There were quite a few people waiting in the Small Flower Hall. A few of the head stewards and old servants from the Houfu came as usual to report household matters to Lu Lingyun, and Autumn Concubine sat beside her, wailing. Lu Lingyun listened to the lamentations while running her fingers through the accounts on an abacus. Her fingertips paused, resting on a particular ledger. “A hundred taels to repair a wall?”
“Yes, Young Madam, it’s based on the previous cost for repairing this wall.”
Lu Lingyun raised an eyebrow. She quickly waved her hand at Autumn Concubine, telling her to stop crying for now. “This wall was repaired before?”
Earlier today, she had received a report from the stewardess about a collapsed wall on the west side of the Houfu. The stewardess had come to report the wall repair. Previously, these matters were all reported to Lady Qin, but with her recuperating, everything except the most urgent issues were now handled by Lu Lingyun. She immediately saw a foul play in this wall repair.
“Respectfully reporting to Young Madam, it was damaged by the heavy rain three months ago and was repaired once for a hundred taels.”
Lu Lingyun paused, “Bring the person responsible for the last wall repair and the original ledger to me!”
“Yes!”
As the head stewardess left, Lu Lingyun instructed Shuang Hong, “Go to the west side and take a look at the broken wall. Bring back a few pieces of broken bricks.”
“Yes!”
Soon, the head stewardess returned with the previous steward who oversaw the wall repair and the ledger. The steward’s surname was Cui, a lifelong servant of the Houfu, his parents had once served the old Houye, but now they were retired on the estate. He was in charge of purchasing supplies in the Houfu, and everyone called him Cui Da.
Cui Da walked over with a cheerful grin. Seeing Lu Lingyun, he greeted her obsequiously, “Greetings to the Young Madam, may the Young Madam be blessed with great fortune and good health.”
“Save the sweet talk for later, Cui Da. Let me ask you, you were responsible for repairing the west wall three months ago?” Lu Lingyun asked softly.
Lu Lingyun’s voice was very gentle, giving the impression of someone easy to talk to. Moreover, she had been in the Houfu for nearly a month and had maintained a pleasant demeanor throughout. Even when the dancer from the Young Master’s room had danced in front of her, she hadn’t reprimanded her in the slightest. This put Cui Da at ease. “Yes, Young Madam, you can rest assured, this time I will definitely repair the wall well and make you happy.”
Lu Lingyun continued in her soft, gentle voice, “Let me see the ledger for the previous wall repair.”
Cui Da, completely unaware of her suspicions, handed her a ledger.
Lu Lingyun skimmed through the scrawling handwriting on the ledger, reading aloud, “Five wen for a blue-and-white tile, you bought ten thousand tiles?”
“Yes, Young Madam, you don’t know, these blue-and-white tiles are the best, strong and durable.”
“You hired ten workers, the project took a month, and the wages were thirty taels?”
“Yes, that wall was over ten zhang long, it needs to be repaired slowly, slow and steady wins the race.”
“The mixing of the mortar and other materials cost twenty taels?”
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