The little lady in the dining room

Chapter 177 Tea Eggs
The two chatted while eating, and gave a general idea of ​​what they found out in the check of the accounts in the past few days.Because it was just the beginning, there were not too many mistakes and omissions detected, and Sydney only said one obvious mistake: "In the 13th year of Jianzheng, there were about 240 pieces of ranunculus yarn and ranunculus silk in Shangfu Bureau that did not match the number. At first glance It seems that there is no problem - in the middle of the year, 370 horses were collected from Yunnan, and at the end of the year, the palaces took away a total of 210 horses, and there were 150 and 500 horses left. But in fact, with the records of each palace Counting the inflow and outflow of ranunculus, yarn, and thickets that year, including those made by concubines and officials and sent to be rewarded to foreign wives, the total number was more than [-]—more than the amount brought in by tribute.”

Is it more or less?

Xie Zhaochu uttered a slander, and suddenly his eyes sharpened: "What year?"

"The 13th year of Jianzheng." Sydney said.

In the 13th year of Jianzheng, Yunan's ranunculus and ranunculus...

The emperor suddenly felt a hard blow in his heart, as if a wisp of ridicule poured into his heart together with the hard blow, making him feel ashamed.

At that time, he was only the eldest son of the first emperor, not even the crown prince, but he remembered the great event that year.

Since the 12th year of Jianzheng, there has been an unprecedented insect disaster in Yunnan, which relies on silkworm raising and spinning. A large number of mulberry trees were eaten by moths and died, and the mulberry leaves used for silkworm rearing also decreased sharply.

By the 13th year, the disaster had killed many people.

For this reason, while appropriating funds and food, the late emperor also sent people to buy ranunculus yarn and silk at ten times the price of previous years. Not only was there little silk in that year, but the quality of silk was also slightly inferior, and it was not easy to sell. .

Most of the collected silk was allocated to officials in the name of rewards and the like. After careful selection, 370 pieces of acceptable quality were paid to the Shangfu Bureau.

Xie Zhao remembered seeing the concubines looking at the materials at that time, and what the queen mother said was: "Rare is the most expensive thing. These 1000 high-quality horses may be able to fetch dozens of times the price in the market this year." ——This means that His Majesty took it in, otherwise, the dozens of times will be profiteers around the world, and the money that fell to Yunan may not be much."

Because of this sentence, he remembered what happened that year.But he didn't expect that someone would dare to "make profits around the world" under the eyes of his father.

——The more than 200 horses that were under-recorded from the very beginning were detained in the hands of the palace officials in charge at that time.After the receipt of the document is over, if the concubine wants it again, she will definitely have to spend a huge amount of money. More than 200 pieces of high-quality ranunculus yarn and ranunculus silk, not to mention the price of dozens of times, as long as there are three times and five times, it is not a small amount.

These are just the mistakes that can be found from the various palace records.What if there are those who have not recorded the files from the beginning, and then resold them outside the palace?
There is no way to check this, but presumably there must be some.

Xie Zhao thought about it further... he couldn't help but gasp!
"...Your Majesty?" Xue Li called him, hesitantly took a piece of steamed sea bass and sent it to his bowl, his voice was made weak by his expression, "What's wrong? But what did I make a mistake about?"

"No." He shook his head, lowered his head and ate the piece of sea bass she sent, and then took a noodle shrimp from in front of him and sent it to her plate.

Sydney looked at him uneasily, and he said, "You are really thorough in your investigation. Write down all the mistakes you find out, so that you can use them to question the crime, and secondly, you can figure out the current situation in a few minutes. Mistakes, future accounts will be more clear."

"Okay." Xueli nodded in response, Xie Zhao seemed to order the palace servants casually: "Go and let Wei Chen come into the palace in the afternoon, I have something to ask him."

Ever since Wei Chen heard the summons, he had thought that it would be a good time to enter the palace in the afternoon, so that he could "carry" Su Zixian home in the evening.

This Zixian, just check things out for Sydney, and she simply stayed in the palace, insisting that it would be more convenient - he offered to pick her in and out every morning and evening, but she was too lazy to move.

It's been six or seven days, so it's not too much for her to go back today.

Wei Chen went all the way to Zichen Hall with this idea in mind. Before entering the inner hall, he was asked a question: "In the 13th year of Jianzheng, who are the officials in Yunnan?"

Wei Chen: "..."

He thought to himself, how can I answer this?This was more than 20 years ago!And he was only 11 years old!
He replied: "I have to check the file, it's not difficult to check. But Your Majesty..."

