Qinghe nodded.
“But I still find it a little hard to believe.”
Zhou Xiaozhou reached out and held her fingers.
“Eldest Sister, you helped Shopkeeper Song sort out the accounts today. That’s why she wants you to work for her.”
Qinghe lowered her head to look at him.
“But I’m only fifteen.”
“So what if you’re fifteen?”
Xiaozhou blinked his big eyes.
“You know how to calculate accounts, and you’re willing to work hard. Even Shopkeeper Song said you’re careful!”
Zhou Qingzhu nodded too.
“Eldest Sister, I think you can do it.”
Although Zhou Xiaozao didn’t quite understand what was going on, she joined in enthusiastically.
“Eldest Sister is the best!”
Surrounded by her three younger siblings, Qinghe finally couldn’t help smiling.
“Alright, alright.”
She patted Xiaozhou’s head.
“When we get home, I’ll discuss it with Father and Mother.”
By the time they returned to the village, it was already getting late.
Madam Liu had been waiting at the courtyard gate for quite some time.
Seeing that all the children had returned safely, she finally relaxed.
“Why are you so late today?”
Qinghe put down the bamboo basket.
“Mother, there’s something I want to tell you.”
Seeing how serious her daughter looked, Madam Liu ushered the children inside.
After hearing what had happened at the grain shop, she sat there stunned for quite some time.
“The shopkeeper wants you to manage her accounts?”
“Not exactly manage them.”
Qinghe quickly explained.
“She wants me to try working there for a few days first. I don’t even know whether she’ll keep me.”
Madam Liu was both surprised and delighted.
Her daughter had always been careful and meticulous. She was also quite good at arithmetic.
But originally, Madam Liu had only hoped to find Qinghe a well-off family to marry into someday, so she wouldn’t have to suffer too much.
Now, someone was actually willing to pay her daughter to work.
Madam Liu fell silent for a moment.
“We’ll have to discuss this with your father after he gets home.”
Qinghe nodded.
“I know.”
After dinner, Zhou Shoushan returned from town.
When he heard what had happened, he was initially delighted, but soon grew a little worried.
“There are people coming and going at that grain shop all day. You’re a young girl, and you’d have to travel to town every day. I’m worried someone might take advantage of you.”
Qinghe lowered her head.
“Father, I know.”
“But I want to give it a try.”
Zhou Shoushan was taken aback.
His daughter had always been obedient and rarely asked him for anything.
Even the last time someone from the embroidery workshop came, it had taken her being mistreated and Xiaozhou noticing something was wrong before the matter came to light.
But now, she was the one saying that she wanted to give something a try.
“Qinghe, do you really want to go?”
“I do.”
Qinghe raised her head.
“Father, I know how to keep accounts, and I want to learn how to do other things too.”
“I don’t want to spend my whole life knowing nothing except farm work.”
Zhou Shoushan was deeply moved.
He looked at his eldest daughter, who was already fifteen, and suddenly realized that she had grown up.
She had her own thoughts and her own path she wanted to follow.
Madam Liu spoke softly from the side.
“Shoushan, let’s go and see for ourselves first.”
“If Shopkeeper Song is a trustworthy person, and Qinghe herself wants to go, there’s no harm in letting her try for a few days.”
Zhou Shoushan thought it over for a long time before finally nodding.
“Alright.”
Qinghe immediately raised her head.
“Father?”
“Father will go to the grain shop with you tomorrow.”
Zhou Shoushan spoke seriously.
“First, I’ll meet the shopkeeper and find out exactly what work you’ll be doing, when you’ll have to go, and how the wages will be paid.”
“If everything seems suitable, we’ll give it a try.”
Qinghe’s eyes immediately reddened.
“Thank you, Father!”
Zhou Shoushan smiled and waved his hand.
“Silly girl. What are you thanking me for?”
“I’m worried you’ll be mistreated. It’s not that I don’t want good things for you.”
