HMIME Chapter 14: Two warm one’s get one free, monthly discount

“Do you want your monthly allowance?”

At the dinner table, Chu Ya suddenly asked.

Bai Lu used chopsticks to pick up the tenderest part of the steamed bass and stuffed it into his mouth, then glanced at Chu Ya.

Originally, he wanted to ask how he knew, but after finishing the fish, Bai Lu understood. He asked, not too pleased, “Was it Ling Feng who told you?”

Chu Ya nodded slightly, and Bai Lu snorted in dissatisfaction, stabbing the rice with his chopsticks, “I knew he was sent by you to monitor me. He’s already reporting to you so quickly.”

Chu Ya calmly explained, “It’s to protect you. You’re too reckless. I can’t always be by your side, but he can.”

“Forget it, do I need protection? Look at these muscles of mine…”

Bai Lu raised his arm and saw his slender, fair skin, which was so pale that it glowed.

“Damn, I forgot.”

Bai Lu was extremely frustrated, picked up the chopsticks, and continued eating.

It must be said that the imperial palace’s meals were really delicious. The freshness and high quality of the ingredients were one aspect, and the other was that this era didn’t have as many fancy seasonings as modern times. The palace chefs used their exquisite skills and various clever techniques to cook out the natural flavor and aroma of the food. Sometimes, even though it was the same ingredient, it could produce different flavors.

The only downside was that there were too many people in the dining hall.

There were several palace maids standing here, several eunuchs standing there, and a few guards at the door. The problem was that they didn’t sit down to eat, they just stood there straight, bowing their heads and hands neatly folded.

Being stared at while eating was tolerable, but what was more crucial was that they were always ready to serve you. If you dropped a chopstick, just as you were about to bend down to pick it up, a hand would quickly reach out from there and pick up the chopsticks, swiftly replacing them with a new pair.

When you finished eating a chicken leg, wanting to find a place to discard the bones, someone would already respectfully bring over a bone plate, making you embarrassed to discard it but also unable to keep it. It was like being waited on by an overly enthusiastic employee in a high-end restaurant.

After a meal, Bai Lu always felt physically and mentally exhausted. This wasn’t him eating the meal; it was the meal eating him.

Chu Ya was quite accustomed to it. After all, there were also maids waiting beside him during meals in the Chu family, and the scene was similar.

But he could tell that Bai Lu was uncomfortable. He waved his hand considerately, and the palace maids and eunuchs all retreated to outside the door, leaving only Eunuch Wang behind.

Bai Lu felt a little relieved, lifted the annoying hem of his clothes, propped up his left leg on his right leg, rolled up his loose sleeves, and continued eating.

Chu Ya glanced at him and said, “Don’t sit like that, no manners.”

Bai Lu rolled his eyes, unwilling to comply, “I eat for my own comfort, not for show. Who cares about manners?”

Eunuch Wang, standing behind Chu Ya’s chair, couldn’t help but want to laugh, but restrained himself in front of His Majesty and could only tightly grip the handle of the duster with his fingers, barely suppressing his laughter. But his old face couldn’t help but twitch three times.

Chu Ya was too lazy to correct him. Bai Lu, as long as he didn’t cause major trouble, these small details didn’t matter.

Bai Lu continued, “Don’t change the subject. Did you mention the monthly allowance just now? Are you going to give it to me?”

Chu Ya looked at him with a smile, indulgently asking, “How much do you want?”

“Um…”

Bai Lu couldn’t help but ponder.

Negotiating monthly salary with a superior was a very serious matter. If you ask for too much, negotiations could break down, but if you ask for too little, you’ll end up losing out. So, one must cautiously probe the other party’s bottom line.

The only references available were the eight taels of silver for the maids and the eighty taels of silver for the palace guards. The span from eight thousand to eighty thousand was too wide; it was really hard to quantify.

Although Bai Lu wanted to ask for more, he realized he hadn’t done much. He wasn’t like the maids who served tea and water, cleaned, or the guards who patrolled and defended the palace.

