HUS Chapter 29: Concealing One's Abilities
HUS Chapter 29: Concealing One's Abilities
Dec 11, 2025
Yang Can's small courtyard was separated from First Steward Li's courtyard by only a wall. The architectural layout of the two courtyards was identical.
When Yang Can returned to his residence, Wangcai was dozing with his head on the table.
Seeing Yang Can return, Wangcai quickly rubbed his eyes and stood up, "Master Yang, Master Li said that from now on, this servant will serve you."
Yang Can nodded. He knew that Wangcai was a slave born to slaves.
In this era, below the status of commoners, there were two types of people: servants and slaves.
Servants had slightly higher status than slaves. They were generally specialized households with particular skills, such as musicians and craftsmen.
As for slaves, they were even lower in status, considered private property that could be bought and sold at will.
If one wanted to gift them to others, that naturally followed the master's wishes.
Therefore, Li Youcai giving Wangcai to Yang Can was simply a matter of one sentence.
Yang Can said, "I understand. Wangcai, it's so late. No need to serve. Go to sleep."
Wangcai acknowledged and withdrew from the main room.
The architectural layout was the same as Steward Li's, and Wangcai had helped Pan Xiaowan tidy up in the afternoon.
He naturally knew where he should sleep and went directly to the side room.
His bedding had already been moved over in the evening.
Yang Can was somewhat tipsy and also tired. Returning to the bedroom and seeing the complete set of new bedding, he lay down to sleep.
Early the next morning, Wangcai swept the courtyard clean and fetched well water for his master to use for washing up when he awoke then he waited eagerly in the corridor for Yang Can to take him to breakfast.
Their three daily meals were all provided centrally.
Of course, if someone reached the position of steward and had established a household, if they wished to cook for themselves, that was also acceptable.
The place for centralized dining was called the "Women's Kitchen Courtyard" in the inner residence, and the "Lower Kitchen" in the outer estate.
The Lower Kitchen was also divided into a "large dining hall" and "small dining hall." Yang Can naturally dined in the small dining hall.
Most of the stewards he'd met at yesterday's welcome banquet were already having breakfast.
Because of last night's drinking session, they had already grown closer.
Seeing Yang Can enter, these stewards all greeted him, creating quite a harmonious scene.
Yang Can glanced around and, not seeing Li Youcai, asked, "Does the First Steward not usually dine at the Lower Kitchen?"
Accountant Li answered with a smile, "The First Steward married a young delicate wife, so naturally he can't bear to have her rise early to prepare meals. Usually, he also eats here. However, our First Steward can't be happy without wine, and whenever he drinks, he gets drunk. The morning after drinking, he generally can't make it to mealtime."
"I see."
When Yang Can was an adviser, he also often dined here. However, at that time, he hadn't paid special attention to Li Youcai's movements, so he wasn't clear about this.
Seeing Yang Can arrive, the kitchen brought his food up.
Yang Can's breakfast consisted of two kinds of pastries, two small dishes, and a bowl of wonton soup.
The pastry was Chinese yam cake with golden date paste. The snow-white yam cake was cut into thumb-sized squares with candied golden dates on top.
One bite revealed the dense and delicate yam paste and the sweet but not cloying date paste filling, with a subtle hint of osmanthus fragrance.
There were also two lotus leaf steamed buns made from fine flour, which also counted as a pastry.
As for the two small dishes, one was five-spice sauce-smoked fish chunks, using thick-fleshed catfish from the Dragon River.
First marinated, then fried, then sauced, the sauce was bright red and glistening with oil. One bite revealed a crispy exterior and tender interior, with the five-spice flavor penetrating deep into the texture.
The other small dish was pickled turnip, cut into fine shreds and mixed with a bit of small-mill sesame oil.
In addition, there was a bowl of shepherd's purse and pork wontons, using fresh shepherd's purse from early spring, paired with hind leg meat from free-range pigs.
With some dried shrimp added, the soup base was made from stock flavored with old hen, mushrooms, and diced bamboo shoots.
Yang Can's small dining hall standard was the same level as Li Youcai's in the outer estate, much higher than those stewards because as stewards, they ate the same meals as the master's family.
That is to say, all were prepared by the small kitchen's chef, though the meal standards were somewhat lower than the main family's specifications.
While Yang Can ate, he chatted idly with Accountant Li and the other stewards.
After everyone finished breakfast with conversation and laughter, Yang Can returned to his residence.
Yang Can first familiarized himself with the interior and exterior of his small courtyard. When the sun was two pole-heights high, he saw Li Youcai walking over with unsteady steps.
His forehead bore a bluish-purple bruise. Behind him followed Laixi, using a shoulder pole to carry two trunks.
Seeing Yang Can, Li Youcai smiled and said, "The Clan Head indeed summoned me and gave me some instructions. These trunks contain various ledgers from the six major estates and three major ranches. Go ahead and take them over. Look through them carefully. If there's anything you don't quite understand, you can ask Accountant Li for help."
Yang Can quickly expressed his thanks. Looking at the "Nike swoosh" mark on his forehead, he asked indirectly, "Did elder brother rest well last night? Haven't sobered up yet?"
