Sometimes, when he couldn’t understand something, he would even ask himself, “What was this silver spent on? What did I buy?”

He asked in great detail, as if he had never even touched the abacus from beginning to end.

Wu Mingtang almost believed that she was genuinely helping him with the bookkeeping.

Thinking about her intentions, Wu Mingtang ultimately couldn’t resist the temptation of the delicious food and picked up a piece of cake to eat.

He had to admit, the taste was even better this time.

It was still slightly warm in his hands, clearly fresh from the pot.

“Have you finished discussing everything?” Wu Mingtang asked casually.

However, after asking, he didn’t receive a response from Jian Xiu.

Curious, he looked up at her.

What he saw was her seriously flipping through his account book.

From time to time, she would furrow her brows or fall into deep thought, clearly noticing something unusual.

But Wu Mingtang thought he was probably overthinking it.

After all, she was just flipping through it.

Even if there was something wrong with the accounts, she probably wouldn’t be able to notice it.

Still, he was curious about what she was so focused on.

So he leaned in and looked at the account book in her hands.

Sure enough, when he got closer, he realized that she wasn’t really reading it.

She was flipping through the pages way too fast.

He hadn’t even finished reading a single line before she had already moved on to the next page.

At that speed, how could she possibly be reviewing the accounts properly?

Shaking his head helplessly, Wu Mingtang went back to his own bookkeeping.

But just as he sat down, Jian Xiu waved him over.

Sighing, he put down his cake, leaned in again, and asked, “What is it?”

“There’s a big problem here!” Jian Xiu pointed to a specific entry in the account book.

“What problem? The pork is always fourteen wen per jin, right? Usually, it’s fifteen copper coins, but since Yuexiang House is an old customer and buys in bulk, we get a discount of one copper coin.”

“I’m not talking about the price.”

“Then what is it?”

“I checked your records. Lately, you’ve been using about two hundred jin of pork per day, and you haven’t bought any extra.” Jian Xiu said seriously.

“If that’s enough, then there’s no need to buy more, right?” Wu Mingtang replied matter-of-factly.

Hearing his tone, Jian Xiu couldn’t help but feel sorry for his wallet.

“You’re wrong. Was your business as good before as it is now? Definitely not, right? But according to your records, you were using two hundred jin of pork per day before, and none was left over. Now, with your business booming, you’re still using the same amount, and there’s still no surplus. Considering how much more business you’re doing now, your pork usage should be at least fifty percent higher. Don’t you think that’s suspicious?”

After her explanation, Wu Mingtang immediately understood.

He quickly grabbed the account book to check whether the same pattern applied to other ingredients.

But before he could, Jian Xiu, as if reading his mind, said calmly:

“No need to check—I already did. Other than vegetables and oil, all your purchases remain the same. Especially rice. Even though you’re serving fifty percent more customers, you’re still buying the same amount of rice.”

In truth, Jian Xiu wanted to say that she had spotted this issue immediately.

It was laughable that Wu Mingtang had been a shopkeeper for decades yet hadn’t noticed such a basic problem.

But after seeing how the accounts were kept, she wasn’t surprised.

They didn’t even maintain proper records of income and expenses.

The only thing carefully noted was how much silver was collected each day.

At the end of the month, they would compare total earnings and expenses. As long as there was profit, that was enough.

With such a bookkeeping method, no wonder he hadn’t spotted the problem.

“Hiss… What should I do? If this is really the case…”

“You shouldn’t tolerate this kind of behavior. Report one person to the authorities, and the others will be scared into returning the money they’ve been pocketing all these years.”

Jian Xiu spoke firmly, looking at Wu Mingtang.

“You’re right in principle, but this could take a long time to sort out. Besides, some accounts might be too messy to fix.”

“Are these from this year?” Jian Xiu pointed to a small stack of books nearby.

“No, those are from the past two years.”

“And the one I’m holding is for this month?”

“Yes, just this one month, and it’s already overwhelming.”

Jian Xiu: “…”

The book had only a few entries per page—how was that overwhelming?

Could this man even survive in an apocalypse?

“Do you have any blank sheets of xuan paper? Give me two.”

“Yes, yes! Just a moment!” Wu Mingtang quickly responded, smiling.

The more he interacted with Jian Xiu, the more he understood her.

From her tone, she seemed to have a solution for organizing his accounts.

He immediately called over a servant to fetch two sheets of xuan paper.

“Here’s the paper. What are you going to write?”

“I’m going to teach you a simple and clear bookkeeping method.”

“Really? What kind of method?”

“You’ll see.”

With that, Jian Xiu started drawing a table on the paper. Each column had a header indicating its purpose.

Then, she wrote down the dates and recorded all expenses, including kitchen costs and wages.

She also noted the total revenue Yuexiang House had collected that month.

Finally, at the bottom of the table, she wrote “Total.”

With this method, whether income or expenses, everything was crystal clear.

“This,” she explained, “is for recording each month’s accounts. Since there are twelve months in a year, you only need twelve sheets of paper for a full year.

“As for daily records, you can use the same format.

“I, personally, can remember daily expenses at a glance, so I don’t need to write them down. But if you struggle to remember, just use this format to record your daily transactions as well.”

Wu Mingtang examined the table closely and was amazed.

Just as she had said, everything was clear at a glance.

If each year required only twelve sheets, then it really simplified things.

As for daily records, he had already been keeping track, but not in this structured format. That part would take some extra effort.

But from now on—no, starting today—he could use this method.