Zhou Xiaozhou sat nearby, grinning from ear to ear.
“Eldest Sister is going to work at the grain shop!”
Zhou Xiaozao clapped her hands too.
“Eldest Sister is going to earn money!”
The whole family burst into laughter at the two children’s antics.
Qinghe lowered her head and wiped the corner of her eye.
She remembered the last time someone from the embroidery workshop had come to their home.
Back then, everyone had already arranged her future for her.
She had been afraid, but she hadn’t dared to say anything.
Now, she was once again being offered a job away from home.
But this time, her parents were willing to ask whether she wanted to go first.
Qinghe lowered her head and looked at her little brother, who was happily grinning beside her.
She reached out and pulled Xiaozhou into her arms.
“Xiaozhou.”
“Hmm?”
“Thank you.”
Zhou Xiaozhou blinked in confusion.
“Why is Eldest Sister thanking me?”
Qinghe smiled and shook her head.
“It’s nothing.”
She gently pinched her younger brother’s soft, chubby cheek.
She just felt that ever since this little brother had come into their lives, things in their family seemed to have been changing, little by little.
The following day, Zhou Shoushan had barely entered Fengnian Grain Shop with his daughter when Shopkeeper Song came out to greet them.
Instead of discussing the wages first, she took out a ledger.
“Qinghe, I liked how carefully you handled the accounts yesterday.”
“But this time, I want to see whether you know how to check accounts, not just add and subtract.”
She opened the ledger to a particular page.
“There are three grain transactions recorded here. If you can find the mistakes, I’ll let you stay and try working here.”
Zhou Qinghe took the ledger.
She studied it for a while, and her brows gradually furrowed.
She discovered that one of the three entries had an incorrect total.
But what truly puzzled her was something else.
Two grain deliveries recorded on different dates had the same recipient’s name and exactly the same quantity.
Zhou Qinghe stared at the ledger and remained silent for quite some time.
Shopkeeper Song didn’t rush her. She simply asked a shop assistant to bring over a stool.
“Take your time. It’s alright if you make a mistake.”
Qinghe acknowledged her and turned back to the previous page of the ledger.
The first entry was very simple.
Thirty shi of millet, at seven hundred and twenty wen per shi, should have cost a total of twenty-one taels and six qian. However, the ledger listed the amount as twenty-one taels and four qian.
Two hundred wen were missing.
But the second and third entries were rather strange.
They listed the same recipient, the same quantity of twenty shi of millet, and even the exact same price.
The only difference was the date.
According to the ledger, it looked as though this batch of grain had been delivered to the warehouse twice.
Zhou Qinghe thought it over carefully before looking up and asking,
“Shopkeeper, may I see the grain delivery receipts for those two days?”
A flicker of approval appeared in Shopkeeper Song’s eyes.
“Why do you want to see the receipts?”
“Because just by looking at the ledger, I can’t tell whether someone made a mistake.”
Qinghe explained seriously.
“If they really delivered the grain twice, then naturally, both deliveries should be recorded. But if the bookkeeper copied the same entry twice when the grain was only delivered once, there’ll be trouble when we check the warehouse inventory later.”
Shopkeeper Song smiled.
“You’ve thought things through quite well.”
She instructed a shop assistant to fetch the receipts.
Zhou Shoushan had been sitting nearby, so nervous that his palms were covered in sweat. But now, seeing his daughter speak so confidently and logically, he couldn’t help sitting up a little straighter.
Before long, the shop assistant returned carrying a wooden box.
Qinghe took out two receipts, compared their dates and the recipient’s signatures, then carefully checked the recorded quantities.
Finally, she pointed to the second entry.
“Shopkeeper, I think this one was recorded twice.”
Shopkeeper Song asked, “How can you be sure?”
“Although the dates on these two receipts are different, the grain delivery identification number is the same. There’s also a note at the bottom that says, ‘Temporarily stored the day before yesterday; entered into the warehouse today.’”
