A Maid Dressed As A Cannon Fodder Female Supporting Role (Transmigration) - Chapter 24

“Glad you like the candy,” A’Zhi said, a faint smile playing on her lips after the young princess said it was sweet.

“I do,” Chao Mu’s cheeks were still puffed out, her warm, moist eyes fixed on A’Zhi. “How did you just happen to have a piece of candy, A’Zhi?”

A’Zhi’s smile didn’t waver, but she quickly lowered her head to retrieve the medicine bowl, masking the guilty look in her eyes. It wasn’t “just by chance”. A shopkeeper had given her a freebie, just one, and it was the cheapest kind of fruit-flavored hard candy, at that. She had kept the candy simply because she had eaten so many sweets that afternoon she couldn’t stomach another one.

Who would have thought it would come in handy when Chao Mu was complaining about her bitter medicine?

Of course, Chao Mu was none the wiser. She propped her chin in her hands, her eyes crinkling in a smile. Her voice was soft and slow, each word laced with a note of pure delight. “It’s so nice of you, A’Zhi, to think of me and bring me a candy!”

“A’Zhi is the best A’Zhi in the whole wide world!”

“And this is the sweetest orange candy in the whole wide world!”

A pang of guilt struck A’Zhi. The candy wasn’t expensive—you could get three for a single coin. She wished she had splurged on a few more for the young princess. Just one tiny piece of candy was enough to make her dimples appear. A’Zhi mentally calculated her small personal savings. It was enough to keep the princess happy for an entire year.

“Hmm,” Chao Mu mused, blinking her eyes. “A’Zhi?”

With her heart sinking in guilt and shame, A’Zhi’s back straightened instantly. She stood with her hands pressed to her stomach, her gaze lowered. “At your service.”

Chao Mu’s voice was slow and deliberate. “Besides me, did you bring candy for anyone else? For Cui Cui, maybe, or anyone else?” She smiled. “Is this candy just for me, or did everyone get one?”

A’Zhi looked her straight in the eye, her expression utterly composed. “No, there was only one piece,” she said with a firm shake of her head. The shopkeeper had only given her one, telling her to try it and come back for more if she liked it.

Chao Mu’s dimples deepened. “A’Zhi is the best,” she said softly. “You gave the only candy you had to me.”

A’Zhi’s conscience twinged. Guilt was beginning to brew and spread in her heart. She couldn’t help but wonder if the little princess was playing on her emotions, trying to make her feel so indebted that she would be stuck in this house forever, working like a dog.

But no, A’Zhi wouldn’t fall for that. She wasn’t just here to eat sweets; she was here to expose a massive secret.

She took out a small notebook from her sleeve, unrolled a sheet of paper, and removed the charcoal pencil. “Princess, take a look at this.”

“Huh?” Chao Mu glanced at A’Zhi, then followed her gaze to the paper on the table. The sheet was a bit curled at the edges, so A’Zhi used a teacup to hold it down. “This one is the real list of expenses after everything was returned. This one is the list that was submitted to the head accountant.”

There were a total of four sheets of paper, all filled with neat, graceful handwriting and numbers. The pages were clean and the contents organized, making them easy to read. A’Zhi had been out all afternoon, returning items from the banquet with some other servants. They were in charge of the delivery, while A’Zhi handled the finances with the shopkeepers.

Without looking up, Chao Mu patted the small embroidered stool next to her, gesturing for A’Zhi to sit. A’Zhi hesitated for a moment. Chao Mu’s pale, slender finger tapped on a number on the paper. She looked up at her. “It’s tiring to talk with my head tilted up like this, A’Zhi. You have to consider that I’m still sick.” She patted the stool again, and A’Zhi finally sat down.

“Take the flowers, for example. When I bought them, I mentioned Steward Qi’s name. They assumed I was one of his people, so when I went to return the flowers, the shopkeeper asked me, ‘Should we handle the returns the same way as before?'” A’Zhi said, “I didn’t know what that meant, so I just nodded.”

