Either Fang Xiu and Liu Junting are in cahoots, or Fang Xiu has been duped by Liu Junting. Usually, many things in the store are done by Liu Junting for her, so she herself did not notice where exactly things went wrong.
Thinking of this possibility, Fang Pingying stopped talking and quickly took out the account books for the weeks she was not here and re-calculated everything.
After careful calculation, indeed, this week, because of the longer time span between checks, the store had lost nearly 15 dollars; her previous calculations were not wrong.
If that’s the case, it’s clear that it wouldn’t be Uncle Zeng’s mistake; it’s impossible for him to consistently make small errors, given that he conducts large business transactions and certainly wouldn’t care about such meager sums.
Initially, she thought missing a couple of yuan a day was no big deal, but now, adding up this week’s losses, it nearly totals 40 yuan—this certainly isn’t a small amount anymore.
Fang Pingying realized her negligence. She thought that as long as she controlled the accounts herself, the shop wouldn’t have any problems. But unexpectedly, some people really know how to exploit loopholes.
With these thoughts, Fang Pingying started suspecting even more things.
Her suspicions weren’t just about the discrepancies in the money but also about a possible issue between Fang Xiu and Liu Junting.
Why would a married woman constantly hang out with another man, and if the money was indeed handled by Liu Junting, it would suggest an unimaginably close relationship between him and Fang Xiu for him to know so thoroughly about everything in the store.
It seemed he also perfectly grasped her character, knowing that she wouldn’t mind being short one yuan one day, which is why he didn’t dare to take much at the beginning.
Seeing Fang Pingying frowning deeply as she tallied the accounts, Luo Zhiyong, who stood nearby, quietly asked her, "What’s wrong, is there an error in the account book?"
Fang Pingying looked at him, then glanced at Fang Xiu and Luo Honglan who were working aside, and said with a frown, "In the days I was not in the store, nearly 40 yuan was misappropriated."
"What, short of 40 yuan? Why haven’t I heard you mention this before?" Luo Zhiyong was startled; 40 yuan was almost his salary for twenty days, it was not a small amount.
Fang Pingying spoke in a low voice, "Didn’t I ask you to speak to Honglan? Honglan explained the reason to you, and I didn’t pay much attention since it was always small amounts. But this week, the amount is significant."
"What do you suspect happened?" Luo Zhiyong felt that the problem must be with Fang Xiu, but without solid evidence, he dared not speculate wildly.
"Isn’t it obvious? The problem clearly lies on Fang Xiu’s side." Fang Pingying’s face darkened, and she called out to Fang Xiu, "Fang Xiu, come here."
After a moment, Fang Pingying also called Luo Honglan over, "Honglan, you come too."
"What’s up?" Both Fang Xiu and Luo Honglan asked in unison and gathered around.
"When I’m not here, who usually looks after this account book?" After Fang Pingying asked, she secretly observed Fang Xiu’s expression.
Seeing that there was nothing unusual about Fang Xiu’s expression, she felt somewhat reassured.
Luo Honglan answered truthfully, "Most of the time it’s the second sister-in-law who looks after it. Sometimes when I sell things to customers, I also handle the money, but I don’t understand the account book; it’s always the second sister-in-law who does the calculations daily."
Fang Pingying nodded and turned her gaze to Fang Xiu, "Fang Xiu, is that so?"
"Yes." Fang Xiu asked obliviously. Since she started working at the shop, she had been honest with money matters, so she didn’t expect this issue. "What’s wrong? Is there a mistake in the ledger?"
Fang Pingying glanced at her and pushed the calculated accounts towards her, "Take a look for yourself. Compared to the inventory list from Uncle Zeng, it’s short by about 40 yuan."
"40 yuan, that’s impossible," Fang Xiu exclaimed, finding it unbelievable. "I balance the accounts every day. At most, it’s about some smashed pastries that can’t be sold, even one yuan a day would be an exaggeration."
Fang Pingying had clearly listed everything on the ledger, and Fang Xiu quickly noticed where the problem lay. She began to panic, "Sister, I didn’t take the money. Every day, at most, I just skipped making breakfast, eating pastries from the shop instead. Hong Lan and Big Brother knew about this, and Big Brother said it was fine. I wouldn’t dare to take money from the shop."
"Then let me ask you again, besides you, has anyone else helped to handle the money in the shop?" This time, Fang Pingying directly asked Fang Xiu, "Or, Fang Xiu, are you sure you did the accounts yourself every day and the ledger you give back to Big Brother for me to see was done by you personally without anyone else’s involvement?"
Being questioned by Fang Pingying made Fang Xiu extremely uneasy because she hadn’t done the accounts by herself for the past week.
Although she completed junior high school, her academic performance wasn’t strong, and she found doing accounts challenging and didn’t enjoy it.
Recently, after she got to know Liu Junting, he started doing the accounts for her unconditionally, and she was happy with that arrangement.
She had never thought that Liu Junting, who seemed honest and reliable, would play such tricks.
Seeing Fang Xiu’s reaction, Fang Pingying knew what had happened and directly asked her, "If I’m not mistaken, the accounts for this week were done by the man who was just here, right?"
Luo Honglan heard this, disbelievingly widened her eyes and asked Fang Xiu, "Sister-in-law, really? Didn’t you say you only allowed him to do some heavy lifting? How did you end up showing him the ledger?"
Fang Xiu didn’t answer; everyone guessed what had happened.
Luo Zhiyong was angry at Fang Xiu’s carelessness; the shop’s accounts weren’t something that could be casually shown to others.
But since Fang Xiu was his cousin, he restrained from scolding her directly and deliberately lectured Luo Honglan instead, "Honglan, you’ve been out here for so long, how can you still be so naive? If someone has no ties with you, why would they help with the heavy work? It’s obvious, if someone willingly works in your shop, they must have a motive."
Luo Honglan nodded and said she hadn’t thought that much and would remember it for the future.
Fang Pingying glanced at her and finally looked towards Fang Xiu, asking her, "Fang Xiu, tell me, how should we handle this?"
Fang Xiu knew she had caused trouble. She first bowed her head in silence for a while, then hesitantly said, "Then, then I’ll go ask him to return the money."
After thinking for a moment, Fang Pingying said, "Of course we need to get the money back, but you don’t have to work here anymore. Pack your things, you can go home tomorrow."
Fang Xiu became anxious and protested to Fang Pingying, "Sister, what do you mean by that? It’s not like I stole the money. I already said I would get it back. Why are you sending me back home, what are you implying?"
"Fang Xiu, this issue isn’t just about the money, but also about you not fulfilling your responsibilities in the shop," Fang Pingying looked at her seriously and continued,
"I pay you a salary every month, and you are supposed to do everything I assign to you properly. I even told you to try to keep the shop activities confidential, yet you failed that and even brought a questionable man into the shop to steal money. Tell me, have you fulfilled your responsibilities?" (To be continued. If you work, we welcome you to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote and , or for mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)