The head of the Bifta family left and Ki began to sort out her room and lay down to sleep.
The next day she joined Miranda and Evie to the restaurant for a meal and then inspected the account books.
Everything was in order and there were many profits made over the years so Ki did not need to do anything but she gave the staff some encouragement and told them to keep working hard as a team and they would be taken care of.
After she left she began to make some notes on how the restaurant could be improved and if anything was worth investing in.
Small bonuses were also given to the workers within the restaurant as Ki left to look over her mothers clothing store.
Within the store Ki held a book which contained her notes and greeted the manager of the store. "Hello, I would like to place an order for 51 sets of black martial uniforms with matching cloaks for an adults build. Could I also order a mix of 20 grey martial uniforms for the age ranges of 8 and 16. I also would like a logo printed or embroidered on the chest. The sizes for the black martial uniforms and the genders are noted down and the logo is drawn here too."
Several papers were handed to the store manager and they began to read it carefully after they realised they were dealing with the daughter of the founder of the store.
The manager nodded upon finishing reading and seriously spoke. "It can all be sent to the village but young miss why have you come personally? You could of just made an order through the family."
She had recognised Ki because she was escorted by Miranda who had met and dealt with the store in the past.
The way Miranda acted towards Ki made it obvious what her identity was so naturally the store manager noticed this quickly.
"I'm here to inspect the family businesses." Ki looked up into her eyes and asked. "Can I see the account books?"
"Of course Young miss!" The manager quickly went to the back room and came back with the account book.
While reading it Ki began to look at the profits and nodded but as she continued to read she noticed something wrong.
The manager noticed this and carefully asked. "Is there something wrong Young miss?"
Ki shut the account book and sighed. "I expected this.. so what is the problem for the lowered profits and sales? Have the customers made any comments?"
The manager thought for a moment and explained. "It's the lack of variety and styles of clothing that are the problem. We started up well as one the sole seller of the martial clothing for training, guards, mercenaries or sects within the area but as time went by the sales decreased as others started up similar businesses. Customers stated that while the clothing are cheap and durable the higher class or richer customers did not have much to purchase for themselves."
Ki thought for a moment and began to write down in her notes once more. 'Hmm.. I need to implement better clothing designs for the different seasons soon and begin to improve the quality of the materials used. The higher the quality, the more expensive and the less that can be sold to customers… the summer season is approaching so I could draw up a couple of dress designs that were popular in the future and ask mom to experiment with the materials.'
Ki quickly ended the inspection and left. "Thanks for your hard work."
More rewards were given to those within the clothing store before she left and soon she arrived at the tea pavilion.
She sat and ordered along with Miranda and Evie. "Two mulberry teas and a fruit drink. Can we also get a selection some small cakes and biscuits to go with them please."
The waiter was dressed very neatly according to the strict rules set by Ki during the first opening of the tea pavilion and displayed their polite gestures during their work serving many people after undergoing their etiquette training.
The waiter bowed politely after memorising the order and left. "Your order will be with you soon."
'So far so good on the surface…' Ki looked towards the retreating waiter and smile calmly.
After waiting the tea pot and cups were brought along with a plate of small snacks and a fruit drink.
After taking a sip of the tea Ki immediately frowned and looked towards Miranda.
Miranda quickly noticed her look and took a sip of the tea and sighed as if disappointed. "This is nowhere as close to the young misses tea but what is the problem exactly?"
Ki shook her head and called the waiter over once more. "Bring your manager over right now."
The waiters face turned pale upon hearing her words, after all when someone wishes to talk to the manager it is usually followed by a complaint.
If enough complaints are brought forward there would be a risk of someone losing their job.
The manager of the tea pavilion arrived and noticed Miranda sitting at the table and immediately knew things weren't good from her expression.
Miranda quickly introduced. "This is the young miss of the Bombyx family. The owner behind the tea pavilion and we have come here for an inspection."
Ki sighed with a look full of disappointment and then looked coldly at the manager as she stood up and began to inspect the other customers cups of tea as she walked around.
She returned and looked up into the managers eyes again coldly and spoke in a disappointed tone of voice. "The mulberry tea pavilion was my idea.. my vision was to have this place cater to the rich and with high status and provide them a calm and peaceful atmosphere while they enjoy refreshing or calming drinks and snacks together. So of course the quality must be maintained at all times but after tasting my tea and inspecting the other cups I have noticed a big problem!"
The manager carefully asked. "What is wrong young miss?"
Ki stared back increasingly colder. "You still need to ask and you are the person in charge here? The tea leaves have been reduced so the flavour of the tea is greatly reduced along with it, I could barely taste the tea leaves in it. I might as well just call this hot water… so here is the problem. Why are the amounts of tea leaves being reduced for every serving of tea and under what is stated according to the specified recipe?"
Miranda's eyes turned sharp as she suspected something fishy about this. "Bring the account books here now!"
The manager was visibly shook by Miranda's shout and ran back to fetch the account books.
As one of the bigger projects Ki expected there to be more problems upon inspecting because she knew the bigger the money income the bigger chances that there would be signs of some of the workers taking actions upon themselves to make a profit for themselves.
If that happens then the customers are the ones to suffer because of the workers greed and the employers would be left cleaning up the mess.
Ki looked over to Miranda and spoke again. "Send someone to the Bifta family to get some assistance. We need to properly investigate."