It now seems that Manager Qian wouldn't deceive him.

"When the shop closes down at the end of this year, send the account books to the Second Prince's residence," Xiao Xiyou said to Manager Qian.

"Yes, sir," Manager Qian replied repeatedly.

Xiao Xiyou now trusts Manager Qian more, but it cannot be ruled out that he is just acting, pretending to be honest, to gain his trust.

He had to carefully check the accounts before he could confirm whether the former manager was a trustworthy person. If he was indeed a diligent, honest and hardworking man, as the former manager claimed, then he could entrust him with many more matters in the future.

After all, having trusted confidants is not an easy thing.

After checking the pawnshop's accounts, Xiao Xiyou headed west of the city to inspect the grain and oil shops there.

"Master, you've arrived."

As soon as Xiao Xiyou entered the store, a thin middle-aged man rushed forward to greet him.

"Manager Liu, how's business at the shop?" Xiao Xiyou asked bluntly as soon as he came in.

When the shopkeeper saw Xiao Xiyou arrive, he already had a premonition that the boss's visit was only for checking the accounts and nothing else.

"Boss, to be honest, business at the store hasn't been very good lately," Manager Liu said with a worried look on his face.

Xiao Xiyou stepped into the store, looking around at the surroundings. "Not very optimistic. How's the revenue?"

Shopkeeper Liu followed closely behind Xiao Xiyou. "For the past three quarters, we've barely managed to make ends meet. After paying for the shop's rent and labor costs, there's almost nothing left."

Xiao Xiyou nodded after listening to Manager Liu's words. He had already looked at the manor's accounts before coming, and the grain and oil shops had indeed not submitted any profits for several months.

"Bring me the shop's ledgers so I can take a look," Xiao Xiyou ordered Manager Liu.

"Yes, sir, I'll go right away." Upon hearing Xiao Xiyou's order, Manager Liu hurriedly ran behind the counter to retrieve the account books. "Master, these are the store's account books for this year."

Xiao Xiyou took the ledger and sat down to look through it. He remembered every single entry clearly, but the more he looked, the more something seemed off.

The accounts clearly show that many people come to buy grain every day.

Every few days, large local buyers would purchase large quantities of grain and oil products from here. So why is the shop still losing money? Where did all that money go?

Xiao Xiyou looked up, frowned, and said to Manager Liu, "Manager Liu, the ledger shows sales every day. Can you explain why the shop is losing money?"

Manager Liu looked flustered. He rubbed his hands together and stammered, "Master, well... I'm not quite sure either. The shop assistants have always been the ones writing these ledgers."

Upon hearing Manager Liu's clumsy and flawed explanation, Xiao Xiyou slammed his fist on the table in anger. "If the clerk is writing it, what use is a manager like you?"

The shopkeeper was so frightened that he quickly shook his head and explained, "Master, although I don't keep accounts, I personally check the inventory and income and expenditure every day."

Xiao Xiyou, holding the ledger, slammed it into Manager Liu's face. "Is this how you tallied things up?"

“In May of this year, several out-of-town traders wanted to discuss cooperation with the store. You even went to the manor to report to me about it. But I just checked the accounts, and after deducting costs, labor, and transportation fees, the profit from 500 catties of grain was only 80 taels! Do you think I'm stupid? How dare I tamper with things like this!”

Xiao Xiyou grew angrier as he spoke, approaching Manager Liu step by step. The short knife he carried was already drawn and held against Manager Liu's neck.

"Master, spare my life! Master, spare my life!" Manager Liu was terrified and dared not move, only begging Xiao Xiyou for mercy.

"I don't care what you did with this money, or how much shady business you did with it. I'm giving you five days to cough up everything you took, or don't blame me for being ruthless!"

After Xiao Xiyou finished speaking, he sheathed his sword, took out a black poison pill from behind the scabbard, pried open Manager Liu's mouth, and threw it down.

"This is a secret poison from my household. If there is no antidote in five days, you will die with your intestines ruptured and blood flowing from your seven orifices. You should think carefully about what to do."

After saying this, Xiao Xiyou didn't even look at Manager Liu's painful appearance on the ground, and turned to leave the store.

Xiao Xiyou, who had just left the grain and oil store in the west of the city, was heading to the grain and oil store in the south of the city.

The grain and oil shops in the south of the city were in a better situation than those in the west, and each month a considerable amount of their revenue was handed over to the Second Prince's residence.

"Young master, Miss Zhou requests that you proceed immediately to the third corner of Liuli Alley." A young servant boy with an unfamiliar face stopped Xiao Xiyou in his tracks.

"Okay." Xiao Xiyou nodded to him, but he had many doubts in his heart.

How did Zhou Zhizhi know he would be here? Although last time she also sent a stranger as a messenger.

Every time a message was sent to the Second Prince's residence, someone would notify him, regardless of whether he was there at the time.

But Zhou Zhizhi is always elusive, and following him might have inadvertently revealed his whereabouts.

"She's looking for me, what if it's something important?" Although Xiao Xiyou had doubts, he decided to go and check it out anyway.

Unbeknownst to him, Zhou Zhizhi's importance in his heart had changed.

[Warning! Xiao Xiyou is in mortal danger! Host, please proceed to his rescue.]

[Warning! Xiao Xiyou is in mortal danger! Host, please proceed to his rescue.]

Zhou Zhizhi, who was flipping through ancient books on interior design, was reminded of the system's urgent alarm.

"What the hell?!" Zhou Zhizhi exclaimed in surprise. "No way! I just escaped my fate of being wiped out, and you're telling me Xiao Xiyou is about to die? Does that mean I have to die with him?"

Zhou Zhizhi was screaming inwardly, tears streaming down her face.

"When will I be able to live a proper life?!"

【Honey, there's a silver lining to this too. If we can successfully rescue Xiao Xiyou this time, we can restore one-third of the power of the Male-Female Twin Gu.】 The system felt a little sorry for Zhou Zhizhi as she looked devastated.

After all, such an obedient host is quite rare; it would be terrible if he were driven crazy.

"Oh right." After being reminded by the system, Zhou Zhizhi also remembered this.

Seeing that his words had worked, the system put in even more effort.

Yes, dear. The system will also reward you with a fragment to prevent you from being eliminated. Collect three fragments to exchange for another chance to avoid elimination.

The system's words made Zhou Zhizhi nod in satisfaction.

"That's starting to look more like it. But here's the problem: where's Little Grapefruit?"