Chapter 218: The Maze of Accounts

In the blink of an eye, it was time for lunch. A few figures appeared in the corridor outside, walking along in a cluster.

Duan Rong stretched and laughed, "This morning has truly been long!"

Li Jun sneered inwardly: *You stare at the account books like that, neither recognizing them nor them recognizing you—isn't it like a year passing in a day, like sitting on pins and needles? *

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yu glanced at Duan Rong and said, "This is only the first day!"

Although Xiao Yu said this, her own feelings were the same as Duan Rong's, perhaps even harder to endure.

This morning, she had initially wanted to look at them with focus, but she truly understood less the more she looked. Going around in circles, she became completely bewildered, forgetting even which entry she had been checking in the first place.

After two or three times, Xiao Yu had no choice but to sigh and give up; for the rest of the time, she was purely putting on an act.

"Why not go eat lunch first? There are still five days left anyway; there's no rush to audit the accounts right this moment," Li Jun laughed.

Duan Rong said, "Mr. Li Jun is absolutely right. Without eating one's fill, where would one find the strength to work?"

As Duan Rong spoke, he closed the account book before him. Xiao Yu smiled slightly and also closed her account book.

Afterwards, the group left the Small Black Room, and Xiao Yu locked the door.

Xiao Yu returned to her courtyard to eat, while Duan Rong went to the street to eat; the two parted ways at the Middle Courtyard Martial Arts Arena.

Just as the two of them left, Huang Qing cupped his hands in a salute to Li Jun, then also exited the Backyard Accounting Office and headed to the Middle Courtyard canteen to eat.

Li Jun stood in the empty Main Hall, and Wang Dean walked over slowly.

"How was the morning? Those two little dolls didn't give you any trouble, did they?"

Li Jun looked back at Wang Dean and chuckled, "Those two—I get tired just watching them! Clearly, they can't understand the account books, yet they still insist on pretending to audit them."

Wang Dean smiled and said, "Actually, you can't blame them. The structure of the nested accounts you designed, Brother Li Jun, would leave an average old accountant unable to grasp the meaning even after being buried in it for days. Let alone those two dolls—unless one of them is, like you, a natural genius with calculation rods!"

Hearing this, Li Jun burst into loud laughter, and for some reason, he couldn't stop, almost laughing until tears came out.

Are there really that many geniuses with calculation rods? Is it being talked about as if one were buying cabbage on the street?

Seeing Li Jun laughing like this, Wang Dean's expression shifted slightly. He did not know why his words had hit Li Jun's funny bone. Perhaps the sense of humor of a genius is naturally different from that of ordinary people.

Once Li Jun finally stopped laughing, Wang Dean patted him on the shoulder and said, "Brother Li Jun, let's go, I'll treat you to lunch."

Although Li Jun occasionally acted strangely, he was highly favored by Xu Shouxian, and Wang Dean often invited him to eat, with Li Jun usually accepting.

After lunch, when Duan Rong and Xiao Yu arrived at the entrance of the West Bing Room again, Huang Qing was already waiting there.

Xiao Yu took out the key, opened the lock, and the three went inside. They relit the Candle Lamp that had been blown out when they left and sat there waiting for a while before Li Jun walked in, his face flushed and smelling of alcohol.

Li Jun entered, let out a breath, and laughed, "Apologies, I'm late."

Xiao Yu glanced at Li Jun and lowered her head, remaining silent.

Although Li Jun was a genius with calculation rods, he clearly had many inappropriate ways of handling interpersonal matters. Despite only a short contact, Xiao Yu already felt a hidden displeasure toward him, though he himself was completely unaware of it.

Duan Rong looked up at Li Jun and smiled, "No matter. If Mr. Li Jun has matters to attend to, it is fine if you do not come."

