Chapter 84: Anxiety and Fear

"Hurry, accounting office, we're short-handed over here."

"This is wrong, wrong, recalculate."

"Quick, today's accounts must be clear, understand? Anyone who dares to be careless—don't blame me for being rude!"

This was the sound from the main accounting room in the workshop east of the city, abacuses clacking away merrily.

"Reconcile the accounts, quick, reconcile the accounts! The boxes are being sealed tonight—have you all forgotten the rules!"

"Seal the silver with the tags, send it into the vault!"

"Bring all the ledgers over, once they're tallied, present them up."

This was the Huitong Trading Company—hardly a single person was idle, running back and forth, shouting at the top of their lungs.

Wei Liangqing was drenched in sweat, endlessly checking against the ledgers. Not far from him, Fu Tao was hardly better off—his grasp of Arabic numerals was still not all that familiar to begin with, and with matters so hectic and pressing, Zhu Xu couldn't spare the attention, so he could only let him learn on the job.

It wasn't until the middle of the night that the Huitong Trading Company's accounts were finally sorted out. Fu Tao learned the total sum, recorded it in a small notebook, tucked it into his bosom, and said to Wei Liangqing: "Chief Manager, I'll leave things here to you. I need to step out for a bit."

Wei Liangqing hurriedly replied, "Very well, Chief Accountant, go about your business—with me here, rest assured." Ever since Zhu Xu had shown his face, the relationship between Fu Tao and Zhu Xu naturally couldn't be hidden, and he dared not show the slightest negligence.

Fu Tao tucked the ledger under his arm and rushed out the door, heading straight for the workshop east of the city.

The moment he arrived at the workshop, Li Deyong, drenched in sweat, said, "Chief Accountant, you've come at last! If you hadn't, I'd have gone mad."

Because Zhu Xu had adopted two sets of bookkeeping methods—one in Arabic numerals, the other in the current Chinese characters—only Fu Tao and those Fu Tao had trained could understand them. Without Fu Tao, the chief accountant, Li Deyong had no way to calculate and verify the day's revenue.

"Alright, I'm here."

Fu Tao said nothing more, directed his people, and began tallying the day's income.

It wasn't until the sky began to pale that Fu Tao, eyes red, said to Li Deyong: "Done, the accounts are clear. Manager Li, not bad today—it's pure profit. Keep this up, and from next month on, you can earn at least two thousand taels a month!"

Li Deyong wasn't interested in how much was earned anymore—he just didn't want to keep losing money like this. The moment he heard this, he grew excited, rubbing his hands together and saying: "Excellent, excellent! Please tell His Highness for me, this servant will work hard, I won't let His Highness down!"

Fu Tao also felt a weight lift from his heart. He nodded, then tucked the ledger under his arm and left the workshop, heading toward his home.

The moment Fu Tao stepped into the courtyard, he saw that the lamp in his father Fu Changzong's study was still lit, and he couldn't help but quicken his pace over.

"Father."

He knocked on the door from outside and called out softly.

"Come in." After a pause, Fu Changzong's voice came through, tinged with weariness.

Fu Tao pushed the door open and entered. Seeing Fu Changzong still seated behind his desk, he said respectfully, "Father, you haven't slept yet?"

Fu Changzong let out a gentle breath, looked up at him, and said: "Sit down. I happen to have something to discuss with you."

Fu Tao was startled for a moment, then pulled over a chair and sat across from Fu Changzong.

Fu Changzong looked at Fu Tao and said, "You're planning to enter the palace tomorrow to see Xu'er, aren't you?"

Fu Tao said: "Yes. The recent accounts have just been sorted out—I wanted to deliver them to His Highness for review."

Fu Changzong mused for a moment, then said: "Don't go to the palace. Have them deliver it through that teahouse instead."

Fu Tao looked puzzled and said, "Why?"

