Song Wanning brought the account book to Fengxian Restaurant, one of the largest businesses in the Prime Minister's Mansion. This restaurant is well-known even in the entire capital.
But few people know that this was originally the restaurant of the Prime Minister's Mansion.
When Song Wanning first entered the restaurant, the manager was Jiao Rong, the son of Jiao Da, Yin's father's former servant. Jiao Da had previously been in charge of the restaurant, but now that Jiao Da was older and less efficient, he handed the reins over to his son.
Originally, the restaurant was supposed to have a new manager, but the Yin Mansion had never had a hostess, and Yin Yichen was too busy to manage the restaurant. Jiao Da took advantage of this opportunity, allowing his son Jiao Rong to take over. Unexpectedly, Jiao Rong, seeing that his boss didn't intervene in the restaurant's affairs, became even more arrogant. Now, it seems that everyone running the restaurant is named Jiao.
Jiao Da used to follow Yin Yichen's father and was already an old man. He was highly respected by Yin's father, which was why he was able to run this restaurant. Who would have known that this family would run the restaurant into this state now? The account books sent to the Prime Minister's Mansion were always very perfunctory, and the amount of money flowing in was not even as much as that of an ordinary shop.
The Jiao family is now in the capital, and they have bought a large mansion. It is said that Jiao Rong has several concubines at home, and those concubines wear gold and silver every day.
Song Wanning is a person who cannot tolerate any grain of sand in her eyes. Now seeing such a scene, she naturally wants to find a way to rectify it.
As soon as Song Wanning entered the door, Jiao Rong came to greet her with a dozen waiters from the restaurant. Jiao Rong was now a fat man in his thirties, with three layers of fat on his belly that could be seen through his clothes, and he looked like he had a potbelly.
Jiao Rong saw Song Wanning with a smile on his face, nodding and bowing. "Madam, I heard you were coming. I was afraid you wanted to take a look at the restaurant's account books for recent years, so I asked someone to send all the account books for the past few years to you. You can take a look at them and understand how difficult it is for me to manage this restaurant."
"Don't be in a hurry. I'll take a look around and see how the restaurant is doing now." Song Wanning also brought people with her. Since she had not been to this restaurant many times and didn't know who Jiao Rong was, she brought seven or eight guards with her.
When Song Wanning entered, she took in the restaurant's layout. Fengxian Restaurant was indeed one of the four largest restaurants in Beijing. It had nine floors. The first and second floors were dining areas. The second and third floors were private rooms. The fourth and fifth floors were for the wealthy to relax. The sixth, seventh, and eighth floors were for resting. The ninth floor was reserved for officials from the capital to hold meetings.
Song Wanning entered the restaurant and took a look. It was still early, so not many people were dining there. However, quite a few people were coming down from upstairs. Fengxian Restaurant seemed to be doing well, but Jiao Rong had pocketed all the money.
Seeing that Song Wanning was silent, Jiao Rong immediately spoke to her about the achievements of Jiao Da and Old Master Yin. "Madam, I'm afraid you don't know that my father, Jiao Da, went through life and death with Old Master. It was Old Master who specifically asked my father to manage this restaurant. Although we haven't made much money over the years, we have made a name for ourselves. Old Master also said that this restaurant would always be managed by our Jiao family. Look at this restaurant now, it's doing very well. These decorations, door panels, and renovations all cost a lot of money. After all, they have brought in money over the years. Madam, don't you know how hard I work for the restaurant's business every day?"
Song Wanning only glanced at Jiao Rong indifferently, chuckled and said, "This is really embarrassing for Manager Jiao."
"This is what I should do. When working for the boss, I naturally have to devote myself to it." Jiao Rong smiled attentively and led Song Wanning inside.
Song Wanning followed Jiao Rong upstairs, walked from downstairs to upstairs, and looked at the entire layout of Fengxian Restaurant.
What Song Wanning didn't know was that at this moment, Pei Xuanzhi was sitting in a private room on the third floor, having just finished discussing business with someone, and he caught sight of her at a glance.
The servant beside Pei Xuanzhi was very sharp-eyed. He couldn't take his eyes off Pei Xuanzhi and immediately said, "Second Master, it's so rare for us to meet each other now. You and Miss Song haven't spoken for a long time. Since you meet here, why not go up and say hello?"
Pei Xuanzhi just smiled faintly and said to the servant beside him, "Looking at her current appearance, I'm afraid she has something to do. Since she has something to do, I won't delay her."
Pei Xuanzhi said this, picked up the wine jug beside him, poured himself a glass of wine, put it to his mouth and took a sip.
Song Wanning had no idea she'd been spotted by Pei Xuanzhi. She was now concerned about the restaurant's business, so she immediately followed Jiao Rong up to the private room on the second floor. The restaurant's account books, with all the accounts from recent years, were all laid out there. Song Wanning wanted to take a closer look at what was going on with all these accounts and what the problem was.
When Song Wanning entered, Jiao Da had laid out several stacks of old account books. Jiao Rong explained, "Madam, these are the account books from the past five years. The accounting methods are pretty much the same, but the ingredients used for buying groceries have been a little different in recent years. I've explained this to you in advance."
"Got it." Song Wanning glanced at the account books and asked slowly, "Where are the account books for the past six months?"
Seeing this, Jiao Rong took a stack of account books from his hand and handed it to Song Wanning.
Song Wanning took it and opened the account book to take a look. On the surface, there seemed to be nothing wrong with the account book. It seemed that Jiao Rong had put a lot of effort into making false accounts. It would take some effort to root him out.
However, Song Wanning was very familiar with the restaurant's operating costs, and she quickly grasped the key. "You said this restaurant has so many ways to make money, so why does it cost so much to hire waiters? I see there aren't that many waiters cooking or busying around downstairs."
Upon hearing this, Jiao Rong hurriedly explained, "Madam, you don't know, Fengxian Restaurant is a large restaurant in the capital. We employ top chefs, so the prices are naturally higher. The other staff don't want to stay here because they're busy, so paying them gives them some stability, which is why we spend more. Madam, you're at home all day, so you really don't understand the difficulties our restaurant faces."
Song Wanning glanced at Jiao Rong who was talking nonsense and just smiled faintly, but this smile made Jiao Rong feel a little guilty.
Song Wanning just kept saying, "Manager Jiao, do you think I'm easy to fool? Write down how much money each of those guys gets every month and what tasks each of them is responsible for in a book and bring it to me."
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