Chapter 259 - Languid Arrest (1/2)

After being informed of Lei Xing's return and that she was napping before dinner. The Emperor decided to finish up a few things before going over. But after a few moments, he decided to just go over to join her in her nap, it had been a long day for him as well.

But then to his surprise, he arrived in her room to find her at her desk surrounded by books, which he realized where account books as he got closer.

She was so focused in whatever she was doing that she apparently did not even hear the door.

”Xing er?” The Emperor lightly called as he came up to the table. Lei Xing jumped and then looked up, saw him and smiled, and excitedly went, ”Oh, you're here! Good, come sit...I have a few things I need to talk to you about.”

He had thought that she would be tired after such a busy day, but clearly, she still had a lot of energy. The Emperor sat down at her side with a smile as he commented, ”You seem to have had quite the busy day...”

”It was okay...” Lei Xing dismissively said with a nod and then she proceeded to ask, ”Do you know your harem has a monthly allowance of a hundred thousand gold pieces?”

The Emperor raised an eyebrow at her and tentatively went, ”I see...” Not sure what she was actually getting at with this.

”My allowance is only a thousand gold pieces every month and it's the same for the other three - well, two noble consorts, the concubines get three hundred. So nine concubines - well, ten...”

Lei Xing frowned in annoyance, factoring in Chen You's new status was messing things up so she went, ”Let's just use last month, the nine concubines total twenty-seven hundred, that plus four Noble consorts' four thousand...the total actual harem allowance for last month was sixty-seven hundred and that's only 6.7% percent of the total budget. So then what happened to the rest of the money?”

The Emperor blinked at her but before he could respond, Lei Xing continued, ”According to Ming Shu, this was how it was since your father's time and not much has changed - Ah, I am not at all questioning your mother's management skills...I'm just saying.” Lei Xing promptly clarified raising her hands up, she was not aiming to offend anyone here.

The Emperor snorted and brought her hands down with a sigh and explained, ”My father's harem at one point had over a hundred women so -”

”You don't have a hundred women so - Or do you plan on having a hundred women?” Lei Xing interjected narrowing her eye at him.

The Emperor smiled and curtly responded, ”Never...”

Lei Xing smiled, ”Good, then that much money isn't needed...All it does is create a lot of room for embezzlement. Ah, I'm not accusing your mother of embezzlement or anything, I'm just saying a lot of money is unaccounted for here...the funds are better utilized elsewhere than it simply sitting idly by to be splurged...”

The Emperor quietly scrutinized her with an odd expression and Lei Xing warily looked at him and went, ”What?... What is it?”

”You seem different, you seem to be enjoying this...surprisingly.” The Emperor commented.

”What do you mean by surprisingly?” Lei Xing swiftly asked with a raised eyebrow.

The Emperor blinked at her and then said, ”Well, it's just...you are normally -....”

{...Quite lazy...}

He thought that but looking at her expression, he definitely could not say that. It was just that this level of care she was putting into this was very surprising. It truly was very out of character for the Lei Xing he had come to know.

”Lazy? That's what you wanted to say, wasn't it?” Lei Xing asked narrowing her eyes at him with a disgruntled pout.

The Emperor smiled, ”Self-awareness is an excellent trait...very lovable.” He added as he went to hug her.

Lei Xing pushed him back and defended, ”First of all, I am not lazy, I am just efficient. You can't call someone without a job lazy - Actually, forget that. My point is, there was no requirement of me to do anything given that I was allocated no responsibilities...”

The Emperor simply raised an amused eyebrow with a smirk, but before he could speak, Lei Xing seemed to realize that her defense was weak so she went, ”I will have you know that before I came here I was considered a workaholic -”

”Workaholic?” The Emperor asked and Lei Xing quickly explained, ”It means I was always working, all the time! I loved working - Actually, no, I loved making money, very different thing. Anyway, so long as I was getting paid, I was working -”

The Emperor raised an eyebrow, ”So you want to be paid to -”

”No, no, no. My point is that I am a GREAT worker. If you don't give me a job, you can't expect me to work. Therefore, I am not lazy, I am simply an efficient and effective worker who knows the importance of energy conservation.” Lei Xing finished with a resolute nod.

The Emperor blinked at her and snorted, but when Lei Xing glared at him, he held back his laugh and just smiled and said, ”All very important points...I always believed you had the capacity to rise up to any occasion.” He finished, pulling her into a warm hug.

Lei Xing knit her brows.

{...I sense some sarcasm there...definitely some doubt in that statement...But I shall be magnanimous and let it go this time~( ￣^￣ )...}

Lei Xing was in such a great mood, so she smiled and wrapped her arms around him and asked, ”How was your day?”

The Emperor sighed and then released her and proceeded to tell her about the prisoner's words and his meeting with Prince Rui. As he told her about Doctor Lou helping the patients, he remembered his mother and so he said, ”Ah, that reminds me. Could you ask Doctor Lou to come to check on the Empress dowager? I stopped by his pharmacy on my way back but it was closed...”