Chapter Twenty-Two Silver

  Yesterday, the emperor's sudden visit became a big deal in the palace. On the way to pay respects to the empress, I don't know how many people's criticisms she suffered. The empress also asked some questions, but Mu Yan seemed not to care about this matter at all. Throughout the whole process, she was smiling and courteous, without any change due to this incident. Naturally, it was impossible for others to find fault with her. It's really something I admire and envy about Mu Yan - treating everything with a calm heart. It sounds simple, but how many people can actually do it?

  After leaving the Empress, I went to the Nei Shi Ju to collect my monthly allowance. Although Wang said that all the big and small matters of the Ling Bo Palace were taken care of by her, when it came to money, Mu Yan still couldn't entrust it to outsiders. Yue Er was busy taking care of Mu Yan's various affairs, so this lucrative job fell into my hands. Who would have thought that being the Emperor's wife would also mean getting to take charge of the silver? This job is really a great deal!

  I followed the directions of the eunuchs and palace maids, combined with my own exceptional sense of direction, and easily found it. The Nei Shi Ju is an important institution within the palace, where all sorts of big and small matters, servant assignments, and living expenses are handled on a daily basis. In short, he's the royal palace's steward, so naturally, one can't afford to offend him lightly.

  As I entered the courtyard, I saw eunuchs of all sizes bustling about. The Imperial Household Department was different from other departments in the palace, such as the Department of Food and Drink, the Department of Works, the Department of Ceremonies, and the Department of Clothing, which were all managed by female officials and served by palace maids. However, at the Imperial Household Department, it was eunuchs who came and went, probably because people in this ancient dynasty did not yet understand the principle that men and women working together would not get tired.

  I looked around, thinking about who to ask for the silver, but all I saw was a busy crowd of people, some moving things, others settling accounts, some scolding subordinates, and others leisurely drinking tea and idling.

  Well, it's probably the one who drinks tea is the boss, otherwise he wouldn't dare to rest so recklessly.

  One of the eunuchs walked over, with a courteous and familiar smile on his face, and said in a soft voice, "Sir, I'm here to collect my monthly allowance. Which one of you is in charge?"

  He put down the teacup in his hand, looked up at me and asked somewhat unpleasantly, "Which palace are you from?"

  What kind of attitude is this? How can such a service attitude stand in the service industry today? I'm here to collect the emperor's silver, not to take his, why do you have an expression like I owe him money.

  However, for the sake of silver, I didn't want to argue with him. I forced a smile and replied, "Lingbo Temple, Zhou Shaoyuan."

  "Oh," he said, not moving from his seat, and blew on the tea leaves in his cup before continuing to drink. After a while, when an old eunuch passed by his side, he spoke again.

  "Men Fuhai, go and give this young lady the silver, at Lingbo Hall, to Zhou Zhaoyuan, don't get it wrong." He was instructing in a sharp and clear voice, but his face showed an expression of not caring.

  Although I detest his face, I endured it and smiled, asking, "Sir Shuai, what should I call you?"

  "Forest." He only replied with one word, as if he was responding to a beggar.

  "Thank you, eunuch." I smiled on my face and replied with my mouth, but in my heart, I was scolding, dead eunuch, wait until the day I rise to power, let's see how you'll be arrogant then.

  I followed the eunuch, walking behind him. As we walked, I suddenly felt that something was off. The eunuch looked very familiar, but I couldn't remember where I had seen him before. If I asked him, "Eunuch, where have we met before?" wouldn't this way of striking up a conversation be considered too cheesy by ancient people?

  I restrained myself from asking, but he spoke first, "Miss, have you been well lately? Are you adapting to life in the palace?"

  "It's okay, just that there's too little food and I'm not full after eating. Does the doorman know me?" I answered truthfully while also asking about my doubts.

  He smiled but didn't speak, merely stretching out his hand to point at the door.

  Door? His surname? What's the relationship between me and Door?

