Surviving in the General's Mansion - Chapter 24: Sorting Things Out

Chapter 24: Sorting Things Out

“The evidence in your hands isn’t enough to convict them.”

In the imperial study, Dongfang Wei looked at the memorial in his hands as he spoke.

That was right-the memorial was the very one that had nearly been flung into the Minister of Revenue’s face. It had been picked up by the young eunuch Sixi.

“If nothing unexpected happens, the evidence will come knocking on its own very soon.

“The Ministry of Revenue’s management has always been a mess. Right now, they still don’t know exactly how much I have on them. We’ll just have to see who loses their nerve and makes the first move.”

Cang Chuli paused.

“But for the Left Prime Minister to actually speak up today… that truly isn’t like him.”

“He painstakingly raised those people up. Now several have fallen one after another. Even if it hasn’t crippled him, it must still hurt.”

Dongfang Wei gave a soft laugh.

“Be careful. When cornered, they’ll inevitably lash out like desperate dogs.”

The bright yellow figure turned and sat down on the couch.

“Ah… I really do want to kill them all.

“Tch. And yet I have to deal with them one by one. What a bother.

“Back then, that old man said that once I inherited the throne, I could do whatever I wanted. Now I even have to rack my brains just to handle a few filthy insects… Truly… unpleasant.”

“Have you been sleeping poorly again lately?” Cang Chuli asked.

“As long as those people aren’t dead! As long as Cheng Zhesong isn’t dead, how am I supposed to face my imperial brother and my mother in my dreams?”

Dongfang Wei pressed a hand to his temple and sighed.

“It has gotten much colder today. I wonder if the northern border will make it through this winter…”

“Before I left, I had already arranged most of what needed arranging. The autumn harvest is nearly over now as well. As long as there is enough grain, there shouldn’t be any major problems.

“After all, the common people are the toughest ones.”

“Yes. The common people are far tougher than we are.” Dongfang Wei lay back, face turned upward.

“At the very least, I have to hold on until they can all stand on their own.”

==========

Xia Heng finished reading the chapter on cultivating chili peppers from Economic Crop Cultivation to the two Zhao Family sisters. Both sisters agreed that the plants had probably been watered a bit too much, so they would stop watering them for the next couple of days and see how it went.

After that, the three of them, along with Qiulin, were called away by Chuqing to help boil water.

Once the weather turned cold, there were many more places that needed hot water.

The General’s Mansion treated its servants generously, allowing them to use hot water in winter.

The servants were sensible about it too. Most of the time, they only boiled some hot water to drink and warm themselves up.

Even so, with the weather so dry lately, the amount they used was not small.

The communal kitchen went through even more hot water, so Xia Heng was assigned there.

A large pot and a small stove were both going. She picked up some ginger ends and scallion whites left over from Chef Xiang’s cooking and tossed them in to simmer. Anyone who came by could have a bowl.

The work was easy. She mainly had to watch the fire and add water, but someone had to stay there at all times.

When Chef Xiang heard that Xia Heng had planted another small plot of land, he asked a few questions about how the vegetable seedlings were doing now that the weather had turned cold.

Xia Heng told Chef Xiang that there were two farming experts living in her courtyard now, and Chef Xiang was rather surprised.

“You mean those two sisters living in your courtyard?

“No way. Those two girls don’t even eat half a bowl of rice a day. They’re so delicate and fragile that I’m afraid they’ll faint from hunger one day while they’re working.

“If they say they didn’t get enough to eat, Old Zhao and the others will laugh at me for a whole year. What kind of food did I cook that people would rather faint from hunger than eat it?

“I’d lose all face! With those skinny little arms and legs? Don’t tell me they can’t even tell one grain from another.”

“Chef Xiang, isn’t that judging people by their appearances? Don’t look down on them just because they don’t eat much! That day, Zhao Die helped me turn the soil, and she did it way better than I did-fast and deep.

“If they eat too little, then give them more! Like when you added extra soup for us that day. Maybe they’re just too embarrassed to ask for more food.”

“That can’t be it, can it? Embarrassed? You, Chuqing, and that quiet girl-how come I’ve never seen any of you feel embarrassed when you come to me?”

“Chef Xiang! Why are you dragging us into this just to put them down?!

“How can we be the same? The few of us are more outgoing! Your food is so delicious! When they take so little, shouldn’t you have some idea why?”
“There’s nothing wrong with the food! So she must be shy!”

