Chapter 256: The Madam of the Housekeeper
By the time Fang Ruolan finished flipping through part of the ledger, Su Ze had already fallen asleep on the recliner.
Seeing Su Ze like this, Fang Ruolan was furious again, but now it was gradually turning from autumn to winter. Fang Ruolan took out the brocade quilt to cover Su Ze, and then continued to read the account book.
The more she looked at the accounts, the more surprised Fang Ruolan was at the property under Su Ze's name.
Fang Ruolan had already known Su Ze before Su Ze was admitted to the Juren Examination. At that time, he was just a poor scholar studying in the county school.
But now, the shops under Su Ze's name are all making more money than the other, and together they are more profitable than the Fang family's dowry business.
Su Ze was different from the ordinary squires who occupied acres of land after getting into the imperial examination. Except for a tea garden, all of his industries were commercial, and each of them was highly profitable.
Even the newspaper that seems to be the least profitable, "Paiben Surprise" has made considerable profits through advertising revenue at a low price.
This is also the reason why Paibenjingwen can continue to publish more good works with high royalties.
Fang Ruolan used the Longmen accounting method taught by Su Ze to check the books. The Longmen accounting method is actually the same as the ordinary accounting method, except that an expense must be reflected in the two systems of "in and out" and "assets and liabilities", which also makes fraud more difficult. The difficulty of accounting increases.
When auditing accounts, it is easy to detect falsified data with just a few means.
The more Fang Ruolan used this method to check the accounts, the more she felt the exquisiteness of the Longmen accounting method. The shop she planned to give her as a dowry also used this accounting method.
Of course, accounting methods are not omnipotent, and accounting technology is also constantly developing.
Auditing and falsifying accounts are rivals in the cat-and-mouse game even in modern society, and the two develop alternately step by step in a constant struggle.
When the sun was about to set, Su Ze finally woke up slowly. Seeing Fang Ruolan who was still buried in the ledger, Su Ze walked over and picked her up.
"Madam, I'm hungry."
Fang Ruolan was even more angry. If it weren't for the two boxes of account books that Su Ze brought, she would have finished reading them long ago, and now she is causing trouble again.
"What are you doing to me when you're hungry?"
Su Ze looked at her disheveled hairpin and said with an itch in her heart: "I want to eat you!" " Going
crazy again! I haven't finished reading the account yet! Ah!"
. .
After Fang Ruolan put on a new set of clothes while the maid smiled, Su Ze moved the food outside the house and lit a few lamps. Fang Ruolan had no intention of admiring the moonlight and just grabbed the food and ate it.
After finally filling her stomach, Fang Ruolan talked about things at home again.
"There are no problems with several shops in the city. My husband just won the election this year. These shops are managed by Chang Ningwei's relatives and brothers, and there are no problems with the accounts." "Wait until the end of the year, give
this brother more money Send some red envelopes, and give some to the clerk. My husband is going to Nanjing after the New Year, and they still need to take care of the property here." "There is
no problem at the newspaper office, but Mr. Chen has repeatedly said that there are not enough people, so I still need my husband to step in more. We need to recruit a few editors."
Su Ze just ate the vegetables and admired the moon, and acted like "my wife is right" to Fang Ruolan's suggestions.
This perfunctory attitude made Fang Ruolan feel angry again. After being tortured by Su Ze these days, she could hardly walk.
But whenever he stayed at home, Su Ze couldn't help but tease her.
Fang Ruolan rolled her eyes and said, "Will my husband have anything to do tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow? I'm going to find some good engravers for my mentor's books. I think you'll have nothing to do in the afternoon, right?"
Fang Ruolan said immediately: "It's the afternoon, I'll do the marriage. I have to ask my husband to accompany me to those shops."
"Is there any problem with the books?"
"There are always some smart guys who think I can't manage the family business and do some sneaky things."
After saying this , Fang Ruolan looked at Su Ze gently, but Su Ze didn't react at all. Fang Ruolan then said:
"Although the problems in the accounts are easy to see, my husband still needs to come forward to deal with these guys." "
I understand, then I will do it tomorrow I'll go with you."
Su Ze stared at the bowls and chopsticks that Fang Ruolan put down, and said with a smile: "Madam, have
you finished eating?" Fang Ruolan immediately said warily: "What are you going to do again!"
"We just had a truce, of course we have to continue after eating. Let’s fight again!”
Fang Ruolan was picked up from the waist again, but unfortunately her struggle was ineffective and was just a waste of energy.
. . .
the next day.
Su Ze finally got down to business. He first wrote a letter to Wang Daokun in Fuzhou Mansion in his study. On the one hand, he thanked Wang Daokun for the gift and asked about the current situation of the room master. Then Su Ze said in the letter: "Hui
Mansion The name "Zhai Ren" is too directional. There are not many people from Huizhou who are officials in Fujian. It would be bad if someone associates it with my mentor. According to the disciple, it is better to choose a new pen name."
Su Ze added: "I have found a master engraver. I think some of the illustrations in the book are more vivid. I will send them to you as soon as the samples are printed." "As soon as this book is published, there will be many counterfeiters and pirates. We will print it.
