terms.”

“You!” Yunsheng was astonished. It was the first time he’d seen someone lay this matter out so openly.

“You disapprove of my methods? Apart from those with special status, how did you add the names of those ordinary servants to this list?” Pei Yanci sneered coldly. “Wasn’t it based on personal relationships? What else could it be?”

Yunsheng was young after all and cared about face. Hearing him say this, he flushed red with anger.

“Don’t make false accusations! I’ve handled everything impartially! If you don’t believe me, ask anyone in the mansion – those I’m close with in daily life are all on this list too.”

Yes, they were all on it. Even if Pei Yanci crossed them out and let them stay in the mansion, replacing them with others, these remaining people wouldn’t be grateful to him.

“Steward Qi, why get angry?” Pei Yanci’s tone remained as unhurried as ever. “No matter who ends up on this list, there will be dissatisfied people. You and I will both offend someone. If we want to handle things impartially, why not lay it all open for everyone to see – whoever has worked hardest these past few years stays. How about that?”

“That would take too much time. A few short days wouldn’t be nearly enough,” Yunsheng disagreed. Everyone in the mansion had profited somewhat over the years, just a matter of more or less. If they truly handled things impartially, everyone would be finished. “Since His Highness entrusted this matter to both of us, he wants us to directly draft the list. Even if those people have opinions, they can’t do anything about it.”

“Since I can’t shake Steward Qi’s thinking, I’ll have to submit this list to His Highness,” Pei Yanci said. “I’ll tell His Highness that this is all the result of Steward Qi’s ‘impartial handling.'”

Yunsheng reached out to snatch the list from his hands, but seeing him dodge away, said in exasperation. “Do you understand the rules at all!”

“What are the rules? Please enlighten me,” Pei Yanci said, taking the list and rising, walking directly past him.

Rules – they’re meant to circumvent those who follow them strictly. The rules made by those in power would never include the interests of those who would be sacrificed.

Seeing that he really intended to see the Crown Prince, Yunsheng said, “If you want to investigate, then investigate. See if your so-called impartial handling works! I’ve already done what I needed to do. Whatever chaos you want to create in the mansion, I don’t care anymore.”

He was throwing in the towel.

Pei Yanci had been waiting for exactly those words.

Following Zhang Huairu and Yunsheng’s rules, no matter what, he would be caught in wrongdoing, letting these eunuchs spread word of his faults everywhere. Better to simply break off relations and overturn the table – nobody would gain anything, and nobody would lose anything either.

“How can Steward Qi not care?” Pei Yanci looked at him with another smile. “The real advisors and loyal retainers in the mansion still need you to personally draft their names. How would I understand such things? His Highness sees clearly – if he detects any errors or omissions, how could he blame someone who was once just a tea-serving servant and has lost his memory?”

Whether or not Pei Yanci truly knew those people’s identities, as long as Gu Jiuqing thought he didn’t know, any problems with the list would be blamed on him.

Yunsheng’s lips moved, saying “Leave it to me” reluctantly, through gritted teeth.

“Then please have Steward Qi prepare the list quickly and give it to me,” Pei Yanci said. “As for the remaining list of personnel to be sold off, if Steward Qi wants to get involved, I’m happy to oblige. If not, that’s fine too.”

Last night he had calculated that advisors and assassins made up only about forty percent of the mansion’s staff. Nearly fifty percent were ordinary servants who would need to be sold off through his hands.

He first went to his own tea room and explained Gu Jiuqing’s orders. This matter had already spread throughout the mansion yesterday, and everyone was anxious. With hearts full of uncertainty about life and death, they asked Pei Yanci what he thought.

“Brother Pei, we’ve all worked together for so many years with such deep bonds. Our tea room people couldn’t possibly leave, right?” one person asked.

“There’s no way around it,” Pei Yanci said. “Steward Yunsheng handles things with fairness in mind. If none of you leave, people will say I’m showing favoritism to my own subordinates.”

This was also why he first made an example of his own territory – if he treated his own people this way, others would see it and have fewer complaints.

“If we leave, what will Steward Pei do in the future? Who will help you work?”

“Those eunuchs just can’t stand us and are deliberately causing trouble to make us leave. Steward Pei, you absolutely mustn’t listen to them.”

“Right! In the end, none of those boot-licking rootless creatures will leave, and the mansion will truly become their domain.”

“The Crown Prince’s mansion has always been managed by eunuchs. Having so many people crammed into one mansion was already unusual. Now His Majesty has personally ordered His Highness to dismiss ninety percent of the staff.”

Everyone’s faces turned deathly pale.

With the Emperor’s personal order, how could they dare have any complaints?

“Aside from me and Wu Can who died earlier, only two of you can remain in the end,” Pei Yanci said.

“Two! That’s far too few!” Everyone looked at each other in dismay.

“Discuss it among yourselves. If you can’t decide by early afternoon, then I’ll have to make the decision.”

With that, Pei Yanci went into the inner room. Bored beyond measure, he rummaged around and found a tea manual on the antique shelf. It looked like no one had read it in ages – even the cover was dusty and faded.

He randomly opened to a page that recorded an alternative method of preparing tea – steeping tea.

