At twelve years old, Jiang Xiaohe hopes to earn thirty copper coins through her own labor so she can attend Madam Xu's winter literacy class. Days of rain ruin the village's low-lying vegetable plots, but she manages to secure a small patch of high ground beneath the west wall of her home to try growing seedlings. There, she discovers a "Four Seasons Ledger" that only she can see.
The ledger won't give her money, make seedlings grow faster, predict the weather, or help her judge people. It can only organize information she has seen with her own eyes or heard with her own ears, along with its source. This makes Xiaohe more likely than others to spot inconsistencies in the numbers, but when she's eager to prove herself, she can still forget to account for her relatives' labor, mistake an estimate for a promise, or turn "I'll take responsibility" into "I'll decide everything myself."
She faces her first big order, a two-person partnership, transport between villages, compensation for a broken promise, adults learning to read, an unusual year, shared waterways, a business run by many people, and the temptation of an exclusive deal with a major buyer. In the end, she learns not to take every account into her own hands, but to let everyone see and take responsibility for their own column.
Great novel, the author will continue to update [laughs]