Chapter 63: Reputation and Benefits

  Shu Yao followed Gua Erjia everywhere, not lazy or sleepy, like a little tail. Wherever Gua Erjia went, Shu Yao would follow. If Gua Erjia didn't allow her to follow, Shu Yao wouldn't cry or make a fuss, but would hang her head and follow anyway. Gua Erjia was worn down by Shu Yao's persistence and took her everywhere.

  Gua Erjia thought that although Shu Yao was young, she should still learn how to manage the household and control the situation in case things didn't go as planned. So, Gua Erjia began to teach Shu Yao how to be a virtuous wife, slowly instructing her on what to do.

  Being a virtuous wife doesn't mean not eating vinegar or being jealous. This is something Shu Yao can definitely do. Although it's said that women mostly stay in the inner courtyard, it's not just about competing for favor. If Shu Yao has the ability to compete with other women for favor, Guwalgiya would be ashamed to death. When her husband is not around, a wife can hold up the household and assist her husband from the outside... Guwalgiya looked at Shu Yao, this point is clear, she will also be too lazy to do it.

  "Madam, the total grain is one hundred dan, equivalent to...". Mr. Zhang's abacus was clicking away, while Madame Gua had an account book in her hand, checking each item against two ledgers. Madame Gua was not a person who would be easily deceived, and the accountant dared not try to cheat her.

  Shu Yao opened her bright red small mouth, let out a sigh, and leaned on the kang table, saying casually: "It should be a total of 13,587 taels and 4 mace."

  Mr. Kuai and Mr. Gualjie stopped at the same time, and Mr. Gualjie looked at Shuyao, who had long known that his daughter was very clever, but did not expect to be proficient in arithmetic to such an extent. Mr. Gualjie asked again: "Including the cost of medicine?"

  Shu Yao is very sensitive to numbers, and can remember them after hearing them once. As for reciting a Tang poem silently a hundred times but still not remembering it, Shu Yao isn't unwilling to put in effort. There's a saying that goes like this: when God closes all the doors, He will leave you a window. Shu Yao said lazily, "Adding up the medicinal ingredients, the total is 21,707 taels, no change."

  "Sixth Sister, can you ask how did you calculate it?"

  Mr. Accountant finished the abacus calculation and told Shu Yao that the numbers were accurate to the last digit. Shu Yao gave him a sideways glance, not knowing what to say. Why should Shu Yao teach Mr. Accountant the quick calculation method? Shu Yao had suffered a lot when practicing quick calculation, it wasn't easy as getting something for nothing. After spitting out a long string of numbers, it was just simple addition and subtraction, but with a few more digits. Mr. Accountant subconsciously tapped on the abacus, "Sixth Lady, please slow down, slow down."

  "You can't use an abacus, your brain is faster than your hands. Once you calculate it out, you'll master mental math." Shu Yao wasn't teasing the accountant, she had experienced this kind of test when she was apprenticed in her previous life. Mental math requires diligent practice, but also innate talent; those with good innate talent can achieve twice the result with half the effort.

  Shu Yao's talent lies in science, if she were proficient in both liberal arts and science, God would cry, it's impossible for Shu Yao to have all the good things. Mr. Accountant held his abacus and stared blankly for a long time, Shu Yao looked lazy, "It's 285."

  Mr. Zang was skeptical and asked Shu Yao a string of arithmetic problems, quickly calculating the abacus as he spoke. When he finished speaking, Shu Yao reported the result: "1748."

  Mr. Zang's thorough trust, Shu Yao is not intentionally showing off her quick calculation, but to help Madame Gualjia share her worries. In order not to let the rest of the people in the Duke's Mansion laugh at her, Madame Gualjia has been standing upright all along. Shu Yao feels sorry for her and sees that Madame Gualjia's eyes are dark in the morning, which can only be covered up with makeup. Accounting is one of Shu Yao's strong subjects, so she says: "I'll help Madame look at the account book, you go take a rest."

