Volume 3, Chapter 429 – The Charges

“Manager Fang!” Liu Fu slapped the account book open on the table and jabbed his finger against it hard. “What is going on with these accounts, such an obvious problem, and you never noticed?!”

“What… what is wrong?” Manager Fang stepped forward. “Manager Liu, is there some problem with the accounts?”

“Heh! You are asking me?” Liu Fu let out a cold laugh. “Do you not have eyes? Such an obvious mistake right here, and you cannot see it?”

Manager Fang glanced at the spot Liu Fu was pointing to, and shock spread across his face.

“This, this, this! I truly had no idea about this!”

“These accounts were recorded by the young boss.”

“And these past few days, the shop’s operations have been carried out entirely according to the plan set by the young boss.”

“So… I truly had no idea!”

Manager Fang put on a pitiful expression and turned to look at Chi Xiyan. “Young boss! Please say something! This humble one cannot bear such a heavy responsibility!”

Liu Fu also turned to look at the two of them at this point.

“The two of you, what Manager Fang says is the truth.”

“The Chi family’s Internal Affairs criminal code has always been strict. If this truly is your responsibility, even if you are direct daughters of the Chi family, you will still need to come with me to the Chi family’s Punishment Hall to be investigated.”

Chi Xiyan looked at the two men playing off each other in front of her and thought to herself, “So it really has come to this.”

This turn of events was hardly a surprise at all.

She let out a quiet inward sigh and was about to speak, but Chi Muxue beat her to it.

Chi Muxue raised her hand, pointed at Liu Fu’s nose, and snapped, “You are slandering us with baseless accusations!”

“What! Do you think just because we are young, we cannot understand the accounts?!”

Reαⅾ on KαtReaԁіոɡСаfе

This girl really could not keep her composure.

Chi Xiyan smiled helplessly.

Liu Fu glanced at Chi Muxue. “I remember you, you are Chi Xue, are you not?”

“The genius who took half a month to run a perfectly healthy wine shop nearly into the ground.”

“What did you say!” Chi Muxue’s willow brows shot up.

“Heh heh.” Liu Fu said, chuckling as he spoke. “Everyone in the Internal Affairs Hall’s accounting office has heard of your reputation.”

“If the elders had not agreed to give you one more month’s grace period to see how you would perform, you would already have been summoned back to the Chi family’s Internal Affairs Hall to answer for your conduct after the last account check.”

“Mm…” Chi Muxue bit down hard, her fair face turning slightly pale.

“It comes back to the same issue.” Liu Fu jabbed his finger against the account book again. “Poor management is simply a matter of ability. The Chi family can find you another position.”

“But, if you falsified the accounts in order to cover up your mismanagement, then that becomes a matter of an entirely different level.”

“Committing a crime carries a punishment, little girl.”

“Say that again?!” Chi Muxue clenched her fists.

“Little girl!” Liu Fu eyed Chi Muxue’s fists and took a step back. “You had better think carefully. If that fist of yours lands on these old bones of mine, what charge do you think that would earn you at the Chi family’s Punishment Hall!”

The twelve year old girl was so angry her hair practically stood on end.

Crack. She snapped off a piece of the tabletop right then and there.

The corner of Liu Fu’s eye twitched, and he hurriedly took another step back.

Rеаⅾ οn КαtRеaⅾіոɡСαfe

“Muxue!” Chi Xiyan stepped forward and took hold of her. “There is no need to raise your hand against someone like this.”

Hearing this, Chi Muxue lowered her eyes to look at Chi Xiyan’s hand resting on her wrist.

Chi Xiyan continued, “Leave the rest to me from here.”

Chi Muxue calmed down. She nodded and obediently stepped back to the side.

Chi Xiyan turned her gaze back to Liu Fu and Fang Hu in front of her, a smile settling on her face.

“Since Manager Liu has brought up the Chi family’s Punishment Hall.”

“Then I would like to ask the two managers something.”

Chi Xiyan paused.

“Falsifying accounts, lining one’s own pockets, stealing goods, and framing children of the Chi family, what charge would that count as?”

The moment Chi Xiyan’s words fell, the entire room suddenly went silent.

Both Fang Hu and Liu Fu now wore expressions of shock on their faces.

The jade snuff bottle in Fang Hu’s hand clattered to the floor. “What nonsense are you spouting! Young boss, did you not record these accounts yourself?”

“So should it not be the two of you falsifying the accounts?”

“I have not even touched this account book once!”

“Heh…” Chi Xiyan laughed softly. “Manager Fang, do you need me to spell it out more clearly?”

“For instance, that business plan, or that purchasing list you gave me?”

Rеaԁ оn КatRеaⅾiոɡСаfе

“Or, for instance, the goods currently piled up in the cellar.”

Fang Hu’s face suddenly turned a shade paler, and he forced himself to say, “Young boss, I do not understand what you mean.”

“Eh! I have already spelled it out this clearly, and you are still pretending to be confused.” Chi Xiyan sighed. “That plan I wrote up was prepared specifically for you.”

“Otherwise, how could I possibly have caught your tail so easily?”

“…” Hearing this, Fang Hu’s eyes went wide at once.

He stared at Chi Xiyan, his face full of disbelief.

“This is called luring the enemy into the trap!” Beside her, Chi Muxue chimed in right on cue.

Chi Xiyan patted her head.

This little girl could switch moods rather quickly too.

“So then, next…” Chi Xiyan turned to look at Liu Fu standing beside Fang Hu. “Manager Liu, would you also care to explain yourself?”

“I do not understand what you are talking about.” Liu Fu’s expression remained fairly composed. “I am merely an accountant sent here to check the accounts, appointed by the Chi family’s Internal Affairs Hall.”

“Correcting errors and finding discrepancies is my duty.”

As he said this, Liu Fu’s confidence returned somewhat.

“When I found problems with your accounts, I reported it to the Internal Affairs Hall.”

“May I ask, is doing my job faithfully a crime?”

“Heh… is checking the accounts really all you were doing?” Chi Xiyan was still smiling faintly. “Or were you using the account check as an excuse to frame children of the Chi family, all while erasing the evidence of your own embezzlement?”

Rеаⅾ оո KatRеаⅾіոɡСαfе

Liu Fu frowned. “I already told you, what does any of this have to do with me?”

“Of course it has everything to do with you!” Chi Xiyan cut him off. “Spirit wine leaving the Chi family from within could never have happened without the cooperation of a supervisor from the Internal Affairs Hall.”

“And you are the one who has been colluding with Fang Hu.”

“The Chi family’s spirit wine is a resource meant for cultivators. The profit from just one bottle of spirit wine would be enough to keep an ordinary person comfortable for life!”

Chi Xiyan walked up to Liu Fu and lightly tapped the table.

“Manager Liu, tell me, am I wrong?”

“Utter nonsense!” Liu Fu said angrily. “Even if it is true that Fang Hu swapped out the spirit wine, what proof do you have that I was involved in any of it?”

“Besides, I am merely a supervisor in the accounting office, how could I possibly have any access to the Chi family’s spirit wine?”

“Everything you are saying makes absolutely no sense!”

“Proof?” Chi Xiyan paused. “Is there not plenty of proof?”

“Though, by now, it should already have been delivered to the elders at the Chi family’s Punishment Hall.”

“By the way, at this point in time, the worker who stole the spirit wine on your behalf should already have confessed.”

Liu Fu’s pupils suddenly contracted. “That is impossible.”

Chi Xiyan gave him a pitying glance.

“Chi Ning. Does that name ring a bell for you?”

Shock spread across Liu Fu’s face. “It was him!”