Why did Your Majesty think of asking this?

The emperor nodded: "Okay, you just go and check. After checking, take someone directly to Yunnan to find out if there was any undervaluation or false quantity in the purchase of ranunculus and silk by the imperial court that year. Once it is verified, no matter what Where is the official now and what position is he sitting in, he will be dismissed immediately and investigated, and your imperial guards will directly question the crime."

The parent official watched the people suffer and only wanted to fill his own pockets. He had no reason to show mercy.

Wei Chen didn't come back to his senses for a long time, and he was stunned for a while before he said, "What is the existing evidence?"

"Sydney is checking the accounts of the Liushang Bureau, and the amount of ranunculus and ranunculus that year was obviously wrong." The emperor put the teacup heavily in his hand, "This is not just a problem in the palace. It started from the very beginning of the acquisition. I suspect that there was collusion inside and outside the palace, and it was difficult to find mistakes even in the accounts, and I don’t know how many people have suffered.”

Wei Chen's face darkened, and he clasped his fists: "No, I will send someone to do it immediately, but can you..."

The emperor looked at him: "What?"

Wei Chen cleared his throat: "Can you let Zixian go back to the residence tonight? Chen Ming'er will send her in early in the morning."

emperor:"……"

In Jiuge Courtyard, the more Xue Li and Yi Shi checked, the more they felt that the accounts in the palace were all muddled accounts!

Simply put, it doesn't matter whether these account books exist or not, right?Except for money that is easy to ascertain and rarely goes wrong, there are few other things that can be worthy of the name, from firewood, rice, oil, salt, hairpins, cloth, and even strictly managed medicinal materials.

The two of them would face each other and rub their eyes and sigh for a while after finishing the account books every day, and then they would scold Su Zixian for running away for a while.

——It is said that Wei Chen was sent outside to investigate something, so Su Zixian went back to the house to take care of the housework as a matter of course, and left the two of them here to deal with these troublesome bad debts by herself.

So until the twelfth lunar month, the New Year is approaching.Taking advantage of the taste of the year, worrying things can be considered to be relieved. A Yao can no longer study recently, and Jin Shu has also returned home. Xue Li and Yi Shi also take advantage of this to relieve themselves, and go through the accounts for two hours every morning. In the afternoon, Yi returned home, and she played with the children.

Ah Cong and Ah Ling are already ten months old...the nearly three-year-old Ah Yuan cried several times!
On this day, Sydney took a lazy nap. After waking up, she leisurely went into the kitchen to cook tea and eggs to satisfy her cravings. She struggled for a moment to decide whether to use Dahongpao, Mingqian Longjing or Jinjunmei tea. Thinking about whether to hand over the decision-making power to copper coins, Ah Yuan's loud cry came in again.

"Mother!!!" Ah Yuan cried with tears and snot all over his face, trotted into the kitchen and threw himself on Xueli.

Sydney hurriedly picked him up, looked at this little figure and wanted to laugh while wiping him: "What's the matter? Tell me about you, how many times have you cried in the past month? You cry more than your sister! You are a boy !"

This is actually somewhat bluffing.A Yao is a rare good-looking child. To be honest, Xueli never expected A Yuan and the others to be as good-behaved as her!
Alas, thinking about it, she still feels a little uncomfortable. She always feels that the reason why A Yao is so good is that the adults did not love her enough in the first two years.Only children who are preoccupied with things in their hearts can understand things so quickly. "Children from poor families start their own families early" is almost the same reason.

As soon as A Yuan was told by her mother that she was not as good as her sister, she immediately stopped her tears and pointed out, sobbing: "Achong Aling...they are disobedient!"

Sure enough, it was because of this again!

Xueli Haoxuan didn't roll her eyes in front of her son!

Recently, Ah Yuan cried several times because of this, which made Sydney dumbfounded every time—how could she cry herself out of anger when she didn't care about her younger siblings?Yuan you are so cute!
She hugged A Yuan to the front yard to see how the two little guys who were just at an annoying age were disobedient.

In the south courtyard at the front, there is a big couch, which is specially ordered by craftsmen, and it is twice as big as an ordinary bed.Put it out during the day, specially for A Yuan and A Ling to crawl and play.

But right now Yu Xiang is also on it, looking so sleepy that her eyelids are clenched, but she is still walking up and down on the couch.

A Cong and A Ling both crawled behind and chased after it, and they were trying their best as if they were competing with each other to see who could crawl faster.When I caught up with it, I pulled its tail, and I didn't have any numbers in my hands. Two times, it obviously hurt Yuxiang.

