Chapter 53: Master Lang Is Amazing! Startling, Looking for Trouble
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Shen Lang said, “Old Mister, although one night’s time is very short, that may still be sufficient. We have to make use of every second. You have some knowledge of the bills, so please pick out the important booklets for me, I will check them at the fastest pace I could possibly employ.”
There were a few thousand documents in the room. Shen Lang could not possibly review every single booklet. He could only choose the important ones to check.
“There are at least a few dozens of important booklets,” said old mister Lin, “even if you flip through them, you would still need a few days. There are only less than 10 hours till dawn...”
He meant that with only five hours left and dozens of booklets, it would be impossible to audit all of them.
Shen Lang smiled, “You never know until you try. Let’s begin!”
Old Mister Lin said, “I don’t believe that you can do it, but I am willing to try it with you. If the young master can expose Xu Wenzhao’s wrongdoings, you would have helped the Palace of the Earl and prevented a huge loss.”
Then, mister Lin began to dig out the essential booklets from the pile.
It was the annual or seasonal summary booklets.
After all, he had been staying in the Palace of the Earl for decades; he could figure out which were the critical booklets.
After a while, he realized that he did not have to flip through the booklets. He could tell which were essential based on the booklet’s title, content, thickness, and the difference between the paper used.
While old Mister Lin was doing that, he was sighing.
“To his servants, the Earl is the best master, but he is not a good master as he is too forgiving.
“Especially since the new governance is popular now, the Earl feels that it is the most important for people to be assured and united. Therefore, he kept a closed eye even though he knew that corruption was happening.
“That’s a correct move, but that also allowed some people to do sneaky things. There is always a limit to things, but Xu Wenzhao has surpassed it. I have grown up in the Palace of the Earl since young, and I am the foster son of the ex-Earl. The Palace of the Earl is like my home, I will not allow someone to take the money of the Jin family.”
Mister Lin was not lying.
Xu Wenzhao had established a large amount of business and bought a lot of land outside, but old Mister Lin did not do anything.
His family had been staying in the Palace of the Earl.
Mister Lin talked as he looked for the booklets.
Soon, he found the vital summary booklets and placed it on the table in front of Shen Lang.
Shen Lang opened the booklets and read them at a breakneck speed.
He was not only reading but was taking photographs and scanning, automatically retrieving the key numbers and inputting them into the forms.
When he was memorizing “The Family Instructions of Master Jin,” he was still not familiar with the intelligent mind. He took 30 seconds for one page.
Now, he only needed a maximum of ten seconds for each page.
Mister Lin unintentionally saw Shen Lang flipping through the book at such a high speed and was astonished.
At such a fast speed, he probably could not even read a few words. Not to mention, he had to memorize the critical statistics and analyze and calculate them.
Therefore, he had given up hope on tonight’s mission.
“Sigh, I shouldn’t have hoped for success at all,” said Mister Lin to himself.
Despite that, he did not laze around and continued to look for the essential summary booklets and placed them in front of Shen Lang.
He did not care if Shen Lang would do whatever he wanted to do, but he had to complete his task.
However, he had lost hope.
After more than five hours...
Mister Lin placed 35 relevant booklets in front of Shen Lang.
“Young master, I have finished whatever you wanted me to do,” said mister Lin, “although I may have missed out some, most of them should be here.”
“Thank you, Mister Lin,” said Shen Lang, “it is late, you are aging, please go and rest.”
Mister Lin asked, “Anything else you need help with?”
“Nothing,” said Shen Lang, “please go and rest now.”
Mister Lin wanted to say something when he saw how Shen Lang was flipping through the booklets but held it in.
He shall just wait and see!
However, he was displeased if he was not able to expose Xu Wenzhao.
The Earl was too forgiving. Mister Lin had mentioned this before, but the Earl rejected him.
“In this special circumstance, we should stay united.
“Although Xu Wenzhao has many weaknesses, I feel that he is still loyal to the Palace of the Earl.”
That was what the Earl said. Mister Lin could not say anything to refute that. Moreover, he had no hard evidence; hence, he chose not to go against the idea of unity if he insisted on his stance.
Mister Lin had already decided to write a letter to the Earl when he passed away.
That should be sufficient to warn the Earl.
