The housekeeper bowed slightly and led Luo Jiang to a courtyard.
There is still a corridor connected to it, with a few green bamboos. When you enter, you can see the gravel path and banana plants. When a maid saw him coming, she greeted him with a smile and timidly bowed: "Ms. Luo."
"Ms. Luo, although this courtyard is smaller, the environment is quiet and the rooms inside are always cleaned. They are very clean and you can move in directly."
"A maid will do the cleaning in the courtyard every day. Clothes need to be washed, and someone will come to collect them every three days. Whether you are hungry, go to the stove to fetch food, or have other things to do, you can ask the maid to do it."
"At the end of the month, there should be next month's monthly payment. Your monthly payment for this month is already in it." After everything was explained, the housekeeper left the maid to serve him and left.
Luo Jiang walked around the yard and looked at a piece of silver on the table. It was not big, but the background was white and deep, and it looked like official silver with nine or eight colors.
"It's five taels of silver. My treatment is pretty good!"
Luo Jiang blinked. Many people always think that the palace spends money like water. In fact, according to regulations, the queen's monthly payment is only 100 taels of silver, the imperial concubine's 70 taels, the imperial concubine's 60 taels, the concubine's 30 taels, and the concubine's 15 taels.
The salary for a duke-level wife is usually 20 taels per month, for the legitimate son and wife, 10 taels, and for the young prince and young lady, 3 taels per month.
This is indeed very polite. After all, food, clothing, accommodation and transportation are free of charge and all-inclusive.
Seeing Cuizhu, a maid who was about the same age as him, Luo Jiang asked casually: "How long have you been in the house?"
The maid responded: "Miss Luo, I am the master who has entered the house after being granted the title of Marquis."
"That didn't take long."
But when I think about it, Dai Guogong has a weak foundation and has only been in the capital for more than a year.
The maid smiled: "Although I came late, these days are the happiest times I have ever lived. Here, I have enough food and warm clothes. The master and his wife are kind. As long as you do good things, you can live a good life."
"Really?" Luo Jiang listened casually and didn't care.
She entered the house and found that the three main rooms, including the hall, bedroom, and a room that could be used as a tea room or study room, were all properly decorated.
On the first day of my stay, some respectable maids who lived nearby came to help tidy up the bed linens and clothes. These women all seemed very enthusiastic, but when they talked, they almost never left the conversation about how good the Duke and his wife were.
Luo Jiang listened with his left ear and went out with his right ear, just thinking.
"The Duke Dai is looking for someone who was an old friend of the crown prince. Not to mention the friendship, he also has some background. He is not a completely vulgar village man or woman, but he has been promoted from the mud and has a lot of loyalty."
After these women were sent away, the maid living in the yard also fell asleep. She blew out the lights in her room, and the room suddenly fell into darkness.
To outsiders, this means that Luo Jiang has fallen asleep.
After a long time, the window opened. She was dressed in dark clothes, which almost blended into the night. She walked out and sneaked into the main courtyard. She hung upside down outside the window, broke the window paper, and looked at the people inside.
"Strange, why hasn't my husband come back yet?"
Under the light, a beautiful girl was flipping through the chess records and looking at it. She became a little impatient and raised her head to look outside.
"Qiu Ming, go to the front and see if the master is tripped up by anything." After shouting, a maid in a pink dress came in and the girl ordered.
The maid responded and went out, completely unaware that a figure landed silently behind her.
Qiu Ming also met a few servants along the way, and after questioning them, she walked to a courtyard. Judging from the layout, it looked like the residence of the staff.
Luo Jiang followed behind, hiding her figure. At this time, she saw Duke Dai Guo who was talking to someone in the yard.
Her ears moved, and she heard Dai Guogong standing talking to a man with his back to her. His voice was not loud. It was not that she was an expert, and she was deliberately using her inner strength to listen, so she probably couldn't hear clearly.
"Lord, there are rules for the five hundred acres of the farm. The rent is half a stone per acre, so you can get two hundred and fifty stones."
"This can't be exchanged for money, it just means that you don't have to buy food in the house."
"The situation of the restaurant is quite stable, but it is not as good as expected. The cost is very high. Overall, it can earn 1,200 taels of silver per month and a net income of 15,000 taels a year. The household expenses are not included.
…”
"Where is the bulk of the expenditure?" Dai Guogong asked a little hesitantly: "Isn't it predicted to be 25,000 taels?"
The girl also knew some details before she came. The Imperial City Secretary also estimated this number, so she also listened carefully.
"Lord, transporting live seafood costs a lot, and even though we are the Duke's Mansion, our foundation is still shallow, many joints have not been opened up, and we are not completely convinced. The expenses here are not small..."
The maid went over to talk, and Duke Dai said, "We'll discuss it later," and followed her out to the main courtyard.
"Fifteen thousand taels?" After hearing this, the girl remembered the number in her heart, then retreated and quietly returned to her room.
In the darkness, in the grass, two pairs of fox eyes also saw her whereabouts, and chirped proudly, everything was under the control of the fox.
The big and small foxes ran into the study room, and there was another burst of chirping, plus the words pointed by their paws. Su Ziji quickly understood the process.
"So that's it."
Su Ziji pondered for a moment. The last wave of things was basically over, so it was time for the next batch.
For the emperor, losing three counties was only a trivial matter, while colluding with the generals of the Imperial Guard was an important matter, but it was not necessarily a fatal matter.
"Dragon has reverse scales, which will kill you if you touch it. The most important thing now is immortality, which is the Great Returning Pill."
"I want to see if it's okay for the Great Return Pill."
Su Ziji smiled and took out three ingots. This was probably the smallest format, five taels per piece, and several slips of paper. These slips of paper were very simple, with just a few words written on them. The top one said "blood"
Gui".
I gained knowledge that day at Huo Wuyou. Although I didn't get the formula for the Great Return Pill, I still got a few fragmentary names of the medicine. It was impossible to make the pill, but it was more than enough to frame him.
"Here, I'll give you another task. Send the money and note to the designated person."
Lee Kee Silk Shop
It is one of the largest clothing stores in the capital. The clerks who greet guests are all well-spoken and handsome, making people feel friendly. The shopkeeper is fair and fair, with a slightly chubby figure, as if he was born with it.
He could only smile and speak pleasantly. Not only did the stewards of high-ranking officials think that he was a good man, but even some of the respectable eunuchs who often came to the palace were familiar with the shopkeeper.
Night has enveloped the capital, because it is already lunch time, and there are many people walking on the street, either in groups looking for restaurants, or in a hurry, having just returned home from work.
"Ouch! Isn't this Eunuch Zhang? Please come in quickly!" The Yingke Buzhuang clerk had sharp eyes and immediately recognized the person coming out of a stopped oxcart. He nodded and bowed to let him in, and greeted the person inside.
In the house, I poured tea and served snacks, and I couldn't be more polite.
"Okay, we are just here to take a look at the newly arrived silks. Since your boss has just gone out, we will wait a moment while you go down first." The young eunuch's voice was high-pitched, as if he didn't want anyone to serve him in front of him.
, waving people to leave first.
When he was the only one left in the room, the eunuch took out the documents he had just obtained and started reading them.