A Clash of Gods - Chapter 42

Chapter 42 Hot Potato
When Steward Qiu saw Gu Qinghan, his amiable and smiley expression instantly became humble. He almost trotted toward her, and respectfully said, “Third Lady, I have something to report to you.”

“Have you visited Third Elder Lord?” Gu Qinghan was calm and didn’t smile at all. Once the beautiful face lacked a smile, it looked not only elegant, but also solemn.

Steward Qiu hurriedly said, “Yes, I have been persuading him for a long time, and Third Elder Lord is now not that angry. But…”

“But what?” Gu Qinghan showed a sneer in her beautiful eyes, “But he still wants to let Qi Yu continue to guard the spirit?”

Steward Qiu said with embarrassment, “Third Lady, I also know that since the earl is back, it will be unreasonable to let Qi Yu guard the spirit. However, Third Elder Lord said that although Qi Yu is not the legal heir, he is still the son of the Marquis and has the right to guard the spirit.” After looking at Yang Ning, he lowered his voice slightly, “Third Elder Lord requires that during the day the earl should guard the spirit and Qi Yu should guard the spirit at night. In this way, there will always be a filial son in the mourning hall, and the earl can also have time to rest.”

Gu Qinghan said lightly, “Steward Qiu, others may don’t understand their meaning, but you should be clear in your heart. You have been in this mansion for nearly twenty years. You are very clear how well the general treated you when he was alive.” After a pause, she gently blinked her eyes, her long eyelashes fluttering, “As for what to do and what not to do, we naturally have to follow the general’s original thoughts.”

Steward Qiu smiled and said, “You are completely right, Third Lady. Of course, I will follow your instruction.” After a pause, he cautiously said, “Then I will report to Third Elder Lord that this method will not work?”

Gu Qinghan frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and then said, “All right, it’s okay for Qi Yu to guard the spirit at night. But as long as there are guests, Ning must be the one to receive them and Qi Yu must withdraw to the back hall.”

“Yes.” Steward Qiu bowed.

Gu Qinghan walked over to Yang Ning, and a smile appeared on her beautiful face, bright and elegant, “Ning, I tell you to go to the mourning hall. Why are you still here? You are naughty again, right?” Although she said this with slight reproach, her tone was very soft and she wasn’t blaming him at all.

Steward Qiu followed Gu Qinghan without leaving. Gu Qinghan noticed that, and stopped and asked, “Do you have anything else to report, Steward Qiu?”

Steward Qiu hesitated before saying, “I actually have an important matter to discuss with you, Third Lady.”

“What’s the matter?”

Steward Qiu glanced at Yang Ning, and then he stopped talking. Yang Ning was quite angry and said straightly, “Why do you look at me? Is it that I can’t listen to you?”

Steward Qiu hurriedly said, “Your Excellency, you misunderstand me. I… I never mean that.”

“Never mean that. Then you can just speak.” Yang Ning rolled his eyes. He was most disgusted with the sneaky look of Steward Qiu. It made him feel that there were secrets all over the world.

Gu Qinghan glared at Yang Ning, and she looked prettier. She turned her head to Steward Qiu and asked, “What is the matter, Steward Qiu?”

“Well…” Steward Qiu hesitated, and finally said, “Third Lady, accountant’s office… There is very little silver left in the accountant’s office. I’m afraid we won’t be able to afford the expenditure for long.”

Gu Qinghan suddenly became serious, and asked, “We checked the silver a few days ago. Why did it run out so quickly?”

Steward Qiu smiled bitterly, “Many officials and nobles have come to offer their comforts these days, and they all dined in our mansion. In order to preserve the dignity of our mansion, we used a lot of silver to treat them. In addition, other sundry items also cost much silver. I originally thought that it could last longer if we saved unnecessary expenses. At least, we need to wait until the silver in the imperial court or in Jiangling is delivered. But…but once the funeral is held, it was really costly. The silver in the accountant’s office decreased like running water.” He handed Gu Qinghan an account book, “Third Lady, please have a look. We have recorded the expenditure in detail.”

Gu Qinghan shook her head and said, “Since you said this, there must be no accounting error.” She did not take the account book.

Seeing this, Yang Ning secretly praised Gu Qinghan for her sophistication. It was at crucial moment now. Although Gu Qinghan was in charge of all things in the mansion, she was just a woman. Therefore, the one who arranged those things personally should be Steward Qiu. If she took the account book, that meant she didn’t trust Steward Qiu, which would inevitably develop a credibility gap. Under such circumstances, of course, she couldn’t make Steward Qiu feel embarrassed.

“I’m afraid that the payment for this month can’t be paid for a while. It is the same with the academy. Mr. Zhuo came to me the day before yesterday. Although he didn’t directly ask me, his intention was obvious. He seemed to blame us for failing to send silver to the academy.” Steward Qiu shook his head and sighed, “Third Lady, the situation will get worse if we lack money. According to law and discipline rite, the general will be buried in five days. In the next few days, the cost will surely be much more. Besides, the general’s funeral is a top priority, which allows no negligence. The Dowager also said that the funeral should be decent, so we must act with propriety.”

Gu Qinghan’s eyes showed a look of annoyance, and her arched eyebrows were slightly squeezed together, “Did you divert the silver in the two shops?”

“I have already diverted the silver in the shops to the accountant’s office according to your instruction,” Steward Qiu said, “The medicine shop needed to buy some crude drugs and part of the silver was used for purchasing these drugs half a month ago, so there is not much silver left.”