So when A Cong was about to catch up again, A Yuan, who was held by Xueli in her arms, waved his small hands and quit: "A Cong! A Cong, you must not bully Yu Xiang! Otherwise I... I will let my sister beat you! "

Sydney: "..."

Well, it seems that A Yao has the majesty of the elder sister in A Yuan's heart, but A Yuan can't do this.

Xueli hugged A Yuan and sat down on the edge of the couch, A Yuan was particularly wronged in her mother's arms.When Yu Xiang saw her, she bowed her head and leaned against her, more wronged than A Yuan!

Xue Li hugged A Yuan with one hand and touched Yu Xiang with the other: "A Yuan, A Yao is your older sister, A Cong and A Ling are your younger siblings, and A Yao is also their older sister, you know?"

A Yuan, who was angry with A Cong and A Ling, turned her head, and wrote four large characters between her frowning eyebrows: No way!

"Hey... A Yuan, listen to what mother said." She patted A Yuan on the back, "You were disobedient when you were their age. I can't take a good nap, but my mother and sister have never blamed you, because we know that you didn't mean to be disobedient, but you didn't know how to be obedient."

She pointed to Acong Aling who crawled and called her "mother": "Look, they don't know how to obey yet. You are an older brother, and they are a family. You can't drag your older sister to bully them together. It's like when my sister didn't bully you because you were disobedient."

A Yuan's eyes were full of tears, and she felt that what her mother said was right, but at the same time, she felt that if she did what her mother said, Yu Xiang would be so pitiful.

Undecided, A Yuan rubbed against her body, Xueli smiled: "Look, they are two small, but the others in this yard are not that small anymore. So why are you crying because of them?" What about? Come to find your mother, elder sister, or Yang Mingquan who raises Yuxiang, we can help you call Yuxiang away! It’s enough to keep them from bullying Yuxiang, isn’t it?”

Little Ah Yuan's face lit up: "Yes!"

Xueli touched his forehead: "Good boy, it's up to you to play with your younger siblings or go find your older sister. Mother will cook something delicious for you."

Then she ordered Cong Aling to be carried into the house.After all, it's winter, and after playing outside for a little while, it's almost over.

After taking care of the dispute here, Xueli brushed her hands off, planning to continue worrying about her tea eggs.Yu Xiang, who had just been tortured by the two children, insisted on following her, rubbing her legs and moaning.Xueli walked all the way pretending not to see, and when she reached the door of the kitchen, she couldn't help but knelt down and hugged it: "Yuxiang, you are the most obedient!"

Yu Xiang made a purring sound in her throat, rubbing her neck against her.Er Er lay down with a "boom" and almost pushed Sydney to her knees!

"I'll make delicious food for you too!" Xueli scratched her stomach, Yuxiang lay comfortably with her paws curled up, enjoyed it for a while, and then fell asleep with her eyes closed.

The fish fragrance is so good!For such a big lion, from A Yao to A Cong A Ling, he tossed and tossed it a lot when he was a child.

Uh... maybe also be my own child.

After boasting about the aroma of fish in her heart, Sydney first stewed the meat for it: two pork knuckles, a whole beef leg, and a whole lamb rib.For a while, she was still thinking about whether to give Yu Xiang a tooth--of course, there is no need to find another "Wang Wanzhi", but maybe it is okay to feed a living thing?

If you think about it, forget it. If you have teeth, you will become wild. There are so many children here, it is not safe to change Yuxiang from a pet to a beast.

So now the meat for Yuxiang is still fully cooked, and most of the time it is not seasoned for human consumption, but it will be cooked to make it more fragrant during the New Year and festivals, and it will be beaten for tooth-making sacrifices.

The fish-flavored meat here takes up four large pots, and Sydney has a look at the small casserole where she plans to cook tea eggs... I feel so pitiful!
She glanced at the three kinds of tea again, and she finally decided to use Dahongpao!
When the tea was delivered more than half a year ago, she heard from Chen Jijiang that this year's Dahongpao was very good, but the quantity was small.Helpless, she has a good stutter, and has never paid much attention to tea, and has not drank it until now.

Sydney remembers that Dahongpao is considered green tea, and the new one is better than the old one—then she'd better not put it until next year, it's a waste of money!

Besides, there will be new tea tributes coming in next year, and the accumulation will be endless.

After washing his hands again, Sydney began to take charge of the spoon.

