<h4>Chapter 238: Affairs in the ck Mountain Estate (2)</h4>
Trantor: Iris
These days Gu Tingye only came back at night twice. It seemed that the review job in the military camp gradually got busy. Lots of the military camps had freeloading problems and the inspection results of the arms depot weren’t very good. Every time he went back to the estate, he would ask Minn if she had any difficulties. Minn didn’t want to trouble him, so she only told him that everything was fine. Gu Tingye was exhausted every night since he had been on the run the whole day and night, so most of the time he would fall asleep right away.
The third day, after the inspection in the estate, the Cui Brothers and Meng handed in the brochures which recorded everything about the estate clearly. The actual area of the ck Mountain Estate was six hundred and ny acres more than what had been recorded, and there were also a few tenants who hadn’t been registered. What was more, some zealous persons exposed that those stewards including Ba Laofu had all bought farnds outside of the estate, but suchnd property of them were registered under their rtives’ names.
Ba Laofu and other stewards knelt in front of Minn, not even daring to wipe away their sweats.
Minn sat there while leafing through the brochure slowly and saying in a t tone, “You used to be the servants of a guilty official. When your former master’s mansion was confiscated, the other servants like you were sold, but you guys were appointed straightly to the estate. Now that everything in your former master’s mansion was confiscated, I wonder how you managed to possess so much of your former master’s property. What a bunch of great servants!”
Her voice sounded calm but her words were quite frightening. All the stewards kept kowtowing and begging. Ba Laofu, whose forehead got purple and swollen, raised his head and said, “We were being so silly at that time. We know we did the wrong thing. Madam, please have mercy on us. We’ll sell those farnds right away and give you the money we get...”
“Nonsense! You think Madam is coveting your few bucks?” Danju scolded him loudly.
The few stewards continued kowtowing. Minn stared at them and then said in a softer tone, “All right. You all used to work in Duke Ling’s mansion for a long time. After all those years’ toils, it’s reasonable for you to have some savings.”
The looks on the stewards’ faces became eased after they heard Minn’s gentle words. However, the next second Minn continued in a strict tone right away, “However, you concealed the actual acreage of the farnd and kept many tenants to yourselves secretly, which means you do have vited the family rules. If I forgive you for this, what if everyone else imitates you? Our family would be in a mess then. This is tough...”
Thendlords and stewards were all ill at ease, waiting for their punishments. After Minn saw their faces turning green and pale, she thought it was enough. Then she said gently, “All right, I’ll deal with you guys after Master finishes his business.”
After saying that, she ordered two stewards who were in charge of the ounts in Gu’s Mansion and a few guards to guard thosendlords and stewards. Then she left the ck Mountain Estate with all the ount books and registers of names. That night, Minn and Gu Tingye met each other in the Ancient Stone Estate. Seeing that Gu Tingye was in a good state, Minn then told him about what had happened today.
“Should we give the extra farnds to His Majesty?” Minn asked with a serious look. After all, when she was a little girl, she always turned over the money she had picked up to the authorities.
The man who had just frowned couldn’t help but smile, saying, “Did His Majesty tell you the acreage when presenting you with the estate?”
Minn shook her head.
“We have already found the servants who concealed the facts. We are not the ones that forcibly upied the citizens’ farnd. Why are you being so afraid?”
Minn found those words quite reasonable. Then she started to dry Gu Tingye’s wet hair with a towel. Gu Tingye was surprised at how calm she looked. Then he asked, “You are not angry after they have lied to you?”
“... I really am not very angry.” Minn raised her head and pondered for a while, continuing, “Although they have embezzled some silvers and farnds, they know how far to go. After all, they never treated the tenants so harshly.”
After these days’ inspection, Minn found most of the tenants in the ck Mountain Estate actually lived very well. They didn’t need to sell their children, nor were they starved to death.
In brief, the impression Minn had for thosendlords and stewards in the ck Mountain Estate was: Not bold, but loving tomit petty crimes.
Since that was the case, the servants in the estate who hadn’t made huge mistakes were not sold but given to the meritorious officials.
Of course, Minn didn’t have confidence in the efficiency of the servants in the ancient times at all.
Those servants in the mansion whose contracts were in the hands of their masters or madams could still have regr wages and even get extra rewards if they were favored by their owners. So their efficiency could be guaranteed more or less. However, it would be a veryplicated problem if those servants managed a manor. The failure of the ‘big-pot’ distribution system proved one thing: humans were always driven by profits. The rewards and punishments were always necessary.
Those stewards who handledrge sums of money could make the manor a prospering ce through their hard work. However, the servants whose personal liberty was restricted couldn’t possess their own property. That was against thews of economics and the human nature.
The most important thing was figuring out how much Ba Laofu and other stewards had embezzled. If the number was not that big, they could still be forgiven. After all, ording to Minn’s observation during these days, the ck Mountain Estate had been taken good care of. Besides...
Minn sighed, “The people we can trust now are so few. Can you remember if there are any loyal servants in the masnsion of Marquis Ningyuan? Anyone reliable could actually...” She didn’t believe Old Madam Qin was capable of winning over everyone in Marquis Ningyuan’s mansion. There were still some servants whose families had served in the mansion for generations. After all, Gu Tingye could still be regarded as their master.
After Gu Tingye remained silent for a long while, he nodded slightly. Then he changed the subject, “The reputation of the ck Mountain Estate is not bad. If you see anything inappropriate there, you can decide how to deal with it and tell Hao Dacheng to do it for you after we get back to our own mansion.” He paused and then pointed to the ground, “This estate is different. Tomorrow I’ll leave you a group of soldiers.”’
Minn stopped what she was doing and said smilingly with her head tilted, “It’s fine. I already have enough guards.”
She was pretty satisfied when the Tu Brothers held everyone in awe.
Gu Tingye raised his eyebrows and said nothing with a smile, thinking, ‘She has a clear head and great insight, but stillcks experience.’
He pulled Minn over and pressed her onto the bed. While he gave a kiss on her little red lips, he felt her smooth and tender skin though her thin clothes, which left his heart throbbing a bit. Then he said in a raucous voice, “Have you recovered?” When saying this, he put his hands into her clothes.
Minn felt her body bing limp from the rubbing. She then said with her super red face, “... I, I... I still...”
However, the man’srge hand only became more and more aggressive. She got flustered and said in a hurry, “You, you, you... You have to change three horses a day. Tomorrow is also a busy day for you. We’d better not... do that. You should have a good rest.”
“Little stammer, why are you so panicky?” Gu Tingye couldn’t help but chuckle. Then he rolled over andy on the bed. As he held Minn in his arms, he asked with a smile, “I am just asking you. Do you get me wrong?” With a teasing look in his ck eyes, he still pretended to be serious.
Minn, “...’
--She really wanted to scratch him!