SEHE Chapter 31

Registry Books

 

The next day, the mansion summoned several slave traders, and Pei Yanci and Yunsheng began selling off the servants from the mansion under the crowd’s supervision.

 

Of the 323 servants in the mansion, after today, only about forty would remain. With so many people, it was impossible to sell them all to just one family.

 

Those servants wore worried expressions, their hearts heavy with anxiety, all concerned about their future prospects.

 

Where else in Great Yu could they find work as leisurely and well-treated as at the Crown Prince’s Mansion? Where else could they find a master as easy-going as Gu Jiuqing? Their fate, as long as they remained in servile status, could never be controlled by themselves.

 

Pei Yanci was checking records with the slave traders. To find good buyers, the traders needed to examine whether the servants were physically robust and mentally sound. If they could sell at high prices, they would offer generous amounts upfront.

 

A young man approached with an expressionless face, allowing the trader to feel his muscles. Pei Yanci glanced at the roster as usual, then looked up to see a familiar face.

 

It was the same person who had blocked his path yesterday, angrily shouting that the mansion would surely fall into chaos after they left.

 

Last night, after leaving Zhang Huairu’s place, Pei Yanci had seen him standing at his door again, his silent figure melting into the night, holding a bulging bag of copper coins.

 

He had come to ask how much silver he would need to pay to secure a spot if he wanted to stay.

 

Pei Yanci wasn’t surprised. He calmly stated a figure and watched the man’s expression change from hesitation and shame to deathly pale.

 

He sighed, patted the man’s shoulder, and said, “With your temperament, you’re not suited for wealthy and noble households. Find a family that’s well-off with kind-hearted masters. You’ll earn less silver than now, but the advantage is fewer servants in the household. As long as you maintain good character and work diligently, you’ll quickly advance and gain trust. When you encounter such families, show the same spirit you displayed today. Sometimes when masters choose servants, servants can also choose masters.”

 

The man was stunned, but before he could respond, Pei Yanci had already closed the door.

 

Early this morning, before the traders arrived, each person leaving the mansion received two taels of silver from him.

 

After receiving the money, those people immediately became grateful to him and the Crown Prince.

 

The human heart is truly wondrous.

 

Pei Yanci glanced at the man and casually praised him to the trader. Hearing this, the trader offered a price thirty percent higher than for other servants.

 

He refused, sticking to the originally agreed price.

 

If he wanted to take revenge on this man, he could easily accept that price, or even with just a look, force the trader to offer an even higher price. But if the trader paid a high price on this end, their expectations would be high, and naturally they’d sell him at a high price too. This young man had no outstanding qualities compared to others—who would want to be taken advantage of and pay extra?

 

In that case, the young man would naturally remain in the trader’s hands. Merchants prioritize profit; every day unsold means another day of feeding costs. Over time, their attitude would naturally sour, and deliberate mistreatment followed by selling cheaply to dark workshops was common.

 

A few words of praise, a moment’s hesitant glance, could potentially kill a strong young man invisibly, while the man was currently looking at him with surprise and gratitude.

 

Pei Yanci calmly turned the page. As he looked toward the next person, from the corner of his eye he glimpsed the gatekeeper leading several people along the winding corridor toward the depths of the bamboo grove.

 

At the end lay Gu Jiuqing’s study.

 

****

 

In the study, Gu Jiuqing looked down at the kneeling accounting steward and two external affairs chief stewards.

 

He had always relied more heavily on Zhang Huairu and the eunuchs he brought. The mansion’s expenses and income, as well as the chief stewards responsible for external procurement and managing outside estates and shops, had always been handled by eunuchs.

 

“Does the mansion’s expenses really need to be this large?” Gu Jiuqing pointed at the worn ledger. “Just for planting a few pots of flowers and trees, you need 120 taels?”

 

“Your Highness, these are precious Chanshan Gold-Edged Camellias. Outside they’re selling for eighty taels per plant. It was only through our persistent bargaining that we managed to buy them for thirty taels each,” the procurement steward replied.

 

“Eighty taels is for ten-year gold-edged camellias. Are you saying one-year saplings cost the same price?” Gu Jiuqing threw the ledger at his face.

 

The stewards’ faces all changed dramatically. The procurement chief steward knelt on the ground, surprised but not overly fearful.

 

“And the shops.” Gu Jiuqing observed their expressions, his face growing more severe. “Why are your raw material costs twice as expensive as others? With such meager profits, how did you dare ask this prince for bonus money at the beginning of the month?”

 

“Your Highness, we’ve been wronged!” The external affairs chief steward knelt down, crying in grievance. “The shops use only quality materials, which is why they cost more. Chief Steward Zhang always instructed us that selling at small profits but high volume brings steady customers. Thanks to this, our shops have maintained an excellent reputation, famous throughout the Western Market. I don’t know who has been gossiping before Your Highness, making such wild accusations that cause Your Highness to suspect us. That person definitely has malicious intentions.”

 

“Your Highness, we few followed Chief Steward Zhang out of the palace to serve Your Highness, staking our futures and lives in oath to share life and death with Your Highness. Usually we wish we could split every copper coin in half, thinking only of ensuring Your Highness lacks nothing in food, clothing, and social needs. How can Your Highness now doubt our embezzlement based on others’ words?” The accounting steward also knelt down, looking loyally indignant.

 

“Are you earning money for this prince, or for yourselves?” A flash of menace crossed Gu Jiuqing’s eyes.

 

“Your Highness, whatever we say now is useless. Why not wait until Chief Steward Zhang recovers from his injuries and ask him?” the procurement chief steward said. “Chief Steward Zhang struggles to maintain the mansion’s enormous expenses while not wanting to trouble Your Highness with worries. He works tirelessly behind the scenes to create the current prosperity of the mansion—truly devoted.”

