Fu Qingchu stayed up all night and got up early the next day. After breakfast, Li Ping personally came to pick her up to meet her colleagues.
While she was chatting with everyone, she suddenly heard a female voice shouting: "Su Si's daughter-in-law has arrived."
After hearing this, everyone hurriedly stood up and saluted Su Junruo.
Today, all the female officials in the Jingchao Palace come from aristocratic families. The reason for this is that Emperor Taizong wanted to marry his daughter to the Su family, but the Su family declined.
After Emperor Yuanhe, who is now the Holy Emperor, came to the throne, he ordered the daughters of prominent families to serve as female officials in the palace on the pretext of educating the palace ladies. The original intention was to suppress the morale of these aristocratic families, but instead of realizing this, he used this kind of clinging to the palace. The style was brought from the private court to the harem.
Fu Qingchu was raised in a boudoir before, so he didn't have much experience with it, but he finally saw it today.
"Everyone, please excuse yourself." Su Junruo looked at everyone with a smile, then returned the salute to the female officer of her level.
"Fu Sigui," Su Junruo looked at Fu Qingchu and walked over with a smile, "We met in a hurry last night and didn't have time to talk. It's rare that Your Highness didn't ask me to follow you to the Chongwen Pavilion today, so I have time to come over." She pulled Fu Qingchu's hand. Shou smiled and said, "You and Chen Zhangzhu already know each other, right?"
Zhang Zheng, one of the female officials among the three palms of Si Gui.
Fu Qingchu said with a smile that he had seen her before, and Su Junruo turned to the female officials and said, "Fu Sigui is here for the first time. Please ask all the sisters in each department to help me in the future."
Everyone in the three departments said yes. Su Junruo nodded with satisfaction, then turned to Fu Qingchu with a smile and said, "If you don't understand anything, just ask me. Although I am not often in the department, I am still in charge of all matters." . But I have to go back and wait for His Highness to return to the palace, so I won’t accompany you there."
"You're busy."
Fu Qingchu smiled and nodded to say goodbye to Su Junruo. He felt in his heart that Su Junruo was worthy of being a girl from a wealthy family, and she was really impeccable in her work. Today, she just came for a hurried meeting according to etiquette, and she was able to show her status in front of the prince and in the three divisions to him in an understatement.
Although doing this was a bit intimidating, Fu Qingchu felt that it was a good idea because he had a general idea of her temper, which would make it easier to get along with her in the future.
After everyone got to know each other, Si Gui and others took Fu Qingchu to the place where he usually worked as an official - Changchun Hall.
"These are the documents that come in and out on weekdays. I would like to ask Fu Sigui to check them." The master in charge, Chen Liru, led the palace maid to bring more than a dozen volumes of documents and put them on the desk.
Fu Qingchu took a look and said with a smile: "Thank you very much, Chen Zhangzheng. Just now I heard Zhangzheng say that our chief minister is in charge of the name list of the palace people. Is this list with my sister?"
"The name list has always been managed by Su Sigui. If Fu Sigui wants to check it, just ask Su Sigui." Chen Liru said with a smile.
Fu Qingchu smiled and said, "Thank you."
Seeing that nothing happened, Chen Li stepped aside. Li Hui, the bookkeeper, came forward with a few books of accounts and said harmoniously: "This is the catalog of the inner palace's books. Please take a look at it."
Lu Man took the booklet and handed it to Fu Qingchu. She flipped through it and saw an only copy that could not be found on the market for a long time. She couldn't help but smile. She would be blessed in the future.
"In addition to the collection of books, His Highness also placed calligraphy and paintings and other items in the library. After the catalog of the collection of books, there is a catalog of the collection of paintings and calligraphy."
Fu Qingchu flipped through the catalog and nodded. He looked up and saw Wu Yingchun, the hostess, stepping forward and saying, "This is the account of bed prayers, table tables, paving and other items. Please take a look at it."
