For the educated young ladies in Hailan City, they were weak and ignorant before marriage, and were as beautiful as fake flowers inserted in a high celadon bottle.

But when they got married, they turned into the majestic hostess in the family: they managed the servants in the whole family in an orderly manner, making the living room, study, bedroom and the male host’s dress spotless, and at the same time ensuring that the kitchen can provide decent food, etc.

Is marriage really so magical that it can transform an ignorant girl into a qualified hostess overnight?

That is certainly impossible.

In fact, the ignorance before marriage is just a disguise. In order to shoulder the responsibility of a hostess in the future, in this era, every woman of a good background has received a lot of training before reaching the age of marriage.

They have been with their mothers since childhood, learning how to run the entire mansion. When they get married, they will take over another family with their servants, dowry and enough ability.

Men feel that women are weak and ignorant, while ladies skillfully use this to play with men in their palms, a little secret between ladies that are unknown to gentlemen.

If you want to blame the blinded men, blame this society. Who made this society set the goal of unmarried ladies to find a good husband?

The Navare family is naturally the same. Just like every decent family in the Aquarium City, Anna Navare has been trained by her mother in the direction of an excellent wife and mistress since she was sensible.

Even compared to ordinary ladies from famous families, Mrs. Navare has higher requirements for her eldest daughter.

Ordinary ladies from famous families will give birth to children after getting married, raise children, and manage everything in the house very well.

But there are only so many things. In the eyes of ladies, things outside the family should be the responsibility of gentlemen and should not interfere casually.

For a woman, showing off her job like a man is a very inappropriate behavior and will cause everyone to talk about unless... unless she is a widow.

As a respectable widow, Mrs. Navare not only demands her eldest daughter to become a qualified hostess, but also hopes that Anna can have a better business mind than men, take on responsibilities that should not be borne by women in the traditional concept, and one day in the future to manage the operation of Navare's business - at least not lose this property because of the incompetence of the heirs.

So every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon, when Mrs. Navare came to work in the large office of the Navare Trading Company, Anna would quietly sit next to Mrs. Navare's large mahogany desk, use a knife to help her mother open one letter after another, assist Mrs. Navare to check the accounts, listen to the employees' reports, and watch Mrs. Navare's decision-making process silently.

"Mr. Lodovico." Mrs. Navare's tone was gentle and magnetic. She asked slowly: "Can you explain why I gave you a written order two months ago, but until today I haven't even reached half of the planned purchase?"

The employee's chair is two meters away from Madame Navare's desk, located in the center of this empty office. This chair is not easy to sit in, and there is no cover in front of him and there is nothing around him. The entire office is arranged to make the person sitting on the chair feel that he is being seen through.

But the middle-aged man sitting opposite Mrs. Navare is not as nervous as the young employees. He sat upright in the chair, holding the hat in his hand, and combed his hair with a few silver threads meticulously.

Lodovico replied calmly: "Madam, the prices of sulfur, saltpeter, lead and iron are rising steadily. There are still many competitors on the market who are competing with us for goods. The current inventory is the result of our full purchase. Moreover, if you buy the quantity you require at the current price, most of our liquidity on the books will be drained. Our main business direction is not these bulk goods, and I am sorry that I cannot agree with your speculation."

"You make sense." Mrs. Navare nodded with praise. She knocked on the bell on the table, and the maid who was standing outside the office pushed open the door.

"Please come to me all the senior partners." Mrs. Navare ordered loudly.

The maid nodded and closed the door again.

Anna vaguely noticed that the atmosphere seemed to have changed and became more serious. The soft hat on Lodovecco's hand had been deformed by him, but he still pretended to be calm and his face was as calm as usual.

Senior partners above the head of the Navare Trading Company entered one after another. They exchanged words with their eyes, and stood roughly in a row, with only Lodovico sitting alone.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen." Mrs. Navare greeted her.

