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Chapter 233: Minglan’s Insight

Translator: Iris

In the afternoon, Minglan sent Changbai a recommendation letter along with Chang Nian’s article. In the letter, she asked if Changbai would have time to meet this little boy.

After that, Minglan started to count.

The officials in the ancient times attached great importance to the time when they started work, but didn’t care about the time when they got off work. However, Changbai, as an official in the Imperial Academy, was afraid that he might be summoned by the emperor at any time. So he never dared to get off work early. Therefore, even though Changbai had the time to meet someone, he had to do that on his days off. It would take lots of days before he could find a suitable school and recommend Nian to the school.

Next, Minglan called all the stewards and servants over to give them instructions. After making sure everyone was clear about their own duties, she claimed that Mama Cui would take charge of the things they couldn’t handle during the days she was absent and they could also send someone to report the important things to her on the post-horse if it was necessary.

“You are all experienced ones. I believe you can do things well with or without me being here.” Minglan sat upright smilingly and continued, “When I get back, I’ll check on everything.”

The men and women in charge were all clear about Minglan’s words. Right now, most of them only stayed in their position temporarily. If they didn’t behave well during Minglan’s absence, they might be dismissed from their posts. As thinking of that, they kept nodding to Minglan.

After that, Minglan kept Mama Hua and Liao Yong’s wife to talk.

“You only have one job, that is to take care of the House of Cardamon Fragrance.” Minglan said to Mama Hua softly, “Especially Rong. If she gets sick, invite Doctor Zhang from Lily Grass Hall and report to me right away.”

Mama Hua praised Minglan inwardly, ‘Nice move. She asked me, a servant who has been sent by Old Madam Qin, to look after the two women and the girl in the House of Cardamon Fragrance. If anything happens to them, Old Madam would also be implicated.’ She glanced at Liao Yong’s wife and thought, ‘Don’t know how many servants are monitoring me for Madam. If I dare to play tricks, I’ll end up like Mama Lai.’

Under the circumstances like this, Mama Hua decided to devote herself to Minglan like Mama Tian. Then she replied to Minglan seriously.

“There’s not so much for me to say to you.” Minglan looked at Liao Yong’s wife with a smile, “Just be careful.”

Liao Yong’s wife put on a stern look and said with her head lowered, “I’ve kept all of your instructions in mind, Madam and informed the people who work in the stable. If anything important happens, you will know about it within two hours.”

Liao Yong’s wife was clear about her situation. She was not like the servants who had worked in Gu family for years. Even if those servants made mistakes, they would merely be sent back to their homes for the old time sake. As for the new servants like her, they had been sent to Cheng Manor as the servants from guilty officials’ families, which made their reputations already bad enough. If they made any mistakes, Minglan could sell them right away while no one would criticize her of being mean.

What’s more, Minglan who had just moved into the Cheng Manor must be short of hands and needed new servants. At this moment, the ones who gave out great behaviors would definitely be promoted. Also, Mama Cui was aged and deficient in energy. Cuiwei was still too young. If Liao Yong’s wife could do her job well and gain Minglan’s trust, she would be in the important positions for at least ten years.

Liao Yong’s wife made a decision secretly that she would take great care of the mansion.

The busy preparing work still hadn’t been finished until dinner. Danju was still commanding the maids to pack up the suitcases. The things that were loaded onto the coach included the clothes, jewelries, vessels, stoves and even the round wooden bucket for bathing.

Gu Tingye who found that quite surprising said with a smile, “You do things quite resolutely. I see you ready to go now. I thought that you would start off the day after tomorrow.” In his view, women all liked to delay.

“I’ll leave at half past the Mao Hour (6:30 in the morning). Danju would stay here to finish the packing job and then leave.” Minglan was writing check marks on the paper carefully while saying, “I’ll arrive at the Rain Estate before lunch and stay there for the whole afternoon. Until then, the Black Mountain Estate should be well prepared, we’ll rest ourselves there. Tell A’meng to escort Danju as well as the packages straightly to the Black Mountain Estate. After a few days, we’ll go to the Ancient Stone Estate.”

Rain Estate was in her dowry and Steward Cui was the one who was in charge of that place. Old Madam Sheng had taken a tour there twice a year before. Minglan had also been to that estate a few times. Everything operated well there, so this time she only went there to do the handover work. However, the other two estates covered larger area, and the stewards and the tenants there were all unfamiliar to Minglan. So it would take her a lot more efforts to inspect the two places.

