Yinshan Record

Chapter 287 Ouyang, the Master Calculator of Account Books (Part 2)

"It's settled so quickly?"

The second young master swallowed a piece of cloud cake and took a sip of the osmanthus rice wine next to him.

"Well, it's just a little skill I have to make a living. I hope you'll forgive me, Second Young Master."

Su Che actually calculated it faster.

The ledger contained only a few dozen words per page, and the amount of information was actually quite limited. To make it seem more mysterious, Su Che even deliberately dragged out the time.

"It's simply divine skill."

Now, this second young master is truly looking at Su Che with new respect.

He had looked through these four ledgers for a long time, but he still couldn't figure them out. Today, he brought them to Su Che, partly as a show of politeness in the ways of the underworld, and partly to test Su Che's abilities.

Sometimes, when trying to make friends with someone, it's better to go to their door and ask for a favor than to offer them small favors.

Small favors may not truly win people's hearts, and using them later as a pretext might easily create resentment.

If you go to someone's door asking for a favor and succeed, they'll feel indebted to you and naturally lower their guard. If you fail, they might feel a sense of guilt that they themselves aren't aware of. If you then act generous, you'll gradually become more familiar with them.

These intricate details are all part of Chang Kai's teachings to his son, and the second young master is going to try them out on this "Ouyang Ke" today.

It didn't matter if he didn't use it, but when he did, he was quite surprised.

This is too fast.

Su Che picked up a brush and ink from the side.

"I wonder if I may draw on it?"

"of course."

Su Che picked up paper and pen and began writing on the ledger, making corrections and annotations with flowing strokes.

The four ledgers were quickly corrected, and Su Che pushed them in front of the Second Young Master.

"There are about 23 problems that can be identified, mainly because the prices of crucian carp and common carp are too different. Even if there are differences in the distribution, the difference is too much."

"It says here that ten crucian carp will be worth three hundred taels of platinum. Why spend so much money? And here, five carp will be worth twenty taels of platinum. The price difference between carp and crucian carp is too great."

"Aside from those that don't make sense logically, I've roughly sorted out the rest of the calculation errors."

Su Che looked at the second young master in front of him.

"Second Young Master can take a good look later; there must have been some mistakes or omissions in the rush."

"It's out of the way."

The second young master nodded. This ledger was a copy he had ordered someone to make, and many of the key terms had been replaced with other words.

For example, yellow millet refers to gold, white rice to silver, green dates to copper coins, salted fish to salt, crucian carp to a young and beautiful girl, and carp to a strong young man.

Those who don't know the inside story, upon receiving this account book, would only say that the Chang family of Licheng is indeed from a poor family, as they keep such detailed records of how many baskets of salted fish they bought and how much white rice they received.

In fact, this is a detailed account of the Chang family of Licheng's trade with the East China Sea over the past two years.

The East China Sea and the Central Plains have never been two worlds separated by an insurmountable barrier.

He carefully put away the four ledgers and smiled at Su Che.

“Brother Ouyang is indeed a man of great talent. When I think back to my previous rudeness, I really wish I could jump into the river and let the icy water wash away the grease from my heart.”

"Second Young Master, you're too kind. They're just some small skills for making a living. Besides, what happened before was only human nature. That's how the world is. If you hadn't questioned them, you would have been letting your family down. Alas, if I had been as meticulous as you, I wouldn't be in this predicament now."

“Brother Ouyang is a good strategist. He will surely bring prosperity to your family in the future. Why worry about temporary gains or losses?”

As he spoke, he poured Su Che another cup of rice wine.

Su Che raised the rice wine beside him and took a small sip. It was brewed with osmanthus flowers and had a slightly sweet taste.

If you chill it before drinking, it should taste absolutely delicious.

The two chatted for a while longer, with Su Che subtly probing while the Second Young Master tried to guide the conversation.

After a few back-and-forths, Su Che had a general understanding of the situation of the Chang family in Licheng.

By combining the information we had gathered before, we gradually pieced together a rough outline.

The Chang family of Licheng is indeed descended from the disciples of the old lion.

When the Lion-Lotus-Perfected Tathagata served as the National Preceptor of the previous dynasty, he naturally gathered a large number of disciples, among whom were the ancestors of the Chang family of Licheng.

However, when the old lion disappeared halfway through his journey eastward into the sea, his disciples were roughly divided into three categories.

One type of journey eastward to seek a master is considered the origin of the "Kulin Zen Temple" in Shanyin County.

One type of journey to the west in search of Buddhist scriptures: since the support in the Central Plains had fallen, they headed west. The Great Lingjiu Temple was located there, so going there was a way out.

