On the fifteenth of the fourth month, the sky was overcast. Shao Shuyi walked aimlessly along the field ridge.
Last night at first he had been lucky. He met a vegetable farmer living among the fields. The farmer was kind-hearted, let him stay in the shed, even gave him several bundles of dry grass to spread on the ground so he could make do for the night.
In the latter half of the night, hunger growled in his belly. Shao Shuyi realized that in fleeing the day before he had been too hurried to bring even a fire starter. The grain he carried was too heavy, had sapped too much strength, and was now a burden.
Borrowing fire and a rice steamer from the farmer, he cooked a pot of plain rice and ate it haphazardly.
But his luck ran out there. As dawn approached, the distant main road was filled with carriages and horses like dragons, the commotion tremendous. The fastest—
Shao Shuyi had barely fallen asleep when he suddenly woke, rushed out the door in a flurry to look, only to have an arrow come shooting at him with a sharp whistle, landing seven or eight steps ahead of him.
"Run, it's the soldiers from the Da Du Suo." The farmer shoved him, shouting.
Shao Shuyi did not hesitate. He said, "The grain's yours," and took off running.
Several soldiers chased after him, cursing and swearing.
Some carried foot bows, others held long spears, anchor axes, sickle axes, and ring blades, stopping only when they reached the farmer's place.
Shao Shuyi dared not look back; he just kept running forward until he truly could run no more, then slowed his pace, walking slowly while gasping for breath.
It was then that he came to his senses.
"Da Du Suo" should be the Great Capital Chiliarch's Battalion. Searching the memories of the original owner of this body, he discovered that Taicang locally had a Yuan dynasty garrison, which the locals called "Da Du Suo."
Barring accidents, above the Da Du Suo there was more than one level of military organization, but he did not know whether it was a Guard or a Myriad Household Commander. Anyway, the original owner had little experience and knew little about these; being able to pick up some hearsay was already not bad.
Earlier he must have violated a taboo of marching, been seen as scouting the military appearance, so soldiers came to drive him away—yes, drive him away; those soldiers had not truly intended to kill him, just to scare him a bit, after all this was Taicang, not enemy territory.
But now it was of no use.
Shao Shuyi was deeply discouraged, and a feeling of desolation welled up uncontrollably in his heart, along with some anger.
He was a transmigrator, yet fled about like a hunted dog, with nowhere to go and no one to rely on.
He was not even sure he could live to the next day.
If he had known it would be this wretched, he would have been better off making up his mind to follow Kong Tie out to sea; at least he might not die.
He sternly reflected on himself, silently telling himself not to forget the lessons learned: this was the Yuan dynasty, not 21st-century China. His margin for error was now extremely small; one careless move and he did not know where he would die in some forgotten corner.
As he walked, suddenly a river appeared ahead, its surface densely packed with moored boats.
Shao Shuyi looked into the distance and recognized this as the Salt and Iron Creek, a river flowing out from within Taicang city and southward into the Lou River.
There was a bridge on the river, with pedestrians coming and going.
After tidying his appearance a little, Shao Shuyi kept his head down, heedless of the strange looks of others, crossed the wooden bridge, and came to the west bank.
He had been to this place before.
******
"What are you doing here?" Inside the Zheng family boatyard, Li Zhuang's topknot was covered with wood shavings, his coarse linen short jacket full of oil stains. He was using a marking gauge to draw lines on a plank.
His son Li Yu stood to the side, watching carefully.
After Shao Shuyi came over, the little fellow's attention was drawn to him, cocking his small head and making faces at him.
Yes, Shao Shuyi had come to the Zheng family boatyard. This was the only place he could think of in the short term where he could try his luck. If this failed, he could probably only find a wealthy household to rely on and sell himself into slavery—if they dared to take him in.
Hearing Li Zhuang's question at this moment, he took a deep breath and said, "I've come to see if Brother Li has any work here."
"Go back." After drawing the lines, Li Zhuang waved his hand and said, "The boatyard does have some rough work, but the master—the Zheng family—has bondsmen and is not hiring outside hands anymore."
Shao Shuyi was somewhat disappointed.
No one's money was blown in by the wind. It was normal to temporarily hire outside hands when too busy; but to keep hiring them after the shortage of hands passed would be a sign of a problem in the head. The family's bondsmen only needed to be given food to eat, no paper money required—weren't they cheaper than outside hands?
But now he had no way back. After a moment of silence, he asked again, "Brother Li, this boatyard looks not small, does it? Does it have a storeroom?"
"It is indeed not small, but not very large either. These days most are riverboats being built for delivery to Gaoyou for use." Li Zhuang said. "There are storerooms too—the main warehouse and several small storehouses—all staffed by Zheng family bondsmen."
"Is there no one in charge of accounts?" Shao Shuyi asked somewhat eagerly.
