"Qian Shao, I'm here."
Before long, Jin San arrived before Qian Long with a pile of bills and work reports, asking with a smile, "Young Master Qian, what are your orders?"
"I ask you, what's going on with these raw stones? Did you have someone switch them?" Qian Long pointed to the stones on the ground that had been found to be tampered with.
"What? Switched?"
Upon hearing this, Jin San quickly shook his head and said, "Young Master Qian, I'm wronged. I've never done anything to betray the store. How could I possibly switch them?"
"These stones... aren't they just like this!"
"You still dare to lie to me!"
Qian Long slapped him on the head, almost pushing his face into the stones, and said coldly, "Look closely. Are these raw stones? Would raw stones have so many layers of sand and gravel?"
"If stones like these could yield jade, jade would be something you could pick up anywhere on the street."
"This... I really don't know about this, Young Master Qian. Please rest assured, I will investigate this matter thoroughly. Whoever dares to tamper with our goods, I will find him and tear him to shreds." Jin San said indignantly.
Seeing Jin San's earnestness, Qian Long thought the matter was likely not his doing, but rather a result of his poor supervision, allowing someone to take advantage and steal the stones.
However, Li Yang discovered some irregularities in these bills. Just as Jin San was about to investigate the matter, Li Yang suddenly stopped him and said sternly, "Jin San, wait a moment."
"What is it, Boss Li?" Jin San turned back and asked.
"Are you sure these bills are recent inventory records?" Li Yang continued to ask.
"Yes, I got these from the finance department. How could they be fake?" Jin San's eyes darted, and he said casually.
"Then it's strange. There's a surprising pattern in the amounts on each bill. The purchase volume remains the same each time, but the unit cost increases by fifty yuan. Is this regular purchasing price something you negotiated with the supplier?" Li Yang asked Jin San seriously.
"This... Boss Li, I didn't even notice until you mentioned it."
Jin San's expression was shifty. He quickly took the bills and pretended to check them, then said with a smile, "Boss Li, these are just coincidences on these few bills, nothing to worry about. You only need to look at the total price of all categories at the end."
"The overall total prices haven't changed much. If there were problems with the bills, and I falsely reported the prices, the total price each time would definitely not match."
"That's where your cleverness lies."
Li Yang said with a faint smile, "You deliberately adjusted the final total price so that the bills appear correct, knowing that the higher-ups wouldn't scrutinize the unit price of each item."
"For example, the raw stones from the Moxisha mine here, you purchased them at the same price every time, even in Zhangjia, but as far as I know, the prices of stones from this mine have been adjusted in recent months, with prices continuously dropping. What's going on?"
"Ah? This..."
Jin San was speechless!
He hadn't expected Li Yang to discover so many problems just by glancing at the bills.
Qian Long couldn't help but start to suspect him as well, and asked with a serious expression, "Jin San, what exactly is going on? Did you falsify the bills?"
"Young Master Qian, I swear to heaven, I didn't do this. Please investigate clearly, Young Master Qian," Jin San hurriedly explained.
"Then how did you become the store manager? With such major problems in the store's bills, you didn't discover them?" Qian Long asked coldly.
"It's all my fault. I will definitely investigate this matter thoroughly. Please believe me, Young Master Qian," Jin San said, sweating profusely from fear.
"Jin San, do you know why I suddenly asked you about the bills?" After he finished speaking, Li Yang suddenly asked with a faint smile.
"Why?" Jin San asked, bewildered.
"The stones I found problems with just now have an unusual connection to these bills. At first, I thought someone had secretly swapped the raw stones, but now I realize it's not a swap at all, but a problem with the procurement itself."
Li Yang pointed out several detailed items on the bills and continued, "The problematic raw stones in the store come from different mining areas, but they have one thing in common: their unit prices are very high."
"If people falsified the accounts on these bills, and in turn purchased cheaper stones, the difference in price must have been pocketed."
"Logically, as the store manager, you couldn't possibly not know about something this significant."
Boom!
The sweat on Jin San's face poured down like rain!
Hearing this, Qian Long also suddenly realized. It turned out this scoundrel was behind it all. He had even been acting earlier, pretending to have nothing to do with it.
"Jin San, I'm giving you one last chance. Tell me honestly, did you cause trouble with these raw stones?" Qian Long threatened coldly.
"I..."
Jin San was too scared to tell the truth. After a moment, he suddenly knelt before Qian Long and kowtowed repeatedly, "Young Master Qian, please give me a chance. It was my greed that got the better of me. The supplier tricked me into thinking this could make money, so I resorted to this plan and betrayed the gambling stone business."
"However, the raw stones I purchased are undetectable to customers, and they absolutely do not harm the store's reputation. I am also willing to repay all the price differences I earned, hoping that Young Master Qian will give me a chance. I will definitely correct my ways."
"Hmph, according to you, I should be grateful, shouldn't I?"
Qian Long kicked him to the ground on the spot and pointed at him fiercely, "You useless piece of trash! I treated you so well, trusted you so much, and you dare to betray me!"
"Young Master Qian, spare my life. I swear I will never do it again. Please let me go," Jin San continued to beg.
"Repay all the price differences you earned to the store, and then voluntarily resign and get lost. I can let you avoid jail time. Otherwise, you'll spend the rest of your life in prison."
Qian Long hated betrayal the most. Back then, Jin San was personally scouted and promoted by him, and he had cultivated him as his confidant. He never expected him to do something so outrageous.
Jin San knelt on the ground, not daring to get up. In the end, he was kicked away by Qian Long and fired on the spot.
Then, Qian Long turned to Li Yang and said, "Master, please rest assured, I have fired this troublemaker. I will assign more reliable people to handle his work."
"Well, I am very satisfied that you have this intention. Now, take me to the warehouse and let's see which raw stones in our store still have problems."
Li Yang had always been meticulous in business. Since he would be managing this store from now on, he naturally wouldn't tolerate any flaws.
Qian Long decisively took Li Yang to the warehouse. As soon as they entered the warehouse, a slender figure appeared before Li Yang.