flstandardbreds Chapter 173 Cleverly Resolving Management Dilemmas
Chapter 173 Cleverly Resolving Management Dilemmas
Management dilemmas resolved in a clever way
Su Yunlan unconsciously traced the edge of the contract with her fingertips, the strange phenomena surging in the spiritual spring space intertwining with the noisy abacus sounds of the inn.
Suddenly, the sound of shattering dishes came from the front hall. Cook Sun, her voice trembling with tears, pierced the morning mist as she cried out, "This is the third batch of pickled mustard greens that has gone bad!"
"Madam, the twelve newly hired helpers are fighting in the storeroom!" Young Master Xiao, panting, burst through the carved wooden door, a vegetable leaf hanging askew from his hair ornament. "The agreed-upon duty roster simply can't be arranged..."
The spring water in the celadon teacup rippled, reflecting the scene from three days ago—twenty carts of spices from the Western Regions were blocking the back alley of the inn, and the camel caravan and local porters were arguing over the order of unloading.
Su Yunlan closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. The arrow wound behind his ear throbbed with pain. The fragments of the "Kucha Blood Curse" in the spatial pharmacopoeia appeared faintly in his mind.
"The Persian merchant in the east wing demands immediate payment." Manager Li's fingers, gripping the ledger, turned white; his reading glasses slipped down to the tip of his nose. "But according to the new regulations, we should pay in half a month..."
“Uncle Li, the new rules are rules, but people are flexible.” Su Yunlan suddenly opened her eyes, her fingertips drawing watermarks on the bluestone surface. “How about this?” She dipped her finger in the spiritual spring water to outline a yin-yang symbol. “The Western Region merchants want cash, so we’ll use their camel caravans to transport the Shu brocade to Shazhou. The transportation fee will be 30% of the payment.”
Manager Li's gray eyebrows furrowed into a knot: "This is not in accordance with the ancestral..."
"Our Xiao Family Inn's ancestral motto is 'Adaptability,' which is engraved on the lintel." Xiao Yuhan's deep voice, imbued with sword energy, cleaved through the stagnant air, and as his black robe swept across the threshold, wisteria petals fell.
He gently touched the back of his wife's hand with the new black iron scabbard at his waist, and the sword energy actually imprinted the double fish pattern formed by the spiritual spring water onto the title page of the account book.
Su Yunlan smiled knowingly, her fingertip touching the fish eye of the Tai Chi diagram: "I would like to trouble Uncle Li to divide the camel caravan's transport capacity into ten groups, three for transporting Shu brocade and seven for transporting medicinal herbs."
The battle in Shazhou is critical, and the prefectural governor's office has issued a reward list for military supplies...
"I'll take care of it right away!" Manager Li suddenly straightened his hunched back, his cloudy eyes gleaming. "Twentieth Young Master, please replace the abacus with an hourglass from the Western Regions!"
As dusk deepened, twenty-eight glass lanterns rose in the courtyard of the inn.
Su Yunlan laid the improved duty roster on the bluestone slab, each hour mark glowing with the unique pale blue fluorescence of the spiritual spring.
Zhang, the shop assistant, stared at the sign that read "Deliveries at 3:45 AM, rest at 2:45 AM," and suddenly slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Isn't this the same principle as letting the dough rise before steaming buns?"
“That’s right.” Su Yunlan tapped her fingertip lightly, and the fluorescent light flowed into a wheat ear pattern. “Aunt Sun kneads the dough three times and lets it rest for two quarters of an hour. We’ll transport three truckloads of goods and rest for half an incense stick’s time.”
In the Xiao family's ancestral book, *Annotations on Military Movements and Rest*, ... "
"No wonder it looked familiar!" Young Master Xiao excitedly pulled open his collar, revealing the Xiao family army's insignia on his collarbone. "Back then, Fourth Brother led us in a surprise attack on the Northern Barbarian's supplies, right at three-quarters past dawn..."
"Ahem!" Xiao Yuhan suddenly flicked his finger, sending snowflakes flying from the eaves. The ice crystals shattered into starlight under the glass lamp. "Twenty, you should go check the camel caravan manifest."
Amidst the laughter of the crowd, Chef Sun suddenly pushed her way to the front, carrying a ceramic jar: "Madam, look! Following your method of layered storage, these pickled mustard greens are even crisper than the old method!" The tangy aroma in the jar, mixed with the unique refreshing scent of the spiritual spring, actually dispelled the restless stench of blood in the space.
