The weather is getting hotter and hotter, the sun is shining brightly, and I am sweating every time I move. The cicadas on the tree are screaming, making people more and more anxious.
Qiao Mingjin went out lazily and just stayed at home to read her accounts.
She doesn't need to worry about the affairs of the workshop. Yun Jin and Manager Zhou will take care of them, and they will report to her any matters that cannot be handled. The workshop is only a few steps away from home.
Qiao Mingjin's house didn't have a cellar like other wealthy families, so they hid ice early in the winter. Zhou Yanqing wanted to bring a few pots, but it was not a cup and a half of tea away from the city.
The mung beans at home disappear very quickly.
In a few days, Yun Jin will go to the city to buy a bag or two. The workshop also cooks non-stop every day.
Fine work such as carving cannot be accomplished without meditation.
Qiao Mingjin was not stingy with the two dollars either.
On this day, the cicadas screamed more and more cheerfully, and Zhou Yanqing showed up again.
As soon as I walked in, I was buzzing with excitement. The paper fan with an unknown name written on it in my hand was shaking loudly.
This guy didn't like to come here every day since the weather got hot. Instead, he encouraged Qiao Mingjin to move to the city.
Every time she tempted Ming Qi and Wan'er, for example, how cool the ice was, and how refreshing it was to break it and mix it with fruit. It attracted the two children to surround her and clamor for ice cubes, with their tongues hanging out like a guard dog.
No difference.
He often earned a scolding from Qiao Danjin.
The old man shouted that he had wronged the adults but could not wrong the children. However, Qiao Mingjin listened to their quarrel and remained unmoved.
This made Zhou Yanqing scream in his heart. He had no choice. Who told him to moisturize things silently, conquer them bit by bit, and transform people bit by bit.
Zhou Yanqing drank three large bowls of mung bean soup hanging in the well before she finally recovered.
Qiao Mingjin was secretly amused when she saw him lying back on the recliner, looking like he had come to life.
"Why bother? I told you not to run here if you have nothing to do. You have to endure this hardship. It will make my mung beans disappear quickly."
After hearing this, Zhou Yanqing took a look outside the courtyard. He didn't see Shitou or the driver, and he didn't know where he was hiding to drink mung bean soup.
He glanced sideways at Qiao Mingjin: "A few handfuls of mung beans are worth nothing. I will pick out big and good ones for you tomorrow."
"I remember it, but you can't cheat."
"Hey, will I still rely on you for a few handfuls of mung beans?"
Qiao Mingjin looked at him and smiled. Then he threw him a big cattail leaf fan commonly used by farmers in the countryside.
"Use this one. It's better to keep your paper fan for display. Don't worry if it breaks."
Zhou Yanqing put the paper fan away in a loud voice. The words on the fan were really what he had begged for, and it really hurt him if the fan broke.
He took the big cattail leaf fan and looked it over in his hand, shook it vigorously a few times, nodded and said, "Well, it's still strong in wind and can withstand shaking."
After fanning her for about ten times, she leaned in front of Qiao Mingjin and shook her several times.
Feeling that he hadn't been hit by the wind, he moved closer, and at least both of them could be hit. Then the corners of his mouth raised.
"Did Xiangyang have a poor harvest last year?"
Zhou Yanqing was just shaking her head when she heard Qiao Mingjin ask.
"Xiangyang? No, it has been a rare good year in the past two years. Although Xiangyang is not as good as Jiangnan, it is still a land of plenty. There is also a big lake. Other places are dry, but there is still water for irrigation."
"What about the neighboring counties? There is no shortage of harvest?"
Zhou Yanqing frowned and thought for a while, then said, "I haven't heard of it. I didn't hear of drought, flood, or locust plague anywhere last year."
"So was there peace between North Korea and China last year? Was there a war on the border and food requisition?"
Zhou Yanqing looked at Qiao Mingjin and said, "No. Our government is quite well-informed about the news in Beijing, and we have never heard of it. Why do you ask that?"
Qiao Mingjin frowned and handed him a ledger in her hand.
"This is the account book of the grain store in Xiangyang last year. The grain price was higher than in previous years, and the profit was 20% less than in previous years."
"Is this the case?" Zhou Yanqing straightened his body and took the account book with a serious look on his face.
I flipped through several pages carefully.
Qiao Mingjin saw that he could not compare and see anything like this, so he found the account books from the year before and the year before and handed them to him.
"The two percent doesn't sound like anything, but this grain store has always been a money shop. The two percent is thousands of taels of silver. I don't know whose pocket it ended up in. Xiangyang is far away from here.
Just for you to see if you are far away and your heart is far away."
Zhou Yanqing flipped through the books in a noisy manner. The more he read to the end, the tighter his brows became, and a little anger rose on his face after reading it.
"I think I'm far away, so I don't go there in person. I check the accounts once a year, so I pretend to be a ghost for you!"
Zhou Yanqing slammed several account books on the table.
"The counties in Xiangyang have always been one of the several grain depots used by the imperial court to collect grains. There is no grain in other places, but there have been bumper harvests year after year. Now that there are no more wars, God is also doing good things, and the price of grains has been quiet.
The land has increased for me. How can I just look at a general ledger?"
If you want to save trouble, you can look through the general ledger, take another look at the income and expenditure, and make a slight comparison. The accounts are even. If you don't take a closer look, you really can't see any problems.
