Upon leaving the Fei residence, Duan Yanhua felt a surge of excitement, but the look he gave Song Gaoli also carried a hint of jealousy.
"You are a lucky kid. If I had been able to enter the Imperial Academy to study at your age back then, I wouldn't have dragged on until I was nearly forty to pass the imperial examination."
Song Gaoli chuckled twice and rubbed the back of his head with an unnatural expression.
"It is all thanks to you, Teacher. If you hadn't brought me to visit Lord Fei today, your student wouldn't have had this opportunity."
After calming down, Song Gaoli had a suspicion in his heart. Perhaps today's matter was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.
It was highly likely that Ye Liangyu had planned this, which was why he had specifically instructed him not to interfere with anything when he left yesterday.
Duan Yanhua reached out and patted Song Gaoli's shoulder. He said earnestly, "I am very gratified that you can think this way. My efforts in planning this for you were not in vain. After entering the Imperial Academy, you must study hard and pass the imperial examination next year."
"You must also pay attention to one thing. There are many children of officials in the Imperial Academy, and among them are people of noble status. In your spare time, remember to interact more with them. It will be beneficial for your future official career."
"If you hear any particularly important news, you must tell me immediately. I will help you plan, lest your youthful arrogance causes you to offend someone without even realizing it."
Song Gaoli nodded on the surface, but in his heart, he thought about going to the Ye residence tonight to ask Song Qiming if today's show was arranged by Ye Liangyu.
After Song Jinzhao returned to the Ye residence, she took out the box containing the land deeds and spread a thick stack of slavery contracts from inside onto the table.
These were all the servants who lived depending on the estate. They were rewarded along with the estate, totaling more than twenty people.
She hadn't brought a single servant from the farm in Anyang Prefecture. Now, if she wanted to sort out these two estates as soon as possible, she would either have to buy new servants or use the old ones.
Qingshuang brought out another old, large wooden box. There were a few wormholes on the four bottom corners.
When the Internal Affairs Department brought the rewards over that day, they threw this box into a corner. By the time Qingshuang found it, she saw that the outside was covered in a layer of grime, as if it hadn't been opened in over a decade.
"Eldest Miss, when your servant opened it, it was full of account books. They look quite complete, and the age of the paper and ink match up. They don't look like fake accounts, but they also seem incredibly fake."
"These two estates have never made any money. The income and expenses are unusually balanced. You could say they are self-sufficient; they have never asked the owner for subsidies, nor have they ever given the owner a single coin."
In the inner room, Song Shixue, who was sticking needles into a strawman, looked up in astonishment.
If two estates totaling a thousand acres couldn't make money while supporting twenty-odd servants, wouldn't the farm her eldest sister bought in Anyang Prefecture require her to lose money every year? This was a huge problem.
Standing nearby, Lanxi hesitated and said, "Could it be that the estate managers embezzled the funds? There are countless royal estates, big and small. Without careful inspection, it is very easy for such problems to occur."
When he was in the imperial palace of the Shuobei Kingdom, his food and supplies were often stolen by maids and eunuchs. Even his monthly allowance was withheld by the Internal Affairs Department.
Song Jinzhao took the account book Qingshuang handed her. It clearly recorded how much grain the tenant farmers handed over each year, and the reasons for any shortages. Droughts, floods, and locust plagues were written down clearly with ample justification. However, the yields were simply unpresentable. As long as they worked hard, they shouldn't have harvested so little grain.
Song Jinzhao said, "Find the contracts signed between the estate and the tenant farmers and show them to me."
Qingshuang and Lanxi immediately walked to the box and bent down to search through it. The rising dust created a hazy fog. It wasn't until they had pulled out all the account books from the box that the two found a thick stack of contracts at the bottom. They had been badly bitten by insects, covered in wormholes and yellow spots.
"I will go outside and clean them off first." Lanxi took the contracts into the courtyard and swung his arms forcefully. What fell off was not just dust, but also insect corpses and droppings.
After he had cleaned them up enough, he handed them to Song Jinzhao. By this time, Song Shixue had also walked over. She casually picked up a contract and saw that the signing date was twenty years ago.
In other words, these two estates hadn't changed their tenant farmers in twenty years. Furthermore, according to the terms written on the contract, no matter how much the tenants harvested, in the absence of a grain tax, they only needed to hand over thirty percent. And there was no minimum yield requirement.
Song Jinzhao's curiosity was thoroughly piqued.
She tapped her fingertip against the string of recorded droughts and rainstorms in the account book and instructed Qingshuang and Lanxi, "Go immediately and find someone to ask around. First, see if what is written here is true."
"Anyway, there is nothing to do these next few days. Since we can't move houses, we might as well go to the estate and take a look. We will go tomorrow."
Hearing this, Song Shixue became interested. She raised her hand and said, "Sister, I want to go too. I am going to grow moldy staying in my room all day."
Song Jinzhao nodded. "Bring Anhao and Xuetuan along too."
Even an intellectually challenged tiger was still a tiger. They had few people and couldn't intimidate others, so bringing Xuetuan over would be just right.
Staying motionless in the courtyard these past few days, the tiger's muscles had grown slack.
