Stealing the Pen: Kirin's Primordial Lotus

It’s Chinese New Year! It’s Chinese New Year!

Zhuo Yichen took part in an annual meeting of the palace by relying on his brother Yuan Zheng and his identity as a person who provided supplies to Zheng Palace.

"Due to the sudden passing of Old Zhiren and the young master, the palace will not be able to celebrate as usual this year." Elder Xue sat at the head of the banquet hall, looking at the direct descendants of the palace and a major financial backer behind the palace sitting below.

Except for Gong Yuanzheng and Zhuo Yichen, who had a thick stack of account books on their desks, the account books of the other three people had already been handed over to the accountant in Jiaogong.

"Mr. Zhang, we can start now."

The old man standing in the middle of the banquet hall held up an account book and said, "This is the account book of the Shang Palace. This year, the Shang Palace sold the swords, spears, halberds and other weapons it made and earned a total of 46,780 taels of gold.

This year, the annual salary of Shang Gong is 26,400 taels of silver. The research room was renovated more than 180 times, spending 5,000 taels of silver, and the purchase of utensils and furniture cost 800 taels of silver.

The eldest lady bought new clothes, jewelry, rouge and powder this year, totaling 1,800 taels of silver. In addition, the medicine taken by the old palace master cost 2,000 taels of silver. The young master of the Shang Palace injured a servant, and the compensation totaled 800 taels of silver. "

Mr. Zhang kept counting on his abacus. "The expenditure of the Shang Palace this year is 36,800 taels of silver."

The three elders nodded after listening to this, but when they heard that Gong Liushang had injured a servant, they couldn't help but frown, "Zishang! You have worked hard this year, but your brother is too naughty. After the New Year, ask your father to send him to the Elders' Council and we will teach him ourselves!"

Gong Zishang stood up and bowed. "This is my job, and I don't think it's hard work. As for my brother, I will tell my father when I go back."

Gong Zishang had long been troubled by his younger brother who was always causing trouble in the Shang Palace. Now, taking advantage of the annual meeting to count the expenses of each palace, he sent his younger brother to the Council of Elders for instruction, which was really gratifying.

Gong Ziyu and Gong Zishang were sitting very close to each other. After hearing the accountant's calculation of Shang Gong's account, Gong Ziyu quietly approached Gong Zishang and asked, "You have bought so much money this year, are you still trying to cheat me out of my money?"

Gong Zishang rolled his eyes at Gong Ziyu, "Those are directly put into the warehouse, and they won't come into my hands. If they really come into my hands, how much do you think will be left for storage?"

After hearing what Gong Zishang said, Gong Ziyu said, "That's right. Once it's in your pocket, don't even think about getting it out again."

Elder Xue glared at Gong Ziyu and coughed lightly, "Mr. Zhang, go on!"

Mr. Zhang sealed up the account book of Shang Palace and handed it to the guards behind him to put away.

Mr. Zhang picked up the account book again and said, "This is Yu Gong's account book. Yu Gong's salary this year is 22,800 taels of silver, and the salary of Old Zhiren and Young Master is 24,000 taels of silver.

Yugong bought 1,500 taels of silver for clothing, Madam Wuji bought rouge, powder and jewelry for 500 taels, bought utensils and furniture for 3,000 taels, and repaired Yugong for 5,000 taels of silver."

Mr. Zhang looked at the renovation fee and sighed, "Yu Palace spent a total of 56,800 taels of silver this year."

Elder Xue almost gasped, "Gong Ziyu! I let you bear the sword to protect the Gongmen people! Not to let you live a life of luxury!"

Although Gong Yuanzheng didn't know what Gong Ziyu had done to Yu Gong, it didn't stop him from laughing at Gong Ziyu for being scolded.

Gong Zishang was close, so Gong Ziyu could ignore Gong Yuanzheng's ridicule, but he couldn't ignore Gong Zishang's laughter. "What are you laughing at! It's because you insisted on making your peach blossom pastry, and my Yugong kitchen has exploded countless times!"

Gong Zishang restrained himself in a second, "Gong Ziyu, you really are extravagant! You like luxury so much at such a young age, you really don't know how to restrain yourself!"

Elder Hua stroked his beard, "Zi Yu! You must not be so extravagant in the future!" After saying that, he turned his head and looked at Gong Shangjiao, "Shangjiao! I think Zhi Ren can no longer leave the palace now, so you should control the share of Yu Gong!"

If Gong Ziyu had not taken into account Elder Hua's status as an elder, he would have probably rushed up to him against his horns and easily cut off his monthly salary!

Gong Shangjiao glanced at Gong Ziyu and said, "Yes, originally each palace's share was set at three thousand taels per month. Shangjiao had previously felt that whether it was brother Ziyu or sister Zishang, there would always be times when they didn't have enough money, so he relaxed the quota a little.

Now it seems that it was Shangjiao's fault, which led to brother Ziyu's extravagant lifestyle.

Elder Hua, how about setting Yu Gong's share at two thousand taels per month?"

Elder Hua asked Mr. Zhang to do some calculations. "Mr. Zhang, could you please calculate whether two thousand taels a month is enough for the expenses of Yu Palace?"

