Triumph

Information regarding the skill surfaced, and Chen Cheng felt as though a divine inspiration had struck him as he attained perfect mastery. He was already fully capable of taking over all the firm's accounts without a single error or omission, as well as discerning and seeing right through any mistakes.

Now, looking back at Shen Mi's explanations, Chen Cheng found that she was very much like those students in his past life's school who could memorize formulas and theorems by heart, yet whose academic performance consistently hovered in the middle tier.

Left to go through the established regulations alone, she could execute things in an orderly fashion without the slightest deviation.

Yet once she found herself immersed in mountains of account books, tangled bills, and the countless complexities of actual auditing—where comprehensive judgment or appropriate flexibility was required—she would struggle at every step and become completely clueless.

No wonder that old fox Zhang Gu was able to hold her firmly in the palm of his hand.

"The Proprietor, it's ready."

Chen Cheng took the initiative to speak. "I'll go through it once. Have a look first, and if you think it's all right, we can continue."

"Good, go ahead. Let me take a good look."

Shen Mi nodded, her eyes turning toward Chen Cheng with an expression of anticipation written all over her face.

Chen Cheng began the practical execution, and the entire process could be described as smooth as silk.

Shen Mi and Mother Ding watched closely the entire time, their four eyes practically never leaving Chen Cheng as they tried to find the slightest trace of unfamiliarity or error, yet they failed to pick out even a half of a flaw.

Shen Mi even felt that watching Chen Cheng handle accounts was like watching a master play chess—his calculations were far-reaching and his moves precise, making it truly a feast for the eyes.

She herself could be considered half an accountant, and after watching for this long, the lingering sliver of doubt in her heart regarding Chen Cheng's ability had long since vanished into thin air.

Yet there were still places in the accounts that she could not understand, and she needed to consult Chen Cheng.

"Consultant Chen, pause for a moment and allow me to ask..."

Shen Mi leaned forward, a pair of enormous assets on her chest dropping into a stunning curve.

Her fingertip gently pointed toward a certain spot in the ledger, her voice unconsciously softening and slowing, vaguely revealing a different kind of warmth.

"Look at this page: three purchase expenses and two credit sales entries. When tallied at the end of the month, why is there an inexplicable deficit of seven qian of silver on the books? I've recalculated it several times and found it peculiar."

"The Proprietor, look here."

Without a second thought, Chen Cheng casually pointed to two other seemingly unrelated records.

"This expense of two hundred wen for purchasing hemp rope was mistakenly recorded under miscellaneous expenses and wasn't categorized under goods capital."

"And this one—three qian of silver for repairing a cargo cart—was recorded twice."

"...So that's how it is!"

Shen Mi's bright eyes widened in sudden realization, and she nodded vigorously.

Pausing for a moment, she pointed to another spot where the numbers were blurred by water stains and the ink was hard to distinguish.

"What about this amount, Consultant Chen? How did you figure out it was four liang and seven qian?"

"That's very simple."

With a calm tone, Chen Cheng casually flipped the ledger backward.

"Going back five pages, seven pages, and eleven pages, there are purchase records for the same batch of hemp cloth. Both the unit price and total quantity can be cross-referenced."

"Working backward from this, and combining it with the inventory changes of the current period, the sum of four liang and seven qian can be verified, and it also reconciles and matches with the accounts before and after."

"Oh--"

Shen Mi let out a gasp of surprise, the brilliance in her eyes growing even brighter.

Following that, she successively raised several doubts that had been stored at the bottom of her heart.

Without a single exception, Chen Cheng was able to cut straight to the core. With a few words, clear and flawless logic, or definitive evidence, he dispersed the fog in her heart.

By the time all her doubts were dispelled one by one, Shen Mi raised her eyes to look at Chen Cheng once more, and the expression in them had undergone a complete upheaval.

Astonishment, admiration, scrutiny, conjecture... all sorts of emotions swirled and settled, ultimately converging into a scorching, bright light.

That was an appreciation and cherishing of talent born from the bottom of her heart.

