Looking north towards the rivers and mountains

While Wang and Sun were having a private conversation, Shao Shuyi remained seated in the corner behind the counter, taking over the rough account that should have been simply recorded by the counter clerk and merging it into the formal account book.

He gradually came to appreciate one of the benefits of this job: he could meet all sorts of people and deepen his understanding of society.

For example, he had just seen two monks come to buy porcelain. They were stout and strong, walked with a powerful stride, and had an extremely arrogant expression. They didn't haggle much when buying things.

Good times for monks!

Throughout history, probably no dynasty has ever been so devoted to Buddhism; they really profited from it.

From the very beginning of the dynasty, temples were granted vast amounts of land, giving them immense economic power. Even when the Yuan court faced financial difficulties and reclaimed some of the official lands granted to temples, schools, and even nobles, the bulk of the land remained, and the monks continued to live comfortably.

They not only had a large number of tenant farmers, but also kept a group of thugs, engaged in usury, had multiple wives and concubines, and bullied men and women; there was nothing they wouldn't dare to do.

It's extremely difficult for ordinary people to get into a temple unless they have a high-ranking monk use their influence to introduce them. Otherwise, they can forget about getting a secure job.

Besides monks, Shao Shuyi also saw opera singers, flower sellers, merchants from afar, and wealthy landlords coming to the city.

Sometimes these people would chat casually, and it sounded quite interesting. For example, a merchant who had returned from Yunnan said that there were "utterly unscrupulous people" in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces who brought a huge amount of seashells from the seaside, causing the local market to collapse, prices to skyrocket, and the people to suffer terribly.

It was at this time that Shao Shuyi first learned that many places in Yunnan were actually using seashells as currency.

A wealthy landlord lamented that a certain rich man in a neighboring village had taken in three sons-in-law, all of whom were ruthless. After the old rich man died, the three sons-in-law divided the family fortune among themselves, leaving none of the clan members with a single piece of meat.

Some opera singers overheard the nobles discussing that many places in Henan had been experiencing rain for a month straight, and that soon people would be fleeing south from the north. They said they needed to be prepared and set up roadblocks at major intersections to intercept them and replenish their own ranks.

There are so many different things.

Shao Shuyi was relieved to hear no news of the war. The big boss hadn't arrived yet; there was still time to prepare.

At the end of the Si hour (9-11 AM), the first batch of goods returned from the dock and began to be stored in the warehouse.

Shao Shuyi instructed his employees to close the doors and windows in advance and cease business operations, while he himself went to the warehouse to prepare for bookkeeping.

One oxcart after another drove in through the side gate.

The envoys also entered and began unloading the goods.

Shao Shuyi looked around and saw that the shopkeeper, Wang Sheng, was chatting happily with several strangers. He guessed that they were probably merchants from Chuzhou who had brought goods over, and that they were old acquaintances of Wang Sheng and even Zheng Song.

He didn't care about any of that, and just stood aside, quietly watching the servants unload the porcelain pieces one by one and carry them into the temporarily cleared empty room.

The scene was slightly chaotic. Even though he had never seen the logistics processes of a modern enterprise, Shao Shuyi still felt there were many areas for improvement. Of course, that was a matter for the future; this was the Yuan Dynasty, and this was the general level of practice in the industry.

After filling a room with the piles, Shao Shuyi went inside and began counting.

This was also a troublesome matter, not only because of the workload, but also because there were no fixed specifications or product names. He had asked Wang Sheng and Wu Youcai, and they only asked him to write a rough draft, without any other requirements. It was very simple and crude, and it also had many loopholes.

Shao Shuyi felt that if he continued to memorize things the way he had before, he probably wouldn't pass the test, so he became serious, for example—

"Twenty items including a sancai (three-color) porcelain pillow, a red and green glazed porcelain pillow, and a piece depicting Hanshan and Shide."

He remembered it very carefully and basically described the shape clearly. If Wu Youcai were here, he would probably only write the two words "porcelain pillow", which is very imprecise, because there may be more than one type of porcelain pillow and the price is different, which would create room for fraud.

As for the four characters "Hanshan and Shide" written on it, it's mainly because there were other words on the pillow that read: "Hanshan and Shide, those two, are clapping their hands and laughing happily in the street, having a great time."

In short, this is a themed porcelain pillow.

"Twenty items including a porcelain pillow with a village drum, a drum for urging plowing, and a drum for 'farming under the tree, feeding crows with meat by the altar'."

After writing this, Shao Shuyi felt a little embarrassed. He could vaguely guess that the last thing he recorded must have come from a poem, but he hadn't read it and didn't know who wrote it.