 

“Yes, our hearts toward Your Highness, and toward everyone in the mansion, are as clear as the sun and moon.”

 

Gu Jiuqing felt a chill at the back of his head.

 

Except for the procurement chief steward whose eyes occasionally showed guilt and avoided his gaze, the other stewards looked forthright. At first glance, one might really think he had misunderstood them.

 

Early this morning, Pei Yanci had brought the ledgers. Just flipping through them briefly, he quickly pointed out several unreasonable entries.

 

The embezzlement was real. No matter how much these stewards protested, it was useless—some accounts were suspicious even to his untrained eye.

 

Originally he wanted to interrogate these stewards about where the embezzled silver had gone, then immediately have them beaten to death. When Pei Yanci heard he wanted to kill people, he earnestly advised patience, saying one person’s word shouldn’t be trusted lightly, and it wouldn’t be too late to decide after hearing what these stewards had to say.

 

He thought this reasonable, so he summoned them, but the more he listened, the more alarmed he became.

 

Combined with last night’s endless praise from Yunsheng for Zhang Huairu, while only briefly mentioning him.

 

Unknowingly, Zhang Huairu’s image in the hearts of the mansion’s stewards and servants seemed to have surpassed his own.

 

He had been overshadowed by a eunuch, a lowly servant.

 

This was even more unforgivable than embezzlement.

 

“Your Highness,” someone appeared timely outside the door. After receiving permission, they approached and whispered, “Word from the front courtyard—they can’t dismiss those advisors?”

 

“Making trouble and refusing to leave?”

 

“No.” The person said. “The registry books from the Capital Magistrate’s Office have gone missing.”

 

****

 

Servants who had been sold could wait to transfer their registrations after finding new masters, but those advisors staying behind needed the registry books even more.

 

Since the Emperor hadn’t made this matter explicit, Gu Jiuqing still had to personally issue a decree changing the servile status of those in his mansion to free citizen status.

 

But now, the registry books were missing.

 

Several stewards sat upright in the side hall. Gu Jiuqing hadn’t let them leave, nor had he continued questioning them.

 

They exchanged glances, all seeing mockery in each other’s eyes, and began settling down comfortably to drink tea.

 

Now kneeling in the study in place of the stewards were the Personnel and Military officials from the Capital Magistrate’s Office.

 

The expression in Gu Jiuqing’s eyes was inscrutable, though anyone could see the fury contained beneath the frost.

 

“Where did the registry books go?” His voice carried more menace than usual.

 

The Personnel official resisted wiping the sweat from his forehead and said, “That night when I heard the Elu Bureau had come to Your Highness’s mansion, I felt alarmed and preemptively gave the registry books to my wife, sending her to a friend’s house. This should have been foolproof, but Hu Daren…”

 

Gu Jiuqing stared at him with cold eyes.

 

He looked miserable and couldn’t continue.

 

That night he had been drinking with his Jinwu Guards friend when they encountered other patrolling Jinwu Guards, allowing him to get wind of the situation early.

 

If there were problems with the Crown Prince’s Mansion personnel and he was to be arrested, it could only involve the registry books. He didn’t go home but went first to the office to take out the Crown Prince’s Mansion registry books.

 

Without the registry books, even if the Elu Bureau eunuchs wanted to frame Gu Jiuqing, they’d have no way. Not only could he save his own life, he’d be considered a hero in this matter, surely earning the Crown Prince’s special regard in the future.

 

He thought boundless wealth was finally coming, but seeing His Highness’s expression, he clearly didn’t appreciate this unauthorized action.

 

“What happened next?” Gu Jiuqing asked coldly.

 

From the imperial palace down to common households throughout Great Yu, anyone with servants needed to register and record them. When Gu Jiuqing initially recruited advisors for cover, he also bought many servants for the mansion.

 

People were brought in under the name of servants, but trying to hide this would make it more likely to arouse suspicion. He simply assumed others’ identities and forged their backgrounds, so if discovered later, these registry books would actually become evidence of his innocence.

 

He hadn’t revealed this even to the Personnel official. All procedures were proper and legal, but he hadn’t expected this fool to act on his own and steal the registry books. The Elu Bureau searched the office for days without finding them.

 

The Personnel official elbowed the Military official—this wasn’t his responsibility anymore.

 

“Later, this minister deceived his wife and tricked her into bringing out the hidden registry books. But all of this was justified!” Hu Shang explained urgently, his dark face flushed red. “My only son was captured by the Elu Bureau. Someone said that if I could get the registry books, he could use them to exchange for my son’s life. I was threatened—this has nothing to do with me. Please spare me, Your Highness!”

 

“Who was that person?”

 

“Very young, wearing commoner’s coarse cloth, but with an extraordinary bearing, like some aristocratic young master. I don’t know anything else.”

 

Gu Jiuqing let out a cold laugh, tapping the table with his finger.

 

Hearing this description, the first face that came to mind was Pei Yanci’s.

 

The timing fit too. When everyone in the mansion was arrested, besides him, who else had escaped?

 

But thinking further, if Pei Yanci had arranged for someone to get the registry books, Gu Jiuqing felt a warm current rise in his heart.

 

Pei Yanci didn’t understand the full situation but wanted to help him, constantly running around and scheming for his sake.

 

While he knelt in the palace enduring the Emperor’s suppression and scolding, the Zheng family was busy seizing power with no intention of helping him.

 

He had always thought he was fighting alone.

 

It turned out that outside the palace, there were still people worrying about him.