Lucky Draws the Map

Yuanbao spread that thing flat on the table. Su Li took a look and realized it was the map of Qingmiao City she had made when signing contracts with the villagers.

The map clearly marked the territory of each family's vegetable-selling influence.

Then Yuanbao held the account book in front of him. Su Li made a curious sound, not knowing what Yuanbao was planning to do.

Yuanbao flipped through the account book from the beginning, then found some paper and pen to write and draw.

Su Li found it interesting and watched from the side. It turned out Yuanbao was extracting each family's daily vegetable purchase amounts to create a purchase increase and decrease chart for each family.

Then Yuanbao filled the data of vegetable purchase increases and decreases onto the map.

In this way, the map became a chart of each family's vegetable purchase volumes. From the map, one could see not only each family's vegetable-selling territory but also the changes in their sales volume over time.

A look of surprise flashed in Su Li's eyes. This was a method commonly used in modern statistics, but she had never seen anyone use it in ancient times. How did her silly husband Yuanbao come up with such a clever method?

Before Su Li could ponder this question, Yuanbao pointed at the map and said to her, "Wife, look, Uncle San's family's vegetable purchases had been stable before, then suddenly surged. Then look beside Uncle San's vegetable-selling territory, the Hua family. Their vegetable purchases were initially stable, then steadily increased. But when Uncle San's sales went up, the Hua family's sales suddenly dropped a lot, even below their first day's volume. Isn't that suspicious?"

Su Li made a curious sound and leaned in to take a closer look. It was indeed as Yuanbao said.

Su Li knew the Hua uncle well. His wife, Aunt Hua, made the best pickled vegetables in the village. A while ago, when she came to deliver festival gifts, Aunt Hua told Su Li that when she sold vegetables, she also gave customers some pickled vegetables. This not only boosted vegetable sales but also helped sell some pickles.

At that time, Su Li even praised Aunt Hua for being smart and good at business. Normally, a business-savvy family like the Hua family should have steadily increasing sales, but such a sudden drop was very abnormal.

Especially when Uncle San's sales increased, the Hua family's decrease was even more unusual.

Su Li stroked her chin and thought of a possibility: "Yuanbao, do you think Uncle San's family might have taken over Uncle Hua's territory? That's why Uncle San's sales increased while Uncle Hua's decreased."

Yuanbao looked at Su Li with adoring eyes, pulling her into his arms and nodding, "What you said, my wife, is very likely."

"If that's the case, Uncle San's family is too much! The agreed territories can't be forcibly taken over for malicious competition. How could he steal Uncle Hua's territory!" Su Li was very angry about this. She didn't expect the first to ruin her market would be her own Uncle San! Even the Tang family had been honest and caused no trouble, but Uncle San's family made Su Li feel cold inside.

Su Li thought for a moment. Uncle San and his son were honest and simple, so it was probably Sun Shi causing trouble! No wonder Sun Shi came to take vegetables a second time; it must have been secretly after Uncle San's family went into town.

"Tomorrow I'll have Qingmu take a servant to follow Uncle San's family, preferably catching them red-handed, so no one can deny it. If Uncle San's family really openly breaks the rules and ruins my market, then don't blame me for not showing family mercy and handling it by the rules."

Su Li rubbed her head worriedly. She knew she would have to make an example of someone sooner or later, though she didn't want Uncle San's family to be the "chicken" that got slaughtered.