Chapter 52: Come! Experience the Genius’ Power
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Shen Lang came to the Earl’s door.
Both the Earl and his wife were asleep.
“Mother-in-law, father-in-law!” Shen Lang shouted with a friendly tone.
“Hmph!” his father-in-law replied.
“Sigh, Lang’er, what’s wrong?” his mother-in-law replied with a gentle voice.
This was the result of calling his mother-in-law first.
Shen Lang said, “Mister Xu has left out of anger and would probably not appear for a few days. However, the accounts in the Palace of the Earl have to be settled. There is a large number of monetary items coming in and out of the palace these few days; if the bills are delayed for a few days, it will be hard to settle the bills. Since I am good in Mathematics, should I take over the job these few days and hand over the job back to Mister Xu once he returns?”
The Earl said, “Why can’t we talk about this tomorrow?”
“F*ck, as an Earl, you care about sleeping more? It is only nine o’clock, why are you sleeping so early?”
The Earl’s wife said, “Lang’er is being considerate, why can’t you talk to him nicely?”
Then, the Earl’s wife continued.
“Lang’er, come in to talk.”
Shen Lang stood outside for a while before entering in case he saw anything that he was not supposed to see.
The Earl was annoyed, but his wife looked at Shen Lang with all smiles.
“Be honest, what are you planning?” said the Earl.
What was the most important thing to note when facing a family member?
Trust!
One had to be clever and should not treat others like fools.
Shen Lang said, “I suspect that Mister Xu Wenzhao is stealing some money from the Palace of the Earl. Therefore, I wish to check his bills.”
“Nonsense...” the Earl slammed the table.
He hated how Shen Lang took revenge.
“Xu Wenzhao indeed did something wrong to you, but you had already taken revenge, and he had been humiliated. However, before the day ended, you are now planning to sabotage him again?”
However, Shen Lang’s mother-in-law liked it.
She felt that her husband was too forgiving. Shen Lang was good because he did not hide his feelings nor fake them at all.
Shen Lang said, “Father-in-law, Xu Wenzhao only has 200 gold coins worth of salary every year, but his sons are all wearing gold or silver jewelry and expensive articles of clothing. Moreover, all of them had a few wives. They have many properties in Xuanwu City and Nujiang County, worth more of 1000 Mus1. The total amount of these possessions has surpassed the amount of salary he is receiving.”
The Earl frowned and said word by word, “Lang’er, don’t be too extreme!”
This sentence showed that the Earl knew what was happening but decided to ignore it for now.
Shen Lang said, “Father-in-law, you are too kind to others. Perhaps the amount of money that Xu Wenzhao had corrupted is way beyond your imagination!”
The Earl’s wife said gently, “Lang’er, tell me, why are you targeting Xu Wenzhao like this?”
Shen Lang said, “Mother-in-law, Xu Wenzhao is cunning, but why is he targeting me and trying to get rid of me? Could it only be because he is very close to his nephew, Wang Lian? Could there be other reasons? Are we stopping him from achieving his goals?”
This sentence had hit the main point.
Before Xu Wenzhao could manipulate the Earl and his wife, Young Master Shen did it first.
Both the Earl and his wife fell silent.
Then, Shen Lang took out two booklets of bills in his pocket and said, “This is Xu Wenzhao’s bills, although they are two unimportant bills, they are about the purchase of the drinks for the dinner of the Palace of the Earl, and I have already discovered serious corruption.”
“Serious?” the Earl’s wife asked.
The Earl asked, “Where did you get the bills from?”
“Cough, this is not important,” Shen Lang said, “I-I asked your son to take it from the accountant’s room.”
“Took it? He had definitely stolen it!”
The Earl’s face twitched... his foolish son!
Shen Lang said, “Old Mister Lin is also good in Mathematics. Moreover, he is a sincere and uncorrupted person. I was thinking of asking him to check the bills with me.”
Shen Lang was talking about the apparent matter of how he would not do it alone, which was why he asked Mister Lin, an honest man, to supervise him.
The Earl’s wife took the booklets from Shen Lang. Although she could not understand what was written, she believed her son-in-law.
When he said that the problem was serious, it should be serious.
The Earl’s wife said, “Hubby, it will be good if we checked it.”
“But...” the Earl hesitated.
After all, Xu Wenzhao was his wife’s relative. That was also the reason why he had been tolerating Xu Wenzhao.
The Earl’s wife said, “When I was married to the Jin family, I became a member of the Jin Family and should prioritize the family. It will be good if Xu Wenzhao is innocent. We shall close one eye if the amount he corrupted is small. However, if the amount is big, we cannot let it go.”
The Earl hesitated for a long time.
He did not want to be a bad guy. Although Xu Wenzhao was cunning and arrogant, he had been following him for several decades and had indeed put in the effort to be where he was at that moment.
Shen Lang said, “Father-in-law, I will only be in charge of checking the bills; once it is settled, I will hand over the bills to you and not interfere in your decision.”
The Earl frowned and said, “Alright...”
Then, he said with a stern tone, “But Shen Lang, let me tell you, Xu Wenzhao is a senior in the Palace of the Earl; you have to maintain his reputation. Do not tell anyone about this audit. Moreover, once he returns, whether you have made any findings or not, you have to stop immediately. You cannot humiliate him any further.”
