Stealing the Pen: Kirin's Primordial Lotus

Zhuo Yichen brought his brother to the Jiao Palace. "Master Jiao, my father told me that there is a case near the palace gate that we need to handle, but Yuan Zheng also wants to go with us. I came here to ask for your opinion."

When Zhuo Yichen and Gong Yuanzheng arrived, Gong Shangjiao was sitting at the table drinking tea and wiping his sword.

"I'm afraid it won't work this year. Because of Wufeng's incident, Old Zhiren and the young master passed away. Old Zhiren and I usually arrange some important matters, but Gong Ziyu is probably not able to handle these things at all. So the Elders' Council decided to let the people from the four palaces get together to make a year-end summary."

Gong Shangjiao looked at Gong Yuanzheng who was hiding behind Zhuo Yichen with some embarrassment. Although he also wanted to keep his brother away from the palace gate where undercurrents were surging, it was an order from the Council of Elders after all, so he still had to give those old men some face on the surface.

Gong Yuanzheng curled his lips and muttered quietly, "Now the expenses of the Zheng Palace are not recorded in the palace account books. Even the doctors in the clinic are paid by my father. The meeting of the Council of Elders has nothing to do with my Zheng Palace."

Zhuo Yichen gently patted Gong Yuanzheng who was speaking ill of him and said, "Yuanzheng, stop talking nonsense! The elders of the Council of Elders are your elders after all, how can you criticize them behind their backs!"

"Second brother! I wasn't wrong! Ever since father came that year and reorganized the entire Zheng Palace from top to bottom, the expenses of Zheng Palace and the clinic were all paid by father. Even the things brother brought back from outside the palace were paid from his personal account book." Gong Yuanzheng sat on the futon opposite Gong Shangjiao with a snort. From the back, he looked round like a little Fuwa.

Gong Shangjiao poured a cup of tea for his angry brother and looked at him with a smile in his eyes, "Although all the expenses of the Zheng Palace are not paid by the palace gate, after all, the medicines and pills developed by the old doctors in the clinic are still sold at the palace gate stronghold. Yuan Zheng doesn't want the money that the old doctors deserve to be taken away by others!"

Gong Shangjiao was in charge of the finances of the entire palace, so he was naturally dissatisfied with what Lao Zhiren and his men had done. After all, Yuanzheng was not away from the palace all year round, so how could someone who took over the expenses of the palace really not give anyone a single ounce of silver?

"Master Jiao, is there no money in the palace's account? They can't even pay Brother Yuanzheng's monthly salary?" Zhuo Yichen didn't know how much the palace could earn in a year, but now he became anxious when he heard that they didn't even pay the monthly salary to Brother Yuanzheng who was treating them and making medicine for them at the palace.

"Master Jiao, my Zhuo family has quite a bit of assets. If you are really short of money, you can tell me! I can get some from the shops run by the Zhuo family."

Zhuo Yichen was very clear that being a doctor was a profession that cost a lot but also earned a lot of money, because there was a doctor in his team. The biggest expense of the Demon Collection Bureau was the money for Bai Jiu's medicinal materials, but every time Bai Jiu went out to see patients, there were so many people lining up that they could stretch from the palace gate all the way to the city gate.

"Master Zhuo, the palace can certainly afford the expenses of recruiting the palace, but..." Gong Shangjiao didn't know what to say. Was he saying that it was because Lao Zhiren and the others wanted to save some money for his delicate son? It was embarrassing to say that, wasn't it?

"What's the reason? It can't be because of the one of you who was holding the blade before and was unwilling to spend money to buy medicine!"

Gong Shangjiao and Gong Yuanzheng had tea tactically. After all, they knew the real reason, didn't they? They had to save some face, didn't they? They couldn't die and still end up with a ruined reputation!

"Yuanzheng, you've really suffered during these years in the palace! I'll write a letter to my father and ask him to send some banknotes to you. I have some extra money here, I don't know if it's enough." Zhuo Yichen took out a stack of banknotes from his purse and stuffed them into Gong Yuanzheng's hand, "Yuanzheng, if it's not enough, Zhao Yuanzhou has some, I'll go ask him for it later."

Gong Yuanzheng looked at the stack of silver notes with a face value of ten thousand taels in his hand and suddenly felt that his brother Gong Shangjiao was not very rich. The pocket money his brother gave him each time was only a few hundred or a thousand taels. How come his second brother gave him ten thousand taels?

When Gong Shangjiao was drinking tea, he glanced at the face value of the silver note in his brother's hand and choked on the tea. He thought that he would give a few thousand taels at most, but he never expected that Zhuo Yichen would give hundreds of thousands of taels!

"Second brother! Second brother! No need! Really, I don't need money in the palace. If I really need anything, I will buy it for me."