Actually, it wasn’t very alternative. During the Great Tao dynasty, he had enjoyed steeping tea, adding nothing to the tea, drinking just the tea’s natural sweetness and richness. Following his example, after he ascended the throne, steeping tea became popular, replacing boiled tea.

Of course, the more important reason was that steeping tea took far less time than other tea preparation methods.

After reading for about a quarter-hour, someone crept in from outside, bowing and scraping as they approached, saying quietly, “Steward Pei, a small token of my appreciation, please accept it.”

He pulled out two taels of silver from his bosom.

Silver was still a rare commodity. Previously they had used copper coins, but in recent years as prices of various goods kept rising, wealthy people wanting to buy expensive items had to bring many servants carrying copper coins. At some point, silver began circulating among the people, and the government began minting silver too, though not much.

Two taels of silver equaled two strings of cash, or two thousand wen – about seven months’ wages for a menial servant.

Looking at the servant’s obsequious smile, the meaning was clear.

Seeing Pei Yanci smoothly accept it, his expression immediately became much more natural, and he left with repeated thanks, as if a weight had been lifted.

Once the precedent was set, within less than a cup of tea’s time, another person came in, loudly claiming to report someone in the tea room for being lazy and not working, while constantly pushing the silver in his hands toward the table beside Pei Yanci.

Less than a stick of incense later, another person came in, looking around nervously.

By mid-morning, all seven or eight people from the tea room had come in, and Pei Yanci had collected nearly thirty taels of silver.

He took out a small cloth bag he had prepared beforehand, put the silver inside, posted the list on the tea room door, and walked away with a flourish.

Everyone looked and saw that the two who had given the most were indeed the ones who stayed.

It wasn’t surprising at all.

“This is pure money-grabbing,” someone cursed. “So unethical.”

“How did we never notice this person was so cunning before?”

“Sigh, if only I’d known to give more,” someone else regretted.

In the afternoon, Pei Yanci went to the courtyard Yunsheng was responsible for.

Yunsheng was in charge of purchasing the master’s clothing changes and room decorations – this was much more profitable than the tea room.

He strolled around once, subtly conveying his intentions to them. By the time Yunsheng arrived in a panic, wanting to speak up for his subordinates, Pei Yanci had already returned to his own courtyard for an afternoon nap.

He had barely dozed off when people started coming to his door.

Wuli watched in amazement as he generously accepted one bag of silver after another, the silvery gleam nearly blinding his eyes.

By the end of the afternoon, Pei Yanci had collected nearly three hundred taels of silver.

“My dear mother, I’ve never seen so much silver in my life,” Wuli didn’t dare blink.

“How embarrassing,” Pei Yanci shook his head, putting the silver in a wooden chest and locking it. “Wipe the drool from your mouth.”

Wuli hurriedly turned aside.

“Does this count as ill-gotten gains?” He touched his chest, feeling his conscience ache a little.

“Do you think a servant could come up with such a large sum of money just from his monthly wages?”

“True enough,” Wuli nodded, then slapped his thigh regretfully, looking pained. “All these years in the kitchen, I only focused on getting food.”

Just then, someone else knocked on the door.

Wuli looked and saw it was someone who had just come that afternoon.

Surely he wasn’t here to demand his silver back?

Wuli felt guilty about how Pei Yanci was collecting this silver.

“Steward Pei, do you remember me? I just came this afternoon,” the visitor said with a smile. “I suddenly remembered I have evidence proving I’m diligent, hardworking, and reliable. You must handle things fairly!”

He placed a bag of silver ingots on the table.

Wuli plopped down on the bed, his eyes going blank.

With the daytime example set, Pei Yanci didn’t even need to go around to each place. Starting from evening, people constantly went in and out of his room, continuing through the second day and third day.

Pei Yanci collected silver until his hands cramped.

Without exception, no matter which courtyard or room, no matter who came to plead, it was useless. Whoever gave the most silver stayed – simple, brutal, and fair to all.

During these two days, they were all trying to find out how much silver others in their courtyards had given, but of course no one would tell. To be safe, those people could only grit their teeth and offer up all their possessions. Some, realizing they had given too little after one visit, would sneak back in the middle of the night. Pei Yanci didn’t even have time for pleasantries, his hands full of gleaming silver and crisp copper coins.

In these people’s eyes, as long as they stayed in the mansion, earning back this money and even more wouldn’t be a problem.

Of course, there were also those who were indignant.

It was just the second day when Wuli woke from his afternoon nap and was about to go to the kitchen. He had barely opened the door when someone crashed into him, spinning him around three times on the spot.

The person looked furious, clearly intending to settle accounts with Pei Yanci. Seeing trouble brewing, Wuli forcibly pulled back his outward steps and blocked in front of Pei Yanci.

“What are you doing? Want to start a fight? Take a look at whose territory this is.”

The visitor had calloused hands and a young, dark face – it was rare to see such a person in the pampered environment of the mansion.

Pei Yanci glanced out the window – there were shadowy figures outside the courtyard, with many people secretly watching.

“Steward Pei, isn’t what you’re doing too unethical? Openly accepting bribes – believe it or not, I’ll gather a group of people to make a scene before His Highness and see who loses face!”