Chapter 008: No need to endure it anymore

?? In the morning, Li Huaien, who received a notice from the guy in the store, changed into a half-worn indigo blue padded robe, stopped a carriage from the street, and hurried to Li Ji in the East Market.

Sitting in the dilapidated carriage, Li Huaien's face sank like water, and he looked at the corner of the carriage in a daze. At this moment, the cold wind blew the coarse cloth curtain outside the car window, and the sound seemed to knock on his heart.

Somehow, he always had a not-so-good feeling.

But if he was asked to tell him what was wrong, he couldn't say it, so he had to put a pair of thin hands in his sleeves, and secretly spit on this damn weather while thinking about it.

On the street, there had just been a heavy snowfall, and the snow on the road had not yet melted, and the thick blanket of snow white stretched into the distance. However, the carriage in which Li Huaien rode "creaked" drove by, marking two deep marks on the white carpet, and that trajectory extended all the way to "Li Ji Groceries".

"Ah~~Ah~~Ah~~"

As soon as Li Huaien got out of the carriage, he was so excited by the cold outside that he sneezed twice, and he hurriedly lowered his head and took out a square handkerchief to wipe his nose, so he didn't notice that there were two carriages parked not far from the store.

"The old man has seen the eldest lady, I don't know what to call the old lady so early, what are the instructions?"

I saw Li Huaien enter the door casually, and raised his eyes to see Wang Qifang sitting upright on a chair on the side of the lobby, with several girls standing behind her, some holding a hood of openwork red poplin, some holding a delicate hand stove, and some holding nothing, but with a sword hanging from their waists.

Sword? Wait, is it a knight?

Li Huaien's two small mouse eyes were rolling around, and when he saw the sword-carrying woman who was accompanying Wang Qifang, he chuckled, the strings in his head suddenly tightened, and his tone was a little careful.

"Commands? Hehe, how dare I order you to be a dignified shopkeeper Li" Wang Qifang smiled coldly, and raised her chin at Amethyst standing on the side, "It's just that I read the account book of Shopkeeper Li yesterday, I have a few questions, and I want to ask Shopkeeper Li for a lesson or two?" ”

"Second young grandmother, the slave is here." Amethyst held a few thick account books, flashed out from behind Wang Qifang, walked to Li Huaien's side, opened one of them, pointed to a few lines of small characters on it and asked: "Shopkeeper Li, I read the account book you gave, there are a few things I don't understand, and I hope that Shopkeeper Li will give advice." ”

As he spoke, without waiting for Li Huaien to reply, he began to read the records in the account book: "...... On the eighth day of the fifth month of the eleventh year of Longqing, one thousand three hundred and forty-two taels of silver was spent, and one hundred and forty pieces of Zhou's cotton cloth were stored; On June 12 of the 11th year of Longqing, 276 taels of silver were disbursed, and 40 square meters of Qian's glass were stored; On the third day of the seventh month of the eleventh year of Longqing, one hundred and twenty-two taels of silver were disbursed, and two hundred and forty-four pairs of Zhao's copper candlesticks were stored......"

"Ah, Amethyst girl, what's wrong with these?"

When Li Huaien heard Amethyst read the first sentence, his emaciated cheeks couldn't help twitching twice, he arched his body, his voice was a little inconspicuous trill, and asked cautiously.

"Of course there is a problem," Amethyst turned the page, pointed to the next page of records, and asked pretending to be puzzled, "Shopkeeper Li, these things, the purchase price, and the quantity of warehousing are all recorded clearly, but why is there no detailed record when leaving the warehouse, just saying in general terms 'out of the warehouse, get 1,100 taels of silver'?"

"Also, when you bought these things, you spent a total of 2,740,25 yuan in silver, and your shop was sold for half a year, but you only got back 1,100 taels? Hehe, shopkeeper Li, where did the difference go? You can't buy a loss in one transaction, and all the other goods will also be sold at a loss. ”

"This ......" Li Huaien paused, he didn't expect the other party to find the loophole in the account book so quickly, opened his mouth, and finally pulled the corners of his mouth down, and said with a sad face, "Woo, eldest lady, it's all old and useless, I was deceived by that black-hearted profiteer, and the goods purchased for a lot of money were either in poor condition or single in style, and it took half a year to empty the goods...... The old man knows that he has made a big mistake, all, the dividends and salaries of the year, I don't want a copper plate."

"Oh? It turns out that this is the case" Wang Qifang raised her eyebrows slightly, looked at Li Huaien with a smile on her face full of regret, and instructed Amethyst: "You continue"

"Yes, Second Young Grandma," Amethyst also glanced at Li Huaien with disdain, flipped the page, and then read: "...... March 12, 14th year of Longqing, expenditure ...... On the eighth day of July in the sixteenth year of Longqing, the expenditure was ...... On the fifth day of the fourth month of the seventeenth year of Longqing, the expenditure was ...... Twenty-one years of Longqing...... Longqing 22 years ......"

"Tut-tut, the shopkeeper Li is inevitably too backy," Wang Qifang heard this, her face was gloomy, her fingers gently knocked on the square table on the side, and she mocked loudly: "Doing cotton business, being deceived by someone, losing money to do porcelain business, being killed, losing money to do grain business, catching up with the drought, losing money to do water transportation business, the ship capsized again, and lost hiss~~ I really wondered, do you have a deal that you don't lose." ”

"I ......"