As soon as these words came out, Li Zhuang could not help but look him over carefully, as if seeing something, after which he said: "Naturally there is. Every month for the first few days, the old residence sends an accountant over; in the middle of the month he comes for one day; at the end of the month he comes to audit accounts for two days. On other days, the main warehouse keeper dispenses goods according to the accounts."
So it was a part-time accountant! Shao Shuyi understood.
Most likely the Zheng family had used an old accountant for many years, someone trusted, who handled cashier and accounting in one role, while the main warehouse keeper was the manager of materials and cash, likewise a confidant of the Zheng family.
Thinking of this, he suddenly felt somewhat pessimistic. Unless the Zheng family's business suddenly expanded greatly and the original staff was insufficient, he was afraid it would be hard to get an opportunity.
"Xiaohu, don't let your mind wander." Li Zhuang gestured with his hand, calling an apprentice forward to saw wood, and asked casually, "Can you keep accounts?"
"I can." Shao Shuyi said without hesitation.
No joke, how could he not keep accounts? He did not even need an abacus or counting rods; addition and subtraction he could do mentally, simple multiplication and division mentally, complex ones written out in columns were soon finished—fast and accurate.
Moreover, he could organize those existing chaotic bookkeeping methods to ensure they were clear and correct, at a glance.
The only problem was who would give him this opportunity—perhaps his only chance to survive.
Li Zhuang heard this and was half-believing, half-doubting.
Although both lived in Taicang, Li Zhuang was an artisan household, while Shao Shuyi was a boat household. He only had some acquaintance with the other's deceased parents, and normally they did not interact much.
Shao Shuyi might have overheard a bit in some village school, but accounting? Village schools did not teach that.
So he did not quite believe it, but was unwilling to expose him on the spot, only smiled and said: "Xiaohu, I built a three-hundred-liao riverboat. It used twenty-four bottom planks, twenty-two side planks... how many planks in total?"
Shao Shuyi calculated mentally and immediately had an answer. But he did not answer rashly; instead, he verified it once more in his mind, and after confirming it was correct, he replied: "Two hundred and twenty-three planks."
After answering, he still felt somewhat uneasy in his heart. The reason was simple: now he had no margin for error at all, and had to cherish every opportunity, even though there did not seem to be any obvious opportunity here at Li Zhuang's place.
And when Li Zhuang heard Shao Shuyi give the answer, he was stunned on the spot.
To be honest, he did not know how to calculate well, but from years of participating in building three-hundred-liao riverboats, he knew how many planks were used—indeed, two hundred and twenty-three without doubt.
Not reconciled, he asked again: "Still this boat—used twelve waist beams, twenty keel timbers, twenty-four wall posts..."
"Total long timbers: one hundred and six." Shao Shuyi replied.
Li Zhuang's expression became much more serious.
He had once thought Shao Shuyi learned from some talkative craftsman how much labor and material building these boats required, so he decided to change the question to achieve an element of surprise. He only heard himself say: "The Song people used the weight of one hu of japonica rice as one dan. For every dan, the standard is ninety-two and a half jin. At that time there were giant ships and large oared vessels carrying twelve thousand dan of rice. How many jin in total?"
This time Shao Shuyi could not answer immediately, but stood frowning, one hand still writing and drawing in the air, muttering under his breath, things like "twelve split into ten and two," "ten cubed," and the like, leaving others completely bewildered.
For some reason, Li Zhuang suddenly became somewhat nervous.
In Song times there was a man named Zhang Shunmin who had once visited a ten-thousand-dan ship: "The ship's form is round and short, like three large houses, the doors at its back, the interior very ornate, boarding and disembarking by ladder, it does not move except in very strong winds," "Cash carried twenty million guan, rice carried twelve thousand dan."
Speaking of this matter, someone asked how many jin twelve thousand dan of rice was. Li Zhuang did not know, but an accountant, carried away by the moment, calculated it as—
"One million one hundred thousand jin!" Shao Shuyi looked at him, saying confidently yet nervously.
Li Zhuang was speechless for a long time.
He really calculated it! He really knew how to calculate! And without an abacus, directly doing it in his head, fast and accurate!
Child prodigy? Or had the Heavenly Consort bestowed grace to enlighten his mind? Li Zhuang was not sure; he always felt that something extraordinary had happened to this child Xiaohu.
"It depends on your luck." Coming back to himself, he looked at Shao Shuyi with mixed emotions and said: "Today is the fifteenth. In the afternoon or evening, Official Zheng will come by. He has been coming frequently lately; these boats are too important, and the court is urging them."
"It depends on your luck." Li Zhuang repeated again.
After saying this, he no longer paid attention to Shao Shuyi, turned and went back to work.
Shao Shuyi breathed a sigh of relief. Although he still had no certainty, at least he had seen a glimmer of hope.
Chapter 8