Chief Steward Grant felt a wave of bitterness in his heart. He and Edward Bolton were the same age; as a boy, he had been his page, and together they used to steal bird eggs and catch little fish. Later, when Edward Bolton became the head of the family, he was promoted along with him to manage the accounts. Gradually, as Edward Bolton's authority grew, it became harder to speak with him. Today, he suddenly called him Old Grant and spoke of having a grandson, making Chief Steward Grant suddenly feel that decades had passed in the blink of an eye, and the mischievous boy of the past was now gray-haired.

But he dared not let his emotions show and still replied respectfully, "To answer Master, I had a grandson this June, and I am still waiting for Master to bestow a name."

"Hehe! I have already thought of a name for your child."

Edward Bolton picked up a white letter paper from the table and handed it to Accountant Grant. Accountant Grant unfolded it and saw a large character '川' written on it.

"Your descendants are few, so you need '川' (river) to gather water. Therefore, the name will be 'George Grant'."

"Thank you, Master, for bestowing the name!" Chief Steward Grant dropped to his knees with a thud and kowtowed twice to Edward Bolton.

Edward Bolton closed his eyes slightly and said with a faint smile, "I called you here because I have something for you to do!"

……

After Chief Steward Grant left, Henry Bolton wandered around various places again before returning to the accounts room. As soon as he stepped into the room, he felt it instantly become quiet—so quiet it was almost frightening. Everyone seemed to be busy with their own work, heads down, but their backs were stiff and their ears perked up. Although they were supposedly working on the accounts, not a single page had been turned, nor a single word written.

Henry Bolton smiled and slowly walked over to Manager Young's seat, only to suddenly notice that Manager Young's cushion seemed to be moving. The thin, old cushion was shrinking under the desk, while a soft, brand-new cushion was slowly emerging from beneath the desk.

Taking a few more steps, Henry Bolton's gaze passed over the desk and he saw an eggplant-shaped face. The sycophantic smile on it had not faded; in fact, it had grown even more pronounced.

Henry Bolton smiled gratefully at him and, without any pretense, sat down. As soon as he did, a small bowl of steaming, golden-yellow soup was gently placed in front of him, with several thick slices of ginseng clearly visible inside.

It was Manager Smith, but his enthusiasm seemed to have faded. He pointed at the ginseng slices inside and said solemnly to Henry Bolton, "This is top-quality ginseng my brother-in-law brought from Goryeo. I usually can't bear to use it myself. Young Master, please drink it while it's hot!"

Looking at his serious face, Henry Bolton felt that if he drank that bowl of ginseng soup, he would owe him a huge favor. So, he gently pushed the small bowl back and pointed at the two-foot-high stack of account books on the desk, smiling, "Thank you, Manager Smith, but lately my liver fire has been strong, so I'm afraid I can't enjoy such fine ginseng. But with so many account books, I don't know where to start. Please advise me, Manager Smith!"

"Well... if Young Master is overheated, then you really shouldn't drink this."

Perhaps he was reluctant to part with it anyway. Seeing that Henry Bolton wouldn't drink it, Manager Smith quickly took the ginseng bowl back to his own desk, then hurried back and rummaged through a pile of account books. He pulled out a yellowed, old ledger and handed it to Henry Bolton, saying, "There's no need to look at those trivial accounts. This one records only major expenditures over five hundred taels. Young Master, just look at this."

With nothing else to do that morning, Henry Bolton sat there flipping through the pages one by one. Gradually, he began to see another side of the Zhang family that he had never known before...

……

Henry Bolton had quickly flipped through the account books. He was amazed at the scale of the Zhang family's expenses—at a glance, expenditures of ten thousand taels were everywhere, which also showed how abundant their income was. However, he noticed a strange phenomenon: the purpose of each expenditure was written extremely briefly, with most entries simply marked as 'expenditure'.

He had also seen Uncle William's account books at Linzhi Hall, where every expense was annotated in great detail, clear at a glance. Why, then, were the Zhang family's accounts kept so simple?

Puzzled, Henry Bolton picked up another ledger and casually flipped through a couple of pages, only to be stunned. In this book, just like Uncle William's, although the amounts were small, every expense was clearly recorded, sometimes even running out of space and requiring an extra slip of paper to be attached for continuation.

"Strange, why are the major expenditure ledgers written so simply?"

Chapter 11: Checking Old Accounts (Part 2)

Henry Bolton thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure it out, so he put the ledger back in its place. Suddenly, he noticed a folded slip of paper on the desk that hadn't been there before. Curious, he opened it. Inside was a single sentence: 'Come to Snail's Dwelling for a simple meal tonight.' Naturally, the address for Snail's Dwelling was below, but there was no signature.

Henry Bolton looked up and glanced around. He saw it—a certain eggplant-shaped face nodded at him meaningfully...

Once a person gets busy, time passes without notice. In the afternoon, Henry Bolton approved a few more expenditures, such as replanting flowers and trees, repairing the ancestral hall, and so on, all under a hundred taels. However, the Zhang family's financial approvals had always been very strict, with detailed budget lists for every expense. Take replanting flowers and trees, for example: what flowers to plant, what trees to grow, how many of each, the price per plant, and the market price—all the details had to be written out clearly, with no room for carelessness.