Gou Zai Xianwu Wenjing Search for Opportunities

The next morning.

Lin Yuan carefully combed his hair and changed into his senior brother's long robe. He was tall enough to fit into it, but it was a bit too big and wobbled around in it. The most uncomfortable thing was that the cloth shoes were too tight, and his big toe was painfully curled up on the ground.

While washing up, Granny Li said someone was looking for her. She went out and saw her eldest brother carrying a load of firewood.

"Erlu, this is the food your sister-in-law made for you, take it." The older brother wiped his sweat, took a package out of the woodpile, called his younger brother by his nickname, and stuffed it into his hand.

"Brother, why did you bring firewood over?"

"My father is too old, so I didn't let him carry the load. I'll just carry it to town and sell it on my way. I'm off, it'll be hard to find work at the dock if it gets late."

Lin Yuan watched his elder brother leave in a hurry, the bamboo carrying pole on his shoulder bending in a large arc. He looked away and opened the package. It was a bamboo tube containing sweet potato bran rice with wild vegetables and dried salted fish, all served hot.

My elder brother would have to walk through the mountains to carry firewood to town, which would take at least an hour or two in advance. I imagine he would be out in the dark.

Lin Yuan ate breakfast and waited for Master Xu to come out.

Master Xu went out and looked him over: "He's alright, just a bit thin. He still needs to rest. Come on, let's go in the carriage."

Xu's long-term worker led out a donkey cart, and the two got on. While chatting, they learned that Jiuling Mountain was the fiefdom of the Marquis of Jiuling, and all the trade in the precious materials in the mountain had to pay taxes to the Marquis of Jiuling, including but not limited to blood ginseng, wild animal fur, timber, firewood, and so on.

The firewood that the eldest brother carried was cut from Jiuling Mountain. It would sell for at most thirty or so coins in town, but half of it would have to be paid as tax to the Zhang family.

Most of the other treasures from the mountains were transported by boat, going down the Lishui River to Taolidu Wharf. The wharf is located west of Yuanhu Lake, which is crisscrossed by waterways, connecting the Central Plains to the north and the South China Sea to the south, making it a prosperous trading hub.

Raw medicinal herbs are a major specialty of Linyuan County, attracting merchants from all over the country to purchase them every year, including many from the Central Plains.

The Zhang family's herbal medicine shops were scattered throughout the county and townships, with the one in Taoli Town being the largest.

Manager Zhang of Zhang's Herbal Medicine Shop was a servant in the Zhang family. Master Xu said that he was good at keeping small accounts, but he would make mistakes when there were many and complicated accounts. He was often scolded by the second young mistress of the mansion who was in charge of business. That's why Master Xu was invited to come and sort out the accounts.

We arrived at Zhang's herbal medicine shop.

Shopkeeper Zhang had been waiting for a long time. Seeing the young man, he smiled and said, "Is this Mr. Xu's student? Indeed, a handsome young man!"

Lin Yuan quickly replied, "I dare not accept such praise."

Master Xu was slightly surprised to see that he was well-mannered. After exchanging compliments with Manager Zhang, they went up to the pavilion together.

There were more than ten account books on the table, all from June.

To Lin Yuan's surprise, Manager Zhang had already prepared a simplified general ledger. Today, all that was needed was to review and verify it to check for any errors or omissions.

The work of rechecking doesn't actually require much technical skill; as long as you're careful and meticulous, you don't need to hire someone.

Lin Yuan was puzzled but didn't ask any further questions, and focused on his work.

Master Xu intended to let Lin Yuan practice, letting him do it alone while he sat calmly to the side, using an abacus, muttering to himself, constantly calculating Lin Yuan's numbers, and then comparing them one by one.

The master would assign him tasks from time to time, giving him very organized instructions, progressing from simple to complex in a step-by-step manner without any confusion. This allowed Lin Yuan to quickly enter a highly efficient state.

Master Xu calculated for a long time and saw that Lin Yuan not only calculated each account by hand but also by abacus, and never made a mistake. So he nodded in satisfaction and stopped calculating for Lin Yuan. He then took the account books and tallied them together.

When two people work at the same time, the efficiency is much higher.

After Lin Yuan got used to Master Xu's way of managing accounts, he would occasionally raise his own understanding and some questions, and Master Xu would carefully explain the intricacies of the matter each time.

However, Master Xu only taught once, and Lin Yuan only learned once. Such efficient teaching made Master Xu feel very comfortable.

After a while, the waiter brought tea and snacks for the two of them to enjoy.

Lin Yuan was extremely busy, but seeing that there was food, he figured he might as well eat it.

Master Xu, unhurried, sipped tea and ate snacks. Seeing Lin Yuan's unseemly eating manners, he still remembered to do the accounting and smiled knowingly.

