Chapter 417: Chapter 417, the Xie family’s estate
After Qiao Ruoyi returned to the Xie residence, she first went to Nichang’s room. Little Nichang had returned to the Qiao residence today to play with Nihon for a day and had rested early.
Qiao ruoyi closed the door and returned to her room.
After entering the room, Xie Yun was holding a chess piece and was about to place it on the chessboard. “You’re back? Is it proper for a dignified assistant minister of the Ministry of Appointments to go to Spring Breeze Street?”
Qiao ruoyi said, “It’s a place frequented by officials, so why can’t I go? Tomorrow, get the accounting office to prepare 400,000 taels of silver. I’ll buy the Peach Blossom House.”
After Qiao Ruoyi finished speaking calmly, she sized up Xie Yun, but she didn’t see a trace of annoyance on his face, “You said before your marriage that your silver would be used by me. Don’t tell me that you’re angry that I used a mere 400,000 taels of silver?”
Xie Yun shook his head and said, “I’m not angry.”
“Oh,”Qiao ruoyi said calmly, “I wonder if you can gather all the silver tomorrow?”
Xie Yun said, “There’s no need to gather all the silver. The Peach Blossom House is the Xie family’s property. You Don’t have to pass such a large amount of silver to the government. You also have to pay a large amount of taxes. I’ll just give it to you directly.”
Qiao ruoyi said in shock, “The Peach Blossom House is also the Xie family’s property? How much property does your Xie family have?”
Xie Yun said, “Not your Xie family, but our family. Since you are the mistress of the Xie family, come with me. I’ll show you how much property the Xie family has…”
Qiao ruoyi followed Xie Yun into his study and saw piles of ledgers. They were all arranged according to the state capital. Among them, there were more ledgers in Chang ‘an, Luoyang, and Linan, Yangzhou, and Huizhou than in other places.
Especially in Chang ‘an, all the money-making shops and books were here, which meant that these were actually the Xie family’s properties.
Qiao ruoyi asked Xie Yun, “Then how much money does the Xie family have?”
Xie Yun slowly said, “I didn’t count it carefully. The Xie family still has the money house. As long as the money house doesn’t collapse, no matter how much money you spend, you won’t be able to spend it all. His Majesty’s private money is all in the Xie family’s money house. I’m sure he won’t watch the Xie family’s money house collapse…”
Qiao Ruoyi closed the account book and said, “You know this, but you’ve been looking at me as a joke for the past three days.”
Xie Yun said, “I don’t want to see you as a joke, but if I don’t let you try, how can you be willing? You’re pregnant, so you’d better rest early.”
Qiao Ruoyi returned to her room. After taking a shower, the smell of Rouge had faded from her body. As she lay on the bed, she couldn’t help but think that she was indeed silly and laughable. Xie Yun was rich enough to rival a country, yet she actually thought of using up Xie Yun’s money..
The next day, Qiao Ruoyi did not bother to think of ways to spend money. However, wanting the peach blossom house was not a whim of hers. She was thinking of changing the peach blossom house into a place similar to a church.
The women inside did not need to sell their bodies to live, but they could also live a carefree life.
Five days later, Qiao Ruoyi and Xie Yun returned to the imperial court. When the people from the Ministry of appointments found out that Qiao Ruoyi was pregnant, they did not allow her to work. This made Qiao Ruoyi feel extremely uncomfortable.
When Qiao Ruoyi returned to the Xie residence, she began to think hard about the memorials.
There was a difference between men and women. A woman was pregnant for ten months.
Even the servants in the residence, as long as she was pregnant, the master would not let her work anymore. Some women were like this. However, if she rested for ten months, her original position would not be able to accommodate herself?
Qiao ruoyi thought about it again and again, and then submitted a regulation on when a woman was pregnant.
This regulation could be considered as a complement to the inconvenience for female officials, and it could also allow the people to hire female workers to follow suit.
For a time, assistant minister Qiao’s name spread far and wide. During the imperial examinations next year, among the names reported by the various prefectures, one-tenth of them were women. Compared to before, this was already considered a lot.
In November, a cold wind blew, and the night became extremely cold.
This year, Chang ‘an was colder than the previous years. Charcoal and firewood were both extremely expensive.
Qiao ruoyi also began to take leave to focus on her pregnancy. She heard Yan Yu and Lan Xin often talk about how people on the streets outside had frozen to death. People who had frozen to death under the emperor’s feet could be ridiculed by many scholars.
The prefectural magistrate of Chang ‘an was so scared that he wanted to take out his own house and let the people on the streets sleep.
Chang ‘an had a sickroom. People of all ages could go to the sickroom. They would not be frozen to death there.
However, there were some hawkers who wanted to earn more money in the morning and seize good stalls. At night, they would secretly sleep in small alleys. The officials would not look in those small alleys when they patrolled.
Once the matter of freezing people to death came out, the emperor was furious.
Xie Yun suggested that the Ministry of revenue should interfere with the price of charcoal and matches. He also suggested that the hawkers on the streets should also be treated separately, so that the hawkers would not secretly sleep on the streets at night in order to seize territory.
Xie Yun’s two suggestions were highly appreciated by the emperor. Xie Yun was also transferred from the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Rites to the Ministry of Revenue as an assistant minister. They were both assistant ministers, however, the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue had more real power than Xie Yun’s assistant minister who specialized in dealing with foreign businessmen.
The Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Rites had no right to earn money, but the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue had real power. More importantly, the Minister of Revenue would retire after the New Year.
The position of assistant minister was only temporary.
Since Xie Yun had a suggestion, these matters were placed on Xie Yun’s head. Xie Yun had been so busy these days that she was nowhere to be seen. However, when it was time to give her medicine every half a month, the bowl of blood would always come.
In the blink of an eye, it was December. The atmosphere of the new year in Chang ‘an became lively.
Xie Yun was no longer busy. He said to Qiao ruoyi, “There are more than 20 days of rest after the new year. You can go back to Lin ‘an and bring nichang to pay respects to the ancestors.”
Qiao ruoyi said, “I won’t leave Chang ‘an during the New Year.”
Xie Yun looked at her in confusion. “After you and I get married, we have to go back to the Xie family’s old residence. The wedding was rushed, and we didn’t pay respects to the ancestors.”
Qiao ruoyi said, “You can go back by yourself.”
Xie Yun said, “Forget it. We’ll talk about it next year. After all, you’re still pregnant. It’s not appropriate to go back and forth this time.”
Before the New Year, the Minister of Revenue had written a letter to retire and return to his hometown. Naturally, Xie Yun became the Minister of Revenue. Many people came to visit during the New Year Festival.
On the 22nd of December, the day before New Year’s Eve, many officials in Chang ‘an brought their families to the Xie residence to congratulate them.
However, no one greeted their families.
Xie Yun asked Lan Xin, “Where is she?”
Ever since they got married, Xie Yun had asked Lan Xin the most. It was probably about where she was. Every Time Qiao Ruoyi went out, she would not tell him.
Lan Xin said softly, “Madam, Madam went to the ancestral grave of the Qiao family early in the morning.”
“Again?”
Xie Yun pursed his lips. It had only been three months since they got married, and Qiao Ruoyi had already gone to the front of Luo Wei’s grave three times. Could she really not let Luo Wei Go?
Was she still going to Lowe’s grave on his good day?