Although it was the lingering winter of February, the breathtaking beauty of the garden’s artificial hills, flowing water, pavilions, and towers could not be concealed.

‘What a pity, all of this now belongs to someone else…’

Henry Carter and his father sat huddled together on a stone bench by the pond, both thinking the same thing.

At this time of year, even with the sun out, it wasn’t very warm, but the father and son had no choice but to stay here. The people who had come to take possession of the house’s property had already arrived, and at this moment, they were moving the valuables out of the rooms one by one, checking and packing them right in front of the father and son.

“Pair of Hongwu blue-and-white vases with chi dragon handles and flared mouths.”

“A set of Wen Zhengming’s ‘Orchid and Bamboo Scrolls’…”

“Two top-grade Tianhuang stone carvings…”

“Be careful with those, these all belong to our Zhang family…”

A middle-aged man with a goatee, looking like an accountant, was tallying up the haul while sharply reminding the others.

Each time he called out an item, it was like a knife to Edward Carter’s heart, making him involuntarily tremble.

Henry Carter understood Edward Carter’s pain very well.

Even he, who had enjoyed this wealthy life for less than half an hour, found it hard to accept. Let alone the fact that all these things had been collected by Edward Carter one by one.

The father and son just sat there in the garden, not even noticing when those people finally left.

……

It wasn’t until the sun set in the west that Edward Carter was awakened by the chilly wind. Glancing at the still-silent Henry Carter, he suddenly slapped his own forehead.

“Damn, I was so caught up in my own grief that I forgot about my son!”

Hearing this, Henry Carter snapped out of it as well and forced a smile: “I’m fine…”

“As the saying goes, ‘When you reach the end of the water, sit and watch the clouds rise.’ Son, try to look on the bright side.” Edward Carter patted Henry Carter on the shoulder and quietly comforted him, “I just thought of a way out. Trust me, this hardship is only temporary—we still have a backup plan.”

“What backup plan?”

Henry Carter’s eyes lit up at these words. From the sound of it, maybe there was still hope!

“Did you forget? Last year, your grandfather arranged a marriage for you. Your future father-in-law is a wealthy merchant from Suzhou living in Nanjing, with assets of no less than a million!”

“Really?” Henry Carter couldn’t help but gasp. A million in this era was nothing like a million four hundred years later! This meant a million taels of silver—by modern standards, only a billionaire could compare.

“Of course! Haven’t you heard the saying, ‘From the sky to Dongting, Huizhou merchants are everywhere’? Your future father-in-law is the vice president of the Suzhou Dongting Chamber of Commerce, a tycoon who can stand toe-to-toe with our Huizhou merchants!”

“Ah…” Henry Carter couldn’t help but exclaim in amazement. He hadn’t expected his future father-in-law to be so formidable! But then he thought, his own grandfather was a dignified Vice Minister of Revenue, holding great power, so their family status was actually higher—nothing to be surprised about.

“I’ll urge the in-laws to arrange the wedding soon. The bride’s dowry will surely be generous. Once you’re married, you and your wife will be one—what worries could you possibly have?” Edward Carter earnestly plotted for his son’s future, seemingly not at all ashamed of the idea of his son living off his wife.

“But now that our family’s in trouble, will they still honor the engagement?”

Henry Carter was already considering the feasibility of this plan. Truly, like father, like son.

“Of course they will! The marriage contract is written in black and red ink—how could they go back on it?” Edward Carter widened his eyes.

“But what if they do?” Henry Carter wasn’t so blindly optimistic. After all, in two lifetimes, he’d never had much luck.

“Even if they do, it doesn’t matter!” Edward Carter said with a reserved smile, a bit mysteriously: “Let me tell you a secret. Your grandfather also arranged a marriage for me!” As he spoke, he cupped his hands in pride: “My future father-in-law is none other than the Director of the Imperial Academy in Nanjing! A distinguished Hanlin scholar—he would never shamelessly break off an engagement.”

With that, Edward Carter said confidently, “So don’t worry, son. There’s no way we’ll be left with nothing.”

“Oh…” Henry Carter let out a long sigh of relief, finally setting aside his worries about their livelihood and turning his attention to his grandfather’s fate.

“How could Grandpa have gone so far? He actually embezzled as much as a hundred thousand taels?”

According to what Henry Carter had learned in his previous life, the Ming dynasty’s tax revenue was mostly in kind, with little silver collected. In recent years, with Japanese pirates rampant, government revenue had sharply declined—apparently, the entire country’s annual income was only a little over two million taels…

For Mr. Carter to dare pocket so much on his own—did he really not know what death meant?

“Sigh, the old man certainly cared for the family, but he was never reckless.” Edward Carter shook his head. “Look at our family—after twenty years of hard work, we’ve only saved up fifty thousand taels. Where could he have embezzled so much?”

“Then what happened?” Henry Carter asked, frowning slightly.

“It was actually a hole in the ministry’s accounts—ten thousand taels were found missing.” Edward Carter spread his hands. “Your grandfather was in charge of the accounts as well as the salt licenses, so naturally he couldn’t escape responsibility.”

“Oh, so the old man was just the bookkeeper. There were higher officials above him, and people handling things below. Why did it all end up being his responsibility?” Henry Carter asked in utter confusion.