The Accountant Who Stole from His Own Company

A-Qiang tapped the second photo again.

"Look, this is that guy's wife. This was when he'd just been caught stealing company money. Jinlan Company had already sent people to investigate his family situation back then."

He tapped the final group photo again.

"This was just a couple days ago. His wife had just given birth and hadn't even finished her stay at the postpartum care center when he brought her home to use as a smokescreen. The next day, he disappeared without a trace."

After speaking, A-Qiang spat at the neatly dressed Xu Zhihua in the photo and cursed under his breath, "Bunny, people really are impossible to judge by appearances. He dresses like a decent human being—how the hell could he do something so beastly?"

"A newborn child, a wife who hasn't even recovered from childbirth, and parents already in their eighties, still farming back in the countryside... How could he bring himself to be so heartless?"

"I even suspect the bastard has a mistress. Maybe he sent her abroad long ago, then grabbed himself a pile of cash and ran off to enjoy life with her!"

A-Qiang spoke with righteous indignation.

Though people like them, scraping along at the bottom of society, did plenty of shady things and never claimed to be kind or compassionate,

betraying one's word and abandoning one's wife and children was something he could never do.

After going through so much trouble to marry a wife and finally having a home where he could eat a hot meal, if it were him, he'd be too happy for words. How could he possibly destroy it with his own hands?

With his anger at its peak, A-Qiang desperately needed someone to agree with him.

He bumped Li Mao beside him with his shoulder and asked, "Bunny! Tell me, am I right? Isn't this guy an ungrateful piece of trash?"

Li Mao did not look much better. He stared fixedly at Xu Zhihua in the photo for a long while before finally stammering out a curse.

"Fuck... fuck!"

A-Qiang immediately felt as though he had found a kindred spirit. "Right? Right, Bunny? You think so too, don't you?"

Li Mao raised his head and looked at the agitated A-Qiang, saying indignantly, "This is just... just too fucking unfair! He could scam... scam people out of more than a million in minutes?! Even if you steal from your own company, nobody says you can steal that much!"

"No, are... are the people at Jinlan Company idiots? More than a million!"

After saying that, Li Mao seemed to make some connection and gradually calmed down. With a serious expression, he asked, "A-Qiang, do... do you think someone my age, with... with my education, can still take the accounting certification exam?"

A-Qiang: ...

Sorry, he had forgotten.

Li Mao's moral bottom line was not much higher than Xu Zhihua's.

If Li Mao ever sat in an accountant's chair, by the time the boss came to work the next day, there probably would not even be a single bottle of mineral water left in the office.

A-Qiang waved his hand, giving up on finding any moral common ground with Li Mao.

"Fine, stop looking into accounting certificates. Figure out how to recover that million-plus instead."

"Anyway, Brother Zhao said the Jinlan boss's meaning was that we could do whatever we wanted. Whether the money was recovered wasn't important. What mattered was making the Xu family miserable throughout the debt-collection process."

"His parents are farmers. Brother Zhao sent another crew to handle the job back in his hometown. His wife and child are still in Willow City, living in this residential complex."

"His wife currently doesn't have a job. Most of that million-plus is probably gone for good. Whether you can get any of it back depends on your skills. The boss has made it clear: however much you recover, one percent of it will be your commission."

"Anyway, you're the best at shamelessly pestering people, and making people uncomfortable is your specialty. When I said we should give this job to you, Brother Zhao thought it was suitable too."

Li Mao: ...

Did that sound like praise?

That "suitable" would have been better left unsaid.

He gathered the photos on the table and tucked them into his pocket.

"Fine, fine, I get it. I'll... I'll go back and think it over. It's not urgent anyway, right?"

Li Mao leaned back lazily against the chair, took out a pack of cigarettes, shook one loose and offered it to A-Qiang before pulling another out and placing it between his own lips.

Only after they both exhaled smoke rings at the same time did Li Mao say, "Thanks, bro... brother."

"Forget it. Thank me after you actually earn that ten thousand or so. Seriously, Bunny, Xiao Che has already gotten into college. He's an adult now. Are you still supporting him? You don't owe him anything. Once he graduates from college, he might just fly off on his own. Wouldn't all the money you spent over the years have gone down the drain?"

A-Qiang and Li Mao had been brothers for many years. Before He Che came along, the two of them had already been drinking buddies and bad influences on each other.

He had seen everything Li Mao had done for He Che over the years.

At first, he had thought the kid was pitiful too, but He Che was not Li Mao's own flesh and blood, and they were not related.

Raising him until adulthood was already more than enough. If Li Mao kept going like this, how was he any different from a sucker?

People in their line of work had seen every warmth and chill of human life, every kind of good and evil in human nature.

Just look at Xu Zhihua. He could abandon his own newborn child, whom he had never even held once, without the slightest psychological burden.

Why did Li Mao have to go so far?

Li Mao listened to A-Qiang's heartfelt words without immediately saying anything. He merely sat crookedly in his chair, looking listless, carrying that usual air of defeated roughness.

After a long while, he raised the cigarette between his fingers and took a drag before answering, "The... the tuition for acting programs is expensive. I'll help him for a few more years. Once he... graduates, I'm done. If I keep helping him, I'll... I'll really be like a piece of gum that won't come off..."

"You!"

A-Qiang opened his mouth, then shut it again. As if holding back his breath, he forcefully blew out a smoke ring.

"You're fucking asking for trouble! Have you thought about it? Are those arts majors something people like us from South City should be choosing? Xiao Che had already picked something else, but you went and changed it for him!"

"Are dreams that easy to achieve? What if he can't find a job afterward? Are you going to support him for the rest of his life?"

"He Che... he's different from us!"

Li Mao let out a low roar. Then he stubbed out his cigarette, calmed down a little, and said quietly, "A-Qiang, He Che... he's different from us. He can leave South... South City. He doesn't... doesn't belong here."

After saying that, he stood up and beamed at the people at the other tables who were eating heartily. "E-everyone, take your time! I've s-settled the bill. Something came up, so I'm leaving first. You... you all keep eating, don't mind me."

Before leaving, Li Mao patted the gloomy A-Qiang on the shoulder and said softly, "Send... send me He Che's shifts when you need me to... to cover for him. Don't forget."

"Mm, got it."

A-Qiang's expression collapsed even further.

So everything he had just said had been complete bullshit to Li Mao.

Li Mao was not only paying for He Che's college, he had also asked the bar manager to arrange two sets of shifts.

The better time slots were left for He Che himself, to preserve the kid's self-respect.

For the less convenient hours, Li Mao covered all the shifts himself.

He even had the manager tell He Che that these were benefits the bar offered to student part-time workers.

Flexible hours, unchanged pay.