Chapter 55  : Real Genius! Give Up!

“Xu Wenzhao, you put in so much effort in making these accounts; there are a few hundred receipts every day about all the income and expenditures,” said Shen Lang, “It is not possible for you to hide the truth with these complicated accounts.

“There’s no use in making these accounts look so complicated. I only need to get the annual summary of the income and expenditure of the Palace of the Earl.

“There are four main sources of income in the Palace: the food for the feudal land, silk, metal from Wangya Island, and salt!

“There are six main categories of expenditure: salary, tax, expenses for the 2700-membered army, payments for festivals and ceremonies, daily essentials, and the construction of the feudal land project.

“You managed to embezzle the money by repeating the calculation of the salary of the staff members, construction of the feudal land project, and essential daily expenditures.

“Of course, that was what you did initially. Eventually, you became even greedier and began to touch the military funds, salt, and metal.

Shen Lang said harshly, “Although the number of soldiers in the army had always remained 2700 and sure, there were not many changes to the structure of the army, taking inflation and salary into account, why is the expenditure of the army increasing every year and increasing at an exponential rate?”

Xu Wenzhao’s face became pale. When he heard this, he roared, “Earl, no matter what, I have no right to interfere in the military of the Palace of the Earl. You must be kidding when you say that I embezzled military funds.”

“That’s right, you have no right to embezzle the military fund,” smiled Shen Lang coldly, “However, how come there are horses, armors, and weapons that must be destroyed and changed every year? Where did all these replaced armors and weapons go then?”

Xu Wenzhao said, “Of course, they were returned to be fixed!”

Shen Lang laughed loudly, “Then why wasn’t this increase accounted for in the metal factory, in fact, the increment every year seems to decrease as the years go by.

Shen Lang continued, “Moreover, why is the production of salt and metal, the biggest source of income for the Palace of the Earl of Xuanwu, decreasing every year?”

Xu Wenzhao said, “How would I know?”

Shen Lang said, “That is because you are the one who is handling the salt and metal every time. You used your own methods to make these salt and metal before selling it.”

“Hahaha,” Xu Wenzhao laughed loudly, “You have no proof; you are just guessing.”

“Proof?” sneered Shen Lang, “You are too greedy. You need gunny sacks, bamboo baskets, carriages, and ships to transport the salt and metal that you have taken. By right, when the production of the salt and metal decreases, the purchase for these gunny sacks and bamboo baskets should also decrease accordingly. However, instead of decreasing, they increased. This is the evidence and the loophole in your plan.”

After that, Shen Lang showed the statistics on the tables to the Earl.

“Father-in-law, the numbers on the tables show everything,” said Shen Lang, “You can tell just by one look.”

When the Earl took over the paper from Shen Lang, his hands trembled.

Although he was forgiving, he could read one’s mind from one’s behavior.

He could tell immediately that Shen Lang was confident while Xu Wenzhao was nervous.

Therefore, before even looking at the table, he had already come to a conclusion.

However, when he saw the table for himself, he was still shocked.

Shen Lang managed to audit the accounts so clearly that every single source of income and expenditure was written explicitly.

Even the Earl, who was not an expert in this field, could tell by one look.

This skill alone was already amazing.

Moreover, the smarter thing was that Shen Lang did not even bother about the details of the fake accounts that Xu Wenzhao fabricated.

Instead, he focused on the statistics of the annual income and expenditure of the Palace of the Earl. No matter how complicated Xu Wenzhao made things for the accounts, there was no use.

Moreover, Shen Lang had identified the loopholes in the accounts that Xu Wenzhao made.

All of them were clearly backed up by these pieces of evidence.

For example, for the celebration of the spring festival the year before last year, the Palace of the Earl purchased 1000 more bottles of wine as compared to past years. However, because they could not finish drinking them, the bottles were refunded, but only 70% of the money was accounted for. This caused the Palace of the Earl to lose dozens of gold coins.

Xu Wenzhao had many ways of embezzling the money. This amused the Earl.

The Earl flipped through the tables that Shen Lang made while shaking.

He was frustrated but surprised and relieved at the same time.

He was frustrated because of Xu Wenzhao.

However, he was surprised and relieved because of Shen Lang.

He did not expect his son-in-law to be so smart and understanding. He managed to audit everything overnight.

How… How did he do that?

The Earl was not familiar with Mathematics, so he could not imagine the effort needed to be placed in these audits.

This also showed that the Earl was a fantastic individual.

He should be extremely frustrated because he was betrayed and saw the massive amount of losses of the Palace of the Earl.

However, he was happy because of his outstanding son-in-law.

“Invite Mister Lin over,” ordered the Earl.

After a few moments, Mister Lin arrived.

“Look, this is what Shen Lang did last night,” said the Earl.

Mister Lin took over the paper and flipped through the pages.

Then, he became utterly astonished!

Firstly, he was shocked by the amount of money that Xu Wenzhao had embezzled. However, he was already mentally prepared to see that.

Then, he became delighted because Xu Wenzhao was finally doomed after such exposure.

