xymnovel Chapter 33 New Rules, New Look
Chapter 33 New Rules, New Look
After Cao Tong gathered his men, he roughly counted them and found that there were only seven or eight left.
Shao Shuyi was wearing a "designer" robe worth fifty guan, the hem of which was slightly dirty.
"How come there are only a few people?" he asked in surprise.
As he spoke, the brass pistol remained slung over his shoulder. When he reached Cao Tong, the latter knelt down with a thud and said in a trembling voice, "Accountant, I didn't make things difficult for you."
Shao Shuyi remained silent.
"Get up." He pulled Cao Tong up.
Cao Tong swallowed nervously and said, "I could only take five strings of cash from Wang Sheng and one string from Wu Youcai to keep an eye on you and see what you're doing, but I really haven't harmed you."
"Oh?" Shao Shuyi asked in surprise, "Zhang Neng didn't give you money?"
"No, he's both fierce and stingy," Cao Tong said, bowing his head.
Shao Shuyi nodded and said, "Since Master Zheng didn't do anything to you, I naturally won't either. Just do your job well in the future and don't try to cheat or be cunning."
Cao Tong nodded repeatedly, as if he had been granted a pardon.
Shao Shuyi then glanced at another person.
"Little Tiger, don't wrong an innocent person." The cook was startled and said, "I got up before dawn to make you fish soup. Those flatbreads were very fragrant and crispy, weren't they? You ate seven or eight just now. What do you want to eat for lunch? I originally made some pig's blood stew with tofu, but if you don't like it, I'll change it. You—"
"That's enough, that's enough, I like it, no need to change it." Shao Shuyi smiled and said, "You can still cook from now on. Your nephew is helping out, right? Tell him to do a good job, the shop won't shortchange him on his wages."
"Okay, I understand." The cook immediately beamed.
"Brother Liu—" Shao Shuyi looked at the third person.
"Accountant," Liu Ge'er bowed and said, "I've been at the inn for three years. I've only ever received twenty strings of cash from Wang Sheng, five strings from Wu Youcai, and maybe a few dozen from Zhang Neng, but I can't remember exactly. They just gave us small tips to keep us busy. Those who took more money are no longer in the inn; those who remain are people I have no connection with."
Shao Shuyi was somewhat surprised. This person spoke quite logically; he would observe him further.
He then spoke with the remaining five people one by one. There wasn't much substantive content; it was simply to leave a lasting impression and enhance his future influence and voice.
Anyway, Sanshe gave him power, and Zheng Fan only controlled the overall situation, so there was no harm in not doing some things.
After giving his instructions, Shao Shuyi waved his hand and selected two people from the eight, namely Cao Tong and Liu Ge'er, to lead the others and follow him to take inventory of the stock—starting with Warehouse C.
Of course, they mainly did the physical labor, responsible for moving and carrying, while Shao himself did the recording. At this moment, he took a bound blank book and wrote the seven characters "Zheng Ji Qingqi Shop Internal Account" on the cover.
Wang Huadu, as a recruiter, will stay here for a few days to help out, receiving 800 cash per day, with room and board included.
His main job was to serve Shao Shuyi. For example, he would just move in a small table and a cushion, and then start grinding ink, looking very relaxed.
"If there's an inner tent, there must also be an outer tent?" Wang Huadu asked with some curiosity.
"Of course there are," Shao Shuyi said, sitting cross-legged on the futon. "The inner account records the inflow and outflow of money and goods, as well as losses, while the outer account records the purchase, sale, and hiring."
"In that case, wouldn't we need two accountants?" Wang Huadu asked curiously.
"Exactly." Shao Shuyi nodded.
"What's the point of a straight warehouse then?"
"How is it useless?" Shao Shuyi smiled and said, "Even a sea freight warehouse has warehouse officials and warehouse workers."
"The warehouse officials and warehouse keepers are illiterate and utterly useless," Wang Huadu said, curling his lip.
"I think the rough handling of petty thieves and the deterrence of internal traitors are still effective," Shao Shuyi said. "Tomorrow, go out and see if you can find a suitable large lock, and then ask a craftsman to come back."
"What do you want to do?"
"The treasuries are all locked with double locks. The inner accounting office and the direct treasury each hold a key, and no single person may enter."
Wang Huadu was speechless. Such a small inn was arranged with such formality; anyone unaware of its nature would think it was some kind of imperial treasury.
"Will you be the internal or external accountant from now on?" he asked.
"It depends on how Sanshe arranges it," Shao Shuyi said nonchalantly. "Actually, I was thinking of setting up a guest office specifically for selling blueware. But hiring another person would be too much trouble, and I'm afraid Sanshe would be angry."