Li Youcai smiled, "Last night I did drink a bit too much. Look at how I knocked my forehead, making you laugh at me, brother. Fortunately, your sister-in-law is virtuous. First, she tirelessly wiped and washed my body, then she prepared sobering soup and fed me spoonful by spoonful. Otherwise, I'd probably feel even worse right now."
As he spoke, he moved his neck and gently touched his forehead, explaining to Yang Can with a smile, "Your sister-in-law was afraid I'd vomit after drinking, so she made me use a higher pillow. Look, I got a 'stiff neck,' hahaha..."
Yang Can was quite speechless upon hearing this. Big brother, did you even have a pillow?
Oh, if the footstool under the bed frame also counted as a pillow...
Forget it. When one's husbandly authority is weak, one can only "strengthen oneself" this way.
They were both men. Understanding without speaking was the greatest kindness.
As the two talked here, Laixi and Wangcai carried the two trunks into the study.
Li Youcai boasted to Yang Can at length about how attentive and considerate his young delicate wife was to him, then triumphantly took his leave with Laixi.
Yang Can had Wangcai brew a pot of tea and bring it to the study. He opened the two trunks and took out all the account books and materials inside.
The ledgers were arranged in order according to different estates, different categories, and the chronological dates on the covers.
At first, Yang Can worried he wouldn't understand them, but when he opened the ledgers and examined them carefully, he discovered they were quite simple.
Account books of this era mostly used single-entry bookkeeping, which was recording income and expenses in chronological order, commonly called "running accounts."
Slightly more complex ledgers used "three-column" recording, in the form of income minus expenses equals balance.
As for double-entry bookkeeping, even its rudimentary forms, such as Longmen accounting or four-legged accounts, hadn't been invented in this era yet.
Therefore, with Yang Can's modern knowledge, after slightly adapting to this era's accounting units, special terminology, and writing conventions, he could understand everything at a glance without anyone teaching him.
For example, an entry reading "Tian character number 5, twelfth month third day, received from Member Chen silk price silver three taels eight qian. Paid, worker food silver five qian."
In plain language, this was "Voucher #5, December 3rd, income from silk sales 3.8 taels, expenses for wages 0.5 taels."
Yang Can only spent a quarter hour to basically understand these ledgers' bookkeeping methods and the meanings of various specialized terms on them.
Subsequently, he pulled over a sheet of paper, used a ruler to draw a table, then filled in statistics item by item as he read.
As an ordinary person with modern education, though he couldn't claim proficiency in all areas, he had dabbled in various fields.
Such simple and primitive ledgers, even if he wasn't an accountant, his methods of organizing and compiling statistics were far superior to the ancients.
These estates, lands, and livestock farms handed over by the Yu clan's second branch had simple business models. Creating tables and keeping accounts made everything clear at a glance, and compiling statistics was also very rapid.
In just over an hour, Yang Can had already organized several large ledgers. Through these statistics, he gradually gained understanding of the properties he would manage.
This way, Yang Can had a clear idea in his mind. These accounts couldn't stump him.
Yang Can lightly tapped the tabletop, pondering for a while. Since he knew these account books couldn't stump him, there was no rush.
Right now, he didn't want to quickly get a clear picture of the accounts, because how he would proceed in the future, in which direction, still depended on one matter being settled, which was...
Whether Suo Zhanzhi was pregnant.
Before this matter was confirmed, Yang Can would rather lie low and wait and see.
Moreover, he didn't plan to publicize his method of managing accounts.
If this method spread, at most he'd be an impressive accountant, bookkeeper, or financial adviser but his current starting point was already higher than that. There was no need.
Not letting people know he had such an ability would instead make him appear even more inscrutable.
Furthermore, in his good elder brother Li Youcai's mind, just to understand and clarify these accounts clearly would probably take one or two months at least then let First Steward Li misjudge. This way, he could grasp more initiative.
Thinking of this, Yang Can's face showed a sly smile.
He locked his "statistical table" that transcended the era in the cabinet, hung the key at his waist, casually scattered the other ledgers on the desk, and walked out.
He planned to find Accountant Li and ask Li Damu to help organize the accounts, establishing the impression that he couldn't manage accounts.
Li Damu naturally agreed readily to Yang Can's request, let alone asking for help.
Yang Can was the Second Steward, already his superior. Arranging for him to organize these accounts was something he couldn't object to.
Li Damu said, "Steward Yang can rest assured. This is part of my duties after all. However, the young mistress is currently sorting through internal and external accounts, so I dare not be negligent. After I finish the tasks the young mistress assigned, I'll immediately organize those accounts."
Hearing this, Yang Can smiled, "The six major estates and three major ranches don't all need to be sorted out at once. Feng'an Estate is closest to our Tianshui City. Please trouble Master Li to first sort out Feng'an Estate's accounts."
Li Damu readily agreed and saw Yang Can out of the accounting office with a smiling face.
He returned to the room and sat down, then pulled open the drawer under his desk.
Inside were two gold cakes, each weighing about half a jin.
Li Damu took out one piece and rubbed the gold cake with his thumb, muttering to himself, "Steward Yang the Second, it's not that Li doesn't want to help you. It's just that he gave so much..."
The "he" in Li Damu's mouth was none other than Zhang Yunyi, the master of Feng'an Estate.
Master Zhang had come to pay respects today, just one step ahead of Yang Can.
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