Thirteenth Lady's Comback: Her Everyday Life as a Bystander-Chapter 349 - 29: Treasure Delivery Officer (Part 2) (Third Update)
There’s no denying that Susu really knows Hong Sheng quite well.
These bandits and robbers aren’t just in the Great Chu; there are even more in the Tartar region. Moreover, the bandits in the Great Chu have defined territories, and they adhere to not overfishing the waters.
The Tartar bandits, however, don’t care about such things. They rob wherever they go, not only plundering goods but also killing people. Even though the Tartar dispatched troops for suppression, these bandits are elusive, and it’s impossible to catch them.
Secretly, there is a kind of nouveau riche in Tartar, known as bandit families, possibly five generations of bandits. Imagine how much wealth they must have!
When Prince Yong pursued the enemy after a victory, he encountered an ambush and nearly lost his life; whereas Hong Sheng, while chasing the defeated cavalry, ran into bandits who had just returned from a robbery, and made a fortune.
Even when Governor Qin heard about it, everyone thought Hong Sheng did it on purpose, cautioning him in secret, "That’s enough, don’t anger Batraj to death."
Hong Sheng: ...
Damn, I’ve been wronged!
But still, he cheerfully packed all the spoils, waiting for the army’s "Treasure Delivery Officer" to send the wealth to his wife.
Which husband can be as capable as he is? With this haul, even if Susu gives him ten or eight children, he can afford to raise them.
Hong Sheng had already received a letter from Susu. His wife did not mention any pregnancy in the letter, so he finally felt a bit relieved. As for that little bit of disappointment, it wasn’t worth mentioning.
He had no idea that there was an even bigger surprise waiting for him at home!
Susu was playing with that pearl necklace. Besides this deep purple one, there was also a peacock green one, both considered rare treasures.
The Qin Family, who commanded the army, has always been generous. Moreover, robbing bandits is considered as "black versus black," and such spoils don’t have to be recorded, nor do they have to share any with the Emperor.
Susu looked at it, selecting five large pink pearls the size of dragon eyes, to reward her five young maids, "This is for your dowry, in the future, you can use it to make hairpins as heirloom jewelry."
The five young maids accepted them with joyful laughter. Susu loved their genuine nature, and picked out five honey yellow cat’s eye stones the size of soybeans, "Use these to set into rings!"
Though these cat’s eye stones weren’t large, they were of excellent honey yellow color, worth fifty taels each.
There were two boxes left; one with half a box of calligraphy and paintings, and half a box of precious collectibles. The other box contained precious spices sorted into small boxes.
"Finally taught him all afternoon, he finally knows different spices need to be stored separately, it hasn’t been easy for him!"
Susu stepped back a little, seeing Linglong open and check it out: agarwood, aloeswood, ambergris, sandalwood, and musk, all extraordinarily valuable.
As soon as Susu saw the musk, she quickly covered her mouth and nose. Linglong, who followed Susu everywhere, naturally recognized this too and hurriedly closed the box with a snap.
Shuimo and others quickly opened doors and windows, just in case there was any lingering odor. Susu let go of her hands, took a sniff, and laughed, "No need to be so nervous, Linglong acted fast, there’s hardly any smell!"
Only now did Linglong realize that, for a moment earlier, she broke out in a cold sweat, "Why did the master pack the musk as well? The mistress is pregnant now, she can’t smell this!"
Hearing the fear and dissatisfaction in Linglong’s voice, Susu giggled guiltily, "I, I haven’t told your master that I’m pregnant!"
Now it was the turn of the five young maids to be dumbfounded, "Mistress, can you be a bit more reliable?"
"When the master returns and finds the young lady or young master could call him daddy, he’ll definitely be surprised!"
Shuimo, usually good-humored, remarked sarcastically.
Susu, looking at Shuimo’s smile, imagined the scene she described, feeling that Hong Sheng would indeed be "filled with surprised joy"!
"He’s waging war and still worries about us, mother and child. I just didn’t want him to get distracted!"
The young maids laughed, saying, "The mistress is always right!"
Susu, upon seeing these good things, thought of Hong Sheng, who couldn’t send a letter and could only orally report safety, and also thought of the Treasure Delivery Officer who barely had time for tea. Susu asked Linlang to call Nanny Liu over.
The boxes in the room were closed, and Shuimo called in some rough servants to carry the boxes to Susu’s private treasury.
Nanny Liu came in with a big smile. That two taels of silver, which the master never handled, ended up with her, though she didn’t take it to save face for him in public, she still felt delighted inside.
"What commands does the mistress have?"
"I was thinking, those Treasure Delivery Officers are your master’s comrades. They couldn’t even get a cup of tea at our home, just gave a few coins, and it would seem like we are belittling them."
Nanny Liu knew that her mistress was always kind-hearted, not to mention always being generous to the soldiers in the army.
But... "Mistress, they are doing this job, and they also have salaries in the army. When bringing things, the wealthier homes might give some reward money, but those less well-off give nothing, and it’s common.
Our household gives ten taels because our master’s rank isn’t low."
Susu thought for a moment, knowing that Nanny Liu was advising her that giving too much might make things difficult for others.
Susu naturally understood the saying "the gun hits the bird that sticks its head out," "the tree that stands out in the forest gets destroyed by the wind," but she wasn’t planning on openly giving silver.
"I was thinking they’ve been roughing it outside, eating and sleeping poorly, and hurrying back.
In our family, why not prepare some dry food and spiced snacks, secretly slip them to them before they leave Hami, and not let others know, as a kind gesture on behalf of your master."
Upon hearing this, Nanny Liu finally breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, "No wonder people often say the mistress is a fairy in looks with the kind heart of a Buddha, our master marrying you, even brings us great fortunes."
Susu instructed Uncle Liu to find out when those Treasure Delivery Officers would leave Hami, while the kitchen at home opened several large stoves.
They baked a hundred meat-filled pies and prepared previously spiced beef, chicken feet, and duck palms, wrapping them in five large packets with oil paper, along with two large bags of thirst-quenching sour plum soup and special salt and feed for the horses.
All these items together didn’t add up to twenty taels of silver, yet filled two large bamboo baskets. When Uncle Liu caught up with the dozen or so Treasure Delivery Officers outside Hami City, it was exactly midday when the sun was blazing.
Hami was their last stop, and after delivering everything, they were about to return. If they delayed a bit to have a meal in Hami it wouldn’t matter.
However, the more they became Treasure Delivery Officers, the more they understood how important a few taels of silver were for the women in their families, so naturally, they were reluctant to spend any coins to eat in the city.
The group only bought some mantou, borrowed water from a well at a military family’s home. Luckily, there were carriages, so they could eat while on the move.
The few carriages were not far apart, and the group could still chat.
One leader spoke up, "Today, we received quite a few rewards, just Commander Liu’s home alone gifted fifty taels, and Hong Hong Commander’s home also gave ten taels of silver. We’ll divide it later."
It’s a pity it was not received earlier; otherwise, we could’ve left something at home, but that will have to wait until next time."
The group, after hearing this, felt quite pleased even as they chewed on hard mantou and drank cold water.
This task, although not life-threatening, is even more arduous than fighting battles.
They took up this job firstly because, naturally, they were the most steady-natured, and secondly because they were among the soldiers with the most difficult family situations.
As they were thinking about how much silver they could receive, they heard hoofbeats and shouting from behind.
"Brothers in front, wait, wait!"
