The Courtyard House: Xu Damao's Aunt is the Queen of Women

Soon, all the account books and documents were moved to the section chief's office in the inner room and piled on the desk.

Chung Chun-li routinely files and categorizes all relevant documents, including procurement and allocation documents, payment vouchers, invoices, warehousing and delivery slips, inventory ledgers, and details of special fund income and expenditure, according to time and category, with clear labeling.

Senior accountant Yan Kai was assigned to handle the liaison and answer any questions about the accounts truthfully.

Qiu Shuren, accompanied by two finance officers, began the investigation.

During this special inspection, the Finance Department needs to do the following: not to conceal anything, not to make unauthorized comments, to promptly verify and report any difficult issues, to actively cooperate with the inspection team to conduct account reconciliation, to work with the warehouse department to complete the warehouse record keeping, and to make on-the-spot records and specify the time limit for supplementing documents if any account doubts or missing vouchers are found, so as to fully ensure the smooth progress of the special inspection.

Qi Heng then dispatched one finance officer and two supervisory officers to accompany Li Huaide, Yu Lanfen, and Zhang Qin to the logistics warehouse to take inventory.

The remaining finance officer and two supervisory officers began to check the accounts related to the performance of duties by the cadres, the general ledger of the factory's revenue and expenditure, and the accounts between the factory and external partners.

Yang Xingguo is confused. Isn't this a special inspection? Why are they checking other accounts too?

But the supervisory department has the authority to do so, so how can you possibly obstruct it?

As stacks of account books were brought out, Yang Xingguo's heart was in his throat, and cold sweat broke out on his back.

Zhong Chunli said, "Xiao Liu, Zhenghe, and Xiaomeng, the three of you will assist the inspection team in verifying the accounts!"

"Okay." The three nodded in response and began to assist each other one-on-one.

Zhong Chunli pointed at Liu Hao and introduced him to Qi Heng: "Director Qi, Liu Hao from our finance department is a master of mental arithmetic. He can easily calculate the accounts without an abacus!"

That's amazing?

Qi Heng had long noticed this tall, handsome, and distinguished young man, as well as his wife, who was also incredibly beautiful and clearly not from an ordinary family.

"Comrade Liu Hao, what school did you graduate from?"

"Sir, I graduated from the Accounting Specialization Program at the Finance and Trade Cadre Academy!" Liu Hao replied with a smile.

Qi Heng nodded: "You're from the Finance and Trade Cadre School, huh? How good are your mental arithmetic skills?"

Liu Hao humbly replied, "Actually, I'm not that outstanding; I'm just a little bit better than the average person."

Qi Heng knew Liu Hao was being modest, but he didn't test Liu Hao's intentions. Finding out the evidence of Yang Xingguo's corruption was the top priority.

"Okay, let's get started! Try to finish before you leave work."

"OK!"

Liu Hao and his group assisted the inspection team in checking the accounts, while Qi Heng, Lu Su, Yang Xingguo and others sat at the nearby desk, drinking tea and chatting.

The abacus beads clicked and clattered incessantly.

Yang Xingguo felt extremely uneasy, and the inexplicable sense of panic in his heart grew stronger and stronger.

With the assistance of Lei Zhenghe, Finance Director Wei Xiangping meticulously checked the waste material disposal ledger and purchase vouchers page by page.

As his fingertips traced the ink on the yellowed paper, he suddenly stopped, his brows furrowing slightly.

He flipped through a few more pages, repeatedly comparing the purchase date and the scrap date.

This was specially adjusted by Liu Hao; anyone with a bit of expertise could spot the abnormality at a glance.

Wei Xiangping examined it carefully for a while, then turned and called out, "Director Qi, come and take a look at this. Something's wrong with this batch of rolling mill bearings!"

Yang Xingguo's face changed drastically, his pupils suddenly contracted, and his heart stopped.

Qi Heng got up and walked over, while Wei Xiangping pointed to a line of words on the table.

"Director Qi, look, the national standard clearly stipulates that the design life of this kind of rolling mill special bearing is 24 months. But look at these records, the shortest batch was damaged after only 11 months, and the longest did not exceed 14 months. The reason for scrapping is uniformly normal wear and tear."