Fu Qingchu also flipped through it casually, and said to everyone with a smile: "I have just arrived in the early days of the Qing Dynasty. I will need your help in many places in the future. I have worked hard today to send the documents and accounts here. After Qing Chu has read them, they will be returned. Sisters, please come back first."
After hearing this, everyone said yes in unison, bowed and left.
Fu Qingchu looked at the mountains of documents and accounts and couldn't help but sigh. It would take a lot of time to read and check all these things.
When she was about to start with the paperwork, word came outside that Eunuch Li had arrived. She hurriedly stood up and saw Li Ping walking in. He saluted her and said with a smile: "His Highness asked the servant to bring the palace regulations to Si Gui, so that it will be convenient for Si Gui to do things in the future."
Fu Qingchu returned the gift, took the book, and said to Li Ping with a smile: "Thank you very much, my father-in-law for this trip. Please also ask my father-in-law to send my greetings to His Highness on behalf of Qingchu."
Li Ping nodded and said yes, looked at the booklet and said to Fu Qingchu: "His Highness also said that he was off on a mission today and asked Si Gui to go to Mingde Hall to reply."
"yes."
"I'll take my leave first."
"Father-in-law, walk slowly."
After seeing Li Ping off, Fu Qingchu looked at the palace regulations in his hand and couldn't help but think of Situ Ce.
She had heard her father talk about the prince before, saying that he was aloof and self-absorbed, and his eyes were dusty. But now it seems that the prince is so innocent. It's clearly too benevolent and virtuous.
Is he really afraid of becoming the next Liu Zhi?
She looked back at the documents and accounts on the desk. Since he was afraid of becoming the next evidence, she could only let her confidant die.
…
The documents in the inner palace were nothing more than some requests for instructions and approvals, letters and notes, plus the palace rules sent by the prince. In less than half a day, Fu Qingchu had a general understanding of the affairs of the inner palace.
She rubbed her sore neck and was about to drink a cup of tea when Green Man came in and said it was time for lunch. She said "Hello" and went to have dinner with Lu Man.
When Fu Qingchu arrived, many people had already arrived. She roughly counted about forty or fifty people. When everyone saw her coming, they hurriedly saluted and said hello.
"You don't have to be polite, please take a seat." She smiled and said, "Chen Zhangzheng, are all the sisters in our department here?"
"There are a few who are sick and have asked for leave, and some have been transferred elsewhere, but they are not all here yet," Chen Liru said.
Fu Qingchu nodded, "How many people are there in total?"
"There are seventy-seven people in total, and a total of forty-seven people have arrived today."
"So many external transfers?" Fu Qingchu asked curiously.
Chen Liru glanced at Li Hui. Li Hui saw that she had a troubled look on her face, and smiled and said to Fu Qingchu: "There are many books in the library. We must guard against snakes, insects, rats, and ants, and we must also be careful about candles, drying books, and collecting books. We are short of manpower." It's too busy, so there are naturally more people. But now that the season has changed, Si Ze's tailors are short of manpower for washing, so they transferred some people."
Fu Qingchu nodded thoughtfully and was about to ask other questions when the maid who served the food said that all the dishes had been served, so she had to stop talking and eat separately.
"I have roughly read the document. Please ask Chen Zhangzheng to take the document back." After dinner, Fu Qingchu said to Chen Liru, "If you have time in the afternoon, please ask Li Zhangshu to take me to the library to have a look."
Hearing this, Li Hui was a little hesitant, "The library was cleaned today and it was full of dust. I'm afraid it might be inconvenient if Si Gui goes there."
"It's okay, I'm just familiar with the road today."
Seeing that Fu Qingchu insisted on the request, Li Hui couldn't put it off anymore, so she had to stand up with a smile and said: "Si Gui, please come this way."
…
The Cangshu Pavilion has a total collection of more than 30,000 books. Although it is far inferior to the Hongwen Pavilion and Chongwen Pavilion, it is still a lot for a harem.
