"Young Master, this is the latest account book, please take a look." The shopkeeper held the account book in front of Bai Jinglang and said.
"Yeah." Bai Jinglang responded, then lowered his head and opened the account.
Lin Su looked at the accounts from behind him. They were made by the shopkeeper himself, and indeed there was no problem on the surface. But the accounts... no matter how smooth they were, an expert could always find some tricks.
Although Lin Su saw it, he didn't speak rashly. Bai Jingjian flipped through a few pages and pointed at one of them and said, "This Tongfengqin is a pawn, so why is the price one-third lower than the market price?"
"My young master, this Tongfengqin is a good zither. If you want more, he will naturally need more money to redeem it. If he doesn't redeem it, it will become a dead pawn after the deadline. This is the trick of business, a sure win with little loss." The shopkeeper said with a chuckle.
Bai Jingtang looked at him and said, "I need to see the pawn ticket."
The pawn ticket is in duplicate and must match the person who comes to redeem the item. If there is a mistake, it is the pawnshop's problem.
"Here..." the shopkeeper smiled and said, "Young Master, from which period do you want to see the pawn tickets?"
"This is it." Bai Jingjian pointed at the Tong Fengqin on the account.
The shopkeeper looked troubled. "Unfortunately, a cat messed up the pawn tickets when I was sorting them a few days ago. I'm afraid it will be difficult to find this one right now."
He was clearly cheating. Bai Jingtang's face turned cold and he asked, "When can you finish sorting it out?"
"It'll take a few days," the shopkeeper said with a smile. "Don't worry, we'll send it to you as soon as we find it."
There are simply too many transactions on the books, and it would be too much trouble to forge each pawn ticket. It would be too late to do it now, but if we wait a few days, forging several would be impossible.
Bai Jingtang looked at him and said, "Then bring them all here for me to see."
"Master, do you trust me, Old Five?" The shopkeeper's face darkened. "I know that you, Young Master, will inherit the Bai family's wealth in the future, but I, an old man, have been with you through thick and thin. I've endured great hardships. If you doubt me now, why not just fire me as soon as possible?"
Bai Jingjian clenched his fist slightly. He knew that this man was being a rogue, but if he rashly fired the old man from the Bai family, he was afraid that it would also chill the hearts of others.
But if this matter is left alone
No matter what, these people are taking advantage of their seniority and the Bai family will collapse sooner or later.
"The original account is in the second drawer of the room on the left, and the key is on it." Lin Su said, looking at his fist hanging in his sleeve.
Bai Jingjian was still thinking about this countermeasure and was in distress when he heard that voice. He stood up in the shopkeeper's somewhat surprised gaze and walked directly to the room that the shopkeeper had just entered.
"Young master, what are you doing?" The shopkeeper hurriedly followed. Although he had locked everything that needed to be locked, he still couldn't help feeling a little nervous.
Bai Jingtang entered the room and searched around. When he saw the key, he walked over. However, the shopkeeper, upon seeing the key, quickly reached for his waist. When he found it was not there, he trotted over and asked, "How did I leave my key here?"
However, Bai Jingyan had already picked up the key and opened the drawer. When he took out the account book, the shopkeeper's face turned pale: "Master, what are you doing?!"
"I'll take this account book back to look at it. As for any problems that may arise later, just tell my father." Bai Jinglang took the account and turned around and said.
"Master, Master..." Seeing that he was about to leave without hesitation, the shopkeeper knelt down and hugged Bai Jinglang's legs, saying, "Master, I'm already old, with elderly and young at home, and it's really not enough to support my family. I made a mistake in a moment of confusion. Just this once, I swear, just this once, please forgive me this time, I will never dare to do it again. If the Bai family really kicks me out, I won't be accepted by any other family, and then everyone in my family will starve to death!"
Once the Bai family confirmed that he had stolen the owner's property, no shop would dare to hire him anymore.
If his livelihood was truly extinguished, it would be like killing someone. Bai Jinglang hesitated, but didn't want to keep him. He looked at the kneeling shopkeeper and said, "Get up! Stand up and talk first."
"Master..." The shopkeeper burst into tears.
"Get up and talk. If you continue like this, I will have no choice but to kick you out." Bai Jinglang said while shaking his legs.
When he said this, the shopkeeper quickly got up from the ground, wiped his face with his sleeve and slapped him twice: "Master, please give me a way to live..."
"You can't stay in the Bai family any longer. You did something wrong, and this month's wages will not be paid to you." Bai Jinglang looked at him and said, "I will reconcile the accounts one by one when I return. You can make up for any omissions. If you voluntarily resign, I will talk to outsiders about this matter and leave you a way out. I just hope you don't do this again in the future."
"This, this..." The shopkeeper looked at
He said gratefully, "Thank you, young master, for your kindness. But can I borrow the money first? My family is really struggling. If I had the money, I would definitely come right away. Young master, please."
"Forget it, just take your time." Bai Jinglang looked at him and said, "But if you keep delaying, I will continue to hide it for you. Take care of yourself."
"Thank you, young master. Take care." The shopkeeper said to him politely.
Bai Jingtang took the account book and boarded the carriage. He felt a little down, and the more he flipped through the account book, the more his emotions fluctuated. "Do you think I'm too soft-hearted?"
Although he was angry, he still carefully lowered his voice.
"Let's be merciful when we can. You didn't do anything wrong." Lin Su said.
In his opinion, he may still be a little soft-hearted, but it is indeed not good to force people into a dead end in this era. However, some people will be grateful for being soft-hearted, while some soft-heartedness will still make ungrateful people feel that others have cut off their source of income and make them feel evil.
Bai Jingjian has done his best and has done nothing wrong.
Bai Jingtang smiled softly. He put the account book away and looked at the stalls on the road. "Stop for a moment."
"Master?" the servant asked, "What's wrong?"
"I'll go downstairs and have a bowl of noodles." Bai Jinglang said.
There was a small stall on the roadside. Two tables and a few benches were enough to open a noodle shop. When he got off the car, there were a few men sitting there eating noodles. There was also a rickshaw parked next to it. Their clothes were even a little wet with sweat. When they saw Bai Jingtang, they subconsciously moved.
The boss laughed and said, "Master Bai is here?"
"Yes, two bowls of vegetarian noodles." Bai Jingtang sat down and asked the servant to sit down as well. "You have one bowl too. I have to go back late today."
"Thank you, young master." The servant sat down beside him.
Although the stalls were all made of wood and were a bit shabby, him sitting there seemed to make the place cleaner and brighter. The rickshaw worker who was originally sitting next to him moved his seat and sat on the other side, so Lin Su was able to sit next to him.
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