  Oh, I remember now. It was that uncle who helped me solve the palace gate problem that day. What a coincidence! I didn't expect to run into him here. No, no, this is actually his workplace, and it's just my luck that I came to collect the silver. And even more coincidentally, he's surnamed Men, which has such a connection with the palace gate story from that day.

  He saw that I had a look of understanding on my face, and he began to speak, "Miss has remembered, it's really unexpected to meet Miss again today, it seems that everything was predetermined by fate."

  He said this with a mysterious tone, I just smiled foolishly and responded with an "uh-huh".

  The old man took out a small bag full of silver from the cabinet and handed it to me for checking, but I had no concept of this ancient silver, although I had watched many ancient costume dramas before and knew that it was called one ingot of silver, two ingots of silver, but nobody ever said how much an ingot weighed.

  The old man probably saw that something was wrong from my expression, took out a silver ingot from his bag, and then took out several large and small silver ingots from the cabinet, arranging them in front of me from small to large. He pointed at the silver with his hand, placed it on the original scale on the table, and adjusted the weights.

  He looked at me and said, "Girl, take a good look, this smallest one is one liang."

  After finishing speaking, he put different sizes of silver ingots on the scale one by one for me to see.

  "This is two taels, this is three taels, this one is five taels, this one is ten taels, and the largest one is fifty taels." He finished speaking and stuffed the ten-tael silver back into my hand.

  "Oh, I see, thank you for enlightening me, Mr. Door." I gave him a sincere smile.

  I counted the silver in the bag, and it was less than twenty taels in total, what a stingy emperor.

  "No need, in the future when you are in the palace, if there is anything you don't understand, you can come and ask me, Fu Hai." He said with a smile.

  "Haha, I didn't expect to meet someone as kind and gentle as you, Gonggong, in the depths of the palace. I thought everyone here would be as unpleasant as that person at the entrance." I said with a glance at Lin Gonggong who was drinking tea.

  The old eunuch still smiled but didn't respond, only making a "shh" gesture before sending me out of the courtyard. It wasn't until we reached outside that he leaned in close and whispered to my ear, "There are many people inside the palace with loose tongues, Miss. In the future, it's best for you to be cautious with your words and beware of others stirring up trouble."

  "Oh, I know, thank you, Master." I replied with a mouthful of words, bowed to him and then turned around and ran away from this place of right and wrong.

  I'm not unaware that my words and actions have differences, it's just that being told to be cautious with my words and actions all of a sudden is a bit difficult for me, I'll try to change slowly.

  I ran all the way back to Lingbo Hall, seeing that no one was chasing me from behind, but thinking in my heart that I had escaped that place of gossip and scandal. However, within the deep palace, how could the place of gossip and scandal be just the inner eunuch's quarters?

  This sweltering weather, combined with my frantic running, has left me drenched in sweat. I had thought of going back home to drink some water before delivering the silver to Mu Yan, but then I thought about her delicious food and couldn't help but rush to her house instead. Before even entering the door, I started shouting, "Hurry up, hurry up, come out and welcome me! Your sister has brought you silver!"

  Mu Yan unexpectedly ignored me, without any response. Her door was open, I thought she might be taking a nap, but when I rushed in with doubts, what I saw instead was not just Mu Yan inside the room, but also another person... the Emperor?

  I rushed into the house, and they were sitting there drinking tea and chatting. They were startled by my sudden appearance, staring at me with wide eyes. This time I was doomed, unable to advance or retreat. I had no choice but to use my servant's ultimate trick, kowtowing and kneeling down, saying "I deserve to die, I startled the holy presence, I deserve to die..."

  "Is it you again?" the emperor asked.

  "Yes, yes, your servant." I replied as calmly as possible.

  "What's wrong with you?"

  "Imperial Concubine's Bureau, in charge of silver."

  "Oh, are you leading silver or stealing it? Why are you running with a whole body of sweat!"

