Exile with Storage Space: Family Fortunes in the Barren Lands-Chapter 551 - 0512 Reward (1)
"There was a miscalculation here." Lou Chengye pointed at the book and said, "We hired 1,235 workers, each paid 98 wen per day, working for 72 days, which should amount to 8,714 taels and 160 wen. However, it is recorded as paying out 9,924 taels and 460 wen, an excess of over a thousand taels."
"..."
"The stonemasons, who earn 108 wen a day, hired 322 craftsmen for 82 days, should amount to 2,851 taels and 632 wen. Yet it is recorded as 3,951 taels and 632 wen, an excess of 1,100 taels."
"..."
"And here, we rented 129 ox carts, mule carts, and donkey carts, with a daily rental fee of 132 wen each. They were rented for 59 days, requiring a total payment of 1,004 taels and 652 wen, but the recorded figure is 1,304 taels and 652 wen."
"..."
"And here, I recall that Chixia River is less than ten zhang wide, and the depth is no more than ten feet or so. The bridges over it are all small, two zhang wide bridges, yet constructing the bridge required 13,500 stones. Could it be constructed with bricks? Bricks are susceptible to moisture, and building bridges with them is impossible. If using stones, it’s too much. They chose large stones for construction, none less than a foot in width, a foot in thickness, and two feet in length."
Lou Chengye spoke line by line, startling everyone in the study into looking at him.
Prefect Lou asked in shock, "Chengye, you say there are issues with the stone bridge over Chixia River. Have you been to Shuangfeng Bridge?"
Lou Chengye looked embarrassed, "Last time... when I ran away from home, I passed by that stone bridge and... lost my horse and money nearby."
Mr. Lou took the booklet from Lou Chengye and quickly flipped through it.
He looked at it for a while, then walked to Prefect Lou’s desk and started calculating with an abacus.
Soon, Mr. Lou’s expression changed, "Father, as Fifth Brother said, there are five miscalculations, regarding this Shuangfeng Bridge. Father, you must send someone to investigate."
Prefect Lou glanced at him, took the booklet, and began reading.
Immediately, Prefect Lou frowned slightly and said to a subordinate, "Chen Shan, take someone immediately to examine the stone usage of Feng’an County’s Shuangfeng Bridge over the Chixia River, and report back to me quickly."
"Yes, sir." A subordinate walked out.
The other two looked at each other.
"Liu Kui, calculate all the expenses in the river works documents within five days, I need the results." Prefect Lou heavily slammed the booklet on the table and shouted harshly.
"Yes, sir." One person left with a bleak expression.
"Song Dawei, send a message to Feng’an County immediately, tell them to come to the prefecture to see me!" Prefect Lou shouted again.
"Yes." Another person departed.
In the room, only Lou Family father and sons remained.
The young masters exchanged glances.
Mr. Lou said, "Father, for them to deceive and misreport the silver expenses in such a manner, no wonder the treasury can’t cover the expenses this year, especially when we’ve exceeded the budget."
"Father, I think the river works are coming to an end. Does he not want to celebrate the New Year?"
"He should be arrested and questioned thoroughly."
"Who recommended this river worker? This should also be checked."
"The Feng’an County Magistrate should also be punished. He couldn’t not know the bridge’s cost! He must be colluding!"
Except for Lou Chengye, Prefect Lou’s other sons expressed their opinions one after another.
Lou Chengye listened with a frown, watching his brothers.
He feared Prefect Lou would turn to him since he didn’t understand these bureaucratic matters.
However, what he feared, happened.
Prefect Lou turned to him, "Chengye, you did well today. You may go first."
Lou Chengye breathed a sigh of relief, "Yes, Father."
.
Leaving Prefect Lou’s study, Lou Chengye ran back to He Feng Courtyard in one breath.
He saw his chubby wife cooking medicinal porridge.
Lou Chengye went over, crouched down, and warmed his hands by the fire.
Li Yu En smiled and asked him, "Did you run back? Was someone chasing you?"
Lou Chengye’s plump face was red, with fine beads of sweat on his forehead.
It was apparent he had run quite a distance.
Feeling embarrassed under Li Yu En’s gaze, Lou Chengye replied, "I’m afraid Big Brother and the others would come after me."
Li Yu En blinked, curious, and asked, "Why would Big Brother chase you?"
"They..." Lou Chengye stammered, "I don’t want to go do work."
Li Yu En dusted off her hands, sat down on a chair, looked at him, and said, "What are you afraid of? Tell me, and I’ll help you think of something."
