Fierce Consort

Chapter 85.2

Chen-shi got her wish and accepted the household manager position. The next day, she called over all the managers and grannies to the Songbai Pavilion for a talking to.

Her wanting to manage the household wasn't without reason. Those without regular income like them depended on the estate's monthly allowance. Early on it was still alright. She had her own savings and the old madam would give them a little extra. But recently the estate started cutting expenses and the old madam had also stopped giving extras. Things were naturally very tight.

Of course she had gone crying to the old madam about being poor, but the old madam had said the misses were all getting older and their dowries needed to be prepared. They could only reduce expenses in some places and it wasn't like they were struggling to live. She fell just short of saying that the third branch also had two misses. Did they not need to get married off? In the end, Chen-shi could only leave it at that.

It was easy for the old madam to say since the entire estate catered to the Rongan Hall. If they let her spend a few days on reduced expenses, she would understand the difficulties therein. In the past, things like ice and charcoal were used liberally. As of now, although they still had ice in the summer, it was extremely little. Summers in the capital were extremely hot. Everyone wished to soak themselves in water due to the heat.

Charcoal as well. In the past they used the highest quality silver-lined charcoal, which had no smoke or odor. Now they had repeatedly gone down in quality. There was no need to mention the daily meals and necessities. The estate hadn't made new clothing in two seasons, let alone hand out gold and silver jewelry and ornaments.

In the past, Chen-shi wasn't too interested in managing the household. But after Xue-shi started doing so, the eldest branch started living much better so her thoughts inevitably stirred.

Actually this was easy to understand. The branch managing the household would get benefits. The managing grannies would naturally come curry favor. As for the daily meals and necessities, they would get priority while everyone else shared the leftovers. This was all before embezzlement was even taken into account. Chen-shi had a wet nurse who constantly encouraged her to be more proactive. Chen-shi couldn't avoid having more thoughts about it.

Now that she had finally gotten the authority, she had to let the servants know there was someone new they should flatter. It was her, Chen-shi, and not Xue-shi any longer.

While Chen-shi leapt about in the estate showing off her authority, Xue-shi holed up in the eldest branch and laughed for a long while. After laughing, she was also a little anxious. Everyone knew the benefits of managing the household. Even a mosquito had meat on its legs. Now that she no longer had this meat and had no income, she naturally had to start worrying.

Shen Yi Yao's mood was very weird. She truly didn't wan't to take this matter over and didn't have the time to deal with it. If Chen-shi didn't have the desire, she was still prepared to accept it. Of course she would also take over the income statements as well. But seeing Chen-shi's fervent desire, she couldn't bring herself to cut off her thoughts. Might as well give her what she wanted.

Yan Yan's information network had always been efficient. When she found out about this matter, she almost died laughing. It didn't need to be said that she saw Shen Yi Yao in a different light.

She had spent quite a lot of effort on this matter. Of course, Xue-shi had also spent quite some effort.
Therefore, she decided to help solve some of the eldest branch's worries. Since they lacked silver, she tried to think of ways to send them some money-making opportunities. She took the initiative to bring up the eldest branch's difficulties in front of Shen Yi Yao. After helping manage her mom's household these years, she naturally knew Shen Yi Yao had quite the eye for business.