Decided to use pigeon eggs on a whim.However, the pigeon eggs are small, and I originally planned to cook eight pears, which are about the same size. I saw the size of the casserole, and added two more.

In order to taste, the eggshells should be knocked one by one with a copper spoon, and then put into the pot after knocking out small cracks, and then add water, tea and seasoning.

While waiting for it to cook slowly, Sydney went to check on A Yao.Earlier, A Yao locked herself in the room to study her homework, but now she came out to play shuttlecock with Sour Plum and Wu Mei.Xueli told the palace servants to be careful not to let them fall, and at the request of A Yao, she took away A Yuan who was bouncing around and messing around in the middle, thinking that it was time to find two companions for A Yuan!
He is like this now... Ah Cong is too young to play with him, and Ah Yao is a girl when he grows up, so he can't play with him in many cases, it would be nice to have a little boy around the same age to accompany him.

But Sydney, who couldn't find the little boy for the time being, had to get on the horse herself, handed the tea eggs to Wei Xi to watch, and accompanied Ah Cong to draw for a while—or asked the mother and daughter to scribble for a while.An hour later, Wei Xi came in and said that the tea eggs had been soaked enough, so she was able to put down the thing in front of her that A Yuan had painted so that she didn't know what it was.

Hugging A Yuan: "Go, call my sister, and go to see the father."

"Okay!" He was happy when he heard the word "Father Emperor".Recently, Sydney has become more and more aware that A Yuan is getting closer to her father without knowing it, and A Yao is becoming more and more clinging to her.

In the Zichen Palace, the rich tea fragrance was squeezed out from the edge of the small casserole by the hot air.Scattered into the hall little by little, succumbing to people's appetite without any tact.

The emperor, who was reading the memorial, gritted his molars and recited the Heart Sutra silently, but still lost his mind, and his eyes fell directly on the casserole she was holding: "What did you do again?"

"Tea eggs." Xueli smiled, walked a few steps quickly, and put the casserole on his desk. "It's almost time for dessert, right? Your Majesty, eat it first, and read it after eating."

Xie Zhaozhi teased that you are too bad!

She arrived just before the snacks from the imperial dining room were delivered, and he was so hungry that his stomach was empty!
The lid of the casserole was lifted, and the little aroma that had just been squeezed out of the crack came rushing towards me.Xie Zhao took a deep sniff, and obviously felt that the imperial dining room of the Monk's Food Bureau made something different on weekdays, so he asked her casually, "It smells so delicious, is there a secret recipe?"

"Where did you get the secret recipe?" Xueli smiled, scooped up a tea egg and knocked it on the table, explaining, "The egg is a pigeon egg, and the tea is made from this year's new Dahongpao."

Xie Zhao snorted, and said "Sure enough", Chen Jijiang next to him froze all of a sudden.

This year, new, new, old, big, red, gown!

Chen Jijiang looked at the pot of tea eggs, and felt that two large characters appeared in front of his eyes: show off!

Generally speaking, His Majesty would reward him more or less for the first-class tribute tea in the palace. This year's Dahongpao was one of the few times that he didn't have his turn to drink it.

Then Mrs. Ruan used it to cook tea eggs? !

When catching up with him to drink before, he never boiled eggs with such a good thing!

The emperor took the pigeon eggs that Sydney peeled and ate very satisfied, and didn't notice the distress of the supervisor around him.After eating one, he saw that the pear was peeled by A Yao and then peeled by A Yuan, so he fished one out and peeled it for him, then suddenly remembered something: "Chen Jijiang."

Unexpectedly, after calling three times in a row, there was a sound like "Ah?!", and the emperor turned his head suspiciously: "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, it's nothing." Chen Jijiang replied with a smile, saying in his heart that the minister really wanted to eat the tea eggs boiled by Dahongpao.

The emperor asked him: "You have also read the problems detected in Sydney. It seems that there are many problems with tea every year?"

"Yes." Chen Jijiang bowed, "In addition to the cloth, tea is the most important thing. Most of the cloth is under the management of the Shangfu Bureau, and the tea is under the supervision of the internal officials. Last night, I sent someone to take the Shangfu female officer and the internal affairs. The four young prisoners in the official prison have all been detained."

"Why is it the young prison?" Xueli was puzzled for a moment, "The internal supervisor is not in charge of the big..."

Her words came to an abrupt end, and Chen Jijiang, who had been sweating hard all night, felt guilty when he heard the words, "thumped" and knelt down: "Your Majesty."

(End of this chapter)