NOVEL NEXT Chapter 36: Never-ending to do list
On a fresh new morning, Ren Xiyang sat in the Wood meeting room, which was smaller than the main Rose meeting room. Kel bought in the first tax collector, one Master Ralph Williams.
“Good morning, Earl Rosewood,” Master Williams said politely.
“Good morning, Master Williams. Take a seat.”
Williams sat down.
“Let me be brief. You’re on probation effectively immediately.”
Williams immediately got back onto his feet. “My Lord! What’s the meaning of this? I’ve worked for the Rosewood fief for decades!”
“And you spent the last decade embezzling civilians’ money,” Ren Xiyang said coolly.
“No, no, of course not!” Williams protested hotly.
“If you’d been more subtle, perhaps it wouldn’t have been so obvious,” Ren Xiyang said. “As I’ve instated new termination policies, you won’t be fired immediately. Your probationary period will be two weeks in a demoted position with a new and reduced pay. If you do prefer to quit on your own accord, then you will be entitled to a severance payment.”
Williams’ fingers clenched together. He sat back down. “Respectfully, my Lord, I’ve done nothing wrong. If you do this, where would that leave my family? My wife has recently given birth to another son…”
Ren Xiyang was getting annoyed. “You embezzled a lot of money. That should last you. As for the matter of your crimes…”
With the heavy pressure in the air, Williams cracked. “My Lord! My mother has been very sick! I need a lot of money to visit the healers!”
Ren Xiyang’s lips pressed into a thin line. Unaffordable healthcare in the fief was one of the topics weighing on his mind. “Have you forgotten that I’m not firing you, Mr Williams? I’m giving you this opportunity to change your ways and work with integrity on a different job. If not, you may recommend a better family member to come and work for me instead.”
Williams couldn’t restrain his glare towards the upstart new Earl. “And what job? Would you have me farm like the unlearned peasants?”
“I’ll have you know that direct Rosewood staff have been learning literacy and numeracy,” Ren Xiyang said, raising an eyebrow. He didn’t mention that he was one of those farmers. “As you can write, I was planning for you to copy out some papers for me.”
Dozens of thoughts swirled around Ralph Williams’ head. Once other people heard that he was demoted by the Earl, he just knew the kind of horrible rumours and imperious looks he’d get from others. As for his mother? He didn’t care about that overbearing woman; she was just a convenient excuse for him.
Williams straightened, emphasising his height. “Allow me to consider and get back to you, my Lord,” he said imperiously.
Ren Xiyang nodded. “Fine. That’s all, you may leave.”
Kel, who was standing in the meeting room against the wall unobtrusively, opened the door. After Ralph Williams left, she was the one who called in the next tax collector, and then the next… That morning, she witnessed all of them being demoted.
Perhaps some of those tax collectors had had integrity at the beginning. However, when one person embezzled and didn’t get punished, it incentivised others to copy, because if they didn’t follow suit, they would ‘miss out’. There didn’t seem to be any problem with taking a bit of extra money anyway, look how much the Rosewood family spent on themselves with the people’s tax money! Those who really didn’t want to would have left the job years ago.
Some of the ex-tax collectors quit immediately, insulting Ren Xiyang by calling him miserly, even as they accepted the termination entitlements. Some of them said they “wanted to think about it”. Only a handful accepted the demotion.
After the last ex-tax collector left, Ren Xiyang returned to his private rooms to have lunch. Once Kel left with the tray of empty dishes, Ren Xiyang went back to the accounting books for the estate and fiefdom.
His eyes strayed to some of the estate’s expenses: maintaining the multiple Rosewood properties. It was a waste to have staff maintain them regardless of whether he was in residence or not.
His eyes narrowed slightly in thought. Not quite a restaurant, but something adjacent: hotels.
This wouldn’t bring in income in the short term, but that meant it was important to start the adjustments needed as soon as possible.
Ren Xiyang spent the rest of the afternoon writing out a clear document detailing the properties to transform, the changes required, and the tentative prices to charge, and even a plan for a ‘discount’ during the first week of opening. When he was done, he had a Rosewood employee to make a few more copies, and then they were sent to Manager Gregory at the Capital.
