I am the villain in the book

As Wei Changtian's woman, Comrade Xiao Xu's position in Shu Prefecture was essentially equivalent to that of a noble concubine in the imperial palace.

It would have been fine if such a noble "princess" insisted on paying for her stay at the inn, but why was she being so meticulous?

The key point was that she was also the chief manager of Yingfengsheng, with a fortune of millions, so she shouldn't be short of money!

The brocade-clad manager didn't know what to say for a moment, feeling as if he was hallucinating.

But when he saw Xu Qingwan's serious expression, which didn't seem like she was joking, he finally swallowed his saliva and hurriedly ordered the waiter to fetch nine taels and four qian of silver, then respectfully handed it to Xu Qingwan.

"Madam, here's the silver."

"Mm."

Xu Qingwan nodded, pinched a few pieces of broken silver hard, and only after confirming they were all "real money" did she satisfiedly put them into her small bundle.

“. . . ”

Good heavens!

Are you being a little too cautious?

Even if you gave me ten guts, I wouldn't dare to give you fake money!

Countless question marks popped up in the manager's mind, but he had to maintain an extremely stiff smile on his face.

At this moment, as a gust of breeze passed through the hall, Wei Changtian also happened to walk into the inn's front hall.

"Wan'er, have you packed everything up?"

He walked straight to Xu Qingwan, smiling as he said, "If you're ready, let's set off."

"Mm, I'm ready."

Xu Qingwan pointed to a few packages placed on the table: "I've also organized your clothes."

"Okay."

Wei Changtian waved his hand, and immediately a guard stepped forward to pick up the packages and walk out of the room.

"Then let's go, leaving earlier means returning earlier."

"Okay."

Comrade Xiao Xu nodded slightly, then, holding her small bundle, she was about to follow Wei Changtian into the carriage to return to Shu Prefecture City.

However, after the two had walked a few steps, Wei Changtian seemed to remember something and suddenly turned back to the inn manager, who was still standing in place, and casually took out a silver note from his pocket.

"Manager, I've disturbed your business these past two days."

"Accept this silver note; consider the extra as a tip."

“. . . ”

"Gulp. . . "

His Adam's apple bobbing, the inn manager stared blankly at the words "One Hundred Taels of Silver" on the silver note, then looked up at Xu Qingwan, who was standing behind Wei Changtian with a very "kind" gaze.

"Ah! Young Master Wei! This, this money, I can't accept it!"

A wail suddenly rang out, and in Wei Changtian's puzzled gaze, the manager didn't even have time to wipe the fine beads of sweat from his forehead, but frantically waved his hands repeatedly.

"Madam has already paid the room fee!"

"Is that so?"

Amidst the inn manager's farewell of "Young Master, Madam, take care", which seemed somewhat trembling, the two quickly got into the carriage.

“. . . ”

"Why did the inn manager look a little apprehensive?"

After the carriage slowly started moving, Wei Changtian casually asked Xu Qingwan, "How much silver did you give him?"

"Six qian."

Comrade Xiao Xu replied seriously, "We stayed for two days, three qian per day, which is six qian in total."

"Hahahaha!"

Wei Changtian immediately understood why the manager had reacted that way just now, and couldn't help but laugh: "You really calculated it clearly."

"Of course."

Xu Qingwan nodded seriously, not feeling ashamed but rather proud, saying: "Madam Wei said that business people must be meticulous."

"Not a single wen of silver should be spent if it's not necessary, and not a single wen of silver should be saved if it is necessary."

"Haha, are you so obedient to Wei Yanyu now?"

Wei Changtian teased with a smile, "Whatever she says is what you do?"

"What Madam Wei says makes sense."

Xu Qingwan defended in a low voice, "If what she said didn't make sense, then I wouldn't listen."

"Is that so? What about me?"

Wei Changtian suddenly became interested, leaning forward and asking again: "If I asked you to do something you thought was wrong, would you do it?"

"Mm, I would."

Comrade Xiao Xu gave the answer without the slightest hesitation, and then saw Wei Changtian suddenly reach his hand out in front of her.

"Give me a thousand taels."

"Oh."

Xu Qingwan nodded blankly, obediently opened her small bundle, counted out a thousand taels of silver notes, and handed them to Wei Changtian.

She originally didn't plan to ask Wei Changtian what he was going to do, but seeing the latter's mischievous expression, she couldn't help but ask in a low voice:

"What are you going to do with so much silver?"