A trace of worry appeared on Fu Changzong's face. He sighed: "The reason Xu'er is showing his face at this time is most likely because the Huitong Trading Company and that workshop will only grow bigger and bigger. He stands alone with little support, worried that if someone later covets them and makes a move, he might not be able to hold on to them. So he's seizing this opportunity to establish his authority and cut off certain people's designs. Only, the lingering troubles from this are also great."

Fu Tao still didn't understand many things about Zhu Xu, and hesitated: "What lingering troubles does Father mean?"

Fu Changzong looked at Fu Tao's still-youthful face and didn't say too much, only: "Xu'er has been confined to his quarters by Her Majesty the Empress. I haven't been able to see him recently either. But today, after the court assembly, His Majesty kept me behind alone for a while and told me he might promote me to Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue."

Fu Tao's eyes flew wide with astonishment. He naturally knew that whether it was his father or Zhu Xu, both were accustomed to keeping a low profile and biding their time—the last thing they wanted was to stand out. But the emperor suddenly promoting his father, a man nearly invisible, what did that mean?

Fu Changzong looked at Fu Tao's expression and waved a hand slightly, saying: "It's not that serious. His Majesty was only asking for my opinion. It may also be that I haven't yet grown accustomed to the changes brought by Xu'er's sudden high profile. In any case, until the situation becomes clear, keep everything as low-key as possible. Once Xu'er's confinement is lifted and I've spoken with him, we'll decide then."

Fu Tao nodded almost instinctively upon hearing this, then suddenly his heart jolted—he saw his father's complexion had turned abruptly pale.

Fu Changzong frowned slightly and said, "What's wrong?"

Fu Tao hurriedly shook his head and stood up, saying: "This son understands. It's getting late, Father should rest early."

Fu Changzong didn't press further, nodding: "Mm, keep my words in your heart. Go on."

"Yes."

Fu Tao forced himself to stay calm and fled out as if escaping. Once outside, when the wind hit him, he realized his whole body was soaked through.

"No, no—how could His Highness possibly have such treasonous thoughts? No matter what, he doesn't have that kind of power either. Right, right—Father and His Highness are not that kind of people..."

Fu Tao muttered to himself as he walked, frightened out of his wits by the thought at the bottom of his heart.

After the capital's weather entered the seventh month, each day grew hotter than the last. Even confined to his own palace, and even after so many days, Zhu Xu still felt it was simply too hot.

Even while drinking the cooling tea Yao Qingqing made, with Yao Qingqing fanning him, he still couldn't dispel the restless heat in his heart.

"Your Highness," Cao Wenzhao stood before Zhu Xu and handed him a ledger, saying: "This is the account book Young Master Fu sent over."

Zhu Xu nodded, took it, opened it, and began reading.

Everything was written in large brush characters—readable from far away—but each page didn't have much content.

Zhu Xu flipped through slowly, calculating in his mind as he did.

Whether it was the trading company or that workshop, although in the final analysis both were for making silver, they also served other functions. For instance, he planned to develop the trading company into the Great Ming's largest money house, using it to get a rough picture of the Great Ming's economic situation—later, if he wanted to combat smuggling or use other means against the Later Jin, it would be an excellent channel. As for that workshop, things like steamed buns and pastries hardly earned much silver at all. His purpose there, besides the channel, was to make preparations for resisting future droughts and locust plagues.

As Zhu Xu flipped through, his eyes couldn't help but narrow.

Even though he had spread the rumor that day that the court was going to 'rob' them a second time, the Huitong Trading Company's business hadn't become as booming as he had predicted. Up to now, the total silver on hand was no more than eight million taels.

"Am I too impatient? Or were these people all cleaned out by the court?"

Zhu Xu murmured to himself, but didn't take it to heart. He believed that once the signboard was established, it would gradually expand, and once certain methods were employed, silver would flow into his pockets like water.

As for the workshop's business, it had exceeded his expectations—daily shipments had already broken ten thousand.