Gong Yuanzheng stopped Zhuo Yichen who was about to call Zhao Yuanzhou and wanted to return the banknote in his hand to Zhuo Yichen.

"Yuanzheng, do you think thank you is not enough? It doesn't matter. Every time I lead the team to hunt monsters, they will give me a few silver notes like this. But I can't use them every time. It has always been Zhao Yuanzhou who pays for us. But some of the expenses of the Monster Hunting Bureau are paid by me, so I don't have much with me now."

Every time Zhuo Yichen went out, Hua Yu would prepare two purses, one for Zhuo Yichen and one for Zhao Yuanzhou so that he could be ready to pay, so Zhuo Yichen had no idea what the prices were like outside.

"Xiao Zhuo! I seemed to hear you calling me just now? Is there something wrong?"

When Zhao Yuanzhou was flying through the sky, he heard Zhuo Yichen calling him, so he came over to see if there was anything wrong.

"Shang Jiao's younger brother~"

Following Zhao Yuanzhou was Gong Zishang, and judging from his voice, he seemed to be asking for money.

"It's so lively! Is there something good happening?"

There was a person standing behind Gong Zishang. It was Gong Ziyu, who was supposed to be put in solitary confinement. The tall and strong figure huddled behind Gong Zishang, making it impossible for people to ignore her. After all, no matter how strong Gong Zishang was, she was just a woman, and Gong Ziyu's tall figure could not completely block her view.

"What brings you here today, Miss?"

Gong Shangjiao naturally knew the purpose of Gong Zishang's visit, but he was happy to pretend to be ignorant and tease his lively sister. After all, there were not many entertainment activities in the palace, and Gong Ziyu and Zhengfei were two people who could always encounter some interesting things when they were together.

"Oh~ The consumables I consumed during my recent research have been too high, so I wanted to come over... hehehe!" Gong Zishang raised his hands and covered his face with his sleeves, laughing.

"I remember that the eldest lady has already withdrawn a lot of money this month. She should have already exceeded the limit! Besides, doesn't the eldest lady love to go on expeditions to look for treasures with her brother?"

Gong Shangjiao pretended to take out the account book of Shang Palace from the account book beside him, "Miss, from the beginning of the month to the middle of the month, you have already spent three thousand taels. This amount of money is far more than before! I wonder what kind of weapon is the young lady researching that consumes so much time and energy?"

Gong Ziyu hid behind Gong Zishang and when she heard that she had spent three thousand taels this month, she immediately jumped out and said, "Sister Zishang, this is what you did wrong! The money you spent this month is enough to demolish the Yu Palace and build a new one!"

Gong Zishang's face suddenly darkened, "Shut up! Don't you know how much money I've spent? How can there be so much money! Although I come to Jiao Palace every day, I mostly come here to eat. Even the food in Shang Palace is not eaten by dogs. I only come here once or twice to do business, and each time I only spend a hundred taels of silver. Where did three thousand taels come from?"

It was true that Gong Shangjiao had only received Gong Zishang on a few occasions, and he had indeed paid out five hundred taels of silver each time. Moreover, although the palace did not stipulate how much the Shang Palace's research funding was, everyone knew it, and it was only about fifteen hundred taels. If it was really as Gong Zishang said, then who paid for the extra fifteen hundred taels?

The palace rules stipulate that the expenses of a palace must not exceed three thousand taels, regardless of the number of people. As for the monthly salary of the masters, it depends on the allocation of the palace master.

For example, in the Shang Palace, Gong Zishang received a monthly salary of 800 taels of silver, her father and her aunt received 500 taels, her younger brother received 300 taels, and there were a total of 100 servants, maids, and guards. With a monthly salary of 5 taels of silver per person, the total salary was 500 taels, and the expenses for the small kitchen were 100 taels.

Yu Gong has 120 guards and servants, and each of them gets a monthly salary of five taels, which is 600 taels in total. The small kitchen consumes more money, which is 200 taels. In addition to Madam Wu Ji's monthly salary of 500 taels, there are also 200 taels of expenses for tailoring clothes and making jewelry. The rest can be considered as Gong Ziyu's monthly salary.

Because Jiaogong had to go out every month, there were not many servants and guards, only about 50 people, but because they had to follow the palace master, their monthly salary was higher than the other two palaces, 15 taels per month. Gong Shangjiao basically had no material desires, as long as he had clothes to wear and food to eat, so he basically had no big expenses, so he could save a lot every month.

The expenses of the Zheng Palace were not borne by the palace, so no one knew how much their monthly salary was.

"Then please think carefully, Miss, what's the matter with the extra 1,500 taels?" After hearing what Gong Zishang said, Gong Shangjiao immediately felt that something was wrong.

Logically, he would know who came with the note to withdraw money, except for a few times when he was not in the palace and the steward took charge of it.