Tao Jun stared at Li Feng for a moment.
"Mr. Li, what do you need me to do?"
"Nothing," Li Feng answered.
Tao Jun's brow furrowed. "Nothing?"
"Let me explain." Li Feng leaned forward. "We don't want to alert whoever is involved just yet. Leave the investigation to me."
Tao Jun wasn't sure what to make of it. But sitting across from this young man, laptop open, three years of records mapped out overnight, he couldn't help but feel it. Li Feng was not ordinary.
"Okay, Mr. Li," he said finally. "I understand. I won't reveal this to anyone."
A small smile crossed Li Feng's lips.
*Smarter than he looks,* he thought.
---
The office door closed slowly behind him. Every pair of eyes shifted toward the sound.
"Mr. Li," Wang Jin said, stepping forward with a small polite bow. "Welcome."
Li Feng inclined his head in return.
"Let's pick up from yesterday," he said simply.
"Of course." Wang Jin moved closer, placing a thick stack of financial statements and records on the table. "More records of the company's accounts. All here."
Li Feng smiled faintly.
"Thank you, Mr. Wang."
He pulled out a chair and sat down. The room had already shifted from yesterday. No smirking. No exchanged glances. Everyone was at their desk, heads down, doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing.
Li Feng opened the first file.
The room stayed quiet as he moved through them steadily. Nobody spoke. Nobody wanted to be the first.
Then without looking up:
"Mr. Wang."
Wang Jin straightened immediately. "Yes, Mr. Li."
"Your Q1 transport costs three years ago. They increased by eighteen percent." Li Feng turned a page. "What caused it?"
Wang Jin didn't hesitate. "Fuel prices that quarter. It was an industry wide increase."
"Fuel prices rose by four percent that quarter." Li Feng's eyes stayed on the page. "Not eighteen."
A beat.
"There were additional route changes," Wang Jin said, recovering quickly. "Longer distances."
"Which routes?"
Wang Jin opened his mouth. Closed it.
Li Feng moved on.
"Your supplier contract with Hua Tong Trading. Renewed twice in one year." He turned another page. "Standard contracts renew annually. Why twice?"
"Amendments to the terms," Wang Jin said.
"What amendments?"
"I would need to check the original—"
"The second renewal extended their payment terms by thirty days." Li Feng finally looked up. "Every other supplier stayed the same. Just Hua Tong." His eyes settled on Wang Jin. "Why would one supplier deserve special treatment?"
Wang Jin's jaw tightened slightly. "There may have been negotiations at the time that I wasn't directly involved in—"
"But you signed off on it," Li Feng said simply.
The room went very still.
Wang Jin said nothing.
Li Feng held his gaze for a moment longer than necessary then looked back down at the file.
"I want the original Hua Tong contract. Both versions."
"Of course," Wang Jin said quietly. "I'll have someone locate them."
"You'll locate them yourself, Mr. Wang." Li Feng turned another page. "Twenty minutes."
A faint sound came from somewhere near the back of the room. Li Feng didn't look up.
"Whoever just picked up their phone," he said calmly. "Put it down."
The room stopped breathing.
He turned another page.
"Eighteen minutes, Mr. Wang."
---
Wang Jin placed the documents on the table in front of Li Feng.
Li Feng didn't acknowledge him. He simply pulled the file closer and opened it.
An hour passed.
Nobody spoke. The room filled with nothing but the quiet sound of pages turning. Every staff member stole glances at him from time to time, trying to read his expression. There was nothing to read. His face gave away nothing.
Wang Jin sat at his desk, spine straight, eyes fixed on his monitor. But he hadn't typed a single thing in forty minutes. He was practically sweating through his collar.
Li Feng finally set the last document down.
He leaned back slowly, fingers laced together, staring at nothing in particular.
*Previous auditors had gone through these same records. Twice.* He turned that over in his mind quietly. *How had they missed all of this?*
There was only one answer that made sense.
*They were bought off.*
He let his eyes move slowly across the room. Every person at every desk. Quietly, methodically, he had already begun to piece it together. Each member of the accounting department had their hands dirty in something. Small things. Petty stealing hidden in expense reports, minor adjustments that personally benefited them.
Rats stealing crumbs.
But that wasn't what had been draining this company for three years.
*The crumbs aren't the problem,* he thought. *Someone is stealing the whole loaf.*
He picked up his pen.
There was more to this. Much more.
---
"Let's take a break," he said.
The room exhaled quietly around him. Chairs shifted. People reached for their phones.
Li Feng reached into his bag and pulled out his lunchbox. He set it on the table and opened it slowly.
She had still packed it.
After everything yesterday — the door, the towel, the red cheeks, the silence at the dinner table — she had still woken up this morning and packed his lunch without a word.
A small smile settled on his lips as he picked up his chopsticks and ate slowly.
"Mr. Li."
He looked up.
Guo Tian walked in, closing the door quietly behind him. He moved closer, eyes landing on the open lunchbox on the table.
A smile spread across his face.
"Mr. Li." He pulled out a chair across from him. "Someone packed that for you?"
Li Feng glanced up briefly. "Mm."
"Homemade." Guo Tian leaned forward slightly, studying the careful arrangement of the food. "And packed with care." He let out a small laugh. "Mr. Li must have a lovely wife."
Li Feng said nothing, picking up his chopsticks again.
Guo Tian watched him for a moment, smile still in place.
"It must be nice," he continued casually. "Coming to a place like this — long days, difficult work — and still having someone waiting at home." He paused. "Someone who cares enough to do something like that."
Li Feng took a slow bite.
Guo Tian's eyes moved to the lunchbox once more, then back to Li Feng.
"Mr. Li doesn't seem like the type to talk much about himself."
"No," Li Feng agreed quietly.