Transmigrated Genius: Fragile Heiress Reigns Supreme-Chapter 660 - 662: Assets (4)

Fourth Master Xiao chuckled, rarely seeing Xiqiu with such an expression, her eyes bright as if she had suddenly found herself in a bag of money, very adorable. He laughed and said, "I’ve given you the key; tomorrow you can go take a look yourself. As for the property deeds and the land documents, I’ll have them sent to you tomorrow so you can calculate for yourself." Saying this, he watched Xiqiu raise her eyebrows, appearing quite deep in thought as he continued, "If I recall correctly, there should be four houses and an eighty-quing land outside Tongzhou, a one hundred twenty-quing piece in Dezhou...I don’t remember all the rest; you’ll have to check them yourself later."

Xiqiu froze, eighty quing, one hundred twenty quing; her dowry estates are all several hundred mu each. She hadn’t felt it just now, but now she truly felt like she’d dropped into a bag of money.

She clung to Fourth Master Xiao’s coat, sitting on his lap with her eyes growing even brighter, "So how much can I...no, the mansion spend on household expenses each month?"

"Silly girl." Fourth Master Xiao burst into hearty laughter, hugging Xiqiu and kissing her face, laughing, "Going forward, all silver coins entering the mansion treasury will be in your hands; you get to decide how much to use, why come ask me?" 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Xiqiu’s smile faded from her face as she quickly calculated in her mind. The mansion has one hundred twenty-three servants in total, of whom fifty-two receive a monthly stipend of two taels, thirty-six get one tael, and the remaining are given two hundred coins of monthly usage for third-class and little maids without leadership. Seasonal clothing and holiday gifts, expenditure for house repairs, kitchen costs, and hospitality expenses for visiting mansion guests—back when the Marquis Mansion had so many people, the monthly expenses including gifts amounted to about five or six thousand taels, sometimes less, sometimes more, reaching ten thousand taels at times. Well, how much does she get here?

Fourth Master Xiao looked at her, laughing, "Did you figure it out yet?"

Xiqiu shook her head honestly, "No!" Fourth Master Xiao laughed, hugged Xiqiu, and asked, "You seem much happier living separately; had I known, I would’ve moved out from the start."

But Xiqiu shook her head and said, "Staying in the Marquis Mansion also had its benefits. I’ve spent a lot of time with Mother and Sister-in-law; if we had moved out right away, relations might have grown distant. So, you can’t look at things one-sided; there are always advantages."

Fourth Master Xiao nodded thoughtfully, his hand resting on her belly, somewhat troubled, indeed seeing both sides to a matter.

On the second day, Chunliu early in the morning pasted the regulations, which several people had stayed up working on the previous night, at the entrance of the main hall, instructing everyone to take a look. For those who couldn’t read, Chunliu had literate maids stand aside to read aloud, while those who could read copied them into their notebooks. She said: "Starting today, all rules are guided by the ones on top. If there are any omissions, you’re welcome to supplement them and mutually supervise each other. The Mistress doesn’t intend to punish anyone but wants you to know that there are rules to follow when taking up posts. Strict enforcement is expected, and severe punishments will be applied for violations!"

Some people secretly shrank back, sighing inwardly; yesterday, what had been said—Madam’s easy-going nature doesn’t strictly regulate the servants—had inevitably made them indulge in laziness and slack off. Now that these meticulous rules were posted, even if they wanted to slack off, they’d have to thoroughly weigh the consequences.

Thinking of Madam sitting at the top yesterday, earnestly listening to them speak from beginning to end—without minding good or bad words, not uttering a single harsh remark—they hadn’t expected these meticulous mansion rules to appear overnight!

It’s entirely different from the rumors and what they’d inquired about.

They now treated this newly arrived mistress with much more caution.

The account books and property deeds Fourth Master Xiao mentioned were indeed delivered promptly, Xiqiu carefully calculating them, astounded to find that Fourth Master Xiao had quietly amassed so much wealth. Just the fields included four large estates each spanning seventy to eighty quings. There were four houses in the Capital and five more in Shandong. Astonishingly, he even had an inn in Fujian, about which she knew nothing!