Chef Xiang turned to the side and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

“Is that so? Ah, all right! We all live under the same roof-what’s there to be shy about?

“You have to eat your fill if you want your body to recover. I think the few of you are doing quite well.

“Young ladies these days, always getting shy over nothing! If you don’t eat enough, and then it freezes over in a couple of days, you won’t be able to make it through!

“Back when I was fighting in the war, we couldn’t get food even when we wanted it!

“How could we have had this much grain to eat? Those flatbreads were so coarse they scraped your throat. Once they froze in winter, you couldn’t even bite into them! If you ran into enemy troops and had no weapons, you could throw one out and kill a man with it…”

Chef Xiang was getting on in years. When he wasn’t speaking, he looked rather stern, but once he became familiar with someone, he tended to ramble.

Xia Heng did not grow impatient. She listened carefully, answering with a sound or two now and then. When she found a moment, she scooped a ladle of water from the vat and added it to the large pot. In a while, they would be making radish soup for lunch.

“Chef Xiang, got any flatbread? Give me something to fill my stomach!”

Mo Bai’s voice arrived at the same time he did. When he saw Xia Heng there, he curled his lip in distaste.

“Why are you here?”

“Helping boil some water.”

As Xia Heng spoke, she filled a bowl with the ginger and scallion drink and handed it to Mo Bai.

Mo Bai accepted a flatbread from Chef Xiang. After hesitating for a moment, he still took the bowl from Xia Heng. He ate the flatbread while slurping down the drink.

It still was not time for the public kitchen to serve the meal, so Chef Xiang could not help asking, “Why’d you come over now? Wouldn’t it be better to wait a bit and eat properly?”

Mo Bai breathed out a puff of hot air.

“The general just came back from court. In a while, he has to organize evidence and confessions. There’s too much of it, so Mo Qing and I have to help with that.

“The general told us to eat something first before going over.”

“Oh. Has the general eaten?” Chef Xiang asked worriedly.

“The small kitchen made something. Mo Qing went to fetch it. Please give me two more flatbreads; I’ll bring them to Mo Qing later. We’ll probably be busy until night today.”

“All right. Don’t just eat flatbread by itself. Take some of the dishes that just came out of the pot too. And later, bring a bowl of that starter broth Heng made. It doesn’t taste like much, but after you drink it, your body does feel quite warm. You should all drink more of it to drive off the cold.”

The ginger made Mo Bai grimace from the heat, but he could clearly feel his whole body warming up. Hearing this, he glanced at Xia Heng and nodded.

“If you’re busy late, I’ll have someone send food over to you. In weather this cold, you should eat something hot. It’s not as if you’re on campaign, so why would you just gnaw on flatbread…”

When Mo Bai returned to the study carrying the food box, Cang Chuli was also eating. As he ate, he sorted the account books by date.

Dali Temple had taken on this hot potato. The Zhenbei Army was both the plaintiff and an assisting reviewer, so the evidence had to be even more irrefutable.

The two officials from the Ministry of Revenue had already been placed under house arrest to await trial.

But the Ministry of Revenue’s ledgers were disorderly, tangled, and full of repetition. If they wanted to close the case as soon as possible and convict them, they would have to sort through all these account books.

The portion of original documents related to Mu Yan’s case had been handed to him by Mu Sheng that day and had already been organized.

But that was only a very small part. The rest was all here.

Cang Chuli looked at the two large wooden chests before him.

The moment those slippery old foxes at the Ministry of Revenue heard that the ledgers were needed, they did not organize a thing. They simply piled everything together and submitted it all at once.

He did not know whether they were certain someone would fish them out of trouble, or if they were trying to delay things and think of some other method. Those people would never sit around waiting for death.

This situation looked more like they were convinced he had no one available and would be forced to spend a good while calculating everything.

Perhaps even if he sorted it all out now, they would still argue and make a mess of things.

Cang Chuli pinched the bridge of his nose, where a dull ache was swelling. No matter how difficult it was, the ledgers had to be organized.

Dali Temple had several major cases to investigate. The Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review, Li Zhi, was already helping him by handing these things over for him to examine. So not only did he have to investigate, he had to do it well and gather evidence solid enough to be beyond dispute.

Forget it. At worst, he would stay up several more nights. It was still best to sort everything out as quickly as possible.