At noon, Manager Zhang treated Lin Yuan to a simple meal consisting of two meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, and a soup. The portions were generous, and there was plenty of rice—plain white rice without any chaff. Lin Yuan was very satisfied with the meal and exclaimed how delicious it was.

Such treatment was a luxury the Lin family could only afford during the Lunar New Year.

After the meal, Master Xu rested, while Lin Yuan continued to work diligently.

There was tea and snacks in the afternoon. Master Xu was over fifty years old and didn't have a big appetite, so he gestured for Lin Yuan to eat them all, and Lin Yuan didn't stand on ceremony.

Throughout the day, Lin Yuan basically stayed in his chair except when he went to the toilet.

By late afternoon, the total was finally tallied up: the profit for June was 5,740 taels, 5 mace, 9 fen, and 4 li of silver, which was several thousand taels less than Manager Zhang's total.

（1斤=16两，1两=10钱=100分=1000厘。

One tael of silver = one string of copper coins = 800-1000 copper coins (the exchange rate fluctuated depending on local prices).

Manager Zhang's accounting skills are terrible; he made so many mistakes!

While marveling at the pharmacy's booming business, Lin Yuan lamented that in the same town, some people were making a fortune and eating lavish meals every day, while others could only afford to eat sweet potatoes.

"The real money for herbal medicine shops comes in the autumn, when they have blood ginseng and regular ginseng, and tens of thousands of taels of silver are commonplace."

Master Xu was knowledgeable and experienced, and he would tell him interesting stories from time to time. Finally, he praised him: "You did very well today. On your first day, you were able to do this well. You are much better than your senior brothers."

"It's all thanks to the teacher's excellent guidance!" Lin Yuan and his companion praised each other.

Master Xu then pointed out the shortcomings: "Your handwriting is rather poor. If the second young mistress of the mansion saw it, she would definitely be displeased. They live deep within their grand mansion and rarely see outsiders, so they wouldn't know your level of mathematical ability. They can only see your handwriting; that's how they recognize you. Your handwriting is your reputation."

"Thank you for your guidance, teacher." Lin Yuan accepted the instruction respectfully. "And this account book?"

"It's alright, I'll copy it again at the end. You should go home early and tell your teacher's wife that she doesn't need to wait for me for dinner, I have a social engagement."

"Yes." Lin Yuan bowed and left, thinking to himself, "They're not taking me with them when there's a big meal."

Back at the Xu family home, Lin Yuan first took off the borrowed clothes, washed them with clean water, and dried them that evening so he could wear them again the next day.

He changed into tattered clothes, informed his teacher's wife, and politely declined her offer to stay for a meal.

I had a big lunch, then a lot of snacks in the afternoon. I wasn't very hungry in the evening, so I went to town and had a bowl of rice porridge to finish.

The thin porridge that was so light it could reflect a person's image cost four coins, now it's doubled!

Lin Yuan returned to the woodshed and continued practicing his small regular script. When it got dark, he took a bath and sat in the courtyard to cool off, reflecting on his experience of doing the accounting that day, and his insights and gains.

After a while, Master Xu returned, supported by Lin Yuan. He smelled strongly of alcohol and was covered in the aroma of food.

The next day.

The two arrived at Zhang's herbal medicine shop.

Master Xu pointed to the stack of account books from yesterday: "I circled and corrected yesterday's accounts. You need to recalculate them!"

Lin Yuan was surprised. How could something have gone wrong?

He was skeptical, but when he opened the book, he found that the circled areas on the first page were not the calculated figures, but rather the original purchase price of the medicinal materials, the selling price of the medicinal materials, and the weight.

The further I flipped through the pages, the more alarmed I became. There were even more than a dozen new records of losses, the largest of which were raw medicinal herbs that had become moldy during the plum rain season in June. These herbs were disposed of as waste.

The key point is that the losses from these fictitious openings seem quite reasonable.

At least Lin Yuan, a newcomer, couldn't see the problem.

No wonder they were serving him such good food and drink; so that's why they invited the tutor!

Is this the job that got Master Xu promoted to a high position in the county government?

Lin Yuan immediately became cautious and planned to carefully record all the day's transactions when he got back, in order to protect himself in the future.

Master Xu noticed the change in his expression and saw that he was too calm and composed, which was inconsistent with his young age. So he whispered to him, "This matter has nothing to do with you, so don't worry about it."

"Yes, teacher."

Having spent many years working in the county government, Master Xu naturally possessed keen insight, and he sensed that this young man was different from his previous students.

Is someone as calm and composed as thirteen years old (by Chinese reckoning) simply naive and clueless, or is he shrewd and calculating?

