Chapter 1550: Chapter 1525: Salary (Part 3)

Manbao was a bit envious, “This is because the food is insufficient. You should eat more eggs and meat. How about we spend money to let the Bureau of Food Supplies add more dishes for you?”

Bai Shan was hesitant, “Wouldn’t that be inappropriate?”

Manbao immediately said, “What’s wrong with that? Being able to grow is a good thing. I wish I could grow taller as well, but I’m not able to.”

Bai Shan then laughed and said, “You shouldn’t compare yourself to us; you aren’t short either. I noticed when you stand next to Xu Yu, you’re almost the same height as her, even though she’s several years older than you. In the future, you’ll definitely be taller than her.”

You can’t just compare her height to the boys just because she grew up among them, can you?

Manbao wasn’t very happy because among the palace maids she knew, Xu Yu wasn’t particularly tall.

Manbao started to think, wondering if her mother was tall. Next time she went home, she must ask her mother, who would surely know.

As the two of them were talking, Xu Yu brought in a meal box, hesitated upon seeing Bai Shan sitting by the bed, quickly averted her eyes, and lowered her head to greet them, “This servant didn’t know the lord had guests.”

After saying that, she was about to leave, with an expression of not daring to look.

Bai Shan hurriedly called her back, “Lord Zhou Junior’s leg is injured; go get some water for her to wash up and then help her apply medicine.”

Manbao, who was not in much pain anymore: …

She hesitated for a moment, considering Bai Shan had just carried her back, so she shut her mouth and didn’t say anything.

Bai Shan got up to bid her farewell, “Apply the medicine before eating. Do you want me to go to the library to get your books?”

Manbao nodded repeatedly; she indeed needed to revise her books later.

Bai Shan then left.

Xu Yu stepped aside to make way; after he left, she quickly walked over to look at Manbao, “How did Lord Zhou Junior get hurt?”

Manbao replied, “Ran too fast.”

Xu Yu…

Xu Yu went to get hot water and tried to help her wash up, but Manbao pushed her hand aside and went herself, “It’s not a big deal, it’s not hurting much anymore,” she laughed.

Seeing that Manbao’s walking speed was a bit slow, but her face showed little pain, Xu Yu realized it wasn’t too serious, and hesitated whether she should stay guard at night.

In her heart, she felt Bai Shan was making a fuss over nothing.

Manbao soaked herself in the bath, washed her face, and applied the medicine herself without asking Xu Yu for help.

Since knowing Xu Yu always liked to stare at her, Manbao had Keke watch over her. Because it involved the host’s life safety and the distance was not far, Keke even gave her a discount, only charging half the points compared to when monitoring the Crown Prince.

But after several days, neither Manbao nor Keke noticed anything wrong, except Xu Yu occasionally liked to peep at Manbao.

Neither Manbao nor the system found any issue with the people she came into contact with, nor did Xu Yu say anything specifically against Manbao.

Manbao thought spending points on this was somewhat wasted, even though it was the system earning the points.

Finally, Manbao simply stopped monitoring; wouldn’t it be better to use points to buy books?

Even after stopping the monitoring, Manbao remained very cautious, knowing that the room in the palace wasn’t very safe. Not only Xu Yu, but other female officials or maids could come in if they wished.

So whenever she looked at things from a different world, she made sure to close the door, and with Keke watching, she would put the items back into the system if anyone approached.

So far, no problems had arisen.

However, Manbao still didn’t want someone uncertain as friend or foe to get close to her, even if Bai Shan said Xu Yu didn’t have the guts to do anything in front of a doctor like her.

Anyway, since it wasn’t hurting much, she could handle the medicine herself with a casual rub.

After applying the medicine, Manbao began to eat. When Xu Yu collected the meal box, Bai Shan and Bai Erlang brought her things over together.

She needed a lot of materials to revise her books. Last month, she looked up a lot, which were piled on the table, and Bai Shan brought it all over for her.

Also, there was paper and ink provided by the Chongwen Pavilion.

After entering the Chongwen Pavilion, Manbao didn’t have to spend money on paper and ink; everything was provided by the Eastern Palace.

Bai Erlang helped place the things on the desk and, after eyeing Manbao up and down, asked Bai Shan, “Where is she injured? Why can’t I see it?”

Before Bai Shan could speak, Manbao had already said, “If you could see it, you’d be a doctor.”

Bai Erlang frowned, and asked concernedly, “Are you really hurt?”

Manbao slowly sat at the desk, nodded, “Of course it’s true. I just applied medicine; can’t you smell it?”

Bai Erlang twitched his nose and indeed smelled a faint medicinal scent, worriedly asked, “How did you get hurt?”

Bai Shan also smelled it, so he went to the stove, picked up the teapot, and poured her some water, “Do you want me to get you leave tomorrow?”

Manbao shook her head, “No need, a good night’s sleep would do. At most, I’ll have my second apprentice give me a few acupuncture tomorrow.”

Bai Erlang saw her pouring water and grinding ink, looking like she was ready to work despite the injury, sympathizing, “Even injured, you still have to work?”

Manbao’s eyes lit up, speaking with an enthusiastic tone despite saying regretful words, “I just verified my salary with the Ministry of Revenue; receiving the lord’s salary means loyalty to the lord. I’m taking so much money; it wouldn’t be fair not to work.”

Bai Shan and Bai Erlang didn’t hear the regretful tone in her words, only her excitement, and couldn’t help but ask, “Is the salary a lot?”

Manbao seemed to light up like a lamp suddenly raised high in the night, her whole being excited yet slightly restrained, “You definitely don’t know how much salary I receive.”

Indeed, Bai Shan and Bai Erlang didn’t know since they never paid attention.

Mainly because Mr. Zhuang would never tempt them with profit; if one holds office for a salary, why hold office at all?

Neither Bai Shan nor Bai Erlang lacked money; their families had plenty of land and wealth, so money wasn’t a great attraction for them.

They were merely frugal in their daily lives, not because they were deeply desirous of wealth.

Also, Mr. Zhuang didn’t want them to have a desire for wealth; otherwise, they would turn into corrupt officials, right?

Therefore, Mr. Zhuang never told them how much salary officials at various levels received.

He wouldn’t talk about it, let alone Old Madam Liu and Old Master Bai; they wanted Bai Shan and Bai Erlang to study, not because of the salary but for the glory of their ancestors and fulfilling their ancestors’ wishes.

Yet now, this veil was pierced by Manbao, who brightly looked at them and said, “I’m a fifth-rank compiler with a monthly salary of 3600 coins, a sixth-rank imperial physician with a monthly salary of 2400 coins.”

Bai Shan said, “That’s quite similar to what you earned while attending at Jishi Hall; you still had five taels of silver each month, not to mention your income from visits.”

Currently, Manbao was in the palace, hence no income from visits.

Manbao then brightened her eyes, “But that’s only the salary. Besides the salary, each season there are silk, cloth, cotton, and rice; fifth-rank compiler gets fifteen stones per month, sixth-rank imperial physician gets eight stones per month. Most importantly, I have official fields. Although not yet granted; they’ll be assessed and given after autumn harvest. But as a fifth-rank compiler, I get six hundred acres, and a sixth-rank imperial physician gets four hundred acres.”