As he spoke, he pulled out the first purchase order from July 1959 from the mountain of vouchers piled up beside him, and then took out the price list of imported bearings from a state-owned factory, and slammed them onto the table.

"What's even stranger is that the supplier is Baoding Xingwang Agricultural Machinery Repair and Assembly Factory, a little-known small agricultural machinery factory, yet the unit price of their bearings is exactly the same as that of the imported original parts from Shenyang Machine Tool Factory!"

Qi Heng's gaze swept over the amount and manufacturer's name on the voucher, and his expression immediately darkened.

Lu Su frowned, glanced at Yang Xingguo whose expression was off, and narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Let me calculate!"

Wei Xiangping picked up the abacus, and as his fingers flew across the page, the clattering of the beads was particularly jarring in the quiet finance department office.

As he manipulated the abacus beads, he said, "The first batch was purchased in July 1959, fifty sets, at a unit price of 182.5 yuan, with a twelve-month shelf life. The second batch was purchased in March 1960, eighty sets..."

The abacus beads clattered and clicked, each sound like a hammer blow to the hearts of those present.

Yang Xingguo's whole body stiffened, his blood seemed to freeze, and his calves trembled uncontrollably.

Ten minutes later, Wei Xiangping stopped, the abacus beads clicked back into place, he looked up and announced the numbers word by word.

"Director Qi, from July 1959 to now, there have been seventeen batches of purchases, thirteen of which have been scrapped. Calculating the difference between the actual cost of the defective bearings and the price of the genuine ones, the difference is a staggering 7 yuan!"

"More than 370,000?"

Qi Heng gasped, his voice trembling.

The air froze instantly, and the office fell into a deathly silence. Everyone except Liu Hao was shocked.

Qi Heng's face was ashen. He grabbed the purchase order on the table, his fingertips turning white from the force. Staring at the words of factory manager Yang Xingguo's approval, he slammed the order onto the table, making the abacus beads jump.

"What a flawless account! What normal wear and tear! This isn't purchasing bearings; it's clearly lining the country's money into their own pockets!"

The roar startled everyone. Yang Xingguo was even more distraught, slumping off the stool and collapsing to the ground.

"I... Qi Chu... I... I..."

Qi Heng coldly observed Yang Xingguo, who seemed guilty, but did not immediately reprimand him. Instead, he turned to the two inspectors, gave them a look, and whispered his instructions.

"Xiao Dou, Xiao Ma, you two go to the warehouse and call Xie Qingsong and the others back. Go to the Equipment and Supply Department together and tell them that the inspection team needs to verify the specific details of the bearing procurement. Have the two department heads come to the Finance Department with the procurement records and manufacturer contact letters from the past few years."

The two officers understood immediately, turned around, and quickly walked out of the office.

This reason is perfectly reasonable. Special inspections require the cooperation of the relevant departments to verify the details, so no one would think too much about it.

Everyone could see that Qi Heng was preventing them from colluding and destroying evidence.

Qi Heng continued to order: "Xiao Wei, go to the factory office and call the ministry to report that a working group must be immediately dispatched to the Third Steel Rolling Mill to investigate the flow of funds thoroughly! No matter who is involved, find them out!"

"OK."

Wei Xiangping turned and walked out to the factory office duty room to make a phone call.

Qi Heng looked at Qiu Shuren: "Shuren, seal all purchase and disposal ledgers and vouchers from the finance department, affix seals, and have someone guard them!"

"good!"

Yang Xingguo's mouth trembled, his face deathly pale, and he stammered, "I didn't... I'm not... Director Qi, there's a misunderstanding here, it's the supply department people who are keeping it from me..."

"Misunderstand?"

Qi Heng stepped forward, picked up the purchase order from the table, and handed it to Yang Xingguo.

"It's all in black and white, your signature is on every single batch of bearings purchased. Now that something's gone wrong, you want to shift the blame to your subordinates? Yang Xingguo, do you think we're three-year-olds?"