CH 27

Pei You instinctively didn’t have a good impression of Liu Xin, so he didn’t engage in much small talk with him. After exchanging names politely, he went straight to the point and asked to review Dongjiang’s financial reports.

Liu Xin didn’t obstruct him too much and quickly agreed. He also had a secretary find a small vacant office for Pei You to temporarily work in.

“Can’t I go directly to the finance department?” Pei You asked indifferently. “I can pick up the documents myself.”

“It’s not that you can’t, but it’s not very convenient,” Liu Xin said while instructing the secretary to get the materials. “Hey, our place is small, and the business isn’t that formal. The finance office has both the official seal and company data, and everything is piled together. It’s chaotic.”

Liu Xin explained halfway, but Pei You already understood his meaning.

There must be something fishy about Dongjiang’s finances. Pei You had already anticipated that Liu Xin wouldn’t be very cooperative, so he wasn’t too surprised.

As he came from the head office of Qingshan Group, Pei You had the right to access all internal information of Dongjiang. However, he wasn’t prepared to clash with Liu Xin on the first day, so he simply compromised and accepted that arrangement.

“Okay.” Pei You turned his head and said to the secretary, “Could you please find me the financial annual reports and corporate financial statements of the last three years—balance sheets, income statements, and cash flows, I need them all.”

The secretary quickly glanced at Liu Xin behind Pei You, and seeing him slightly nod his head, she agreed, “Alright, Mr. Pei, I’ll get them for you and bring them over.”

The office assigned by Liu Xin to Pei You was at the back of the open office area, between the western side where the finance department was and the eastern side. In the middle were around twenty pairs of eyes from the open office area, like a row of human surveillance cameras.

Pei You waited in the office for almost half an hour before the secretary from Liu Xin’s side finally brought in a large stack of materials.

Her folders were of different sizes, and at first glance, they were about a meter tall, with receipts and reimbursement forms mixed in with the documents, fluttering around as she moved.

Pei You stood up to help her close the door, and as he passed by her, he almost choked from the thin layer of gray dust mixed in the papers that filled the air.

“Ah, I’m sorry, Mr. Pei,” the secretary struggled to put the pile of things on the table, holding up the almost falling document box. She smiled apologetically at him and said, “Everything is here because they were all together, so I brought them all at once.”

Pei You bent down, picked up a reimbursement form that had fallen on the ground, and found that the date on it was from two years ago. He had a rough idea in his heart that that was Liu Xin’s way of showing his dominance.

“It’s okay,” Pei You had no intention of engaging in meaningless arguments with them. He simply asked, “Are all the things I need here?”

“Should be… they should all be here,” the secretary chuckled a few times and said, “I’m not from the finance department, so I’m not very sure.”

Pei You didn’t say anything and walked to the edge of the office desk. He reached into the stack of folders that had faded and turned white from the sun, finding a box labeled “Annual Reports,” and pulled out the documents from it.

Based on Pei You’s work experience, Liu Xin wouldn’t give him a bunch of completely useless waste paper. That would be too obvious and indicate that there was a problem. It was more likely that Liu Xin mixed truth and lies, giving him genuine reports while inserting a lot of useless information to reduce his work efficiency and divert his attention.

— Although Dongjiang’s so-called “genuine reports” were also a mess of accounts, Pei You thought it was better than having nothing.

He casually flipped through the documents and found the most recent year-end financial report. He went directly to the conclusion section, glanced at the balance, and put the document back on the table.

“The year-end balance in your last year’s report doesn’t match what was reported to Qingshan,” Pei You asked, “Qingshan’s report says 1.36 million, but the accounts show only 730,000 remaining.”

“I’m not very sure about that,” the secretary said. “Should I check with the finance department for you?”

“Sure,” Pei You said.

The secretary quickly left to find the company’s accountant. Pei You lowered his head and sorted through the dusty documents, categorizing the files.

After a few minutes, there was a faint sound of footsteps outside the office. Pei You looked up and saw that it was not the secretary returning, but Liu Xin himself.

Behind him was a middle-aged man, slightly chubby, looking to be around forty-five or so.

“This is our accountant, Wang Sheng,” Liu Xin entered the room and sat at the table without any hesitation. He raised his hand and pointed to the middle-aged man standing at the door, saying, “Mr. Pei, if you have any questions, you can ask him.”

