“Lick it yourself!!”

Young Master Su, who commanded respect in the business world and could point at anyone to fight, had never been counter-attacked so decisively. Flustered and exasperated, he threw down these three words and drained three cups of wine in succession.

Lin Yuchan silently licked her left hand clean, watching him go crazy with particular satisfaction.

Could she let an ancient person make her blush? They underestimated her.

However, her heart was still pounding violently, almost ready to burst through her skin and flesh. Even the loose front of her small shirt seemed to rise and fall with it – hopefully he hadn’t noticed.

Su Minguan didn’t dare act up again either. The first time was an accident; a second time would be lecherous. If the police outside caught sight of it again, Shanghai County’s prison conditions might not be better than Guangzhou’s.

He calmed his mind, elegantly adjusted his clothes and hat, lifted the curtain, and called the waiter to settle the bill.

Following the principle of entertaining shareholders, he readily paid.

Lin Yuchan looked at him with a beaming smile: “Didn’t you just say you were going to Yixing to do accounts? Let’s go together.”

Su Minguan: “…”

Fine, let’s go.

He was the helmsman of the Guangdong Hongshun Hall branch – surely he couldn’t let a little girl throw him into confusion.

But walking side by side again felt somewhat uncomfortable. Besides, the distance was far and they couldn’t be too conspicuous.

He walked with his hands behind his back, face cold, striding forward like a grumpy old man. Lin Yuchan could barely keep up, not knowing what his hurry was.

The Yixing Shipping storefront remained the same. Most of the clerks were still at the dock unloading cargo. The few remaining saw Boss Su’s unlucky expression and thought something had happened on the road.

Lin Yuchan explained to him, “Ate hairy crabs and got ripped off.”

Shi Peng was very dissatisfied: “Which black shop is so arrogant? In the past, everyone would have gone to smash it up.”

Su Minguan had been hanging his head dejectedly, lost in thought, but hearing this, his expression immediately became stern as he glanced coldly at Shi Peng.

“Wouldn’t dare, wouldn’t dare.” Shi Peng immediately bowed, quietly self-criticizing, “We’re a brotherhood that stands up for the people, we can’t bully others with our power. I understand, I understand.”

Only then did Boss Su’s state return to normal.

He quickly inspected the inside and outside of the shipping company, asking: “Have any ‘fellow townsmen’ come seeking refuge recently?”

Lin Yuchan then remembered that before his departure, he’d mentioned that the Guangdong governor was frantically purging secret societies. To preserve their strength, he’d ordered remaining society members to transfer to Shanghai as much as possible. Uncle Cheng and the others had agreed to come.

However, the clerks all shook their heads: “Haven’t seen anyone come.”

Su Minguan nodded, not surprised. In ancient times, transportation and communication were both backward. When people agreed to meet somewhere, encountering any complications and waiting a year or two was common. During the current wartime chaos, keeping promises was even more difficult. Many relatives, friends, and lovers scattered at the first sign of trouble – one parting often lasted a lifetime.

Lin Yuchan suddenly noticed—

“Hey, what are you doing?”

A boatman clerk was carrying a newly polished wooden plaque, hammering and banging as he hung it below the door’s signboard.

The original “Guangdong Fellow Townsmen Association” wooden plaque had been taken down and thrown beside the wall.

Lin Yuchan was shocked.

“Young master, don’t quit and stop working!”

Su Minguan couldn’t help but smile, not explaining, waiting for her to run over and look carefully—

“Two Guangs Fellow Townsmen Association.”

This time, Lin Yuchan was truly shocked, pulling Su Minguan’s sleeve and dragging him to a corner.

“What’s going on?”

Only then did Su Minguan lower his voice, casually telling her: “Guangxi’s Heaven and Earth Society members also belong to Hongshun Hall’s Jinlan Prefecture, but most had long since joined the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, fighting alongside them. Now with Nanjing’s internal strife, many people have left the Heavenly Kingdom and temporarily can’t find an organization.”

Lin Yuchan was completely impressed: “Your recruitment development is fast enough!”

He smiled proudly: “Otherwise, why would I be willing to take this Taiping Heavenly Kingdom war zone job for fifteen hundred taels? It should at least double.”

He took out the keys to open the drawer: “A’Mei, wait for me in the tea room.”

Comparing two sets of account books, recording quickly with a writing brush. Su Minguan’s face was slightly red, his eyes still showing signs of intoxication, but his mind worked extremely fast without a single number wrong, making Lin Yuchan, this exam-grinding machine, feel ashamed.

The accounts weren’t complex. After a quarter-hour, he looked up to see her serious expression, following his brush strokes, even her little nose tip sweating, and couldn’t help smiling slightly.

“Look carefully – no mistakes, right?”

Lin Yuchan was a bit dazzled. After all, shipping industry accounting was completely different from tea trading and selling. However, last time when Hede came to audit, she’d followed along reviewing several books and could be considered somewhat initiated.

Even so, Su Minguan’s bookkeeping style was different from his predecessors. His mind was quick, directly omitting some complex parts that others might not understand at first glance.

Lin Yuchan couldn’t help commenting: “Bookkeeping should be standardized, can’t skip steps. Otherwise if someone else comes to audit, points will be deducted.”

Su Minguan’s lips curved up as he said softly: “This isn’t the only set of books.”

Oh right, she’d forgotten Yixing was still a “criminal organization.”

Lin Yuchan smiled: “How honored I am.”

Following his logic through once, she saw no obvious errors. So she nodded.

“Although you’re not taking dividends this time, I still need to record it clearly for you.” Su Minguan skillfully created a new column in the ledger, “Congratulations A’Mei, your first round investment return is…”

Knock knock knock – suddenly, someone urgently knocked on the door.

A furry hand stuck through the door crack, passing in an envelope.

