The Marquis Mansion’s Elite Class

“Twenty taels.”

Xu Wan was astonished: “So much?”

She had thought that the monthly allowance for a concubine's son would be less.

In the Minister's Mansion, the concubine's sons only received five taels each month; even Xu Lian'er, her beloved younger sister who was a legitimate daughter, only got fifteen taels; the original mistress, according to the rules, should have also received fifteen taels, but due to various deductions, she was left with almost nothing.

In comparison, Zong Wenxiu's life was actually quite good.

But... it didn't show at all...

Cui Zhi nodded: "Yes, usually a concubine's son in an ordinary family wouldn't get more than ten taels a month, but since Master Wenxiu endured nine and a half years of hardship outside, the Old Madam is very fond of him, so after he returned to the mansion, she gave him a lot of gold, silver, silk, and expensive writing materials, and also raised his monthly allowance to twenty taels."

“Then why is his clothing still so... plain?” Xu Wan noticed that he always wore hemp clothes, which were clean and neat, but certainly not as comfortable as silk.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Xu Wan had only taken over the education plan for the little demon king and hadn't interfered with the household affairs, so she had always thought that this was the treatment he received from the mansion.

Cui Zhi said: “Master Wenxiu said he wasn't used to it, so the Old Madam didn't force him and let him be.”

Xu Wan nodded.

A child from the slums, who had been struggling on the edge of life and death every day, suddenly becoming a rich young master, generally had two outcomes:

One was the mentality of a nouveau riche, indulging in retaliatory eating, drinking, and enjoyment, even going to extremes, which was a result of being overwhelmed by material desires, quite common;

The other was someone with extremely high moral standards, feeling guilty for not sharing the suffering of the common people, feeling ashamed of living in luxury.

Zong Wenxiu was the second type.

Xu Wan suddenly thought of something and asked: “By the way, Cui Zhi, has Wenxiu returned to the slums since coming back to the mansion?”

After escaping from such a place, probably no one would want to go back, but...

“He has, Master Wenxiu goes there once a month,” Cui Zhi mentioned this with some confusion, “Every time he goes, he takes a huge carriage, and we don't know what’s inside.”

Cui Zhi was afraid her words might be misunderstood, so she quickly added: “But nothing has ever gone missing from the mansion, and Master Wenxiu has always been virtuous.”

"Hmm?" Xu Wan keenly noticed something unusual and turned towards the inner courtyard, heading to the accounting room instead, "Let's go, check the ledgers."

“Ah? The ledgers?”

In the accounting room.

The carriage was carrying sorghum buns, the cheapest kind of steamed bread, which noble families never have because they taste bad," the accountant reported the findings truthfully.

Cui Zhi and Cui Liu looked at each other.

They seemed to understand what Master Wenxiu was doing every month.

It was such a... noble act.

“Let’s go.”

Xu Wan called out to the two of them, looking up: “Time to discipline the little brat.”

Cui Zhi and Cui Liu nodded in unison and quickly followed.

After waiting for another teapot’s time, Zong Jincheng’s patience was running out. He was about to storm out to demand an explanation from Xu Wan, but before he could even step out, he saw Xu Wan and her entourage approaching.

Zong Jincheng looked up and said: “If you didn’t come back soon, I would’ve thought you ran away. Listen, this time I won, and if you don’t keep your promise, that’s... hey, why are you looking at me like that? What are you going to do?”

The little demon king’s light footsteps faltered when he met Xu Wan’s long, stern face, and he immediately took a step back.

It turned out that this notoriously infamous eldest grandson actually responded better to tough love. Having been pampered with gentle words since childhood, he had become oblivious to the realities of the world. Only when he encountered a tough challenge did he begin to reflect on himself.

What was this woman’s expression? It looked like she was ready to settle accounts with him.

Just knowing Zong Wenxiu’s secret, Xu Wan found Zong Jincheng particularly irritating. Both were surnamed Zong, so why did this one turn out to be such a mischievous troublemaker?

With such a contrast, it was hard to stay calm.

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, her beautiful face had returned to its usual calm and composed state, as if the woman with intense pressure moments ago wasn’t her.

The little demon king was sharp and sensed the change in her aura, immediately starting to act up: “Return my people and money to me right now.”

Xu Wan nodded to the side.

Cui Zhi ordered two servants to be brought forward, both of whom had served in Zong Jincheng’s room before.

“Madam, we’ve caught everyone.”

“San De provided the lard, and Chang swapped the ink. It was the young master who asked them to do it.”

Zong Jincheng: “???”

How did they know!!!

The little demon king turned to glare at Shunzi, the only one who knew the truth!

“It wasn’t me!” Shunzi quickly waved his hands, panicking so much that he almost shouted “I’m innocent!”

Zong Wenxiu, who was watching from the side, was stunned. Although his brother’s trick with the lard was clumsy, Madam Xu had managed to interrogate everyone so quickly...

Too terrifying!

Xu Wan stood at the door, her figure silhouetted by the light, half of her face slowly emerging from the darkness: “Jincheng, you are clever, but don’t think everyone else is stupid. Our agreement was for you to keep up with Wenxiu’s progress. What you’ve done so far is merely surpassing in memorization.”

“Although there’s still a significant gap to our goal, it’s worth encouraging, so I agree to return your monthly allowance to you, at the standard for a noble family member, twenty taels a month.”

“Twenty taels?” Zong Jincheng had probably never heard of such a small amount. He spent more than that on a single meal with his friends!

“Grandmother never restricted my allowance before, and now you’re cutting it to twenty taels, and you have the nerve to call it returning my money? How can you even say that!” The little chick was clearly flustered, starting to wail.

Xu Wan’s head was pounding from the noise, and she covered her ears with her hands, trying to block out the sound: “If you want to spend money freely, you need to meet our agreement, otherwise, forget it.”

Xu Wan’s stance was firm.

Zong Jincheng was so angry that his face turned red, his body heaving violently. If he knew martial arts, he might have jumped up to scratch her by now.

“Tell me! What exactly do I need to do to catch up with his progress!” Zong Jincheng’s face was dark, his fists clenched, his usual cuteness gone, replaced by ferocity.

It’s just writing, what’s so hard about that!

He had the ability to memorize anything after reading it once, so naturally, he could write anything after reading it once!

And what’s this nonsense about understanding the meaning? He’ll just keep memorizing!

It’s just a matter of spending another month on it, he’s not short on time!

The little demon king’s inner thoughts were written all over his face. Xu Wan inwardly sighed, feeling that the heavens were indeed unfair. This mischievous child had an eidetic memory, and with rote memorization, he could soon be free.

With the goal of achieving the first rank still so far away, she certainly couldn’t let Zong Jincheng escape so easily. She needed to make him understand the importance of studying.

Xu Wan turned to ask: “Cui Liu, is the carriage ready?”

“It’s ready.”

“Alright, let’s go then.” Xu Wan signaled to the two boys to follow.

Zong Wenxiu obediently followed.

Zong Jincheng, however, wasn’t so obedient. He directly asked: “Where are we going? I still have to study at home, I don’t have time to wander around with you!”

Hmph, this woman had better say something nice, or else he might consider showing her around the luxurious and fun places in the capital!