freenovelworld Chapter 1000 Investigating the Qingzhou Official Accounts
Chapter 1000 Investigating the Qingzhou Official Accounts
"To express our gratitude, this generous gift will be presented by our academy!"
The public inquiry ended in a resounding victory for the girls' college.
Manager Sun and Accountant Liu became the laughingstock of the entire city, and the signs of Huichuntang and Jin Suanpan were tarnished overnight, their reputations plummeting.
In a private room on the second floor of the nearby Wenxianglai Teahouse, the prefect of Qingzhou could see everything from the window.
The clerk beside him sighed softly, "My lord, this Seven Fairy Maidens Academy is indeed a place where hidden talents abound."
“Especially Mr. Qian, he is a born businessman.”
The prefect of Qingzhou did not answer immediately, but tapped the table lightly with his finger, his gaze falling on Bai Yiyue, who had an extraordinary bearing, below the stage.
"He's more than just a prodigy."
“Look at that child in January, so calm and composed, just like he was back then.”
"When they first wanted to set up this academy, I thought it was just childish whims," the prefect of Qingzhou said, picking up his teacup and brushing away the foam. "Looking back now, I realize I underestimated them."
Just then, the clerk looked troubled and whispered, "Sir, speaking of important matters, the household registration department is complaining again. The autumn tax ledgers are piling up, full of errors and omissions, and with the deadline fast approaching, every year it's a mess of accounts, which is really a headache."
The prefect of Qingzhou frowned and carefully placed the teacup back down.
"Another muddled account! Land, population, commercial taxes—each and every one of them is vital to the nation and the livelihood of the people! And all they do is complain to me about headaches?"
The clerk smiled wryly: "Even the clerks are busy calculating day and night, and they can't keep up. These old accounts are so complicated and difficult to untangle."
The prefect of Qingzhou turned his gaze back to the square, watching Qian Duoduo's composed demeanor, and a bold idea took shape in his mind.
He suddenly laughed: "Difficult? I think the one who can break the deadlock may be right in front of us."
The next day, an official sedan chair stopped at the entrance of the Seven Fairies Academy.
The prefect of Qingzhou personally visited him.
"Grandfather!" Bai Eryue was the first to see him and exclaimed in surprise, "Why have you come in person?"
Bai Yiyue hurriedly led everyone forward to greet him and invited him into the main hall of Lanyue Xiaozhu.
“January, no need for formalities. Please be seated.” The prefect of Qingzhou looked around, his gaze lingering briefly on Qian Duoduo and Du Jiu, before getting straight to the point: “I have come today not only as your maternal grandfather, but also as the prefect of Qingzhou. I have come to ask for your assistance.”
"Request for help?" Bai Yiyue asked in surprise. "Grandfather, you flatter me. Please feel free to give any instructions if there is anything we can do for the academy."
"Good, you're quick to speak!" the prefect of Qingzhou praised. "Then I'll get straight to the point. Your accounting skills at Xuanwu Square were witnessed by everyone in Qingzhou. Mr. Qian, what's your accounting method called again?"
Qian Duoduo hurriedly stood up and bowed: "Your Excellency, it is just a little bit of a skill that the students have learned, called double-entry bookkeeping."
"Double-entry bookkeeping..." The prefect of Qingzhou read it aloud, then nodded and said, "The name is novel, but it certainly has the effect of making things clear and easy to understand. I ask you, if you were to reorganize the tax accounts of the prefectural government, how confident would you be?"
Cooperating with the government is no joke.
Du Jiu immediately stepped forward and said solemnly, "Your Excellency, taxation is a matter of great importance to the nation. Our students are all women, and they are inexperienced in worldly affairs. I fear they are not up to the task. If anything goes wrong..."
“I understand Mr. Du’s concerns.” The prefect of Qingzhou waved his hand, interrupting her, and stared sharply at Qian Duoduo. “I’m asking you, Mr. Qian, do you dare to accept the challenge?”
Qian Duoduo felt a surge of excitement rush to his head; this was the opportunity he had been dreaming of!
Without hesitation, he bowed and said, "I dare! As long as you trust me, the Calculation Pavilion is willing to sign a pledge!"
"Good!" The prefect of Qingzhou clapped his hands and laughed. "That's the spirit I've been looking for! However," he suddenly changed his tone, "Mr. Du's words also make sense. There are indeed many inconveniences for women entering government offices."
Qian Duoduo followed up, saying, "Your Excellency is wise. We have the same concerns."
