Chapter 128 – Qing Transmigration Tale (37)
Lin Yu Tong packed luggage for Si Ye while still being surprised. Si Ye had guessed the thoughts of the emperor. So, after doing what he should do, he stopped moving. He was not shocked about the imperial edict’s contents about handing the rest of the matter over to Eighth Prince. It seemed to be within his predictions.
“Ye will likely be away for a long time. If you have no matters, do not go out. If you can avoid meeting people, it is best not to meet them. Ye has sent people to bring Hong Hui and Hong Yun back. They are half-grown children. Have them taking care of some matters outside is more convenient than you doing it. The capital will be very messy in the next while and have them learn from Mister Wu at home,” Si Ye told her in detail.
Lin Yu Tong nodded. “How long is long, what clothing to bring?”
“Right now, it is spring. Likely autumn,” Si Ye casually said.
“Half a year?” Lin Yu Tong said in shock. It was such a long time. “Outside the passes, it will be very cold in the morning and evenings after entering the ninth month. If you cannot take clothing along, I will send people with more.”
The tone was very wan. She was very reluctant to part with him.
Just as she was packing, she heard a fuss outside. Lin Yu Tong paused. “What is happening? Go out and ask.”
A short while later, Granny Yuan came in with a bad expression, “It is Niohuru-gege along with the other gege. They have come to say good-bye to Ye.”
Dang! They wanted to go along to serve.
Lin Yu Tong glanced at Si Ye and then did not speak. She did not say to invite them in, or to refuse them entry.
Si Ye saw Lin Yu Tong like this. Her expression had clearly dropped. In the past, she could pretend to be generous. Now, she did not even want to pretend.
He sighed and said, “Call them in.”
Lin Yu Tong heard, flipped the curtain and went in.
Si Ye got up to follow and whispered, “Ye is not saying for them to serve, but we have to put in appearances. If this continues, even if Ye does not say anything, in the future, it will be other people who will speak.”
Then he pulled Lin Yu Tong to sit on his leg. “You take care of the matters outside, and know to be smooth. But why are you so hard on this matter?”
Just now, Lin Yu Tong had just been testing him, and had not expected him to say such a thing. She could not help but think differently.
Si Ye saw that she had listened and said, “People, regardless of gender, cannot have free time. If they have free time, they will cause trouble. Do you understand?”
Lin Yu Tong nodded and laughed softly, her expression a bit embarrassed.
When the two of them went out, other than Li-shi, everyone was here.
Lin Yu Tong thought, Li-shi was obedient now. She had children, and more to care about. If she was not outrageous, Li-shi would not challenge. Fighting for favor was not something in Li-shi‘s considerations right now. Based on eldest gege Moyaqi’s age, she was soon going to become a mother-in-law. Based on the thinking of women right now, if they were grandmothers and were still having relations with men, they did not respect themselves. So, in this situation when her two sons were healthy and she was not very young, Li-shi would not compete.
Song-shi was just a mere gege right now. She was older than Si Ye to start with, and right now, she looked even more older. At this time, coming with these young gege was a bit obtuse of her.
Niohuru-shi‘s appearance really just was a bit delicate. She looked very honest. But Lin Yu Tong did not dare to underestimate her. The final winners were never simple people.
These gege had finally reached a perfect age. Geng-shi and Wu-shi looked much better than Niohuru-shi.
Lin Yu Tong raised her eyebrows and looked at the beautifully dressed women. She gave a small smile.
These women bowed and then dared to look up at Lin Yu Tong. While they lived in fact same residence, it had truly been a few years since they saw the face of the princess consort. They had not expected that after these years, and Princess Consort having another son, her face was younger than in the past. They thought that they were very young, but looking at Princess Consort now, they bowed their head slightly.
Si Ye did not waste words and just said, “Princess Consort is not in good health. You will have to share in the burden for the inner courtyard. Wu-shi, Geng-shi, you are obedient people. The princess consort will have the granny send duties for you. Song-shi, you have not been in good health all this time, you will not be troubled. Just copy a few pages everyday, counts as prayer for…… In the future, they will reincarnate into good families. Go.”
Wu-shi and Geng-shi‘s eyes lit up. They had not expected such a good thing.
Song-shi‘s eyes turned red. She had not expected Ye to still think of the two short lived children. It was good. Praying for them was paying for her own sins.
Only Niohuru-shi had not been mentioned. This was a slap in the face. She wanted to find a crack in the ground to hide in. Clearly, Ye was not happy with her coming here today. She did not dare to say anything extra.
After they left, Si Ye said, “The main courtyard and Li-shi‘s courtyard will belong to the front courtyard, and these matters have nothing to do with them.”
