Tang Guo's office was different from those of ordinary employees outside. This office was not only large in area but also luxuriously decorated.
There were many antique items inside, such as tables, chairs, lamps, and oil paintings. Further inside, one could find areas like a bedroom and a bathroom.
Seeing these areas, it was clear that this room was not just for office work but also for living.
However, this was not what made Zhang Liunian the most curious. What was most peculiar was that the bookshelves and desk in the office area were completely bare, with hardly any files.
This department store building had been open for several years, so it was unlikely to be this clean.
The most probable reason for this situation was that, like the Nancheng Department Store, important documents were not kept here.
To confirm his suspicions, Zhang Liunian began to search everywhere. After a long time, he found a ledger from half a month ago in a desk drawer, along with a stack of debt proof slips.
Flipping through them casually, Zhang Liunian was certain why Tang Guo had left so readily – she had set a trap for him.
No wonder she had left so decisively. She had left him a mess to deal with, and a very big mess at that. Judging by the debts alone, they amounted to several million. How admirable.
Now, Zhang Liunian was convinced that Tang Guo was from the Tang family.
Suppressing his many thoughts, Zhang Liunian found a chair and sat down, looking at the twenty employees who had followed him.
"The office team leader, step forward," Zhang Liunian said coldly, scanning all the employees present.
A middle-aged man with a handlebar mustache stepped out, looking timid and scared. "I am the team leader."
Zhang Liunian was holding the ledger and about to speak when Zhang Qian rushed back from outside and whispered in his ear that Tang Guo had indeed gone to the nearest clinic and had not yet woken up.
Zhang Liunian nodded and told him to continue keeping watch so that no one could escape.
Zhang Qian wanted to ask if he had to monitor her so closely, but meeting Zhang Liunian's unyielding gaze, he said nothing, and turned to continue his watch.
However, his mission was destined to be in vain, because shortly after Zhang Qian left, Tang Guo immediately, and with renewed vigor, informed the forty store managers how to proceed.
These forty store managers had all been promoted by Tang Guo. Moreover, most of them were men who lusted after her beauty, so they generally obeyed her words.
When they learned that Tang Guo wanted them to deal with this sudden new boss, they did not raise any objections and all agreed to comply.
Of course, Zhang Liunian was not aware of this at the moment. He was currently asking the team leader to explain the operating model of the department store.
"Our department store has forty storefronts, and not a single one is rented out. All of them are managed by employees recruited by Manager Tang to help sell goods. As for the goods, we cooperate with factories. Ninety percent of the factories in our provincial capital supply us. We sell everything from small needles and threads to bicycles..."
The office team leader provided a detailed explanation of the department store's situation, while Zhang Liunian listened and nodded.
The department store in the provincial capital was exactly the model he wanted to implement. Making money by opening his own stores, rather than renting them out, was the way to maximize profits.
After listening to the team leader's introduction, Zhang Liunian began to examine the ledger, but his expression became increasingly grim.
The purchase prices recorded in this ledger were far higher than the market prices. This was unreasonable. No normal person would offer such prices unless they were out of their minds or deliberately setting a trap for whoever came after them.
Zhang Liunian sneered. No wonder they had accumulated millions in debt in just half a month. With the purchase prices higher than the selling prices, they were clearly trying to cheat him!
She was truly ruthless, deliberately inflating prices and then slipping away, waiting for him to come and lose money. This was a brilliant move.
If they weren't enemies, Zhang Liunian would have admired Tang Guo's methods somewhat.
But now, they were on opposing sides, and it was a matter of life and death.
Zhang Liunian suppressed his thoughts and continued to flip through. As he looked, he noticed something was wrong. Why did "Old Third's Food Factory" keep appearing among these suppliers?
If he remembered correctly, this factory was Zhu Laosan's food factory. The name was easy to remember; Zhang Liunian had noticed it the first time he saw it at the industrial and commercial office.
He picked up the ledger and flipped through it again, confirming that more than sixty percent of the goods in this department store came from Zhu Laosan. Therefore, the Tang family and Zhu Laosan had colluded long ago.
"You are the office team leader. Have you seen this purchase order? And do you know about these debt slips?" Zhang Liunian placed the ledger and debt slips on the desk, signaling the team leader to take a look.
The office team leader was stunned. He reached out and took them, flipping through them as he spoke, "I did hear the supervisor mention the debt slips, but she said there weren't many, and they were only for half a month. They settle the accounts every half month. Didn't she settle them?"
This department store had always been presented as belonging to someone else, with Tang Guo merely as a supervisor managing it. Almost none of the staff knew that this department store was owned by Tang Guo's family. She was essentially working for her own family.
"..." Zhang Liunian's mouth twitched. Settling accounts every half month, wasn't that just waiting for him to clean up the mess? What a clever calculation.
"How did so much accumulate? And why have the purchase prices doubled?" The office team leader, while flipping through the documents, was surprised to find something amiss.
Putting aside the large numbers on the debt slips, why had the purchase prices suddenly quadrupled?
"These prices must be fake. I looked at the purchase prices last month, and they were less than half of what they are now. How could this happen?" After speaking, the office team leader suddenly seemed to realize something and muttered, "Could it be that Supervisor Tang deliberately did this? But why would she do that?"
The department store didn't belong to Tang Guo's family; she had no reason to harm the new boss like this.
The office team leader couldn't understand, but Zhang Liunian could guess the reason and said with a cold smile, "The previous owner of the department store was surnamed Tang, and Tang Guo is also surnamed Tang. Do you understand?"
"What? The owner of the department store is surnamed Tang? Tang Guo is also surnamed Tang, are they from the same Tang family? Does that mean this department store used to belong to Tang Guo's family?" The office team leader was shocked, and the other staff members' mouths hung open.
They had never expected this hidden connection. This Supervisor Tang had kept it truly secret. After working for several years, they still didn't know that this department store was owned by her family.
"Team leader, let me ask you, how much profit does the department store make per month? Is there any money in the account now?"
Looking at these messy accounts, Zhang Liunian suddenly became curious about how much the department store could earn per month and if there was any money left in the account.
However, to his disappointment, the office team leader knew nothing about the profits. "All the accounts are managed by the supervisor. Only she knows how much money there is. As for the monthly profit, only the supervisor knows. We have no idea. Although we participate in the statistics every month, the supervisor guards against us and makes us recount, so to know how much money is earned each month, we still have to look at the ledger."