Unexpectedly, Qiao Mingjin came from hard times. In the beginning, mother and daughter had no land, so they had to buy everything to eat. After selling a cart of firewood, they would go to the grain store to exchange for a few buckets of grains.
The grain store had a lot of purchases, and it was clear what the prices of various grains were. Later, in order to save money, I bought them in the village. Of course, I knew exactly what the price in the countryside was and what the grain store sold it for.
Even if Xiangyang is some distance from Qingchuan, the price of food should not be too different.
Unexpectedly, a kilogram of ordinary rice was worth several pennies! I compared the price of rice from the previous two years and found that the price of grain was almost the same as that in Qingchuan City.
There is no shortage of grain in Xiangyang, and there is no large-scale grain requisition by the DPRK and Central Government, so the price of grain is actually so different from the previous two years.
It can only mean that someone has tampered with the accounts.
Remember that the purchase price is higher, and the selling price is the same as in previous years. The difference in price will naturally go into your own pocket.
I don't know if it was someone who ordered it, or if it was just to line the personal pockets of the shopkeeper.
He is a good accountant, but you can't tell it unless you look carefully.
For someone like Zhou Yanqing, who is in charge of a lot of business, he only needs to look at the general ledger, the income and expenditure, and see if the accounts are balanced. Of course, you won't be able to tell unless you look closely.
Even if the price of a pound of white rice is only a penny, the quantity of this grain is huge, and thousands of taels of grain can leak out throughout the year.
Qiao Mingjin saw that Zhou Yanqing was still very angry, so she opened her mouth and closed it again.
It's not hard for her to say something about this kind of thing. After all, she still doesn't know whose handwriting it is. The family property of the Zhou family does not belong to him alone.
"What about the others?"
Qiao Mingjin shook his head: "I haven't seen anything wrong so far. I still know the food prices well, and I feel there are some discrepancies with Qingchuan, so I compared the accounts of the previous two years and discovered the problem. Other businesses
I don’t really understand.”
The price of gold and silver in jewelry shops, the prices of beads and jade collected in grocery stores, dry goods from north to south, cloth and furs, the prices of these things themselves vary greatly, they vary from year to year, and there are many reasons for the price differences.
Unlike grain prices, which are as stable as grain prices, it is difficult to check.
As long as the shopkeeper and the people in charge are not so greedy, even if they leak a little bit, they won't be able to find out.
And because the goods traveling from north to south lose a lot on the road, those who want to tamper with them can just say that they are lost on the road, and they will lose it. Or they can change the first-class goods into second-class ones, and the price difference will be only a small amount.
It's in your pocket.
Unless there is a big discrepancy, it is not easy to see.
"Will it be hard?"
"Huh?" Qiao Mingjin was confused.
Zhou Yanqing looked at her: "If it's not too hard, please help me take a closer look at the accounts of other shops in previous years and compare them carefully."
Sighing, he added: "Except for the shops in Qingchuan City and several nearby counties, I go more frequently and they don't dare to do anything. The ones further away are probably not clean. In the past, the shopkeepers wanted to make money, so they just had to do
If it's not too much, I just turn a blind eye. This Xiangyang City is getting more and more courageous. It actually took away 20% of the profits."
Qiao Mingjin didn't know what to say.
On this day, the emperor was far away, and the accounts were checked once every six months, and they were checked intensively. Those who wanted to make money also took a chance, thinking that the master was too busy to look carefully, and thought that everything was done perfectly.
So it’s not easy to do anything these days, and there are a lot of things to worry about to make a little money.
Qiao Mingjin looked at him with a solemn expression, thought for a moment and asked, "Do you want to go there in person?"
Zhou Yanqing shook his head: "Such a thing is not worth a trip in person. But now that something like this has happened, it seems that I can't stay away. Some shops have to be visited, even if I don't go there in person.
, it’s better to send the right people to take a look.”
Qiao Mingjin nodded: "Of course I want to go and see it. How can I be a hands-off shopkeeper in this business and just sit and wait for money without doing anything?"
Zhou Yanqing sighed: "This company has a big business, but it is always beyond its capabilities. Where can I take care of everyone one by one? I have no doubts about the people I choose, and the people I choose will be suitable from the beginning. It's just that after a long time, there are some small problems."
There are quite a few people who have plans. I don’t know whose idea it was to do this in Xiangyang. If I find out that there is a back-up plan behind it, I will definitely not be able to spare him!"
Qiao Mingjin sighed.
This family has become a big business. Even if the right person is chosen, will one or two of the shopkeepers still have something to do with the family?
Even if there is nothing involved with the government, where is the lack of outside involvement? After doing it for a long time, how many of them are as loyal as ever?
Those who are not shrewd cannot be a shopkeeper, and those who are shrewd do not have their own calculations?
Qiao Mingjin thought for a while and said, "I heard before that some owners would entrust some of the shops that are farther away to the shopkeeper. They would give him a 15% bonus. If the shop runs well, the shopkeeper would naturally take charge of the business.
Get more. This can be regarded as letting them go and let them develop on their own. Firstly, it can stimulate their enthusiasm, and secondly, they have ideas and things to do, so naturally they don't have time to do anything."
Zhou Yanqing's eyes lit up after listening to it. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly votes. Your support is my biggest motivation.)
ps: I got back late today and didn’t have time to write the second update. I’ll add an update tomorrow.
