Liu Yu Ru couldn't help but laugh when she saw Gu Jiusi jump up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "I haven't even said anything yet. Why are you so worked up?"
Gu Jiusi felt somewhat deflated by her remark. He sat back down awkwardly and muttered, "The way you're looking at me gives me the creeps. Can you blame me for being scared?"
Liu Yu Ru poked him with her finger. "A guilty conscience needs no accuser."
"I really haven't done anything wrong," Gu Jiusi said with a hint of grievance.
Liu Yu Ru didn't press him further. Instead, she turned to Yin Hong and replied, "Go back and tell the messenger that I'll visit in a few days."
After Yin Hong acknowledged and left, Liu Yu Ru turned back to stare at Gu Jiusi. Gu Jiusi widened his eyes and stared back. After a long standoff, Liu Yu Ru suddenly burst out laughing, left him with another "A guilty conscience needs no accuser," and stood up to attend to her tasks.
Gu Jiusi was preoccupied with Jiang He's situation, but he didn't dare act rashly. He quietly asked Ye Shi'an to investigate the prison on his behalf.
Jiang He was currently imprisoned there. Since no one was paying him much attention, he was living normally without any torture, and his days were relatively tolerable. Gu Jiusi sent money to the jailers to provide Jiang He with extra blankets and better food. Only then did he feel somewhat relieved.
Jiang He's matter needed to be brought up, but it couldn't be him who raised it—it had to be the emperor who initiated the inquiry. During the day, Gu Jiusi was busy auditing the accounts. Even as he carried the account books to Lu Yong, the Minister of Revenue, his mind was still occupied with this issue.
With the new dynasty recently established, everything was still being reorganized. The Ministry of Revenue bore the heaviest burden. The immediate tasks were, on one hand, to take stock of the inventory and, on the other, to provide relief to the people affected by the war. While local County Government Offices had their own contingency plans for providing relief to the people, taking stock of the inventory had become the Ministry of Revenue's most urgent matter.
Gu Jiusi and his team had been meticulously auditing the account books from the previous dynasty. It was only today that they finally completed the task. Holding the account books, he stood before Lu Yong and reported the results earnestly.
Lu Yong appeared to be nearly seventy years old, with graying hair, but he was still full of energy. He was a capable official under Fan Xuan, having managed financial and tax affairs in Youzhou for decades. He enjoyed Fan Xuan's deep trust. Now, Fan Xuan was grooming Gu Jiusi precisely to succeed Lu Yong.
Not only was Lu Yong Gu Jiusi's superior, but he was also, in a way, half a mentor to him. After all, Fan Xuan had repeatedly instructed Lu Yong to "guide" Gu Jiusi.
"Guide" meant teaching him everything he needed to know.
However, though Lu Yong had readily agreed in front of Fan Xuan, he seemed to have forgotten all about it afterward and barely communicated with Gu Jiusi.
After Gu Jiusi finished reporting on the accounts, Lu Yong slowly flipped through the pages one by one and finally said, "It's good that everything is clear. You must be tired. You may leave now."
Gu Jiusi was taken aback. Now that the accounts were clear, the next step should be to use them to audit the warehouses. He had already prepared for this, but to his surprise, Lu Yong was dismissing him?
Bewildered, Gu Jiusi looked up at Lu Yong and asked in confusion, "Aren't you going to audit the warehouses, sir?"
Holding the account books, Lu Yong frowned. He looked up at Gu Jiusi with clear dissatisfaction and said, "Since I didn't ask you to investigate, why are you asking about this?"
"Minister Gu certainly thinks ahead," Liu Chun, the Director of the Granary Bureau, chimed in with a laugh, though his eyes held no warmth. "Even Minister Lu hadn't thought of it, but Minister Gu beat him to it. If Minister Gu wishes to audit the Granary Bureau, you should have mentioned it in advance."Gu Jiusi listened to Liu Chun's words and understood that Liu Chun was deliberately causing trouble for him.
Lu Yong hadn't expected this, but Gu Jiusi had anticipated it - these words were clearly meant to criticize him.
