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Chapter 237: Affairs in the Black Mountain Manor(1)

Translator: Iris

It was very cold in the mountain area at night, so Minglan who was still in her period could only curl up to sleep. Gu Tingye encircled her body like a mountain and warmed her cold hands and feet during the whole night. While her cold body was pressed to his body which was as hot as the stove, she felt much more comfortable.

That night, the man had a good sleep. He remembered the look on Minglan’s face when was questioned by him before sleep. At that time, her face was super red like the grilled chubby octopus, but she still clenched her white teeth and said nothing. At last when she couldn’t bear it anymore, she was so embarrassed that she almost climbed the window to escape. Thinking of that, the man couldn’t help but laugh even in his dream. In the meantime, Minglan who saw what was happening only thumped on his chest violently.

The next day before the daybreak, Gu Tingye went to the military camp in the western suburb with Xie Ang and other guards.

“If you get busy, you don’t need to come back at night.” Minglan muttered that with a drowsy look, “There are lots of guards in the manor. Don’t worry about me.”

“I see. If anything happens, just make decisions by yourself.” Gu Tingye kissed on her warm face and then left the manor.

As Minglan had expected, all the stewards and landlords in the manor were all well-behaved since she had two rows of strong guards standing there including Tu Long whose face seemed so scary. Minglan sat behind a screen while instructing everything to others.

A chief steward like Ba Laofu was well aware of what he was supposed to say and do when his madam inspected the manor. Therefore, he already brought a bunch of stewards and landlords in the early morning to give obeisance to Minglan. With a beaming smile on Ba Laofu’s face, he prepared a whole speech to report to Minglan. However, instead of asking him anything, Minglan only chatted with him breezily.

Ba Laofu and the other stewards, as confused as they were, could only engage themselves in the chat with Minglan.

“Madam, they are here.” At the moment, Quan Zhu’s wife entered the room and reported that reverently.

Minglan replied to her in a gentle voice through the screen, “Tell them to enter in order according to the register.”

Danju then picked up the register of names which had been handed in by Ba Laofu and started to read. After that, the other stewards found in surprise that Gongsun Meng was commanding a few servants to carry a waist-high basket.

With a great crashing sound of metals, the basket was put on the ground. Everyone turned around to have a look, and then they nearly jumped in shock-- That was a whole basket of copper coins. In the morning sunlight, those coins which were tied together by thick red threads gave off the bright green and grey light and dazzled everyone in the room.

Minglan said gently, “They have worked very hard over the last year. Now that this manor belongs to Gu’s family and it’s the first time I came here, I’d like to reward the tenants. Hope everyone can feel happy about this.”

“Madam, I...” Ba Laofu felt vaguely that something was not right.

Before all the stewards had time to react, Quan Zhu’s wife had already started to call out names. Every tenant who entered the room would be given a string of coins first. The ones who had elders over sixty years old in their family would be given more of the coins. Having one elder in the family meant that there would be three hundred more coins. After the coins had been distributed to a tenant, Danju would cross out the number of the money and the tenant’s name on the name list. While those tenants staggered out of the hall with heavy strings of coins in their arms, they were still in a muddleheaded state.

The first few tenants were still a bit nervous or in a low spirit when they came in. After five or six tenants had been rewarded, the other tenants who were waiting in a queue all heard the news that their madam was rewarding them today. The response from the crowd in the front yard was immediate, and they were overjoyed. Next, the remaining tenants all came in with radiant faces and went out with joyful looks while uttering grateful words all the time.

The landlords and stewards looked at each other, not knowing what Minglan’s intention was. Some of them put on indignant looks on their faces, while others praised Minglan loudly. Only Ba Laofu was sweating. Since those landlords who opened their eyes wide now were all the witnesses, Minglan wasn’t afraid that those tenants would lie about how many elders there were in their families.

There were sixty-two hectares of land of the Black Mountain Manor and thirty-three tenants being registered on the paper. At last, six to seven thousand coins were presented to those tenants as well as the elders in their families, and nearly one basket was emptied.

There was a brief interlude in the middle. A few tenants came to the hall, claiming that they also worked in the Black Mountain Manor after they had known about the reward. However, their names weren’t registered. Seeing that, Ba Laofu sweated profusely. However, Minglan wasn’t angry at all and only gave those tenants the money smilingly. Before Ba Laofu could think how to explain for this, Minglan already asked Cui Ping and Cui An to bring some landlords and a group of guards to measure the land.

Only then did Ba Laofu understand what Minglan was up to, and his face turned deadly pale with fear. As he wanted to explain, Minglan waved her hand lazily and dismissed everyone. Then she went back to have a rest.

The moment Minglan returned to the inner room, Xiazhu couldn’t help saying, “A few days ago, Madam has asked the people in the account counting room to prepare some coins. So that’s what those silvers are for.” She didn’t dare to say too much. However, the reluctant look on her face already showed her true feelings.

In the meantime, Xiaotao still wore a calm look. She always thought whatever Minglan did was right. Danju poured a cup of tea for Minglan and helped the latter change clothes while saying gently, “Madam, why didn’t you ask about the affairs in our manor? You haven’t asked those stewards a word.”

Minglan said tiredly, “The things they want to tell me might not be the things I want to know. The things I want to know might not be told honestly by them.”

“How dare they lie to you, Madam!” Danju frowned with her chest going up and down due to anger. Then she said in a low voice, “Madam, what do you want to know? We can inquire about it by ourselves.”

After Minglan had taken a sip of the warm tea, she started to appreciate the porcelain cup with pink patterns which had been made in the official workshop, saying, “Not so much. I just want to know how many hectares of land and tenants there are in this manor.”

The other things such as manipulation of account or swallowing the rents could be slowly handled afterwards. Besides, Minglan had the contracts of all the stewards and landlords in the manor. Since they were all new to her, she could deal with them as she wanted.

Minglan’s money was well spent.

When the Cui Brothers measured the land, those tenants who feared the stewards and landlords all became very friendly. Some sensible tenants knew what Minglan wanted to know and led the way for the Cui Brothers. At last, all the hidden facts were exposed by those tenants. A few stewards and landlords paced about in an agitated state of mind, but finally quieted down under the vicious gaze of the Tu Brothers.

In just two days, Cui Ping and Cui An finished measuring the vast farmland and recorded in detail the harvest of each area of the farmland. Meanwhile, Gongsun Meng visited all the tenants who hadn’t been registered with a steward who knew how to write.

The looks on the faces of those landlords and stewards became more and more awkward.