“Then I shall take my leave,” said mister Lin.
He had lost all hopes for the mission tonight.
“Take care, Mister Lin,” said Shen Lang.
He continued to flip through the booklets and picked up his pace.
That was because he was starting to familiarize himself with his brain.
After another hour...
Shen Lang finally flipped through the few dozens of relevant booklets and extracted the statistics into his memory, putting them into tables.
Next, he had to do quick calculations.
He had to find the loopholes in the accounts and find out how much money Xu Wenzhao had taken from the Palace of the Earl.
Modern accountants were impressive, but even they could not make any fake accounts without loopholes.
Of course, Xu Wenzhao, an inexperienced accountant, would not be able to escape.
However, if one had to perform the calculations regularly, even with the abacus, one had to spend at least a month or two.
However, for the computer, no matter how complicated the calculations were, it would merely take a few seconds.
Shen Lang quickly did the computations in his mind and drew out tables on the paper, writing out the calculations.
In that case, even the Earl, who was not an expert in this field, could see the statistics clearly.
Shen Lang drew many tables.
The false statement of the accounts that Xu Wenzhao made was exposed.
However, after writing everything down, Shen Lang became shocked.
He knew that Xu Wenzhao had taken a lot of money but did not expect the amount to be that... much!
...
At dawn, when the gates of the Palace of the Earl opened, a few dozens of people left the Palace of the Earl riding horses or sitting on carriages.
This was normal and uncontrollable.
One of them went to Xu Wenzhao’s house as swiftly as possible.
“Master Xu, bad news, Shen Lang and Mister Lin went to the accountant’s room last night.
“Mister Lin left the accountant’s room at about three in the morning. Shen Lang has not left yet.
“They are probably auditing your accounts to take revenge.”
The accountant reported breathlessly.
Xu Wenzhao was initially shocked. Then, he began to laugh out loud, “Why should I be afraid?
“Auditing?” said Xu Wenzhao, “there are no loopholes in my accounts; nobody saw any mistakes over the past 20 years. How long does Shen Lang have? He won’t be able to find out anything even if he has half a month.”
“A few thousand booklets. He will need at least one month to flip through everything. It is impossible for him to unravel something wrong overnight,” said Xu Wenzhao proudly, “moreover, he is running out of time. He is about to die soon.”
He knew Tian Heng very well. He would definitely keep his words.
He said he could kill Shen Lang in one move, and he meant it.
“Shen Lang, I had the intention to kill you, but I did not expect you to court death?” thought Xu Wenzhao, “that’s great, I have a good reason to badmouth you.”
He understood the Earl too well.
He was forgiving and cared about the image of the elderly.
Once he, Xu Wenzhao, appeared in the Palace of the Earl and the accountant’s room, the Earl would definitely tell Shen Lang to stop and leave the accountant’s office.
At this moment, with the new governance running in the Yue State, the Earl emphasized unity.
Therefore, Shen Lang would be courting trouble this time and would not be able to get any results.
If Xu Wenzhao added fuel to the fire to reassure others, then the Earl would probably whip Shen Lang.
“Let’s return to the Palace of the Earl!”
He wanted to make use of this moment to start the fire along with Tian Heng, destroying Shen Lang.
“Inexperienced brat! You’re trying to mess with me? Go and die!”
...
After entering the Palace of the Earl...
Xu Wenzhao’s eyes were red as he knelt in front of the Earl.
“Sir, how could you not believe me?” asked Xu Wenzhao while crying.
The Earl said, “Since when?”
Xu Wenzhao said, “Then why did I see young master Shen Lang in the accountant’s room? Are you conducting an audit on my accounts because you don’t trust me?”
Then, Xu Wenzhao continued to talk nonstop.
“Perhaps other spies would do that, but I am definitely loyal to you and the Jin Family!”
“For the past 20 years, I have put in so much effort,” Xu Wenzhao banged his head on the floor until he bled, “I am only over 50, but all my hair has turned white. I gave my all.
“Yet now, just because of Shen Lang’s words, you would stop to believe a loyal old accountant who served you for more than 20 years? Then what’s the purpose of me living in this world?”
When he said that, Xu Wenzhao looked like he was about to hit his head on the wall.
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