Chapter 58

Gu Xinxin didn't force it either.

She also wanted to go to the town to find Shopkeeper Qian, and by the way, tell him that she wanted to learn accounting, and wanted to ask if he had anyone reliable to recommend - even if she didn't trust Shopkeeper Qian, she trusted herself. She just wanted to clear a way for herself to improve her accounting skills, so whether the person Shopkeeper Qian found was capable or not... it didn't matter.

Shopkeeper Qian is now very easy to talk to, and it seems as if the dirty deeds between the two families before never existed.

He smiled like a Maitreya Buddha: "You asked the right person. I do all the accounts in my family myself. Although I dare not call myself an old accountant, I have no problem managing this shop. Your family is big enough to be considered a workshop now, right? If I were busy, I would teach you personally."

Gu Xinxin smiled and said, "You have a big family and a lot of money, so I'm afraid you don't have time?"

Shopkeeper Qian laughed heartily: "Yes, so I can only recommend you someone who was my family's former accountant."

Gu Xinxin was puzzled: "Not needed now?"

Shopkeeper Qian smiled and said, "Now I've calculated it myself, so I don't need it. It will save me another expense. After all, my shop is just a small business."

He wrote down the address and gave it to Gu Xinxin, asking her to find it herself. Gu Xinxin thanked him and mentioned the new flavor of the fried dough twist: "I came here this time to give a new flavor to Shopkeeper Qian. You can try it. If you think it tastes good, we can talk about the business of this new flavor. If you don't think it's good, then forget it."

She handed the small basket to Shopkeeper Qian, who quickly opened the lid and pinched out two to taste. After a moment, he nodded, "It's very salty and fragrant. The crispy texture remains the same, and it's not just salty. There's also a little... numbness."

Gu Xinxin gave a thumbs up to Shopkeeper Qian. She didn't expect that Shopkeeper Qian could taste the difference right away because the five-spice powder contained peppercorns.

Actually, the recipe for the savory fried dough twist is more complicated than the sweet one. The sweet one can basically imitate the flavor by just using honey, but the savory one uses seven kinds of seasonings, including the five-spice powder, plus the homemade chicken powder, for a total of eight.

Unless someone has a very sensitive tongue, but there might only be one person like that among a thousand. So, there's no need to worry about someone else finding out the secret recipe.

Shopkeeper Qian thought for a moment and asked, "How many of these salty ones can you make now?"

Gu Xinxin waved her hand: "We don't make much of this, at most a few hundred a day. Since we're close, I came to ask you first. If you want it, I'll take it from you first. If you don't want it, I'll have to go back to the county town."

Shopkeeper Qian held out his hand and said, "How about exchanging the sweet ones for two hundred salty ones?"

This meant reducing the amount of sweet treats. Seeing Gu Xinxin looking at him, Shopkeeper Qian smiled and said, "At first, everyone was just trying it for fun, but now that it's been around for a while, fewer people are buying it. Business isn't very good right now."

Gu Xinxin nodded. "Okay, then we'll switch to something sweet. However, Manager Qian is wrong about saying business is bad. I think business is just right now. Isn't it almost the busy farming season? I'm too busy to cook. So, I can grab a few small fried dough twists and soak them in egg water. That's breakfast or dinner for me. They have both oil and sugar in the water, which is much better than just eating eggs."

We're not stupid, especially the older farmers. The busier we get, the more we need to eat nutritious and good food. Usually, it's eggs, egg drop soup, scrambled eggs, and boiled eggs. The more generous ones buy meat, with fatty cuts being the most popular, followed by offal—pork belly and lean pork, while delicious, are expensive. They're not as good as the first two, as one can be refined into oil, while the other is cheaper and more cost-effective.

Of course, small fried dough twists are not as delicious as meat, but they are almost as delicious as eggs.

She puts a lot of eggs in her fried dough twists, putting half a pound of eggs in every pound of flour. Otherwise, the dough won't be as crispy after frying, and no matter how well the dough is fried, it won't have this crispy taste.

Shopkeeper Qian smiled and said, "Your idea is good. I'll have to publicize it later."

Seeing that he didn't change his mind, Gu Xinxin stood up and said goodbye: "Then I'll go back first. I'll have someone bring the contract later. We need to change the taste, so the contract needs to be changed as well."

She had to ask Gu Xiangrong to write another one.

She could write, but her writing was not very good. After all, she did not spend as much time in school as Gu Xiangrong, and she had to be busy in the workshop most of the time.

With the address given by the shopkeeper Qian, Gu Xinxin found an alley and knocked on the door. A child opened the door. The child looked up at her and shouted inside: "Grandpa, it's a girl."

The courtyard was a small quadrangle, not very big. Gu Xinxin could see someone coming out of the main house at the gate of the courtyard. The person who came out was an old man wearing a long blue cloth gown, probably in his fifties, with gray hair and beard, and sunken cheeks, looking a bit mean.

Gu Xinxin quickly smiled and saluted: "But Mr. Li? I was introduced by the shopkeeper Qian. I want to ask a teacher to teach me how to do accounting."

The man was silent for a moment, then asked, "Do you want to learn?"

Gu Xinxin nodded, and the man shook his head: "Why should a girl learn accounting? Besides, is your family in business?"

"I'm not doing business, I opened a small workshop. Although I come from a girl's family, I also need to know all the expenses and income of the family. If I learn now, I won't be cheated in the future." Gu Xinxin said with a smile. She has her own way to deal with this kind of people who look down on women.

Arguing with him was pointless; it would be best to walk away immediately, not listening or watching. But she needed it now, so she had to pick out what she could listen to and filter out everything she couldn't.

"Two taels of silver a month for me and my sister." Gu Xinxin continued, "In addition, the monthly allowance is two catties of pork, six catties of rice and flour, and a pair of shoes and socks."

The old man frowned and said nothing. Gu Xinxin continued, "My sister is seven years old this year. Although she is young, she is quite smart and can still recognize numbers."

The old man didn't want to agree. He always felt that settling accounts was a man's job.

But what Gu Xinxin said made some sense. Even if the family was small, wouldn't the wife have to do the math when buying groceries and rice every day?

The child tugged at the old man's clothes and said, "Grandpa, I want to eat meat." The five or six-year-old child believed whatever others said, and his eyes were full of desire for meat.

There are actually quite a lot of shops in the town, but as Manager Qian said, if you learn how to do accounting, there is no need to spend extra money to hire an accountant.