There was already a hint of sarcasm in Duan Rong's words, but Li Jun seemed not to hear it at all. He waved his hand and said, "You can rest assured! Chief Accountant Xu has already granted me five days of leave. I will be here for these five days; other matters can be set aside for now."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yu looked at Duan Rong and laughed, "Did you hear that? He told you to rest assured."

Duan Rong knew that Xiao Yu was laughing at him for playing the lute to a cow; Li Jun had completely missed his sarcasm.

Duan Rong sighed and had no choice but to bury his head in the account book in his hands.

In fact, before lunch, the Copper Abacus Artifact Spirit that Duan Rong had devoured from Li Jun had already been fully digested and absorbed.

Duan Rong had originally thought that after devouring and absorbing the Proficiency-level Wonderful Accounts Like Weaving, he would be able to understand the account books in his hands immediately, but upon looking, he discovered he still couldn't quite understand them.

However, this lack of understanding was completely different from the bewildered state he had been in before.

With the Proficiency-level Wonderful Accounts Like Weaving, Duan Rong could now see at a glance exactly where he did not understand.

In other words, although he had not grasped what the specific mystery of these accounts was, he could already vaguely sense the approximate location where the mystery was deeply hidden.

Duan Rong was now like someone solving a Sudoku puzzle; he wanted to figure out why, even after gaining Li Jun's Proficiency-level Wonderful Accounts Like Weaving, he still couldn't understand the account books in his hands at once.

Duan Rong repeatedly looked at the account book in his hands and flipped through the several related account books he had asked Huang Qing to fetch in the morning.

As he looked, he suddenly understood!

Every entry in this account book was a nested account structure; even accounts that were originally simple and clear were deliberately twisted around when recorded here, just like a taxi taking a long detour.

And it wasn't just a simple nested account, but like nesting dolls; every account entry was nested at least three layers deep.

"This is simply a maze!"

"A maze of accounts!"

The moment Duan Rong understood, his heart was greatly shocked. He had to admit that this was absolutely the work of a genius—complex and ingenious!

But the next moment, Duan Rong's gaze suddenly froze, and a thought flashed through his mind.

That was, why must these accounts be made this way?

Was it just Li Jun's game?

That was absolutely impossible, because Duan Rong discovered that every entry in this account book had been signed and confirmed by the final gatekeeper in the Accounting Office.

Some entries were signed by Xu Shouxian, and some were signed by Wang Dean and Zhu Shicheng.

Therefore, this could not be Li Jun's personal game; it was a collusion among the high-level officials of the Backyard Accounting Office.

As for why, it couldn't be simpler!

Duan Rong could almost be certain that these accounts definitely had problems, and the problems would certainly not be small, which was why they used this maze-like nested accounting to cover them up.

Duan Rong immediately decided to peel back this fog to see what kind of problem they were covering up, and how big that problem was.

Duan Rong then selected an entry signed and confirmed by Xu Shouxian and began to instruct Huang Qing to continuously find the relevant account books from the shelves.

Huang Qing's figure began to shuttle back and forth between the many shelves...

Duan Rong was extremely focused. He read very quickly; as soon as Huang Qing handed him an account book, he would give it a rough flip and immediately find the relevant entry he wanted.

Xiao Yu watched Duan Rong and Huang Qing's busy appearance, especially the way Duan Rong focused on reading the accounts. In a trance, she felt that Duan Rong didn't seem to be acting. *"Doesn't he not know how to read accounts?"*

But Li Jun looked at Duan Rong's appearance, and a look of extreme contempt appeared in his eyes.

Because, in front of Duan Rong, several account books were open, and he was still having Huang Qing go to the shelves to find more.

However, he did not make any records, nor did he ever use an Abacus once to verify or check them.

What? Do you think you are like me, number one at Mental Calculation with a superb memory? You are clearly just putting on an act!

However, suddenly, the contemptuous smile on Li Jun's face froze.

Because he saw that while Duan Rong was flipping through the account book, his left index finger and thumb seemed to be subconsciously and incessantly rubbing the fabric of his sleeve.

(End of chapter)