Su Yunlan scooped up a spoonful of clear pickled vegetable brine and examined it closely by the light of the glass lamp.
In the reflection of the spiritual spring, the dark red runes on the sheepskin contract gradually dissolved in the acid, while in reality, Manager Li was leading the camel caravan leader to sign a new contract under the eaves, the cinnabar ink stains turning an eerie red in the twilight.
"Watch out!" Xiao Yuhan suddenly grabbed his wife's waist and spun around to avoid her. A broken abacus bead grazed Su Yunlan's temple and embedded itself deeply in the pillar.
Zhang hurriedly knelt down to apologize, scattering his newly made poplar wood abacus all over the ground.
Su Yunlan bent down to pick up the abacus beads, her pupils shrinking slightly—the sandalwood core was tinged with a dark red that matched the color of the contract talisman.
While tidying her hair, she flicked the abacus beads into the spiritual spring space. Blood mist immediately rose from the water's surface, but it was dispersed by the sour smell when it touched the pickling jar.
"It's alright." She smiled and helped Zhang up. "It makes me think that we should equip the accountant with a Western Regions abacus." Before she finished speaking, the snow lotus wine in the space suddenly emitted a clear sound, and the twenty-eight constellations cast misaligned star shadows on the bluestone slab.
By the time the last glass lamp was covered with a windproof screen, the inn's storeroom was already piled high with crates bearing colorful labels.
Young Master Xiao, carrying a modified water clock, moved among the shelves, the sound of flowing sand echoing the camel bells.
Manager Li, holding the newly made dual-ledger, muttered to himself, "Having lived most of my life, I never knew that property tax could be converted into transportation capacity..."
Su Yunlan leaned against the railing of the star-gazing platform, watching the gradually clearer star map of Shazhou in the spiritual spring space.
Although the blood curse on the contract was temporarily suppressed, the parchment scroll would still conjure up an ominous sign of endless yellow sand when it floated in the spring.
She dipped the jade hairpin in her hair into the spring water, and the black bird carved on the hairpin suddenly flapped its wings, startling ripples with purple light.
"Madam." Xiao Yuhan's body heat, mixed with sword energy, enveloped her from behind. As his fingertips brushed against the arrow wound behind his wife's ear, the sword energy condensed into frost flowers on her skin. "There will be a blizzard on the Shazhou trade route tonight."
Su Yunlan looked at the distorted Frostfall mark on the star chart and suddenly chuckled: "How about we have the camel caravan take the ancient Kucha route instead?"
I've heard that the snow wolves there love to chase and bite caravans, cursing them. She gripped her husband's wrist tightly, the spiritual spring energy flowing along his meridians, enveloping them in a pale blue halo.
The copper bells on the eaves tumbled on their own even without wind, startling the crows that were roosting at night.
The sounds of Western Region folk songs drifted from the backyard of the inn, mingling with the gentle clatter of the earthenware jars from which Chef Sun was pickling new vegetables, weaving a fine net in the snowy night.
(Continued from above)
Xiao Yuhan's black iron sword sheath struck the blue stone railing, and the sword energy it generated made the copper bells on the eaves ring loudly.
Suddenly, a warm sensation spread from the carved wooden railing against Su Yunlan's lower back; it turned out that her husband had used his inner strength to melt the frost flowers into spring water.
He lowered his eyes to look at the arrow wound behind his wife's ear, where the clear light of the spiritual spring lingered. His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed back the words he was about to say. The sudden tightening of his arms startled the black bird that was perched in the space.
"Fourth Brother and Fourth Sister-in-law, let go!" Young Master Xiao, holding a gilded water clock, peeked out from around the corner of the corridor. The markings made of painted pottery from the Western Regions shimmered in the moonlight. "The wolves of the ancient Kucha road really want to gnaw on the contract..."
Before he finished speaking, the water clock suddenly emitted a clear, melodious hum.
The snow lotus wine hidden in Su Yunlan's sleeve shattered upon impact, and the amber-colored liquid meandered on the bluestone slab in the shape of the Big Dipper.
As she turned around, she dipped her fingertips into the wine stains, and seven bloody claw marks suddenly appeared on the sand table in the spiritual spring space.
