At the first quarter of the Mao hour, dew still clung to the bamboo blinds of Qinghe Courtyard as Jiang Wan sat at her desk, spreading out a thick ledger. When Nanny Zhou entered carrying an abacus and saw the faint dark circles under Jiang Wan’s eyes, she couldn't help but say, "Eldest Miss, you were reconciling the warehouse accounts until the Zi hour last night. You should rest a while longer today."
"It's fine," Jiang Wan said, rubbing her temples as her fingertip traced the entry for "cosmetics and powders." "Father said he would examine me on last month's income today; I cannot afford to be sloppy." She pointed to some red ink in the ledger. "Nanny Zhou, the rouge from the Jade Pavilion is thirty percent more expensive than it was last year. Has something happened?"
Nanny Zhou leaned in for a closer look, her brow furrowing. "I recall that the proprietor of the Jade Pavilion is a distant relative of Madame Li. Perhaps..." She suddenly stopped, let out a cough, and continued, "Perhaps the harvest of rouge flowers was poor this year."
Chapter 19