“It’s just a few estates. The incomes per year are not very substantial anyway. Don’t be so bothered by that.” Gu Tingye frowned slightly. He seemed to look down on the earnings from the farmland.

Minglan disagreed with him a lot. The main point of managing a family was to consider only the earnings from the fixed assets like the farmland as the normal earnings. In a large family, the expenses and earnings from fixed assets should be in balance. After that, the extra earnings could be spent freely in many aspects.

However, that was not the reason why she wanted to regulate the three estates. She shook her head and said, “I don’t care about the money. I’m actually worried that our neglect in management would bring some troubles. If we have to be responsible for those troubles, someone might accuse you in the imperial court.”

When she had gone to the estates with Old Madam Sheng in her childhood, she had seen the children of the tenants who had begged by the road. At that time, Old Madam Sheng had babbled about how the evil servants could ruin their master’s reputation. The mean master or the stewards who concealed the true state of affairs never treated the tenants like humans. Not only were the tenants bullied cruelly, even the causes of their deaths would be covered.

Minglan had buried Old Madam Sheng’s words in mind since that time.

Gu Tingye leaned his strong back on the bedside leisurely while leafing through a thick brochure. Under the dim light, he looked to Minglan’s jade-like exquisite face. Right now she was in a white satin dress, which made her figure look even more dainty and delicate. However, this tiny little girl was using a purple brush with green jade tube to write something on the paper with a serious look. Her fingers which were holding the brush looked as fair as the paper and her fingernails were covered with green color being reflected by the green jade. Right now, she looked just like a child who dressed up like an adult.

Gu Tingye didn’t take Minglan’s words seriously and said, “Don’t be plagued by imaginary fears.”

Minglan twitched her nose toward him and put down the brush. After that, she came over to sit on the bed and rested into Gu Tingye’s arms, asking him all of a sudden, “You are right. The incomes from the estates are not that much. But what is the most profitable business?”

Gu Tingye got dazed for a second and said smilingly, “You got me there. Pig butchering? Robbing?”

‘Why does robbing follows right after the pig butchering?’ Minglan thought of that questioningly, but she wasn’t stuck to that doubt and still shook her head, “No. I heard from Sir Zhuang that the most profitable business are, salt business, mine business, water transportation, border trade and sea transportation. In other words, those are all businesses that need the government’s approval to operate.”

The smile on Gu Tingye’s face gradually disappeared.

Minglan continued, “So, now who’s in charge of those significant businesses?” Gu Tingye’s face turned blue hearing that. Minglan stared at him and said slowly, “I don’t know who that is, but I’m sure it’s not His Majesty.”

The look on Gu Tingye’s face turned very serious. After a long while, he nodded.

“I didn’t feel anything at first. However, when Sir Gongsun told me that the national treasury was empty, I truly felt that something was wrong.” Minglan said in a low voice, “Although I am a woman, I can still tell that His Majesty is up to something big.”

Normally, the thing which followed an emperor’s ambition was centralization of state power. The first two things the emperor was going to take back was the property and the military power. At present, the country was not short of money, but the national treasury was still empty. The country was not short of soldiers, but they just weren’t under the command of the emperor.

So, what happened next should be easy. Those who controlled those businesses didn’t want to relinquish their power, but the emperor would ask them to.

“Before New Year’s Eve, our troops got a major victory on the northern border. You guys have scored a lucky hit by opening a breach there. Since the military affairs were a mess there, His Majesty then had a perfect excuse to lay off the former officials. I guess the ones who got involved with the border trade must be terrified.” Minglan wriggled her body away from the man and sat upright on the bed, saying in a stern tone, “Haven’t you told me before that His Majesty had wanted to send General Geng to garrison the northern border? After that, General Geng was accused in the Imperial Court.”

Gu Tingye, with his eyebrows knitted tightly, said seriously, “It’s also due to his lots of misconducts.” He meant that Minglan only guessed out half of the truth.

Behind one imperial censor, there were a bunch of imperial censors. Behind a bunch of imperial censors, there was the whole clique of the imperial censors. They were related to each other back in their schools and formed a firm network. Under the benevolent administration of the former emperor, most of them had already been in league with the noble families, which formed a new clique. Those imperial censors got money, power and people’s support. Their sphere of influence covered the Imperial Palace, the Imperial Court, the Army and the local governments.

