The Eldest Daughter of a Rural Family
Chapter 266 Are You Even Letting Others Live? (3)_1

Chapter 266: Chapter 266 Are You Even Letting Others Live? (3)_1

"Almost," Sun Lizheng replied ambiguously before telling them, "Sister Peiqin and her brother seem to be easy to get along with. You two should visit them more often!"

"That Pei Qin isn’t bad, and Pei Yuan is okay even though he doesn’t like talking much. But that Pei Qian isn’t easy to get along with at all — she hasn’t given us a kind look since dinner!" Sun Tingyu pouted, clearly not fond of Pei Qian, as if she and her auntie were bound to get into a conflict.

"Perhaps you’re not well acquainted yet. Visit more often, and things will get better once you’re familiar with each other," Sun Lizheng said with a smile.

Sun Tingyu felt that she couldn’t possibly become familiar with Pei Qian; Pei Qian’s gaze always seemed hostile, and she just didn’t like her.

Pei Qian didn’t like them either. Why would they come to their home if not to take advantage and reap some benefits? If they hadn’t known the Jinan Magistrate’s Young Master Shen, if they hadn’t planted sweet potatoes, and if the Master County hadn’t visited, with potential rewards to come, would they have eagerly approached their home? And the elder sister even talked and laughed with them, sharing the method of growing sweet potatoes.

Pei Wendong and Chang Yonglin went to school for their lessons. Shen Songming sent Pei Yuan and Pei Qian to practice calligraphy and embroidery, and then he went to discuss his ice shop venture with Pei Qin while checking the account books.

After listening to his ramblings, which were essentially all nonsense, Pei Qin flipped through the account book, "I take sixty percent; you just give me the silver."

Shen Songming blinked, "Wasn’t it you four, me six?" Or did he hear it wrong? Was it he three, she seven?

"Are you sure?" Pei Qin raised an eyebrow at him.

Shen Songming chuckled, "Pei Laoda! You really are a kind-hearted beauty! I conned my mother’s dowry to open this shop. My elder and second brothers would beat me up if they knew about the mess. Even my father is kept in the dark! My mother said, if her money is drawn out completely in two years — over twenty thousand taels of silver — then I can’t keep the shop running!" He quickly brought over a chest, which contained a bundle of silver notes.

Pei Qin examined the total revenue in the account books, subtracted the shop’s rent and the wages for the shopkeeper, the assistants, and the artisans, and quickly calculated her sixty percent cut. She counted out several silver notes and took them.

So self-aware... Shen Songming’s lips twitched as he watched her take the silver notes. He glanced at the account, then his eyes widened, "Damn it! Do you even let others live? You studied chemistry, not computers, yet you calculate so smoothly?" He had to scribble on paper to get the exact figure himself.

"It’s all science." Pei Qin pulled out five hundred taels of silver notes and tossed them to him, "Money for the land!" She then packed away the remaining one thousand three hundred taels.

Shen Songming had the urge to throttle her as he watched her. He was silent for a long while before he remembered her untimely death and subsequent transmigration into these circumstances. He silently thought to himself: Serves her right! But he dared to revel in this thought only privately; it was certainly not something he could voice aloud.

"What do you plan to do in the winter?" Pei Qin asked him, knowing that while he could sell ice in the summer, his shop would be idle in the winter.

"Take a holiday!" Shen Songming knew that her noodle stall wasn’t a long-term plan, and was surprised that she had abandoned the recently opened noodle shop to rush straight for the soy sauce workshop. So fickle with her interests!

Pei Qin took out a stack of paper and, with a Seven Purple Three Yang small-regular script brush, began to draw methodically on the paper.

"What is that you’re drawing?" Shen Songming leaned in, noting the rapid emergence of what looked like gears, and his lips began to twitch.

"Didn’t you draw an engine last time? You should understand machinery, right?" Pei Qin asked without lifting her head.

Shen Songming shook his head, "I thought I had a partner coming over who was a carpenter, so I drew a motorcycle and engine to identify relatives!"

Pei Qin looked up at him.

Feeling severely judged by her, Shen Songming shrunk a little, saying sheepishly, "If you let me conduct business, I’m sure I could make money!"