Chapter 607: The friendship between master and servant
Don't look at it. Butler Qi came from the Prince's Mansion in his early years, and became the chief steward after he came to the Princess' Mansion.
These are all just good-sounding names.
Let’s settle the accounts, let’s talk about the noble masters in the palace first:
——According to the rules, the queen to the fourth concubine [Xianliang Shude] do not receive monthly tributes, but annual tributes; the queen's annual tribute is one thousand two hundred taels of silver, the imperial concubine's one thousand taels, and the noble concubine's eight hundred taels.
Six hundred taels for the fourth concubine.
The eighth concubine received a monthly gift from the beginning. The eighth concubine received fifty taels of silver a month. After that, half of the items were withdrawn, and fifty taels of silver were reduced. By the time she reached the lowest level, the show girl only had two taels of silver a month.
Let’s talk about the officials in the court:
——The officials of the imperial court are all paid on a yearly basis, and the annual salary is calculated based on their rank. The annual salary for those exceeding the first rank is 500 taels. There is no such thing as the first rank in Qilin State. The first rank is for those below the first rank.
, the annual entitlement is three hundred and fifty taels. From the first grade, the annual entitlement is three hundred taels, to the second grade, the annual entitlement is two hundred and seventy taels. From here, the annual entitlement is reduced by one hundred taels for half a grade.
By the time he reached the rank of ninth-grade county magistrate, his annual salary was only one hundred and thirty taels. On average, the monthly salary was only a little over twelve taels.
In Qilin Kingdom, judging from the money alone, both the noble masters in the palace and the officials in the court are not very high. They are average. If they live a slightly better life or have more female relatives at home,
, in fact, one month is not enough to support a family.
However, the annual and monthly salary is not much, but there are many other benefits. Whether it is the palace or officials, the food, clothing, housing and transportation are actually covered by the court.
But this benefit has nothing to do with the servants of each government.
Just think about it, each of the masters does not earn much in salary per year and month, so how high can the salary paid to the servants in the mansion be?
Take the Princess's Mansion as an example. The monthly salary of an ordinary servant is one tael, which is two cents more for the first-class servant than an ordinary servant. The ordinary servants around each master start from one tael, and the third-class servants add two cents.
Money, second-class servants plus two taels per month, first-class servants one and two taels per month.
For stewards like Butler Qi, the stewards are divided into first, second, third, and third-rate stewards. The first-rate steward has only one senior steward, that is, the steward Qi. The monthly salary for the second-rate steward is 40 taels.
Steward January 30.
The accountant and the maid [the grandma next to the master] have less rights than the butler, but they have the same rights as the butler on a monthly basis.
That's it, what they got is already one of the best in Beijing.
Of course, this is only the monthly reward. Being a servant does not rely only on the monthly reward. The rewards from the masters are sometimes higher than the sum of their monthly rewards in a year.
But no matter how high it was, it couldn't be as high as the white jade seal the housekeeper saw in front of him, which was two fingers thick and one finger long.
Butler Qi has seen a lot of good things, especially after becoming the chief steward in the princess's mansion. The princess is basically not in the mansion. He handles all the etiquette matters that come and go with his own hands, and the warehouse has always been in control.
In the hands of him and the cashier.
The rewards from the palace and gifts from other clan members and officials are not just his own boasts, he has really seen all kinds of good things.
Therefore, he considers himself to have some appreciation ability.
As for the seal in front of me, I would definitely not be able to get it without five hundred taels.
He earns five hundred taels a month, and his master rewards him with a seal worth five hundred taels...
Butler Qi said that now not only his hands are weak, but his feet are also weak.
If he hadn't happened to be standing next to the table and propped up with his hands in time, he would have collapsed on the ground at this moment.
"No, no no." He said three words "no" in a row, expressing his inner fear and uneasiness.
"I don't dare to accept this reward, Qiu Yu, did you take it by mistake? It's definitely you who took it by mistake. Take it back quickly and put it away. Regardless of whether the princess notices it or not, you go and apologize first. Our princess is generous.
You probably won’t be punished.”
The reward is worth one or two taels of silver, or even ten or twenty taels. I pray that the housekeeper will not be frightened. At most, he will think that the princess is taller today.
To put it bluntly, the average official does not have such a treasure in his hands. If he really dares to take these hundreds of taels, he will really not be able to sleep peacefully from now on.
At this moment, Qiu Yu particularly understood Butler Qi's feelings, but still pushed the box in his direction.
He explained: "Although I picked it, the princess really asked me to bring it to the housekeeper. The princess asked me to choose one jade seal for you from a box of twenty jade seals. I looked at this one.
I feel that I like you the most, so I took this one. There are others including sapphire and jadeite, all of which are similar in size and seem to be of similar quality.
I guess those princesses are planning to use it to reward people."
Speaking of this, she approached the housekeeper and whispered, "The princess doesn't seem to care about this. Butler, you'd better stop trying to avoid making the princess angry. If you think the princess's reward is too valuable,
Wouldn’t it be great if you work harder for the princess from now on?!"
The princess also rewarded her with a jade bracelet. At that time, she was just as scared as Butler Qi, but Little Coconut persuaded her: The master rewarded them to give them face and trust in them. If you don't accept it, it will be unworthy. The reward is valuable to us.
You must remember in your heart that you must work even harder for your master from now on.
As for the rest, being loyal is not a slap in the face if the master rewards you for something you don't want.
But isn’t that the truth?
They feel it is too valuable, but in the eyes of their master, it is just an ordinary thing. If they don't want it, even if they feel it is too valuable and dare not accept it, it is a manifestation of their displeasure with the reward given by their master.
Butler Qi thought about it and understood what Qiu Yu meant, and smiled gratefully at her. Although he still felt that the white jade seal in the box was too valuable, he did not refuse and said that he did not dare to take it, and closed the box with trembling hands.
"Thank you Miss Qiuyu for the tip."
He had to collect this good thing and hide it as a family heirloom.
Qiu Yu smiled when she saw his attitude towards the treasure, as if she saw herself half a month ago. She also cherished it, as if she could break the jade bracelet if she touched it too much.
Knowing that the housekeeper would also hide the treasure later, Qiu Yu stood up and left without being offensive.
"Butler, I have to go back to serve the princess, so I have to leave first."
"Hey, Miss Qiuyu, walk slowly."
After Qiu Yu left, Butler Qi did not hide the treasure immediately. Instead, he looked at the box solemnly for a while, then suddenly knelt down in the direction of the main courtyard and took three heavy smacks.
He is lucky to meet a master like the princess in this life.
Qi Bao'er didn't know that she just randomly rewarded a souvenir that was not valuable in her eyes, but it moved a person who was already loyal to her to the point where he became even more devoted to her from now on.
Sometimes the reward is not just the value itself, but the trust and respect behind the value.
Of course, Qi Bao'er is not a fool like a "wealth-spreading boy". She feels the true and false feelings of people around her, so she rewards Butler Qi and Little Coconut who have remained unchanged for several years.
A bit more generous...
Well, okay, that's quite generous.
For the other servants in the house, they will naturally be interested in it just after returning to the house. This is a way to win over people's hearts, but it is just a token of appreciation, and they will all be rewarded with half a month's silver.