The senior partners also pressed their hats on their chests and bowed their heads to their gifts.

"Since everyone is here, Mr. Lodovico can explain these two books of light and darkness to us." Mrs. Navare took out the two books of black cover from the drawer.

When Lodovico saw these two books, his face looked like earth, and he lowered his head and said nothing.

The senior partners were all senior businessmen, and they immediately understood what was going on when they heard the word "light and dark" books. The office was so quiet that they could hear the sound of a needle falling to the ground. Everyone held their breath and listened to Mrs. Navare's words down.

"What is the difference between these two books? The difference is that one of them records all transactions in Navare's purchase of bulk sulfur, saltpeter and other goods in the past two months, while the other erases most of the transaction records and leaves only a small part of the content."

Mrs. Navare threw the account book on the desk: "Mr. Lodovico, your idea is perfect. You hand over the goods purchased by the Navare Trading Company to your wife and brother-in-law. If the price of these bulk goods rises, you take out the fake account book and sell it to make a lot of money. If the price drops, you take out the real account book and the merchant will bear the losses."

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content later! Anna found that Mrs. Navare was signaling herself with her eyes. She understood her mother's meaning and obediently picked up the account book and gave it to the senior partners present, but no one dared to take it over and check it carefully. After walking around, she took the account book back.

"What did I do to make you so disrespect me?" Mrs. Navare's tone was cold: "You have worked in Navare's house for more than ten years and are the most senior partner. I trust you, but you failed me. Do you have anything else to say?"

Since Madame Navare took out two books just now, Lodovico lowered his head deeply, and no one knew what the most senior employee was thinking.

After a while, he raised his head and found his calmness and calmness: "There is no distinction between true and false in the account books, one of them is my deduction. The goods purchased by Navare Trading Company are only so many in the warehouse, which corresponds to the real books one by one. I did not use the money from the storehouse to make profits for myself. Since you no longer trust me, please allow me to resign."

Lodovico calmly sorted out his clothes, put on his hat, and stood up to leave. At this moment, he became the chief partner of Navare Trading Company alone and above everyone else.

"What are you still gritting your teeth and holding on? I hope Mr. Yano can continue to stand on your side and fill the deficit when you leave here?" Mrs. Navare asked slowly.

The senior partners were in a hurry, but unexpectedly, Mrs. Navare pointed out another big rat. Another tall and thin senior partner was pushed out of the crowd. He bowed to Mrs. Navare at a loss, opened and closed his mouth, and finally chose to be a mute and said nothing.

"You are so fearless now that you think that the account you made is not leaking, and the company's money is not a lot of silver coins. But you mortgaged the inventory of fabrics and used them as the principal for purchasing bulk goods. Do you think I can't find out?" Mrs. Navare took out a few more documents from the drawer and asked with a smile.

Lodovico politely replied: "It is Mr. Yano's personal behavior to mortgage the inventory of the shop privately. I don't know what it has to do with me. You should hold Mr. Yano responsible."

"Madam! I never thought of embezzling the money from a business company! It was Lodovico who said it needed some money to turn over me to do this!" Yano, who was shocked to have been sold, shouted: "It was Lodovico who lured me! He is the devil!"

Arno rushed towards Lodovico: "You devil..."

Lodovico punched the tall and thin Yano in front of him, who covered his face and fell to the ground and moaned in pain. Seeing blood flowing out of Yano's fingers, Anna couldn't help but exclaim.

"I laughed, madam, lady, gentlemen." Lodovico took off his hat gracefully and bowed to the people in the room, as if he was really sorry for his movements in public: "Mr. Yano is not my partner. We only have a loan relationship and a loan evidence. As for where the money Mr. Yano lent me came from, haha, I don't know."

After saying that, Lodovico put on his soft hat again and turned around and was about to leave here.

A burst of applause came from behind the desk.

