"Open it."
"Wang Ye..." Before the guard could get to the main point, Chu Chu had already deftily lifted the lid of the chest closest to her.
Xiao Jin Yu glanced into the chest and nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.
Yes, the chest contained money—but not silver. Instead, it was filled to the brim with copper coins.
"All of these... are?"
Chu Chu swiftly opened all dozen or so chests. "That's right!"
Over a dozen chests of copper coins...
"You exchanged five hundred silver notes... for copper coins?"
Chu Chu nodded earnestly. "I originally wanted to exchange for silver, but I only needed three hundred wen. The shopkeeper said he couldn't provide such small broken silver, so I asked him to exchange it all for copper coins! If I hadn't run into this guard, I really wouldn't have known how to bring all this over! Copper coins are much more reliable—they're hard to lose and hard to damage. Even if a thief wanted to steal them, they couldn't carry them away quickly. How great!"
Xiao Jin Yu stared darkly at the two long rows of chests. Five hundred silver notes, all exchanged for individual wen coins. She had only taken three hundred wen, meaning what now lay splendidly before him was nearly five hundred thousand copper coins—a solid weight of almost four thousand jin...
Chu Chu gazed in awe at the densely packed coins in the chests. "I've never seen so many copper coins in my life!"
Xiao Jin Yu sighed weakly. "Neither have I..."
Looking at the money in the chests, Chu Chu suddenly remembered something and turned to Xiao Jin Yu, who was leaning back in his chair silently massaging his temples. "Wang Ye, you said earlier that if I performed the autopsy well, you'd double my reward."
Yes, another five hundred silver note had been prepared for her, but who could have predicted she'd...
Xiao Jin Yu waved his hand helplessly. "Take it yourself."
"No, no! There are three hundred coins! If I miscount by even one, it would be unclear!"
Xiao Jin Yu didn't even have the energy to sigh. How idle would he have to be to have someone count out these hundreds of thousands of coins one by one? He glanced up at the guard standing anxiously nearby. "You, count them out for her."
"Yes..."
"Thank you, Wang Ye! Thank you, guard!"
☆ 13 Jujube Ginger Soup (Thirteen)
The guard bent his head diligently, counting out coins one by one from the chest. As Xiao Jin Yu watched, he suddenly came to a realization.
If she had borrowed three hundred silver notes, Xiao Jin Yu could roughly guess the reason. But since she only wanted three hundred wen in copper coins, he truly had no idea what she intended to do.
Three hundred wen in the capital, even with the strictest budgeting, would barely cover meal expenses. Yet Prince An Manor had already provided for all her food, clothing, lodging, and transportation. If she needed anything, she could simply ask the steward. Unless she encountered the troubles Xiao Jin Yu had imagined, why would she urgently need money?
"What do you need these three hundred wen for?"
Chu Chu, her eyes fixed on the guard's busy hands counting coins, answered without turning her head. "To return home."
Xiao Jin Yu was taken aback. "Back to Zizhu County?"
"Where else would I go? I only have one home."
Xiao Jin Yu struggled to straighten his posture, setting aside how she planned to travel from the capital to Suzhou with just three hundred wen. There was only one thing he wanted to know. "Why are you going back?"Chu Chu finally turned around, twisting her fingertips as she said, "My skills are inadequate—I couldn't even pass the Ministry of Justice's exam, and Six Doors would never accept me. I don't dare bring further shame to the Chu family in the capital... Once I get the money, I'll return home to continue learning the craft from my father. I'll come back to take the exam again after I've improved."
Xiao Jin Yu frowned slightly. Ever since he saw her at the Ministry of Justice examination hall, whether to recruit her had little to do with her so-called "craft."
He had thought it through clearly—she couldn't enter the Ministry of Justice, nor any office under the Three Law Divisions.
Her family background was clean, which made it all the more imperative.
He just hadn't expected that this outcome would make her decide to leave the capital immediately.
"Didn't you say that if you failed this exam, you'd take any odd job in the capital, as long as you could stay until you passed the Six Doors exam?"
If not for those words, he would have seriously reconsidered when finalizing the recruitment list.
Chu Chu gave an embarrassed smile. "That was because I didn't have travel money to return home then. Now that I do, of course it's better to go home and learn the craft properly. How could I improve just by doing odd jobs in the capital?"
If only he had known she was planning this all along...
While Xiao Jin Yu was lost in thought, the guard finished counting three hundred copper coins and handed the bulging money pouch to Chu Chu.
"Can I leave now?"
Xiao Jin Yu coughed lightly and said unhurriedly, "Not yet... Since you've been involved in this case, you must wait until it's resolved. You'll need to testify during the trial and can only leave after the case files are archived."
Chu Chu stuck out her tongue—the capital's government offices certainly had many rules. "Alright, I'll listen to Wang Ye."
Xiao Jin Yu nodded slightly. "One more thing... If anyone here asks what your duties are, say you're my maid. The corpse examination just now was done under my orders. Remember?"
Chu Chu shook her head repeatedly. "Those in the coroner profession can't tell lies! Otherwise, the King of Hell will cut out our tongues after we die!"
Xiao Jin Yu felt subtle frustration—how could every nonsensical thing she said sound so earnest it left him unable to refute? "I'm not asking you to lie... I left in a hurry without bringing a maid, which is against protocol. If people found out, it would cause trouble. Just consider it as the Royal Mansion hiring you as a temporary maid. You can go to Steward Zhao later to collect your wages as usual."
Helping others while earning money—what a good deal! "Then it's settled!"
After Chu Chu ran out with the money, Xiao Jin Yu turned to look at the darkening sky and asked the guard who'd grown tired from counting coins, "Have you seen Xu Ru Gui?"
"Reporting to Wang Ye, I have."
"Didn't he want to drink with me?"
"Yes... but Wang Ye might have to wait a while longer."
Xiao Jin Yu's brow furrowed deeper. "What happened?"
"He's been... busy gathering copper coins all day."
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