Goudan was a little hesitant. He had good arithmetic scores, but he had never used it in practice. He didn't know if he could do it.
Ma Ma smiled and said: "Brother Zhou, I'm just trying it out. If I don't figure it out, I won't blame you. You said you were Dr. Li's student, weren't you lying?"
"I'm not lying." Goudan's face turned red and he was a little angry.
Although he had not been studying for a long time, he still learned etiquette, justice, benevolence, wisdom and trust.
How could he not be angry when Ma Ma said he was lying?
"Then why don't you want to try?" Ma Li asked.
"I...I want to see something." Goudan said.
"I'll ask someone to look at it for you." Ma Li turned back to the store, called a waiter, and asked him to help Goudan look at the things.
"Let's go." Ma Li looked at Goudan and said.
After all, Goudan was young, so after just a few words, he was overwhelmed by Ma Li and couldn't refuse. He followed Ma Li into the store with some anxiety.
Shopkeeper Sun had just sent away a customer. When he saw Ma Li coming back, he said with a smile on his face: "Master, haven't you gone back?"
He was entertaining guests just now and didn't notice Ma Li coming in even once.
Ma Ma waved his hand and said, "I asked an accountant to come over and look at the accounts. You go ahead."
Shopkeeper Sun was a little panicked, but his face showed no expression. He looked outside and saw no one. He asked strangely: "Where is Mr. Accountant, my boss?"
Ma Ma pointed at Goudan and said, "This is it."
"This..." Shopkeeper Sun was stunned.
It's not that he didn't see Goudan just now, but he really didn't expect that an eight or nine-year-old child would be the accountant Mr. Ma Li invited back.
After coming back to his senses, shopkeeper Sun was overjoyed.
He teamed up with his former accountant and made a lot of money from Ma's Cloth Shop.
It had always been fine, but who knew that Ma Li had noticed something was wrong recently.
Not only did they fire the previous accountant, but they have also been investigating recently.
If he hadn't been dragging his family with him and couldn't run away, he would have run away long ago.
Now Ma Li actually brought back an eight or nine-year-old child, saying he was the accountant.
It would be good for such an older child to be able to read. As for settling accounts, don’t joke.
"Boss, please take this young gentleman to look at the account books. I'll go and get busy first." Shopkeeper Sun said with a smile.
If it were normal, he would definitely go and take a look, but Goudan's age was so deceptive that he wasn't worried at all.
Ma Ma brought Goudan to the counter, took out the account book, and said: "This account book seems to be very normal, but there are some things that don't match up. I can't see the problem. Please try it and see if you can find the problem."
Goudan took the account book, opened it and looked at it.
The numbers on the ledger were not in the Arabic numerals he was familiar with, which made Goudan couldn't help but frown.
Ma Li had been paying attention to Goudan's expression, and when he saw that he had just opened the account book, he frowned and felt a little disappointed.
Although he didn't have much hope for Goudan, he still had some expectations.
"Do you have pen, ink and paper?" Goudan asked.
"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter if you don't know..." Ma Li came back to his senses and asked: "What did you say?"
"I said, do you have pen, ink and paper?" Goudan said.
"Yes, yes, yes." Ma Li asked, "Little brother, can you count?"
"I haven't calculated it yet. I'm not sure now. I need to do the calculation first." Goudan said.
Ma Li nodded, found the pen, ink, paper and inkstone that the accountant had used before, and polished them himself.
"Walk slowly and come back next time."
Shopkeeper Sun saw off the guests and looked at the counter. He sneered in his heart when he saw Goudan writing something there with a serious expression.
Shen Yue'e returned to the agreed place, but she didn't see Goudan, and she felt panicked.
Seeing that the things were still there and that there was a waiter standing next to her, Shen Yue'e asked anxiously: "Have you seen a child? He was here just now."
"Is the child you're talking about roughly this tall?" the waiter asked, making gestures.
Shen Yue'e nodded quickly and said, "Yes, yes, where are the others?"
She couldn't imagine how she could go back and face Zhou A Niu if she lost her dog eggs.
"Our boss asked me to look at things for him, and he went in with our boss," the waiter said.
Shen Yue'e couldn't think too much, put down the things in her hands, and rushed into the cloth shop.
"Goudan." Shen Yue'e exclaimed when she saw Goudan.
"Mom!" Goudan heard the voice and quickly put down his pen and stepped forward to greet her.
Seeing that Goudan was fine, Shen Yue'e breathed a sigh of relief and scolded: "Didn't I let you look at things there? Why are you running around?"
"This should be little brother Zhou Zhizhou's mother, right? I, the owner of Ma's Cloth Shop, asked little brother Zhou to help settle the accounts, which makes you worried." Ma Li said with a smile.
Shen Yue'e was stunned for a moment before she realized that Zhou Zhi was Goudan's name and said, "It's okay, I just didn't see him just now and it scared me."
"Thank you, Mrs. Zhou, for your forgiveness. I still need to trouble Brother Zhou for a while. I wonder if Mrs. Zhou is willing?" Ma Li said.
"Mom." Goudan looked at his mother. He wanted to help Ma Li settle the score. After all, Ma Li promised to give him the usual compensation, but he didn't know what to say.
"Goudan, he hasn't been studying for a long time. I'm afraid he won't be able to help much." Shen Yue'e was afraid of getting into trouble, so she refused without even thinking.
"Mrs. Zhou, as long as little brother Zhou can help me find the problem, I will give you the usual amount of money as a reward. Even if I can't find it, it doesn't matter." Ma Li said with a smile.
He knows how to impress people.
Although money is not everything, it is still very useful in most situations.
After hearing Ma Li's words, Shen Yue'e was indeed moved.
But Goudan has only been studying for half a year, can it be calculated?
"Mom, I want to try it," Goudan said.
Shen Yue'e hesitated for a while and nodded.
Ma Ma was very knowledgeable. He invited Shen Yue'e to sit down and even asked someone to pour her a cup of hot water.
The sun is setting in the west, and in about an hour, the gongs and drums of the Western Market's closing time will sound. At that time, the shops will be closed and everyone must go home. Chang'an City has a very strict curfew system.
The vendors outside shouted even harder, trying to sell more goods in the last minute.
It was quiet inside Ma's Clothing Village.
Ma Ma stood behind Goudan and watched Goudan write and draw.
He couldn't understand what Goudan wrote, but he didn't think much about it.
At this time, arithmetic did not form a system. When many people did arithmetic, they would draw something that they could only understand to represent something.
Seeing Gou Dan scribbling on the paper like ghostly symbols, Ma Li became more confident in Gou Dan.
Goudan put down his pen and said, "I found the problem."
Shopkeeper Sun looked shocked. The previous accountant told him that most people couldn't find the problem. How could an eight or nine-year-old child find the problem so quickly now?
Could it be that Ma Li found this child to defraud him?
Shopkeeper Sun was a little confused for a while.
Ma Li asked with some surprise: "Is this true?"
"Seriously!" Goudan said confidently.
"In the first month of this year, there is a shortfall of 23 guan and 8 qian. In February, there is a shortfall of 19 guan and 86 qian. In March, there is a shortfall of 28 guan and 4 qian... This year, the total shortfall is 297 guan and 500 qian.
Twenty-seven dollars." Goudan said.
As Goudan paid the bills one by one, shopkeeper Sun was sweating more and more.
At first he thought Goudan was a blind cat that accidentally hit a dead mouse.
But Goudan explained how much money he embezzled every month, and his eyes were full of horror.
thump!
Shopkeeper Sun made a plop, knelt on the ground, and said, "My boss, I realize my mistake."