"Don't worry, I've already planned this out," the prefect of Qingzhou said confidently. "I won't let you into the government compound. I will set up a quiet courtyard next to the government office and set up a sign for the Qingzhou Finance and Taxation Bureau as a temporary office."
"All tax registers will be escorted by my personal guards."
“You select the most capable students, and you and Mr. Du will lead the team. I will also send the Registrar of the Household Department and several trustworthy clerks to assist you.”
He stood up, walked to Bai Yiyue, and said in a gentle but serious tone: "Yiyue, this is both a public matter and a private matter."
"Consider it... a testing ground provided by your maternal grandfather for your academy."
"Go ahead and do it. Even if the sky falls, I'll be there to support you!"
Now that things have come to this, there is no reason to refuse.
Bai Yiyue bowed solemnly: "Thank you for your trust, maternal grandfather! The Seven Fairy Maidens Academy is willing to serve Qingzhou Prefecture!"
Immediately, the twelve most outstanding students from the Calculation Pavilion formed the Tax Clearing Class, and Lin Xiaocao was among them.
When they entered the Qinglisi (Office of the Imperial Clerk) with its brand-new signboard and saw the mountains of old, musty account books, they all gasped in shock.
The old clerk Wang, sent by the Household Department, said with a forced smile, "Mr. Qian, this is not a small account in a shop; it is the foundation of an entire county and township."
"Ladies, you must look carefully. A single mistake could mean the tax of a life."
His words were full of disdain and a sense of schadenfreude.
Qian Duoduo smiled slightly, not caring, and clapped her hands, saying to the women, "Now, divide into groups!"
He divided the women into three groups and clearly assigned them tasks.
"First group, the transcription group! Copy these disorganized items onto our own ledger pages!"
"Remember, only take the numbers from the original ledger, regardless of whether they are correct or not!"
"Second group, cross-checking group! Bring up the county annals, the fish-scale register, and the chamber of commerce records, and compare them with the entered data. Any discrepancies or contradictions should be noted down in red!"
"The third group will use double-entry bookkeeping to set up a general ledger and uncover all the suspicious points!"
The audit began quietly in this small courtyard, accompanied by the sound of abacuses and the rustling of pages turning.
With their meticulousness and intelligence, the women sorted out the tangled mess of numbers and put them into perfect order.
Three days later, Lin Xiaocao, pale-faced, found Qian Duoduo with a newly compiled report in hand.
“Sir…look at this…” He pointed to a line of text on the ledger page, his voice trembling, “Zhao Family Village in Qinghe County was flooded three years ago. The village was destroyed and most of the villagers moved away.”
"But...but the tax register shows that this village has not only paid the same amount of poll tax over the past three years, but also has an additional 50 mu of newly reclaimed arable land tax record..."
A village that no longer exists continues to pay taxes year after year.
Where did this money come from?
Where to go next?
Everyone fell silent.
The lights in the Qingli Si (official residence) courtyard shone brightly all night, yet the atmosphere grew more oppressive each day.
The initial excitement and sense of accomplishment have long been swallowed up by the ever-revealing darkness.
The pens in the women's hands grew heavier and heavier.
The rustling sound of turning the ledgers seemed to transform into the whispers of countless wronged souls.
They discovered that the resurrected Zhao Family Village was just the tip of the iceberg.
The reports were compiled and presented to Qian Duoduo and Du Jiu's desks:
"A garrison was only authorized to have 800 soldiers, but its rations and pay were distributed in full for 1,500 men for ten years. The extra 700 men's allowance simply vanished..."
"A local gentry's hundred acres of fertile land were listed as inferior land in the tax register, resulting in an extremely low tax rate..."
"Meanwhile, the meager plots of land belonging to hundreds of poor farmers in the surrounding area were classified as superior paddy fields, bearing heavy taxes..."
In addition to the official taxes set by the imperial court, the appendix to the account books also included unheard-of items such as "filial piety tribute for ice," "charcoal tribute," and "fire loss," all of which flowed into private pockets.
That night, a student named Qiuping was copying a tax document on a widow's remarriage when she suddenly covered her mouth and ran out, bursting into tears in a corner of the courtyard.
His mother was a widow who raised him with great difficulty. He couldn't imagine how they would survive if his mother were also subject to such an absurd tax.
Another student, Chun Tao, slammed her pen on the desk, tears welling in her eyes. "What's the point of all this? The clearer we calculate, the more we see how unbearable this world is!"
"How dare these people do this? Aren't they afraid of retribution?"
Lin Xiaocao sat beside him, her face deathly pale.
She recalled her own experience of being falsely accused and imprisoned, and whispered, "They...maybe they were never afraid."
