"I was just joking with him. I told him it would be lively today and asked him to grab a window seat for me. Guess what he said?"
Just thinking about Pei Yanqi made Liu Yiyi seethe with anger.
"He actually told me that if the academy didn't pay him, they shouldn't even think about using his face as a signboard! He said he wouldn't even show up today, let alone grab a seat!"
Li Wanming asked in surprise, "Really? But he accepted my invitation."
Liu Yiyi replied, "That's exactly it! He's just being annoying on purpose to get on my nerves."
Liu Yiyi rambled on, enumerating all of Pei Yanqi's misdeeds to Li Wanming.
Li Wanming leaned against the carriage and couldn't help yawning.
Since there were too many people on the street, they took a carriage and took a shortcut to Wanfu Pawnshop.
The carriage swayed gently.
All the way, Li Wanming listened to Liu Yiyi gritting her teeth and complaining about Pei Yanqi. Her ears were about to go numb.
"Does he really think his face is a signboard?"
"The first time he gave a public lecture at Hongbin Restaurant, he asked me for a performance fee, and he asked for it for more than two months!"
Li Wanming asked, "Did you give it to him?"
Liu Yiyi replied, "Of course not!"
"I've been working in our Liu Silk Store for many years, and I've developed a sharp eye. I can see everything clearly!"
"No unnecessary fees or expenses will leave my hands!"
Just listen to that!
Li Wanming really wanted to drag Xiao Jingnan over and make him learn from a qualified accountant's financial philosophy.
But then she thought about it and felt a little guilty.
The three stores had spent so much money even before they opened. In the end, it was also because she, the big boss, had not managed the accounts strictly enough.
Li Wanming couldn't help but feel dejected.
Liu Yiyi and Pei Yanqi were like a stingy scrooge and a greedy glutton. They only took and never gave, evenly matched in their stinginess.
In comparison, she and Xiao Jingnan seemed like two big fools who spent money without a care...
Liu Yiyi was still indignant. "If I hadn't threatened him with the wine shop's dividend this year, he might really not have come today!"
She angrily rolled up the sleeve of her right hand and made a twisting motion.
"He dares to bargain with me. I think his ears are itching again!"
Li Wanming half-closed her eyes and advised her, "Take it easy. After all, he's the number one scholar. You should give him some face..."
Liu Yiyi shouted, "He's the one who runs to the silk store every day and throws his face on the ground. What can I do?"
She frowned and asked Li Wanming, "Is he really the number one scholar? He doesn't seem like it to me."
Li Wanming replied, "The emperor chose him. He should be..."
Hearing what Liu Yiyi said, she couldn't help but think of Zhao Yanke's idle and dissolute appearance when he first came to her store to order wine. Suddenly, a thought popped into her mind:
Birds of a feather flock together.
With such an emperor, it's not surprising to choose such a number one scholar.
Li Wanming thought for a moment and then said, "It doesn't really matter whether he grabs a seat or not. Qinglan is there. She will definitely arrange everything properly."
"It's just that Lu Songyuan and Fang Zhi will also come today. I'm not sure if Qinglan can handle it..."
Just thinking about those two people made Li Wanming's head ache.
"I just hope the pawnshop and the paper-making shop will finish soon. I'll go over and help her out."
Liu Yiyi was quite happy to hear that.
"Wanming, you don't know. After the news spread that I became the teacher of the daughter of the grand tutor and the daughter of the prime minister in the academy, the number of girls and young ladies who came to our Liu Silk Store to make clothes increased several times overnight!"
"I made a fortune because of that. That's why my father agreed to let me invest in the Liu Silk Store and the warehouse and become the second boss and the second manager."
"It's a pity that they only had a few classes, and they never came to our silk store. The craze died down after just a few days, and we didn't make much money."
Liu Yiyi's eyes lit up. "If we can take advantage of today..."
Li Wanming immediately interrupted her. "Stop! Don't you even think about those two!"
One of them was a sinister smiling tiger who ate people without spitting out the bones, and the other was a firecracker with eyes all over her body who would explode at anyone. Neither of them was easy to deal with...
"What are you thinking?"
Liu Yiyi patted her hand. "Of course I know those two women are not to be trifled with!"
"What I mean is, since Pei Yanqi will be here today, see if we can get him to figure out a way to lure the two girls to our store. If he can do it, I'll consider giving him his salary this month."
Uh...
You're really good at making the most of everything.
It seems that in the battle between the stingy scrooge and the greedy glutton, the stingy scrooge has a great chance of winning.
...
When they arrived at Wanfu Pawnshop, the lion dance team had already arrived.
The entrance of the pawnshop was crowded with people, and it was extremely noisy.
Interestingly, there were also two rows of flower baskets in front of the pawnshop, almost identical to those in front of Changxing Inn.
Gong Zhang.
Li Zao.
Gold thread without silk.
Half of the spring and autumn.
Li Wanming quickly realized.
Since her three stores were opening today, they had also sent three flower baskets to each store.
She suddenly felt a little embarrassed.
"People who don't know might think I'm deliberately extorting money..."
Xiao Jingnan comforted her. "It's okay. People who can afford to send so many flower baskets are not short of money."
When Liu Yiyi heard this, she was extremely excited. She rushed through the crowd to find Caiwei. "Caiwei, how's your gift list? Did they also give three gifts?"
...
A thought suddenly popped into Li Wanming's mind. Maybe it would be quite suitable for the stingy scrooge and the greedy glutton to be partners - they were both experts at making money!
The process at the pawnshop was similar to that at the inn. They set off firecrackers and cut the ribbon.
The only difference was that in front of the screen in the main hall of the pawnshop, there was a statue on display.
The statue was about two feet tall and was covered with a gold thread and red cloth, so no one could see its true appearance.
Xiao Jingnan claimed that it was a statue of the water qilin, which could attract wealth.
However, the onlookers' discussions were different.
Everyone had seen the statue of the water qilin. Who would cover the statue of the water qilin with a gold thread and red cloth when offering it?
Therefore, the onlookers unanimously believed that it must be the statue of Empress Cheng Huang, the one that was dug out from the backyard of the pawnshop!
Now, the speculation that Li Wanming's business was blessed by Empress Cheng Huang was completely confirmed.
No matter how hard Xiao Jingnan pretended to clarify that it wasn't true and that the saying of being blessed by gods was just a rumor, people looked at him with a knowing smile.
Li Wanming couldn't help but admire him.
This person was really good at using deception. His skills of mixing truth with falsehood were something she could never learn in her lifetime...
The next stop for the lion dance team was the paper-making shop in the south of the city.
Although Li Wanming had already seen the luxury of the paper-making shop, when she arrived at the alley entrance, she was still shocked.
Sometime, the entire street had been covered with a thick layer of pear blossoms!
The pillars of the houses on both sides were wrapped with gorgeous brocade and plain silk, and several snow-colored glass lanterns were hanging high, with tassels made of silver thread hanging below.
This not very wide alley was now filled with the fragrance of white brocade without patterns, like a pile of snow on jade trees!
Xiao Jingnan quietly took two steps back and whispered guiltily,
"This money was also paid in advance, just like the lion dance. Don't worry. It's all within the 30,000 taels. I definitely didn't exceed the budget!"