Chapter 224: A Sudden Change

Ye Chen was also a new Apprentice in the Accounting Office this year.

The Principal for this month had handed the task of opening the doors every day to him, so for this month, he had to wake up an hour early.

Just as the sky was beginning to brighten, he struggled to climb out of bed, and with sleepy eyes, he wandered to the gate of the Backyard Accounting Office.

Ye Chen squinted his eyes and took the key out of his pocket; just as he was about to open the door, he discovered that the door to the Accounting Office Main Hall was already open.

Ye Chen's sleepiness vanished by half immediately. He stepped into the Main Hall and saw the large bronze lock used to secure the door sitting on the table behind it. The Main Hall was pitch black, but a dim, mottled light was shining over from the Corridor on the west side.

Ye Chen walked a few steps at an angle and stood on the west side of the Main Hall, looking into the Corridor. He saw a figure sitting on a chair at the entrance of the Document Repository with his legs crossed. The lamp beside him emitted a yellow light, shining directly onto his face.

Ye Chen recognized him at once; that person was Duan Rong, who had been auditing the accounts at the Accounting Office for the past few days.

Ye Chen said, "Escort Duan Rong, you're early today!"

Duan Rong shook his crossed leg and replied with a smile, "I have to be."

Ye Chen didn't know what Duan Rong meant, so he smiled and walked away. However, just as he sat down at his own seat in the Main Hall, he suddenly thought that yesterday was supposed to be the last day for Duan Rong and the others to audit the accounts. Why was he still at the Document Repository so early today?

Ye Chen felt puzzled, but he had a pile of miscellaneous tasks on his own hands, so he soon forgot about it.

The sky gradually grew bright, and one after another, many people walked into the Main Hall of the Backyard Accounting Office while yawning.

These Apprentice Accountants faced complex accounts every day and were also forced to take on a pile of miscellaneous chores by some cunning old accountants. Each of them was tortured until their eyes were dull, especially when they first entered the Main Hall of the Backyard Accounting Office in the morning; they all wore expressions of having lost the will to live.

Wang Dean was already considered to be arriving quite late.

He hadn't slept well these past few days; his eye bags, like silkworms, were puffy and swollen, and his energy looked very poor.

Four or five days had passed, and Li Jun had actually remained in a coma the entire time.

When he finished his shift yesterday, he had gone to check on Li Jun's home, but the symptoms were still the same as the first day—just unconscious and unresponsive.

Li Jun's elderly father had completely panicked. In Xiangu City, every physician with any reputation had been invited to take a look, yet not one could diagnose the symptoms.

Yesterday evening, his elderly father had actually invited several spirit mediums to set up an altar at home and perform a ritual, saying that Li Jun had been struck by an evil spirit and had something unclean on him, so he asked the immortals to drive it away...

When Wang Dean went over after his shift, he saw several spirit mediums dressed in strange clothes, their faces painted with oil colors, holding bells and burning incense, surrounding Li Jun while chanting incantations and dancing eerily...

Wang Dean shook his head at the sight and hurriedly retreated.

As Wang Dean stepped into the Main Hall, he suddenly had a strange, distracted moment. He remembered that yesterday was the last day of the audit, and today, Duan Rong and Xiao Yu should be reporting the audit results to the Manager.

Chief Accountant Xu had already handed the matter of assisting with the audit over to him; logically, he should go and take a look to touch base.

"I wonder if Duan Rong and the others have arrived?" Wang Dean turned his steps, preparing to walk toward the Document Repository on the west side.

Just as he reached the entrance of the Corridor, he saw Duan Rong sitting at the entrance of the Document Repository. Wang Dean paused slightly, walked over, and said, "Escort Duan Rong, how is the audit of the accounts for these past few days going?"

As Wang Dean asked, his gaze flicked across Duan Rong's face and swept over the door behind him. The door still had a lock hanging on it, and Duan Rong was sitting on a rather large Grandmaster chair, his posture seemingly blocking the entrance.

Wang Dean's eyelids twitched, and he suddenly smiled: "Escort Duan Rong, did you forget to bring the key? It's already this hour, shouldn't Miss Xiao be here too?"

Wang Dean still remembered that when he handed them the key, it was Xiao Yu who received it.

Duan Rong said, "Xiao Yu is not coming for the time being."