Lou Chengye sighed, "My father and elder brother want me to learn about governance, but I know nothing about that."
Li Yu En laughed, "Then don’t learn it, just listening gives me a headache." She tilted her head and patted Lou Chengye on the shoulder, "Husband, don’t worry, I have money, I’ll support you."
Lou Chengye blushed even more, "I... I can earn money myself, how can I let my wife support me?"
"Fifth Young Master?" Outside, Chang Sui Lou Shuisheng called out with a smile.
Lou Chengye’s face turned pale with nervousness.
He braced himself and walked over, "Uncle Shuixing, what’s the matter?"
Li Yu En also followed him over.
They saw Lou Shuisheng holding a large ornate box.
"The master asked me to give this to you, to commend your performance today," Lou Shuisheng said with a smile as he handed the box to Lou Chengye.
Lou Chengye breathed a sigh of relief, realizing it wasn’t about assigning him tasks, "Uncle Shuixing, please thank father for me."
"Open it quickly, see if you like it." Lou Shuisheng smiled and pointed at the box.
"Let me open it." Li Yu En lifted the lid of the box.
Inside was a men’s fur hat made of fox fur and a matching color scarf.
On top of the hat was set a piece of amber.
Li Yu En exclaimed, "What a beautiful hat."
She took the hat and put it on Lou Chengye’s head, then tied the scarf around him.
Lou Shuisheng laughed, "It was sent by the people from the estate for the master. The master just looked at it and told us to put it away. He saw the Fifth Young Master perform well just now and decided to award it to him. Fifth Young Master, keep up the good work."
Having received praise and a reward for the first time, Lou Chengye was thrilled, "Uncle Shuixing, I will do my best."
Lou Shuisheng waved with a smile and went to report back. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦
The couple returned to the house.
Li Yu En kept praising how good Lou Chengye’s new hat looked.
Lou Chengye took off the hat to look at it, "It’s a shame it’s a men’s hat. If it were smaller, I’d let you wear it."
He tried to put the hat on Li Yu En’s head. Although she was plump, her head was small, and the hat covered most of her head, leaving her unable to see.
Li Yu En laughed, "I have two hats already, you don’t need to give me this one. It’s a gift from your father, so you wear it."
Lou Chengye said, "Next time, I’ll buy one for you."
"Okay." Li Yu En laughed happily.
However, Lou Chengye offered to give the scarf to Li Yu En, but she said the scarf and hat were a set, and separating them wouldn’t look good.
Lou Chengye had to give up.
He put the hat and scarf back in the box.
Li Yu En took it inside to store away. When she came back to the outer room, she said, "By the way, Chengye, what did you do to get father to praise you? Tell me, I’d like to be happy too."
The young lady’s eyes sparkled, full of admiration.
Lou Chengye’s confidence surged, and he told her about what happened in the study.
"I just found the calculation errors in the records, didn’t expect father to commend me," Lou Chengye said, a little embarrassed, with a smile.
Li Yu En looked at him with admiration, "Chengye, you’re amazing. This is no small matter, it’s a big deal! You know, every place has a certain budget, and if it’s overspent, those above will hold it against you. If father hadn’t spotted the errors, the funds would have been allocated, and people below would become more daring. This time they misappropriated a thousand taels, next time it could be two thousand. Those at the court won’t blame those below, only father for oversight."
Lou Chengye looked at Li Yu En in shock, "Yu En, you actually understand these governmental affairs?"
Li Yu En was taken aback and said, blushing, "I overheard my father and elder brother talking about it during their chats, I don’t truly understand."
She was telling the truth. When Prince Luling and Li Xingmao or Princess Consort Luling discussed court affairs, she listened with her sisters, and even if she didn’t understand, she eventually learned.
Sometimes, the estate’s steward would also engage in similar deception, like overreporting the number of craftsmen hired for repairing the estate’s buildings. Clearly only ten craftsmen were hired, but the steward declared fifteen, embezzling the wages of five craftsmen.
Princess Consort Luling had uncovered several such instances and punished the stewards severely.
Princess Consort Luling also used this to teach her sisters how to manage those below and prevent deceit and embezzlement.
Lou Chengye said, "I never thought things could be so serious. No wonder father wanted to reward me. But how come such simple calculation errors weren’t spotted by father and elder brother? I wonder if such mistakes led to money being incorrectly given to the county before."
Li Yu En said, "Father and brother must focus only on the credibility of affairs and not on minor calculations, leaving room for exploitation. Since you don’t understand government affairs, you only looked at calculations and immediately saw the problem."
