Every single receipt was personally added by her. To prevent Accountant Zhou from finding fault and making an issue, she even worked overtime to verify them repeatedly. There was absolutely no possibility of error.
Chen Liyuan carefully flipped through each receipt, then stopped abruptly when she reached one page.
There were signs of it being torn.
"What else do you have to say? Don't blame me for not helping you. There are only two paths now: either resign yourself, or I'll report it to the leadership. If it gets to him, you'll lose face, and he'll definitely fire you."
Chen Liyuan's lowered gaze flashed with anger, but she still held back from saying anything.
Accountant Zhou felt she had said enough and finally spoke, "I'll give you two days. If you resign voluntarily, I promise not to tell anyone about this. Xiao Chen, you have an education, and you're a good person. I'm so much older than you, so I'm naturally looking out for you. If this gets out, it will be difficult for you to find work elsewhere. Resigning voluntarily is your best option."
Chen Liyuan silently returned to her seat.
As soon as work ended, Accountant Zhou eagerly left. Chen Liyuan watched her go, then after a long pause, got up and walked towards her desk.
Initially, she had thought that since they were in the same office, if they could get along peacefully, she wouldn't do anything. But since Accountant Zhou wanted to frame her, she wouldn't be polite.
Accountant Zhou thought she had everything under control, just waiting for Chen Liyuan to leave before telling the leader about bringing her daughter in. However, she didn't see Chen Liyuan mention resigning for two days. Just as she was about to give her another nudge, the factory director suddenly called her to his office that day.
Accountant Zhou didn't know what it was about. When she went, she found not only the factory director but also the secretary, as well as the cashier Xiao Li and Chen Liyuan.
The factory director looked at Chen Liyuan, whose eyes were red from crying, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly. The child was too young, she panicked at the slightest discovery. She had been scared and crying when she came to him, saying she didn't know what to do.
The factory absolutely could not tolerate embezzlement through falsifying accounts using one's position.
When he received the news, he didn't make a fuss. He first asked Xiao Li to cooperate with Chen Liyuan to carefully audit the accounts for the past six months. He didn't realize the extent of the problem until they started comparing.
Accountant Zhou's husband was a buyer in the purchasing department. A common stool was priced at thirty yuan, let alone more valuable items.
The key was that no one had discovered this for such a long time!
When Accountant Zhou saw the irrefutable evidence placed before her, her face turned pale with fright.
Given such a serious matter, the couple could not remain in their original positions. They were directly transferred to the grassroots level in the workshop, and the factory posted a notice throughout the entire plant to criticize them.
"Your sister is quite good. Learn from her as much as you can, and work hard in the future," the factory director said to Chen Liyuan meaningfully.
He actually knew everything that had happened below. The financial supervisor had also mentioned to him whether Chen Liyuan, who always made mistakes, should be replaced.
He had met Chen Lishu twice and, in his heart, believed her sister wouldn't be too bad either. Indeed, he understood the general reason as soon as he asked. However, Chen Liyuan's methods were too hasty and too simple. If it weren't for him today, and it were another leader, the outcome might not have been the same.
Chen Liyuan looked at Director Cao anxiously. She wasn't stupid and knew that the factory director's willingness to investigate was due to something else after she cried. As expected, he knew her eldest sister.
However, she had no choice. Accountant Zhou was trying to frame her, and she couldn't possibly bear that charge. At worst, she would leave like Xiao Liu.
Although Chen Liyuan was a bit impatient, her work ability was still acceptable. After all, she had been at the unit for three months. With the arrogant scolding and deliberate obstruction from Accountant Zhou gone, she was soon working competently.
Time flew by and it was the end of October. After a month of frantic harvesting, the autumn harvest work in Qingshan Village was nearing completion.
This was the first year of the household responsibility system, and with favorable weather, the village welcomed a bumper harvest. The output per mu was more than a hundred catties higher than when it was in the production team.
What did this mean? After deducting the public grain that needed to be paid, the price of negotiated grain was between two to three mao per catty. One hundred catties was equivalent to earning an extra twenty to thirty yuan per mu.
This meant that each household in the village basically earned an extra four to five hundred yuan. Not only the villagers of Qingshan Village, but all the places that implemented the household responsibility system welcomed a bumper grain harvest.
In an era when a box of matches cost only a few cents, four to five hundred yuan meant a great deal. The village was instantly jubilant.
Li Xiulan and Gu Shoufu were the first to share this good news with Chen Lishu.
"Our family has more labor, and we have more land allocated. Your father, I, and your fourth brother's wife have forty mu of land. Your father calculated that we would definitely earn over a thousand yuan when the grain is sold."
Hearing Li Xiulan's excited voice, Chen Lishu was also happy for her family.
"Mom, is everything alright at home?"
"Yes, your father and your eldest brother have also gone to help on the mountain when they had time. Lin Qi has also come over often these past two months. The mountain is almost cleared now, and Hu Si'er and the others have bought another ten thousand seedlings. They are planting trees on the mountain every day... They also caught eight pigs. Your idea is really not bad. Mixing sweet potato leaves with cornmeal, not a bit is wasted. The piglets are growing very strong, each weighing forty to fifty catties."
"Your parents' side is also good. Although only your father is working, the horse-drawn cart at home saves a lot of trouble. Yes, they traded work with others using the horse-drawn cart, and your parents have also finished harvesting their land."
Thinking of Gu Xingmin and his wife, Li Xiulan added, "The restaurant run by the second son and his wife in town is doing very well. As for the supply and marketing cooperative, there's no need to even mention it. It's a good thing we contracted it as you advised back then. Now that everyone has spare cash, they don't default on payments like before..."
After chatting on and on, feeling that it had been too long, Li Xiulan reluctantly hung up the phone.
Since everything was well at home, Chen Lishu was relieved. The next day, when she went to the construction site, she told Gu Xingye about the family matters.
Upon hearing that everything was fine at home, Gu Xingye was very happy, and his worries were somewhat eased.
Ever since sending two packs of Zhonghua cigarettes and one hundred yuan to Li Guojun last time, the effect was immediate. The project funds for two months arrived within a week.
The construction site was now nearing its end. Chen Lishu came to take him to look at the renovation materials.
The renovation materials at this time were still very limited, almost all of them were controlled by state-owned enterprises, so there was no need to worry about a wide variety of prices confusing people.
However, in another two years, with the disintegration of the planned economy, private enterprises would sprout up like bamboo shoots after rain, and the market prices would surely be extremely chaotic. Those unfamiliar with the market would really need to be careful.