"Then, I will follow the Young Palace Master's Orders. Is there something you wish for this humble maid to do now?" The maid asked politely and clearly saddened, but hopeful.
"I haven't told you yet, but I let my mother in law out of my small realm just before leaving my house. She is probably having a heartfelt reunion with her daughter. Please take care of them as you would me. This is a new place for them, and I desire them to live in relative comfort. I have already informed the other maids." I explained.
"Young Palace Master, the care you have for your family is worthy of respect. Allow this humble maid to take up the task." The maid said, with a big smile on her face. "He knows what happened to me in the past, and he is still giving me a chance. Moreover, the care he shows his family is nothing short of outstanding. He Is still recovering, but worries about others ahead of himself. If he asked it of me, I'd help bear his children." She thought.
"Excellent, I'll send you back there if you have nothing else you need to do." I offered.
"It's fine, thank you, Young Palace Master, but I can handle the travel. I have a few stops to make along the way, so it is no trouble at all. Rather I consider it a great honor!" The maid said in a truly happy tone. She was suddenly extremely happy To be of use to her master.
"I see, then take this and do what you must. There won't be any danger if you have that in your possession." I said, floating over a token looking thing over to the maid.
"Young... Young Palace Master cares about protecting a lowly Mortal like me?" The maid spoke with tears. "I will work hard to be worthy of this gift Young... No, my lord." She added, and left the Hall with a bow.
"Young Palace Master, you sure have quite interesting methods. Shall we go now? The Palace is quite large." Hua Qing Si asked, looking at me with a glint in her eye.
"I'll be coming too, I have been away for some time, myself. And I don't really understand the current situation all too well myself. It's best if I also come along as well. And this way, if anyone asks, we can inform them you are my son. Though I doubt that will be a problem given how your title appeared." Yang Kai said, standing up.
~~The Next Day In A Small Meeting Room~~
"This... Martial Aunt has done a great job thus far managing this place. I doubt there would be anyone more capable." Yang Kai said, with some flattery.
"Indeed, however, I'm curious what the Young Palace Master is doing? There was originally 1 spot for the documents. But he seems to have some aside for some reason." Hua Qing Si asked, while also explaining her reasons.
"Oh, that is... He must have found something in the ones off to the side. What the things he found are, I have no idea. You'll have to ask him when he snaps out of his absorption mode." Yang Kai chuckled.
"You know I can hear you. It's not as if I'm incapable of multitasking, father." I sighed As I continued reading documents and ledgers. "There are few things that have a problem with them or at the very least, I have questions about them. Think nothing of it for now. I could just be a bit paranoid. The overall gist of it, I noticed that there are few families that have inbred too closely, so we need to keep an eye on them. And the other thing is related to finances... It looks like there might be some embezzlement going on. It's not a whole lot and very easy to miss if not paying close attention." I said, as I went on working.
"I... I see, may I take a look at what you've found so far? Things you just mentioned have made Me a little nervous." Hua Qing Si said.
"Feel free. But you don't need to worry about yourself. I haven't seen anything that looked wrong in your work. Rather I'm impressed that anyone would dare try and slide something past you." I explained.
Hua Qing Si took up a ledger and analyzed it quickly. At first she looked confused. That was because on the surface it was indeed a well made ledger report. However, if one were to look closely and peel back the façade, that's where the problem lies.
"This can't be. It's so well done and yet that was the actual problem. Just from this one alone it looks like there is definitely something going on, then..." Hua Qing Si gulped as she started mentally counting the number of ledgers I had put to the side. "This could be a really big problem." She muttered.
"It's not as big of a problem as you think. For starters, it's not like our finances are going to dry up as a result. There are plenty of riches. So it's not that big of a deal in that regard. Though, depending on how they defend themselves for this, well, they will be punished for it regardless. Stealing from my High Heaven Palace is unforgivable, without punishment of course." Yang Kai said, with a serious look.
"I see, but how... How did the Young Palace Master come to see these things? Even with my experience I had to look over them multiple times, with the knowledge they were flawed, in order to see the problem." Hua Qing Si said, flustered and confused.
"My eyes reveal all truths to me. Though after using them constantly like this, I am fairly tired as a result. But it's not something to worry about." I said, finally finishing the ledgers, books and scrolls, and then stretched as I stood up. "Father, would you mind leaving the degree of punishment to me this time around? I think there might be something else behind the scenes. The Elder in question is likely to have at least a halfway decent reason." I asked, placing my hand on my hips and cracking my neck.
"I don't see why not. There will be times when you'll need to take such actions in the future anyways. So I won't deny this request. Let's go and deal with it right away." Yang Kai said, as he stood up and stretched in a similar way to me.