Chapter 59
For a small business, the accounting alone would cost two taels of silver a month. Why bother? Their business wasn't very big anyway, so they could just figure it out.
The old man has been in the town for decades and has worked as an accountant in almost all the shops in the town. Now that he is older, almost no one is willing to hire him.
Gu Xinxin's sister was only seven years old—if she wanted to learn, it would take at least two or three years, right? At least in those two or three years, she would have a stable and profitable livelihood.
Anyway, if you don't make money, you're a bastard.
The old man hesitated for a long time before finally agreeing. However, as he was old, he no longer went to the countryside. He only allowed Gu Xinxin and Gu Qiuhe to come to the town to go to school every day, and it was up to the sisters to decide how long to study.
Gu Xinxin shook her head: "We are girls after all. If we come to town to go to school, it might not be convenient. How about this? I'll have an oxcart come to pick you up every day. I'll pick you up in the morning and then take you back after you have lunch at our house."
If you want to become a disciple, you have to use respectful titles.
"My family runs a small business. I go back and forth every day. I'll pack some food for you." Gu Xinxin said with a smile. The old man became a little impatient. Look, girls are so troublesome.
But after a moment, he agreed: "Okay, that's what you said about sending a bullock cart to pick me up. If there's no cart to pick me up, I won't go."
Gu Xinxin nodded quickly. Anyway, there was an ox cart in the village delivering goods to Manager Qian's shop every day, which was just the right time to pick up the accountant.
After the two sides agreed on a deal, Gu Xinxin left behind a gift she had brought with her—two kilograms of small fried dough twists. Now that she was wealthy, she gave away fried dough twists by the kilogram instead of by the piece.
Then we went to Xiaosongzhuang, which is also a town. It is slightly smaller than Dafeng Town because most of the people in the town are surnamed Song. They have been living there for nearly a hundred years and are relatively xenophobic.
Gu Xinxin went to do business, but no matter whether Xiaosongzhuang was exclusive or not, she asked about the dim sum shop as soon as she entered the town.
This dim sum shop is also called Song's Dim Sum.
The types of snacks there are not much different from those in Shopkeeper Qian's shop, including sugar cakes, rice cakes, malt sugar, crispy cakes, mung bean cakes, and date cakes.
Gu Xinxin turned around and chatted with the shopkeeper inside with a smile: "I'm from Dafeng Town. I came here today to discuss business with Shopkeeper Song."
Shopkeeper Song looked up at Gu Xinxin, raised his eyebrows and smiled, "Whose girl is this? How old is she? Did you mention her?"
Gu Xinxin couldn't help but be speechless. Is he the same person as Accountant Li?
She took a deep breath and said, "My last name is Gu, and I'm from Xiaokaner Village. We have a kind of small fried dough twist snack in Dafeng Town. I wonder if Shopkeeper Song has heard of it?"
Shopkeeper Song originally looked down on Gu Xinxin. Isn't it funny that the little girl came in and started talking about business?
But after hearing the words "Little Mahua", he looked Gu Xinxin up and down and asked, "Did your family make this?"
Otherwise, you can't talk about business as soon as you come in.
Gu Xinxin nodded. "Yes, our fried dough twists have been supplied to the county town. You know the largest snack shop in the county, Su Ji, right? The fried dough twists there are made by my family. If Shopkeeper Song wants them, we can also supply them to you."
Shopkeeper Song pondered for a moment: "What price are you giving Su Ji?"
"Su Ji is an old customer of ours. Moreover, he orders a large quantity, 2,000 pieces a day, so the price we give him is slightly more favorable. If Shopkeeper Song is willing to take it, Qian Ji Dim Sum in our town can give you his price."
Shopkeeper Song did not agree immediately, but instead found an excuse to turn it down: "We only have enough snacks in our store right now, so there's no need to buy new ones for now. Let's see later. If I need anything, I'll contact you."
Gu Xinxin didn’t mean to settle the deal right away, so it would be fine if the other party didn’t want to.
After returning to Xiaokaner Village, I told Gu Daniu about inviting a master. Gu Daniu was a little unhappy, but after a pause, he finally agreed silently.
After all, now that the workshops have been set up, if there is no one in the family who knows how to do the accounting, it won’t last long.
Gu Wenshu and Gu Xiangrong both needed to study. Even if they couldn't see much progress now, even if they passed the imperial examination and became a scholar, it would be better than being a peasant. It wouldn't be worthwhile to delay their studies to learn accounting. If, after three to five years, they couldn't even pass the imperial examination, their family could give them another stipend to learn accounting.
At that time, I won’t have to look for jobs everywhere. I can make a living by helping out in the workshop at home.
Then within the next three to five years, he would definitely need an accountant. There was no one he could trust more than his own daughter—his own mother was a fool, Gu Chen was obsessed with her family, and he himself… forget it, he was too lazy to learn.
Two taels of silver a month, plus other expenses, only three taels of silver at most, just a day's income for the workshop. It's just like hunting. If you want to hunt more prey, you must have a sharp weapon.
At the workshop, Gu Xinxin hired two more girls.
One of them replaced Wang Daya's job. Wang Daya used to sit at the door checking eggs. But Gu Xinxin thought that this job didn't require much technical skills. As a young girl, it would be better for her to learn a skill, so she moved Wang Daya to the kitchen and asked her to watch over the frying pan.
Wang Daya was very convinced of Gu Xinxin, and she would listen to almost everything Gu Xinxin said, so in the kitchen, she was also a... well, supervisor to prevent anyone from stealing the lard.
This happened a few days ago. Gu Xinxin didn't notice it at first, but then the man probably became bolder and stole a lot, so that the lard produced that day was a little less. That's when Gu Xinxin became suspicious.
She didn't say anything, but just moved Wang Daya to the kitchen. She herself went out as usual.
She didn't come back until the afternoon. She clapped her hands and asked everyone to stop for a while: "Starting today, the kitchen will be divided into two groups. One group will be responsible for boiling lard, and the other group will be responsible for frying small twisted dough sticks. The one who boils the lard is Aunt Wang..."
After dividing the money, she called the one who stole the lard and said, "Aunt Li, I'll settle your wages. From now on, you don't have to work anymore."
Aunt Li was stunned for a moment: "What do you mean?"
"You just don't have to come anymore." Gu Xinxin said with a smile. Aunt Li's face suddenly changed: "Xinxin, why don't you let me come? Is it because I'm not good at work or what? Auntie is old and strong, and can work well. You said you can't let me come, so I can't come. What do you mean?"
"Aunt Li, you know what I mean. Don't forget that I used to make fried dough twists at home. I knew exactly how much lard I bought, how much I boiled, and how much I used every day." Gu Xinxin put away the smile on her face.
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