It turned out that of the sixty pots of high-quality flowers they had returned, the shopkeeper had changed the number to twenty, claiming the rest were “damaged.” The remaining forty pots went straight into someone’s personal pocket.

And it wasn’t just the flowers. After tallying all the expenses from the banquet, there was a surplus of more than two thousand taels that had been siphoned off. For a head maid like A’Zhi, five taels of monthly pay was a lot. Cui Cui, on the other hand, only got three. For them, two thousand taels was a fortune—more than they could ever earn in their lifetime as a servant.

A’Zhi could barely believe the money she was holding in her hands that afternoon. With over two thousand taels, she could buy a plot of land in a small county, build a house, and plant a garden. She would be set for life. If she wanted to live a bit more comfortably, she could even hire her own maid to serve her.

No wonder Steward Qi had put aside his pride to handle the post-banquet affairs. Two thousand taels was worth more than his dignity.

In the end, A’Zhi only used the public funds to treat herself to a few small pastries. She could have easily kept the two thousand taels for herself; no one would have noticed. But to expose Steward Qi, the more evidence she had, the better.

A’Zhi lowered her head, unfastened the top of her dress, and pulled out a money pouch from her chest. Seeing Chao Mu’s confused look, her face flushed slightly. “I was afraid of losing it on the way.” So she had kept it tucked close to her chest, where it was now warm from her body heat.

“Yes, you should be careful,” Chao Mu said. She glanced at the pouch and quickly looked away. It was a while before she looked up again, but by then A’Zhi had tidied her clothes and pushed the silver bills towards her. There were four five-hundred-tael bills and a hundred and twenty taels in silver coins. The other five taels had gone into A’Zhi’s pocket.

A’Zhi’s expression remained neutral. “It’s all here, Princess. Please count it.”

If a single banquet could generate so much money, imagine how much Steward Qi had pocketed over the years from all the various events. While the Qi manor had no master, the family’s ancestral hall was still in the capital. Steward Qi would host events every holiday to make the manor seem lively, claiming he was keeping the place well-tended for the master. On top of that, he would burn paper money and hire monks and priests on important days, so it all added up. To outsiders, Steward Qi seemed devoted, but in reality, all these expenses were a perfect excuse for him to line his pockets.

The Qi manor’s entire budget was like a giant pie, and only a tiny slice was used for the household’s actual expenses. The rest went straight into Steward Qi’s private coffers.

With the orange candy on her tongue, Chao Mu lowered her long, curly eyelashes and said, her voice muffled, “Such rich spoils would naturally breed fat maggots.”

The two of them put their heads together and came up with a plan. Steward Qi was known as a selfless, kind-hearted old man. Everyone in the manor would say, “The butler works so hard for us.” A’Zhi wanted to see if he could maintain that image tomorrow.

“It’s getting late. I’ll send someone in to get some water for you. You should wash up and rest early so you can get better soon.” A’Zhi stood up.

“A’Zhi,” Chao Mu called, gesturing for her. She pushed the hundred and twenty taels of silver towards her.

A’Zhi froze, a look of confusion and disbelief on her face. “Princess, what are you doing?”

“A reward for you,” Chao Mu said, putting away the two thousand taels and the four sheets of paper. “You worked hard on the banquet, A’Zhi. This is for your efforts.”

A’Zhi tried to keep her lips from turning up in a smile. “It’s my duty.”

“Then this is your due,” Chao Mu said, pointing at her now-empty mouth. Her eyes curved into a crescent shape. “Just consider it my thank you for the candy.”

As she walked out of the young princess’s room, A’Zhi touched the pouch in her hand. It held a hundred and twenty-five taels. Five taels were for her hard work, and the other hundred and twenty were for a single piece of orange candy.

A’Zhi was filled with regret. She regretted it immensely. She should have bought more candy! Now she felt so guilty, she couldn’t stop thinking about how much nicer she had to be to the little princess tomorrow.

Even if her heart was black, her outward appearance was so sweet. Oh, she was so sweet and so generous, giving out a hundred and twenty taels just like that.