Chapter 225: Listening to the Leftover Ghosts

The official hall was deeply silent, the whole room heavy and still.

No one dared to make a sound; only the faint rustle of paper being turned on the desk intermittently broke the silence.

Du Shanü forced herself to suppress her doubts, simply stopping her thoughts of leaving, and narrowed her eyes to scrutinize the scene before her—

Six clerks each performed their duties; five continued to examine the files, while the leading narrow-eyed young clerk sat at the head, orderly summarizing and organizing all documents and accounts.

His movements were steady and swift, the process clear and orderly.

Du Shanü waited no longer than the time it takes to burn an incense stick, when she personally saw the young clerk's motion in organizing the files pause nearby—evidently he had discovered an omission amidst the tangled records.

Du Shanü tightened her fingers, awaiting his report.

Yet the young clerk's expression remained unchanged; he rose, holding the files, and stepped forward, clearly listing the problems one by one—

"Reporting to Your Highness, I, the student, have examined the files and found that there are indeed many omissions in the administration here."

"First, the account annotations do not comply with regulations."

"For minor public expenditures on purchasing materials and repairing the stone steps of the official road within the county, regulations require noting the place of purchase, the vendor's name, and the quantity in catties. Yet upon checking, I found that several earlier recorded expenditures only listed the amount of money spent and a rough purpose, with all other essential details left blank, violating the rules."

"Second, there are omissions in the document endorsements."

"For the land‑change documents submitted by the gentry, regulations require at least the Chief Clerk's review and approval before signing and sealing; yet several effective and archived land documents bear only the official seal, lacking his verification endorsement, missing a procedural step, showing negligence in duty."

"Third, there are omissions in the registration of public property."

"For agricultural and flood‑control items lent out by the county office, the rule is to register each borrower, the quantity lent, and the return date item by item. However, the ledger records several loans only as totals, without itemizing each article, making later verification of returns or inventory checks impossible without precise evidence, resulting in considerable omissions."

These three omissions, while not serious crimes, are all factual.

Small things accumulate; they are enough to show that Ouyang Yan usually performs his duties carelessly and perfunctorily.

Du Shanü listened quietly to the clerk's itemized report; at first her expression was bland, but as each omission was clearly laid out, her face grew gradually solemn and heavy.

She slowly lifted her gaze, sweeping over the people in the hall, and fixed it on the person standing below the corridor.

Ouyang Yan stood stiffly in the corridor, having slept none the night before, his mind and spirit utterly fractured.

The bloodstain where a crossbow bolt had grazed his neck had long since hardened into a dark scab, clinging to his flesh.

Hearing the young clerk enumerate his own habitual negligence, his face turned ashen as paper, his body trembling uncontrollably, and he never dared to lift his eyes to meet Du Shanü's gaze.

Du Shanü's gaze was icy, lingering for a few breaths; she eventually withdrew it from Ouyang Yan and turned it back to the young clerk before her, saying:

"Well done, only these three items?"

This remark was merely a routine question.

Yet what Du Shanü never expected was......

There actually was!

The narrow‑eyed young clerk, holding the files, bowed deeply, his tone growing ever more solemn, and revealed the most critical issue uncovered in the investigation so far:

"Reporting to Your Highness, there indeed is, and it is not merely the small mistakes previously mentioned."

"Small mistakes?"

"Those three items earlier were merely small mistakes?"

Du Shanü's heart jumped; in the next instant she heard the young clerk say:

"Over the past two months or so, the county's public accounts show several entries of loans taken from city merchants, with the amounts, agreed interest, and posting times clearly recorded, the total sum being enormous."

"Yet after checking all corresponding public expenditures, repair costs, and the reserve silver of the county office staff for the same period, there is no matching large‑scale outflow. The borrowed silver appears in the books as received, but there is no lawful destination for its expenditure—it hangs there as an unfounded liability......"

The young clerk's tone was steady, yet his narrow eyes grew ever tighter.

"The recorded loan amounts on the books are genuine, the expenditure records are blank; the exact details and where the silver went remain unclear, requiring me to go to the county office treasury, compare the actual silver on hand with the account details, and examine each item before a conclusion can be drawn."

Upon these words, the courtyard fell into an even deeper silence.

After hearing this report, Du Shanü pondered for a long time, then suddenly let out a laugh.

She had a vague understanding of the so‑called official loans from merchants.

Earlier, Chinu had complained to her, saying that a letter had come from Cang Cheng, reaching out to Dun Cheng for money.

Chen Weifang had also enumerated it for her at the time, saying that after the floods they bought pigs, sheep, cattle, and horses, repaired the city walls and houses, settled the refugees, and borrowed five or six thousand taels from merchants—truly they had no money to spare.

She had thought nothing of it then, merely noting that the armory workshop was in Cang Cheng, so spending a bit more was feasible.

Now, upon reflection, Chen Weifang had managed all those affairs and could still itemize every expense.

How come, when it came to Ouyang Yan, a simple 'lack of funds' was brushed over in a single stroke?

Now it turns out the accounts clearly show no such expenditures, yet Ouyang Yan 'falsely reported' so many expenses and loans......

Where is the money?

Where did the money go?

Could it have all gone into his own pocket?!

Du Shanü's anger had surged for two days; at this moment, truly learning that someone had been embezzling behind her back, she oddly calmed down, even laughing in extreme fury.

She laughed a few times, then suddenly spoke, each word deliberate, her tone cold and hard as bone, 'praising' thus:

"Good."

"Very good."

"Truly a fine talent."

The three 'good' words hit the floor, full of anger and intimidation, pressing the entire hall so that no one dared to breathe.

Ouyang Yan in the corridor trembled all over, barely able to stand, yet he still wanted to defend himself:

"No, no, it's not like that...... I......"

Du Shanü had no mind to hear his excuses, lazy to look at him again, she turned her eyes away—only to have her gaze accidentally meet Yu Lve emerging from the rear courtyard.

Yu Lve, having witnessed Du Shanü's thunderous methods the previous night, realized something was wrong; after sneaking off to see his cousin, he now reappeared, his formerly steady aura thrown into disorder, emitting an indescribable restlessness and unease.

Emerging from the rear courtyard, he at once locked eyes with the scene of Ouyang Yan being caught in his mistake.

Just last night, he had still been helping to shield Ouyang Yan.

But today, they no longer gesticulate; instead, they finally began to concern themselves.

Yu Lve approached Du Shanü, bowed with clasped hands, clearly intending to submit and yield.

"Your Highness, I, a humble subject, have a matter to report; I earnestly request Your Highness to listen and allow this commoner to explain the mistake. This concerns Tancheng...."

If this had been heard the previous day, or even just earlier that day, Du Shanü would have been delighted and would have readily accepted this person of considerable talent, a heaven-chosen scout.

However, it would not happen more than three times.

Du Shanü had asked three times before, but Yu Lve refused to speak.

Then this time, she no longer wanted to listen.

Du Shanü snorted, turned her gaze away from the other person, and spoke, word by word:

"It's too late; if you want to keep secrets, you might as well take them to the grave and tell them to your Yu family ancestors."

"I consider you a talent, but the world is never short of talents."

"Fine horses are common, but a good judge of horses is rare. I can use you, and in the future I could also use others to seize the world... Without me, you are nothing."

?? The foreshadowing of borrowing money in this chapter is hidden in Chapter 153, "Country Person Enters the City Again"; dear readers who wish to review can jump straight there~