In the first year of the Chongzhen reign, at the Jiang family mourning hall in Shanghai County.
Jiang Yan opens his eyes. His father has just died, and his clan relatives are gathered around a contract, demanding that he, the useless only son, sign and seal it.
His first words aren't a cry of grief. He asks, "Where are the account books?"
In his previous life, he was a financial director at a publicly listed company, and the books were what killed him. Now he's opened his eyes in a new life, and it's still all about the books.
A set of hopeless accounts, three sets of falsified ledgers, and 1,199 taels and 8 mace. In front of the entire clan, he calculates every last amount. His uncle's face turns green, his cousin falls silent, and the county magistrate lowers his head.
But this is only the beginning.
The silver of Jiangnan is being siphoned north along an invisible thread.
And all he has is an abacus and his father's private ledger