Yang Ning understood their conversation. He thought that such a wealthy and noble family should not worry about money. But now it seemed that money had become the thorniest problem in this mansion.

Seeing that Gu Qinghan was frowning, Steward Qiu said, “It’s very abnormal that the imperial court still doesn’t pay our mansion salary. Third Lady, do you want to send someone to inquire about it in the imperial court? I’m familiar with a eunuch in the imperial court. Maybe he can get some information.”

“No, no, no,” Gu Qinghan immediately said, “We can only wait until the king gives us instructions. We can’t ask others in the imperial court.” After thinking for a while, she said, “The silver in Jiangling should have been sent here ten days ago. Why don’t we get any news? Does anyone report it to you?”

Steward Qiu shook his head and said, “No one has come yet. Maybe it is delayed for some reasons. This kind of thing has happened before. Occasionally, there was a delay. The longest delay even lasted for more than half a month. Still, the money was sent to our mansion safely. If there is no accident, it should be delivered to our mansion within a few days.”

Gu Qinghan slightly nodded, and said, “If the silver in Jiangling is delivered here, all problems will be solved.”

“However, financially things are a bit tight at the moment,” Steward Qiu said, “Our mansion can’t operate without silver. The daily expenses all need to be covered by silver. Now we are at the most crucial stage, and we can’t let others laugh at our mansion for the lack of silver. Third Lady, do you think…we can borrow some money from others first?”

Gu Qinghan asked, “How much money do we still need?”

“If we can borrow two or three thousand pieces of silver and divert it into the accountant’s office, it should not be a problem,” Steward Qiu said confidently.

Yang Ning originally thought that the mansion lacked a lot of money. Now he knew that they actually lacked thousands of pieces of silver, which didn’t seem to be a large number. But it was out of his expectation that such a big and wealthy family would be bothered by thousands of pieces of silver.

“It’s improper to borrow money at this time.” Gu Qinghan thought for a while, “I still have some jewelry, expensive clothing and other valuables. Maybe…”

“Third Lady, you can’t do that.” Steward Qiu was clever, and immediately knew what Gu Qinghan meant, “I should be blamed for my negligence. I didn’t urge the people in Jiangling to deliver the silver in time. How can I let you pawn your jewelry, expensive clothing and other valuables? If this got out, some people would make irresponsible remarks on our mansion. Besides, we also have a pawnshop. It’s unreasonable for us to pawn valuables in other pawnshops. In fact, things can be solved easily. Some people must have redeemed their valuables in our pawnshop over the past few days, so we can still earn some money. Besides, business of our medicine shop also flourishes. As long as we can last few days, everything will be better. It’s not difficult for us to borrow some money to meet the need of emergency. I will deal with it properly and will not let it go public.”

Gu Qinghan thought for a while, and said, “Then we can do it according to your method. You first borrow three thousand pieces of silver, and return the money immediately when our silver is sent to our mansion.”

“Third Lady, you know that when the Marquis was alive, he didn’t allow us to make financial contacts with other people,” Steward Qiu said, “Although it is not difficult for us to borrow three thousand pieces of silvers this time, we still need to leave something as a pledge. It is a rule.”

“I know this,” Gu Qinghan said, “You can ask relevant people about the pledge. Then we will discuss.”

Steward Qiu said, “Well, we can use our pawnshop as a pledge. Our pawnshop enjoys good reputation and it is very busy. As long as we use our pawnshop as the pledge, we can get three thousand pieces of silver immediately.”

“The pawnshop?” Gu Qinghan was slightly hesitant.

Steward Qiu said instantly, “The medicine shop was passed down from the old marquis, and it is the lifeblood of our mansion. So we can’t pawn it. In addition, we just borrow the money temporarily, and we can return the money in a few days. Even if we pawn our pawnshop, it will not affect the pawnshop’s business.”

“Since you think this method is feasible, you can do it first.” Gu Qinghan pondered for a moment, and slightly nodded, “You can tell them that we will soon return the money, and the interest will be paid in full.”

Steward Qiu said with a smile, “In this way, our mansion will not be in disorder. Third Lady, I will do it now.”

After Steward Qiu left, Yang Ning asked curiously, “Third Auntie, is there no silver in our mansion?”

“You’ll never know how much it takes to support a family until you manage one.” Gu Qinghan sighed lightly, “The ordinary expenses of our mansion are heavy. And now the general’s funeral…” She stared at Yang Ning with her beautiful eyes, “Why are you interested in these things now? You never thought about where money came from in the past.”

Yang Ning smiled and said, “Third Auntie, I ask this question because I see that you are worrying about the silver.”

“Whew, Ning now knows how to care about others,” Gu Qinghan smiled and said, “But you don’t have to worry about these things now. You can just leave it to me until you become the real master.” She looked at Duan Canghai, and frowned when she saw his red face, “Drink again?”

Duan Canghai was a little embarrassed, and touched the back of his head, saying, “Just…just a quick one…”

Gu Qinghan sighed, “I know you are uncomfortable. But we still have many things to do. There have been many trivial matters these days, and you have helped a lot.”

“I know,” Duan Canghai hurriedly said, “Third Lady, don’t worry. I won’t drink any more in the next few days.” Then he also frowned, and asked softly, “Third Lady, doesn’t the imperial court make any comments on the death of our general?”

Gu Qinghan nodded gently, answered with confusion, “I am also puzzled. According to common practice, the imperial court should have conveyed some messages to us. Neither the imperial court nor the Mansion of the Marquis of Loyalty has delivered any news so far. The Marquis of Loyalty did not come to our mansion to offer comfort in person either. I feel that all these things are a little weird.”