Chapter 3: It's Great to Have Brothers

  It is said that people rely on clothes and Buddha relies on gold, today is the first day of Qi Mei's appointment as the shopkeeper of Guangyuan Pawnshop. She also put on a yellow silk jacket, which was ordered from the silk store earlier. The style doesn't seem like ordinary women's clothing, but after Qi Mei's improved design, it doesn't feel restrictive at all, and even adds to her elegance. That young master Gan, although not a decent person, is quite accurate in his words. Since Qi Mei successfully sold out all the watermelons in one day, he hasn't said much about Guangyuan Pawnshop.

  At the crack of dawn, Qiuyue, accompanied by Ah Guan, walked into the inner courtyard of Guangyuan Pawnshop with a radiant smile. The shop assistants and the venerable Uncle Gui were already waiting there. Qiuyue immediately put on a warm smile: "Good morning, Uncle Gui! Good morning, everyone!" The crowd also stood up to greet her, but Qiuyue noticed that although they were smiling and greeting her, their eyes contained a hint of disdain. Time would tell; one day they would come to recognize her worth.

  Actually, Qī Xiè had always been paying close attention to Guì Shū's reaction. Although on the surface, it seemed that Guǎng Yuán Pawnshop had only added a new manager, but the Gān family had always been very strict about personnel appointments. Although Qī Xiè had also done things that made them acceptable, this sudden appointment as a manager was unprecedented, and what's more, the person appointed was a famous woman. Those people hiding in the dark couldn't help but reevaluate the intentions behind Gān family's second young master's actions.

  "Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that Liu Qixi will be the new manager of Guangyuan Pawnshop." Gan Jing arrived late, and in front of everyone, he was still the same stoic boss. However, from a certain perspective, this man seemed to be similar to Er Ye, appearing cold and unapproachable on the surface but actually being weaker than anyone else, which is why they needed such a disguise to protect themselves.

  "Qī xiě is also new here, and there are many things to learn from Uncle Guì. In the future, please take care of me, everything is for the Gān family after all." This kind of declaration had been done many times in past lives, and today's speech was also a draft that Qī xiě had prepared early on. The brief meeting came to an end like this, and everyone dispersed to attend to their own business. Gān jìng couldn't stay long because he had other things to do, so he gave some instructions and left.

  At first, Gan Jing also analyzed with her the reason why her brother reacted so strongly this time. So Qī Xiǎo thought that when she came to Guǎng Yuán pawnshop, Uncle Gui would definitely not give her a good face, and at the same time suspected that Gan Jing's true intention for bringing her to Guǎng Yuán pawnshop was something else. But who is Qī Xiǎo? She is the invincible little strong one, no matter what kind of environment she is in, she can always survive well and do better than anyone else.

  Guishu was a kind and gentle soul, always smiling, who first called the shop assistant to bring over the account books for Qixi to review one by one. He said this was Jing Shao's instruction, and also a must-do task for every shopkeeper. In his words, Guishu also mentioned that he was getting old and couldn't do many things anymore, and would soon find an opportunity to resign from Jing Shao. Of course, Qixi didn't believe a word of what he said, and even suspected that he was intentionally teasing her by making her look at the account books, knowing she was new to business and didn't know how to read them, and the books were piled up all over the table.

  "Recently, Young Master wanted to take a look at our Guangyuan Pawnshop's accounts. Since Manager Liu is new to the position, he must not be familiar with the shop's affairs yet. So, you can start by getting familiar with the account books first, and if there's anything unclear, come find me, old man." Today I finally saw what it means to have a "smiling tiger" face. Clearly wanting to give herself an advantage, she still had to bring up Young Master Jing, who just started today. These things must have been instructed by the higher-ups a few days ago.

  "Uncle Gui said something, but actually I don't quite understand these account books. After all, Uncle Gui has been taking care of the shop for years, what problems could there be with the accounts? Although I say that, I still have to put on a show, otherwise people will gossip. As a joke, although ancient accounting methods are very different from modern ones, I did study accounting in college for a year. But in front of Uncle Gui, I pretended to be stupid and carelessly flipped through the account books in front of me, showing a very impatient attitude."

  The uncle's face showed a sincere and fearful expression, but his eyes revealed an approval of Qi Mei's attitude: "Actually, it would be difficult for Liu Zhanggui to sort out these account books in such a short time. If Liu Zhanggui feels tired at any time, I can help him share the burden."

  "Thanks for your trouble, Uncle." The old fox seemed to have gotten a good deal and was still pretending to be clever. Was there something fishy about the accounts? Even if there was, he should have already covered it up by now. Maybe he was just nervous because Gan Jing had suddenly started investigating. He hadn't even had time to cook the books yet. After Uncle left the room, Qi Mei's expression changed completely. She wanted to do business and knew that reading account books was a necessary skill. However, as she flipped through the book, her brows furrowed deeper and deeper. She couldn't understand it at all - the income and expenses were so complicated and messy! It would be great if someone could help her out. Ah Guan had been following Gan Jing for so many years, he should know how to read an account book by now. Too bad even Ah Guan wasn't allowed in here - this was a restricted area, no idle chatter allowed. Sigh!

  Somehow, while staring at those complex characters, Qiuxi fell asleep on the table. She didn't wake up until someone patted her: "Who is it? Ah! Xiaoshi, how did you get in here? You didn't make a sound." It seems that this kid's skills have improved a lot. Xiaoshi honestly pointed to the back window: "Yesterday, I heard A Guan say how Gan Dashi bullied you, and today I was afraid you'd be bullied by these people too. They wouldn't let me come in to find you, so I had to sneak in."

  "Fool, I'm here to be the boss, not to do chores. Who dares to bully me? If anyone bullies me, it's these ghostly symbols." As she raised her eyes and saw the stack of account books as high as a small mountain, Qi Mei suddenly felt a headache coming on again. Oh God, grant me an angel, so that he/she can help me sort out these accounts. And almost in an instant, Heaven seemed to have really heard Qi Mei's prayer, and that angel was far away yet near at hand. Xiao Shi Tou picked up an account book with a puzzled expression: "Oh, looking at the account books? What's difficult about that?"

  Watching Song Xiaoshi skillfully sorting through the accounts, Qi Xian couldn't believe her eyes: "Immortal? Monster?"

  "What's wrong, have you forgotten what my family does? Although my dad... but after all, I'm a Song family member, and every Song family member starts keeping accounts from a young age. My dad may have left early, but mom taught me carefully. Are you tired or something, how could you fall asleep? Go take a rest on the side for a bit, okay, let's head back home together." Little Stone is really capable, Seven thought warmly in her heart, it's great to have a friend like Little Stone. Of course, now that she was told to sleep, how could she possibly sleep? She also noticed that the accounting method Little Stone used was different from the traditional way, so even she could understand it clearly.

  She then spread out a pile of paper on another table, put the account books that had been sorted by the small stones in front of her, and compared the income and expenditure items. She drew a horizontal and vertical line on the paper, similar to a "ding" shape, wrote "borrow" on the left side and "lend" on the right side. The small stone curiously came over and asked Qi Xie what she was doing. Qi Xie vaguely explained the "Ding Zi accounting method" that her teacher had taught in class. She thought that this child, even if born into a merchant family, would surely be confused by such modern accounting methods. Unexpectedly, he fell silent for a moment before suddenly spitting out three words: I understand.

  When he also organized the next account in the same way as Qiuxi, Qiuxi almost exclaimed: "Xiaoshi, have I ever said that you are very good and very powerful?"