Chapter 18 - Sudden Inspiration (1/2)
Chapter 18: Sudden Inspiration
Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
As they were sleeping at night, Lu Shang’s phone rang. He had set his phone on do-not-disturb mode, so only the people in a special list could get through.
Lu Shang saw Uncle Yuen’s name on the incoming caller ID, he frowned a bit and got up while putting his clothes on.
“Just got news that Li JingYao was captured by the police. Do we need to do anything?”
“What about their company, Chan Zhuang?”
“According to Miss Meng, the police will temporarily shut the company down and check the books. It will probably be shut down permanently afterwards.”
“And where’s Li Yan?”
“He ran. This incident is still on the down low, but he got news and fled. We didn’t find records of him leaving the country so he should be hiding somewhere.”
Lu Shang contemplated for a few moments, his fingers tapped the armrest subconsciously, “Just get us as far away from the incident as possible for now, don’t do anything else. Also ask Zuo Chao to increase watch over Liu XinTian’s movements.”
Uncle Yuen seemed a little shocked, he said, “Understood.”
Hanging the phone up, the house returned to its usual silence. Lu Shang stood up from the sofa and walked slowly towards the French window.
It was in the middle of the night, so outside the window was a vast view of darkness, only a lonely light tower was glowing. It was as if the city was asleep. On the horizon, shades of blue sparkled across the sea.
Li JingYao was a poisonous snake; Lu Shang’s father’s death had a lot to do with that snake. However, in business, the situation changed in an instant. When Lu Shang began working, he had no choice but to cooperate with him. On the surface, they were business partners, but in truth, Lu Shang had been trying to break Li JingYao for years. For that goal, he had a lot of dirty tricks done, he was also involved in making Chan Zhuang’s ship sink.
Now, Li JingYao was in jail, so technically Lu Shang got his wish. This was a one in a lifetime chance to get Li JingYao out of the picture for good. Uncle Yuen knew Lu Shang had been waiting for this, so he called to inform Lu Shang even in the middle of the night. Lu Shang closed his eyes and sighed, sadly his hands were tied, he couldn’t risk making a wrong step. Li Yan was still out there somewhere, and he might still have something up his sleeves.
“Is something wrong?” Li Sui took out a blanket and put it over Lu Shang.
Lu Shang pursed his lips together slightly, “No.”
Seeing Li Sui’s worried face, he said, “Get my laptop.”
“You are going to work? Now?”
Lu Shang nodded his head.
One phone call affected both of their moods, each had a lot to think about and sleep was nowhere in those thoughts. Li Sui decided to grab a seat and look at Lu Shang signing and going through the paperwork. Uncle Yuen was a careful and efficient assistant, he did all his work in an orderly fashion, all the mail he sent were marked with their individual urgency for Lu Shang’s convenience. The mail also had clear, simple titles, allowing Lu Shang to grasp the general content with just one glance.
Lu Shang picked a few pieces of mail amongst the urgent ones to download. For some of the mail, he just skimmed through, but for some, he read very carefully and even made detailed annotations.
A serious man was always the best looking. Lu Shang’s personality was placid to begin with, when he began working, even the last shreds of weakness and sickliness were swept away. He gave off a sharp and intelligent aura, even a simple action like typing was enough to attract people’s full attention.
The person in question didn’t realize, but as the audience, Li Sui’s eyes were heavily attracted to Lu Shang. The two of them were in such a close proximity that Li Sui could hear Lu Shang’s breaths loud and clear. After sitting beside Lu Shang for a while, he felt a wave of heat swarming his body. Feeling a bit guilty, he stood up and got a cup of warm milk from the kitchen.
It was too quiet, they were also alone together in the house, so it was extremely hard for Li Sui to think of something else. Li Sui stood at the sink; it took him gods know how long to finally get his jumping heart in place. He walked back out with the glass of milk, Lu Shang was still staring at the screen, he said, “You should rest.”
Li Sui’s feet stopped, then he continued walking over with the same expression. Putting the cup down, he replied, “I’m not sleepy.”
Lu Shang glanced at the cup of milk; he didn’t say anything more.
At the beginning, Li Sui’s gaze was solely on Lu Shang, but as time passed, he began to look at the contents on the screen as well. Li Sui stared at the screen for a while, then he couldn’t help but ask while pointing at a few unread mails, “Why won’t you read these ones? They are marked as urgent as well.”
“It’s marked as urgent because they are in a hurry.” Lu Shang continued typing, “It has nothing to do with me.”
Li Sui didn’t quite understand what he meant, Lu Shang stopped his hands and turned his head to Li Sui with a light smile, “Have you heard of the saying, ‘the emperor doesn’t worry but his eunuch does’?”
Li Sui laughed, “You are saying they are eunuchs?”
Lu Shang tilted his head a little in thought. “The wording might not be right, but the rationale is the same. A leader cannot afford to be rash, or to be affected by employees’ emotions. Instead of judging from other’s words and moods, we need to think with only the job in mind. Act according to the urgency of the case, not the person in question. We need to know how to arrange matters by their respective priorities.”
Seeing Li Sui’s confused expression, Lu Shang softened, he remembered how all these might be too much for him. Lu Shang smiled and said, “You should go to bed.”
“What about you?” Li Sui didn’t want to sleep yet. Lu Shang looked at him again as he came up with something, “Do you want to try?”
“Me?” Li Sui’s eyes glowed.
Lu Shang opened a document; he turned the screen to Li Sui. Explaining, he said, “This is a company’s financial statement, the company’s usage of funds last year are listed here. Have a look at it and tell me what conclusions you have.”
Li Sui had never learned accounting subjects before, so he just felt dizzy looking at the words and numbers. Lu Shang was staring at him, so it would be embarrassing for Li Sui to say he understood nothing. With no other options, he tried reading every single word and line in detail, trying to analyze whatever they meant. He read the statement all the way till the sun came up, finally he raised his head from the screen and he actually understood a bit.
To be honest, the table wasn’t difficult to comprehend. It was made by humans after all, plus it was invented to make it more convenient for humans in calculating. Though there were some terms that he couldn’t grasp, he did understand the simpler accounting terms.
Seeing Li Sui’s relaxed shoulders, Lu Shang asked, “What conclusions did you come to?”
“They used a lot of money.”
Lu Shang nodded, “Where were the funds used in?”
“There’re conferences, cars… There’s also an operational expense here.”
“Do you think they had a net gain or loss?”
“I think they had a net gain?”
“Why?”
“Here. In the profit section, it states that they had six million yuan of profits.” Li Sui pointed.
Lu Shang laughed lightly.
“Was I wrong?” Li Sui was anxious.
Lu Shang didn’t reply, he closed the laptop. Pulling Li Sui’s arm, he said, “Go, let’s go back to bed.”