Both female accountants were around forty years old. Their movements showed proper measure and restraint. Even at this age, they appeared refined and attractive, possessing considerable charm. The two properly paid their respects to Seventh Miss, then one of them held up a new account book and presented it before Seventh Miss, saying softly, “Reporting to Young Madam, this is an account book we two have written for Young Madam according to Yangzhou customs. There are two copies—one in Suzhou numerals, one in official simplified characters. Please review them, Young Madam.”
At that time, both official and civilian accounting used Suzhou numerals, which ordinary people found very difficult to understand. Young ladies from great households had even less need to deal with such lowly calculating symbols. Though Seventh Miss had been resourceful since childhood, she had never been exposed to Suzhou numerals. Not to mention that ancient account books weren’t like modern spreadsheets where income and expenses were clear at a glance, with various charts to aid understanding. When you picked up one of these account ledgers, the format was complex, the characters colorful and confusing like hieroglyphics. Unless you were a professional accountant, it was difficult to discern the methods within, which naturally gave those with ulterior motives many opportunities for manipulation.
When Seventh Miss opened the account book, her eyes brightened—these two accountants truly had some exceptional qualities.
They had innovatively abandoned the vertical accounting method. Instead, like in later times, they listed tables horizontally from left to right, uniformly using simplified Chinese characters to represent numbers. Expenditures were transcribed in red, income in peacock blue ink. This way, apart from the numbers not being Arabic numerals, income and expenses were clear at a glance. Purchases, gold and silver vessels… each category was also organized into corresponding sections in several account books. Comparing the detailed small accounts in the purchasers’ hands with the main ledger in the accounting office, discrepancies could be spotted at a glance. Places with discrepancies were specially marked with black pen. Even a layperson like Seventh Miss could read this account book without difficulty.
“Truly from a salt merchant household—just this accounting skill alone is remarkable!” She didn’t stint on her praise. For specialized professionals with such skills, even great households didn’t put on too many airs before them.
The two female accountants exchanged glances and smiled faintly. One said, “Our appearances are average. Learning accounting from childhood gave us a place to belong. This small ability makes Young Madam laugh.”
From her tone, Seventh Miss already knew these were middle-grade merchandise among Yangzhou’s thin horses. Because their appearances weren’t particularly good, they had learned accounting skills from childhood. When grown, they entered merchant households to serve, signed to death contracts. As women who couldn’t freely leave the house, using them was much more convenient than outside male accountants. Some of those salt merchant magnates even had over ten or twenty such female accountants around them. That these two could be selected to be presented to the Grand Secretary meant they must be outstanding among female accountants.
Her heart stirred—this meant in the future when filling positions in the accounting office, she could go to Yangzhou to purchase some such young women to train…
Seventh Miss quickly pushed this thought aside. Now wasn’t the time to think about such things.
She flipped through the account book, then closed the heavy volume and instructed Lixia, “Make tea for the two accountants—please sit, ladies.”
The two female accountants sat down generously on embroidered stools and exchanged names with Seventh Miss. One was surnamed Zhuang, one surnamed Ji—indeed both over forty years old. As they spoke, several maids brought tea, then led by Lixia, filed out of the west side room.
Seventh Miss took a light sip of hot tea, studied the two accountants again, then smiled. “When you two were in Yangzhou, you must have been keeping accounts… I just don’t know what kind of accounts you kept?”
Household accounts had their methods, business accounts had theirs. Different levels of proficiency naturally meant different discernment. The two female accountants exchanged a glance. Accountant Zhuang said, “We both kept household accounts for the Gao family.”
The salt merchant Gao family could be called the wealthiest in Huaiyang. Even Seventh Miss had heard their reputation. She nodded. “There must be quite a few factions in the household!”
“Just the concubine madams alone number over twenty, not to mention the respectable second madams.” Accountant Ji immediately laughed. “I’m not boasting to Young Madam, but fortunately my sister Zhuang and I held the accounts steady. Otherwise, just on household expenses alone, tens of thousands of taels of silver would have been wasted each year.”
The Gao family had mountains of gold and silver, assets worth millions, and lived more extravagantly than princes and nobles. Naturally, factional struggles within the household were fierce. The concubine madams had no other skills, but they had all learned to inflate expenses to save private funds. That these two accountants could manage the internal accounts well in such a complex environment showed their experience was beyond question. Seventh Miss finally made up her mind. She nodded and smiled. “Good. Then tell me, ladies—does our Xu family’s account book have any tricks in it?”
Summoning them from Yangzhou was actually for this very answer. The two accountants naturally understood. If the Xu family’s interior was peaceful and harmonious, why would Seventh Miss go to such lengths to seek people from Jiangnan? They looked at each other and both fell silent for a moment. After a while, Accountant Ji spoke first.
“Reporting to Young Madam, in this world, there’s no account book without flaws. Especially for a great clan like yours, where daily expenses are as numerous as ox hairs. Even the most capable accountant couldn’t cover everything thoroughly…”
Seventh Miss understood her concerns. She smiled and waved her hand.