For the past few days, besides wandering around the boundless palace or arguing with Chu Ya, he occasionally (was forced to) warm the bed.

If he warmed the bed thirty times a month, with two for free, let’s say twenty times, being a man, he probably wasn’t worth much. Warming the bed once was three hundred, so it was only six thousand in total.

Bai Lu cautiously extended his thumb and pinky, gesturing a ‘six,’ meaning six taels of silver.

Chu Ya nodded and casually raised his hand. Eunuch Wang immediately bent down to listen to his orders.

Chu Ya calmly said, “Give him six hundred and sixty taels of silver per month. Make a note of it in the Internal Affairs Department.”

Wang bowed, “This servant understands.”

Bai Lu: “??!”

Six hundred and sixty taels, sixty-six thousand per month?! He used to earn only eight hundred for a match!

For a moment, Bai Lu felt like one-sixth of his resentment towards Chu Ya had been offset.

Chu Ya smiled, “Tomorrow is the first day of the month. You can go to the Internal Affairs Department to collect your allowance.”

“The Internal Affairs Department?”

Bai Lu found it somewhat familiar—oh, it’s the place that always says they lack eunuchs… So the monthly allowance for palace personnel is managed by the Internal Affairs Department. Bai Lu’s resistance towards this place instantly disappeared.

The next day, Bai Lu deliberately got up early and dressed with Chu Ya. Chu Ya didn’t call the maids to serve but personally helped Bai Lu fasten his complicated belt, tied up his hair, and kissed his face, softly reminding him, “Don’t cause trouble. If anyone bullies you, remember to tell me.”

Bai Lu was speechless, “How old do you think I am?”

Considering the other’s self-esteem, Chu Ya didn’t give a direct answer, just smiled ambiguously, “Let’s have breakfast first.”

Let’s not mention what they had for breakfast, it was better than what he had in the dungeon anyway. After breakfast, Chu Ya went to attend the morning court, followed by a large group of people, including guards and eunuchs. Bai Lu felt puzzled; was it necessary to have such a big entourage just to attend court?

As soon as he stepped out of the gate of Bailu Palace, a dark shadow appeared from somewhere and silently followed him.

Bai Lu was startled, “What’s wrong with you? How can you still appear out of nowhere? I woke up so early today, and you managed to stalk me?”

Lingfeng said expressionlessly, “I’ve been waiting here since the Mao hour, it’s been an hour and twenty-five minutes.”

“??? You’re a creepy stalker!”

Bai Lu really couldn’t do anything about him. Neither beating nor scolding him would make him leave. He would just maintain a wooden expression and say it was His Majesty’s orders.

Bai Lu had no choice but to ignore him and ask a passing eunuch for directions to the Internal Affairs Department, happily going to collect his monthly allowance.

The Internal Affairs Department was quite grandly decorated. In today’s terms, this place managed the entire palace’s logistics. As soon as Bai Lu stepped through the imposing threshold, a chief eunuch-like figure came forward, “You must be Young Master Bai. Please follow me; your requested items are ready.”

He led Bai Lu into the inner room, where there was a small wooden box with golden corners on the table. Upon opening it, Bai Lu saw stacks of silver ingots piled up inside.

The silver ingots varied in size; some were as small as fingers, while others were as big as half an apple, each stamped with an oval official seal. Bai Lu casually picked up two to weigh them. The small one was probably about a catty in weight, and the big one was about five catties?

It seemed that for convenience, they specially minted silver ingots in ten and fifty taels.

It was quite strange in this era. Although historically, the ancient method was sixteen taels equaling a catty, here they used a decimal system, just like modern times, with ten taels equaling a catty. It was quite convenient for these time-traveling individuals.

Bai Lu tossed the silver back into the box and waved to Lingfeng, “Help me carry it back. I want to go…”

Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly heard a powerful female voice coming from the next room, “Our Lady Mei is also a noble concubine, why does she receive a hundred taels less than Lady Wen?!”