The swansong of the swansong

Chapter 39: Yinyu got a great bargain

Three days later, Wanyan Zhong brought Yinyou the list of debts owed within the Ministry of Revenue.

Yinyu couldn't help but feel excited. The good opportunity to give the fourth brother a chance to show off his skills had finally arrived.

Although, Yinyou had the upper hand over the fourth brother and received a huge bonus of buying horse bones for a thousand gold coins.

However, if Yinyou was incompetent, the Fourth Prince would not be able to use him in the future.

Yinyou ordered someone to bring large sheets of rice paper and a ruler, and then used a fine brush to draw several tables on the rice paper.

According to the details of name, position, loan date and amount owed, Yinyou copied them one by one into the form with a fine brush.

It is worth mentioning that Yinyou used Arabic numerals to express the amount of debt.

Because the Chinese numbers 壹贰３４５６７８９０, 佰千萬, 万 and 萬 are naturally not conducive to summary statistics.

Why does the Ministry of Revenue have the most departments and the most officials?

Isn't it that the level of financial management and accounting is extremely low, so we need a lot of officials who can use an abacus?
However, under the background of the eight-legged essay system and the emphasis on agriculture and suppression of commerce, there were many officials who knew how to make money, but officials who knew how to calculate were rare.

Under the long-term influence of foreign missionaries, almost all adult princes, except the eldest, the fifth and the tenth, knew Arabic numerals.

Among them, Kangxi not only knew Arabic numerals, but could also solve linear equations of two variables.

Lao Jiu was even more amazing. Not only could he solve three-variable linear equations, he was also proficient in Latin. What was even more amazing was that Lao Jiu could even write letters in Russian.

However, mathematics was just Kangxi's hobby.

In order to ensure the stability of the Eight Banners' rule, Kangxi had no intention of promoting mathematics education in the Qing Dynasty.

Let the eight-legged essay invented by the Han Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang forever imprison the thoughts of the Han people. This is Kangxi's truest thought.

The palace has always provided two meals a day, namely breakfast and dinner. If you get hungry during the meal, you can only eat steamed buns to fill your stomach.

All government offices of the imperial court also had a system of two meals a day.

However, after the workaholic Lao Si was ordered to manage the Ministry of Revenue, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue worked overtime until midnight almost every day.

The emperor doesn’t have a shortage of hungry soldiers, let alone the fourth brother?
As a result, it was natural for the Ministry of Revenue to provide a free "midnight snack".

At 8:15 pm, after the cloud board rang to signal the end of the shift, Su Peisheng arrived and invited Yinyou to go to the fourth brother's place to have dinner together.

When Yinyou entered the room, he saw six dishes and a soup on the small round table, namely: raw roasted roe deer meat, Kung Pao wild rabbit, shredded chicken and cucumber, braised pork tenderloin, spicy shredded tripe, enoki mushrooms and hair algae, as well as a large bowl of Longjing bamboo shoot soup.

In addition, several Liubiju’s homemade appetizer pickles were placed on the round table.

Because Yinyou often followed the Sixteenth Prince to the Fourth Prince's Beile Mansion to eat, he was quite familiar with the Fourth Prince's eating habits.

The fourth brother is not lustful, nor does he covet food, but he is a workaholic who likes to seize power. His daily dinner usually consists of four dishes and one soup.

Today's six dishes and one soup were obviously added by the fourth brother because Yinyou came.

"Fifteenth brother, I'm really hungry and have been waiting for you." The fourth brother warmly invited Yinyou to sit down.

Since the fourth brother seemed very easy-going, Yinyou didn't force himself to be polite and sat down next to him casually.

The fourth brother didn't like drinking, but he took the initiative to pour two glasses of wine, one for him and one for Yinyou.

"After the evening session at the yamen, those officials who have not completed today's work must stay and continue to do it. They can not leave the yamen until the work is completed." The fourth brother raised his wine cup and seemingly casually mentioned the unspoken rules of the Ministry of Revenue.

Yinyu was a wise man. He quickly approached and clinked glasses with the fourth brother. He smiled and said, "I must abide by the rules set by my fourth brother. However, it is not convenient for me to get bedding from the palace, so I need your help!" Seeing Yinyu's knowledge and understanding, the fourth brother couldn't help but smile and said, "Don't worry, I'll ask Su Peisheng to arrange it later."

After the night curfew began in the capital, even with the certification documents from the Ministry of Revenue, it was definitely a stressful and annoying task to open dozens of fence gates guarded by the Eight Banners soldiers along the way.

In order to avoid trouble, officials who work overtime too late often prefer to spend the whole night in the yamen and simply not go home.

As the saying goes, deep feelings are felt at the first touch.

Yinyou tilted his head back and drank the wine in the cup, appearing particularly generous.

On the other hand, the fourth brother merely wet his lips with the wine and put down the wine cup.

The fourth brother didn't like drinking and had a low alcohol tolerance, which Yinyou had known for a long time.

"Hey, this spicy shredded tripe tastes great, would you like to try it?" The fourth brother found it tasty and took the initiative to pick up a piece of shredded tripe for Yinyou with chopsticks.

Yinyou didn't mind the fourth brother's saliva at all. He picked up the tripe strips from the dish and stuffed them into his mouth.

Su Peisheng, who was serving on the side, caught a glimpse of a smile on the fourth brother's face. He couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart. The fifteenth master really understood the fourth brother's thoughts!

Yinyou actually saw the smile on the fourth brother's face, but he pretended not to know and continued to chew the tripe in his mouth.

No matter what, Yinyou is the first younger brother to officially surrender to the fourth brother. As long as he doesn't do anything stupid, he can definitely be expected to be reused in the future.

There have been rumors that the fourth brother is mean and ungrateful, and does not recognize his relatives.

This statement is both right and wrong.

Not to mention anything else, just the super treatment enjoyed by the Thirteenth and Sixteenth Brothers, who were the first to join the group after the Fourth Brother ascended the throne, gave Yinyou enough confidence to follow the Fourth Brother.

However, Nian Gengyao and Longkodo, who joined the gang halfway, certainly could not get the fourth brother's true love and could only be used.

"Fourth brother, why are you just looking at me? You've eaten too little, your body won't be able to take it, you should eat more."

When they were enjoying the meal, Yinyou suddenly picked up a piece of braised pork tenderloin for the fourth child with his chopsticks.

The fourth brother looked at the braised pork tenderloin on the dish, then looked at Yinyou whose mouth was full of oil, but said nothing. He picked up a piece of braised pork tenderloin with chopsticks and stuffed it into his mouth.

Su Peisheng, who was standing nearby, almost dropped his jaw in shock. Even the Fourth Lady didn't dare to do this!

My little darling, only Master Fifteen dares to do this. Why don’t we try someone else?

With the fourth brother personally serving him the food, Yinyou ate until his belly was full and stuffed.

Although his stomach was bloated and uncomfortable, Yinyou knew in his heart that his status in the fourth brother's heart had been raised to a higher level.

Yinyou drank a lot of wine, but he knew clearly in his mind that the fourth brother was overwhelmed with family affection and treated him as the fourteenth brother.

Although Lao Si always has a scary face in front of others, in fact, deep down in his heart, he is extremely lonely and longs for family and friendship.

It’s a pity that the Fourteenth Brother doesn’t look like a real brother at all.

Hehe, it’s a great bargain for Yinyou!
The fourth brother, feeling depressed, could only pour out his brotherly love on Yinyou.

After all, the fourth brother is thirteen years older than Yinyou. If they were not brothers from the same father, they would almost be two generations apart.

To be honest, no matter how much the fourth brother loves him, there is no risk.

(End of this chapter)