"These are all porcelain pillows made in Chuzhou, imitating those fired in the kilns of the north. Some foreigners like these, so—oh!" Wu Youcai suddenly barged in, and his face turned somewhat ugly after seeing the accounts recorded by Shao Shuyi.

"I see." Shao Shuyi nodded, indicating that he understood, and then continued to count the porcelain.

"Why bother?" Wu Youcai looked at the porcelain pillow, then at the account book, his anger no longer concealed.

"It's just my duty," Shao Shuyi said.

While speaking, he continued to record in the ledger: "White porcelain pillows, fifty pieces."

Wu Youcai stared at him intently for a long time before asking, "Xiao Hu, you've been at the shop for over a month now. You have food and lodging, fish, meat, poultry, and eggs every now and then, and you've never lacked tea. Isn't your life more comfortable than before?"

"Indeed," Shao Shuyi said, putting down his pen. "It's all thanks to the shopkeeper."

"Why go against Manager Ji De?" Wu Youcai took two steps closer and asked in a low voice.

"Why do you say that, Zhiku?" Shao Shuyi asked, somewhat surprised.

Wu Youcai stared intently at him, wondering whether the boy in front of him truly didn't understand or was pretending not to.

However, he didn't have much patience and quickly pointed out, "For example, the celadon you just ordered could simply be written as 'ninety porcelain pillows,' no need to be too specific. That's the shopkeeper's intention. You—are too reckless!"

For a moment, Shao Shuyi felt a sense of fear, because Wu Youcai's words had directly torn down the facade and spoken frankly.

But he had no choice.

In his heart, he certainly didn't want to take the risk. But at this point, he had no choice.

After thinking it over, he ultimately ignored Wu Youcai's words and continued to carefully count the items.

******

After lunch, Wang Sheng stood by the window, quietly looking at the celadon artifacts piled up haphazardly in the courtyard.

Martial arts master Zhang Neng also led a group of people to join in the moving, creating a lively and bustling scene.

"Shopkeeper, Shao Shuyi is so stubborn, what should we do?" Wu Youcai quietly walked over and asked in a low voice.

Wang Sheng remained silent.

"Shopkeeper..." Wu Youcai called out softly, a little anxious.

"What's the rush?" Wang Sheng snapped.

Wu Youcai choked, feeling somewhat aggrieved.

As the manager, you're naturally not in a hurry. By conspiring with Sun Chuan to offer the foreign merchants a 20% discount, you can easily earn three or four hundred ingots, so you naturally don't care about other "small change".

But they can't do that. Take that porcelain pillow that was just noted down, for example. If they could tamper with it, they could easily get several dozen strings of cash. Even if they didn't pocket it themselves, they could still take it out from time to time to tip the servants—without tips, the servants wouldn't listen to them.

Wu Youcai wasn't ambitious; ten or twenty ingots of profit would be enough for him this time. But if someone blocked his path to wealth, he would be truly distressed, even to the point of wanting to kill someone, though he would never dare to actually do it.

"Keep an eye on Zhang Neng and tell him not to make any rash moves." Wang Sheng turned around and looked at Wu Youcai.

"Yes," Wu Youcai composed himself and answered honestly.

"Don't be unconvinced." Wang Sheng pointed at Wu Youcai and said, "The master was already suspicious, but because the old master was still alive, and we are fellow townsmen from Quzhou, having worked diligently for many years, he couldn't refuse us in this haste. But he still sent a new accountant. Can't you see through that?"

Wu Youcai trembled.

Wang Sheng sighed and said, "Sun Chuan just told me that he knows some salt merchants from Jiangbei who have come here to smuggle salt and wanted to kill them, but I stopped him. Didn't San She and Master Zheng think of this? The death of a rootless accountant gives them the opportunity to cause trouble and can also shut the old master up. They probably couldn't be happier."

Wu Youcai hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

You've made enough money and don't want to take any more risks, but I haven't made enough, and Zhang Neng certainly hasn't. Even if we tolerate this now, what about the future? Must we tolerate it every time?

But he only thought about it and dared not say it aloud. Seeing that the shopkeeper had nothing more to say, he quickly bowed and took his leave.

Wang Sheng continued to stand by the window, watching quietly.

His mind was actually quite troubled. To be honest, if given the chance, who wouldn't want to make more money? You see, the money Sun Chuan gave him was supposed to be in ingots, but banknotes only made up a small portion; the majority was gold, silver, or various precious stones, which were the most valuable and much more useful than banknotes.

Being the manager of the blueware shop is a lucrative position, but who knows how long I can hold it?

Was this whole mess caused by the new accountant? No, he's not qualified. The real troublemaker is at the old house in Yantietang.

Shao Shuyi was nothing more than a pawn, a pawn that could be discarded at any time.