That night, in the study.

Song Ting sat on a carved sandalwood chair with fur, plucked the abacus with his right hand, and recited words in his mouth: "The four retainers each have a monthly salary of 18 taels and 7 cents, a monthly firewood and rice fee of 2 taels, a car fee of 4 taels and 2 cents, and holiday benefits...... a year is about one thousand two hundred and thirty taels; The average of the maids is two and thirty wen per month, that is, two or two or three points, and it is about seven hundred taels a year; There are also stewards in charge of stables, gatekeepers, vegetable gardens, mills, firewood houses, and warehouses......"

Suddenly, Song Ting stopped his hand on the abacus and looked back at the maid Hongzhu who was gently squeezing his shoulder.

Zhao Yuanzhen was burying his head in the side to record, and suddenly he didn't hear his voice, and he also raised his head.

Being stared at by the two masters like this, Hongzhu suddenly blushed, and stopped pinching Song Ting's shoulder.

"Hongzhu, aren't you serving Miss Xiaoman?" Song Ting looked at Hongzhu and asked.

Hongzhu is one of the more outstanding among the twenty handmaidens given by the palace, and the other is called Luzhu. Hongzhu was originally assigned to Xiaoman's personal maid, but now I don't know why, I actually ran to the study to pinch his shoulder, which made him feel very strange.

Being stared at by the two masters, especially by Zhao Yuanzhen's disliked eyes, Hongzhu lowered her head and blushed, and snorted: "Yes...... It's Miss Xiaoman...... Let me serve the horseman. ”

When Zhao Yuanzhen heard her say this, she knew that Xiaoman must have also come to the study, and she didn't know where to hide, so she called "Xiaoman", Xiaoman turned out from behind the bookshelf, clapped his little hands, and ran over excitedly: "Princess!" Princess! Xiaoman is here! ”

When she and Hongzhu stood together, Hongzhu was obviously half a head taller than her, which made Zhao Yuanzhen's eyes flash a trace of worry, and she was faintly worried for Xiaoman......

"Xiaoman, come and serve the horse master, Hongzhu, you can step down." Zhao Yuanzhen said.

"Yes, Princess." Listening to the princess's orders, Hongzhu retreated.

Xiao Man rolled up his sleeves, stretched out his white wrist, and began to pinch Song Ting's shoulders with a pair of small hands......

Song Ting felt that the red beads were indeed pinched well.

“…… The retainers, maids, servants and others have to spend nearly three thousand taels a year, not including the daily firewood and rice, and there are other miscellaneous and odd things, including tribute to the palace...... Zhen'er, these fifty people, the annual expenditure in the house is 7,000 taels, this is still based on 50 people, if it is a hundred people, it will cost more than 10,000 taels......" After knocking on the abacus, Song Ting said to Zhao Yuanzhen.

Xiao Man was confused when he heard it, and he didn't have time to react to how the master of the horse calculated, but Zhao Yuanzhen had already put down the pen and paper, made a record, and after listening to what Song Ting said, he frowned, bit the pen, and muttered: "In this way, 400,000 is not enough for us in this life, let alone our sons and grandsons...... Thinking about it now, what Xianggong said is very true, yes, it is indeed necessary to open up sources and reduce expenditure. ”

Song Ting couldn't cry or laugh, and returned his son and grandson...... Is the princess's wife thinking too far?

Xiaoman asked, "What does it mean to open up sources and reduce expenditure?"

Song Ting heard Xiaoman's question, thought for a while, and replied to her: "To put it simply, it is to make more money and spend less money."

Xiaoman nodded like pounding garlic: "Oh oh, I understand, Xiaoman will also make money from tomorrow!"

Listening to Xiaoman's words, Zhao Yuanzhen couldn't help but sneer, and patiently explained: "I saw in the book that it says: Those who have a career are also the source of goods; Those who wait for the treasury are also the flow of goods. The so-called open source and reduce expenditure is to compare governing the country and running the family to a reservoir, developing water sources, and controlling the flow of water. ”

Song Ting stared straight at her, his eyes were surprised, Xiao Man was scratching his head to understand the meaning of her words.

"Why are you staring at me?" Zhao Yuanzhen blinked a pair of extremely good-looking eyes.

