Chapter 3 — This life is not a stepping stone

La Thi's movements stopped.

"Last year those three dyeing factories lost eight hundred taels, the year before that they lost eleven hundred taels. The manager is the biological younger brother of the person who followed his mother from his mother's house. If the books were brought to Thuan Thien palace, I wonder if they would first punish me for being unfilial, or punish him for embezzlement?"

La Thi suddenly turned her head. I pulled out a few notebook pages I had copied from my sleeve and placed them on a small bench. She had just read two lines and her fingertips began to tremble.

“Where did you get it?”

“Guess, mother.”

I didn't tell her that in my previous life, when I helped merchants look up books, the first thing I learned was to pick out bugs from a pile of beautiful numbers. Outside the main room, Lady Hau's laughter could be heard. La Thi stared at me, and finally gritted her teeth and said:

"The land contract can be given to you. But today, you must help Minh Thu hide that matter."

“Give the contract first.”

“You…”

“With one hand, we hand over the land contract, with the other hand we exchange for silence.”

She was so angry that her chest was heaving, but she didn't dare to alarm anyone outside, so she could only send her wife to get it. I received the land contract, carefully checked the seal before sitting behind the screen. Outside, Mrs. Hau was asking about the day she fell into the water. Thoi Minh Thu softened his voice and said:

"Younger sister is still young, and when encountering things, it is inevitable that she will be impulsive. It was I who told her to get the bamboo pole, and it was also me who called out loudly. To be able to save the little marquis, it was all thanks to the blessings of the ancestors."

She never says that she saved people, but every sentence puts gold on her face. Le Canh Hanh suddenly asked:

“Second lady, what do you say?”

There was silence inside and outside the screen. La Thi pressed hard on my arm. I look at the three bright red marks on the land contract.

“You're right.”

Toi Minh Thu breathed a sigh of relief. I continued:

"That day, if she hadn't been busy talking to Chu Tham Hoa, I wouldn't have been the first person to see the little marquis fall into the water. Honestly, I should thank her."

Lady Hou's tea cup was placed firmly on the table. La Thi's nails almost dug into my skin. I stood up, stepped out of the screen, revealing the new red mark on my arm for everyone to see.

"I have taken the land contract and the words have been said. You are welcome."

Le Canh Hanh chased me out of the main street and blocked me in the hallway.

“You did it on purpose?”

The snow on the porch fell to his feet. I raised my eyes:

“Yes.”

“Aren't you afraid of being punished by the Thoi family?”

“Scared.”

“If you're scared, still dare?”

“Fear does not mean you have to kneel.”

He stared at me. For the first time, there was no contempt in his eyes, only scrutiny.

“Cui Thanh Quy, you are so interesting.”

I went around him.

"Little Marquis, I am not an object for your entertainment. You find it interesting, but I only find it unlucky."

The three dyeing factories are even worse than what is recorded in the books. The walls were peeling off, the dye pots were cracked, and half of the more than ten workers were lazy. Administrator La Dai Thanh sat on the monk's chair, biting a melon seed. When he saw me coming in, he didn't even stand up.

“Second Miss came to check the accounts?”

He smiled contemptuously.

“Miss, do you understand?”

I picked up the abacus on the table and played seven times.

"In January, I bought two hundred and seventy kilograms of indigo, and put one hundred and ninety kilograms in storage. In March, I hired thirty-six workers, but there were only nineteen in the factory." name tag. In June, I spent four hundred taels of silver to repair the dyeing pot, but the crack on this pot was at least three years old.”

The abacus beads stopped.

“La manager, one thousand seven hundred forty-three taels. Did you release it yourself, or should I report it to the authorities?”

The smile on his face disappeared. Immediately after that, several strong men closed the factory door. La Dai Thanh rolled up his sleeves:

“A lady refuses to stay in the back yard to embroider, but instead has to go to men to cause trouble. Today, I will teach you the rules on behalf of my wife."

I took a step back. They thought I was scared and laughed loudly. Outside the factory door, a gong sounded again. More than twenty members of the dyer's family rushed in to demand payment, and behind them were the chief and two servants. Since yesterday, I have ordered housekeeper Lat Dao to post a list of unpaid wages at the entrance of the alley.

04

The women whose wages had been deducted by La Dai Thanh for many years held brooms and rolling pins and with red eyes pushed the men into the corner. An old woman rushed up the fastest, swung her broom and hit La Dai Thanh straight in the face.

“Return my son's hard-earned money!”

La Dai Thanh hugged his head and ran away. I sat down on the monk's chair he had just sat in, slapping the confession on the table.

“Sign.”

“I am your lady!”

“Since you swallowed your first coin, you have been a prisoner.”

He still wanted to try to defend himself, but the servant shook off the chains. Half an hour later, he pointed to the confession and handed over the mortgage used to hide the money. I used the money I recovered to fully compensate my wages, then burned the fake hiring book in front of everyone. The flames licked through each page. The eyes the nineteen dyers looked at me were different from before. Old dyer Trieu Ba asked:

“What do you plan to do next?”

“Closing two empty factories, putting all the silver into this factory. Dye old fabric, mix colors from scrap fabric, only make fabric that ordinary people can afford.”

He frowned:

“Only the rich will buy new fabric, where will the poor get the money?”

“It's because we don't have money that we need to make faded old clothes look like new.”

In my previous life, following merchant ships transporting goods to the North, I met too many poor women. It's not that they don't like beauty, it's just that buying an extra yard of fabric takes half a month to calculate.