Harem Daily Life

"Commander Gu? Commander Gu? The little prince is calling you!" Eunuch Gui said anxiously. The little prince said goodbye to Commander Gu, but Commander Gu acted as if he didn't hear him and didn't respond. It was really rude.

Gu Yi reacted and looked at the cute little prince who had run in front of him. He immediately apologized, "I was thinking about something just now and didn't react for a while. I hope the little prince will forgive me."

Xiao Jinan waved his hand and said, "It's settled then. Mother and I will go back first. I will bring you dinner in the evening, including roasted rabbit meat."

After the others left, Gu Yi was still a little dazed.

Eunuch Gui arranged two palace maids to take care of him, and then he went downstairs to have a rest. He was quite tired after staying up all night.

Unfortunately, Eunuch Gui had not rested for long when he saw another eunuch hurried over: "Eunuch Gui, there is a man outside who claims to be the housekeeper of the Shu family and wants to see you. He said that he came to ask the Queen Mother for help on the orders of Lord Shu. He is already waiting in the outer courtyard of the palace."

The Shu family is the Empress Dowager's maiden family. Eunuch Gui did not dare to delay. He immediately put on his coat and shoes, and hurriedly led his men to Lingxiao Courtyard.

The Queen Mother was playing chess with Xiao Jin'an. When she heard that someone from the Shu family was coming, she frowned and said, "Ask for help? What did the Shu family do wrong?" The Queen Mother gave Eunuch Qin a look and asked him to go out and find out first.

Eunuch Qin followed Eunuch Gui out, and soon came back with a serious face: "Your Majesty, some time ago, your Majesty was worried about the incomplete preparation of winter clothes for the soldiers. Concubine Shu took 10,000 taels of silver and asked the Shu family to buy a batch of cloth to donate to the court for making clothes. Now there is a problem with this batch of cloth, and your Majesty is very angry. Although you will not punish the Shu family, you reprimanded Lord Shu in the imperial study today, and also reprimanded Concubine Shu. Lord Shu was panicked, so he sent his butler to the palace for help, hoping that the Queen Mother would mediate."

The Queen Mother asked Dong Fang to take Xiao Jin'an away, and then said, "Let the housekeeper come in and explain everything clearly."

Butler Zhao came hurriedly, and with a plop, he knelt on the ground: "Please, Queen Mother, make a decision for Concubine Shu and Master Shu!"

"Please explain the situation clearly first. I want to hear the whole story." The Queen Mother said sternly.

So, Butler Zhao began to narrate the whole story.

It turned out that the Shu family received a message from Concubine Shu, saying that she wanted to win the favor of His Majesty and find an opportunity to present a good idea or something to His Majesty to relieve His Majesty's worries. The Shu family inquired from many sources and finally decided to purchase a batch of cloth at a low price and send it to the court to make winter clothes for soldiers.

The starting point was good, but the bad thing was that the Shu family was not careful enough and did not check the goods properly. They paid the money and received the goods without thinking.

After the goods were taken away by the court, they were about to use them to make winter clothes when they found that there was something wrong with the fabric. The outside of the fabric looked fine, but the inside was soaked in water, moldy and rotten, and some of the fabrics were even full of rags, and could no longer be used to make clothes.

Because there were so many damaged cloths, the Ministry of Revenue was too lazy to pick out the good ones. There were really not many good ones and almost all of them were unusable, so they were all sealed and the truth was reported to the emperor.

"Empress Dowager, Lord Shu never thought that someone would be so bold as to sell damaged fabrics to the Shu family!"

Butler Zhao cried and said, "That money was paid by Concubine Shu, with real money and silver notes. But when something went wrong, we went to look for the seller, but he was nowhere to be found!"

The Queen Mother looked at Butler Zhao as if he were an idiot: "Are you so careless about a deal worth 10,000 taels that you didn't even check it? Humph, how foolish!"

Eunuch Qin quickly poured the Queen Mother a cup of tea, saying that tea can reduce internal heat, so she shouldn't get too angry!

"Have you reported it to the authorities?" the Queen Mother asked after taking a sip of tea.

Butler Zhao hesitated a little: "I did report it. But... later the adults withdrew the lawsuit."

The Queen Mother narrowed her eyes and said, "Why? You don't tell the truth and want me to intercede for you? You are so bold to deceive me!"

Butler Zhao immediately kowtowed and said, "I dare not deceive the Queen Mother. I will tell you right away. It is like this. Concubine Shu gave 10,000 taels of silver notes, but...but 3,000 taels of it were used by the Second Young Master for gambling, and he lost them all..."

As Butler Zhao spoke, he looked at the Queen Mother's expression and continued, "In the end, he only paid 7,000 taels for the 7,000 taels of cloth. Lord Shu reported it to the authorities at first, but later he thought about this and the amount didn't match, so he withdrew the case to avoid the Jingzhao Yin trying the case and the news getting to Concubine Shu's ears, causing resentment."

The Queen Mother snorted coldly, "So, Shu Fei was the one who got taken advantage of. She spent 10,000 taels, but ended up losing 3,000 taels to Shu Jia Erlang in gambling, and then she bought 7,000 taels of rags and brought them to Your Majesty to seek credit, right?"

Butler Zhao nodded dejectedly: "Now His Majesty has reprimanded the Shu family and Shu Fei for not doing their job well and deceiving the emperor. Lord Shu did not dare to report to the authorities to recover the silver. Madam Shu Fei is still pregnant and is very upset about this matter. This servant came here on the orders of Lord Shu to ask the Queen Mother to come forward and say a few good words for the Shu family in front of His Majesty and settle this matter."

The empress dowager was so disappointed with the man that she glared at housekeeper Zhao and then looked at eunuch Qin.

Eunuch Qin said in embarrassment: "This matter is indeed difficult to handle, but I think that we still have to report it to the authorities. We must find the seller and recover the silver. Otherwise, won't we suffer in silence?"

He looked at the Queen Mother and continued, "As for Concubine Shu, they are family after all. The Second Young Master should come forward to apologize and talk things out. I believe Concubine Shu will not blame her own brother."

The Queen Mother didn't say anything, so Eunuch Qin continued, "As for your Majesty, for the sake of the Shu family, there will definitely be no punishment. At most, they will be scolded. After all, Concubine Shu and the Shu family donated with good intentions, but they just didn't do it well. In the final analysis, the Shu family and Concubine Shu are also victims, and the losses are the most serious."

The Queen Mother snorted coldly: "Did you understand everything? Why don't you go back and do it!"

Butler Zhao wrote down what Eunuch Qin said and immediately kowtowed and took his leave.

Just as he stood up, he remembered that the Queen Mother had not promised to mediate, so he respectfully asked: "Then, Your Majesty..."

The Queen Mother was too lazy to pay attention to him, so Eunuch Qin spoke for her: "Just include a sentence in your letter to your Majesty. Your Majesty will not blame you. If the Queen Mother reprimands the Shu family in a few words in the letter, your Majesty will calm down."

Only then did Butler Zhao feel relieved and retreated respectfully.

After the others left, the Queen Mother said, "I don't want to take care of it, but you are so kind to do it. What's the point of giving him advice? Just let him be confused."

Eunuch Qin knew that the Queen Mother was speaking in anger. Lord Shu was the Queen Mother's younger brother, and Concubine Shu was her niece. How could he just ignore them?

The Queen Mother was just angry that she didn't fight back and said she didn't care.

Women are the most hypocritical, and the most noble women in the Great Zhou are no exception.

Eunuch Qin has a pair of sharp eyes that really see through everything.