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nTranslator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

nXue Xi was taken aback when she heard this.

nIn her seemingly sensible, but truthfully unreasonable, way, Liu Yiqiu continued, “You obtained First Place in the Math Star Competition, so you will definitely score well in the National Competition too. This means that you will get a direct admission to college, and so the Physics Olympiad is just a complement to the crowning touch. But your younger sister can also get a direct admission if she obtains the top sixty position. News of both sisters in the Xue family getting direct admissions would look good on us.”

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nOld Lady Xue was inclined toward the idea. “Yes, then our family can be rid of the nouveau riche reputation. Xue Xi, go withdraw from the Physics Olympiad class tomorrow.”

nXue Xi apathetically looked at the three people. She paused for a while, then said, “The top sixty will all get direct admission.”

nWhat she meant was: Other than mine, there’d be 59 other positions.

nAlthough Xue Yao was good in Physics, she was not among the crème de la crème of the cohort. Hence, whether she gave her the chance or not was a non-issue.

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nLiu Yiqiu smiled. “Having one less competitor means having a higher chance, doesn’t it? Xixi, do you agree? Second Aunt will give you another Hermes!”

n“Give what? With that money, I’d rather you buy another dress for our Yaoyao!” Old Lady Xue chided. “We are family and we should help each other. This matter is settled! Xue Xi, do you hear me?”

nXue Xi slowly replied, “Yes.”

nA rare smile blossomed on the old lady’s face. “That’s more like it…”

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n“… But I don’t agree.”

nThe old lady’s smile froze. “What?”

nWithout giving her another look, Xue Xi returned the gift box to Liu Yiqiu and made a beeline for the stairs.

nOld Lady Xue shouted, “Truly an ingrate who cannot be nurtured! I knew that she will only bring misfortune to our house! And also her mother! She can’t even get her accounts right and is still fumbling with that mess. Yiqiu, now that you are back, go take over the family reins!”

nA light flashed in Liu Yiqiu’s eyes. “Mom, we’ll talk about this later.”

nHalfway up the stairs, Xue Xi stopped when she heard this. She then turned to the servant cleaning up on the second floor. “Where is my mom?”

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n“She is in the backyard garden.”

nWith a pondering look, she nodded, went upstairs to put down her bag, then went down the stairs for the rear end of the house.

n…

nYe Li had a splitting headache.

nThe four people in the kitchen had pushed the blame around for the breakfast incident. In the end, the truth could not be found. Hence, she decided to cut half a months’ worth of wages for each of them and promoted Xiao Fang as the kitchen supervisor. If anything happened again in the future, she would directly look for her.

nThis method was one that Xue Sheng used for the company. It would be a similarly useful method here.

nHowever, after a whole day, the house seemed to be in a mess.

nShe had been so busy that she’d had no time to rest. Now, she was even still collating August’s bill and September’s expenditure with the person in charge of finances.

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nThe person-in-charge of the household finances was the old lady’s nephew from her maternal family, Liu Hao. He was a man in his forties who did not attach any importance to Ye Li. He was currently reporting with a smile:

n“… Madam, look at this page. It shows the daily expenditure. Eggs cost 2.80 yuan each. Fifty eggs are used for the family members’ meals daily and another fifty for the employees. We used 89 eggs at the beginning of the month for the banquet. Moreover, eggs are fragile and there were some losses during transport. The losses are 2%. This is the expenditure for eggs, and there are also those for greens, pork, beef, chicken… Madam, have you remembered all of them?”

n“…”

nYe Li rubbed her temples. “Report the total amount.”

nLiu Hao gave an exaggerated number.

nYe Li frowned. She felt that they would not have to use this much money. However, Liu Hao either reported each item’s cost, down to the minute details, or immediately reported the total amount to ask for money. He was totally uncooperative!

nHe even threatened, “Madam, the old madam managed it like this back then too. Nothing has ever happened. Look, the sky is already turning dark. Therefore, hurry and let me claim the money for the next month so that I can move things on and arrange them. Otherwise, if we delay the next month’s events, the old master will get angry again.”

nTomorrow was the first of September. If she did not give in now, he would dare to stop all the produce for tomorrow and push the blame onto her!

nYe Li was so furious that her chest hurt.

nLiu Hao gave a smug smile. He had been managing the household expenses for many years and had siphoned off quite a bit since a long time ago.

nTrying to make him reduce the daily expenditures with just a recently-instated Ye Li? That’s impossible!

nSeeing that Ye Li refused to give in, he said contemptuously, “Madam, hurry. Everything out there requires money. If you are unable to make a decision, then you should just return the housekeeping rights to the old madam.”

nYe Li’s face turned red and green from the mockery.

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nJust as Liu Hao was feeling smug, a cold voice sounded. “The eggs cost 8,825.71429 yuan in total.”

nLiu Hao: “?”

nHe turned around and saw Xue Xi walking over slowly.

nThe girl was still dressed in her uniform and had a ponytail. As she slowly strode over, she gave off an inexplicably oppressing aura.

nHer eyes were lowered as she stood beside Ye Li, as though protecting the latter. She then looked at Liu Hao. “You can report on the greens now.”

nNot believing that she could repeat the feat, he immediately reported, “The calculations for greens are even more complicated. The household eats organic vegetables and so the prices are more expensive. In addition, the prices are also different every day. On the first, spinach was 500 grams, bamboo shoots were one kilogram…”

nHe blabbered on for five minutes and reported the greens used for the entire month. Disregarding Ye Li, even he himself was a little dizzy from the report, so the slow-witted Xue Xi should be even more confused, right?

nAlas, right as he finished speaking, Xue Xi returned to him an accurate number!

nHe was totally dumbstruck and appalled!

nXue Xi continued expressionlessly, “Continue.”

nLiu Hao was sweating cold buckets by now.

nThis girl’s mental calculation is faster than a computer’s!

nHe wiped his sweat and, under Xue Xi’s forceful prompts, he reported another few items.

nHalf an hour later, both his legs already felt like jelly. That was because the accounts were full of holes and errors.

nHe had originally planned out the time properly such that Ye Li would not have the time to get someone else to check the accounts. Hence, he did not prepare thoroughly, but now…

nXue Xi used one and a half hours’ time and recalculated the entire accounts. In the end, she found out that Liu Hao had reported 800,000 yuan higher than the actual amount!

nYe Li directly took the accounts book away, leaving Liu Hao to sit on the ground alone.

n…

nXue Xi did not care what happened next.

nAfter she had dinner and was studying, she could vaguely hear Old Master Xue’s furious roar and Old Lady Xue begging for forgiveness.

nThe next day, Ye Li informed her that Liu Hao had been sacked.

nWith Old Lady Xue’s maternal family totally removed, no one in the Xue family dared to create trouble again.

nXue Xi nodded and left for school.

nAs usual, she alighted at the provision store, and after having breakfast, she held hands with Xiang Huai for two minutes. In those two minutes, she deigned to even look at him.

nWhen her heart no longer hurt, she moved to stand up with a cold expression. At this moment, Lu Chao suddenly said, “Student Xue, the weird thing that happened to you is actually not Boss’s doing!”

nXue Xi slowly turned her head when she heard this. “… What?”

nLu Chao decided to not care anymore.

nEver since she started ignoring him, his boss would always have a gloomy look. He could not survive in the provision store like this any longer!

nNo matter what, he had to explain everything clearly. He could not let Xue Xi continue misunderstanding the situation!

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