He remained silent for a moment, then slowly smiled: "Sharing your superior's burdens is what subordinates ought to do. Must one only move when whipped? Wouldn't that be exhausting for you, Lord Lu? After all, people are people, not mules - isn't it rather pathetic to only act under scolding?"
"Who are you calling a mule?!"
Liu Chun hadn't expected Gu Jiusi to show no regard for face and retort so bluntly, becoming somewhat flustered with anger. Gu Jiusi looked bewildered as he said: "I was talking about mules, not you. Why are you getting so worked up, Lord Liu?"
"You..."
"With such eloquence, Lord Gu, it's a waste for you to remain in the Ministry of Revenue."
Lu Yong finally spoke. He set down the account books, lifted his head, and looked calmly at Gu Jiusi as he slowly said: "His Majesty often praises Lord Gu's natural intelligence as promising talent, a future pillar of the Ministry of Revenue. But it seems to me you're not quite suited for the Ministry of Revenue - you'd be much better suited for the Censorate. Perhaps I should advise His Majesty to transfer Lord Gu to the Censorate?"
Hearing Lu Yong's words, Gu Jiusi finally fell silent.
He gazed steadily at Lu Yong, meeting his calm eyes. After a long while, Gu Jiusi chuckled lightly: "I appreciate your concern, my lord. But are you certain you won't be inventorying the treasury today?"
"We'll go," Lu Yong said indifferently, "but this has nothing to do with you, Lord Gu. This is the Treasury Bureau's affair - I'll take Lord Liu with me."
"This humble official understands."
Gu Jiusi said respectfully: "Then I take my leave."
Gu Jiusi bowed and departed. After he left, Liu Chun spat and said to Lu Yong: "What does he think he is? Look at his smug expression - he's just relying on His Majesty's favor. Does he even show you proper respect?"
Lu Yong didn't respond. He stood up and said calmly: "Let's go inventory the treasury silver."
Then his expression turned warning: "Has everything been arranged?"
"All preparations are made," Liu Chun whispered, "awaiting only your inspection."
Lu Yong nodded and led Liu Chun away.
Gu Jiusi returned to his desk and lowered his head to review the documents submitted from below that required processing. After reading for a while, he grew increasingly irritated. He grabbed some paper and drew two large turtles, writing Lu Yong and Liu Chun's names on them, finally venting his frustration.
The turtle-drawing took some time, delaying his work. It was already night when he finally left the Ministry of Revenue. Exiting, he noticed all his colleagues had already left. He couldn't help asking the gatekeeping eunuch: "Didn't Lord Lu go to inventory the treasury silver today? How come he's back so early?"
"He left long ago."
The eunuch waved his hand: "You're the latest today."
Gu Jiusi nodded, still feeling something was odd.
When he returned home, Liu Yuru had also just come back. Yun Yun was about to bring the Floral Visage staff to the Eastern Capital, and Liu Yuru and Ye Yun were busy looking for shop locations and arranging renovations, thoroughly enjoying themselves.
That night while washing his feet, Gu Jiusi told Liu Yuru: "That wretched old man claims he's too old and tired to come in early every morning, yet he leaves earlier than anyone else. He does the least work but talks the most. At his age, instead of focusing on preserving his health and prolonging his life, why does he meddle in young people's affairs?"Liu Yu Ru listened to his complaints and handed him a handkerchief. Gu Jiusi wiped his feet and sighed, "But the old man is still impressive—forty million taels of treasury silver, all counted in one afternoon. I wonder what method he used."
"What did you say?" Liu Yu Ru, always sensitive to money matters, exclaimed in astonishment at the number. "Forty million taels counted in one afternoon?"
"Ah, yes," Gu Jiusi nodded. "Why do you look like that?"
"Impossible," Liu Yu Ru frowned. "Even if you gathered everyone from the entire Ministry of Revenue, it would be impossible to count forty million in one afternoon. He’s fooling people who’ve never counted silver before."
Hearing this, Gu Jiusi’s heart skipped a beat. He stopped moving and looked up. "Are you sure?"