" The more exquisite the book, the more it prevents theft."
"I want to print more books. If I take them to Jiangnan next year and sell them, they will definitely sell well. Please pay the royalties to the teacher first. Please don't refuse." After writing the letter to
Wang Daokun, Su Ze read the letter sent by Changning Wei again.
On the day of Su Ze's wedding, Lin Mojun drove the New World to sea to find trouble with the Japanese pirates harassing Ryukyu.
Since the last time the Shimadzu family's envoy was killed, the Shimadzu family's fleet has appeared near Amami Oshima, constantly harassing the main island of Ryukyu.
The King of Ryukyu naturally asked Chang Ningwei for help. Lin Mojun followed Su Ze's instructions and helped Ryukyu train a group of team members to block the harassment of the Shimazu family.
The Shimazu family became angry and sent more than a dozen ships to attack Ryukyu.
After receiving the news, Lin Mojun drove the New World to sea and defeated the Japanese warships with great power.
In the battle report written by Lin Mojun, the Japanese ship technology was very backward. The sails they used could be adjusted at a very small angle, and they could not move at all when the wind direction was wrong.
Lin Mojun took advantage of the disadvantage that the Japanese ships could not seize the upper hand position, sneaked around the Japanese ships and fired with cannons. After sinking two Japanese warships, he pursued and captured one by relying on the speed of the ship.
If Lin Mojun hadn't sailed into unfamiliar waters near the shore, Lin Mojun was afraid that the New World would run aground, and he would have probably wiped out the entire Shimadzu fleet.
After this battle, Ryukyu became more respectful, and relying on the east wind that Ryukyu paid tribute to, the Ryukyu royal family also received a lot of wealth.
However, Lin Mojun also said in his letter that as the thirty-six Fujian families regained power in Ryukyu, many Ryukyu people expressed dissatisfaction.
Su Ze picked up the pen and wrote a reply to Lin Mojun, telling her that the affairs of the Ryukyu people should be left to the King of Ryukyu. The current King of Ryukyu is obviously a smart man. He will know how to balance the relationship between the Ryukyu people and the Han people, and the Ryukyu royal family originally had Being of Han descent, this is actually a conflict of interests.
Thirty-six families of Fujian people have monopolized navigation technology, which is equivalent to controlling the largest income in Ryukyu today. Naturally, some people will be dissatisfied. The so-called Fujian and Ryukyu people are just targets for attack.
In the letter, Lin Mojun only talked about the war in Ryukyu and did not mention Su Ze's marriage, which actually made Su Ze feel even more guilty. After closing the letter, Su Ze found a few more gifts brought back from Jiangnan and had them sent to Changning Guard.
There is also a letter from Mr. Tao of Fuzhou City. He also received an errand from the palace, asking him to collect Ganoderma lucidum and bring it to the palace.
Fujian has many mountains and Ganoderma lucidum is produced on a daily basis, but the production of this thing is random, and it is difficult to produce large Ganoderma lucidum.
Eunuch Tao naturally thought of Su Ze and wanted to ask Su Ze to help find a solution.
Ever since Su Ze got the ambergris, Eunuch Tao has completely trusted Su Ze. After hearing that Su Ze came back and sent congratulatory gifts on his wedding, he was busy writing letters asking for help.
However, artificial cultivation of something like Ganoderma lucidum also takes time. Su Ze could only apologize to Eunuch Tao and said that there was nothing he could do.
However, Su Ze still had an idea and wrote:
"Ganoderma is hard to find, but I heard that there are unicorns overseas." "
When Emperor Yongle was in power, Zheng He purchased unicorns from the West during his voyages." "
In the Zhengde year, Folang Jiren also paid tribute with unicorns, and was once commended by Emperor Masanori." "
Now that the emperor wants good luck, he can ask the Ryukyu envoy to contact Folang Jiren and purchase unicorns as tribute to His Majesty."
There were indeed many foreign affairs in the history of the Ming Dynasty . According to the record of envoys paying tribute to the unicorn, the unicorn was actually a giraffe. Zheng He must have sailed to the coast of the Red Sea and purchased it from a local tribe.
Later, the Portuguese wanted to trade with the Ming Dynasty and once transported giraffes from Africa.
In fact, there is no need to go to Africa. Giraffes are indeed very popular among monarchs of various countries. The Portuguese colony in Goa should have a zoo where giraffes are raised.
As long as Eunuch Tao is willing to pay, Su Ze doesn't mind buying him a giraffe.
Su Ze dug out another letter to Lin Mojun and asked her to contact the Portuguese and bring a giraffe over. He knew that Emperor Jiajing, who loved auspiciousness, would definitely be satisfied, and Eunuch Tao would definitely support this plan.
Just when Su Ze closed the letter, Fang Aizhu said outside the study door:
"Lang Jun, Miss has prepared lunch."
Su Ze opened the door and asked Fang Aizhu:
"How is the engraving master doing? ?"