For a moment, the entire Qingli Division fell silent, with only suppressed sobs and heavy breathing remaining.
At this moment, the belief began to crack.
They once thought that by learning knowledge and arithmetic, they could make the world a better place.
But now...
Qian Duoduo and Du Jiu exchanged a glance, both seeing the seriousness in each other's eyes.
"Let's call it a day," Du Jiu said softly. "Everyone is tired, so go back and rest."
That night, Du Jiu and Qian Duoduo found Bai Yiyue and told her everything about the Qingli Division.
"Headmaster, the situation is more serious than we anticipated," Du Jiu said worriedly. "Their resolve has wavered. If they can't recover from this, not only will they be unable to complete the tax collection, but it could also affect their entire lives."
Qian Duoduo also abandoned her usual cynicism and said in a deep voice, "What I taught them was technique and tools. I told them that the tools were extremely sharp, but I did not tell them that what they might cut open with these tools was a bloody and mangled reality. This is my dereliction of duty."
Bai Yiyue listened quietly, the moonlight from the window shining on her plain face, making her appear exceptionally cold.
He remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking.
"No, this is not anyone's dereliction of duty. This is their first lesson as they step out of the academy and into the real world. They cannot escape it, and they must learn it."
He stood up, his gaze resolute. "Tomorrow, suspend the duties of the Bureau of Civil Affairs. In the morning, I will give them a lecture."
The following morning, all the students of the Calculation Pavilion, including the twelve girls from the Tax Clearing Class, were summoned to the open-air lecture hall of the academy.
They all looked dejected and listless.
Bai Yiyue stepped onto the podium without bringing any books.
He looked around at every bewildered face below the stage, and his first words were completely unexpected.
“I know that you have seen the abyss.”
“You have seen greed, injustice, and how those who should be the masters of the people are gnawing away at the foundation of this country like termites.”
"You feel resentful, powerless, and even begin to question the meaning of everything we've learned?"
She stepped down from the podium, walked to Chun Tao and Qiu Ping, and looked into their eyes.
“I will answer you. It is precisely because we have seen the abyss that we seek the starlight even more.”
"Do you think your job is meaningless?" He turned to Lin Xiaocao. "Xiaocao, tell me, if it weren't for you, would Zhao Family Village, which was destroyed by the flood, have to be recorded in the accounts again and have to pay taxes for ten or twenty years?"
He then looked at Qiu Ping: "Qiu Ping, you cried over that tax on widows remarrying. But have you ever thought that it was precisely because you recorded it, pulled it out from among countless chaotic entries, that Prefect Sun saw it, and that it became possible for it to be abolished!"
Bai Yiyue's voice suddenly rose: "We learn arithmetic not to appreciate how perfect the world is, but precisely to see where its problems lie and where it is injured!"
"Only after seeing clearly can you treat it!"
“Yes, we are still very weak at this moment, and we cannot change the whole world immediately. However,” he pointed to the ground beneath his feet, “we can change this land beneath our feet first. We can make the tax registers of Qingzhou clear and fair from this day forward.”
"We can stop a village that no longer exists from being exploited!"
“A fabricated and exorbitant tax was abolished.”
"This is the starlight we can grasp right now!"
"He who gazes into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into him. But as long as there is light in your heart, the abyss cannot devour you!"
"Children, do not be afraid. Lift your heads and see the darkness clearly, and then use what you have learned to light a lamp with your own hands."
"If one lamp is not enough, light two, and illuminate the whole area!"
"This is the true meaning of our Seven Fairies Academy, teaching you to read, write, and do arithmetic!"
silence.
After a long silence, there came the sound of suppressed sobs.
Lin Xiaocao was the first to stand up. She wiped away her tears, bowed deeply to Bai Yiyue, and said in a strong voice, "This student understands!"
"What we hold in our hands is not a pen, but a knife and a ruler—a knife and ruler used to measure justice and carve clarity!"
"The students understand!" All the girls stood up, their eyes rekindling their passion.
That afternoon, when they returned to the Qinglisi (a government office), the atmosphere of the entire courtyard had been completely transformed.
They knew they were doing something right and great.
A month later, Qian Duoduo, Du Jiu, and twelve girls with tired faces but bright eyes walked into the back hall of the Qingzhou government office, carrying dozens of neatly bound account books with brand-new covers.
There were no outsiders here, only the prefect and his trusted advisor.
When the prefect of Qingzhou personally opened the first account book, even though he had seen many storms, he couldn't help but gasp in surprise.