Regarding the contents of the storeroom, she took Nanny Cen to inspect them; they were mostly jade artifacts and ancient curios, all valuable items, some bestowed by the Emperor, some naturally obtained during his time in Liaodong, and others gifted by subordinates. There was a rough inventory booklet; Xiqiu reviewed it thoroughly, instructing Nanny Cen to take the keys and a group to meticulously check the items, create a catalog, and store them according to category.

After a busy morning, during lunchtime, Ruan Jingliu arrived. Xiqiu greeted her inside, and Ruan Jingliu laughed as she said, "Living separately seems to make you feel much freer; I see your complexion is much improved compared to before."

"It does make the heart lighter." Xiqiu laughed, "However, having just moved, there’s chaos without order in the mansion’s many affairs, requiring organizing and tidying."

Ruan Jingliu nodded while listening, replying, "There’s plenty of time ahead for gradual organization."

"Indeed!" Xiqiu laughed, looking at Ruan Jingliu, "Did you come for a particular reason?"

Ruan Jingliu acknowledged, "I did come to discuss something with you." Taking a sip of tea, she added, "I’ve heard that there’s a shop on East Street up for lease; I’m thinking of acquiring it to open another pharmacy. What do you think?"

Upon hearing this, Xiqiu paused and asked, "The medical center has just begun turning a profit, isn’t the rent for the shop on East Street quite high, is the accounting’s silver enough?"

"No need to worry about that." Ruan Jingliu laughed, "There’s a payment for medicinal herbs to East Prosperity Medicine due this month; I’ve already negotiated with them to extend the deadline by two months. With this herb payment, we can acquire the shop."

Xiqiu furrowed her brows, thinking, then looking at Ruan Jingliu, she responded, "In my opinion, it’s best to proceed steadily. Our current pharmacy is just beginning to gain some reputation; now is the time to solidify. If we rush to open a branch, we’ll face staffing difficulties and even challenges in medicinal supplies." After a pause, she continued, "I originally thought of setting up estates for growing medicinal herbs so that in the future we could rely on self-sufficiency, considerably reducing costs. Getting supplies externally is not a long-term strategy, so why not wait a bit? While shops on East Street are hard to find, opportunities will arise; it’s not too late to wait for a while more!"

Ruan Jingliu felt Xiqiu made sense, so she pondered quietly. After contemplating for quite some time, she said," Then let’s follow your suggestion and wait a little longer." She paused and added, "However, that shop is indeed a rare chance, it may not become available again; perhaps you should ask Fourth Miss if her embroidery shop would need it."

"I’ll write back to Fourth Sister asking for her opinion."

Ruan Jingliu nodded and further added, "Third Young Madam Ren came to the medical center looking for me yesterday." Xiqiu paused at this, asking, "She came personally, for what reason?"

"It’s Count." Ruan Jingliu put down her teacup and replied, "I examined him and felt it’s likely a matter of this month."

Tong Xiyang’s father-in-law, Count Wujin, is in such a dire state? She recalled him taking a prolonged sick leave after the Emperor reprimanded him in jest during the New Year banquet. Since then, he’s been mostly retired for the past six months, with only the eldest Ren Family still holding a government post. Both Second Young Master and Third Young Master haven’t risen to prominence. If Count succumbs, Ren Family’s chance of revival pivots significantly on luck.

Wondering if any of the three Ren Brothers possess the luck like Count Wujin’s to reignite Wujin Bo Mansion with one miracle!

She also thought of Tong Xiyang; if the Ren Family divides, Ren Jun definitely wouldn’t be eligible to inherit the title. If splitting away to live independently, the backyard with numerous concubines and daughters will be quite a burden.

She said nothing more, while Ruan Jingliu didn’t dwell on Count Wujin’s affairs either. The conversation shifted, "I plan to visit Tongzhou next month, then head to Shandong. Your two estate’s herbs are ready for transplanting; I’m thinking it’d be reassuring to check on them personally."

"If you plan to go, ask Tianyi and Chunyan to accompany you; it’ll ease my worry. Meanwhile, let Sixth Master Luo oversee the medical center for the time being," Xiqiu advised.

Ruan Jingliu nodded and said, "I’ll likely be away for a month; if anything comes up, I’ll send you a letter."

Xiqiu nodded, seeing Ruan Jingliu off, then a woman from the outer courtyard reported: "Third Young Madam Ren from Wujin Bo Mansion has arrived."

"Tong Xiyang?" Xiqiu raised her eyebrows, speak of the devil; what’s her reason for coming at this hour?