Fang Aizhu said: "I found three engraving masters who fled from Jianyang. They are all masters of engraving. However, for the paintings you mentioned, they need original manuscripts to engrave them." Su Ze naturally knew that he wanted
to What kind of painting is it? He thought for a while and said, "Can't you find a painter in the city?"
"Well, I'm afraid the painters in the city can't paint well."
Su Ze thought about it. The paintings required for engraving pay more attention to lines and lines. The popular freehand paintings nowadays are different.
But Su Ze's own painting skills were only Level 1. He thought for a moment and said, "Go and ask Father Pierre to see how he can paint using Western techniques?"
Fang Aizhu naturally knew what book Su Ze wanted to print, and he also knew Pierre. Father Er.
Ask a Western monk to draw such a picture? Is this appropriate?
Fang Aizhu looked troubled, but he still agreed.
Because she was going out in the afternoon, Fang Ruolan refused Su Ze's fussiness while eating. After the two of them finished eating, Fang Aizhu had prepared a carriage. Su Ze rode the horse and Fang Ruolan sat in the carriage and started to go to the Fang family's three shops in the city.
Because there was a rule in the Ming Dynasty that officials serving in the Ming Dynasty were not allowed to purchase acres of land in the local area, so Fang Wanghai did not purchase any land when he was the prefect of Yanping Prefecture.
But later, after he and Su Ze arranged their marriage, Fang Wanghai bought three shops in Nanping County for his daughter.
Fang Wanghai was considered honest and upright among Ming officials, and his shops were all purchased at market prices.
That is to say, these three shops were originally purchased as Fang Ruolan's dowry, and Mrs. Li sent several old servants of the Fang family to manage and operate them.
However, when Fang Ruolan checked the accounts yesterday, she still saw problems with the two shops, so she dragged Su Ze over to look at the shops.
The three shops of the Fang family in the city are all in excellent locations. The first one is a medicinal material shop. Su Ze still remembers this shop. When Huang Tiju of Huimin Pharmacy first started making sour plum soup, it was from this shop. Materials imported into the shop.
The shopkeeper and the waiter did not expect that Su Ze and Fang Ruolan would come so soon. After Su Ze and Fang Ruolan entered the shop, Fang Ruolan made a cold face and asked the healthy woman to put up the closed sign and lock the door of the shop.
Seeing Fang Ruolan's unkind approach, the shopkeeper also panicked.
In the past, Fang Ruolan was in charge of the family's property, but people always have a sense of luck, especially when Fang Ruolan is newly married. As long as he relaxes temporarily, the shopkeeper can get some profits from it.
Once some profits from this store are taken away, it will be difficult to find out when doing accounting later.
The reason why Yu Zongyuan's shop suffered serious losses was because Yu Zongyuan didn't know how to read the accounts, and the shopkeeper emptied the profits bit by bit.
This year's profit is about the same as last year's, and this month's profit is about the same as last month's. It's hard to see the problem with the account books.
Therefore, the most difficult part for cheating is the first month.
Unexpectedly, Fang Ruolan came to kill him after he had only made false accounts for a month.
"Madam, have mercy on me!" The medicine shop owner also knew how powerful Fang Ruolan was, and he knelt down to beg for mercy.
Fang Ruolan shouted loudly. She pointed out the problems in the account book to the clerk one by one. She also asked people to go through the inventory and found the medicinal materials that had been embezzled by the shopkeeper. Then she said: "You are also an old man in the family, but you have done something like this.
" Your family will no longer trust you in the future." "
This is your personal contract. There are still five years of contract period. In addition to the accounts that were not reconciled before, you pay ten taels of silver to the family and the old accounts will be written off. ."
The shopkeeper's expression changed, but no matter how he begged for mercy, Fang Ruolan still wouldn't let go.
The shopkeeper also knew that it was useless to beg for mercy, so he had to accept the contract obediently, then pack up his things and leave.
Fang Ruolan promoted another clerk to be the temporary shopkeeper on the spot, but also explained that if he did not do well, he would have to be replaced. There were three clerks in the store. Fang Ruolan encouraged the other two clerks to supervise, and then left the drug store.
Su Ze was too lazy to continue riding and squeezed into Fang Ruolan's carriage.
Thinking of Fang Ruolan's ladylike demeanor just now, Su Ze was a little shaken, but Su Ze still asked:
"Why don't you send him to the official position? Why don't you send him to the official position? And also give him the body deed?" "
What if this kind of villain is sent to the official position ?" , they will definitely bite randomly, which will cause trouble when the time comes.”
"His salary in the shop is ten taels a year, plus some gray income, which makes more than twenty taels a year. Losing this job is what makes him most painful." "And
I If his problem is exposed in front of the clerk, he will never be able to find a job as a shopkeeper in Nanping City again. This is the biggest punishment."
Su Ze clapped his hands and applauded and said, "My wife is wise!"
"We are going there after the year. In Nanjing, these people need to be beaten hard. They are just greedy. If they use the name of their husband or father to cause trouble, then that is the real trouble." "Everything the lady said is right! Let's go quickly and leave the rest
. Let’s have two families!”
(End of chapter)