Long Aotian! Are You Stupid?

A slender woman with gentle features wept and said:

"My daughter was originally a respectable woman, but her husband was a gambling addict who gambled away all of our family's wealth."

In the end, they sold me to the lowest-class brothel in the city, trying to push me into a living hell.

I was desperate and only wanted to drown myself, but Long Da happened to pass by and saved me from the riverbank, giving me a way to live.

A girl with a sorrowful expression next to her also spoke up:

"My parents only care about their son; they're trying to raise money for my brother to get married."

They forcibly sold me to a wealthy old man nearing sixty as a concubine. Once I entered his household, I was to be treated like a slave, subjected to all his whims.

I refused to accept my fate and ran away. I was freezing and starving on the street when Long Da kindly brought me back here.

More women's eyes reddened as they all looked at Zhou Wanwan:

"Miss, we weren't taken by Long Da. We were abandoned by our families, sold by our husbands, and left with nowhere else to turn."

If it weren't for him, we would have been dead long ago, or living a life worse than death.

Long Da... he's a really good person!

Zhou Wanwan coughed. "Long Aotian is a good person? So she's the only bad one?"

No, that won't do. She intends to be a good person for the rest of her life.

She sighed and said, "Uncle Scholar Tree, it seems we should ask more questions in the future. What if there are good people among those we've eaten?"

The Old Scholar Tree nodded and said, "I understand, I will tell them."

Zhou Wanwan looked at Long Aotian:

"I think I'd better get rid of these estates!"

I'm really curious why you take in so many homeless women?

Long Aotian was stunned for a moment, then looked at Zhou Wanwan and said:

"This estate is yours now, so it's yours. These women are actually quite pitiful, just like my mother."

My mother was abandoned by my father. He sold my mother and me to a medicine merchant for a tael of silver.

That medicine dealer wasn't a good person either; he tormented my mother all the time.

And so I became a slave to the medicine. The medicine merchant owned many fields, and I worked in the fields every day.

Zhou Wanwan nodded and said:

"I see. I think you're a nice person, but your management skills are really terrible."

Those managers of yours are all no good.

Long Aotian sighed and said:

"So I'm giving you all of this in my name willingly."

If I gave it to you, I believe these people would be better taken care of.

Zhou Wanwan chuckled and said, "That's true. How many people live in your manor in total?"

Long Aotian sighed and said, "This manor has a total of over 12,000 people."

Zhou Wanwan rolled her eyes and said, "More than 10,000 people are hiding in a small mountain villa?"

Long Aotian scratched his head and said:

"I'm not good at management, but sometimes when I see women who have been wronged, I rescue them."

Then more and more people came, and some women brought their children with them.

Over time, the villa became home not only to women but also to many children.

"When the children grow up, they'll all have to get married, right? And then there will be so many more children."

Zhou Wanwan frowned and said, "So your main income comes from the restaurant?"

"Yes!"

Zhou Wanwan looked at him and said, "Did you send people to smash up my restaurant?"

Long Aotian was even more wronged:

"I have no idea how many restaurants I own. They are all managed by managers, and I know absolutely nothing about them."

However, I'm gradually finding myself unable to make ends meet, but fortunately there are many medicinal herb fields in the back mountains.

When I run out of money, I'll dig up those medicinal herb fields and sell the herbs.

At least it's enough to make a living.

Good heavens! Zhou Wanwan thought she had gotten a great deal, but she never expected the resort to be like this!

In other words, this villa looks very grand, but it's actually extremely poor.

Zhou Wanwan grew increasingly angry as she read through the ledger, finally slamming it down on the stone table with a loud "bang!" and yelling, "Long Aotian! Are you stupid?"

She pointed to the crooked numbers in the ledger, rolling her eyes in exasperation:

"Open your eyes and see for yourself! What kind of falsified accounts are these managers making?"

It's riddled with flaws; it's so fake it's almost impossible to hide!

Your restaurant's monthly purchasing, consumption, and labor costs are all a complete mess!

Long Aotian was stunned for a moment and said:

"I think... it's perfectly normal! Running a restaurant requires hiring cooks, waiters, and general helpers."

"We need to pay wages every month, and there are expenses for everything from food to groceries. It's possible we won't make a profit... right?"

Zhou Wanwan was amused by his antics, and pointed to the ledger line by line to show him the calculations:

"Count them yourself, you've opened eleven restaurants! Eleven!"

The result? All ten companies were losing money, incurring losses Yueyue, while only one company was profitable.

Less comes in, more goes out; the left side fills the right, the front fills the back.

If you don't rectify this situation, you'll ruin the entire stronghold sooner or later, and then we'll all be starving!

Long Aotian looked at Zhou Wanwan and said, "These restaurants are all yours now. You can do whatever you want with them."

Zhou Wanwan looked at him and said, "You said it yourself."

Long Aotian nodded and said, "Yes, I said it."

Zhou Wanwan went outside and discussed it with the Old Scholar Tree.

Soon, the Old Scholar Tree went to work; these were tasks best suited for the Old Scholar Tree.

Those in charge were all quickly summoned back, and they were still somewhat bewildered when they returned.

The manager of Shop No. 1 glanced at the sky and said, "Isn't it still not dawn? How did I get here?"

"Oh dear, I'm sleeping in bed!"

"That's right, I was just with my concubine... cough cough cough..."

Zhou Wanwan led Long Aotian out and sat on the tiger-skin chair.

Those people stared at each other blankly. Zhou Wanwan looked at them and said:

"Are you all in charge of the shop?"

Why does every shop I open lose money, year after year?

The head steward snorted coldly:

"It's normal for restaurants to make and lose money. Don't you think firewood, rice, oil, and salt are free? Don't you think cooks and waiters are paid? Don't you think charcoal and other supplies cost money?"

Even vegetable prices are much higher than in previous years! You're just a young girl with nothing to her name, you haven't even stepped out of your door, what do you know about business?

The second steward beside him quickly nodded in agreement, looking impatient.

"That's right! We get up earlier than the chickens and go to bed later than the dogs every day. It's already hard enough just to barely keep the business afloat."

What kind of person are you, an outsider, to be pointing fingers and nitpicking here?

The two of them were clearly not taking Zhou Wanwan seriously.

Long Aotian shouted loudly:

"How dare you treat my master like this!"

To tell you the truth, your indentures are all in the hands of your master.

She can make you die or live as she pleases.

The managers were terrified, their faces ashen. Zhou Wanwan looked at them and said:

"Don't worry! I won't wrong an innocent person, and of course I won't let a bad person go unpunished."

I've already sent people to investigate; you can just wait here.