Volume 3, Chapter 423 – She’s Really a Little Business Genius

“Young ladies.” The tavern waiter smiled at the two of them. “Our shopkeeper is still going over the ledgers. Please wait a moment.”

Having said that, he set down a pot of tea without waiting to see how the two girls reacted, then left.

The two girls exchanged a glance.

Chi Muxue grabbed onto Chi Xiyan’s wrist, her face full of wronged indignation.

“Xiyan, see. This is exactly how they treat me…”

Chi Xiyan smoothed down her hair, comforting her. “Alright, alright. It’s not that they know who you are. They just look down on you because you’re young.”

Although this girl’s talent was astonishing, no matter how impressive that talent was, she was still just a twelve year old girl.

That youthful, still developing face genuinely lacked a certain air of authority in the eyes of others.

Only those who truly knew her understood just how much power was hidden inside that small body.

Of course, right now, that power was of no help to their current situation at all.

Hearing this, Chi Muxue pouted. “So what Xiyan means is, without my status as the eldest miss of the Chi family, I’m completely useless?”

Chi Xiyan’s expression stiffened. “That’s not what I meant.”

Chi Muxue lowered her head. “Sigh… I know this is my own fault, but I truly am no good at this…”

Chi Xiyan fell silent for a moment.

She really hadn’t expected this. In her impression, she never imagined Muxue could act like this.

Perhaps… from the very start, she’d instinctively never wanted Muxue involved in the Chi family’s core enterprises.

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Still, what stood here right now was, after all, only an illusion.

“It’s fine, I’ll help you,” followed by a burst of garbled, unintelligible mutters.

After about the time it takes to finish a cup of tea, a greasy, shining face poked out from behind the counter.

The tavern’s shopkeeper paced over, pinching a jade snuff bottle between his fingers, the keys at his waist jingling as he walked. He looked at the two young ladies seated at the table and laughed. “Ah, the young mistress is back. And this young lady is?”

“Chi Xiyan.” Chi Xiyan stated her name briefly and pushed her identity plate across the table toward the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper picked up Chi Xiyan’s identity plate, glanced at it, and his face filled with surprise.

“A young lady who graduated from the Chi Family Study Hall, why would you come to a small shop like ours?”

Students accepted into the Chi family’s study hall were rare talents even by outside standards.

Shouldn’t a talent like that be sent to more important enterprises?

Why would she end up at a shop as small as theirs?

“There’s no need to trouble yourself over that, shopkeeper.” Chi Xiyan smiled. “The elders of the Chi family have their own reasons for this appointment.”

The middle aged shopkeeper laughed along as well. “Whatever the Chi family decides, we certainly wouldn’t dare question it.”

“This humble one is Fang Hu. Welcome, new proprietress.”

“So you’re Shopkeeper Fang.” Chi Xiyan smiled. “Then I won’t bother with pleasantries.”

“Would Shopkeeper Fang mind bringing out the ledgers from the past few months for me to look over?”

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“The ledgers?” Fang Hu’s expression didn’t change. “So the proprietress wants to audit the books.”

“Is there a problem with that?” Chi Xiyan asked back.

“No problem, of course not.” Fang Hu chuckled softly. “It’s just that as shopkeeper, I’d like to remind the proprietress that a tavern’s ledgers aren’t like study hall assignments, they aren’t something to be scribbled on carelessly.”

***

The accounting room was even colder than the wine cellar.

After handing the ledgers over to the two girls, Shopkeeper Fang Hu left with a smile.

“That man, he thinks we won’t find anything!” Chi Muxue said indignantly.

“Mm…” Chi Xiyan responded flatly. “When it comes to auditing books, if you don’t have an experienced shopkeeper helping, someone who doesn’t understand the ins and outs really would have trouble spotting anything wrong.”

“Ugh…” Chi Muxue whined, sprawled over the table. “I’ve already flipped through these ledgers so many times… can we really find anything from this?”

“Hard to say.” Chi Xiyan flipped through the ledger in her hands. “Auditing the books is the most direct way to understand how a shop is actually being run.”

“If something really has gone wrong with how the tavern is operating, then it should show up in the ledgers…”

As she spoke, Chi Xiyan suddenly stopped, the corner of her eye twitching slightly.

Because she’d just flipped to the section of the ledger from when Chi Muxue had started managing the shop.

“What’s wrong?” Chi Muxue noticed the strange look on her face and asked hurriedly, “Did you find a problem in the ledger?”

Chi Xiyan turned her head, her expression complicated.

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She pointed at an entry in the ledger. “Come look at this line in the ledger. Is this right?”

Chi Muxue followed her finger and looked at where she was pointing.

“Snow Treading Plum Seeking Wine.”

“Made from Tianshan cold dew paired with thrice refined spirit power, five hundred spirit stones per jar.”

“That’s correct, isn’t it?” Chi Muxue looked at Chi Xiyan, confused. “Our Chi family’s spirit wine has always sold at that price.”

“No…” Chi Xiyan rubbed her forehead. “What I’m asking is, did you arrange this yourself?”

“Yes.” Chi Muxue said. “I ordered it directly from the Chi family’s winery.”

“So… you’re telling me you really did this yourself?” Chi Xiyan felt the muscles in her cheeks twitching.

“What’s wrong with that!” Chi Muxue said unhappily. “Isn’t our Chi family’s spirit wine good?”

“Hah…” Chi Xiyan took a deep breath and kept reading further down. “And these below, the spirit fowl and rare delicacies, did you also order all of these yourself?”

“Yes.” Chi Muxue tilted her head slightly. “These are all signature dishes from the Chi family’s restaurants, so of course it’s the same here too.”

“Hah…” Chi Xiyan took another deep breath. “Then do you know that many of these rare ingredients have a shelf life… if they go past their prime freshness, their value drops sharply…”

Chi Muxue pouted. “I’m not an idiot, of course I know that!”

The way Chi Xiyan looked at Chi Muxue grew more and more like she was looking at an actual idiot.

Help, what do you do when you discover your own little sister might actually have something wrong with her head.

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Was there any hope left?

In the end, Chi Xiyan held back several remarks that would have done nothing good for their sisterly bond.

She turned a thousand unspoken words into a single bitter laugh.

“I think I’m starting to understand… why the family head doesn’t want you taking over the Lingbao Commerce Association.”

Chi Muxue raised her fine brows. “I feel like you’re thinking something incredibly rude right now!”

“No, that’s not what I was thinking.” Chi Xiyan flatly denied it.

Chi Muxue sprang up like a startled kitten with its fur standing on end. “You really were thinking that!”

“Ahem…!” Chi Xiyan coughed lightly a few times and turned her attention back to the ledger.

“Let’s just look at the ledger first.”

“Based on these entries, the tavern’s recent losses really are quite severe…”

Honestly, after seeing so many absurd entries, Chi Xiyan had more or less already understood the current situation.

“Xiyan! Can this tavern still be saved?!”

“Well…” Chi Xiyan thought it over for a moment. “As long as we can cover the losses, there should still be a way to salvage it.”

Although, based on the ledgers, most of these losses had clearly been caused by this girl herself.