She is different from the empress in the history books

Chapter 17 Accounts
what do i want?
Cheng Fei was stunned when asked.

At first she wanted a lot, but later she discovered that without Pei Peng taking her out, she wouldn't be able to pass her parents' test.

And even if she really convinced her parents, wanted to do something, and accomplished something, in the capital after Pei Peng left, she would just be a fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered.

Cheng Erli said that there is a flower farmer in their hometown who is very skilled and often grows beautiful flowers and sells them in the city.

At the beginning, it was just ordinary and beautiful, and it was sold to common people in the city during the festivals.

Later, better flowers were grown and sold for more money. They were targeted by big businessmen in the city who bought flowers for wealthy families, so they could only supply them.

Later, he planted a peony with huge flowers and white petals.

This flower was sold to a prince's palace, which made the prince's flower viewing party a big hit.

Then, the gardener, his wife and children disappeared overnight.

His relatives reported to the official, and asked someone to inquire, and entrusted him to Cheng Erli.

Cheng Erli asked Pei Peng and learned that a nobleman was interested in the gardener's skills and was unwilling to buy them from merchants at high prices again and again. He simply asked his family to sell themselves as slaves and specialize in growing flowers on Zhuangzi.

So what Cheng Fei wanted was not as much as before.

"I want to have the ability to protect myself, the power to choose, and the status not to be bullied."

This is what Cheng Fei wants.

This is not glory and wealth, but it is more difficult to get than glory and wealth.

Pei Peng got to know this cousin again. She thought she was weird and naive, but at this moment, she felt that she was transparent.

This is something that Pei Peng has been groping for for more than ten years in the deep palace. He wants to protect himself, to make choices according to his heart, and not to be bullied.

As for Cheng Fei, what did she experience or learn that led her to realize this?

If she learned it from someone, then she must get such a teacher and such a book!

……

Since that day when she made her grand ambition, Cheng Fei can no longer live as leisurely as before.

She didn't know much about writing or running a business, but Pei Peng finally discovered one of Cheng Fei's advantages, that is, she could calculate accounts quickly.

For Pei Peng after moving, there are many things in the mansion. The gold and silver jewelry, medicinal materials and spices brought in need to be filed and put into storage, and the accounts of taxes, rice grains, etc. sent by the county magistrates of various food cities need to be verified and accounted for. , with the assistance of someone who can settle accounts quickly, it can still improve efficiency.

So Cheng Fei was sent to the accountant.

Fortunately, this is only the counting room of the princess mansion, not the counting room of the county government. Whoever serves the bowl eats whose meal.

The old accountant accused His Highness of being nepotistic and dared to send a young woman with no qualifications to settle accounts, but he didn't show anything on his face and perfunctorily gave Cheng Fei some less important accounts.

Pei Peng gave Cheng Fei a chance to display his abilities, even though he knew that the accountants might have objections, he didn't intervene again.

After all, if Cheng Fei can't even deal with the people he works with, then his so-called desire to protect himself and not be bullied can only be empty talk.

And Cheng Fei...

She didn't notice anyone else's dissatisfaction at all.

She just thinks that the people in the accounting room speak nicely, have a gentle attitude, and do their own things without stumbling each other. It is a perfect workplace environment.

As for the less important accounts assigned to her, they were to check the amount and damage of Pei Peng's wine, and then re-register it into the warehouse.

Cheng Fei didn't think this was unimportant. After all, the price of the wine on the account was really quite expensive.

Moreover, it was well preserved along the way, and the damage was only due to cracks in the wine urn, and the wine did not leak much.

As long as Cheng Fei stared at the people in the warehouse and checked carefully, and then calculated the cost of replacing some of the wine urns, and calculated the cost of the loss, it was almost the same.

"cousin,"

Cheng Fei took the account book and walked into Pei Peng's study.

Pei Peng is writing letters to people with whom he has friendships, to his subordinates who are staying in the capital, and to relatives such as the Cheng family and the Xu family.

There are also her brothers and sisters. Although their relationship is average, Pei Peng will not violate the etiquette they should observe. It is just a matter of a few letters anyway.

She thought about Cao Shao's question that night again, paused, and decided to ask more about the situation of the second imperial sister.

After Cheng Fei came in, seeing that Pei Peng was busy, she silently found a round stool and sat down, and stopped the maidservant from serving her tea.

She came to see Pei Peng frequently these days, and found that Pei Peng never drank tea in the study, let alone ate.

Of course, Pei Peng would not stop others from doing so, and would never show dissatisfaction.

But Cheng Fei thought that the purpose of her coming here today was to ask for others, so she should try not to do things that might affect her cousin's mood.

Pei Peng put down his pen and waited for the ink to dry before he raised his head and asked:
"what happened?"

"Look at this account. Manager Zhou said that when you moved this time, some of the wine was inconvenient to carry, so he put it in the capital. But after coming to Taizhou, there were more banquets, and he was afraid that it would not be enough to drink, so he entrusted the caravan Shang'an City bought wine, but it was said that there were not enough types of wine in Shang'an City, and the quality was not as good as those at home, so he sent people to buy from the capital."

Pei Peng took over the account book. This is the purchase of wine in Fuzhong in the past two years. The price changes have fluctuated greatly——

Six months ago, the national mourning period had just passed, and every family was busy organizing weddings for the delayed juniors at home, or holding banquets and gatherings in turn, and the price of drinks had increased by [-]% compared to previous years.

This is already a relatively high price.

However, in the past few days, the estimated price of transporting drinks from Beijing to Chengyang County has tripled, and this does not include the loss during transportation.

Cheng Fei, who had never touched so much money, was terrified at the sight. If such a high price was replaced by practical things, such as grain and cloth, it would be enough to support a soldier.

Pei Peng was also very surprised. She expected that the price of expensive things such as wine, brocade, silk and satin from Taizhou would be higher, but it was so much higher that it really made people feel distressed about the money.

"Do you think someone has tampered with the account and raised the price of wine?"

Cheng Fei shook her head:

"I'm not sure about this. If my cousin has doubts, she can send someone to investigate. But my main concern is the other side, which is the income and expenditure of the family."

"Cousin, although the old accountant didn't let me have access to other accounts, I don't mind if I look through them. I found that the income of the mansion mainly comes from the rewards from the palace, the tax income from the Shiyi, the production of Zhuangzi's fields, and the rent from the shop. , and the effectiveness of some merchants..."

Pei Peng nodded:

"That's right, I'm not good at business, and if I want to make money as a merchant, I don't need to have a caravan to travel around, buy and sell, or I need unique skills. But I can use trustworthy merchants and There aren’t many, and there aren’t many skilled craftsmen at hand, so we can’t even run a separate business. Instead of doing business, it’s better to buy more Zhuangzi fields and have a stable output.”

(End of this chapter)