The couple in the last days traveled to ancient times, farming and storing grain and meat in the war

"You are so good, Yao Shouquan! I don't dare to disobey my father, but you dare to disobey my father! What did my father teach you! You bully others by taking advantage of your power and make fun of my father's business! Come on, beat this dog slave to death for me!" Tao Cheng said angrily.

Zhang San pulled out his whip and started beating him.

Manager Yao was beaten so hard that he kept begging for mercy, his face covered with tears and snot: "Master, Master, please forgive me, please forgive me. What crime have I committed? Please tell me. Even if I am beaten to death, I will know how I died!"

Liu Jiu said, "Didn't you stop me from selling ice to Jiang Xiao's shop? Everyone in the mansion knows that the young master is now on good terms with Young Master Xiao Ruoqing, and they are good friends. How dare you put obstacles in his shop's way?"

"Ah? Is that Mr. Xiao's shop? I didn't know that!" Manager Yao was even more panicked. How could he know that Jiang Xiao BBQ Shop was the shop of the top scholar Xiao Yan.

Oh my God, he was really going to be killed by his cousin.

If I had known, I wouldn’t have accepted the money from his cousin and those people!

But nothing went wrong every time I collected money from others before, why did something go wrong this time!

"You don't know?!" Tao Cheng kicked him again. "So you don't know how you can ruin my father's business! Secretly taking people's money! Bullying your master! Only a ruthless person would dare to do such a thing. I think your accounts must be dirty!"

Manager Yao was horrified.

The accounts are really not clean.

However, because the master was in poor mental condition in the past two years and trusted him very much, he rarely checked the accounts and did not allow the young master to manage the business. He insisted that the young master concentrate on his studies, so he always managed to get away with it.

"Someone, take out all those account books, seal them in boxes and take them back to me. I will check them carefully myself!" Tao Cheng said sternly.

When Mr. Tao learned about this, he was so angry that he kicked Manager Yao hard.

It only took two hours to check the accounts, and many places did not match, with a difference of more than 10,000 taels.

In other words, in addition to the unknown amount of money that Manager Yao received privately, he also took more than 10,000 taels from the shop.

Mr. Tao was so angry that he kicked Manager Yao again and wanted to send him to the yamen.

Although it is not illegal for a master to beat a servant to death, especially since the servant has committed such a serious mistake, Master Tao still does not want his house to be stained with blood.

When Manager Yao heard this, he was naturally frightened and begged for mercy, saying that he had not spent all his money yet and still had about 10,000 taels, which he could return.

In the end, Mr. Tao accepted the money and did not send the man to justice because he had tried his best in the past.

But he didn't ask him to manage the ice shop anymore, but instead asked him to clean the stables.

After such an incident, Mr. Tao was naturally worried that other shops under his name would also be like this, so he simply conducted a thorough inspection of the other shops as well.

It was actually discovered that there were problems with two of the managers.

One of the managers was even more outrageous. He actually transferred tens of thousands of taels of silver from the Tao family pawnshop. Master Tao was so angry that he almost beat the manager to death.

In short, after this investigation, a total of nearly 80,000 taels of silver were recovered.

Looking at the recovered money, Master Tao slumped down in his chair in frustration: "Son, Dad is really old. When I was young, which servant would dare to deceive your father like this! So, son, you have to do your best."

"I understand, Dad. But Dad, I'm not a loser. I'm just not good at studying. But I think I can still manage the business." Tao Cheng said obediently while supporting his father.

"Let's talk about this later. You should study for a few more years. You are still young. If you really can't do it, can your father really force you to study forever?

The main thing is that our family is no longer short of money, what we lack is status, do you understand?

Even if you pass the imperial examination, our family's status will be different.

Scholars, farmers, merchants, and artisans, merchants are ranked last. Although our family is rich, those with status, although some will give us a smile because we are rich, in the end, few of them really look down on us. "

"I know, Dad." Tao Cheng said gloomily. He actually has to study for a few more years. Sigh.

Mr. Tao was sentimental again before he said, "I really have to thank your classmate Xiao's family for this. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to recover so much money."

"I've already told the ice shop that no matter how much ice Jiang Xiao needs, they should have it delivered to the shop."

Mr. Tao nodded, "But I still have to express my gratitude and apologize. After all, this is the home of your classmate and friend, and I can't treat them like anyone else.

You seem to be doing much better recently, and you even dare to tell me what you want to do. What a scene it was when you played with Cao Feng and the others before.

Only by always being with outstanding people and being influenced by them, even if you can't become as outstanding as them, you will be influenced a little. Dad is very happy that you have this change.

You seem to be stronger now.”

Tao Cheng said sullenly, "Even if I dare to tell you what I want to do, you still won't agree and want me to continue studying."

All he wants to do is take care of the family business.

In addition to eating all kinds of delicious food, he is interested in making money.

"I'm doing this for the good of our family. I'm not forcing you to do this for the rest of your life. You're my only son among all my children.

Won't your sisters rely on you in the future? You have to have someone in their natal family so that they won't be bullied by their husband's family. Money alone can't prevent them from being bullied and wronged. You have to understand me.

Besides, this family will be handed over to you sooner or later, so why are you in such a hurry? "

"So I don't blame you." He really never blamed his father. He knew his father's painstaking efforts, so he always obeyed his father and did whatever his father asked him to do.

"Good boy." Master Tao nodded with satisfaction again.

At this time, Mrs. Tao came in and said, "I have prepared the gifts to express my gratitude and apology."

Seeing that the servants behind him only had a few things in their hands, Master Tao frowned and said, "Why is there only so little? Didn't I ask you to prepare a generous gift?"

Mrs. Tao said, "Originally, I wanted to prepare a generous gift, but then I thought, since he has opened two prosperous shops in the county in such a short time, he must have everything he needs at home.

Moreover, I heard Dabao say that the Xiao and Jiang families are all very nice people. If there are too many supplies, they will definitely not accept them and will send them back.

It’s better to just have these few things, they are not expensive, but they mean the same thing.

Furthermore, since Dabao really likes playing with Xiao and the others, if he wants to hang out with them, he doesn't need to be too generous with his gifts. Instead, he should treat them as equals, treat them sincerely, and make sure that the relationship is mutually beneficial. This is the long-term solution.

That's what I think anyway, what do you think, sir?"

Tao Cheng said, "There's no need to prepare a rich gift. Ruoqing and I are friends of gentlemen, so just bringing something casually will be fine. Their families won't mind. Otherwise, it will make our already familiar relationship seem awkward."

Master Tao laughed heartily, a rare outburst of laughter. "You can actually talk about a gentleman's friendship! Good! Good! All my hard work in persuading you has paid off. You've finally gotten on the right path!"