Reborn as the Villain's Wife, I Shine in 80s-Chapter 563 - 547 cooking the books

The next day, Tian Sangsang took Tang Yuan’er to the hospital again to confirm that his fever had truly subsided. Only then could she breathe a sigh of relief. The Lantern Festival had passed, and the festive atmosphere was fading. She needed to return to work.

First, Tian Sangsang dropped Meng Shuyan off at the cultural palace.

At the entrance, Meng Shuyan wore a serious expression on his delicate little face. "Mom, I’m going in now."

Thinking of the little kid who had poked him in the eye last time, Tian Sangsang was quite worried. Moreover, she felt her son was somehow different, quieter than before.

"Yanyan." She crouched down and spoke softly, "Has anyone bullied you inside? If anything like last time happens again, you must tell Mommy, okay?"

Meng Shuyan shook his head. "No one dares."

Last time was an accident—he wouldn’t let anyone poke him in the eye again.

Tian Sangsang smiled, patted his head, and said, "That’s good. Go on in~"

Standing up, she watched her son’s small figure walking away. Her son was already five years old; next year, he could start elementary school. Also, the courses at the cultural palace were nearing their end. After all, it was just to cultivate his little hobbies.

**

After entrusting Little Tangyuan to Zhao Chun’s care, Tian Sangsang headed to Yipin Fragrance House.

She had been away for quite some time and had a lot of tasks to catch up on, plenty of matters to reacquaint herself with.

"Jin Zhi," Tian Sangsang called out.

Both Jin Zhi and the customers looked over at her.

Postpartum, Tian Sangsang was just a little rounder than before but far from overweight.

Her complexion was exceptionally good, her face glowing with a fair and rosy hue, making everyone marvel at how well she maintained herself. It wasn’t just self-care; her life seemed genuinely good. There was no trace of the fragile appearance one might expect of a widow, consumed by grief.

"Ah!" Jin Zhi responded respectfully, "Boss."

"Boss Tian, you’re finally back! We’ve all missed you so much," said a customer speaking with Jin Zhi, immediately asking, "Now that spring’s here, will the store have new products coming in?"

"Mrs. Yao." Tian Sangsang recognized her instantly and replied with a smile, "The new products have already been developed. They’ll be launched for sale soon." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Taking this opportunity, Tian Sangsang glanced around and began her promotional pitch.

"Not only that, but our store will also be launching a line of perfumes soon. When the time comes, I hope you’ll continue to support us. Your patronage is what motivates Yipin Fragrance House."

"Boss Tian, you’re going to sell perfume too?"

"We’ll definitely come!"

"We’ve been waiting for Boss Tian to launch perfumes. The ones from other places never last as long as the rose moisturizing lotion’s fragrance. Can those even be called perfumes? Their scents are far too strong."

"..."

Once the crowd had dispersed, Tian Sangsang walked behind the counter. "Jin Zhi, how’s business been lately?" she asked while picking up the account book from the drawer.

In the latter months of her pregnancy, it had been Zhao Chun managing the accounts. She had reviewed them herself, of course. Every month, shop income—along with shipments to Hong Kong and other provinces—easily exceeded ten thousand. Ten thousand was the minimum; in better months, revenue reached twenty or thirty thousand.

Jin Zhi pursed her lips and twisted her hands nervously, saying, "Business has been fine."

"At first, it was slow, with fewer customers. But in the past few days, things have been picking back up."

"Hmm." Tian Sangsang nodded. Jin Zhi was diligent and meticulous in her work, and Tian Sangsang was quite satisfied with her performance. Jin Zhi had already been working here for three months. If she maintained this level of dedication and stayed through the year, Tian Sangsang planned to give her a generous red envelope for the New Year. She had never been stingy.

Employee benefits mattered too.

Seeing that the boss wasn’t asking further questions, Jin Zhi sneaked a few glances in her direction nervously. A customer happened to come in, so she quickly went to tend to them. Meanwhile, Tian Sangsang flipped through the account book, reviewing the quantities of various products sold this month. The month’s top seller was the skincare cream—no surprise there. The summer-autumn lotions, spring-winter creams, and essential oils maintained steady sales every month.

Essential oils, being luxury goods, were priced in the triple digits. Yet every month, there were customers—mostly matrons—who purchased them. On average, the store sold about 30 bottles of essential oil monthly, roughly one bottle per day.

Tian Sangsang remembered that it had been quite a while since the store produced new essential oils, so the inventory was likely running low. Based on last month’s records, 35 bottles remained. This month, halfway through, 15 bottles had already been sold. That meant only 20 were left—barely enough. Rose essential oil was the best seller, followed by lavender and citrus bergamia, while others like lemon saw fewer buyers.

Jin Zhi’s heart thudded so loudly that even her interactions with the customers felt absent-minded. When the customer left, she nervously watched the boss’s actions. The boss stepped out from behind the counter and walked toward the display cabinet as though planning to do an inventory count.

Jin Zhi opened her mouth, nearly letting out a cry.

Standing by the cabinet, Tian Sangsang counted and noticed a flash of doubt in her eyes. Fifteen bottles of essential oil—had someone misrecorded? Not a single bottle of rose essential oil remained. It was high time to produce more.

She went back to the account book, checking the original stock numbers for each product again. No problems there either.

Then how could there be five bottles missing?

"Jin Zhi."

Jin Zhi’s face went pale as she struggled to stay calm and walked over.

"The essential oils are short by five bottles. It’s unclear where the issue lies. Later, go over the account book again and see if any numbers were over- or under-reported."

Jin Zhi’s lips felt dry as she stammered nervously, "O-okay."

Tian Sangsang decided to head upstairs to the lab to clean the equipment for making new products. As she raised her head, she naturally noticed Jin Zhi biting her lip, looking alarmed.

"What’s wrong, Jin Zhi?" she asked, only just realizing how pale the young woman’s face was.

Jin Zhi shook her head violently. "Nothing!"

Having never done anything so reckless before, Jin Zhi was completely out of her depth. She had no idea whether the boss had noticed or not.

She cursed her terrible luck! It was only her first time dipping into the store’s money, and it seemed like the boss had discovered something. The boss rarely took inventory before, but this time she did it.

If she was taking stock, she was bound to notice. Yet she hadn’t said anything—what was she really thinking?

"Boss."

At the stairway, Tian Sangsang paused and looked back.

Jin Zhi was on the verge of tears, her voice trembling. "Boss, I didn’t mean it. Please don’t fire me!"

Confused, Tian Sangsang chuckled softly. "Speak properly; I won’t fire you." Why was Jin Zhi either overly deferential or terrified whenever she faced her? Did she really seem that intimidating?

Lowering her head, Jin Zhi gathered her courage and confessed, "Actually, this month we sold 20 bottles of essential oil, but I intentionally underreported five bottles. My younger brother is getting married, and my parents couldn’t come up with the betrothal money, so they asked me for help. I had no choice but to borrow from the store’s funds temporarily."

At this point, Jin Zhi looked up at Tian Sangsang with eyes full of guilt, nearly dropping to her knees. "I’ll pay it back for sure! I was desperate. I’m so sorry, Boss!" As long as she replenished the funds gradually and amended the account book, this matter could be swept under the rug. But the timing was just too unlucky—had the boss come back another day, nothing would’ve happened. She had assumed Zhao Chun would be managing things today, completely unprepared for the boss’s sudden return. Didn’t she have children to look after?