Chapter 9

  In the morning, the soft sunlight filtered through the window and gently sprinkled on Xia Ting's delicate and pretty little face.

  The door was quietly pushed open, and Wan Yu walked in with a basin of water for washing her face. She came to the bedside, put down the copper basin, and softly called out to Xia Ting "Miss, it's time to get up and pay respects".

  Upon hearing the sound of Wan Yu's calls, Xia Ting's eyelashes fluttered and she slowly woke up. She lay on her side in bed for a while to wake herself up, then sat up and elegantly yawned, rubbing her sleepy eyes with a dazed expression.

  She casually lifted the soft quilt, and slowly got up to wash under the service of Wan Yu. After finishing a sumptuous breakfast, she went to Chun Xi Fu with a calm face to pay respects to Old Lady Xia.

  As the daughter-in-law of the Li family, she had to follow the rules and pay her respects to Old Lady Xia every morning. This saved Xia Ting from having to make another trip to Qinghua Hall.

  Because she was not welcomed, after Xia Ting finished her greetings, Old Lady Xia directly told her to leave. She was happy to be free from the torture of standing all the time and also didn't have to see the malicious glances from Xia Lian and Xia Rong, those two sisters.

  Returning to the pear courtyard, Xia Ting sat in front of the desk with a brush in hand and wrote down all the preparations that had been discussed earlier.

  Two men, Guan Shu and Chang Shu, who had set out from Yixing City earlier, sent word that the Zhuangzi had been purchased, and others also rushed over from Yixing City. Today, everyone has settled into the Zhuangzi and is waiting for her instructions.

  Xia Ting would need to hurry up and arrange all the things she needed to prepare. Fortunately, with her previous experience, these were not difficult tasks for her.

  After the ink on the Xuan paper dried, Xia Tingjing folded the paper and put it in an envelope. She called out Lan Yu to let her hand over the letter to Xia Ziyun's personal servant Chang Nuo. And she also reminded her to be careful when doing things, don't let anyone see it.

  Chang Nuo is the son of one of the two managers, Chang Shu. It would be safer to have him take this letter and give it to his father.

  After Wan Yu collected the letter and went out of the door, Xia Ting lay down lazily on the soft couch. In her mind, she was thinking about the promotional work before the opening of Meiren Hall and Nuanyan Building. This Kyoto is full of officials, nobles, and wealthy merchants, if she wants to make Meiren Hall and Nuanyan Building widely known, she can't use ordinary promotional methods. It's best to create a sensation in Kyoto at once.

  But what method would be better for her to use? Xia Tingjing was deep in thought, furrowing her brow. Wan Yu had already finished her task and returned, speaking softly "Miss, the letter has been given to Chang Nuo, he should be on his way to the Zhuangzi by now."

  Xia Ting nodded slightly and turned to ask her, "In a few days, Guan Yuan should be arriving too, right?" Wan Yu thought for a moment, "Let me see... probably the day after tomorrow."

  Guan Yuan is Guan Bo's youngest son and the shopkeeper of Mei Ren Tang. Every month, Yixing City needs to send someone to bring this month's account book and the silver ticket earned. Guan Bo doesn't trust others very much, so he lets his own son come in person.

  Xia Ting thought for a moment and then said to Wan Yu, "You go and find out when Mrs. Li will leave the house." She needed to go out to see the manager of the Zhuangzi estate and Guan Yuan, but she had to avoid letting the Li family know.

  In the evening, after finishing dinner, Wan Yu came back to report: "Miss, I heard that Mrs. Li will take the third and fifth young ladies to attend a banquet hosted by the wife of Pingnan Hou in a few days. Moreover, someone has already been sent to make new hair accessories for the two young ladies, plus several sets of new clothes, it seems very important. It is said that this time, the wife of Pingnan Hou invited many wives of famous families and high-ranking officials, seemingly to hold a matchmaking banquet."

  Xia Ting raised an eyebrow after listening, a blind date dinner? So, at that time, the ladies who were invited would bring their children of suitable age to attend. Doesn't Li want to take this opportunity to let Xia Lian and Xia Rong get engaged in a good marriage?

  It is unknown how she got the invitation, but it was quite a feat. However, this kind of party would not be something that Li's family would bring her to, given her personality.

  It was just as well that she had the opportunity to go out and see Guan Zhen and Guan Yuan. Xia Ting smiled and beckoned Late Jade to come closer, whispering a few words in her ear.

  After settling the matter of going out, Xia Ting felt a bit sleepy and lay down on the bed in her clothes.

  A few days later, Li brought out two daughters who were dressed up and got into a carriage.

  She had just left, and Xia Ting followed closely behind with Wan Yu, avoiding the people below, and came to the villa in the suburbs. Guan Yuan had arrived yesterday and was now drinking tea and waiting for Xia Ting with two managers in the house.

  As soon as Xia Ting brought in Wan Yu, Guan Yuan and the two stewards, Chang Shu and Yu Shu, immediately stood up and bowed to her.

