Manager Zhu’s heart was in freefall, like a frayed rope dropped into a bottomless well. “You… what do you mean!” he stammered. “I… I didn’t do anything! You’re making things up! You’re making things up!” His trembling finger pointed at Xianjin, head turning toward Sixth Master Chen. “Sixth Master, she’s slandering me!”

Xianjin’s mind randomly conjured the phrase: “You’re slandering me! I’ll sue you for slander!” She shook her head and smiled sweetly. “We haven’t gotten to your part yet.”

Chen Fu involuntarily shivered. It was like the King of Hell smiling and saying, “It’s not your time yet—your death date is still under review.”

A smiling demon is still a demon. Still terrifying.

Manager Zhu’s face turned ghostly pale. His eyes darted to the silver on the table, and fear quickly turned to rage.

That morning, Sixth Master Chen had stepped in to “save the situation” by offering 800 taels. Once the she-devil accepted it, both men relaxed. Sixth Master Chen had suggested they split the cost—400 taels each, a little blood to avoid disaster.

Manager Zhu had swallowed his tears and carved out 400 taels. It felt like slicing off his own flesh. Now, thinking back—why had he paid the same as Sixth Master Chen? When they were pocketing money, they didn’t split it evenly! The Sixth Master took 70%, but he only got 30%!

The Sixth Master took the money. Now that danger loomed, he wanted to throw Manager Zhu under the bus? Ha! Dream on!

Manager Zhu was boiling with fury, his thoughts muddled. “Why are you threatening me? If I’m not clean, does that mean everyone else is? You’re just bullying me because I’m not a Chen! I’ll tell you now—my surname’s Zhu, not some mushy paste you can knead however you like, you little tramp!”

“What did you just call me?” Xianjin shot to her feet, swift as lightning. She used the pillar of the private box as cover, blocking the view from the main hall, and pressed the sharp tip of her reed pen hard against Manager Zhu’s throat. Her voice dropped to a deadly whisper. “Say one more word about my gender, and I swear I’ll use your blood as ink for this pen.”

The pen tip dug deep into his throat, leaving a visible mark.

Manager Zhu stared in terror, swallowing hard—his Adam’s apple barely scraped past the pen.

Xianjin growled, “Did you hear me clearly?”

Manager Zhu nodded frantically.

Xianjin calmly tucked the pen back into her sleeve and sat down as if nothing had happened.

Sixth Master Chen was stunned, his white goatee twitching at his cheeks. Chen Fu was also stunned, dropping all his sunflower seeds.

The only ones unfazed were Nanny Zhang—who’d seen Xianjin scald people with wax before—and Zhou Ergou, who thought the “white cucumber” had done beautifully. Even if she was a woman, if she didn’t have some fire in her, why would the strong young men at the workshop follow her? Why would they take money from her? That pork-head Zhu had it coming!

“I told you, we haven’t reached that point yet!” Xianjin said, exasperated. “We’re colleagues—why draw swords over a few taels of silver? Mistakes in accounting—miswritten, miscalculated, or omitted—are common!”

“But under the laws of Great Wei, all crimes may be mitigated—except corruption, which is punished severely.” She frowned and shook her head, sounding almost sympathetic. “If Third Master truly wanted to settle the accounts, he could report it to the authorities. With the Chen family’s connections in Jing County, the magistrate would surely take it seriously. But why hasn’t he? Because he values camaraderie. If silver is missing, we replace it. If the books are wrong, we correct them. If numbers are missing, we add them. What can’t be fixed?”

Her eyes swept the room and landed pointedly on Sixth Master Chen. “Don’t you agree, Sixth Master?”

Sixth Master Chen glanced at her, face dark as iron, and slowly nodded.

The shadow puppetry resumed downstairs with a new backdrop. Manager Zhu, holding back his fury, left first. Sixth Master Chen, visibly uncomfortable, followed soon after.

Downstairs, the crowd buzzed, glancing up at the second-floor box and whispering. Even the puppetry couldn’t hold their attention.

Chen Fu was now staring at Xianjin like she was a marvel. She sat calmly at the edge of the box. When the puppet character Huang Lang reappeared on stage, she sighed softly.

The drums and suona resumed, and the crowd left the Changqiao Guild satisfied after two full shows.

Xianjin and Nanny Zhang packed up the abacus and writing tools.

“Jinjie’er—” Chen Fu finally spoke.

Xianjin sighed, carefully set down her things, and sat properly. “I’m here. Go ahead.”

Chen Fu had a thousand things to say, but didn’t know where to begin.

“Today’s show was pretty good,” he mumbled.

Xianjin smiled. “You stopped watching halfway. Huang Lang lost everything to a villain, then rebuilt his life as a peddler. It’s a good story.”

It was already dark.

She glanced out the window. Shops were taking down their lanterns. She kept smiling. “Thank you for not ruining my setup. This morning, Sixth Master Chen and Manager Zhu tried to bribe me with 800 taels to overlook the past few years of accounts. I accepted, but when I saw how few people were working in the shop compared to the monthly payroll, I knew something was off. That’s why I staged this scene.”

Chen Fu waved his hand, flustered. “I figured it out. I’m not stupid.”

True—you just don’t use your brain often.

Xianjin nodded, agreeing with his self-assessment.

“Manager Zhu and Sixth Master Chen are clearly hiding something. What do you plan to do?” Chen Fu asked anxiously. “If they were willing to give you 800 taels, the actual deficit must be more. We’ve covered that—what about the rest?”

“I still have four or five hundred taels on me. I’ll have Dong deliver it to you later.”

“We’ve started this—can’t leave it unfinished. Let’s take it one step at a time.”

If it came to it, they’d send a fast letter to Xuancheng. Empty his mother’s purse if needed!

Chen Fu, the unfilial son, was fearless.

Xianjin smiled and shook her head. “Someone will make up the difference.”

Chen Fu didn’t understand, but seeing her confident expression, he smiled too. “You’re amazing!”

Xianjin thought he was praising her for uncovering the scheme in less than a day and was preparing a modest reply—until Chen Fu added excitedly: “You sharpened your pen tip that much on purpose?!”

On purpose? To use it as a weapon? Well, her weapon was certainly unconventional.

Xianjin fell silent, speechless.

When Chen Fu limped toward the stairs, she followed. After a moment, she asked softly, “Third Master, I took it upon myself to intervene in the Jing County workshop. Are you upset?”

Chen Fu didn’t respond right away. After a pause, he said plainly, “I’ve heard that one should focus on their craft and not chase wild dreams. I don’t know where you learned all this, but you’re clearly better at it than I am. I may bear the Chen name, but I couldn’t do what you’ve done. If you’re willing to take charge, it’s a blessing for me.”

In other words: let the expert do the job. She was like the CEO to his shareholder—he owned the company, she ran it—a high-level employee.

Chen Fu thought for a moment and added, “My mother never thought I was smart, but I’m good at reading people. You don’t mean harm to the Chen family. You mean even less harm to me. If you did, you could’ve taken the 800 taels and joined those two fools in tricking me.”

“But you didn’t.”

Just like your mother. She never loved me, but she never hurt me either.

That’s good enough. I’m content.