In reality, the so-called inner courtyard was just the matters of the gege after Si Ye did this. He used these things to split these people into different classes, and have them fight.
If they were busy, they did not have the time to make trouble.
Lin Yu Tong felt that Si Ye’s division of people was very simple and crude: people who had children, and people who had not. The difference in treatment was drastically different. Not mentioning Li-shi, just Song-shi‘s treatment was different from the others.
He first thought of women as tools for passing down legacy, before speaking of anything else.
From beginning to end, Lin Yu Tong did not say a word.
Si Ye saw them leave and then said, “As a servant, they all want to get something from their masters. If not money, it is power, or being valued. If it is women, they want favor. Regardless of the kind, you have to be able to give it to them, and then they will listen.”
Because they were not given favor, and the inner courtyard was calm and stable with all their necessities supplied, even money had lost their original use because they could not leave the home to spend. So, he could only give them some power that did not affect the overall situation for them to fight over and avoid them making trouble.
Lin Yu Tong saw from this how to control people. Right now, Si Ye’s methods had grown more and more skillful.
At night, Lin Yu Tong was very enthusiastic and repaid Si Ye. The next morning, she rubbed her waist as she saw off this smug person. At noon, she waited for the two children to return to the establishment, and then she shut the establishment gates. If there were no matters, she would not even open the side doors. The purchasers only went through the corner gates. The alley outside was filled with people, all of them coming to find Eighth Prince next door.
At this time, Eighth Prince had returned from seeing Si Ye and Thirteenth Prince. He saw the moving crowd and hurriedly said, “Go through the back gate, the back gate.”
The front gates were blocked. These people had come to block his gates. How could he not feel fear?
He Zhuo welcomed him in and hurriedly said, “Ye, what to do? They have all come with gifts, begging for a delay in the deadline. On the surface, Si Ye took care of the most difficult. If Ye does not truly work on the rest, the emperor will likely not permit it. The reprimand is not very important, but this may affect our great matter. It would not be good.”
Eighth Print and He Zhuo went into the study. He sat down and said, “Ye knows this. They have to repay the silver. But how they will repay can be discussed. The saying goes that a cent will pose a difficulty to a hero. Silver, if you do not have it, you do not have it and cannot magic it out of the air. They can all do their best, and repay as much as they can. If it is calculated together, it will be a considerable sum. It will solve the burning problem for the court. We will have finished this task. It will be up to the emperor who he gives the task to work on next. In any case, we cannot offend these people greatly.”
He Zhuo frowned slightly. This made sense. Gathering the small sums into more. There were many people who owed. Even if each person only repaid a few tenths, when added together, it is not a small sum.
However, it would destroy the intimidation that Si Ye had left behind. Originally, they all thought that they had to repay. But in the end, they would discover that the one who said that people had to repay was Si Ye, and Eighth Prince did not have such intentions.
But after that, did Eighth Prince want to solve the problem? Or to trip up Si Ye?
He Zhuo did not know.
When Lin Yu Tong learned what Eighth Prince had done, it was early summer, and the strawberries in the greenhouse were grown.
She smiled as she looked at Hong Hui who looked furious in front of her. She pushed over a cup of fruit juice. “Cool your anger first.”
The child would send his subordinate Fu Chi to go each day when the purchases were being made to ask about the news. Lin Yu Tong had never stopped him. He was furious because he heard everyone praise Eighth Prince for being so considerate.
Hong Hui held the fruit juice and drained it all. He frowned and said, “Does this not contrast against A-ma shown as unreasonable? Eighth Uncle is very inconsiderate in his actions.”
Lin Yu Tong smiled and said, “When you pay the piper, you call the song. They benefited so much from your Eighth Uncle, is it not human nature to say a few good things that does not cost any effort?” She patted his shoulder and said, “This is like how you manage your servants. If you just care about how they feel, if you, as the master, lower yourself to their level, and compromise without reason, giving your silver to the servants just so they praise you, is such a master a competent one?”
Hong Hui frowned. “As a master, one should give both favor and authority, and clearly reward and punish.”
“You understand this, will the emperor not understand?” Lin Yu Tong smiled and said, “Even if the entire court praises your eighth uncle, so what? He uses the silver of the treasury to buy the hearts of people for himself. This is a taboo to start with. The praises likely have blinded his eyes.”
Hong Hui seemed to understand. “Eighth Prince appears to be kind. But the reputation of being unkind has not just been pushed to A-ma, and also the emperor……”
Lin Yu Tong finally showed an expression of the child could be taught. This was all because of Si Ye’s teaching. Otherwise, she and Hong Hui would not be able to talk about this.
Hong Hui sighed in admiration. “…… Eighth Prince is too daring.”
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