Chapter 115:
“The owner is truly busy with a myriad of affairs every day…”
“Mm.” Ye Beiyao didn’t feel there was any problem.
“May I ask, is this the account book of Yumian Tower?”
The man frowned, lifted his sleeve to shield it…
“Oh, this doesn’t concern you. Don’t look around randomly.”
Ye Beiyao looked at her expressionlessly. While shielding it, he also thought he was being superfluous—this was like playing the lute to a cow.
Luo Zhi’er shrugged. “Oh, sure! I just saw it for the first time, so I was a bit curious. Don’t mind me!”
The man snorted coldly!
She even knew not to look at the account book randomly?
“But… doesn’t your eyes hurt looking at it? Mm, at this rate, it probably takes seven or eight days to tally up!”
“Heh, do you perhaps have some good solution?”
Ye Beiyao gave a half-smile, staring at the plump, ball-like woman across from him, as if to bore a hole through her.
He rolled his eyes inwardly and mentally noted it against her—she had offended him again without realizing it!
Hmph!
Anyone else would have long been unable to withstand his crushing oppressive presence, but she was Luo Zhi’er, from the modern era…
Not only was she thick-skinned and fat, she was also unflappable and steady as a mountain!
He nodded slightly,
“Mm, I just think there might be a better way to make it look neater and easier to draw conclusions!”
“But you don’t need it anyway. Whatever, I was just mentioning it casually!”
Ye Beiyao hooked his lips and leaned back. His amber eyes were unfathomably deep, his expression slightly disdainful. Interesting.
Not only crude, fearless, peeking around, but also loose-tongued!
“Luo Niangzi, I know you recognize a few characters, but the accounting room is not like the others!”
“I also know you like to volunteer yourself, but don’t you think this matter makes you seem a bit… you know?”
It wasn’t that Ye Beiyao looked down on her. The matrons in great mansions all knew how to manage households; they had tutors from childhood to learn writing and accounting. She, a countryside village woman, knew accounting?
Ridiculous!
Give her a bit of face, and she becomes arrogant!
Luo Zhi’er cursed inwardly. This damned rebellious brat not only feared women but also had such a sharp tongue!
Who made him her business partner?
“Heh! Not at all. I just researched a better method myself when I had nothing to do.”
“Oh?”
“If you don’t mind, I can take a look for you.”
Luo Zhi’er chose not to answer his words. She could tell Ye Beiyao didn’t like people seeing the account book, which she understood—accounts needed to be confidential, especially since she was an outsider.
Moreover, in this patriarchal society, they discriminated against women, and with her identity as a countryside village woman…
She just couldn’t stand that Tuotuo’s accounting method!
Looking at others was fine; he had saved her and was her owner.
Otherwise, why would she bother with this thankless task!
Ye Beiyao spread open his sleeve and magnanimously pushed the account book toward her.
He was indeed vexed by this monthly account book. Account verification couldn’t be left to outsiders!
Since she could solve it, why not let her.
Just… he had a gut feeling she was bragging.
Fine!
Then let him see her true capabilities!
Ye Beiyao tilted his nostrils upward and said coldly,
“Remember, if you dare deceive this young master, even if you’re fat like this, you won’t escape being thrown out by my people!”
He wasn’t worried about her leaking Yumian Tower’s accounts either!
He didn’t take a little village woman seriously. If there was no trust at all, there was no need for cooperation!
“You!”
Luo Zhi’er was furious!
What family’s stinky little rascal?
She was kindly helping him, and he threatened her?
She was so angry she wanted to turn around and leave immediately!
Luo Zhi’er took a deep breath, then another! She comforted herself: Mm… look to the long term; this was also for better cooperation with him in the future.
She calmly took the account book, immersed herself in it, and started looking…
This ancient era unlike the modern one with bank statements; it was all cash accounting. As long as the tables were made well, it was still quite easy.
No wonder it was all Tuotuo-like; it recorded incoming amounts one by one in simple descriptions.
Expenditures were also listed in sequence and registered.
Flipping through the front, basically every month was like this: January, February, March, densely packed over many pages…
But fortunately, the Ren Yin Year had just reached April; it was still not too late to redo it!
Income and expenditures were recorded in detail, all in one book, like who and who dined at noon, how many people, how much silver incoming.
