Chapter 35: A Surprising Windfall
When Bai Luochu saw how the First Prince didn’t respond, she knew that she managed to cover up the entire incident.
However, she had no idea what she had to do as a personal servant. Bai Luochu couldn’t help but mutter to herself. If she truly had to be by the First Prince’s side every day, wouldn’t she be tied up and wouldn’t be able to move freely?
This wouldn’t do. If she wanted to reinstate the temple and take back the inheritance, she would need to purchase superior medicinal ingredients for cultivation. She would even need to recruit new members to establish her network. Either one of those activities would require her to move outside and it was the reason behind her reluctance to stay in the First Prince’s residence.
When she thought about it, Bai Luochu wasn’t going to allow herself to resign to fate. She took the initiative and bluntly asked the First Prince, “Could this servant be so bold as to ask for the reason behind the First Prince’s choice?”
Bai Luochu’s question was very sudden but she believed that the First Prince would understand the reason behind her question. Would he purchase her for no reason? She didn’t believe it and there must be a reason behind it.
“So bold as to ask? Humph...” Pei Rumo sneered helplessly in his heart.
In Pei Rumo’s eyes, Bai Luochu was simply too bold. She was obviously purchased as a personal servant and her job was to help out around the residence. Never had she once addressed herself as a servant in front of her master. She had been addressing herself as I or myself when she spoke. Let alone kneeling down, she didn’t even bend over and simply cupped her fists when addressing the First Prince.
Seeing her disregard the authority of someone from the imperial clan, even the First Prince’s residence wouldn’t be able to hold her back if there came a day where she grew strong enough. He did, however, understand why the Phoenix King Valley didn’t directly kill her and instead, threw her into the Bestial Battle Arena...
“Why? What makes you think I’m going to tell you?” Pei Rumo answered indifferently.
As expected! This person wasn’t going to tell her the reason so easily! However, she wasn’t someone who gave up easily. She thought for a moment and continued to ask, “May I ask the First Prince if I may leave the residence as I please?”
Asking for freedom again? Pei Rumo’s brows arched upwards as he held a new level of respect for this person in front of him!
Even though he respected her even more, his expression remained unchanged. He still spoke nicely to Bai Luochu, “You might be my personal servant, but if I don’t call for you, you need not stay by my side all the time. Since I have already given you the waist token, as long as you don’t create trouble implicating the First Prince's residence, you are still free to come and go as you please.”
As he was speaking, he placed down the teacup and handed over a wooden token to Bai Luochu and explained, “With this wooden token, you can go and retrieve money from the accounts room. If you are going out, you should bring along some with you.”
When she heard what the First Prince said, a wide smile appeared on Bai Luochu’s face. This was it! This was so much more useful than the waist token!
Even though that was the case, after seeing this wooden token, Bai Luochu still felt apprehensive of the First Prince’s attitude. Of course, she was truly lacking in funds at the moment and couldn’t say no. Accepting the token, she thanked the First Prince. “Thank you, First Prince. If Your First Highness doesn’t have any more instructions, I will take my leave.”
Pei Rumo gave his approval.
Seeing the First Prince’s response, Bai Luochu directly turned and walked towards the accounts room as she prepared to obtain her first pot of gold.
Bai Luochu truly didn’t understand those convoluted formalities that the imperial clan implemented and she didn’t want to understand them either. After all, her battlefield wasn’t the palace and she wasn’t going to waste her efforts to research and study etiquette.
After reaching the accounts room, Bai Luochu handed over the token to the accounts room’s supervisor. He was shocked. “Young Lady, the amount of money this token can withdraw is a huge sum. Are you sure you want to withdraw them all at once?”
Bai Luochu frowned. How much money could the First Prince give to a servant? She then nodded to the supervisor, indicating that she wanted to withdraw everything.
The accounts room’s supervisor pondered for a moment before he explained to Bai Luochu, “Since Young Lady insists on withdrawing everything, we will not stop Young Lady. I am afraid that Young Lady will not be able to carry them all by yourself. Can I ask Young Lady to please return to your courtyard? Later on, I will get someone to bring the money over.” After giving his explanation, he bowed to Bai Luochu.
Bai Luochu was a little doubtful and thought that it was just some money. Why was there a need to send someone to carry it over to her? It was truly superfluous.
She might doubt him, but she didn’t question the supervisor as she left for her residence. The only thing she could do was to patiently wait for the money to be sent to her.
Just as she stepped into the room, Zi Su quickly came over to welcome her. As Zi Su looked up and down several times, she made sure Bai Luochu suffered no injuries before sighing with relief.
“Phew. Young Lady, you gave this servant a huge scare! When the guard commander came over to look for you this morning, this servant thought that you caused some trouble yesterday when you ventured outside. I was afraid that you angered the Lord and he was going to punish you!”
Bai Luochu raised her brows and a myriad of thoughts ran through her mind. Her intention was to infiltrate the imperial palace but she was interrupted by the Second Prince. That shouldn’t be counted as causing trouble, right? Speaking of trouble, the only trouble she had was due to Su Luoqing finding fault with her.
Bai Luochu shook her head and patted Zi Su’s shoulder, indicating for Zi Su to relax. “It’s nothing. After arriving here, the First Prince has been out of the residence the entire time and this is my first time meeting him. I went to the main hall because the First Prince had some things to ask me about.”
As they were speaking, the accounts room sent a man to bring the money over.
She saw that manservant carrying a large box who then gave a formal greeting to Bai Luochu before placing the box on the table.
When Bai Luochu saw the box, she wasn’t thinking much of it and felt that the accounts room was simply exaggerating. The instant she opened the box, she was shocked. The contents inside weren't simply gold coins, there were plenty of silver notes as well.
When the manservant saw Bai Luochu’s surprised expression, he then explained, “The accounts room had instructed this servant to inform the Young Lady that the sum of money was too huge. The gold coins are for Young Lady’s daily expenses. Once those gold coins are all used up, you may directly use those silver notes to redeem the money from any of the note houses in the capital. If Young Lady doesn’t have any questions, this servant will take his leave first. There are still a lot of chores waiting for this servant.”
Bai Luochu waved her hand and dismissed the manservant. Looking at the box of notes, Bai Luochu thought about Pei Rumo’s true intentions.
“Your Highness, why didn’t you punish Luo Chu? You even gave her so much money!” Over at the First Prince’s side, the guard commander beside Pei Rumo was bewildered.
The First Prince opened up his folding fan and walked towards the study room as he replied, “The better she does, the more it speaks of her abilities. She will have the ability to become obstacles for some people along the way. What I want to see is her obstructing those people, creating a huge mess in her wake. As for everything along the process? As long as she doesn’t drag the name of the First Prince’s residence through the mud, anything goes.”
When that guard commander heard Pei Rumo’s explanation, he became even more confused. Since his master had made such a decision, as a guard, he shouldn’t be questioning it. Hence, he didn’t comment any more and simply followed beside Pei Rumo. After Pei Rumo entered the study room to handle his daily affairs, the guard commander stood in front of the study to prevent anyone from entering.