Chapter 322 — Frustrated
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
The young servant came back and reported, "."
Zeng Wu lifted his foot and gave the servant a kick. "Do you think I do not know the heir is auditing the accounts! Who is he auditing with? When did this audit begin? How much profit has the Thirteen Hongs of Guangdong brought in? Could you not use your head and find out? You are like an oil lamp: only bright when someone turns the wick!"
Clutching his kicked thigh, the servant muttered, "Even the Lord Defender of the State does not know how much the Thirteen Hongs of Guangdong earn. How, how would I know?"
"Call you a fool, and you dare talk back!" Zeng Wu kicked the servant again. "Could you not see whether the heir is pleased or displeased? No wonder you have been a servant for years without the slightest improvement! Go and find out properly!"
The servant dared not answer back and limped off to Yizhi Hall.
Zeng Wu dusted off his sleeve and grumbled inwardly: I am not that fool Lü Zheng, to deliver myself to the heir to be beaten.
Thinking that Lü Zheng would from now on do nothing but while away his days in the accounting room, he felt a sudden surge of smug satisfaction for no reason at all, and seized a passing maid. "Go, brew me a cup of Da Hong Pao."
The maid gave him a cold look. "Da Hong Pao is tribute tea. It may only be taken on the Lord Defender of the State's orders."
Zeng Wu sneered. "Why, even the Lord Defender of the State drinks it to quench his thirst. If you do not believe me, go and ask him."
The maid flushed crimson. Even knowing he was borrowing the tiger's might, she dared not go and question Song Cen, and went with her head down to the tea room to brew him a pot of Da Hong Pao.
He sat in the tea room's grand armchair, savoring the tea slowly. The servant, having learned his lesson, at last had something of substance to report. "The ones who came are Zhong Bingxiang, chief steward of the Thirteen Hongs of Guangdong, and the bailiffs of the various estates. They have been at it five days now. The heir is very pleased; last night he even held a banquet at the Zuixian Tower to entertain those stewards and bailiffs."
Zeng Wu's attention wandered.
In the days before the Yingzhen Ducal household and Yizhi Hall had divided their households, Steward Zhong would come from Guangdong to the capital every year to audit the accounts, and always brought a little something for the maids and servants—things that could be pawned for a tael or two at the pawnshop on East Street. But ever since the people of Yizhi Hall had stopped eating from the same pot as the Yingzhen Ducal household, they never saw Steward Zhong's gifts again.
All of it went to those creatures in Yizhi Hall!
He was both jealous and covetous. He remembered one year when Lü Zheng had given two hundred taels to Zhong Bingxiang to take to Guangdong and invest as a share; by the next year, two hundred taels had become twelve hundred. He had watched, and his heart had been stirred at the time, but he had no silver in hand, so he could only drool over it. But now… yesterday, following the Lord Defender of the State to the Zuixian Tower to attend to guests, that garrison commander had rewarded him with five taels; a few days ago, when the Lord Defender of the State wanted sesame cakes, he had run an errand and pocketed two mace… He had served the Lord Defender of the State only seven or eight days, and already had a dozen taels in hand. Though it was not to be compared with Lü Zheng, it was no small sum. Why not also entrust it to Zhong Bingxiang for that so-called share?
Only, he did not know whether Zhong Bingxiang would still be willing to do him this favor.
Turning it over in his mind, he went to Song Cen. "The heir is auditing accounts with Steward Zhong of the Thirteen Hongs of Guangdong. Though I do not know how Yizhi Hall has fared this year, the heir is very pleased; last night he even entertained Steward Zhong and the others with wine at the Zuixian Tower."