The envelope was thick and exquisite, with Chinese and English text arranged side by side, bearing a large Maritime Customs seal.

Su Minguan used a small knife to open the letter, reading it carefully from beginning to end, his expression gradually becoming grave.

“Miss Lin, I’m sorry.” He put down the letter, coldness in his eyes, “Your dividend is gone.”

The Maritime Customs’ new policy treated the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty as two countries, so merchants traveling back and forth for trade, though few, couldn’t be ignored – they had to pay additional customs duties.

Unexpectedly, the Qing government didn’t protest much, instead tacitly allowing the customs to tear apart their sovereignty.

Most despicably, this tax was levied based on shipping costs, all falling on the shipping companies.

Su Minguan leaned back in his grand chair, face cold, occasionally sneering.

“Your former employer has it out for me.”

Lin Yuchan bit her lip, saying softly: “Western powers also worry about the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom replacing the Qing court as China’s new government, so they’re all making dual preparations. As far as I know, this policy began discussion last year – it might not be targeting Yixing specifically.”

But Yixing’s ship had just docked today, and the tax collection notice was delivered to the shop. Even if Hede was super-efficient, it could only mean Yixing had entered the customs’ key monitoring list.

…It felt like “Big Brother is watching you.”

Lin Yuchan silently calculated, saying: “This way, shipping costs between the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Shanghai will inevitably rise, further compressing trade between the two places, making it harder for their goods to sell… and it can also increase customs revenue…”

She suddenly looked up, with seventy percent certainty, saying: “So this regulation actually serves Qing interests. Hede knows this too. He knows the Qing court will half-heartedly recognize his new rules.”

Those muddle-headed officials might even thank him.

This was where Hede’s cunning lay.

But now that he held high office and could crush people with power, how could a small shipping company oppose him?

The coldness on Su Minguan’s face flashed and retreated, returning to his usual gentle, friendly expression.

He put the letter in the drawer, smiling calmly: “I might have to raise prices with Mr. Rong.”

Lin Yuchan reminded: “But you just signed a follow-up contract with him. The price should already be agreed upon, right?”

“If we can’t reach an agreement, I’ll pay breach of contract fees,” he said without hesitation. “Better than working for nothing.”

Lin Yuchan had nothing to say. Not to mention he and Rong Hong weren’t that close privately. Even if they were good friends, accounts had to be clear at this time – he couldn’t subsidize others with his own money.

Business was like warfare – without this awareness, one would have been eliminated long ago.

But she still felt it was a pity. With one directive from Hede, both Yixing and Boya suffered losses.

Wasn’t there any other way…

Su Minguan saw her frowning, her eyes unfocused as she looked around randomly. Without asking, he knew that little brain was planning some helpful scheme again.

His eyes crinkled as he stood up.

“Alright, take your ‘one twenty-fifth’ and don’t worry about me. Won’t go bankrupt anytime soon.”

He opened the tea room door. As he was about to pat her shoulder, he suddenly saw her push the door, and her sleeve revealed half a fair little hand, much more delicate than when she’d done hard labor.

Whether it was his imagination or not, it seemed to still have… crab roe fragrance.

That hand of his didn’t come down, stopping awkwardly in mid-air as he let her pass through the door.

“Miss Lin, this is an employment contract. Look at these terms – are they still satisfactory?”

Rong Hong had returned with a full load. The five hundred thousand pounds of raw tea purchased with ten thousand taels couldn’t fit in the small Western-style building, so he’d specially rented a warehouse to store them.

Before Lin Yuchan could speak, he proposed signing a long-term employment contract with her, having her refine and process this batch of tea according to her previous methods.

“You’re only responsible for processing. My manager and clerks can handle the selling. They’ve improved considerably now – of course, from what I understand, this is also thanks to Miss Lin’s influence… By the way, during my absence, Miss Lin should rightfully have a share of Boya Trading House’s tea sales. Is this percentage reasonable?”

Lin Yuchan was overjoyed: “I couldn’t ask for more.”

Though Boss Rong was generous, he wasn’t naive, nor was he a penny-pinching capitalist. Just as she’d expected, he wouldn’t let her help for nothing.

And the commission he offered was quite handsome.

She readily signed the receipt, then looked at the new contract, smiling as she asked: “I’m not responsible for selling?”

Rong Hong smiled: “This time the tea quantity is large – relying on afternoon tea drinking won’t be enough. We need to work on connections and secure orders. It’s not that I look down on you, but as a young woman, your strength lies in technique. Your connections are inevitably limited, so you needn’t do this thankless work.”

Lin Yuchan said “mm,” her first reaction being: This person knows the business!

How come he didn’t make money before?

Of course, she felt somewhat unconvinced. How were young women’s connections necessarily limited?

But Rong Hong had American straightforwardness in speech, and moreover, his analysis of her strengths and weaknesses was based on facts, not baseless prejudice.

So she accepted it peacefully, protesting mildly: “Don’t underestimate me.”

Given the Qing Dynasty’s circumstances, encountering a boss willing to employ women – if you missed this village, there wouldn’t be this shop.

Of course, though Rong Hong was progressive, his progressiveness had limits. After all, even in the most modernized European and American powers, women’s status was still very restricted, with work rights, education rights, and voting rights all difficult to guarantee. Compared to the Qing Dynasty, it was just fifty steps laughing at a hundred steps.

When Rong Hong opened shop and did business, his default employment targets were naturally still men. Only after witnessing Lin Yuchan’s abilities would he make exceptional considerations for cooperation with her.

For Lin Yuchan, he’d only advanced a small step; in this society, he was already a big step ahead of others.

She was very grateful and didn’t expect more.

Even so, she still didn’t dare take it lightly, lowering her head to carefully examine the new contract’s contents.