Chapter 229: Stirring Up a Pool of Water

After Li Jun fainted, the nearby Apprentice Accountants were in a flurry of panic, some pinching his philtrum, others rubbing his temples...

Seeing that after a while Li Jun still showed no signs of waking, and with the Principals of the Accounting Office all inside the Document Repository, these Apprentice Accountants lost their backbone; after deliberating for quite a while, they decided to carry Li Jun to the Medical Hall.

But just at this moment, Luan Bao had already led men to surround the Backyard Accounting Office, and no one was allowed to enter or leave at will.

Those Apprentice Accountants panicked and had no choice but to report Li Jun's situation to Luan Bao. Luan Bao was still hesitating when he saw Li Jun suddenly begin to convulse, his whole body trembling, his eyes rolling back, and after a few breaths, he actually stopped breathing...

Ruan Fengshan glanced at the corpse lying in the corner on the west side of the Main Hall of the Accounting Office, and he faintly smelled the stench of excrement and urine.

"Li Jun?"

Ruan Fengshan seemed to have some impression of this name; Xu Shouxian had mentioned him to him several times, saying that this person was a genius with Calculation Rods.

Ruan Fengshan's eyes suddenly flashed as he thought of something. He turned his head to look at Xu Fuxian behind him and asked, "The structure of that set of accounts is quite secretive and ingenious, not like the handiwork of an ordinary person. Was it designed by this man?"

Xu Fuxian cupped his hands and bowed, answering, "Exactly."

Ruan Fengshan's gaze hardened as he looked at Li Jun's corpse, his expression as if covered in a layer of frost.

"Leave the corpse right here!"

It was the twelfth lunar month, so the corpse would not easily rot, and Ruan Fengshan wanted to turn this corpse into a sword hanging over the heads of everyone in the Accounting Office, making them all fear for themselves!

"Every person in the Accounting Office must write a letter of denunciation, and it must be signed. Luan Bao, you handle this; once you have collected them all, hand them to me!"

"Yes!"

After Ruan Fengshan finished speaking, he strode out of the Backyard Accounting Office.

Duan Rong and Xiao Yu followed behind him and also exited the Accounting Office.

The moment Ruan Fengshan walked out of the Accounting Office, he felt unusually exhausted. His face was weary, his eyes a mix of anger and fatigue, but for some reason, at this very moment, a wave of dry heat surged in his lower abdomen, and the image of Ma Chunying's waist, twisting like a water snake, flashed through his mind...

Xiao Yu felt quite happy, because she knew that for the past two years, Xu Shouxian had gradually begun to be at odds with her father, acting in lockstep with Luan Jingfu, and had caused no shortage of trouble for her Xiaojia, both openly and secretly.

With Xu Shouxian brought down this time, it meant one less person in this Escort Agency making things difficult for the Xiaojia.

When Duan Rong walked out of the Accounting Office, he felt no excitement or relief from having accomplished the task; instead, he was full of heavy thoughts.

He knew that the impact of him uncovering the rotten accounts would not be limited to the Escort Agency's accounting department itself; he feared that many people who had intricate connections with the accounting department or with Xu Shouxian would be affected in one way or another.

As the saying goes, a gale stirs the old Dongting Lake; these ripples were likely only just beginning to spread...

Just as Duan Rong and Xiao Yu walked out of the backyard, a figure suddenly darted out from the bamboo grove nearby, blocking their path.

Looking closely, it was none other than Zhu Xiaoqi, who had been waiting there for some time.

Zhu Xiaoqi said, "The Master wants to see you as soon as you come out."

As Zhu Xiaoqi spoke, his eyes flickered over Duan Rong, seemingly intentional yet not.

Duan Rong gave a dry laugh, thinking to himself: It seems this first ripple has already washed over.

After Luan Bao led a team of Guards to surround the Backyard Accounting Office, it wasn't long before the news spread throughout the entire Escort Agency.

Xiao Zongting immediately had Zhu Xiaoqi come over and wait there, and as soon as he saw Duan Rong and Xiao Yu, he had them come to see him together.

Duan Rong and Xiao Yu walked into Xiao Zongting's backyard, where Xiao Zongting was sitting on a Stone Chair smoking a sullen pipe, with quite a bit of ash already at his feet.

As soon as Xiao Yu saw that large pile of ash, her expression immediately turned sour.

Xiao Zongting also noticed Xiao Yu's expression and said, "I know! It won't happen again!"