When Fu Qing first arrived, the library seemed to have been cleaned, and there was only a little maid on duty waiting for others to replace her shift.
Li Hui led Fu Qingchu into the library and introduced their daily work to Fu Qingchu one by one. "In addition to managing the collection of books and calligraphy and paintings, we also take care of the paper and pens that are usually needed after the Neifang Bureau sends them."
Fu Qingchu listened one by one, and couldn't help but feel a little sad when he looked at the "Qi Lun" and "Four Family Poems" on the bookshelf.
"On Qi", "Poems of Qi" and "Poetry of Lu" have been lost for hundreds of years. Her brother once said that he had helped her find "Three Ons" and "Four Poems". He said that he would go back home and get the money to buy them, but he didn't wait for the book. When I got it back, something happened at home.
She reached out and picked up a book of "Lu Shi", but as soon as she opened it, she couldn't help but frown. What kind of Lu Shi was there? It's clearly an ordinary version full of errors, without even annotations. She flipped back and found that some words were so blurry that they could not be recognized. She reluctantly opened the other books, and suddenly she saw colorful illustrations inside. When she took a closer look, she blushed with embarrassment and closed the book abruptly.
How had she, a little girl who had not yet left the court, seen such a lively picture?
She turned to look at Li Hui, frowned and said: "These books..."
"Some books were bought from outside. They were blind and didn't read them carefully, so they brought them in at random." Li Hui hurriedly explained, "It's been so long now that I don't know who bought them."
When Fu Qingchu heard this, his brows furrowed deeper. He looked at the paper, which was not old. How old was it?
She raised her eyes and looked at Li Hui and said solemnly: "This kind of thing should be removed as soon as possible. If His Highness sees it, you and I will have to peel off our skin unless we die."
"Yes, yes," Li Hui hurriedly said to the palace maid behind her, "Why don't you come and take these things away quickly?"
"No need," Fu Qingchu said, "You are busy, I will take this book away."
Hearing this, Li Hui couldn't help but panic, and hurriedly tried to dissuade her: "The lady in charge may not know something. The books in the library cannot be taken out of the house at will. Even if this thing is disgraceful and wants to be destroyed, I have to ask His Highness for permission."
"Oh, that's it." Fu Qingchu thought for a while, "Just record it truthfully that I took this book away, and I will ask His Highness for instructions. Luman, collect these books."
"Si Gui——" Li Hui's tone was a little anxious, "What you did is indeed against the rules. Even if you want to take it away, you have to ask Su Si Gui for permission. Except for His Highness and Su Si Gui, no one else has the books in the library." You cannot take them away at will.”
Hearing this, Fu Qingchu couldn't help but smile. Although she had just arrived, she was at the same level as Su Junruo. How could she take away several books and ask Su Junruo for instructions? Use Su Junruo's fame to scare her?
"What did the bookmaster call me just now?" Fu Qingchu asked with a smile.
Li Hui looked at her inexplicably, "Si Gui..."
"Who do I need to ask for instructions?"
Hearing this, Li Huifang realized that she had made a mistake, and hurriedly knelt down and said: "I made a mistake, and I beg Si Gui to forgive me. But this book... If Si Gui takes it away today, Your Highness will definitely punish the official for a crime of negligence. I beg Si Gui to put down his official position." Find a way out with all the sisters!"
As soon as Li Hui knelt down, others also knelt down and said in unison: "I beg you, Si Gui, to release this slave and wait for a way out!"
Fu Qingchu frowned and looked at the people kneeling in front of her, and suddenly felt that the prince did not simply ask him to take charge of his books.
She smiled, bent down to help Li Hui up, and said harmoniously: "The person who bought this book was negligent. Although it has something to do with Zhang Shu, it is not very important. His Highness is generous and kind, and he will not unjustly accuse Zhang Shu."
Hearing this, Li Hui looked at her in shock, Prince? Merciful?
