Chapter 80 Carefree
After Ranmo left, Shu Huan poured all the gold out of the purse onto the table. She didn’t have to count to see that there were a total of four ingots. It was probably because Ranmo was careful and deliberately asked the silver to be exchanged like that. It saved her some trouble. She only locked one gold ingot in her chest where she keep all her money. She played with the other three in her hand.
Now that she had calmed down, she carefully thought about things. In fact, there were previous examples of selling those flowers. She could only blame herself for not having thought of it and let this idea be first taken by Gu Xiran. After she had figured it out, she annoyingly discovered that no matter whether she had thought of it or not, she couldn’t earn this money now!
Gu Xiran is the legitimate son of Gu household. Old madam and master weren’t at the resort. To touch or not to touch these flowers and plants were all to his wishes. Let alone, that he pulled them out to sell them, even if he had pulled them out and destroyed them, the servants would only talk behind his back, saying that he wasted things. However, he wasted his Gu family’s things. Could others have a say in that?
Her identity wasn’t the same as Gu Xiran. If she did that, probably all kinds of vile words would come out of those servants. They would say that she loved money like her life and that she plundered all ground and didn’t even let go of a plant and a flower. Those were already very gentle discussions. Maybe, when it spread to the end, it would become that she even carried a plant and a flower to her maiden home. This crime was too big!
Shu Huan sighed. Since ancient times, identities had been difficult to surpass! When she seriously recalled in her memories, in fact, there were many ways to make money. However, there was no way she could do it. It was better for her to work hard and use her insignificant skill to make some small amount of money. She only wished to be stable and that she could do it for a long time.
While she was in deep thoughts, Gu Xiran had returned. When he raised the curtain and entered, he saw that she was staring at the three ingots on the table. He couldn’t help but laugh, “Did you become rich?”
“Right, right!” Shu Huan’s anger hasn’t completely disappeared yet. When she saw him, she couldn’t help but get angry again. She put those three ingots inside the purse and threw it at him, “Congratulations, you got rich! Fifteen golden liang. It’s worth a year of your monthly allowance!”
When Gu Xiran returned, he already encountered Ranmo. Hence, he wasn’t surprised when he heard her say this. He took over the purse, took a peek inside and laughed, “Ranmo is a capable one, but as he gets older, it’s not convenient for him to go in and out of the inner residence. I want to take him over from little fourth.”
When manservants get old, they weren’t allowed anymore to go freely inside the residence where the women of the household lived.
When Shu Huan heard this, she even forgot her temper. She shook her head and said, “He is little fourth close study companion ever since they were young. Will little fourth be willing to part with him?”
“Even if he isn’t willing, there is no other ways. Madam already nagged him many times. She said that she wanted to pick another two young study companions for him. The latest, it would be at the end of the year that Ranmo and Diyan would be moved to do errands outside the residence.” Gu Xiran weighted the money inside the purse and smiled faintly, “Little fourth is worried that he (R) will be bullied after he goes out. If he (GXH) knew that I want to use him (R), even if he (GXH) is reluctant to part with him (R), he (GXH) will be willing.”
“Right!” Shu Huan laughed. “He had never regarded you as an outsider, but Ranmo will be tired miserably. Not only will he have to run errands for you in the future, perhaps when little fourth remembered him, little fourth will let him fiddle some matters for him (GXH). He (R) will have no way but to do it and be busy on both sides!”
Gu Xiran casted her a glance smilingly, “The most capable people do the most work. Doesn’t wife also like to order him around?”
This sentence was hinting at something else…
Shu Huan was a bit dejected. She knew that she couldn’t hide from him about the matter of her selling some things for some private money! However, after practicing these few days, her face also got thicker. She pretended that she didn’t understand, lowered her head and sorted those sketches of the fragrant herbs.
Gu Xiran came over for a look, “This is a sketch. Do you plan to color it?”
“Yes,” Shu Huan answered. “I also left some blank space to write the characteristics and uses of these herbs. However, my handwriting isn’t beautiful. You write it later!”
Gu Xiran’s eyes flashed slightly and laughed, “My handwriting is also not good. Go ask doctor Ji.”
“Second young master!” Shu Huan sighed, raised her head and looked seriously at him, “Do you know that sometimes excessive modesty is considered arrogance?”
She had already seen his handwriting. It was neat and clear. If that was considered not good, then her handwriting would be considered worse than a dog’s footprint when climbing!
Gu Xiran didn’t continue with what she was saying. He only put the purse of money in front of her and said, “I’m tired. I will go rest first. Keep this money for me.”
“No way!” Shu Huan was dumbfounded. She couldn’t help but touch her forehead to make sure that there wasn’t the word “bank” written on it. “Why do you and Meijing have the same problem. I’m not a bank. There isn’t any interest when you leave the money with me!”
Gu Xiran casted her a glance full of disdain, “Will the bank give you interest? Only when you take high interest loan, there would be interest that you have to pay!”
Oh, right! Shu Huan still had general knowledge. Here was the ancient times. There was no such thing as interest when putting money in the bank. Instead, one had to pay a storage fee. Thinking till here, she reached out her hand and said, “Then, give me storage fee.”
Gu Xiran laughed and threw ten silver liang at her. This should be his monthly allowance.
That he gave her money so easily made Shu Huan puzzled. Not waiting for her to ask him, Gu Xiran reminded her, “Let someone exchange this silver ingot into small amounts of money and reward it to the servants of the resort. There was no reason for us to eat meat and not let them have soup. Some people love to gossip. Just take it as spending money to block their mouths.”
This idea was the same as Shu Huan’s. She didn’t hesitate anymore and took the silver. However, if you say there were many servants at the resort, then there wasn’t that many; but, if you say that there were not that many servants at the resort there were many. Ten silver liang seemed a lot, but when dispersing it, it may not be enough. Hence, she decided to add five silver liang. If one had to reward, it was better to reward some more. Otherwise, she would’ve spent the money and still be stigmatized as being stingy.
—
The next half month, it could be considered that Shu Huan had spent some comfortable days. The sky was high here and the emperor far away. The personnel weren’t as complex as in Gu household. She just used any excuse to reward the money. The whole resort was full of praises. Everyone said that second young master and mistress were compassionate to the servants. When these people were called in for an errand, they also worked more diligently.
The sky was high here and the emperor far away: remote areas beyond the control of the government. She is referring that here is far away from old madam.
As for Shu Huan, she also had accumulated some money. Although, five golden liang wasn’t much, it let her feel that she still had skills to make money. It also gave her more sense of security and she wasn’t so nervous about the future anymore.
After the heart loosened, the person also felt lighter. Aside from dealing with the affairs of the resort, she went to learn painting from doctor Ji in the morning; in the afternoon, she went to learn needlework from mother Du and at night, she had to draw stones, carved things, practice calligraphy and also tidy the sketches of the aromatic herbs. Every day was extremely fulfilling, and her appetite also seemed to have gotten better. It was hard on others in the summer and they had lost a lot of weight. Only, she added a few pounds of weight. Although, it wasn’t to the point of being chubby, but she wasn’t all skin and bones like in the past. She even seemed to have gotten taller.
Of course, there was one bothersome matter. Seeing that the weather was getting colder, it was already autumn. Presumably, their happy summer days at the resort was also coming to an end. She had already become used to these leisure days here. If you let her return to that lifeless Gu residence, where you couldn’t say a word more than necessarily, where you couldn’t take a wrong step and where no matter what you do, there were countless pair of eyes watching you, how could she live?