Wei Dongling's delicate hands were gently massaging the stiff neck of the emperor again.
The emperor carefully flipped through the account books that Wei Dongling had marked and adjusted with a red pen. He asked in surprise, "There's such a big discrepancy?"
"Yes," Wei Dongling replied.
The emperor frowned and flipped through the pages one by one. The more he looked, the more surprised he became. All these inconsistent accounts were clearly marked by Wei Dongling. After looking for a while, the emperor lowered his eyes and sighed, "Wanlin, I really should reward you handsomely. Tell me, what do you want?"
If it weren't for his daughter's amazing ability to sort out the account details that the Ministry of Revenue had been unable to figure out for so long within just two hours, the emperor would never have thought that there were so many loopholes! He was truly shocked.
Wei Dongling didn't hide her excitement at all. She exclaimed happily, "Father, I want a token to leave the palace!" With that thing, she could go back to the Su Mansion whenever she wanted!
The emperor waved his hand and nodded, "Granted."
Wei Dongling said happily, "Father is so kind!"
Eunuch Cao sent someone to bring a token. Wei Dongling happily held it. After bowing, she ran away in a hurry.
Eunuch Cao looked at Wei Dongling's hasty back and was a bit surprised. It seemed that the Fifth Princess hadn't learned the palace etiquette very well. But seeing the emperor looking at the departing Fifth Princess with a doting smile, he didn't say anything.
Wei Dongling rushed to the guest room where Yu Zixi was staying with the jade token in her hand. She pushed open the door, but it was empty. There weren't even any shoes! The room was tidied up neatly, as if no one had ever lived there.
Where was Yu Zixi?
Wei Dongling quickly went to the next room to look for Ruan Niang. But even the room where Ruan Niang lived was spotless.
Wei Dongling panicked. She rushed back to the main hall in a hurry and grabbed La Mei, asking, "Where's Ruan Niang?"
La Mei trembled and said, "Madam Ruan left two prescriptions for you and then went back."
Wei Dongling asked in disbelief, "She left without even saying goodbye to me? And Xiaohong left with her too?"
La Mei said speechlessly, "Madam Ruan said that there was an old man in her family with an eye disease that needed acupuncture treatment and couldn't be delayed any longer."
Eye disease? It must be Grandpa Su. Wei Dongling looked at the token in her hand and sighed helplessly. She couldn't just leave the palace in a hurry to see Grandpa Su right after getting the token, could she? Moreover, she was still under house arrest for a month!
Thinking that Yu Zixi, who was almost within her reach, had left again, Wei Dongling let out a long sigh and shed tears.
Seeing that the Fifth Princess was sad, La Mei quickly stepped forward to comfort her, "Madam Ruan also said that you mustn't be careless about your health. She will come into the palace to check your pulse every once in a while."
"Okay," Wei Dongling thought that she'd better bring Yu Zixi into the palace every time! With teary eyes, Wei Dongling asked La Mei, "Where's the clothes I took off last night?"
La Mei's face instantly turned pale. She asked carefully, "Do you mean that Phoenix Butterfly Dress with vomit on it that smelled disgusting from afar?"
Wei Dongling: ...
Good heavens! What had she done? La Mei, did you have to describe it so specifically? It was so embarrassing!
La Mei said resentfully, "Please forgive this servant for taking the liberty of throwing it away." Anyway, the Fifth Princess didn't like dressing up, and she wasn't very interested in beautiful dresses. The one she wore yesterday wasn't very outstanding, so La Mei simply asked someone to take it out and throw it away.
Seeing that the Fifth Princess didn't say anything for a long time, La Mei asked carefully, "Is the princess reluctant to part with that Phoenix Butterfly Dress? Then this servant will ask someone to look for it?" La Mei was very puzzled. Why did the princess look like she had eaten something disgusting?
Wei Dongling sighed and waved her hand, "Forget it, forget it!" It should be impossible to tell whether there was any bloodstain or not after it was all messed up by vomit.
Not long after, Eunuch Cao came with some people. Wei Dongling quickly welcomed him into the house for tea. Eunuch Cao bowed and said with a smile, "The emperor has a reward. This servant has come especially to present the reward silver to the Fifth Princess!"
Several eunuchs behind Eunuch Cao carried four big boxes full of silver over. Wei Dongling quickly stepped forward and counted. There were exactly ten thousand taels! A big smile instantly appeared on her face. She quickly told La Mei to put it away and gave each of Eunuch Cao and his people some small silver coins as a reward. Everyone happily thanked her and went back.
Originally, she thought that this month of house arrest would be extremely boring. All she could do was count the silver at night. Unexpectedly, the next day, the emperor actually sent someone to take her directly to the Ministry of Revenue.
Wei Dongling looked at the vice - minister of the Ministry of Revenue in a daze as he came to pay his respects and led her to look at the densely packed account books piled on the floor - to - ceiling bookshelves in the whole room.
The vice - minister of the Ministry of Revenue introduced them one by one, "Your Highness, the Fifth Princess, all these here are the details of tax expenditures. Those over there are the details of military equipment accounts; and those behind are the details of disaster relief allocations; and that area is..."
Wei Dongling quickly interrupted him, "Lord Li, please wait a moment! When was this princess transferred to your Ministry of Revenue by the emperor?"
Lord Li, the vice - minister of the Ministry of Revenue, had a look of disgust on his face. He looked at Wei Dongling and replied, "During the morning court today, the emperor flew into a rage and severely criticized us for the chaotic accounts... So, he invited Your Highness, the Fifth Princess, to come and correct them one by one for us."
This Fifth Princess looked very young and was a woman. How capable could she be? And the people in the Ministry of Revenue had to learn from her? Lord Li was quite disdainful in his heart. The old and chaotic accounts in the Ministry of Revenue were so complicated that it was impossible for the Fifth Princess to sort them out just by coming here, right?
Wei Dongling looked at the endless account books and was very speechless. There were so many account books that it was estimated that she couldn't sort them all out in a whole month. She really wanted to cry. She had been regarded as a free laborer by her cheap father!
She thought that she shouldn't have accepted that ten thousand taels of silver yesterday even if she was beaten to death! It was really true that if you took something from someone, you would be in their debt.
Wei Dongling let out a long sigh. She casually picked up a stack of account books, grabbed an abacus and writing brushes and ink, and immediately started to check the accounts with a clattering sound.
Lord Li, the vice - minister of the Ministry of Revenue, stood behind Wei Dongling. At first, he secretly laughed at the ignorant girl for pretending. But when he saw that the Fifth Princess was extremely skilled at operating the abacus, he couldn't help but be a bit surprised. Then he watched the Fifth Princess checking the accounts. She held a page with each finger and scanned through the lines quickly, always accurately landing on the ambiguous points. The Fifth Princess immediately picked up the pen and marked them one by one, clearly and incisively.
After just a cup of tea's time, the vice - minister of the Ministry of Revenue behind her was already completely in awe of her.
Wei Dongling was extremely annoyed. She was probably the most miserable princess in history. Look at Murong Yunxi. She was carefree and domineering, doing whatever she wanted! And look at herself. She was so miserable! Being beaten and punished was normal, and she was often dragged out to do hard labor while still injured.
She had finally taken a fancy to a man, but she didn't even have time to fall in love!
The more Wei Dongling thought about it, the angrier she became. The beads on the abacus in her hand were almost knocked out by her as she clattered them.
Lord Li from the Ministry of Revenue was so scared that he didn't even dare to breathe. He thought that the Fifth Princess was angry because she was dissatisfied with the chaotic accounts.