Forced to marry, I picked up a young powerful official

"Mom, my son is in trouble..."

Mother Gu looked him up and down, "What trouble have you gotten into? Who beat you up like this?"

"It's the boss..."

"The owner of the restaurant?"

Mother Gu was stunned. "You are working as the accountant in the restaurant. Why did he hit you?"

"Ugh!"

Gu Qingrong sighed, "I didn't do my job well and angered my boss, so he asked some of his men to beat me up."

Mother Gu's face turned angry, "You can't hit people! Is there any law left?"

Then he frowned again, and said with a bit of regret: "You are really something, do you have to endure it for nothing when others hit you? Chuan'er is also in the county, why don't you go find him? The people around him are all influential, I don't believe you still have no place to reason with them?"

Gu Qingrong had a sad face.

"It was my fault. I didn't dare to go to Yichuan. What if I embarrassed him and ruined his reputation?"

Mother Gu sighed, "Then tell me, what trouble have you gotten yourself into?"

Gu Qingrong looked up and saw that everyone was staring at him. The words that were on the tip of his tongue suddenly became too embarrassed to say them.

He covered his head and said, "Mom, I'm in great pain. Can we go to town and find a doctor first?"

Mother Gu glared at him and said, "You know it hurts, but you're still hiding?"

He hurriedly asked Liang to find a doctor.

Gu Qingrong took the medicine and ate his meal. The whole family was guarding him in the main room. He had no way to hide and had to speak.

"There's money missing from the account, and I can't make it up no matter what I do. My boss got angry and told me to either make up the money myself or report it to the authorities..."

Liang asked: "How much silver is missing?"

"One hundred taels." Gu Qingrong didn't dare to look at everyone.

"So many?" Liang exclaimed.

Mother Gu frowned, "You are an accountant, how can you not calculate so much money missing?"

Gu Qingrong couldn't figure it out either. "I've read the account book to pieces, but the amount written in the account book doesn't match the amount of money spent. I really don't know what to do. The boss said that if I can't make up for the loophole, he will arrest me and bring me to the authorities to accuse me of embezzlement!"

Liang took a deep breath and said, "One hundred taels of silver is not a small amount. If I really get sued, I'm afraid I'll be skinned alive if I don't die..."

She was extremely worried and begged her mother for help.

"Mom, you must save Qingrong!"

Mother Gu was also anxious. "He is my son, of course I want to save him, but how can our family afford so much money?"

When Shen Nankui was married, the Gu family had already emptied their assets and had nothing left.

In the past two months, thanks to Shen Nankui's embroidery and the tuition fees, Gu's mother has saved some money, but it only adds up to a few dozen taels, which is still far from enough...

She looked at Shen Nankui.

"Chuan'er's wife, you still have some silver in your hand. Now that the boss has suffered such a disaster, we are all family, you should also take out some money to help him, right?"

Shen Nankui nodded and said, "Brother is in trouble, so I will naturally help him. However, even if I add the money I have, it is far from enough to fill this hole. Where can I get the remaining money?"

This is indeed a problem.

Liang suddenly asked, "Second brother's wife, don't you have a lot of books?"

"I know those books are very important and you are reluctant to sell them, but now that his father has suffered such a disaster, you can't just watch him get sued. If he is convicted, I'm afraid it will also affect my second brother. So, sister-in-law, can you sell the books first to raise money to help him get through this difficult time?"

She looked pleading and almost knelt down to Shen Nankui.

When Gu Qingrong heard this, hope suddenly ignited in his eyes and he looked at Shen Nankui intently.

Shen Nankui was not surprised that she said that. If there was really no other way, she could only sell books to raise money.

She turned her head to look at Gu Qingrong and suddenly asked, "Brother, did you bring the account book with you when you came back this time?"

"I brought it with me." Gu Qingrong nodded.

"Can you show it to me?"

Gu Qingrong thought she was trying to shirk responsibility, and said with some disappointment, "Those books are my sister-in-law's dowry. I am not qualified to use them, but the disaster is before me. If my second sister-in-law can help me through this, I will definitely find a way to return the money to you in the future. Even if you don't want to help, just say so directly. Why bother to find other excuses?"

Mother Gu was furious when she heard this. "Qing Ronghe and Chuan'er are brothers. Brothers should support each other. So what if you sell some books? Since you married into my family, everyone has praised you for being virtuous and filial. But when it comes to big things, why are you so petty?"

She was really anxious, and regardless of her usual dislike for Shen Nankui, she softened her tone and said, "You helped the eldest house, they will remember your kindness, and I will not forget this favor!"

Shen Nankui shook his head and said, "Mother-in-law misunderstood me. It's not that I don't want to help. Whether I need to sell books to raise money, I will know after I look at the account book."

Hearing this, Mother Gu felt relieved.

Gu Qingrong was stunned. "Second sister-in-law, you are a woman, how can you read the account book?"

His words were not very pleasant to hear, so Liang pushed him and said, "Second brother's wife can be a teacher, so what's wrong with knowing how to read the account book? Why don't you go and get it out?"

"But I've looked through the account book several times. What problem can she find..."

Gu Qingrong muttered to himself but ran quickly to get the account book.

After taking the account book, Shen Nankui flipped through it from the beginning and nodded, "Yes, there is a shortage of one hundred taels of silver in the income and expenditure accounts."

Gu Qingrong looked depressed. "Although I am an accountant, I really don't know where the problem lies. Alas, it is my bad luck to have this problem."

Seeing that Shen Nankui had finished reading it once and was still reading it, he couldn't help but sigh.

"Don't look at it, second brother and sister-in-law. I have been an accountant for eight years and I have read the account books to pieces but I still can't find any problems. What can you find?"

Shen Nankui didn't look up. "Let's try it. What if it works?"

Gu Qingrong didn't say anything else and waited quietly. No one spoke either.

After a while, Shen Nankui suddenly asked, "Brother, I wonder how the business of the restaurant you work for is going on weekdays?"

Gu Qingrong said: "The restaurant opened by the boss is called Zuiyuexuan. It is only second-rate in Cang County. The business is neither good nor bad. However, Zuiyuexuan has been open for more than ten years. Although the profit is not much, it has been very stable without any major fluctuations."

"So, the monthly purchasing expenses of the restaurant are also roughly the same?"

Gu Qingrong nodded, "That's right."

Shen Nankui asked: "I see in the account book that the purchase volume of crabs is not small, I think it is selling well. How is the order rate of customers recently?"

"Zuiyuexuan's signature dish is salt-baked crab, and most of the customers who come here will order it."

Hearing this, Shen Nankui nodded, "That is to say, the amount of crabs used is stable. Then look here--"

She pointed to a page in the account book and asked Gu Qingrong to look at it.