"Hehe. . . "

Wei Changtian didn't answer directly, but smiled and lifted the curtain, instructing a guard who was riding a horse alongside the carriage: "Take this silver note to the manager of Floating Cloud Inn, and say it's a reward from me."

"Yes!"

The guard immediately responded, took the silver note, turned his horse around, and galloped back the way he came.

The Comrade Xiao Xu in the carriage was dumbfounded at this moment.

Her mouth was wide open, and her small hand reached out in mid-air, seemingly wanting to "recover" the silver note that had already gone away.

More importantly, perhaps due to being too anxious, tears suddenly welled up in her wide eyes.

Uh. . .

Wei Changtian, who originally wanted to make a joke, was stunned when he saw this, and hurriedly raised the stack of silver notes in his hand.

"Well, the silver notes are still with me."

"I was just joking with you, why are you crying?"

"Ah?"

Xu Qingwan blankly took the silver notes, wiped away her tears, and then carefully counted them again, immediately raising her head and questioning in a low voice:

"Why, why is there one missing?"

"That. . . I just gave away a hundred taels."

Wei Changtian touched his nose, feeling inexplicably a little guilty: "We stayed at the inn for two days, and they didn't make any business for two days, so giving a hundred taels isn't too much, right?"

“. . . ”

Glancing at Wei Changtian, Comrade Xiao Xu put the remaining nine hundred taels back into her small bundle and began to count the accounts on her fingers.

"That inn only has twenty rooms in total."

"Each room costs three qian per day, so even if it's fully occupied, it's only six taels, and two days is only twelve taels."

"You're good; you gave eighty-eight taels more all at once."

"Do you know how much stuff so much silver can buy?"

“. . . ”

Counting the accounts with red eyes, Xu Qingwan's current appearance was very much like a wronged little wife.

She wanted to blame her husband for spending money recklessly, but she couldn't bear to, so she could only try to make Wei Changtian understand how much money eighty-eight taels of silver was by reasoning.

And Wei Changtian actually felt more and more guilty as he listened, even harboring the idea of sending someone to get the hundred tael silver note back.

A Wei family's only son, the "behind-the-scenes emperor" of Shu.

A Wei family's daughter-in-law, the chief manager of Yingfengsheng.

The two big shots, whose net worth was at least in the millions, were now greatly regretting because of a mere eighty-eight taels of silver. . . How strange this scene looked.

Fortunately, Comrade Xiao Xu wasn't really stingy. Seeing that the "educational purpose" had been achieved, she let go.

"Let's just forget about the hundred taels this time."

"But you're not allowed to spend money recklessly like this next time, okay?"

"Okay!"

Looking at Xu Qingwan's aggrieved and pitiful appearance, how could Wei Changtian refuse? He hurriedly assured her again and again: "Don't worry! I will definitely be careful and calculating when I spend money in the future! I will definitely not waste another wen!"

"Mm."

Comrade Xiao Xu first breathed a sigh of relief with satisfaction, and then added: "I'm only forbidding you from spending money recklessly; the money that should be spent still needs to be spent."

"I know."

Wei Changtian nodded, just preparing to say something more.

However, at this moment, the carriage, which was originally speeding along, suddenly began to slow down, and soon came to a complete stop.

Mm?

Wei Changtian frowned, lifted the curtain, and asked the coachman.

"What's wrong? Why did you stop?"

"Young Master. . . "

The coachman pointed to a figure in front, who was hurrying towards them at a quick pace: "It's Young Master Chu."

Chu Xianping?

Why did he suddenly stop the carriage?

Wei Changtian instantly realized that something extremely important must have happened, but he couldn't imagine what it could be.

"Brother Chu!"

Getting out of the carriage, he simply took the initiative to meet him, frowning as he asked: "What happened?"

"Young Master, I just received a message from the Gongji Society."

Chu Xianping's expression wasn't ugly, but his speech was very fast.

"The Kui Dragon Jade Pendant that you deposited in the Gongji Society suddenly became hot a quarter of an hour ago, and a line of small characters appeared on the surface of the pendant."

"What?"

Wei Changtian was stunned when he heard this: "There are words?"

"Yes."

Chu Xianping nodded, then whispered the content of that line of small characters.

"October 18th, Zi hour, there are important matters to discuss."