Shen Lang was speechless. His father-in-law was too nice and forgiving.
“Alright.” Shen Lang bowed.
By right, Xu Wenzhao had been humiliated and would not return in a short period. Therefore, Shen Lang had sufficient time.
However, one could never be too careful; what if he returned tomorrow morning?
Shen Lang would make full use of every single second.
“Yes, father-in-law!” said Shen Lang, “I shall take my leave.”
When Shen Lang left, the Earl pointed at him and said, “Look at this brat, he takes revenge on every single matter. I wonder why he is acting like this.”
The Earl’s wife said, “I think it’s good. This shows his true nature and that he does not hide anything from us. He is so nice to Dumb, although he was merely his childhood friend in the village. I am quite relieved that Mulan married a man like this.”
The Earl was jealous. He said, “It is good for Mulan to marry a man like that. Then am I not good?”
His wife smiled, “Alright, alright, you are good too but too inflexible.”
The Earl said, “I cannot stand how unforgiving he is.”
The Earl’s wife said, “We only need one person out of the couple to be generous and forgiving. Mulan is already generous and forgiving enough, if Lang’er’s like that too, we would suffer.”
...
In the accountant room, Shen Lang became stunned!
“What the hell, so many?”
There were several thousand books in the accountant’s room.
Old Mister Lin said, “These are 20 over years’ worth of bills here. I think we need a few months to audit everything with 20 or 30 people.”
It was impossible for him to check everything within a month.
However, how much time did Shen Lang have?
He did not know, at most four to five days, and perhaps, even only one night.
“Young master, you only have one night,” said old Mister Lin, “the person who opened the door for us is Xu Wenzhao’s follower. After seeing you here, he will tell Xu Wenzhao before dawn, and Xu Wenzhao will return tomorrow morning.”
Once Xu Wenzhao returned, he would take over the accountant’s room.
The Earl was kind enough and would not refuse Xu Wenzhao’s request.
Therefore, Shen Lang could never get the chance to audit again.
By then, Shen Lang would have wasted his efforts and embarrassed himself.
...
When the servant opened the room for the two, his face changed completely.
Then, he went over to the manager of the accountant’s room and told him what happened.
“The young master came over to audit? We have to inform master Xu Wenzhao.”
Once the gates of the Palace of the Earl were sealed, nobody could leave. They had to wait for the next morning.
“Should we set the room on fire? That would kill the pretty boy, too,” the servant said emotionlessly.
The manager glared at him.
“What the f*ck!” He couldn’t tell how mean he was at a young age.
“Fool, do you want to die? Everyone will die if you do that,” the middle-aged manager said, “inform Master Xu Wenzhao at dawn tomorrow. I don’t believe he can find anything overnight.”
The servant sneered, “Several thousand booklets, he will at least need one month with 20 to 30 people.”
“The foolish pretty boy is too ambitious, trying to do an audit overnight, he must be insane. Nobody will be able to do that, he shall wait for Master Xu’s punishment tomorrow.”
“However, if this pretty boy is so determined to audit, then we should kill him. I will discuss the matter regarding how we should kill him with Master Xu tomorrow.”
That was how cruel an organization was!
...
In the accountant’s room...
Old Mister Lin said, “Young master, you should have told me about your plan beforehand. Then, I could think of an excuse to let Xu Wenzhao leave for a few days.”
Shen Lang said, “Old mister, do you suspect Xu Wenzhao too?”
“Not suspect, I am very sure,” said old Mister Lin, “the Earl is too nice and forgiving and is unable to judge a person’s evildoings. I have wanted to audit the accounts long ago to see how much Xu Wenzhao has corrupted. I have even sent a spy to this room!”
After hearing this, Shen Lang became stunned.
He did not expect that!
Old Mister Lin said, “The student of mine stayed undercover for three years to earn Xu Wenzhao’s trust. When he was about to make the critical findings, he suddenly died from an illness.”
“He was probably poisoned,” said Shen Lang.
Old Mister Lin said, “I thought so too, so I sent Physician An Zaishi to check his corpse. He made a diagnosis of cholera, the most severe form of it.”
Shen Lang had witnessed physician An Zaishi’s skills; he was, indeed, good.
Old mister Lin said, “Ever since then, I never had a chance to audit Xu Wenzhao’s accounts.
“I believe that he had corrupted a lot of money. However, he was extremely good at managing the accountant’s room. Everyone here is his followers, and he is good at Mathematics, so nobody can find anything wrong with his accounts.”
It was merely ordinary on the surface.
“Sigh, young master, you are too anxious,” sighed Mister Lin, “the accountant’s room had been managed by Xu Wenzhao for over 20 years. Two of us, without any help, will take one to two months before we could audit everything.
“Moreover, he will return tomorrow morning, I don’t think we even have time to flip through all these overnight. We won’t be able to find anything and will only alert him.”
Was a night’s time insufficient?
It was indeed insufficient with only Shen Lang and old mister Lin. One month would probably be inadequate too.
However, they did not have to flip through every single book. They could just check the main book of the year.
Of course, that would be more than 20 thick books and needed at least two weeks.
However, Shen Lang had an intelligent brain.
It was time to let them experience his power as a genius!
He was different from others!
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