"Not coming for the time being?" Wang Dean clearly did not quite understand the meaning behind Duan Rong's words.

Duan Rong said, "She will come over with the Manager in a while."

"Coming over with the Manager?" Wang Dean's expression shifted slightly.

Last night, Duan Rong had instructed Xiao Yu to hurry over early in the morning to invite Ruan Fengshan.

Wang Dean pondered the meaning of Duan Rong's words and smiled: "Chief Accountant Xu has another key to the Document Repository. I will go get it now, open the door, and then Escort Duan can go inside and won't have to sit guard at this entrance."

Duan Rong glanced at Wang Dean and said decisively, "No need! Today, before the Manager arrives, no one is allowed to enter this Document Repository!"

Wang Dean's expression changed abruptly. Even if he were slow-witted, he could still hear a certain dangerous signal in Duan Rong's words.

Wang Dean did not continue to pester Duan Rong but turned around and left directly.

After all, they in the Accounting Office were not trained in martial arts; as long as Duan Rong sat there, who in their entire Backyard Accounting Office could get in?

Wang Dean immediately rushed to the Dongjia Room, in front of Xu Shouxian's door, but he discovered the door was still locked; clearly, Xu Shouxian had not arrived yet. Wang Dean felt a bit anxious, but he hurriedly rushed out of the east Corridor and happened to see Xu Shouxian walking in from the entrance of the Main Hall.

Xu Shouxian was walking slowly while waving a palm-leaf fan, looking very leisurely. Since the beginning of winter this year, Xu Shouxian had been taking a tonic, which was very effective, with the only side effect being that it often made him feel somewhat feverish. Therefore, his palm-leaf fan never left his hand.

As soon as Wang Dean saw Xu Shouxian, he ran over and stood right at the entrance of the Main Hall, whispering about Duan Rong blocking the entrance of the Document Repository.

Upon hearing this, Xu Shouxian was immediately furious. He walked quickly into the west Corridor, looked at Duan Rong, who was sitting there composedly, and said, "Escort Duan Rong, this Document Repository is a restricted area of my Accounting Office. What exactly happened inside? You are blocking the way and not letting anyone in!"

Duan Rong said, "The Document Repository is perfectly fine!"

"If it's fine, why not let people in? You came here to audit the accounts, and we treated you with courtesy, but that doesn't mean you can run wild here!" Xu Shouxian was clearly in a towering rage.

Duan Rong said, "Chief Accountant Xu, you said that the Manager told you to fully cooperate with me. What I am now requiring you to cooperate with is that before the Manager arrives today, no one is allowed to enter the Document Repository!"

"You..." Xu Shouxian was momentarily choked with anger. He had not expected Duan Rong to actually throw back the words of Ruan Fengshan that he had relayed. If he said anything more, he would immediately fall into a self-contradictory position.

Xu Shouxian had originally thought that Duan Rong was just a youth from a poor background who had never seen the world and merely had some talent for martial arts. With his status as Chief Accountant, he believed that by getting angry, he would surely be able to suppress Duan Rong, but Duan Rong was clearly unmoved.

Xu Shouxian stood there and stared at Duan Rong for a long time; Duan Rong clearly had no intention of backing down.

Xu Shouxian then left with Wang Dean. By this time, those Apprentice Accountants in the Main Hall all knew about Duan Rong blocking the door and were whispering about it, but Xu Shouxian was in no mood to pay attention to them at all.

Xu Shouxian stood in the Main Hall, his gaze sweeping across, and turned his head to look at Wang Dean, saying, "Where is Huang Qing?"

Wang Dean swept his gaze and also discovered that Huang Qing was not in the Main Hall, so he said, "Perhaps he hasn't arrived yet."

"Go find him and bring him here," Xu Shouxian said coldly.

Wang Dean immediately turned around and ran out of the Main Hall.

Xu Shouxian looked at Wang Dean's back with hidden anger. He had handed the responsibility of Duan Rong and the others' audit to Wang Dean, and now that a sudden change had occurred, Wang Dean only knowing about it now was clearly a dereliction of duty.

Xu Shouxian shifted his gaze and looked toward the west Corridor.

The key now was to figure out what exactly had happened inside the Document Repository. Besides Duan Rong and Xiao Yu, Huang Qing was also a person who had been present.

(End of this chapter)