The Merit Ledger

In Dayong, assessments are held every three years. A single line of "Superior" in the merit ledger can make one's career skyrocket; a line of "Inferior" means permanent dismissal. Shen Yan is the lowest copyist in the county office, earning twenty wen a day. He discovered a shortfall of 3,690 shi in the ever-normal granary and accepted fifty taels of hush money without altering a single number. No one knows his surname is not Shen. Sixteen years ago, his family of thirty-seven was burned to death over a document accusing them of "colluding with the enemy"; the two characters scraped off that document were "private treasury." He does not kill. He audits accounts. Until the day he can lay this ledger before the emperor. — Description from novelcodex.orgFull novel: The Merit Ledger — read the rest free on N​o⁠v​e⁠l​C⁠o​d⁠e​x⁠.​o⁠r​g⁠