Qinghe pursed her lips.
“My guess is that the grain arrived at the shop the previous day, but there wasn’t time to put it into the warehouse. So the bookkeeper recorded it once in advance. Then, when it was officially stored the following day, he recorded it again.”
The shop assistant slapped his forehead.
“That’s exactly what happened!”
He hurriedly brought out the warehouse records for those two days.
Sure enough, the grain had only been entered into the warehouse once.
After examining everything, Shopkeeper Song finally broke into a satisfied smile.
“Not bad.”
Zhou Qinghe breathed a sigh of relief.
Shopkeeper Song closed the ledger but didn’t immediately give her an answer.
“Qinghe, you don’t know many characters yet, and you’re not very familiar with the abacus. You’ll need to learn both.”
Qinghe quickly nodded.
“I’m willing to learn.”
“There’s one more thing.”
Shopkeeper Song looked at her.
“The most important quality for someone keeping accounts is the courage to ask questions whenever something isn’t clear. You must never pretend to understand something just to please the shopkeeper.”
Qinghe felt a little embarrassed.
“I was afraid I’d made a mistake just now too.”
“There’s nothing shameful about being afraid of making a mistake.”
Shopkeeper Song smiled.
“Refusing to admit a mistake after making one is what causes trouble for a shop.”
She turned to Zhou Shoushan.
“Brother Zhou, your daughter is a promising girl. I’d like to keep her on for a trial period. As we discussed before, I’ll pay her twenty wen for each half-day. Let’s start with six half-days, then decide what to do afterward.”
Zhou Shoushan hurriedly stood up.
“Thank you, Shopkeeper!”
“Don’t thank me just yet.”
Shopkeeper Song smiled and waved her hand.
“If she doesn’t do a good job, I can’t very well spend money for nothing.”
Then she asked Qinghe, “Are you willing to do it yourself?”
Qinghe looked at her father.
Zhou Shoushan nodded encouragingly.
“It’s your decision.”
Warmth spread through Qinghe’s heart.
“I want to!”
Shopkeeper Song nodded.
“Good. Starting tomorrow, I’ll show you how the shop’s accounts are organized.”
When Qinghe walked out of the grain shop, her steps felt almost weightless.
Zhou Shoushan looked at her and couldn’t help laughing.
“Are you so happy you’ve gone silly?”
“Father, I’m really going to earn money!”
“That’s right. You’ve got what it takes.”
Zhou Shoushan smiled as he answered.
Qinghe lowered her head and pressed her lips together, trying to contain her smile.
In the past, when people praised her, they usually said she was sensible or hardworking.
But today, Shopkeeper Song had said she had a talent for bookkeeping.
So the things she knew how to do really were valuable enough for someone to pay her for them.
On the way back to the village, Qinghe suddenly remembered something.
“Father, if I go to the grain shop tomorrow, what about the chores at home?”
Zhou Shoushan thought for a moment.
“Your Mother can have Qingzhu and Xiaozao help with some of them. If they can’t manage everything, I’ll help out when I get back.”
Qinghe hesitated.
“What about Eldest Aunt…?”
Zhou Shoushan’s smile faded a little.
“Don’t worry.”
He looked at his daughter.
“You got this job through your own ability. Since I’ve agreed to let you try it, I won’t send you back home just because someone else has a few things to say.”
Qinghe nodded firmly.
But as soon as the father and daughter returned to the courtyard, Madam Ma came out of the house.
After hearing that Qinghe was going to work at the grain shop in town, she was initially taken aback. Then she broke into a smile.
“Second Brother, your daughter is really making something of herself!”
Before Zhou Shoushan could respond, Madam Ma continued,
“Since Qinghe will be earning money from now on, shouldn’t she contribute a share to the family’s common funds? Surely you can’t let all the money she earns go straight into the second branch’s own savings?”
The smile gradually disappeared from Qinghe’s face.