However, the most shocking thing was the audit.

He looked up at Shen Lang then looked back down at the tables.

How… how was that possible?

Shen Lang merely took a night to audit everything.

How… How did he do that?

It was unimaginable!

Perhaps others would think that it was not extremely impressive, but Mister Lin was an expert in this field.

Therefore, nothing could describe his astonishment.

“How is it?” asked the Earl.

“Genius, a true genius,” Mister Lin bowed and said, “Congratulations, Sir, a genius has been born in the Palace of the Earl of Xuanwu. I have never encountered this level of proficiency in Mathematics and auditing before.”

The Earl smiled slightly and said to Shen Lang, “You can’t become arrogant, understand?”

“Yes,” said Shen Lang.

Then, the Earl looked at Xu Wenzhao and spoke emotionlessly, “For these 20 years, how much did I trust you? I know that you are a corrupt person, but I turned a blind eye to your actions. However, I did not expect you to be so absurd!”

It was rare to see the Earl angry. Nevertheless, he was extremely frustrated now.

Xu Wenzhao’s face was pale, and he was trembling in fear.

He felt that he could not breathe!

Cold sweat trickled down his back, and he could not feel any heat coming from his body.

The Earl snarled, “What else do you have to say, Xu Wenzhao?”

Xu Wenzhao breathed heavily.

He could not admit his mistake now. If he did, he would be doomed. He had to fight to the end.

He had to wait until the arrival of help from the people backing him up.

However, the money he had hidden was his life savior.

Xu Wenzhao clenched his teeth and said, “Sir, you can’t fault me for anything if you are determined to do so. Why are you taking it out on me when the Palace of the Earl is meeting financial difficulties? You can just punish me; you don’t have to accuse me!”

The Earl was shaking with anger. He hit the paper in his hand and said, “Aren’t all of these pieces of evidence enough?”

Xu Wenzhao said, “You are claiming that I embezzled 30,000 gold coins? Then where are the gold coins? Where is the proof? Take them out!

“If you accuse me of corruption, then where are the gold coins? Where are they? Where?

“Shen Lang is an uneducated and wicked person, you are trying to fault me for something he had written? I will never admit to that!

“Sir, you hired me. I am not a servant in the Palace of the Earl. The Palace of the Earl has no right to punish me; I have the name of the Yue State!”

What did it mean to fight for survival? What did it mean if one would get mad first before one was destroyed?

That was it.

Xu Wenzhao portrayed it clearly and animatedly.

The Earl was shaking with anger.

He did not expect one to become so ugly when all considerations were put aside.

How could one be so shameless? Was he too forgiving usually, such that nobody was fearful of him?

Xu Wenzhao shouted loudly, “Come, everyone, look! Young Master Shen is trying to get rid of his own people; someone is trying to punish an elderly member of the Palace of the Earl.”

However, the most important thing was the location of the money that Xu Wenzhao had embezzled.

The Earl held his cup tight and took a sip of tea to suppress his anger. He said calmly, “Xu Wenzhao, hand over the money. Considering the things you have done for the past 20 years, I can spare your life.”

Only the Earl knew about the financial crisis that the Palace of the Earl was undergoing.

If he could get back the money, it would be a great help to the financial crisis.

Xu Wenzhao was even more confident that the money was his life savior. His life was not worthy, but the money was significant to the Palace of the Earl. It was also lovely to the big shots which were backing him up.

Xu Wenzhao roared, “How do you expect me to hand over the money if I don’t have them? Shen Lang has been trying to accuse me. I hope that the Earl can investigate this matter, or you will disappoint the elderly in the Palace of the Earl.”

Xu Wenzhao was trying his best to stir the matter up and make everyone panic.

For the Palace of the Earl, the most important thing was to stay united. He had to find a way to put everyone in danger since he was not the only one who was corrupted.

Shen Lang took a step forward and said, “Xu Wenzhao, you just destroyed the last opportunity you have to survive.”

Xu Wenzhao sneered, “I am not corrupt; do you have evidence? Do you have the gold coins you claimed that I took?”

Shamelessness was undefeatable.

“I will make sure you die a terrible death,” Shen Lang squatted and said, “I know where your secret gold mine is.”

“Dream on!” laughed Xu Wenzhao.

Only two people in the world knew where the secret gold mine was, him and his eldest son.

Even his wife was unaware of it. Shen Lang would definitely not know about the location.

“Trying to threaten me? Do you think that I am a three-year-old child?”

Shen Lang took out a piece of paper and passed it to the Earl, “Father-in-law, let’s head over to this location to see the secret gold mine of Mister Xu Wenzhao.”

The Earl took the paper and answered in surprise, “Lang’er, can we really get the money back?”

If he could really get it back, the Palace of the Earl would be saved from the financial crisis.

Shen Lang said, “I have 99 percent confidence!”

The Earl roared, “Jin Zhong, Jin Hui, lead 100 soldiers to the secret gold mine of Xu Wenzhao; listen to the young master’s commands.”

…