Volume 3, Chapter 425 – The Little Genius at Balancing the Books

Chi Xiyan watched her from the side, a faint smile on her face.

A moment later, Chi Muxue extinguished the spiritual seal in her hand and withdrew her spiritual consciousness.

“I can confirm now, that Shopkeeper Fang really does have something going on.”

Chi Xiyan asked, “What did you find?”

Chi Muxue pressed her fingers together for a moment, then suddenly stepped forward and gently tapped a fingertip against Chi Xiyan’s forehead.

Just as Chi Xiyan was wondering what was happening, a stream of information flowed from the girl’s fingertip into her mind.

Chi Xiyan seemed to catch a faint, hazy image.

Inside a dim storeroom stood two figures.

Although the image wasn’t very clear, Chi Xiyan could still make out from the build of one of them that it was Shopkeeper Fang.

The other, slightly thinner figure, she didn’t recognize, only that he was dressed like a waiter.

“Shopkeeper, those two girls, they won’t find anything, will they?”

“What’s there to worry about.” Shopkeeper Fang chuckled softly. “I did the books myself. There’s no way a pair of green little girls could spot the problem.”

“Don’t worry, I tested them earlier. Those two girls put on quite a show going through the books for an hour and found nothing at all.”

“What’s more, they’ve handed us an incredible opportunity!” Shopkeeper Fang pulled out a booklet. “This plan is our chance!”

The waiter took the booklet from him. “So this is the plan those two girls wrote up. It’s quite detailed, looks like there’s some real substance to it!”

“Heh heh.” Shopkeeper Fang chuckled a couple of times. “Otherwise, why would I call this an opportunity.”

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“That new girl has some knowledge, but it’s clearly all learned straight out of books. Far too rigid, and far too idealistic.”

“But it’s exactly that kind of half educated mind, the type with just enough knowledge to be dangerous, that ends up overflowing with confidence in itself! Thinking everyone else is a fool.”

“And that, is our opportunity!”

The waiter looked surprised. “Shopkeeper Fang! You don’t mean to…”

“Yes!” Shopkeeper Fang nodded confidently. “Exactly what you’re thinking!”

…

A moment later, Chi Muxue withdrew her finger.

As that warm, soft touch faded away, the hazy image in Chi Xiyan’s mind vanished along with it.

She opened her eyes just in time to see Chi Muxue’s cute little face.

“Xiyan, what do you think?”

Chi Xiyan thought it over for a moment. She raised a finger and gently pressed the spot on her brow where Chi Muxue’s finger had just been.

“I’m not the least bit surprised.” She said. “The moment I suspected he had a problem, I figured he might do something like this.”

“Those few pages of the plan I wrote were bait meant to lure him in from the start.”

“It’s just…” Chi Xiyan paused. “He’s even bolder than I expected.”

“Not only does he want to profit from this, he even wants to use the chance to…”

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“He wants to use my name to cover up the shortfall.” Chi Muxue finished the thought for her. She was so furious she almost laughed. “Ha! Fine, he can be fat, but how does he have the nerve to be this bold too, trying to make me take the blame for him!”

Chi Xiyan looked at the little face puffed up like a pufferfish in front of her and felt an inexplicable urge to poke it.

“Ahem…” She coughed lightly. “It seems he really does think we’re a couple of branch family children who got pushed out here.”

Though, that made sense too.

What noble family child, fresh out of the Chi Family Study Hall, would take a position at a place like this?

Either they were being targeted by someone, or they’d made a serious mistake.

“Being taken for a fool by a pig is not the least bit satisfying.” Chi Muxue said irritably.

She scooted closer to Chi Xiyan and grabbed onto her sleeve. “Xiyan, Xiyan, what should we do now?”

“No need to rush.” Chi Xiyan said. “Unless you want to use your privilege as the eldest miss of the Chi family to just have him arrested and interrogated outright, we shouldn’t spook him just yet.”

“Ugh…” Chi Muxue thought it over for a moment. “The family head forbade me from revealing my identity and forbade me from using my cultivation. So he probably doesn’t want me to solve this problem that way either…”

Chi Xiyan smiled knowingly. “If we want to complete this task properly, in a way that leaves everyone speechless, then we’ll need to gather more evidence.”

“Let’s go find that evidence!”

Chi Muxue’s small face lit up with excitement.

***

A while later, the two of them made their way to the tavern’s wine cellar.

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“Muxue, where did you put the spirit wine and rare delicacies you brought over from the Chi family earlier?”

“There, over there.” Chi Muxue raised her hand and pointed ahead.

Chi Xiyan followed the direction the girl was pointing.

Sure enough, in an unremarkable corner of the cellar, a large pile of beautifully packaged wine jars and ingredients had accumulated.

They looked completely out of place in this plain, aging cellar.

Chi Xiyan walked over. “Have you taken inventory of these?”

“No.” Chi Muxue glanced over at the pile. “But I just swept it with my spiritual consciousness a moment ago. The quantity should all be accounted for.”

“See! Everything I brought over from the Chi family is right here. Not a single thing has been sold.”

Chi Xiyan didn’t comment on the girl’s complaint. She simply picked up a wine jar at random.

“This is the Chi family’s top tier spirit wine.”

“The storage conditions are extremely strict. From the day it leaves the cellar, the spiritual energy in the wine begins to leak out uncontrollably.”

“The longer it sits out of storage, the lower its value drops.”

“May I open it?” Chi Xiyan asked.

“Of course.” Chi Muxue waved her hand carelessly. “This wine can’t be sold anyway. After sitting here these past few days, it’s practically ruined already.”

Chi Xiyan opened the wine jar.

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A rich aroma of wine burst out, instantly filling the entire cellar.

She took a light sniff of the scent, then let out a cold laugh. “Just as I thought…”

Chi Muxue asked, “What’s wrong? Is something off with the wine?”

“This is genuinely the Chi family’s spirit wine, but the aging is wrong.” Chi Xiyan said with certainty. “This doesn’t taste like something that only left the cellar half a month ago.”

“This wine has been out of the cellar for at least half a year.”

“And…” Chi Xiyan gently swirled the jar, revealing a fine layer of sediment gathered at the bottom. “The quality of this wine is wrong too!”

“This is a defective batch, wine that failed to meet standards during brewing and was filtered out as waste!”

“Waste wine!” Chi Muxue said in shock. “I remember that this kind of waste wine is supposed to be destroyed outright!”

“Mm.” Chi Muxue nodded. “Looks like the waters running through this tavern are murkier than we expected.”

There was something deeper behind Shopkeeper Fang after all.

“Xiyan… what should we do now?” Chi Muxue asked. “Should we just go tell the family head directly?”

“No!” Chi Xiyan immediately rejected the suggestion.

“Right now, all we’ve confirmed is that Shopkeeper Fang has a problem.”

“If we want to complete this task properly, catching just Shopkeeper Fang isn’t enough!”

“Muxue, do you want to prove to the family head that you’re capable of managing the Lingbao Commerce Association?”