When rains fell down heavily from the sky, only the crops would suffer. Minglan had no intention to be the cannon folder as Gu Tingye’s family.

“Sir Gongxun was right about you.” Gu Tingye paused for a while to look at Minglan quietly. Then he said, “He told me that you were good at thinking and debating. He also said that although you were a woman, your horizon was as broad as the best advisers.”

“I’m flattered.” Minglan blushed.

“But you never ask me about what happens in the Imperial Court.” Gu Tingye said that wonderingly.

Minglan, with her arms around her knees, curled up and said bashfully, “My grandmother told me not to ask the men about their official business. If you think I should know, you’ll tell me by yourself.” Actually, she did have wanted to ask him for a bunch of times.

Gu Tingye stared at her for a long while with a meaningful look, then said slowly, “When I was young, my father said to me, ‘Better an open enemy than a false friend.’ There are lots of generals who were good at fighting wars died in the peaceful ages. If I have the opportunity to enter the battlefield, I have to be careful of my words and behaviors. I cannot let others find faults with me.”

Minglan, getting a bit panicky hearing that, suddenly grasped the man’s arm tightly. Gu Tingye held her in his arms to comfort her and pressed her body toward himself, saying gently, “Don’t worry. Although those imperial censors are fond of their reputations, they are not silly. They know whom they could accuse and whom they couldn’t. Now His Majesty is still lacking of manpower. General Geng is going to be fine, not to mention me.”

His arms were around Minglan’s body and their bodies were attached to each other closely. As they were lying on the bed, they could even hear each other’s heartbeats. Gu Tingye chuckled and kissed on Minglan’s cheek, “I’ll tell you everything you want to know in the future.”

“Fine!” Minglan nodded smilingly while approaching to kiss on his nose. Then she blinked and said, “I couldn’t help you with your work that tires your body and your mind, but I could at least make sure that our family affair wouldn’t be a trouble to you.”

Gu Tingye, feeling touched inside, rubbed Minglan’s head and suddenly said in a low voice, “My father-in-law has a long-term vision. He taught his kids well!”

Minglan raised her head in his arms and said complacently, “Sir Zhuang has said that if I were a boy, I would accomplish something big.” As they were making intimate moves, the front buttons of Minglan’s dress popped off, which made her pink and fair skin revealed. Her delicate body was also partly visible in her yellow underwear embroidered with green lotus petals.

Gu Tingye stared at her body straightly in a daze and then sighed, “You better be a woman.”

...

Next day in the morning, Minglan left the mansion with a bunch of servants and guards who were leaded by the Tu Brothers. There were about three or four coaches in the troop and Minglan was on the second coach. Xiaotao who sat next to Minglan was so excited that she hadn’t even slept for the whole night and kept babbling during the whole journey.

“Have you never gone out before?” Lvzhi couldn’t help taunting her, “It’s not like we haven’t been to the Rain Estate.” Then she turned around and said to Minglan, “Madam, do you want to rest for a while? In case you would feel sleepy later.”

Minglan nodded in a trance. She liked to stay up and get up late, so she wasn’t completely awake now. Xiaotao made the bed right away for Minglan to lie down. Then she turned her head and said to Lvzhi in a soft voice, “Qinsang and Cuixiu couldn’t come this time and they were quite whiny about his. When I left the room, I even saw Cuixiu’s eyes get red.”

Lvzhi glimpsed at Minglan, finding the latter falling asleep, then said in a low voice, “We cannot all leave the mansion. Someone has to stay and look after the room! It’s hard for Sister Cuiwei to control the situation all the time. Don’t tell me you trust everyone in the mansion?”

“I know! You don’t need to tell me that!” Xiaotao whispered, “But doesn’t Ruomei want to stay this time? Why does Madam insist on taking her out? Have you seen how reluctant Ruomei seemed?”

Lvzhi pouted and said in disdain, “That girl is up to something lately. Madam only took her out to prevent Ruomei from doing anything stupid. Perhaps... Madam will find a man in the manor for Ruomei.” On these words, Lvzhi teased Xiaotao on purpose, “Maybe Madam will find you a man too!”

Quite unexpected, Xiaotao pondered for a while and nodded, “That sounds not bad.”

Lvzhi smacked her lips and turned around, feeling totally speechless.