Another type simply returned to secular life, and the Chang family of Licheng was one such example. Their ancestors had also come to the Kulin Temple, but later, whether they saw something amiss or were tempted by worldly desires, they simply returned to secular life.

After returning to secular life, he still retained all the practices he had taken in his youth. He used his skills haphazardly, gradually building up his own fortune. Of course, before fleeing, the patriarch didn't forget to take one page from the nine-page golden book, leaving this great secret to his descendants.

But recently, for some reason, several major things have happened in my family.

First, the family heirloom was taken away by the patriarch, who said it was for some important secret matter, and then the patriarch disappeared without a trace.

This caused quite a commotion at home.

Meanwhile, in previous generations, they had incurred the wrath of some unknown enemy group, which had set their sights on the Chang family of Licheng. Recently, the enemy had become quite ruthless, making the Chang family of Licheng feel a sense of crisis.

The ancestor has disappeared, and enemies are coming to the door.

With these two matters intertwined, Chang Kai couldn't help but make some plans.

Thus, further actions were taken under the planning of the current head of the family.

If you can't afford to offend them, can't you at least avoid them?

Originally, he was nothing more than a poor family among powerful clans in the Central Plains, with nothing to be attached to. Now that the situation is unclear, it's better to find another way out.

They want to move to the East China Sea.

If an opportunity arises, then we will establish ourselves in the East China Sea. If not, we can move back to the Central Plains once the storm has passed.

Anyway, there's no going back to Licheng.

As for family relationships, that's actually easy to explain.

The Chang family of Licheng has always been small in number; in the generation of the patriarch, there was only the patriarch himself and another uncle.

Therefore, in order to pass on and expand the family business, the head of the family at that time first adopted a son. The one who rescued "Ouyang Ke" was his adopted son.

The second young master in front of him was the patriarch's biological son. In addition, the patriarch also had a fourteen-year-old daughter who was on the ship, but Su Che had never seen her before.

Chang Qi, the adopted son, usually managed many businesses for the Chang family. He was known for his generosity and was very popular. Originally, he was created by the family head, Chang Kai, as a stepping stone to build the family business, but now he seemed to be becoming too powerful to control.

The second son felt a lot of mental pressure facing his elder brother.

Although he knew in his heart that the Chang family's business in Licheng would eventually be his, he couldn't stand having such a chivalrous figure wandering around in front of him every day.

In addition, the family head Chang Kai's recent attitude has been quite ambiguous, making the second young master increasingly gloomy.

After reviewing the two sets of accounts and understanding their intricacies, the second young master happily bid farewell to Su Che.

Su Che estimated that this account book mostly contained evidence that was detrimental to that Chang Qi Chang Heitan.

Otherwise, this sinister second young master wouldn't have acted so happy.

Su Che didn't care about these messy affairs in the Chang family of Licheng.

But then it suddenly occurred to me that I might have inadvertently "repaid kindness with enmity."
Nothing happened all night.

The Chang family's large ship from Licheng drifted along the winding river, and the night was quite peaceful.

However, a few night-time water monsters managed to sneak onto the ship's side in the middle of the night, but they were repelled by the vigilant Chang family sailors.

Another demon followed for seven or eight miles, seemingly intending to cause trouble, but eventually gave up.

Su Che slept soundly, just like any other person.

As soon as I woke up in the morning, a servant from the Chang family of Licheng came to knock on the door, bringing hot water for washing my face and breakfast packed in a food box.

A dish of salted fish, a dish of green vegetables, a bowl of white porridge, and two boiled chickens.

While it may not be considered exquisite, it is quite remarkable for a ship.

As for why they ate in the room, Su Che naturally knew that this was a rule in the martial arts world.

As someone of unknown origin who boarded the ship halfway through the journey, I should, according to the rules, stay obediently in my room and not cause any more trouble for the host.

When strangers meet, they each hold back seven-tenths of their feelings; this is simply human nature.

What else is there to say?

Only gratitude.

Su Che quickly finished his meal and went back to bed to catch up on some sleep.

That was the purpose of boarding the Chang family's ship.

He honestly played the role of a down-on-his-luck businessman, safely evading possible detection.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. Not long after, a servant came to greet him, saying that Su Che needed to come up to the deck.

"Oh, I wonder what it is?"

Su Che straightened his sleeves and suddenly asked.

“A few cultivators are causing trouble. The master doesn’t want to get into a conflict with them, so he asked Young Master Ouyang to go up and deal with them.”

(End of this chapter)