  Shu Yao didn't show off her skills, first of all, Guajia didn't believe her, and secondly, she couldn't suppress the accountant Mr. Zhang, after all, Shu Yao's age was there, and Mr. Zhang would easily have a condescending attitude, but now it's different, Shu Yao took over the account book, the account book was really too messy, and not like the detailed accounts Shu Yao had seen before, but if you asked Shu Yao to do detailed accounts, she wouldn't be able to, in her previous life, Shu Yao had looked at account books to practice mental math, but Shu Yao was only sensitive to numbers, accounting was a subject that required brain work, and Shu Yao was too lazy for that.

  "Peach, you read."

  Guarjia didn't stop Shuyao, and nodded to Táozi. Táozi held the account book and read out the numbers on it. Shuyao quickly figured them out. Most of the maids by Shuyao's side could recognize characters. Táozi took up her brush to record. The accounting room was originally just for show. It would have taken a whole afternoon to sort out the accounts clearly, but with Shuyao's help, Guarjia finished checking the accounts in more than two hours. The accounts and silver threads were not off by a single thread. Guarjia was satisfied and nodded at the accountant. He had done a good job and hadn't embezzled any silver.

  "Can Sixth Miss teach me?" said Mr. Zang.

  Shu Yao shrugged her shoulders, "You let people casually say the previous set of numbers, without an abacus, with an error within five, and then come find me."

  Xiu Yao seemed to be making things difficult, unwilling to tell the accountant Mr. a way, but he didn't feel any difficulty with Liu Gu Niang's stubbornness at all. The accountant bowed deeply, "Thank you for your guidance, Sixth Miss."

  The accountant is expected to take care of the accounts, and after checking that everything is in order, he asks Madame Gua if he can leave. The master, Zhiruo, is not at home, and although the ladies of the Eight Banners are somewhat more lenient, they still have to be careful; Madame Gua says: "You may go down."

  "Hmm." The accountant went down, he was a fool, looking for someone to practice arithmetic with, and insisted on asking Sixth Sister for the method.

  "Yao'er, who did you learn this trick from?"

  Shu Yao said secretly, "Oh no, how could I forget that Mother is the smartest?" Shu Yao had never left Guwalgiya before and suddenly became quick-witted. How could she explain it to make Guwalgiya believe her? Shu Yao sneaked a peek at Guwalgiya, blinking repeatedly, "Mother, I... somehow just know how, as if I've known since I was aware of things."

  When Shu Yao was brought over, she was only a one-year-old doll. She was raised by Gua Er Jia. Gua Er Jia patted Shu Yao's forehead with a crisp "pa" sound and saw that her daughter's eyes were wet, saying: "You are my daughter, don't I still trust you?"

  Shu Xuan is good at books, Shu Yi likes martial arts, but in the eyes of Gua Erjia, among the three children, Shuyao is the smartest and most talented. However, Shuyao has a fatal flaw - she is too lazy, wasting her talent. But for women, Gua Erjia had to admit that being lazy was not bad, like Empress Wu Zetian, who ruled supreme but may not have been very happy. The happiness of Empress Wu Zetian and ordinary women are different.

  "Since you're capable, I'll let you be in charge of checking the accounts from now on."

  "Eh, mother..." Shu Yao pouted, she had to sacrifice her sleep, it wasn't worth it, Shu Yao reluctantly nodded, letting her mother relax a bit, it was filial piety after all. Shu Yao thought it through, checking the accounts wouldn't take much effort, wasn't it just math? Shu Yao was good at that anyway.

  "Please let Madame know, Old Madame asks you to go to Rongshou Hall."

  "What can be known?"

  Guarjia helped Shuyao tidy up her clothes and asked from behind the curtain: "Are you calling me alone?"

