Settling Accounts
"The case files from Gusu have been submitted to the Court of Judicial Review, and the midwife is there too. I'll go check on them." Zhao Yuanxun stood up. "Also, I need to ask why Wei Qiu was exiled instead of beheaded."
The First Madam nodded. "We should go and ask."
However, she wasn't worried about that. With Grand Tutor Cen and the others taking action, they would certainly not give Wei Qiu any chance to turn the tables; and since Minister Wen's grandson had died at Wei Qiu's hands, they would certainly not let him go. It wouldn't be too difficult to sabotage his journey to exile and cause him to die a violent death.
"Have you taken care of Li Mu and the midwife?" the First Madam asked.
Zhao Yuanxun nodded. "Li Mu killed someone, he has to die. Lord Liu is watching, no one dares to protect him. However, his wife, children, and Matron Li were all flogged and sold. The midwife will suffer the same fate. I'll have someone buy them, treat their injuries, and release them once they're healed. That will be fulfilling my promise."
The First Madam said, "They are the tools in Lady Wei's hands. Although it was Lady Wei who used the tools to kill, they are not entirely innocent. However, they did help us after all, and we promised to save their lives. Doing this now is not a breach of promise."
She asked someone to fetch breakfast from the kitchen for Zhao Yuanxun to eat on his way, and watched him leave.
She quickly ate some snacks and then sat down at the table to check the accounts.
Because of the family division, she has been consolidating her assets and checking the accounts.
Fearing that Lady Wei and Zhao Yuankun would discover something amiss, everything was done in secret, which is why the process was so slow, and the accounts still haven't been settled.
Matron Zhou felt sorry for her hard work and wanted to foster a better mother-daughter relationship between her and Xu Xi, so she suggested, "Why don't you invite Fifth Miss over? She should be studying arithmetic at the academy, so she should be able to help you. Besides, Miss is fourteen now; it's time she learned to manage the accounts."
"That's true," the First Madam said with a smile, then looked up and instructed Caidie, "Go and fetch the Fifth Miss."
Xu Xi heard from Caidie that the First Madam wanted her to settle accounts, she came without saying a word.
The academy was supposed to offer mathematics classes, as they were required for the imperial examinations. However, the original mathematics teacher had fallen ill, so the academy had given the classes to other teachers. The classes would be given to the mathematics teacher once he recovered and returned.
Therefore, to this day, she still does not know the level of mathematics in this world.
However, with the radiant glory of Empress Shengyao shining upon the Great Jin, shouldn't she have brought advanced mathematics to this world?
But when she arrived at Longyu Courtyard and saw the First Madam's account books, she gave up the idea.
There were no Arabic numerals, no advanced accounting methods. It seems the brilliance of the Empress Shengyao did not shine upon the field of mathematics; or perhaps it did, but the First Lady, Madam Lady Zhu, simply did not bask in that sunlight.
She was a computer whiz in her past life, but she couldn't use an abacus.
"Mother, I can do mental arithmetic, but I don't know how to use counting rods. Let me calculate it once and you can see if it's correct. If it is, I'll use mental arithmetic to calculate part of it for you, okay?" she said.
The First Madam didn't expect her to help when she called her over. Just as Matron Zhou said, she only wanted her to come and learn how to manage the account books.
"Alright, then you do the calculation," the First Madam said with a smile.
"I won't bother you, I'll go over there." Xu Xi pointed to the corner next to her.
In the past, the First Madam might not have been happy. But this is her own child, so it doesn't matter how he acts; the First Madam has the forgiving heart of a loving mother.
She said nonchalantly, "Go ahead, go ahead."
So several servants helped Xu Xi move an eight-immortal table from the middle of the room to a corner, and placed it according to Xu Xi's request. They also moved several account books onto the table, made her tea, and served her a plate of snacks.
Xu Xi sat down; there was a wall behind her and a window to her side, offering a beautiful view. The room was spacious and quite a distance from the First Madam, providing excellent privacy. As long as she wasn't disturbed by the servants, Xu Xi didn't care what method she used to settle the accounts.
After sending Qingfeng away, Xu Xi began to calculate the accounts as requested by the First Madam.
Because she has to teach painting, Xu Xi has been confined to Fragrant Orchid Courtyard with nothing to do lately. Besides practicing calligraphy, memorizing the Four Books and Five Classics to improve her grades, she spends her days fiddling with paintbrushes.
This so-called paintbrush was simply made by having the kitchen burn a large pile of charcoal sticks from hard, miscellaneous wood; then they were instructed to cut small bamboo strips, split them in half, sandwich the charcoal sticks between them, and then wrap them tightly with strips of cloth. Thus, the primitive pencil came into being.
That's one of the advantages of being part of the exploiting class: you just have to give orders, and your servants will run themselves ragged. Xu Xi didn't even have to lift a finger; Qingfeng, Dianjiang, Yicui made a couple hundred of these simple pencils in just a few days.
Xu Xi knew that the accounts needed to be settled, so she brought a pencil.
First, use a pencil to convert the uppercase Chinese numerals into Arabic numerals on the paper, then write down the equations. In just a few minutes, a page of accounts is done.
The First Madam was working hard on her abacus, and before she had even finished calculating one account book, Xu Xi called out, "Finished?" Looking up, she saw the five account books that Xu Xi had taken placed in front of her.
"You mean, you've already calculated all of these?" the First Madam asked in surprise.
"Hmm," Xu Xi said, "There are eight errors."
"Let me see." After finishing her own page, the First Madam wrote down a number next to it and then took the page that Xu Xi had marked and started calculating.
To avoid disturbing the mother and daughter while they were settling accounts, the servants waited outside, while only Matron Zhou sat silently in a corner inside.
Seeing this, she craned her neck to look in this direction, as if she could see the accounts the First Madam had calculated.
"Huh, there really is a mistake." The First Madam compared her calculations with the original account book, then looked at the numbers calculated by Xu Xi Xu Xi found that they were the same.
She looked up at Xu Xi with surprise, then flipped to the second mistake and checked it again.
After finishing the calculation, she let out a sigh of relief, whether from relaxation or regret, and said to Xu Xi, "My calculation here is different from yours." Yes, it's different from the original ledger as well.
"Then please calculate it again." Xu Xi was very confident in herself.
She always got perfect scores in math. If it weren't for her love of design, her math teacher would have forced her to apply to Tsinghua University University's math department when she took the college entrance exam.
Since the figures were different from the original ledger, the First Madam naturally had to calculate it again. When she read out the second set of figures, her eyes widened – it was the same as Xu Xi's.
Now she was convinced. After calculating all eight errors, her eyes shone brightly as she looked at Xu Xi.
Parents always view their children through a lens of overly idealistic lens. If it were before, she would definitely have asked Xu Xi how she calculated it.
But now, she doesn't even need to ask. Asking would only yield one result: my son is smart.