“Twentieth Brother should go inspect the goods.” Xiao Yuhan subtly stepped in front of his wife, his sword energy sweeping across the wine-studded map, which had already turned into rising mist. “Tomorrow at dawn, I want to see the snow wolf pelts of the Kucha Ancient Road laid out on the floor of the accounting office.”
The observatory returned to silence after the crowd dispersed, and a pale blue halo suddenly emanated from the jade hairpin in Su Yunlan's hair.
The tattered pages of the contract deep within the spiritual spring trembled violently, casting the entangled shadows of the two figures onto the glass lampshade.
Xiao Yuhan stroked his wife's slightly damp temples, and the frost flowers formed by his sword energy bloomed into twin lotus patterns the moment they touched.
"Brother Han, can you smell the aroma of braised quail with pickled bamboo shoots?" Su Yunlan suddenly pointed towards the kitchen, the steam from the spiritual spring condensing into a translucent curved blade at her fingertips. "Aunt Sun must have stolen my newly prepared Thirteen Spices..."
The unspoken words were drowned out by the sudden embrace, and Xiao Yuhan's heartbeat beneath his armor made Su Yunlan's arrow wound behind her ear feel slightly hot.
As he lowered his head, the wisteria blossoms severed by the sword energy fell softly between their overlapping robes, piecing together half a map of the Western Regions on the bluestone slab.
"Lan'er." A deep voice fell from her earlobe, where the clear light of the spiritual spring flowed, startling the slumbering pages of the pharmacopoeia within the space. "A military supply order from the Shazhou Prefectural Governor's Office, tucked with three tail feathers of a golden eagle from the northern desert."
Su Yunlan's pupils shrank sharply, and the pickled vegetable water hidden in her sleeve suddenly turned into a bloody mist.
She used the act of tilting her head back to hide a dangerous aura in her dimples: "Husband, are you perhaps craving Aunt Sun's pickled bamboo shoots?"
"Let the twentieth brother..."
Suddenly, the camel bells below the observatory rang out in disarray. Manager Li, carrying the yin-yang ledger, hurried over, his reading glasses frosted with age: "Madam, this morning the three inns in the West Market began to imitate our duty roster, even the arrangement of the glass lamps..."
“Let them learn.” Su Yunlan’s fingertips brushed over the Tai Chi diagram imprinted on the ledger, and the spiritual spring’s fluorescence suddenly surged. “Uncle Li, do you remember the batch of Persian glass that broke the other day?”
Xiao Yuhan raised an eyebrow in understanding, his sword energy carving the Xiao family's secret symbol into the blank space of the ledger: "Tomorrow, spread the word that the glass lamps at the Xiao family inn will be kept with snow mountain ice."
The midnight drum startled crows into flight, and Su Yunlan stood alone in front of the cellar door.
Eighteen earthenware urns marked with constellations slumbered within the spiritual spring barrier, their sour aromas mingling with the blood curse of the contract.
She inserted the hairpin, soaked in snow lotus wine, into the bluestone slab, and suddenly seventy-two intersecting golden lines appeared on the ground—the most secret tea-horse route of the Shazhou trade route.
The voices of Xiao Yuhan and the camel caravan leader could be heard coming from the pavilion, mixed with the crisp sound of the black iron sword sheath clashing against the golden cup.
Su Yunlan stroked the freshly pickled mustard greens and suddenly smelled a strange bitter apricot scent from the veins of the mustard greens.
The Space Pharmacopoeia flipped through the pages to the "Dove Feather" chapter, and the Western Region script on the tattered pages gradually overlapped with the patterns of the Blood Curse Contract.
"Madam!" Zhang, the shopkeeper, burst through the side gate, his nose still glistening with unmelted snowflakes. "The newly opened tavern in the East Market has hung up the exact same Twenty-Eight Mansions lantern display as ours!"
Su Yunlan dripped a drop of spiritual spring water from her fingertip onto the abacus beads, chuckling softly as she watched the blood curse dissipate: "Tomorrow, tie a tassel of mysterious ice to each glass lamp, and say it's a method of breaking evil passed down from the Xiao family."
She gazed at the stars that were beginning to shift at the corners of the eaves, when suddenly, a drop of blood, carrying the scent of lotus, oozed from the arrow wound behind her ear.
The sand table in the Spirit Spring Space is frantically reassembling. Dozens of carriages carrying identical cargo boxes vaguely emerge from the yellow sand illusion, all with strange wolf head totems carved on their shafts.