  "Hmm, the Emperor's problems are indeed many. After some thought, I replied, 'Receiving silver, I have never seen so much silver in my life, and I'm afraid of losing it due to carelessness, so I want to hurry back and report.'"

  "Oh, where is Silver?"

  "In servitude," I pulled out a purse of money from my body and presented it with both hands.

  All I saw was a pair of bright yellow dragon-embroidered boots appear before my eyes, and a hand took the purse away, saying aloud, "Oh, how can there be so little?"

  "What's the matter, isn't this the silver you gave out? You're not satisfied with less, are you trying to frame me for hoarding it privately? I hastily said, 'It's just these, I got them from the Imperial Household Department, I don't dare to hoard, Your Majesty will see clearly.'"

  "Oh, I didn't say you were hoarding, it's just that this is the first time I've seen this monthly allowance, and I'm a bit curious. Look at you, running around in sweat for this little bit of silver. Consider it a reward."

  As I was saying, I felt that there was an extra wallet in my hand. Is this real? I didn't dare to believe it, but since it's been given to me as a monthly allowance by Mu Yan, shouldn't I just take it?

  The emperor saw me hesitate and didn't thank him, and asked in puzzlement, "What's wrong, don't you want the reward I gave you?"

  "No, no, I explained that the slave did not dare, but this month's allowance is Zhao Huan's. Now that the slave has been rewarded, where will Zhao Huan's monthly allowance come from? The slave is foolish and does not dare to accept this silver."

  Oh, how did I dare to say such a thing? I'm really scared to death by my own guts. Will the emperor get angry and kill me because of this? I can almost hear my heartbeat... thud, thud...

  "Raise your head!" The emperor commanded loudly.

  Look up? This emperor is too arrogant, what does looking up have to do with giving silver? But I've heard that the emperor doesn't allow others to look up at him, supposedly because he's afraid of startling the imperial carriage. I've ridiculed this notion before - who knows if it's because some eunuch was too ugly or the emperor has a weak heart, can one glance really startle the imperial carriage?

  "Hmm?" The emperor raised an eyebrow in skepticism and murmured a questioning "hmm".

  It's shocking, but it's his own fault anyway. I slightly raised my head and looked at the middle-aged man in front of me.

  He turned his head and looked at Mu Yan, smiling, "This is the Manya you mentioned, indeed different from ordinary slaves, but why did she see me with such a lack of etiquette."

  You're kidding, right? You're an emperor who can chop people's heads off whenever you're unhappy. Do I dare get close to you?

  Mu Yan's face was quite calm, with a slight smile, and he replied very respectfully, "Probably she is afraid of the emperor's heavenly power."

  "Yes, yes, yes... Every time it comes to a critical moment, I get so nervous that I can't say anything. Oh dear, I'm really useless."

  "I still like to see you happy, yesterday in the courtyard, I heard you and your master joking around, it was quite interesting. But as soon as you saw me, you changed your expression, one after another calling yourselves slaves who deserve to die. Am I really that detestable, can't you treat me with sincerity?"

  The emperor's tone was indeed sincere, but given his status, who would dare treat him with genuine sincerity?

  For a moment, the room was quiet, only the emperor's sighs could be heard, and I, Gradually, didn't even dare to breathe.

  "All right, get up." The emperor said.

  Thank you, Your Majesty. I knocked on the ground and stood up neatly, walked to Mu Yan's side, carefully serving this sincere and expectant emperor.

  The emperor ate a few pastries and drank several cups of tea before leaving.

  The silver was still awarded to me, but afterwards the Nei Shi Ju sent more silver over.

  But after that, the emperor came back almost every day, either early or late, but never stayed overnight, and never turned over the sign of Mu Yan's shop. He just drank tea, ate pastries, and sometimes discussed a few passages of ancient texts with Mu Yan that I couldn't understand.

  It's really incomprehensible why the emperor would be like this.