  "Going back to what the second lady said, the first lady, third lady and fourth lady were all there, saying that they would open a facility for porridge sheds to provide relief to disaster victims." The senior servant girl, Ying'er, who was standing in front of Old Lady, clearly explained the cause and effect. Shu Yao saw that Guwalgiya's eyebrows were slightly furrowed, did Mother not agree with opening the facility for porridge sheds? Shu Yao remembered it clearly, at that time when Mother bought grain and medicine at a low price, she had said that both fame and profit were wanted, wasn't opening the facility for porridge sheds for fame?

  The Kangxi Emperor did not expect that the Yellow River's dike would burst again under the repair of Yu Chenglong, and this time it flooded the entire Henan province. The severity of the flood exceeded everyone's expectations. The refugees from Henan had to leave their homes to make a living, and many of them flowed into the capital city. The Kangxi Emperor allocated funds and food for disaster relief. After the flood, the prices of grain, medicine, and other goods would inevitably rise. Buying low and selling high was the only way to make money. In order to gain a reputation for being kind and generous, the noble families in the capital city set up porridge sheds, which also helped to alleviate the Kangxi Emperor's worries. However, with refugees dying of starvation all over the capital city, did the Kangxi Emperor still have the face to mention the "Kangxi Prosperous Era"?

  Guarjia said to the oriole outside the curtain: "You go back first and inform Old Lady, I will spend 500 taels of silver to buy food and set up a porridge shed, it can also be considered as accumulating blessings for Master."

  Aren't you going to Rongshou Hall?

  "I'm in a difficult situation, so I'll have to ask you to handle it as you see fit, madam."

  Guar Jia Shi hinted to Wang Nai Nai to send the silver ticket to Ying Er, and Ying Er knelt down and said: "Slave bids farewell."

  Xiu Yao leaned against Gual Jia Shi, a thread of doubt and curiosity rising in her heart. Five hundred taels was a large sum for others, but not worth mentioning to Gual Jia Shi. "Not curious?" Gual Jia Shi asked.

  Shu Yao nodded, then shook her head trustingly. "Mother is always right." Guwalgiya's lips curled up, and she pulled out a letter from the side table and handed it to Shu Yao. "Take a look, it was written by Book Xuan himself."

  Shu Yao opened the memorial, a memorial without punctuation was really frustrating, it had Big Brother's style all over it, quoting classics and citing precedents, saying Meng Jiao and so on. Shu Yao got a headache from reading it, but after summarizing the thousands of words, it turned out that Gua Erjia had donated 100 dan of grain to Emperor Kangxi. Shu Yao admired Gua Erjia, this was much better than setting up free porridge stalls to win fame and praise among the people, loyal to the emperor, this was a truly loyal act, winning the emperor's favor was also a way to bring benefits to the world. Shu Yao closed the memorial, "Mother, this move is good, but doesn't it have a hint of flattering the emperor? You said there are many smart people in the capital, how come they didn't think of it?"

  It's good to talk around the bend, Shu Yao looked at it for a long time and couldn't figure out Gual Jia's true intention of offering food to Kangxi. On the surface, it was magnificent, but in reality, Kangxi understood it, maintained Kangxi Emperor's face, and made Kangxi understand in his heart. Shu Yao thought that her brother's folded paper was written quite well.

  "It's not that I didn't think of it, but rather I dare not think of it. Ya'er, you should remember that the Emperor is the master of the Qing dynasty. Flattering the Emperor is just right, even if he is as wise and sacred, he would still want people to fear him, it's just that most people flatter his horse instead."

  Guarjia's eyes narrowed, "Submit the memorial in your mother's name. Your mother is currently favored by the Emperor, and after this matter, the Emperor will be even more gracious to her. Ya'er, official positions and titles are all at the mercy of the Emperor's mood. Being favored sometimes is more important than official position. With imperial favor, can't you still worry about being promoted?"

  Shu Yao thoroughly understood that what her mother said about gaining both fame and wealth was indeed a clever calculation. In the past two days, taking advantage of the soaring grain prices, Guwalgiya secretly sold half of their grain, earning a large sum of silver, and then presented the remaining grain to the Emperor. Ama, please come back quickly, Mother has already paved the way for your success.

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