Swinder in Action (3)

"Su Xuan... how has Winter Pavilion treated you all these years?" the teen asked.

Su Xuan blushed from hearing her name, but quickly recovered. "Very well."

"If so, for you to become a silver uniform servant in just seven years must be due to Winter Pavilion's good treatment towards its staff, correct?" 

"Yes, yes," Su Xuan nodded fervently. "I would never have reached this level of cultivation in such a short time if it weren't for the spirit herbs provided by the pavilion."

Manager Song sighed. She was so stupid that she was still helping her traders to count money even after she had been sold off. 

The teen's smile widened. "There is no free meal in the world. It's time for you to pay back everything we gave you, starting with the spirit herbs. Manager Song, get out your book of records."

That was the book that recorded everything about the Winter Pavilion's staff, from their family background to everything they used, borrowed, or did in this place.

Besides a monthly salary, the workers of Winter Pavilion would be given a small amount of medicinal and spirit herbs to aid their cultivation. As the saying goes, 'a subordinate represented their master' the people from Winter Pavilion could not be weaklings.

Manager Song was halfway through listing out the herbs Su Xuan had consumed over the past seven years when he stopped and squinted. "Strange... This column here analyzes that Su Xuan is entitled to two bottles of Qi Enhancing pills per month, and yet a few weeks ago, the empty bottles she returned for the monthly recycling were twice the amount..."

Manager Song proceeded to check a few other names. "Aha!" he exclaimed. "Rui An, newly promoted manager two months ago. Was given three bottles of Qi Enhancing pills but only turned in one bottle for recycling! And it's not just him... a few other male attendants' statistics don't match up either!"

The teen stroked his chin and said, "Then it's safe to say, Su Xuan's hands had stretched all over Winter Pavilion before Young Master Wei. Disgusting."

Su Xuan's face was already pale when the cost of all those herbs were tallied and amounted to a price she could not afford even with decades of time, and now she was caught red-handed in cheating. In a desperate frenzy, she revealed her true thoughts. "How can you people be so controlling! It's none of your business that those men give me gifts! How can you accuse me with no evidence and take back what you gave me! How dare you!"

"How dare I?" the teen smirked evilly. "I dare to because everyone in Winter Pavilion works for me, and you have no right to question me. In fact, as a lowly attendant, how dare you be so impudent to your superior?" He took off his mask and showed the girl his face, causing her to tremble and fall to her knees as she recalled how she had acted in the morning.

"How can this be... You're just a poor member. Impossible! You're all lying!"

Ignoring Su Xuan, he continued moving the beads of the abacus while mumbling, "Let's leave the matter of your seduction escapades aside first and talk about the price of the herbs. There's still the cost of the uniform fabric, the seamstress's labour cost, room and board, food..."

Looking at their master who was immersed in his own world of calculations, the people present couldn't help but think that he was definitely the stingiest person in the realm. Scratch that—all the realms. Even the cost of the seamstress's thread and the time she used to fix Su Xuan's uniforms wasn't spared!

Finally, the abacus deciding Su Xuan's fate stopped clicking and was put down. "The grand total is one million, six-hundred and twenty-four thousand, five-hundred and thirty four silver taels. Would you like to pay now or write an IOU? 

"The IOU includes a twenty percent interest per month. That means the first month will cost one million, nine-hundred and forty-nine thousand, four-hundred and forty silver taels and eight copper coins. But since I'm a considerate person, I will round up the number to four-hundred and forty-one silver taels to save you the trouble of digging up eight copper coins. It's also easier to count that way, don't you think?"

Upon hearing that, Manager Song, the four guards and Su Xuan nearly spat out blood. 

What do you mean by "since I'm a considerate person"?! If you were a considerate person, you wouldn't round up the eight copper coins at all!

Actually, you wouldn't charge twenty percent interest per month for the IOU!!

Hold on... Everything above was wrong.

If you were a considerate person, the bill wouldn't be this astronomical!!!

"This is daylight robbery! You know I can't afford this!" Su Xuan screamed. Her hair had come loose, and paired with her tattered uniform and bleeding back, she looked like a lunatic.

The teen shrugged. "Tough luck. You should have thought of this before acting like you're the owner of Winter Pavilion, preventing customers from meeting Manager Song, seducing your colleagues and messing up the detailed and fair distribution plan I set up, seducing Young Master Wei, and attempting to seduce me. Is it because this lord rarely shows up that the servants dare to act like they own the place? 

"Enough of this nonsense. Do you want to pay now or be beaten to death? Or maybe you choose the third option..."