  Xia Ting walked up to the main seat and waved her hand lightly, saying "No need for so much courtesy, sit down."

  Everyone sat down after seeing their young lady sit down. Guan Yuan waited for everyone to settle in before picking up the account book and a black wooden box on the table, respectfully saying to Xia Tingcong: "Miss, this is the account book of several cities' shops this month. The total profit of the shops is over 70,000 taels, which has been converted into silver tickets and placed in the box. In addition, there are also 600 taels from the brocade workshop. Please take a look, miss."

  As soon as this was said, except for Xia Ting and Guan Yuan, Wan Yu and the two managers all took a deep breath. In just one month, they had made a profit of over 700,000 taels, which was too much.

  Wan Yu was also stunned for a while before hurrying over to take the account book and silver notes. Good heavens, she knew that Miss had opened several shops and business was booming. Although she had thought that the profits should be good, she hadn't expected it to be this much.

  The two attendants exchanged a glance and were secretly delighted in their hearts. Following such a master, they would never have to worry about having good days again.

  Xia Ting calmly took over the account book and didn't rush to check the accounts, but instead looked at Guan Yuan and asked "How has Uncle Guan been lately?"

  Guan Yuan was deeply moved by these words, rarely did Miss remember his father like this. With an even more respectful expression, he said "My father is doing well, but he misses you and Young Master"

  Xia Ting smiled and said with a hint of sincerity, "Tell him that I and Yun'er are both doing well. Remind him to take care of his body and not overwork himself." Guan Yuan hastily replied in the affirmative.

  After inquiring about Guan Bo's recent situation, Xia Ting Cong picked up the brush on the table, dipped it in some ink, and began to calculate the accounts at a moderate pace. From the very beginning of the shop's establishment, she had instructed Guan Bo to use her method of accounting. Xia Ting Cong used modern accounting methods, which were not only convenient and neat but also made every single account clear at a glance.

  Guan Yuan and the two accountants sat on the side, staring blankly at their young mistress as she quickly flipped through the accounts with one hand and wrote and drew on rice paper with the other, not even using an abacus, finishing several thick books of accounts in less than half a time.

  Xia Tingning quickly calculated the total monthly wages for the shop assistants and the boss based on the silver amount on the silver ticket, and then did some more calculations to get the final accurate number. She just raised her head and asked Guan Yuan a question "How much is the monthly wage of the boss and shop assistants at Meiren Hall this month?"

  "Miss Guiyuan finally came back to her senses and said, 'Miss Hui, adding the bonus you mentioned, the shopkeeper gets seven taels, each apprentice gets three taels, and the one in charge of managing the shop's formula gets five taels.'"

  When it's time to receive the monthly salary, everyone is overjoyed. They count the silver coins repeatedly, after all, even the servants and maids of wealthy families don't get this much money in a month.

  Xia Ting nodded, and the number she calculated was the same as the others. She asked again, "How about the several Zhuangzi?" Guan Yuan was stunned, he hadn't had time to tell Miss this number yet, but Miss had already calculated it out so quickly.

  As soon as he mentioned Zhuangzi, Guan Yuan hastily said, "A few days ago, several places in Zhuangzi were built according to your drawings. New ingredients, herbs and spices, as well as flowers in the greenhouse have also been planted. Now it's just a matter of raising livestock, which still needs further instructions from Miss."

  Xia Ting smiled with satisfaction, "Well done. Before coming to Kyoto, I gave Guan Bo a list. Later, I'll give you 5,000 taels of silver, and you can hire some hunters to go into the mountains to hunt. Any animals that appear on the list in the mountains don't need to be bought, just catch them and bring them back to raise. As for those on the list that cannot be hunted in the mountains, buy some young ones back to raise, and there are things to pay attention to when feeding them, I also wrote them all on the list."

  Guanyuan couldn't help but nod as he listened, Miss's idea was really good, going into the mountains to hunt some animals and bring them back to raise, wouldn't that save a lot of silver?

  Actually, Xia Tingxiang thought of more than that. She knew that most wild animals were more nutritious and delicious than domesticated ones. So she ordered Guan Yuan to hunt various animals in the mountains and bring them back to raise.

  After finishing the livestock feeding, Xia Ting again gave a few more instructions: "In the future, use a separate account to record the expenses and daily provision of food materials for each winery. When the wineries start making profits, like the shops, 0.1% of the profit will be divided equally among the managers and tenants every month. Also, the monthly wages of the shopkeepers, apprentices, and laborers on the wineries should also be recorded in the account."

  Guan Yuan listened carefully and nodded in agreement. Xia Ting, apart from giving him a silver note worth 5,000 taels, also asked him to bring some supplements back for Guan Bo. After receiving the silver note and supplements, Guan Yuan bowed and took his leave, planning to rest well that night before setting off early the next day to hurry back to Yixing City.

  Digression

  Guys, since classes start today, I'll be posting updates at night from now on.