Chu Tian’s wandering hand suddenly froze, his fingertips still pressing into the soft flesh at Su Nian’s waist.
The girl’s hurried breaths brushed past his neck, carrying the sweet scent of blueberry fruit wine.
Hearing Su Nian’s words, his hand paused ever so slightly.
A hint of confusion flickered across his face as he stared at Su Nian for a long moment, as if trying to determine whether she was telling the truth.
“Oh? You’re saying there’s a problem with the accounts, and you even have a plan to improve capital efficiency?” Chu Tian narrowed his eyes, suspicion lacing his voice.
“You’re not just making excuses to fool me, are you?”
Bullying the girl before him not only allowed him to gain Annoyance Points to strengthen himself against the coming Demon Race Invasion, but also satisfied his own desires.
Clearly, there weren’t many things that could make Chu Tian stop.
But the accounts of Shadowmoon Manor and the Monster Forest Castle Region concerned the heart of his power—his true core interests.
For that reason, even if Chu Tian suspected Su Nian might be deceiving him, he still stopped to listen to what the girl had to say.
Su Nian’s heart tightened, but she forced herself to stay calm, doing her best to appear sincere.
“Master, how could I dare to lie to you?”
“I’ve carefully studied those ledgers these past few days, and truly discovered quite a few issues.”
“Besides, the plan I have in mind will definitely allow Shadowmoon Manor to earn even more money. That way, Master will have more resources to do whatever you wish.”
As she spoke, Su Nian silently prayed that this damned horned demon would believe her.
Chu Tian was silent for a moment before releasing Su Nian from his embrace and pushing her off his lap.
“Let’s hear it. If you try any tricks, you know what will happen,” he said coldly.
Su Nian quickly put some distance between herself and the damned horned demon, straightening her disheveled clothes and trying to look a little less miserable.
Taking a deep breath, her fingertips grazed the slanted ink marks on the sheepskin ledger.
Her instincts as an accountant from her previous life awakened in an instant.
She dipped her quill into the magic ink, and with a flash of water magic, a neat, professional chart appeared on an entire sheet of paper.
“Master, please take a look at these accounts.”
She turned slightly, her finger resting on the densely written records in the ledger, her gaze focused and earnest.
If she wanted to take control of the damned horned demon’s finances, she had to prove her abilities.
Otherwise, all her efforts would be in vain.
“In our Shadowmoon Manor’s traditional way of bookkeeping, the categories for income and expenditure are far too vague. Everything is jumbled together like a tangled mess—it’s impossible for us to clearly understand the Manor’s financial status.”
“Take this procurement entry, for example. It only records the total expenditure, without specifying how much was spent on each item, where it was purchased, or even the name of the supplier. All these key details are missing—this is completely unstandardized.”
As she spoke, Su Nian gently picked up the ledger, tilting it slightly to make it easier for Chu Tian to see, while gesturing in the air with her other hand, trying to make her point clearer.
“If we use classified bookkeeping, it would be completely different. We could break down income by source—like the Magic Workshop’s profits, land rental income, and so on. Expenditures would be categorized by purpose, such as daily expenses, staff salaries, and material procurement.”
“This way, when we do financial summaries every month or quarter, we’ll be able to see at a glance exactly where the Manor’s money comes from and where it’s being spent. We’ll know which projects are most profitable and which might be at risk of losses—all perfectly clear.”
Chu Tian frowned slightly, a thoughtful glint flashing in his deep eyes as he stroked his chin, clearly considering the feasibility of Su Nian’s proposal.
Seeing this, Su Nian’s heart skipped a beat.
She hurried to continue, “And regarding inventory management, right now we don’t have accurate inventory counting records. It’s like groping around in the dark—we never know when to restock or when we’ve overstocked and wasted resources.”
“I suggest we introduce a Periodic Inventory System, and use inventory turnover rate as a metric to measure the efficiency of material flow.”
“For consumables like magic materials, we need to keep a close eye on turnover rates. If the rate is too low, it means we’re overstocked and should reduce purchases.”
“On the other hand, if the turnover rate is too high, we need to restock quickly, or it’ll affect production and other operations.”
As Su Nian spoke about ways to improve capital utilization and profitability, a flash of confidence appeared in her eyes, and she unconsciously straightened her back.
“And about these Magic Phones—we need all sorts of raw materials, but their prices fluctuate wildly, like a roller coaster.”
“If we establish long-term partnerships with reputable suppliers and sign annual procurement contracts, not only can we ensure a stable supply of raw materials, but we can also get better prices through bulk purchasing. That way, our production costs will go down.”
“Plus, if we implement a Cost Accounting System in production, carefully calculating the cost of each process, we can identify areas for optimization and improve efficiency. That’ll further reduce costs and increase our profit margins.”
As Su Nian spoke at length, Chu Tian’s furrowed brow gradually relaxed.
He had to admit, what Su Nian said actually made a lot of sense.
If it weren’t for the fact that he could gain a huge amount of Annoyance Points by tormenting Su Nian, the girl before him would truly be a suitable partner to handle financial matters.
The Magic Workshop’s production of Magic Phones was based on blueprints purchased from the system and optimized further—the quality was excellent, but the problems Su Nian mentioned did exist.
The supply of raw materials for Magic Phones had always been unstable, even affecting production efficiency at times.
If things were handled as Su Nian suggested, Shadowmoon Manor’s profits could indeed rise significantly—a prospect that was undeniably good news for him.
“Hmph, it does sound reasonable,” Chu Tian nodded slightly.
“But whether these plans work or not, we’ll only know after trying them out.”
Su Nian was secretly delighted, knowing her plan had a glimmer of hope.
“Master, please rest assured. I have great confidence in these plans. As long as you give me a chance to implement them, I guarantee Shadowmoon Manor will see major changes.”
She put on a fawning smile, while inwardly calculating her next move.
“Fine, I’ll give you this chance.”
Chu Tian suddenly stood up, walked over to Su Nian, and lifted her chin with his finger, forcing her to look up at him.
“But you’d better not disappoint me, nor let me catch you playing any tricks. Otherwise, you know what will happen.”
Su Nian suppressed her disgust and nodded obediently.
“Master, just watch what I can do.”
Chu Tian brushed his hand through the girl’s hair, then casually took a pouch of Purple Gold Coins and a storeroom key from his Storage Ring, tossing them onto the table.
“Starting tomorrow, you are the Financial Chief Steward of Shadowmoon Manor.”