“Rest assured—once this matter is settled, I plan to send you back to Jiangnan to manage the accounts for several estates there. I won’t keep you in Jiangnan long!”
Everyone has selfish interests. All being accountants who might work together in the future, the two would speak much more cautiously, fearing to offend future colleagues. Seventh Miss understood these intricacies very well.
Sure enough, once she said this, the atmosphere in the room relaxed considerably. Accountant Ji pondered for a moment, leaned forward to take the account book from beside Seventh Miss, flipped a few pages, consulted briefly with Accountant Zhuang, then explained to Seventh Miss.
“We servants who keep accounts also have the duty of guarding our masters’ wealth. Especially the Gao household—inside and outside, all kinds of relatives and friends, over a hundred regularly staying at the Gao residence, constantly trying to install their stewards. If our hands were looser, money would flow out like water. To guard wealth properly, we must not only understand household matters clearly but also thoroughly grasp all market prices for household goods outside.”
“Since learning we would work under Young Madam, besides feeling honored, we’ve been extremely cautious. Also from habit, during that month-plus living in the alley, we sent people daily to inquire about market prices and personally visited several century-old shops. We’ve gained some basic understanding of commodity prices in the capital.”
When experts make a move, you know whether they have skill. Just from these two accountants’ methodical explanation, you could tell Seventh Miss’s effort in specifically requesting the Grand Master send people back to Jiangnan to search hadn’t been wasted.
“These past two days we’ve reviewed five years of various household account books. They’re all quite orderly. Though there are occasional corrections, the numerical discrepancies aren’t too large. When the previous person took over the accounts, there were seventy-two thousand taels of ready silver on the books. Through the end of this month, the ready silver on the books is fifty-three thousand taels. This figure doesn’t differ much and is within reason.” Accountant Zhuang smiled faintly. “That Young Madam chose this time to settle accounts shows you’re also an expert.”
After the autumn harvest, estates in various locations sold grain and submitted accounts. Following that, before the New Year, various businesses gradually submitted silver. If stewards wanted to manipulate things, robbing Peter to pay Paul would be much more convenient. But before the autumn harvest was when silver was tightest. If there were any problems, checking accounts at this time would expose them most clearly.
“The residence’s annual income and expenses, passing through the internal accounts, roughly balance at about fifteen thousand taels of ready silver. In April there was a celebration that drew over four thousand taels extra from the internal accounts. The official allocation from outside was over twenty thousand. We servants carefully calculated this account. Comparing the main ledger recorded by the accounting office with the detailed accounts in the purchasers’ hands, the discrepancy is about two hundred taels.”
In other words, from this celebration, the purchasers’ gains were only two to three hundred taels. Compared to total expenditures, this figure wasn’t too excessive. Seventh Miss nodded and carefully listened as Accountant Zhuang continued her analysis.
“Using these two hundred taels of silver as the standard, comparing the differences between small accounts and main ledger across the years, more or less, it’s about this amount. Young Madam also knows—when water is too clear, there are no fish…” She actually quoted a classical phrase. “The household matrons labor year-round. Masters traditionally turn a blind eye to this small discrepancy.”
Seeing Seventh Miss had no intention of interrupting, she continued. “If we only investigated to this extent, this account book could be said to be quite clean, with nothing to make an issue of.”
Accountant Zhuang paused, then said, “However, we servants also reviewed the account records from six or seven years ago that you sent. In terms of silver, each year’s expenses vary—holding celebrations, adding household members, preparing dowries, making offerings to nobles in the palace—these are all unpredictable expenses. But averaging these five years, the annual expenditure is nearly six thousand taels more than previous years.”
She stated the figure of six thousand taels calmly. Seventh Miss listened without showing emotion. Actually, outside, even middle-class families would gasp at this number. Six thousand taels a year meant thirty thousand over five years, sixty thousand managing the household for ten years—for ordinary official families, having sixty thousand taels in total assets already counted as quite wealthy.
“These years there were indeed some large expenditures, and commodity prices have been rising yearly, so nothing seems amiss from the account books.” Accountant Zhuang’s tone remained composed. “However, from the figures we’ve inquired about, the harvests have all been good these years. Rice prices in the capital have been very stable, the same as rice prices in Yangzhou—they haven’t risen much, nor fallen much.”
Without her explaining, Seventh Miss murmured to herself, “And rice prices are the barometer for all commodity prices.”
In Great Qin, rice was like oil in later times. Rice price fluctuations could even be called the barometer of political conditions throughout the realm. In a true prosperous era with abundant harvests, rice prices naturally fell. In chaotic times, there were days when a thousand gold couldn’t buy a single measure of rice. These years were called prosperous, but actually during the years Xu Fengjia fought in the northwest, rice prices were absurdly expensive. In the north, many common people toiled a whole year yet couldn’t save any grain. Only after Duke Pingguo and his son expanded the territory did rice prices gradually fall back. These years, they’d stabilized at five qian of silver per measure.