Cold sweat flowed down his forehead to his shriveled cheeks, and the more Li Huaien listened, the more he felt like a weed, hairy, and full of uneasiness.

"Oh, no, you really have a time to make money," Wang Qifang didn't give Li Huaien a chance to defend at all, and continued, "Well, I calculate, it seems that in addition to the Li Ji grocery store you ran when my mother was there, you have earned a lot of money in the remaining twenty-two years, but unfortunately, every time you earn a thousand taels this year, you will definitely lose nine hundred taels in the next year, and the surplus one hundred taels is just enough to pay the guys and your salary, as well as the various expenses of the shop...... In this way, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, I did not earn a penny from the two-storey and two-bottom house. ”

Wang Qifang paused, and saw that Li Huaien's eyes were still rolling and trying to justify himself, and the anger in his chest rushed up, "snapped" the table, and scolded: "I see that you don't know how to do business, but you put the money earned from my shop into your pocket again." Li Huaien, are you worthy of my mother's trust in you? Do you still have a conscience? Even the silver of the life-saver should be greedy for ink? Kindness? ”

"Old Decay and Wrongdoing"

When Li Huaien heard this, he knelt on the ground with a puff and shouted loudly with a sharp voice, "Miss, you said that the old man is useless, and the old man admits that who asked me to guard the shop, but I can't make money for the owner, I deserve to be scolded by you." But you said that the old man has no conscience, and the old man is indeed wronged. Woo, I, Li Huaien, am by no means a shameless villain who will take revenge."

"Okay, okay, I wronged you?" Wang Qifang laughed angrily, she shook her head, "Oh, the shopkeeper Li really doesn't shed tears when he doesn't see the coffin, okay, come on, bring someone to me"

As soon as the words fell, several women outside the door carried in a person like chickens, about forty years old, very strong, although he was tied with a thumb-thick hemp rope, he was still struggling. If it weren't for the women's army escorting on both sides to be guarded, he would have broken free if he couldn't keep it.

"Li Huaien, do you know him?" Wang Qifang leaned back in the chair and asked coldly.

"You? How did you? Li Huaien heard this, quietly turned his head to look, when he saw the face of the visitor, he knew that his bottom line had been clearly touched by others, and no matter how much he pretended, it was just a monkey show for others.

After realizing this, Li Huaien got up from the ground, patted the ash on his knees, and straightened his somewhat wrinkled robe, and then said to Wang Qifang with a smile: "The eldest lady has good skills, and she caught my brother-in-law in just two days." Well, now that things have come to this point, I'll open the skylight and say something. What you just guessed was right, I was the one who bought the goods at a high price and sold them at a low price, I was the one who hollowed out the shop, and I was the one who let my brother pretend to be Qiu Niang's brother buy a shop and a field, but what can you do to me? ”

"You admit it all? You are ungrateful, you steal the property of the owner, and you make false accounts to deceive the owner, all these are you doing? Wang Qifang put away her smile and looked at Li Huaien fixedly, "Shopkeeper Li, I'll give you another chance, you really betrayed my mother's trust and emptied and hollowed out the shop she worked so hard to build?" Have you really forgotten that it was my mother who saved you when you were in the capital? ”

"Hmph, eldest lady, does it still make sense to say these now," mentioning his life-saving benefactor, Li Huaien's old face was a little uncomfortable, but compared to the life-saving grace that had been forgotten, wealth could touch his heart more, "That's right, I did it." But, Miss, what can you do to me? Hehe, I'm not a slave of your family who signed a deed of sale, let alone a subordinate who signed a living deed, the contract signed between me and my wife is only twenty years, and it expired three years ago. To be honest, I haven't sold the shop in the past three years, and I have already watched my wife's life-saving grace. ”

"I've seen shameless, but I've never seen you so shameless," Wang Qifang sneered and shook her head, "You still want to sell the shop and leave?" I believe this, if it weren't for the title deed and the house deed in my hands, I think this shop would have changed owners as early as three years ago. ”

"Miss, I respect you as my wife's daughter, so I am humble everywhere. In the past, I was a guy hired by my wife, and my status was inferior to you. But now I'm a free civilian, and I'm no different from you...... Okay, since the words are all said, I don't need to continue acting, the shop will be returned to you, and I don't want the salary for the three years, as long as you let my brother go, we will return to the road and the bridge from now on, and we have nothing to do with it."

"What if I don't let it go?" Wang Qifang straightened up, in the face of such a shameless villain, she really couldn't bear it, so she didn't have to endure it anymore.

Thinking of this, her eyes were sharp, "Not only will I not let go of this famous gangster in the capital, but I will also send you to the government to investigate and deal with you, tie up Li Huaien to me, take the name of the second young master, and send it directly to the yamen of Jingzhao Mansion."

"You, how dare you?" Li Huaien saw the two agile little ladies surrounding him, and shouted busily: "Do you know who my new owner is?" Speaking out scares you to death."

"Yo? Who is it, is it Zhao Tianbai, the eldest son of Zhao Yongnian, president of the Confucian Business Association? Hmph, bundled"

P: Seeing that the reaction progress of the relatives is a little slow, a certain Sa adjusted his thinking, and the next plot will be tighter, I hope that the relatives will continue to support a certain Sa and support the abandoned woman, (∩_∩) Thank you