Then, Ren Xiyang finally started sorting through his collected pile of notes, merging them in with his own plans.
Food, especially through the winter and spring before the next crops ripened…
Expanding the free lunches to other towns and villages…
Firewood, and other heating methods, for the winter…
Water, both for domestic and agricultural use…
Healthcare…
Housing…
At dinner, Kel quietly came in to give him dinner, and quietly took the tray of empty dishes away an hour later.
Education…
Roads…
Transport…
Waste processing…
Tax deductions…
There were dozens of different sub-requests in each section.
All of this would cost money, so much money. And unfortunately, the fiefdom didn’t have a unique skilled industry, like the healing mages of the Schauss fief, nor a productive one like the sea-related economy and trading of the Aegean fief. Hence, developing industry and business was another issue…
Ren Xiyang had to take a step back and consider what was the most important and urgent.
His old occupational bias wanted him to pour in more time and money into expanding and updating the agriculture in the fief. However, crops that ripened in a few months time won’t help the starving right now.
Ren Xiyang finally narrowed down to three major projects that would improve life quality and health immediately: food security, clean safe water, and proper sewage and waste processing.
The next morning, Ren Xiyang stopped Kel when she came in to give him breakfast.
“Kel, the Church of the Saintess gives out a free meal every week. Is this only in Redmond town?”
Kel shook her head and named a few other towns in the fief.
Ren Xiyang deliberated. Neither he nor Mrs. Cooks could feasibly visit every single place, and he didn’t fancy having another week full of interviews to hire more people.
“I will monetarily sponsor a free lunch in each town and village once a week,” he said. “We will continue to only personally provide the lunch at Redmond town.” He was sure that the Rosewood fief could support this, for at least a few months.
Kel’s eyes widened. This was major! And yet Earl Rosewood was so calm!
“Kel, I need you to help me determine the amount of money needed for food for each place, paying attention to sufficient vegetables and fruit if possible. Get someone else to help you liaise with the village chiefs and town mayors to find appropriate people to take charge of cooking and food distribution. They’ll be paid to cook, too.”
“I understand, my Lord!”
“Before you leave, have someone deliver this letter to the mayor of Redmond.”
“Yes, my Lord!” Kel accepted the letter and hurried out.
The servants in the kitchen were shocked when they heard the news. Many of them had personally seen people die from starvation, be it a stranger or someone closer.
If Ayden Rosewood had the Earl back then, then maybe those people could have survived.
While the servants were grateful for Earl Rosewood’s decree (even if it was just Earl Rosewood being Earl Rosewood), Ren Xiyang was still brooding.
Sure, one could survive eating only once a week, but what kind of survival was that?
However, he didn’t know if the fief had enough money to finance more frequent meals—he needed Kel to come back on the estimates of the costs. He would need one of the Rosewood managers or accountants to help with longer-term costings and projections. He also didn’t know if there was literally enough food in existence in the fief, which would be exacerbated once late winter came.
This wasn’t like pre-apocalypse times when there was plentiful food but a distribution problem. Here, there was both a lack of sufficient food and a distribution problem.
If only his crops could mature faster, even though it wouldn’t be good in the long run for the earth.
The Rosewood fief was not an agricultural centre. That was the fief of Sage Family, who were all plant mages. The Sage fief was the agricultural powerhouse of the Sedaveria kingdom and other fiefs could hire a Sage mage to consult on their own crops. However, the Rosewood fief hadn’t had paid for any consultancy for at least a decade and he wasn’t sure how much it would cost.
Since magic wasn’t strictly restricted by element, Ren Xiyang should be able to cast plant-type spells that would speed up growth. However, Rian hadn’t taught him any and there weren’t any references in the Rosewood summer manor library.
It was like a never-ending to do list for Ren Xiyang. He rubbed his eyes. Speaking of things to do, there was the weekly provided lunch at Redmond town today too…
Ren Xiyang: Rian didn’t teach me any plant-specific spells >_>
Rian in the Capital: *sneeze*
Also, the most commonly spoken phrase in this novel is surely “My Lord”, followed by “Your Highness” LOL