“Mr. Wang,” Pei You went straight to the point, “I’ve looked at these documents, and the total accounts don’t match Qingshan’s data. Can you explain what’s going on?”

“Well…” Wang Sheng scratched his head and said carelessly, “I’m not very sure, I’m new here.”

“Oh, right, I forgot to mention,” Liu Xin interjected in time, “Brother Wang just joined us as an accountant a month ago. The previous accountant got married and has already left the company.”

Pei You: “…”

One messed-up account, a newly hired accountant who knows nothing, and a careless general manager with no business management knowledge.

Great, Pei You thought, everything that was supposed to happen has happened.

Pei You didn’t feel angry. Instead, he had a feeling of “I knew it.” He figured out that Liu Xin and this so-called “new accountant” had no intention of cooperating with him. So, he decided not to waste his energy on them and simply nodded, saying he understood.

“Well… Mr. Pei, please take your time,” Liu Xin tentatively said, “I have some work on my side, so I won’t accompany you for now?”

“Okay,” Pei You said, “If there are any issues, I’ll ask Mr. Wang.”

He agreed so casually that Liu Xin was somewhat skeptical. He stood up from the chair, gave Wang Sheng a signal, and the two left the office one after the other.

Before leaving, Liu Xin covertly glanced at Pei You. He saw that Pei You had already sat back at his desk and took out his computer from his bag, apparently preparing to start working seriously.

After the brief confrontation, it seemed like Pei You had fallen behind, but he had now formally stopped fighting. However, Liu Xin didn’t dare to take it lightly. He felt that this young man in front of him was not easy to deal with. Although he seemed easy-going, he was difficult to influence.

“Boss,” after walking a few steps, Wang Sheng looked back at the tightly closed office door and hesitated, “That person doesn’t seem that intimidating.”

“You don’t know anything,” Liu Xin glared at him and said unkindly, “These kind of people are the hardest to deal with.”

Liu Xin couldn’t understand Pei You. He seemed to understand the ways of the world, but he also seemed to know nothing. He was neither arrogant nor impatient, and he had a systematic way of doing things, which made it hard for Liu Xin to figure him out even after a brief exchange. Now, he was inevitably feeling a bit anxious.

No one knew better than Liu Xin about the problems in Dongjiang’s finances. He coveted the resources and connections brought by Qingshan but didn’t want to pay the corresponding price. For this, he had made a lot of secret moves. If that matter wasn’t investigated further, it would be okay, but now if Qingshan digs deep and asks him for profits, he would definitely be in trouble.

Liu Xin had seen Zhou Cangshan, who was a person with clear eyes that didn’t miss a thing. If he really found something, he wouldn’t show any mercy.

The more he thought about it, the more anxious he became, and he couldn’t control himself a bit. A bit of twisted anxiety showed on his face.

“In any case,” Liu Xin said anxiously, “whatever he wants, don’t give it to him. Keep the accounts of the projects well-hidden. Since you’re new here, even if you don’t know anything, he can’t do anything to you.”

Dongjiang’s accounts were a mess of scattered pieces. Since it was a construction company, they had completed quite a few projects each year. For some reason, Dongjiang either lacked a reliable accountant or something else, so almost every project had its own separate account, making it a chaotic mess. It was enough to give anyone a headache just looking at it.

Pei You spent some time organizing his thoughts and found three of the larger project books from the messy pile. He began to do spot checks and audits.

Once he got busy, he forgot about the time. The WeChat window remained empty, and Zhou Qingbai hadn’t sent any new messages, so he didn’t know what he was busy with.

He didn’t know how much time had passed when he suddenly heard a faint sound of footsteps in the corridor outside the office. The footsteps were light and irregular, gradually becoming clearer as they approached.

Pei You’s office was at the deepest end of the corridor, and he initially thought it was Liu Xin returning to check on his progress, so he didn’t pay too much attention. However, to his surprise, the footsteps stopped at his door and didn’t enter. Instead, there was a knock on the open door.

Pei You raised his head from the pile of documents, and upon seeing the person, he couldn’t help but widen his eyes in surprise.

“May I ask,” Zhou Qingbai somehow managed to sneak in. He leaned against the door and made a gesture to him, smiling slyly, “Do you need a pretty male secretary to help you?”