The imperial court wants to reduce expenses, and the palace must also be prudent.
The Queen Mother devoted herself to practicing Buddhism, so she naturally disliked extravagance and waste. As the eldest princess, Zhu Weizhen had been in charge of the accounts of the palace and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so she would definitely have to do it herself when it came to cutting expenses.
Zhu Weizhen once asked Xu Zhihuai that if she wanted to interfere with the affairs of the palace, he could escape unscathed.
Naturally, Xu Zhihuai would not be greedy for this. He only said that it was safest for the eldest princess to control all major and minor matters in the palace. She was not good at housekeeping, let alone calculating money.
She doesn't have much savings, but it's enough for her. In addition, she doesn't have a natal family or relatives to win over and take care of, so she doesn't have to rush to fight for power and make the eldest princess upset.
The palace had to cut expenses. Because Xu Zhihuai monopolized favors, the empty palace did not need so many manpower, so half of the palace maids had to be released.
They entered the palace with a life-and-death contract.
After the age of twenty-five, palace maids can choose to stay or leave. Most of them are looking forward to getting married. Now that they can leave early, it is not a disadvantage.
In contrast, those inner eunuchs who had been purified were in a miserable situation. They worked as errands in the palace. Although they had a lot of money every month, they also had many places to spend their money. Every now and then, he gambled money or fawned over his superiors, and lost a few taels of silver without saying a word. If you don’t save any money and you are useless, how can you make a living when you go out? Therefore, before the list came down, people's hearts were in confusion.
At first, everyone was just worried and talking behind their backs, but then it became more and more intense. Unable to withstand the instigation of interested people, some palace maids who had gained ranks secretly started a business of "pulling people's heads."
If you want to stay in the palace and continue to serve as an errand, you have to "buy heads."
One head, ten taels of silver.
Some people couldn't get the money, so they had to find ways to collect it. If they couldn't get it, they would borrow it. If they couldn't borrow it, they would steal it. Some people dared to steal it into the palace of the Queen Mother.
Those who bought and sold, those who borrowed and those who stole, it was a mess inside and out.
Zhu Weizhen was so angry that he handed over all those who started to cause trouble and defraud money to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to be beaten to death.
However, every time there is a lull, there are always people who are fooled.
Zhu Weizhen would not let them go, so he dealt with all those who collected money and gave away money.
Eunuch Cui from the Ministry of Internal Affairs interceded with Xu Zhihuai more than once: "Mother, those monkey cubs under my servant were all confused for a moment, and they were also deceived. Her Royal Highness, the eldest princess, wants to drive all those bastards out...for twenty How many people are there? Madam, this old slave is getting older. With so many people missing all of a sudden, it will be difficult to handle the errands of the Ministry of Internal Affairs."
Xu Zhihuai heard the implication of his words and said calmly: "Eunuch Cui, you are an old man in the palace. Logically speaking, you should not come to me to ask for help. I don't care about things. It makes no sense to go to the eldest princess now. "
"This... what should I do, old slave?"
"Eunuch Cui, the eldest princess is regulating the atmosphere in the palace for the benefit of everyone. The people under you have all made mistakes. If you make mistakes, you will be punished. Otherwise, what is the use of rules? It's not that I don't want to help you, it's just that right now There is a shortage of money in the palace. It is unjustifiable to raise dozens of disobedient idlers after clearly losing hundreds of taels of silver."
Eunuch Cui heard something and hurriedly lowered his head and said: "Mother, I do have some savings, but it's not enough to fill such a big hole."
Xu Zhihuai smiled: "I didn't ask my father-in-law to fill it in. Why don't you make a list?"
"What list?"
"Of course it's the slaves who line their own pockets."
In the past, when Xu Zhihuai was still with Wei Li, he knew that some eunuchs in the palace were so rich that they not only bought houses and land in their hometowns, but also kept concubines and concubines in villages and towns on the outskirts of the city.
Xu Zhihuai didn't believe that Eunuch Cui didn't know, so he took this opportunity to ask him to show his loyalty.
Eunuch Cui looked troubled.
If he files a lawsuit against others, they will not forgive him.
"So hesitant? Eunuch Cui won't have any reason to be caught, right?"
Eunuch Cui turned pale with fright and hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed: "Mother, my servant was just confused for a moment."
“It’s not too late to know your mistakes and correct them.”
Two days later, Eunuch Cui personally sent a list with dense writing on it.
Xu Zhihuai glanced at it hastily and immediately gave the list to Zhu Weizhen.
"Your Highness Princess, you know better than me how many of them are old people in the palace. For an eunuch to buy a house in the suburbs and marry a concubine, it costs at least dozens of taels of silver. One person has dozens of taels, and ten people can do it. A few hundred taels.”
Zhu Weizhen was slightly surprised: "How did you think of this?"
Xu Zhihuai said calmly: "All that oil and water is the palace's money. They can't just let it go to waste."
Zhu Weizhen pressed the list with one hand, looked at her and said, "You are interested."
Xu Zhihuai asked again: "Your Highness, how much shortfall does the palace still have?"
"With your list, life in the palace will not be difficult. It's just that the victims outside are suffering. They are all eagerly waiting for relief from the court."
Xu Zhihuai lowered his eyes helplessly and heard her say again: "And Wei Li, he has been out for almost half a year..."
As soon as he heard Wei Li's name, Xu Zhihuai's breathing became heavier and his face remained expressionless.
Zhu Weizhen realized later: "I didn't mean to tell you, so don't worry about it."
"Zhihuai understands that money is a big deal."
Zhu Weizhen let out a long breath: "Some people are extremely evil, but also extremely useful. Whenever we are in such a desperate situation, the person the Emperor trusts most is Wei Li."
Xu Zhihuai smiled silently.
…
Under the poisonous sun, the flowers in the yard wilted.
Everywhere is dull.
Zhu Qingruo was greedy for coolness and pestered Jinhua to go play in the lotus pond. When Jinhua refused, she cried until she was out of breath. She was so frightened that Jinhua could only soften her heart.
If Zhu Qing is not good at water, he can only play with pebbles digging in shallow ponds.
After playing with it, she felt it was boring. She looked at the lotus blooming in the middle of the lotus pond, pointed her hand and said: "I want that!"
After hearing this, Xiao Yi and Qin Mu looked towards the center of the lotus pond.
Xiao Yi knew that this was an opportunity to express himself, so he stepped forward and saluted, "Your Highness, please wait a moment."
As he spoke, he took off his shoes and socks, straight into the water.
The lotus pond was deep and he quickly started swimming.
Qin Mu frowned and listened to Zhu Qingruo's sweet voice and asked, "Why don't you follow?"
"Yes, the untouchable will go now."
Qin Mu was different from Xiao Yi. He rolled up his trousers and walked a few steps by the pool. He stepped on the mud beside the pool with his bare feet. Then he went back to the forest to find a few strong branches and tied them together to make a Something that looks like a walking stick.
Xiao Yi was the first to pick the lotus and return. Just when he was feeling proud, he found that he was dripping with mud and had to pull out his feet every step he took, which was extremely laborious.
He gritted his teeth and tried to go faster, but the harder he stepped, the deeper he sank into the ground, and he quickly lost his balance.
While he was flopping around in the muddy water, Qin Mu had already brought back the lotus that Her Royal Highness liked.
