The Prodigal Son

That night, Qin Yu and Yuan Dingguo drank until very late before going home.

With the excuse of making fireworks for the Empress Dowager, Qin Yu didn't even attend the last court session of the year.

The next day, Qin Yu slept until almost noon.

When he got up, Nan Que'er and Luo Qingyi were no longer by his side.

"This is what life is all about!"

Qin Yu sighed as he stretched comfortably.

As soon as Qin Yu stepped out of his courtyard, he heard the clattering sound of an abacus.

He followed the sound and saw Luo Qingyi huddled together with the manor's accountant and steward, Lao Tu.

They were each fiddling with their long, large abacuses, their fingers almost leaving afterimages.

Qin Yu stepped forward, about to speak, but Lao Tu gestured for him to be quiet, indicating that he should not interrupt Luo Qingyi and the accountant.

Qin Yu understood and simply stood silently by, watching without disturbing the two.

After about fifteen minutes, the two stopped one after the other.

The two glanced at each other's abacuses and almost simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.

Old Yu raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, looking relieved.

Only then did Qin Yu speak up and ask, "What are you all doing?"

"Reconcile accounts."

Luo Qingyi raised her head. "Isn't it the end of the year? Uncle Tu and I were checking the accounts when we found that seventeen taels of silver didn't match up, so we called Mr. Yu to help us check the accounts again."

"what?"

Qin Yu was both amused and exasperated. "It's only seventeen taels of silver. If it doesn't match, it doesn't match. Why make things so complicated?"

Seeing that they had almost broken the abacus beads, he thought something terrible had happened!

So, only seventeen taels of silver?

"One thing at a time."

Luo Qingyi said solemnly, "Although it's not a lot of money, a discrepancy in the accounts is a big deal! We can easily give out hundreds or thousands of taels of silver, but we can't tolerate even a tael being off the books!"

All household expenses are handled through the accounting office. If the amount of silver in the accounts doesn't match, it's either because the calculation was wrong or because someone has tampered with the silver in the treasury.

Whether the private accounts in Qin Yu's courtyard match up or not is not important.

But the accounts in this household don't match, so she has to figure it out.

It doesn't matter if the calculation is wrong.

If I haven't miscalculated, I must find out where the money went!

"All right!"

Qin Yu smiled helplessly, "So now we're matched?"

I must say, Luo Qingyi has really changed a lot since she went out to fight a battle and came back.

Now, her words and actions really do have the air of a matriarch.

"It matches up."

Luo Qingyi nodded and smiled, "We must have mistaken thirteen taels for thirty taels before, so there's a difference of seventeen taels of silver. It's good that it matches up now."

"That's good."

Qin Yu smiled and said to Lao Tu, "The New Year is almost here, let's get everything arranged first. Even though Grandpa won't be home this year, we still need to have a lively and festive celebration!"

"good!"

Old Tu agreed and called Old Yu to leave with the abacus and account books.

Qin Yu stepped forward and naturally put his arm around Luo Qingyi's waist. "Where's Que'er?"

"She went to learn how to make pastries from Aunt Sun and Aunt Wu."

Luo Qingyi smiled, then winked at Qin Yu, "Guess how much silver you have in your household right now?"

"I really don't know about that."

Qin Yu smacked his lips. "Including the reward His Majesty sent yesterday, we should still have two million taels of silver, right?"

"It's much more than just this little bit of silver!"

Luo Qingyi smiled charmingly, "If you include the silver in our courtyard, it's almost four million taels!"

"How many?"

Qin Yu looked shocked. "How come there are so many?"

"Is that still a lot?"

Luo Qingyi sniffed, "It's also because 60% of Zunjiu's shares were given to the imperial court, otherwise it would have been even more!"

After the Luo family fell from grace, she took over many of their businesses. Later, she acquired Zunjiu, a golden goose that laid golden eggs. They made a lot of money just from doing business.

Qin Yu also forcibly borrowed over a million taels of silver, plus the ten thousand taels of gold delivered yesterday…

All things considered, it amounted to approximately four million taels of silver.

Listening to Luo Qingyi meticulously calculating the accounts, Qin Yu couldn't help but sigh softly, "Having too much money isn't a good thing; we need to spend it quickly!"

"..."

Luo Qingyi was both amused and exasperated.

This was the first time she had ever met someone who complained about having too much money!

Is it too hot to keep this silver in your hands?

He's only happy when he spends the money?

This money isn't stolen money, so why is he in such a hurry to spend it?

If he complains about having too much silver, wouldn't the wealthy historian be so worried that he can't eat or drink?

"Spend when you need to, don't skimp!"

Qin Yu laughed heartily and then instructed Luo Qingyi, "Tell Lao Tu to send five hundred, no, one thousand taels of silver to the families of the twenty-one men who died in Min, and also send twenty bolts of cloth to each family! It must be delivered to their families before the New Year!"

His personal guards died on the battlefield, and the imperial court offered little compensation, nor did he expect any compensation from the court.

They were just his personal guards, without any official rank.

The imperial court provided pensions according to the standards for ordinary soldiers.

But that amount of compensation was clearly not commensurate with their strength.

We must not be stingy with those who risked their lives to protect him on the battlefield.

"Okay! I've got it."

Luo Qingyi nodded slightly. "By the way, should we invite Xu Wan over for the New Year as well?"

"Of course we have to call!"

Without hesitation, Qin Yu said, "Xu Kui is guarding Dieguan Pass, and she lives alone at home. We can't let her spend the New Year alone."

"That's what I think too."

Luo Qingyi smiled sweetly, then took Qin Yu's arm. Just as she was about to go with Qin Yu to see how Nan Que'er's pastries were coming along, a servant from the manor came to report.

"Madam Qingyi, Miss Jiang has come to pay a visit."

"Okay, I understand."

Luo Qingyi nodded gently.

"Jiang Ci?"

Qin Yu asked with a smile.

"Who else could it be but her?"

As Luo Qingyi spoke, she glanced at Qin Yu with a mischievous look, "Do you want to go see Jiang Ci?"

Why would I go see her?

Qin Yu shook his head and said, "When the two of you meet, you'll definitely talk about business. I don't deal with business, so there's nothing to talk about."

"She admires you, her great hero, very much!"

Luo Qingyi couldn't help but chuckle. "You wouldn't believe it, after the news of your great victory in Min Kingdom reached the capital, she would always casually mention you when we chatted! Whenever she talked about you, her eyes would light up like stars..."

"Really?"

Qin Yu arrogantly raised his chin, "Am I that popular now?"

Am I about to become the dream of a billion girls?

"It must be true!"

Luo Qingyi's smile deepened. "Otherwise, why do you think she'd come to visit at this time? She just wants to stay for a meal and have a few more words with you, her great hero, right?"

Qin Yu chuckled to himself.

Judging from her tone, it seemed that Jiang Ci had secretly fallen for him!

He had barely spoken a few words to Jiang Ci, so how could he have so many secret crushes on her?

"Alright, go see her!"

Qin Yu waved his hand, "If you want to stay for a simple meal, then stay; if you don't want to, then forget it! I'm going to check on how Que'er's pastries are coming along."