Who and who, kitchen bought what things, expended how much silver. After looking a while, her eyes blurred…
She could see the meticulous care of this accounting master, but this was truly troublesome! They faced it daily without headache, but she got a headache after a short look!
“Hmph! You shouldn’t be called Ye Beiyao; you should be called Ye Tuotuo!”
“What?”
The man saw her mouth moving nonstop, dug in his ear, thinking he misheard!
“What Tuotuo?”
“Eh, you misheard. I said some parts of this account book are Tuotuo-like. At this accounting style, your account books must have piled up quite a bit before, right?”
Luo Zhi’er didn’t even lift her head; it was just casual talk.
Ye Beiyao then loudly called someone outside, got the key, and insisted on having someone take her to see. Alright.
When she saw a room full of wooden boxes piled high like little mountains, she was speechless too!
Back, Luo Zhi’er glanced at the table and said,
“Could you lend me a sheet of paper?”
Ye Beiyao saw her rub her puffy eyes. He had actually been drawn in by her immersed state earlier, like she was entranced. Strange!
He nodded,
“Mm.”
“And this brush… ink…”
“Help yourself!”
Luo Zhi’er took a sheet of white paper from beside, picked up the brush and dipped it in ink.
She looked around at the tools on the table, measured with thumb and forefinger, found a small rope nearby as a ruler, and soon drew up a table!
“You’d better thank me properly!”
“We’ll see!”
Luo Zhi’er didn’t comment and proceeded to make two more tables.
Thinking, she used the brush to fill the top cells of the table with elegant handwriting…
First was,
“Ren Yin Thirty-Sixth Year Spring, Yumian Tower March Daily Account Detail Table”
Luo Zhi’er said calmly,
“Could you first report this month’s income amounts to me one by one!”
Seeing him motionless, lost in thought,
“What are you doing?”
Ye Beiyao was stunned. “Uh… sure!” He had been a bit entranced watching her make the table earlier and shook his head…
When Luo Zhi’er drew the dense, neat little grids, he was shocked.
This, this, could it be done in this grid format for calculation?
Why hadn’t he thought of it?
When she filled in date, summary, dining category, income… these categories, his eyes lit up!
Ye Beiyao went from initial skepticism to leaning in, seriously cooperating with her, asking questions, listening to her explanations.
Luo Zhi’er could smell the waves of dragon saliva fragrance from the tip of her nose…
“First entry: two hundred eighty wen.”
“Second entry: two hundred thirty-three wen.”
“Third entry: two and a half taels of silver.”
……
Luo Zhi’er filled in the silver amounts he reported one by one, then used the abacus to add them up, filling the total in the subtotal cell he had written.
“Here, this is all of Yumian Tower’s income for March.”
Ye Beiyao’s eyes brightened with some excitement. So fast?
With this table, reconciling accounts for all restaurants in the future would be simple; this helped him greatly!
Verifying this himself took at least a week…
When business was average before, it still took two or three days. Since last month business boomed, it was overwhelming.
He had been thinking of hiring more accounting masters! Unfortunately, no good ones.
This table looked neat and easy to read. For accounting, just fill income in sequence one by one, add up, without wasting so much paper.
He even felt at times her mental math was very fast, faster than his!
Then the next table: “Ren Yin Thirty-Sixth Year Spring, Yumian Tower March Expense Detail Table”
Last month’s surplus, leave this cell empty for now; need to rearrange last month’s accounts per her table and recalculate.
Date, staff remuneration, buy rice, buy vegetables, buy dining tables, flower-wood decorations, buy kitchenware… etc.
Fill in one by one, calculate with abacus, fill in total.
“Done, this is the expenditures!”
At the end was the profit table.
The two stayed in the office for nearly two hours, tidying up another “Money House Statement Detail Table” and “Yumian Tower Staff Information Table”.
After tidying March’s accounts, Ye Beiyao was thoroughly impressed by her!
Looking at the sheets of tables, these were all dried goods!
Admiration in his eyes, he said: “Luo Niangzi, could you make a table like this for staff remuneration?”
Luo Zhi’er nodded,
“Mm, yes, but next time. It’s late today; let me go back and think more!”
“Good!”
“Could I ask, how do you know how to make these table grids?”
“Summarized from daily life.”
“Uh…”
Not wrong, just… his restaurant had done accounts for so many years, how come they hadn’t summarized it?