In her view, Chen Cheng's ability to manage the accounts was not inferior in the slightest to that shrewd and cunning Zhang Gu.

Indeed, Chen Cheng's unique insight and efficiency were even superior to Zhang Gu's, by a wide margin!

This time, the clouds had truly parted to reveal the bright moon; she had struck gold!

"Consultant Chen, I would like to officially hire you to concurrently serve as the firm's accountant, with a monthly salary of five liang of silver, matching Master Zhang's precedent."

After thinking for a moment, Shen Mi still decided to leave the old accountant with his final dignity and a way out.

"You also know that Master Zhang is getting on in years, and lately he's been stricken with lingering illnesses. As it happens, his contract is also about to expire... If you are willing, you can take over today."

"I can, but I have two conditions."

Chen Cheng said with a solemn expression.

"First, I have the right to terminate the contract at any time. Second, I don't punch a clock. When there is accounting work that needs handling, I will naturally come; the rest of the time, I will manage my own schedule."

"It's a deal!"

Shen Mi did not hesitate in the least, hammering the nail on the head.

Naturally, Chen Cheng was satisfied with this outcome.

Five liang for the accountant's wages, seven liang for the nominal post salary—that made twelve liang every month, which was a steady income of a full twelve thousand wen.

Slicing away those proprietors who opened their own shops and established their own firms, looking solely at this monthly salary, he could steadily rank among the absolute top echelon throughout the entire South Outer City.

As for whether this would offend Zhang Gu and bring trouble upon himself, Chen Cheng had already considered it.

The answer was no.

Chen Cheng knew Zhang Gu's background inside and out.

Of common origins and with no particular backing or connections, he relied entirely on that half-lifetime of immersed skill in accounting and sufficient seniority to manage to hold his ground at Yongsheng Firm.

Unless Zhang Gu had lost his mind, he would never dare to come looking for Chen Cheng's trouble.

Of course, Chen Cheng was not entirely without defense himself; he had already decided that over the next few days, he would spare some time to keep a tab on him.

Should there be any restless signs from Zhang Gu's side, Chen Cheng would never sit and wait for trouble to arrive.

He would strike first to gain the upper hand.

Toward evening, the setting sun was like blood.

Inside the back-hall camp barracks of the South Third Guard Patrol Office, smoke, sweat, and the stench of blood churned together.

The troops who had gone out to wipe out the Red Moon Nunnery had already returned in triumph, and the whole room was filled with a noisy commotion.

A few colleagues slammed heavy money pouches onto the table, causing the copper coins and broken silver to clatter loudly as they spat flying gobs of spittle.

"This trip was truly damn well worth it! The General Office Ti Cavalry slaughtered the way ahead, and we only had to follow behind to scavenge corpses and chase fugitives. The money was practically like picking it up off the ground!"

"Later on, the superiors will still have to record our merits and issue rewards. It's truly been donkey's years since I last encountered such a good thing!"

"Tonight, the Red Jade Pavilion in Lenan Ward—whoever's going, come sign up with me! Hehehe..."

The crowd burst into another round of commotion, save for Zhao Chuan, who sat on the bench near the door, silently untying his leg wraps.

His official uniform was stained with quite a bit of blood and dust, and there were several inconspicuous tears at the cuffs. He appeared entirely distracted and out of tune with everyone around him.

"Chief Zhao, what are you spacing out for?"

An old chief with graying hair and beard and a fierce face swaggered over.

"I heard you led men sneaking into the rear hall? What good stuff did you fish out that you're still hiding?"

"...Chief Sun."

Zhao Chuan lifted his eyelids and twitched the corner of his mouth.

"What could possibly be in a ghost place like that? Broken scriptures, rotten prayer mats—they're all bad-luck items..."

"No way, right?"

Chief Sun leaned in closer, lowering his voice.

"The ones in the rear hall were all big fish. Even if the General Office Ti Cavalry scraped away all the flesh... it shouldn't be hard for you to go in and drink a mouthful of soup, right?"