"Absolutely impossible," Liu Yu Ru rolled her eyes. "You don’t know how long it took me to count the money when I loaded it onto the ship from Yangzhou."
Gu Jiusi fell silent, frowning as he pondered something. Liu Yu Ru lowered her head, folding things while chattering about trivial matters.
With this matter weighing on his mind, Gu Jiusi went to the Ministry of Revenue early the next day and sought out Lu Yong.
Lu Yong showed no pleasant expression upon seeing him and said as he entered the room, "What business does Vice Minister Gu have?"
"Sir," Gu Jiusi said with a smile, "was the inventory count yesterday smooth?"
"Hmm," Lu Yong replied. "It went smoothly. Is there something you need, Vice Minister Gu?"
"That’s forty million taels of treasury silver," Gu Jiusi reminded him. "With only one day yesterday, I was afraid you might not have finished. I wanted to ask if there’s anything I can assist with today."
"No," Lu Yong said decisively. "Go back to your work."
Gu Jiusi smiled and withdrew, but as soon as he left the room, his expression turned cold.
By the afternoon, Fan Xuan had summoned Lu Yong privately to inquire about the Ministry of Revenue’s audit. After Lu Yong returned, Gu Jiusi turned the matter over in his mind. On his way home that evening, he said to Ye Shi’an, "Shi’an, don’t you often see His Majesty?"
Ye Shi’an, who worked in the Secretariat-Chancellery and occasionally helped Fan Xuan draft documents due to his literary talent, frowned at Gu Jiusi’s words. "What are you planning to do?"
"Find an opportunity to ask for me," Gu Jiusi glanced around, "how much silver is left in our national treasury."
"Shouldn’t you know that best?"
Ye Shi’an laughed. Gu Jiusi didn’t answer, only saying, "Help me ask. Thanks."
Though Ye Shi’an didn’t promise outright, he took it to heart. Knowing Gu Jiusi wouldn’t ask such questions without reason, he brought it up with Fan Xuan the next day. Fan Xuan said calmly, "Our national treasury has thirty million taels of silver left. We must spend it frugally."
Ye Shi’an reported the number to Gu Jiusi, who frowned but said nothing. When it was time to go home, he didn’t leave. Instead, he lingered around the Ministry of Revenue. After everyone had left, he took advantage of the darkness to hurry to the treasury entrance.
Gu Jiusi thought that, with his skills, entering the treasury to take a look would be as easy as turning his hand.
Thinking this, he acted on it, even bringing Shen Ming and Ye Shi’an along. The three of them ran, climbed, and dodged the guards, rushing to the side of the treasury.
He sent Shen Ming to distract the guards, then sprinted toward the treasury door. Just as he was about to reach it, two burly men suddenly emerged, grabbing him by the arms and lifting him up.
"Lord Gu," one of the men said, "what are you trying to do?"Gu Jiusi was held up by two men in mid-air, forcing a smile as he stammered, "I was just... taking a stroll."
With that, he pushed the two men aside and said with an apologetic grin, "You two keep guarding diligently. I'll take my leave now."
He continued backing away while speaking, and seeing that the two showed no reaction, he quickly retreated home.
Back at home, he couldn't stop thinking about the incident. Complaining to Liu Yu Ru while muttering to himself, he said, "They're definitely up to something shady. But Lu Yong is the emperor's favored minister—I need solid evidence."
Liu Yu Ru couldn't help but laugh at his determined expression. "Are you getting back at him for what he said about you?"
"Am I really that petty?" Gu Jiusi retorted decisively. Swinging the jade pendant hanging at his waist, he pondered and said, "I just think that if we're going to investigate this case, my uncle is naturally the key."
"How so?"
"My uncle was transferred from the Ministry of Revenue to the Ministry of Personnel. The former Minister of Revenue has already jumped from the city tower, so my uncle knows the treasury best."
Lost in thought, Gu Jiusi suddenly remembered something. "Aren't you attending the princess's banquet tomorrow?"
"Yes."
As Liu Yu Ru answered casually, Gu Jiusi suddenly clapped his hands, delighted. "I've got it! Tomorrow, you should go and chat with Madam Lu..."
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