Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 168 The Female Shopkeeper

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Liu Ye raised his hands in a gesture of respect: "Get up, everyone. Let's go inside and talk." Everyone stood up and followed him into the main hall.

Duan Mengrou respectfully reported, "Master, this residence of the Gao family is only a temporary one. My mother and I will still live in the original east wing. The property in each room of the mansion has been inventoried and sealed in the respective rooms. I have made a list, please take a look." As she spoke, she handed over a list.

Liu Ye took it and glanced at it. It listed the valuable items such as ornaments, jewelry, and antique vases in the order of the first, second, and third wives, making it easy to see at a glance. The handwriting was elegant and neat, pleasing to the eye.

Liu Ye wasn't too concerned about how to dispose of the valuables, but Duan Mengrou's attitude made him feel much better. He asked, "Your handwriting is quite good. Did you attend a private school?"

Duan Mengrou bowed her head and replied, "Replying to your question, sir, we have hired a tutor to teach the younger brother in my wife's room. I studied under him for several years..."

Liu Ye nodded. Since he had no choice but to use Duan Mengrou due to Lin Shiyue's interference, even if it was just a short-term arrangement, it was naturally a good thing that she could read, and it would be even better if she could do arithmetic. He then asked, "Can you use an abacus? Can you do arithmetic?"

Duan Mengrou picked up an abacus from the table next to her and confidently replied, "Please give me a test, sir."

Seeing her confident demeanor, Liu Ye smiled slightly and said to Li Fu, "Li Fu, you test her."

Li Fu replied, "Yes, sir." He then turned to Duan Mengrou and asked, "Zhang's Cloth Shop received 6,600 bolts of cotton cloth at a cost of 5 qian of silver per bolt. The market price is 3 taels of silver for 4 bolts of cloth. The shop sold 5,480 bolts of cloth that month. The monthly labor cost is 60 taels of silver. Question: How much silver did you earn that month? After deducting the cost and labor, what was your net profit?"

As he spoke, Duan Mengrou immediately started calculating on her abacus. Almost as soon as Li Fu finished speaking, she stopped what she was doing and immediately replied, "We get four thousand and fifty taels of silver. After deducting the cost and labor, the net profit is seven hundred and fifty taels of silver."

Liu Ye, Li Fu, and the others all exclaimed "Eh!", stunned by Duan Mengrou's speed.

Li Fu didn't believe she had such ability, so he took the abacus and frantically worked on it for a long time. Finally, he exclaimed incredulously, "It's exactly the same!"

A capable assistant whom Li Fugang had taken in sighed, “Manager Li, this is the method I used to test the accountants at my branch stores. The numbers are never wrong. No one has ever calculated accounts as quickly and accurately as a young girl in their entire life.” He turned to Liu Ye and said, “Congratulations, sir, on gaining another capable assistant.”

Liu Ye hadn't expected that a young woman from feudal society would possess such quick reflexes and calculation skills. Even by modern standards, she would be considered a master abacus solver. Although from a modern educational perspective, it was a primary school level word problem, it was quite remarkable for people in ancient times when education levels were generally low. Most importantly, Duan Mengrou was very fast.