Mr. Zhang took the abacus and calculated it up. "Reporting to Elder Hua, there are 120 guards and servants in Yu Palace, and each of them gets 5 taels of silver per month, which means 600 taels per month.

Madam Wu Ji's monthly allowance is five hundred taels, and with her rouge, powder, clothing, and jewelry, she spends two hundred taels a month.

The monthly rent for Yugong's small kitchen is two hundred taels.

Calculated this way, Zhi Ren's monthly salary is 500 taels. This 500 taels is more than enough for Zhi Ren."

Elder Hua, Elder Yue, and Elder Xue discussed this and nodded in agreement with Gong Shangjiao's proposal, "Let's do as Shangjiao says!"

Gong Zishang and Gong Yuanzheng couldn't help but sneer out loud at this time.

Gong Ziyu never thought that he would be the unlucky one at this year's annual meeting. He hadn't done anything yet, but his monthly salary dropped directly from fifteen hundred taels to five hundred taels!

Gong Ziyu looked at the tea on the table with tears in her eyes, and she couldn't help feeling sad.

The three elders didn't care about Gong Ziyu's psychological activities and let Mr. Zhang continue.

Mr. Zhang took the thickest account book on the table and said, "This is the account book of Jiao Palace. This year, Master Jiao went out to manage the palace industry and Jiao Palace's own industry, totaling 7.85 million taels of gold.

Of this, 2.3 million taels of gold belong to the palace gate account, and the remaining 5.55 million taels of gold belong to the private property of the corner palace."

As soon as the accountant said this, the whole banquet hall was in an uproar.

Gong Zishang and Gong Ziyu gathered together and asked, "Tell me, is there a corner palace in the palace gate or a palace gate in the corner palace?"

Gong Ziyu didn't care about the reduction of his monthly salary at the moment. He was thinking whether he could take some red envelopes from Gong Shangjiao during the New Year to fill his empty wallet!

Gong Zishang looked at Gong Ziyu who was in a trance, "What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking about Gong Shangjiao's big red envelope during the New Year!" Gong Ziyu blurted out. Not only Gong Zishang heard it clearly, but also Gong Shangjiao, Gong Yuanzheng and Zhuo Yichen on the opposite side, and even the elders sitting at the top heard it.

"Gong Ziyu! How old are you, and you're still thinking about my brother's red seal!" Gong Yuanzheng was the first to get angry.

Gong Ziyu finally realized what was happening. She was so ashamed that she hid her head under the table.

Mr. Zhang continued, "There are not many servants in the Jiao Palace. There are only fifty people serving in the Jiao Palace, and each person is paid five taels of silver per month.

Because the guards of the Jiao Palace had to accompany Master Jiao on external affairs, their monthly salary was ten taels of silver. There were a total of one hundred guards in the Jiao Palace.

Jiao Gong's monthly salary this year is 15,000 taels of silver. The maids will receive 500 taels of rouge and powder, the guards will receive 1,500 taels of money to replace their swords, 10,000 taels of money for pensions, and 3,000 taels of money for new clothes.

The expenses for ingredients in the small kitchen in Jiao Palace and the monthly salary for the chef are placed in Jiao Gongzi’s personal account, so they are not recorded.”

Mr. Zhang quickly calculated the annual expenses of the Jiao Palace, "This year's expenses of the Jiao Palace are 30,000 taels of silver."

Every time Gong Shangjiao appeared in front of everyone, he would wear the same sets of clothes over and over again. On several occasions, Gong Zishang could see that the edges of Gong Shangjiao's clothes had become frayed.

"It's still Shang Jiao! He's too frugal! He wears the same few pieces of clothes all year round. He wants to wear them like beggar's clothes before he is willing to throw them away!" Gong Zishang whispered in Gong Ziyu's ear.

The three elders sitting at the top couldn't help but feel sorry for Gong Shangjiao, "Shangjiao! You should take good care of yourself when you go out!"

Gong Shangjiao had something to say about this, because he had just adopted Yuan Zheng at that time.

Yuan Zheng had just experienced the death of both his parents at that time and was feeling insecure, so when he met his brother Gong Shangjiao, he was afraid that his brother would abandon him. So he always stayed quietly beside Gong Shangjiao, quietly playing with the small toys that Gong Shangjiao asked Jin Fu to buy for him.

But no matter how fun a toy is, people get tired of it one day. Gong Shangjiao was dealing with a pile of tasks that day and it felt like he hadn't heard the sound of his younger brother playing with toys for a long time.

Gong Shangjiao turned around and saw that Xiao Yuanzheng had pulled out the gold thread on his clothes at some point, and the pattern on that piece had been completely dismantled.

Gong Shangjiao originally wanted to preach, but when he saw Xiao Yuanzheng's watery and innocent eyes, he no longer cared about whether he was wearing clothes or not.

One time, Gong Shangjiao took little Yuanzheng to see Zhiren. On the way back, he met a mother from a side branch of the palace. From her, he learned the meaning of little Yuanzheng's action.

It was from that time that Gong Shangjiao started to make a few extra pieces of any kind of clothing just in case, so this gave Gong Zishang and the others the illusion that Gong Shangjiao had been wearing the same piece of clothing for several years.