Song Ting shook his head and smiled, "The lady is talented, and Xiaosheng admires her." ”

Zhao Yuanzhen smiled and said: "It is also an honor for the concubine to be praised by the public."

Xiao Man pouted, "But...... Obviously, the horse master can explain it clearly in six words, why does the princess say it so around, Xiaoman can't understand it......"

Song Ting said: "I'm calling it opportunistic, the princess is right!"

Zhao Yuanzhen said: "Xianggong is a little righteous, and it is the ability to make people understand." The concubine is just dropping the bookbag. ”

Song Ting said: "The lady is too modest."

Zhao Yuanzhen said: "Xianggong is too humble."

Xiao Man couldn't help but interrupt: "Xiao Man now understands a word - Lang Qing concubine."

The two stopped talking.

After a while, Song Ting picked up the piece of paper written by Zhao Yuanzhen, flicked it, and said, "Okay!" Starting tomorrow, open source and reduce expenditure! ”

looked at Zhao Yuanzhen again, moved the sandalwood chair in front of her, and said, "I have some ideas and want to discuss them with you."

Hearing his words, Zhao Yuanzhen was very happy, her beautiful eyes sparkled, she took his hand, nodded her head, and said, "Xianggong, say it."

As he moved, Xiao Man had no choice but to turn around, a pair of pink fists slammed on his shoulders, and listened curiously to the two of them.

"Let me talk about throttling first, it is nothing more than the four aspects of clothing, food, housing and transportation, but these are basic living guarantees, and there is nothing to save, mainly in paying tribute to the court, rewarding subordinates, visiting relatives and friends, etc......., Song Ting said.

"Wait, Xianggong, what do you mean by a follower?"

"Uh, gift money, gift money."

"Oh, there are always strange words coming out of the mouth of the Xianggong. Xianggong, continue to say......"

"For example, a few days ago, your Eighth Emperor Brother gave two boxes of ginseng, but Zhen'er, you returned a generous gift of 1,000 taels, and Qin's nurse, you gave 50 taels at once...... I don't think that's good, it's not appropriate. Song Ting said.

Zhao Yuanzhen looked at him with beautiful eyes and said, "The Eighth Emperor Brother's family is struggling, help me, didn't Nurse Qin promise to do things for us?" Zhen'er read the book and said, 'Willing to eat, beautiful clothes, peaceful customs, happy to work'...... Could it be that Zhen'er did something wrong? ”

Song Ting shook his head and said, "Zhen'er didn't do anything wrong, but can you ...... Don't give so much, I'll tell you a story. ”

Xiaoman clapped his hands and said, "Okay, good!" Listen to the story of the horse! ”

Song Ting began to tell the story: "Once upon a time, there were two families that were neighbors, and one of them was relatively wealthy. One year, natural disasters caused no grain harvest in the field. The poor family had no harvest and had to wait for death. The rich family had a lot of food, so they sent a liter of rice to the poor family to save the emergency. The poor family was very grateful, and after surviving the most difficult moment, the poor went to thank the rich man, and talked about the seeds of next year that had not yet been planted, and the rich family generously said: "This way, I still have a lot of food here, you can take another bucket." ”

"The poor man went home with a bucket of rice with a thousand thanks. When I got home, my family said, "What can I do with this rice?" There is simply not enough seeds in the field next year, they are too much, since they are so rich, they should send us more food! When this word reached the ears of the rich man, he was very angry, and thought to himself: I have given you so much food for nothing, and you not only do not thank me, but you also treat me as an enemy. As a result, the two families, who had a good relationship, have since become enemies, and they have never been in contact with each other. Song Ting finished the story and looked at the second daughter.

After listening to this story of "Shengmi Endou Mi Hatred", Zhao Yuanzhen and Xiaoman both fell silent.

Stunned, Zhao Yuanzhen said: "However, Nurse Qin is not such a person!"

Song Ting said patiently: "I know that Nurse Qin is not the kind of ungrateful person, you also grew up eating her milk, and fifty taels of silver is only a small amount. What I want to say is to beware of people like that, some of them are pure white-eyed wolf ......" and then told the second daughter the story of "the farmer and the snake".

The two girls were shocked when they heard this, which was completely different from the "good and evil retribution" they had heard, and if it wasn't for Song Ting's mouth, they might have felt that these stories were deceitful.

(End of chapter)