After hearing what he said, Zhou Ziqiong's face completely darkened.
"Manager Song, what exactly do you mean by that?"
The change in address already reveals Zhou Ziqiong's attitude.
"Miss Zhou, our Zhou Family Cloth Shop hasn't paid its monthly wages for over a month, has it?"
Song Dalu also changed his form of address and asked in a cold voice.
"Manager Song, as you know, business at our Zhou Family Cloth Shop has been very bad since before the Lunar New Year. There's no extra money in the shop's accounts. I've explained this to everyone. Once business improves, I'll not only pay everyone their monthly wages immediately, but I'll also give them extra as compensation for not paying them during this period!"
Zhou Ziqiong spoke in a deep voice, but her sincerity could still be felt in her tone.
Apart from Song Dalu and his group, the other shop assistants at Zhou's Cloth Shop nodded in agreement, as they had already heard Zhou Ziqiong explain what she meant.
However, Song Dalu sneered: "Business is improving? Miss Zhou can ask herself honestly, with Zhou Family Cloth Shop in its current state, how can business possibly improve? Whether it's here, or in the North Ward and our West Ward, it's all stockpiled with unsold cotton-padded clothes, and the prices are so much higher than Qu Family Cloth Shop, who would buy them?"
"If we wait two more days, winter will be completely over, and all these cotton-padded coats will be stuck with us. At that time, the Zhou family's cloth shop will be completely finished. Who will pay our monthly wages then? Could it be that Miss Zhou is planning to give us those unwanted cotton-padded coats as payment? But let me tell you, I won't take them!"
"I don't want it either!"
"I don't want it either!"
People behind them shouted excitedly, but when you looked back, you could see that the people shouting were the shop assistants that Song Dalu had brought.
Song Dalu was very satisfied with this. At this moment, he looked at the other employees of Zhou Family Cloth Shop and said, "Gentlemen, we are all working for Zhou Family Cloth Shop, so I am the most qualified to speak on how you feel! Miss Zhou just said that the reason why she hasn't paid her monthly salary yet is because business is not good and there is no money in the account. But is there really no money in the account?"
"..."
Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent and looked at Zhou Ziqiong.
"Manager Song, as the manager of the West Workshop, shouldn't you be very clear about whether there is money in the cloth shop's accounts?"
After hearing Zhou Ziqiong's words, Song Dalu sneered: "Miss Zhou herself said that I am the manager of Xifang, and I know whether there is money in Xifang's accounts, but I am not so sure whether there is money in Zhou Family Cloth Shop's general account!"
"There's no money in the main ledger either."
Zhou Ziqiong said in a deep voice.
"No money? Miss Zhou might be able to fool others, but if you're thinking of fooling me, you'd better save your breath!"
"If Manager Song doesn't believe me, the account book is right here in the shop. You can take a look to see if there's any money left!"
"hehe."
Song Dalu sneered, showing no intention of looking at the ledger. "Miss Zhou, do you think I'm stupid? You can record whatever you want in this ledger. If you earn a thousand taels, you can write a hundred taels in the ledger. Who would know?"
Zhou Ziqiong narrowed her eyes, looked at Song Dalu, and said, word by word, "I can swear to God that I wrote down all the account books of our Zhou Family Cloth Shop by hand, without the slightest falsification! But Manager Song speaks so fluently, could it be that you wrote down the account books of the West Workshop in the same way?"
"..."
Song Dalu was visibly taken aback after hearing this, not expecting that the fire would eventually spread to him. He immediately retorted, "Miss Zhou, don't talk nonsense. I was just asking if it was possible. I would never keep accounts like that myself!"
"If Manager Song doesn't cheat, then I certainly won't either. There's no money in the general ledger!"
But Song Dalu still didn't believe it. He looked at everyone and said, "Everyone should know about the Lantern Festival Poetry Gathering held the day before yesterday, right? Our Zhou Family Cloth Shop is really generous. It was co-organized with Juxianlou. Not only could you get a cotton coat from our Zhou Family Cloth Shop if you couldn't guess the riddle, but you could also get twenty-five taels of silver from the Zhou Family Cloth Shop if you guessed a riddle correctly. If you say there's no silver, I don't believe it!"
"..."
These words immediately sparked a flurry of discussion among the audience.
Everyone had already heard about the Lantern Festival poetry gathering and the riddle guessing game. To be honest, everyone was quite dissatisfied with the matter, especially after hearing that someone had actually guessed all the riddles and that Manager Hu of Juxianlou had actually taken out 12,500 taels of silver!
Some people have also heard that Manager Hu eventually lost the entire Juxianlou restaurant, but it's unclear whether Zhou's Cloth Shop actually received any money...
"The Zhou family's cloth shop really doesn't have any money..."
"No money? You've already lost over ten thousand taels of silver at Juxianlou. Don't tell me you didn't pay up, Miss Zhou? I heard the person who guessed the riddle correctly was a young gentleman. Could it be that Miss Zhou sacrificed herself to avoid paying up? Haha."
He burst into laughter, but after laughing, his gaze sharpened as he said, "However, I don't believe it! Miss Zhou is virtuous and has high standards; who in Ruzhou City doesn't know this? How could she possibly submit to someone else for money? So, Miss Zhou must have given away more than ten thousand taels of silver to others, but not to us for our monthly wages. Does she think we're easy to bully and doesn't want to give us any?"
"..."
Song Dalu had indeed only heard about these things secondhand.
Because Xifang is located at the westernmost part of Ruzhou City, quite a distance from here, Song Dalu rarely comes here, and he is unaware of what is happening here.
"You've been inside for so long, and you've finally said something sensible."
"..."
At this moment, Jing Zhe, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up.
Manager Song is not young. Although he is not a big shot in Ruzhou City, he is still more influential than the average person. Moreover, he has now latched onto a powerful figure, which has made him even more arrogant.
So when a stranger suddenly appeared and started cursing at him, he immediately became furious: "Who are you? How dare you talk to me like that?"
Jing Zhe looked at him and sneered, "You just mentioned me, don't you know who I am?"
"You were mentioned? When did I mention you?"
Manager Song was somewhat confused.
Jing Zhe stopped looking at him and turned to the crowd, saying, "As you just said, someone won more than ten thousand taels of silver from Juxianlou. I am the one who did it!"
"you?"
Song Dalu exclaimed in surprise, and everyone else looked over as well, especially the employees of Zhou Family Cloth Shop's main store. You see, when Boss Gou came to cause trouble earlier, it was this handsome young man in front of them who stepped forward, not only driving Boss Gou away, but also clearing all of Zhou Family Cloth Shop's debts.
He was very close to Zhou Ziqiong, and even said that Zhou Ziqiong was his sixth sister, but they had never heard of her before, so everyone was even more curious about his identity.
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