Ye Chen is also a newly appointed apprentice in the accounting room this year.

This month, the Chief assigned him the task of opening the doors daily, hence he has to wake up an hour earlier every day.

Just as dawn was breaking, he struggled to get up and sleepily wandered to the main door of the accounting room at the backyard.

Ye Chen squinted his eyes, took out the key from his pocket, and was about to open the door when he discovered that the accounting room hall’s door was already open.

Ye Chen’s sleepiness immediately vanished halfway. He stepped into the hall and saw the copper lock for the door placed on the table behind it. The hall was dimly lit, but a mottled yellow light shone through from the corridor on the west side.

Ye Chen walked diagonally for a few steps, stood on the west side of the hall, and looked into the corridor. He saw a figure, with legs crossed, sitting on a chair at the entrance of the Document Library, next to a lamp emitting a yellow glow, shining on his face.

Ye Chen immediately recognized the man as Duan Rong, who has been auditing the accounts in the room for the past few days.

Ye Chen said, "Escort Master Duan Rong, up so early today?"

Duan Rong shook his crossed legs and replied with a smile, "Had to be early."

Ye Chen didn’t quite understand what Duan Rong meant, smiled, and walked away. However, as soon as he sat down at his position in the hall, he suddenly remembered that yesterday was supposed to be the last day for the audit. Why was Duan Rong at the Document Library so early today?

Though Ye Chen was puzzled, he also had his own pile of miscellaneous tasks to attend to, and soon forgot about it.

As daylight grew, more people yawned and walked into the hall of the accounting room at the backyard.

These apprentice accountants, who face complicated accounts daily and get saddled with a slew of trivial tasks by cunning old accounts, all appear listless, especially when they first enter the hall of the accounting room in the morning, all showing expressions of having lost their zest for life.

Wang De’an was considered to be late.

He hadn’t been sleeping well for the past days, with his eye bags swollen like silkworms, and looking very unwell.

Four or five days had passed, and Li Jun was still comatose.

Yesterday after work, he went to Li Jun’s house to see, and the symptoms were still the same as the first day, just unconscious.

Li Jun’s aging father was thoroughly panicked. He had invited every notable doctor in Xianggu city, and none could diagnose the symptoms.

Yesterday evening, his father actually invited several shamans to set up altars and perform rituals at home, claiming that Li Jun had encountered an evil spirit and had dirty things on him, thus invited a spiritual master to cleanse...

When Wang De’an went after work, he saw several shamans in peculiar attire, faces painted with color, holding bells and incense, surrounding Li Jun, chanting incantations and performing strange dances...

Wang De’an shook his head and hurriedly withdrew.

Upon entering the hall, Wang De’an suddenly felt a whimsical urge, recalling that yesterday was the last day of the audit, today Duan Rong and Xiao Yu were supposed to report the audit results to the Shopkeeper.

Chief Accountant Xu had already assigned him to cooperate with the audit, logically he should go to take a look and check in.

"I wonder if Duan Rong and the others have arrived?" Wang De’an turned his steps towards the Document Library on the west side.

Just as he reached the corridor entrance, he saw Duan Rong sitting at the Document Library entrance. Wang De’an paused slightly, approached, and said, "Escort Master Duan Rong, how are the accounts for these days?"

Wang De’an asked while his gaze swept over Duan Rong’s face and behind him at the room door, the door still had a lock, and Duan Rong was sitting in quite a large Grandmaster’s Chair, seemingly blocking the entrance.

Wang De’an’s eyelid twitched, he suddenly smiled and said, "Escort Master Duan Rong, did you forget the key? It’s already this hour, Miss Xiao should be here as well?"

Wang De’an remembered handing over the keys, Xiao Yu was the one who took them.

Duan Rong replied, "Xiao Yu is not coming for now."

"Not coming for now?" Wang De’an was evidently confused about what Duan Rong meant.