Since rice prices hadn’t changed, other commodity prices naturally wouldn’t fluctuate much either. The two accountants, having kept accounts for so many years, knew Yangzhou price changes like the backs of their hands. Taking rice prices as the starting point, they immediately reached a conclusion: the capital’s rice prices also hadn’t changed, so what had changed was the mistress’s hand.
Seventh Miss immediately fell into contemplation.
Unbidden, Fourth Young Madam’s speculation flashed through her mind: “In my view, she’s pocketed at least fifty thousand taels of silver.”
And that time Fifth Young Madam had diverted her away to speak with Accountant Zhang’s wife—when their gazes met, the middle-aged steward matron’s rare moment of panic.
The kinship relationship between Little Luo Wen and the steward matron.
Fifth Young Madam’s anxious urgency to manage the household for another half year…
Accountant Zhang’s wife being transferred before the New Year.
Suddenly, all the clues seemed to connect and have evidence…
No matter how capable Fifth Young Madam was, she couldn’t clean up all traces. Her actions hadn’t escaped the notice of the two accountants Seventh Miss had specifically requested from Yangzhou!
She revealed a slight smile, leaned comfortably against the large welcoming pillow, and indicated Accountant Zhuang should continue her analysis.
“Following this thread of thought, it must be collusion between the accounting office and the purchasers. Six thousand taels a year means five hundred taels a month. Given the residence’s scale, five hundred taels more or less is something no one would notice.” Accountant Zhuang moistened her lips and continued, “We re-examined several purchase ledgers and indeed found some clues… Taking eggs as an example, for two seasons each year, egg prices double… Young Madam, don’t think this item is small—the quantity used is large after all. Little by little adds up. In and out, just this alone is many taels of silver per month.”
Seventh Miss nodded, then heard Accountant Ji say, “There’s also the loss from re-smelting gold and silver vessels. Looking carefully, you can see something’s off. Comparing with the Gao family’s precedent, this fire loss is also somewhat excessive… However, these are all matters on the books and can’t be taken as absolute truth. Whether this really happened, Young Madam still needs to see with her own eyes to verify.”
How accounts were recorded depended entirely on the accountant’s pen. Especially regarding financial matters, one couldn’t rely only on one side’s word. Seventh Miss nodded repeatedly, then pondered for a long while. She knitted her brows tightly.
After a long moment, she courteously thanked the two accountants. “Thank you for your hard work, truly hard work. Without you two ladies’ discerning eyes, some matters my accountants might not necessarily have detected.”
Accountant Zhuang and Accountant Ji exchanged glances and said in unison, “Young Madam is too kind.”
Accountant Ji, still not satisfied, added, “Actually we’re only skilled at keeping accounts. When it comes to auditing, household accounts are the least able to withstand scrutiny. Even if someone else looked, they might not fail to notice.” Accountant Zhuang nudged her with an elbow, and she closed her mouth.
Seventh Miss smiled casually and instructed Lixia, “Go invite the old matron to speak with us!”
The old matron hadn’t followed Madam Xu to Xiaotang Mountain, naturally so she could assist Seventh Miss when necessary. She quickly arrived at Mingde Hall.
Seventh Miss had the two accountants explain everything to the old matron again. The old matron, having managed a household before, naturally kept sucking air through her teeth as she listened.
She was far more indignant than Seventh Miss.
“I never imagined that Lin Shan’s wife and Peng Hu’s wife were such profit-seeking, ungrateful creatures!” The old matron’s face showed deep disappointment.
Both these steward matrons were veterans brought up by Madam Xu’s own hand and had always been very courteous to Qingping Courtyard and Mingde Hall. Precisely because of this, they had sat in the positions of kitchen purchaser and warehouse manager for so many years. Who would have thought that privately they were so profit-seeking, colluding with Fifth Young Madam to undermine the Duke’s residence and line their own pockets? And it was discovered by Seventh Miss, a daughter-in-law. How could the old matron not be angry?
Seventh Miss could only console the old matron. “Everyone’s eyes light up at the sight of money…”
She smiled faintly. “However, catching hold of this thread, this household will be much easier to manage.”
The old matron and the two accountants knowingly smiled along with Seventh Miss. When a new mistress took position, the most important thing was to make an example of someone to establish authority. With this leverage, Seventh Miss could sit securely in the mistress’s position.
Not to mention that now Seventh Miss had leverage over Fifth Young Madam. When the time came to reveal it, the Fifth Branch would surely fall into chaos… There were many things that could be done with this.
“However.” Seventh Miss seemed to speak both to herself and to the old matron. “Some matters must wait for the Heir to return before discussing together.”
Thinking of last night’s intimate deep conversation between the couple, a smile couldn’t help but appear at the corners of her lips.
This smile illuminated the young wife’s refined features, making her face rarely radiate youthful radiance.