At this point, he couldn't help but smile and said, "A celadon shop doesn't actually need to be this complicated, because it doesn't have a kiln. If it's a boat shop, it's best to have three accounting offices: an inner office, an outer office, and a customer office. Each office should conduct inventory checks, reconcile accounts, and settle accounts on the 5th, 15th, and 25th of each month. If this is consistently maintained and becomes a routine, while I can't say that fraud will be completely eliminated, it will certainly be greatly reduced."
Wang Huadu was completely confused. He only knew that the Zheng family's porcelain shop was originally run by a manager who held absolute power, acting as both the treasurer and accountant, and was entirely maintained by personal connections. But when those connections became unreliable, corruption and embezzlement began, and suspicion between superiors and subordinates became inevitable.
Shao Shuyi's approach seems to have placed a shackle on everyone, including the shopkeeper. While it cannot completely eliminate embezzlement and fraud, it has greatly limited them.
"To be honest—" As Wang Huadu pondered, Shao Shuyi had already picked up a pen and begun recording in the ledger, saying, "I still prefer being an external accountant. Simply put, it allows me to meet more people."
"Do you want Yu She to come and be the accountant?" Wang Huadu asked in a low voice.
"I'd like to, but I'm afraid Sanshe won't agree," Shao Shuyi said. "But it's not a big deal."
Wang Huadu nodded and said, "This fellow has found a good business."
******
On the fifteenth day, Yu Yuan arrived.
Shao Shuyi asked him to be the internal accountant, and Zheng Fan, who was temporarily in charge of the affairs here, thought for a moment and then agreed.
The inventory work continued until the 20th, when the internal records were compiled, which contained 29,450 pieces of various blue-and-white artifacts.
The counting of money and cash needs to start even earlier.
Zheng Fan personally participated in the verification and finally left 500 ingots of Zhongtong paper money for the Qingqi Shop, while taking away the rest of the paper money, gold, silver and copper coins.
After taking inventory, Shao Shuyi's main task was to teach Yu Yuan how to keep accounts.
He wrote Arabic numerals, which Yu Yuan thought he wouldn't recognize, but Yu Yuan said he had seen Semu people write this before. His elder brother, Yu Chu, had mentioned that Semu officials in the Maritime Trade Office, prefectures, and counties who collected taxes preferred to use this. The script was slightly different from Shao Shuyi's, but it was generally legible.
Yu Yuan was somewhat literate and calculated, and he immediately wrote down some accounting numbers for Shao Shuyi.
This is a set of ancient Chinese financial calculation symbols. Shao Shuyi learned it from Wu Youcai a few months ago and found it very difficult to use. He preferred to write Chinese characters like "one, two, three, four" rather than use these coded symbols.
In the end, he instructed Yu Yuan to use Arabic numerals for accounting, thus standardizing the process.
This system was unintentionally popularized due to its use by Semu people, and it became more popular than its predecessors, which is not surprising—in fact, it is still not popular enough. Many accountants who came from traditional literati backgrounds still preferred to write Chinese characters for bookkeeping, while a few used chip symbols.
"Brother Shao, I will study hard." After hearing all the details, Yu Yuan smiled shyly and said, "Actually, this job is quite easy, and I still have time to read."
"Oh? What books do you usually read?" Shao Shuyi asked.
Yu Yuan's face fell, and he said, "My elder brother makes me read the Four Books and Five Classics, and he tests me from time to time. I prefer to read miscellaneous books, including operas, medicine, criminal law, miscellaneous essays, geography, and even agricultural books. I read everything."
"Good habit," Shao Shuyi praised. "You should read the classics, and you should also read miscellaneous books. You can do both without neglecting either. Anyway, you're not planning to take the imperial examinations, are you?"
"Brother Shao, the imperial examination was first held in our dynasty more than 20 years ago, and there have only been eight such examinations since then," Yu Yuan said.
Shao Shuyi was taken aback; this touched on a blind spot in his knowledge. He didn't know that the Yuan Dynasty didn't really have a civil service examination system.
"What will happen to scholars if there is no imperial examination?" he asked.
"Either enter the government as an official, or do what I'm doing," Yu Yuan said. "In this dynasty, officials and clerks are one entity. Many scholars start as clerks and can rise to the fourth rank at their highest."
Shao Shuyi nodded slightly. So it turned out that one could rise from a lowly official without any rank to the top without any obstacles. The Mongols really had no historical baggage. Other dynasties also had officials who rose through the ranks, but these were mostly "chance encounters" and not a common phenomenon.
"Then you should study hard." Shao Shuyi patted Yu Yuan's shoulder as usual and said, "There are three meals a day provided here, which is no worse than what scholars in secluded households eat."
"Yes, I will certainly live up to Brother Shao's expectations," Yu Yuan said earnestly.
Shao Shuyi chuckled silently, saying nothing.
This little fanboy is really something. On the night the bandits attacked Taihu Lake, although he was terrified, he managed not to run away. For this alone, he deserved Shao Shuyi's help.
This is a friendship that transcends life and death.