Duan Rong said, "She will come later with the Shopkeeper."

"Come with the Shopkeeper?" Wang De’an’s eyes showed slight movement.

Duan Rong had instructed Xiao Yu last night to go early in the morning to invite Ruan Fengshan to come over.

Considering the meaning behind Duan Rong’s words, Wang De’an smiled and said, "Chief Accountant Xu has another key to the Document Library, I can go retrieve it, open the door, so Escort Master can go in and doesn’t have to guard the entrance."

Duan Rong glanced at Wang De’an and decisively said, "No need! Today, no one is allowed inside the Document Library before the Shopkeeper arrives!"

Wang De’an’s face changed abruptly. Though slow-witted, he could clearly hear a certain dangerous signal from Duan Rong’s words.

Wang De’an did not continue to entangle with Duan Rong but directly turned and left.

After all, none of their accounting staff were martial artists, as long as Duan Rong sat there, who could enter the backyard accounting room?

Wang De’an immediately rushed to the East B Room, in front of Xu Shouxian’s room door, but found the door still locked, evidently Xu Shouxian hadn’t arrived yet, Wang De’an was somewhat anxious in his heart. He hurriedly fled the east corridor and saw Xu Shouxian walking in through the main hall door.

Xu Shouxian was leisurely shaking a palm fan while walking. Since entering winter this year, Xu Shouxian had been taking a medicinal tonic, which had good effects, but the only side effect was that he often felt somewhat hot. Consequently, the palm fan never left his hand.

Seeing Xu Shouxian, Wang De’an quickly approached, directly standing at the hall entrance, and quietly recounted the matter of Duan Rong blocking the Document Library entrance.

Upon hearing this, Xu Shouxian was immediately furious, hastily walked through the western corridor, and looking at the relaxedly sitting Duan Rong, said, "Escort Master Duan Rong, the Document Library is a critical facility for our accounting, what exactly happened inside? Why are you blocking it, not letting anyone enter?"

Duan Rong said, "The Document Library is safe and sound!"

"If nothing’s amiss, why not let anyone in? You came here for the audit, we treated you politely, so don’t go wild here!" Xu Shouxian was clearly in a rage.

Duan Rong said, "Chief Accountant Xu, you said the Shopkeeper instructed you to cooperate fully with me. My request now is, that until the Shopkeeper arrives today, no one should enter the Document Library!"

"You..." Xu Shouxian was momentarily speechless, not expecting Duan Rong to turn his reiterated words from Ruan Fengshan against him, trapping himself in contradictions.

Originally, Xu Shouxian had thought of Duan Rong as merely a poor youth inexperienced in the world, just possessing some martial arts talent. With his status as Chief Accountant, he would surely subdue Duan Rong with anger, but evidently, Duan Rong was unmoved.

Xu Shouxian stood there, staring at Duan Rong for a long period, clearly, Duan Rong had no intention of yielding.

Xu Shouxian then left with Wang De’an. By now, all the apprentice accountants in the hall had heard about Duan Rong blocking the entrance and were whispering to each other, but Xu Shouxian had no mood to bother with them.

Standing in the hall, Xu Shouxian swept his gaze over and looked around at Wang De’an, asking, "Where’s Huang Qing?"

Wang De’an swept his gaze and realized Huang Qing was not in the hall either, responding, "He might not be in yet."

"Go find him and bring him here." Xu Shouxian said coldly.

Wang De’an immediately turned and rushed out of the hall.

Xu Shouxian looked at Wang De’an’s back with underlying anger, realizing he had entrusted Wang De’an with overseeing Duan Rong and Xiao Yu’s audit work. The sudden change of circumstances, yet Wang De’an was unaware till now, was clearly a lapse of oversight.

Xu Shouxian shifted his gaze towards the western corridor.

The key now was to figure out what happened inside the Document Library. Besides Duan Rong, Xiao Yu, Huang Qing was also present.