Ji Shuyu raised her hand, her pale palm poised mid-air. Even before it landed, Li Cuihua’s face seemed to sting in anticipation.
Ji Shuyu looked quite slender and frail, but no one expected her to be so strong. The last time she’d slapped her, it had taken Li Cuihua days to recover. Now, seeing Ji Shuyu raise her hand again, Li Cuihua’s face turned pale.
“What are you afraid of? When Xiao Zhou was here, we were all happy to buy things because the prices were good and the quality was fine. Just look at the prices of the stuff you’re selling now! If there’s nothing shady going on in between, we don’t believe it!” Li Cuihua shouted, straining her neck. Her eyes swept over the goods on the supply and marketing cooperative counter, but when she saw the prices, her eyes widened slightly.
How… how are the prices this cheap? Much cheaper than Xiao Zhou’s family’s goods.
Ji Shuyu naturally noticed Li Cuihua’s expression. She leaned against the counter, allowing everyone to see the price tags behind her more clearly. “Oh, so you could afford the things sold by Xiao Zhou’s family before? By that logic, you did secretly sell the He family’s bracelet, didn’t you? Otherwise, how could you have had the money to buy such expensive things?” Ji Shuyu said with a smile, dismantling Li Cuihua’s lie with just a few words.
Xiao Zhou’s face, of course, was also awful. She saw those prices clearly. They were indeed much cheaper than the goods her uncle supplied to Director Wang. Not only cheaper, but the items were good and inexpensive. The styles and variety were quite comprehensive for this island.
“Then show us your accounts! Let’s see if you’ve really embezzled public funds or not!” Li Cuihua refused to back down.
Xiao Zhou had told them that supplying goods involved factoring in labor and material costs. Getting things to the island naturally increased the price, since transportation wasn’t easy.
But Ji Shuyu had the Points Mall system. All the items needed was for her to transfer them via the system, using points to have them delivered. This way, cutting out those transportation costs naturally lowered the prices.
“Li Cuihua, I said you were stupid, and you really are. What good does being someone else’s pawn do for you?” Ji Shuyu scoffed. Li Cuihua’s previous conflict with her was simply because Ji Shuyu’s arrival at the He family made her, as the elder sister-in-law, feel she’d lost face. Because the He family was good to Ji Shuyu, and less so to her. But in reality, the He family treated everyone equally, without favoritism. If Li Cuihua had been able to see reason back then, she wouldn’t be living the life she has now—divorced from her husband, her child sent to juvenile detention.
After chastising Li Cuihua, Ji Shuyu turned her gaze to Xiao Zhou. “You better think carefully. If we check the accounts and really find something, you, and your uncle, won’t be able to escape.” Ji Shuyu’s words struck directly at the heart of Xiao Zhou and her uncle’s vulnerability.
Xiao Zhou’s face instantly turned as white as a newly whitewashed wall. She wanted to say something tough in retort, but couldn’t find the words. She knew perfectly well… were those account books presentable? The price of the goods her uncle procured each time was always inflated significantly. The extra money went straight into the pockets of her uncle and herself. If they were to check the books entry by entry, and the big label of ’embezzling public property’ was slapped on them, having to ‘eat the consequences’ would be a light punishment. They might even end up eating peanuts!
(Eating Peanuts= Getting Shot)
Li Cuihua, standing to the side, was also dumbfounded.
No matter how dumb she was, she could sense what was going on. She was being used as a pawn and almost stirred up a hornet’s nest.
She glanced at Xiao Zhou’s deathly pale face, then thought about the cheap and affordable prices of the goods Ji Shuyu offered, cursing herself inwardly. Really, my heart must have been clouded by lard. Trying to show off and pick a fight nearly landed her in serious trouble.
She shrunk her neck back, subtly shifting her feet backward, wishing she could slip away immediately.
“What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?” Ji Shuyu had no intention of letting it go so easily. “Weren’t you shouting just moments ago, demanding to check the accounts? Fine, everyone here can bear witness. Let’s go get the director right now, bring out the account books from the accounting office, and check them entry by entry.”
“Let’s see exactly where the goods your uncle handled were more expensive than mine? And whose pocket did that extra money end up in?”
Ji Shuyu’s words were heard clearly by the surrounding crowd. This is digging at the foundation, and the public’s foundation at that. Xiao Zhou really kicked an iron plate this time.
Xiao Zhou felt her scalp go numb from the buzz of discussion, her body trembling slightly. If her uncle’s dealings were truly exposed, he’d probably end up eating prison food. And she, as an accomplice, definitely wouldn’t get off lightly either.
Thinking of this, Xiao Zhou’s legs went weak, and she nearly stumbled. All her earlier bluster vanished completely. With a tearful voice, she frantically waved her hands. “N-no checking! No checking! I was confused, I listened to nonsense, I misunderstood you… I’m sorry, really, I’m so sorry!”
As she spoke, she panickedly tried to push her way out, just wanting to escape this place as fast as possible.
Xiao Zhang stood on the outskirts of the crowd. Seeing this, she directly reached out to block Xiao Zhou’s path. “Sister Xiao Zhou, don’t leave. You said you wanted to check the accounts, our Sister Shuyu is obliging you.”
Hearing Xiao Zhang’s words, Xiao Zhou was so scared her legs went weak.
Lin Feifei, standing to the side, clenched her fists tightly, grinding her teeth in frustration. How is Ji Shuyu so lucky? How does she handle everything she encounters with such ease?
“The supply invoices before always showed such high purchase prices, so it was you secretly tampering with them!” Director Wang and the accountant came out carrying the account books. Hearing the situation, Director Wang was so angry it hurt his heart, liver, and lungs. He never imagined someone would be so audacious as to do such a thing.
“Director Wang, Accountant Fang, you’ve finished checking?” Ji Shuyu looked at the two and asked. Accountant Fang nodded, pushing his glasses up.
Accountant Fang’s finger quickly traced over the account book. “Director Wang, last month for the cotton thread urgently needed by the island residents, Xiao Zhou’s uncle reported a purchase price of eight jiao per bundle. But we checked the supply records from neighboring islands; the highest price for the same quality thread was only five jiao and five fen.”
“Just this one item resulted in an over-report of forty-five whole yuan!”
As soon as the words fell, the crowd immediately erupted.
“My heavens! Forty-five yuan is enough for half a sack of grain!”
“No wonder buying things always felt expensive before!So the money was being embezzled by them!”
Xiao Zhou’s face was as white as paper, her lips trembling as she tried to explain, but under Director Wang’s stern gaze, she was rendered speechless.
Director Wang took the account book, flipped to another page, his finger shaking with anger. “And this! Last month’s table salt—there was clearly a standard-price supply channel, but you insisted on procuring it from a private source at a high price, two fen more per jin than the normal price! This is another mess of an account!”
Right at that moment, Xiao Zhou’s uncle hurriedly ran in from outside. Seeing the crowd and the account books in Director Wang’s hands, he instantly understood what was happening. His legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed to the ground.
“Director Wang, please let me explain! There’s a misunderstanding here, it’s all a misunderstanding!”
Leave a Reply