Xiao Yu said, "It's not that I don't let you smoke; it's fine to smoke a few puffs occasionally to satisfy the craving. But there's no way to smoke like this—how old are you now!"

Xiao Zongting just silently extinguished his pipe, went into the main room with the two of them, and then began to ask in detail about the audit.

When Duan Rong told Xiao Zongting about the twelfth lunar month's cash flow and the discrepancies, Xiao Zongting's expression became visibly very ugly.

"This is too outrageous! When the Old Shopkeeper was here, such a thing would never have happened!"

Seeing that Xiao Zongting's words were clearly somewhat taboo, Duan Rong did not chime in.

Later, when Xiao Zongting asked Duan Rong how he was able to understand the accounts, Duan Rong told him that he had been sensitive to numbers since he was a child, and when he did those Sudoku games when he was young, he was always the first to guess the answer.

Xiao Zongting nodded upon hearing this, finding it unsurprising; people with strong Mental Power usually not only have a strong ability to comprehend martial arts but also often have extraordinary talents in other areas.

After Duan Rong left Xiao Zongting's courtyard, he immediately returned to Liu Lu, closed the doors and windows, and sat in the pavilion in the courtyard reading miscellaneous books, playing deaf and dumb to anyone knocking at the door.

Half an hour passed, and several groups of people had already come.

Duan Rong sat in the pavilion, unmoved, and with a sweep of his Divine Sense, he knew who had come.

Sun Huang, the Escort Head of the Second Escort Team, and Wang Zhuoyong, the Escort Head of the Fourth Escort Team, both knocked on the door, and seeing no response, they walked away with grave expressions.

The one who lingered the longest outside the gate of Liu Lu, refusing to leave, was Ma Chunying's father, the gatekeeper Ma Wentao, because he knew Duan Rong had not left the Escort Agency, so he kept knocking on the door. After a long time, he finally left with an ugly expression...

Duan Rong sat in the pavilion and sighed.

Xu Shouxian had, after all, been an accountant for decades, and for twenty of those years, he had been the Chief Accountant of the Escort Agency; the number of people involved in this was likely far beyond his imagination...

Just as Duan Rong was behind closed doors in Liu Lu, a maid from the Luan Mansion arrived at the Backyard Accounting Office holding Luan Jingfu's Escort Waist Token, and had the Guards report her arrival and call Luan Bao out.

As soon as Luan Bao saw the maid, he said, "Miss Feng, why are you here?"

This Fengye was Luan Jingfu's personal maid and rarely left the mansion.

Fengye curtsied to Luan Bao and said, "The Master returned to the mansion this morning and was not lightly injured; the Young Master should go back to the mansion and take a look."

"My father is injured?" Luan Bao was shocked and immediately wanted to rush back. He had just reached the door when he suddenly stopped and shouted, "Qin Ye! Keep the brothers in check; I am going back to the mansion."

A tall, upright youth immediately cupped his hands and said loudly, "Yes!"

Only then did Luan Bao dash out the door, leave the Escort Agency, and return to the mansion.

Luan Bao ran wildly all the way, rushed into the backyard, and as soon as he entered the main room, he saw Luan Jingfu sitting on a grand armchair drinking tea.

Luan Bao's eyes flickered as he scanned the bandage wrapped around Luan Jingfu's shoulder and shouted, "Father, you are injured! Is it serious?"

"Don't make such a fuss, I'm not dead yet!" Luan Jingfu glanced at Luan Bao and said, "Bao'er, sit down; Father has something important to tell you."

Seeing that Luan Jingfu spoke with a full breath and had a grave expression, Luan Bao sat down on a grand armchair and looked at Luan Jingfu with an inquiring gaze.

"Why are you sitting so far away? Come closer to me," Luan Jingfu said.

Luan Bao moved his chair and sat beside Luan Jingfu. Only then did Luan Jingfu lean over and whisper to Luan Bao for a while.

As Luan Bao listened, his expression changed abruptly, and with a look of panic in his eyes, he muttered tremblingly: "Strangle... him?"

Luan Jingfu made a gesture for silence, and looked at Luan Bao with a sense of frustration that he could not live up to expectations.

Although he had already dismissed the Personal Attendant and the maidservants from this room, he still had to be careful that walls have ears; this matter could only be known by Heaven, known by Earth, and known by the two of them, father and son.

(End of this chapter)