Chapter 695: Prince Gong is Here!

Granny Hu was somewhat unsure, before when they fled from famine, they would eat anything. But now they were in Di Residence, would the Madam be upset that she bought these items back?

“Very good! These small ones are quite nice too! I just thought of their use, and we’ll start working on it after dinner tonight!”

Huh? The small ones are quite nice?n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Granny Hu was a bit slow to react. Wasn’t this just a helpless move because they didn’t have enough silver? How did it become a good thing?

In Liu Sisi’s view, these small ones were indeed good!

Small sweet potatoes, the size of thumbs, could be washed clean, and boiled. Once dried, they would become dried sweet potatoes, saving the time of cutting them with a knife. How nice!

The most important thing was that they could now be made into small snacks, saving money on buying them…

Thinking about this, Liu Sisi couldn’t help but blush. She was now excited at the thought of saving money!

What else can save money?

She continued to look through the items and found that Granny Hu, who had experienced hard times, had bought mostly beans, which make up more than half of all items.

Beans are great! Not only can they be used for feeding horses to strengthen their legs, they can also be ground into soy milk, the bean residue can be used to make bean paste, tofu can be eaten directly or made into red bean curd, and even be made into thin sheets of bean curd and tofu slices… Now it’s an extraordinary time, so naturally, they should save money as much as possible.

“Madam, continuing to save money won’t save much silver anyway.”

Old Cheng could see it clearly: “There are several horses in the mansion that eat a considerable amount of fodder and grain every day, and their consumption of silver is not less than that of people. Furthermore, there’s the daily porridge shed, which uses a bag of grain each day. Also, there are costs for catching locusts and coarse grains… how can we continue like this?”

Liu Sisi pondered for a moment and made a decision: “The use of locusts in exchange for coarse grains has been announced since the beginning, and we only accept them until the end of July. It’s already the tenth of August, let’s just cancel it.”

“Yes, I’ll pass the instruction later.”

“Besides, send someone to post an announcement informing everyone that it’s harvest time in the fields right now, so every family should hurry back to their home for the harvest. As for the porridge shed… let’s change it to distributing porridge every first and fifteenth day of the lunar month! Also, during major festivals, distribute porridge for three consecutive days.”

Previously, giving out porridge every day had almost bankrupted the Di Residence. Now, with these changes, the pressure on Di Residence should be much less.

“Yes, it’s indeed a good harvest season outside. I’ll handle it right away,” said Old Cheng happily.

“As the manager of the residence, what other areas have the highest silver consumption in the mansion?”

Liu Sisi racked her brains.

“There are a few places in the mansion with high silver consumption. One is the wages and rewards; another is visitors; and the last is medical consultations.”

Wages and rewards accounted for the lion’s share. Wages were high because Captain Zhiguo was allowed to have 2000 private soldiers in the Di Residence. Although Di Yelei had not recruited that many, the costs were real and came from the mansion. As for rewards, the nannies of the several children spent quite a lot of money.

Liu Sisi thought about it, and this part of the silver could not be saved.

The expenses of this part were simple. It’s just that when making visits, one couldn’t go empty-handed, right? Regardless of whether you buy a supplement or send a piece of jade or a good inkstone, it all requires a limit to the amount, doesn’t it?

Biting her lip, Liu Sisi decided to cut the original expenditure in half, even if it meant staying in the mansion more.

As for the medical consultations, in addition to YingEr, there were servants in the mansion who became sick from time to time and needed to spend silver, right? That part couldn’t be reduced no matter how she thought about it.

After much thought, there were really not many places to save money on.

It seemed like relying solely on saving wasn’t enough; they had to find ways to increase their income. But how to do that?

When Liu Sisi looked worried, a servant suddenly came to report: “Madam, there is a Mrs.Ran outside who has come to pay a visit to you.”

Mrs. Ran, the wife of a salt merchant. That’s right!

How could she have forgotten her!

With her help, there was no need to worry about money anymore.

By mid-August, the number of people in Macheng County had noticeably decreased. It made sense since every family was busy with the autumn harvest; at this time, those still wandering the streets were either rich children or homeless tramps.

Liu Sisi was still busy preparing lesson plans, as the new students would start school in early September.

With the approach of August 15th, even their household was in constraint, Liu Sisi still gritted her teeth and went shopping on the streets.

They had to celebrate Mid-Autumn festival with the elders in their home village, so some necessary items must be purchased.

Watching the remaining silver dwindling down, Liu Sisi decided to return to the mansion.

As she stepped through the main entrance, Old Cheng greeted her from a distance.

“Madam, Prince Gong is here! He’s currently in the Waterside Pavilion playing with the little masters and misses, enjoying themselves.”

“Prince Gong? You mean Prince Gong? I’ll go take a look.”

Her heart leaped with joy! Ignoring her washing, she headed straight for the Waterside Pavilion.

Before entering the pavilion, she heard the laughter of children playing coming from inside.

“Brother Nan…”

Excited, Liu Sisi called out and rushed into the Waterside Pavilion.

“Brother Nan, you’re finally back.”

Nan Tianzong was holding one of the children, making them giggle. Hearing her call, he instinctively turned around.

He was as handsome as ever, wearing his favorite light blue clothes, and a warm, jade-like smile on his face. Seeing Liu Sisi, his eyes instantly brightened!

“Sisi, you’re back. Come and see your little one – he’s simply adorable.”

Nan Tianzong eagerly greeted her in a friendly and natural tone, “It’s a shame I couldn’t witness these little ones being born since I had to go to the capital. It’s truly regrettable.”

“How can you tell which one is Xiaoxiao? How did you differentiate him from the others?”

Liu Sisi was amazed. The triplets usually confused many servants, but Nan Tianzong was miraculously able to tell them apart!

“Of course, I can tell them apart. Among the three little ones, the smartest is Xiaoxiao. Look at him…” Nan Tianzong went on and on, highlighting the differences in Xiaoxiao.

Liu Sisi listened with increasing delight and couldn’t help but quickly walk over to Nan Tianzong.

As she looked up, she noticed an extra person in the corner of the Waterside Pavilion – Luo Prefecture Princess, Thirteenth Luo.

As Liu Sisi approached, Thirteenth Luo hurriedly stood up from her chair and greeted Liu Sisi.

“Thirteen pays her respects to Auntie Liu. I never thought that in such a short time, we would meet again with Auntie Liu having become a Prefecture Princess. Truly, the world is unpredictable.”

When Thirteenth Luo had been sitting quietly, Liu Sisi only felt that she was somewhat different from before.