"This matter must not be told to outsiders." Master Xu weighed the pros and cons and decided to let the sheep pay for the wool. "I will talk to Manager Zhang later. He will lend you some money privately to support your studies and will not charge you any interest."

buy?

"Rest assured, Master, I know nothing about this matter... Master, I will certainly not fail your guidance!"

Lin Yuan bowed deeply, proclaiming his loyalty, while secretly thinking that the loan would be interest-free.

Seeing how perceptive he was, Master Xu couldn't help but think to himself, "This kid really understands."

They've found another shrewd young man; he won't be so easy to fool anymore!

Sigh, the stupid ones are useless, and the clever ones are expensive!

Oh well, someone else is paying for it anyway.

With yesterday's experience as a foundation, Lin Yuan only took half a day to sort out all the changes and then summarized them again before handing them over to Master Xu.

Master Xu glanced at the final total, sighed, and realized it was far from the result he wanted. After a moment of silence, he said, "Go and invite Manager Zhang here."

"Yes."

Lin Yuan invited Manager Zhang over, and Manager Zhang immediately asked him to go to the back room to fetch some more hot tea and snacks.

Lin Yuan thought to himself that the old man had deliberately sent him away, and was definitely up to something.

He sat in the back room for a while, ate some snacks for free, and after a long time, he carried hot tea and snacks upstairs, deliberately making his footsteps louder.

"Young Master Lin, come in quickly, we're waiting for your tea..." Manager Zhang's face was flushed, clearly he had been emotional earlier. Seeing Lin Yuan bring out the tea and snacks, he said, "Young Master Lin, you're so young, yet you're already proficient in mathematics. Would you like to work as an accountant in our shop?"

Lin Yuan looked them up and down. Since Master Xu didn't speak, neither did he.

Master Xu smiled knowingly: "He's still young. Let him study for another three years, and then I'll definitely let him come."

"Excellent!" Manager Zhang clapped his hands in delight. "I've heard that it's not easy for Lin Lang to study. How about this, I'll pay your tuition for the next three years, and you don't need to pay it back. You just need to come to my shop as an accountant after you finish your studies."

Seeing that Master Xu nodded in acknowledgment, Lin Yuan bowed and said, "Thank you for your appreciation, Manager!"

But he was puzzled as to why Master Xu had entrusted him with this money-making task.

Could it have been true love?

Is this job just too difficult?

"I'm getting old now, my eyesight is failing, and I can't do much anymore. It's time for me to rest. The younger generation will take over," Master Xu sighed.

Shopkeeper Zhang quickly waved his hand and said, "Having an elder in the family is like having a treasure. Our pharmacy can't do without you, sir!"

Lin Yuan suddenly realized that Master Xu wanted to withdraw.

The teacher favors me and wants me to take over the class?

Lin Yuan had been repeatedly beaten down by society in his previous life, and he often speculated in the worst possible light: Could it be that Master Xu had done too many false accounts and was afraid of ruining his reputation in his later years, so he made him take the blame in the end?

If that's the case, it makes sense. In this light, the pharmacy's accounting office can only be used as a stepping stone, not a long-term position.

Make money quickly and leave, then pass the buck to the next scapegoat!

We had a simple lunch.

In the afternoon, Master Xu copied the account book by himself, letting Lin Yuan go back first.

Lin Yuan didn't ask any more questions, took his leave, and felt tired but fulfilled after half a day. In the end, he even got a promise from Manager Zhang that he would receive three years' worth of tuition.

Back at the Xu family home, Lin Yuan took off his long robe, washed and dried it.

I practiced calligraphy all afternoon, and in the evening my older brother came to deliver my living expenses, thirty-three copper coins.

Lin Yuan hesitated to accept the money, saying, "Brother, I can't take this money. Our rice paddies are flooded, and in two months we still have to pay the autumn tax and corvée labor fees. The whole family still needs food for the winter..."

"I told you to take it!" The eldest brother, displaying the domineering manner of a patriarch, put down the money and left.

Lin Yuan sighed, put the copper coins into the egg bag, and felt uncomfortable.

Before dinner, Master Xu returned and specially invited Lin Yuan to dinner, this time insisting again.

Lin Yuan didn't stand on ceremony. Since he was already on Master Xu's pirate ship, he figured he might as well take advantage of it.

With the current floods and soaring food prices, people in the countryside are struggling to afford food. Eating one cup of enemy food is equivalent to eating twenty cups of mine.

The next morning.

Master Xu repeatedly invited Lin Yuan to have breakfast, and he accepted all offers.

My older brother brought me lunch again this morning. After seeing that my younger brother had eaten, he took the food away for himself.

Lin Yuan and his companion boarded a donkey cart and set off.

Upon arriving at the pharmacy, they learned that something terrible had happened—someone had died there!