"Excellent, really wonderful, Mr. Lodovico." Mrs. Navare clapped and said with a smile: "You have created a complete logic that will completely remove yourself from legal principles. Even if I accuse you, you can defend yourself in court. But you have made one mistake..."

Mrs. Navare's tone changed: "I can be unreasonable."

Mrs. Navare pressed the bell on the table again, and under the leadership of an army academy officer, several vicious army soldiers walked out of the room next to the office.

The army soldier walked up and grabbed Lodovecco without saying a word. The latter shouted and resisted for a moment, and was hit hard on the face by a soldier with a lead-filled stick.

Lodovico, who was beaten to the point of death with one stick, was then tied up firmly.

Mrs. Navare walked to Lodovico from behind the desk, looked down at the latter and said coldly: "Navare Trading Company signed a transaction agreement with the Army two months ago. You are not reselling my goods, you are reselling the army's military funds. So, go to the military court to reason, Mr. Lodovico!"

The Army Academy nodded to Madame Navare and took both Lodovico and Yano away.

Seeing the widow's skills, the remaining senior partners of the Navare Trading Company are now as quiet as a chicken.

"Mr. Leo." Mrs. Navare called another senior partner's name.

Uneasiness spread among the crowd. Could it be that Mrs. Navare was going to take this opportunity to reshuffle the cards?

A fat, medium-tall man stood up and smiled flatteringly to greet Mrs. Navare.

"You will take over the responsibility of Lodovico in the future, and the intermediate partner Pierro will take over your current position. Others can leave, Mr. Leo, please stay."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, it seemed that this matter had come to an end for the time being.

After the other partners left, the fat Mr. Leo asked tentatively: "Madam, then do we still have to continue to purchase sulfur, saltpeter and other goods as planned? The price is already very high."

"Continue, the price will be higher in the future." Mrs. Navare leaned against the chair and replied tiredly, holding her forehead.

——————

"I don't think it's necessary to treat Mr. Lodovico like that. It's too cruel... He's a friend of our family for many years after all, and he's even hugged Kate... Those soldiers won't let him go easily."

Sitting in the carriage home, Anna whispered to her mother.

"You... have taught you for so many years, but you still don't understand?" Mrs. Navare sighed: "The world outside the family is the world of men, so women's style must be more manly than men so that they will not be despised. If your father is still there, will Lodovico dare to do this? So I have to be more cruel and ruthless than your father to protect our family's property. You must keep it in your heart."

This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Then isn't it good for you to teach Catherine?" Anna muttered in a low voice: "She likes doing business very much. You took me to the business, and she was almost jealous. I think it's still time for you to start teaching her now, and she will be happy. Why do you have to do it? I don't like reading the account book. Wouldn't it be better to let the right people do the right things?"

Mrs. Navare sighed again: "What your sister likes is just the feeling that can be used to instruct people. When your two sisters get married, I will prepare a lot of dowry. I will make them the most generous wives in Hailan City's dowry, but I cannot let Kate take charge of the business."

Anna pouted and snorted.

Seeing her daughter was still very dissatisfied, Mrs. Navare warned Anna earnestly: "Listen, it is not a power, but a responsibility. It is a responsibility of parents. If you assume this responsibility, you have to take care of your two sisters for the rest of your life."

Mrs. Navare fell into memories and continued, "When you were a kid, you were caught and injured, but Kate cried and complained to me, and you didn't shed a single tear. At that time, I realized that your sister could only bloom in the middle of summer. If the world became worse, Kate would not survive on his own. That's why I chose you."

"I don't want to take care of Catherine for the rest of my life." Anna said dissatisfiedly: "It's okay to take care of Olivia, Catherine... Katherine doesn't need me to take care of her, and she has never treated me as her sister."

Mrs. Navare sorted out her hair for her daughter and said with a smile: "When you grow up, you will think about the fight you have had with your sister, which will be a wonderful memory."

The carriage drove out of the suburbs and returned to the Navare Manor.
Chapter completed!