Transmigration: On the Gossip Front
Chapter 250 True or False First Love 50_1

Chapter 250: Chapter 250 True or False First Love 50_1

Zhou Lina tapped gently on the door and, after hearing an invitation to enter, she pushed the door open softly.

Seeing Accountant Feng inside didn’t surprise her much; she thought it was just to report on her work for the month.

Accountant Xiao gestured for Zhou Lina to sit. Reflecting on the month’s workload, she thought, well, there shouldn’t be any issue.

Of course, she sat down without any burden, waiting for Accountant Xiao to ask her questions.

After staring at Zhou Lina for a while, Accountant Xiao finally asked, "Xiao Zhou, you’ve also been working on this month’s data, have you noticed anything peculiar?"

No way, upon hearing this question, Zhou Lina really wanted to curse. Was it okay to ask so directly?

If it were someone else, they’d probably feel uneasy and unsure of what to do. She had consulted with Zhang Shifen and Gu Wei in the past few days, and they all felt that it was impossible for there not to be someone helping in the finance department.

Otherwise, there wouldn’t always be smooth sailing on the cost side, and the only people who could manipulate the numbers were a few of the cost accountants.

Could it be Accountant Feng? But then again, that didn’t seem right either. She was about to retire, and without anyone covering for her, the matter would certainly be exposed immediately.

As for the others, she really hadn’t noticed anything; it could be said everyone covered it up well.

Taking a deep breath, Zhou Lina brought up the problems she encountered at work.

It didn’t matter, in the end—whether you stick your neck out or retract it, you’re still unlucky.

Accountants Xiao and Feng were not surprised that Zhou Lina had found issues; in fact, anyone with a bit of thoughtfulness could notice them.

But as Zhou Lina continued her explanation, both of their expressions changed, "Are you sure about what you’re saying?"

Zhou Lina had actually been watching the expressions of Accountant Xiao and Accountant Feng, deciding based on their reactions how much to reveal.

It was because their expressions showed no malice that she continued speaking.

Accountant Xiao truly hadn’t expected Zhou Lina to uncover so many issues and turned to look at Accountant Feng, "How is this apprentice of ours?"

Accountant Feng was quite pleased, "Right, not bad."

"Indeed, not bad."

Even as an experienced accountant, she had taken several months to identify problems, and yet, over the course of a year, she hadn’t found as many issues as Zhou Lina had.

Recalling her own mentor, who had said that having a talent for finance matters, she really didn’t understand it at the time.

She thought that finance work was just about meticulous accounting and careful attention to detail. Nonetheless, she didn’t expect that someone with talent would be so different.

Just by crunching a month’s worth of data, she discovered problems, and so many of them.

"I just want to know, when did you realize there was a problem?" Accountant Xiao was really curious.

Although Accountant Feng didn’t speak up, she was also quite curious.

Zhou Lina, unable to help herself, pinched her nose, "It was, I noticed something wrong in the second week."

"But at that time, I really wasn’t certain."

"After all, this involves many departments."

"But the more I worked on it, the more I felt that there was an issue. I think it might involve several departments."

Zhou Lina casually mentioned the departments that might be involved, "including the cost accounting in the finance department."

"This department is also important because I still have to do inventory checks and then reconcile the data."

"Just a simple comparison with past data can actually reveal problems."

It was just the lack of computers; if there were computers, it would be really easy to detect problems.

Zhou Lina couldn’t help but feel a bit of admiration, yet she knew that at that time, those people would probably change their methods and evolve with the times.

Compare it with the past data? Right, it was only now that Accountant Feng remembered that Zhou Lina had once looked up the previous cost data; at that time, she hadn’t taken it seriously.

Now that she thought about it, these data were useful after all, otherwise, they wouldn’t have allowed her to discover the problem.

So that’s how it is, Accountant Xiao was also stunned; it was actually like this. Accountant Xiao stared at Zhou Lina for quite some time.

"Don’t let a word of this get out."

Zhou Lina hummed in agreement, she wasn’t foolish—why would she spill the beans? Wouldn’t that be cutting off someone’s livelihood?

And cutting off someone’s livelihood, that could definitely drive a person into a desperate frenzy.

Knowing she was a person with judgment, Accountant Xiao let her go, as he still had to discuss things with Accountant Feng.

After she left, on the side, Accountant Zhao picked up the teacup and took a sip, "How was it talking with the section chief?"

Everyone knew that, after working for a month, one would have to face the finance section chief’s inquiries alongside one’s mentor.

In the past, she would have thought this was just a colleague showing concern for another, but Zhou Lina could tell from the other’s expression that there was actually a hint of anxiety.

Anxiety, yes, Zhou Lina felt that the only thing that could make the other have such thoughts was the possibility that this person might be involved.

Or perhaps her family member was involved. Otherwise, why would she be so nervous?

Zhou Lina quickly went through what she knew about Accountant Zhao.

Accountant Zhao’s husband worked in the warehouse, and it seemed possible for the two of them to drag someone else down with them.

And with one person in the warehouse and another in finance, especially dealing with costs, it was certainly easy to tamper with the numbers.

Zhou Lina suddenly became curious: were these two positions really not required to avoid conflict of interest?

But this wasn’t something for her to worry about; once this issue was uncovered, who knew how many people would be implicated.

Wait, could this be the reason why the steel mill was hiring on a large scale?

She had been curious before, it was normal for the steel mill to need more workers in the workshop if they were expanding production capabilities, but it made no sense for them to hire so many office workers as well.

Now thinking about it, it must have been preparation for this situation; if a lot of people were involved, they wouldn’t have to worry about a lack of successors.

Even though they were novices, with two or three months of training, they could be up to speed.

And the things the new hires dealt with weren’t complicated; they could get guidance from someone.

Anyway, based on Zhou Lina’s observations these days, she was the one making the fastest progress among all the newcomers.

Zhou Lina continued to check the data, while thinking, she also wondered if there was a reward for this matter.

But then she thought again, better not; such a reward was really not worth the risk.

Even though some people would end up in jail, no one knew how many people would be caught, and what if there were fish that slipped through the net?

Would the people who didn’t get caught let her off the hook? She knew they definitely wouldn’t.

After a lot of thought, Zhou Lina decided she didn’t want any benefit from this; it was better to work quietly and steadily.

Seeing her continue with calculating the data, Accountant Zhao felt that she was overthinking it—how could a newcomer uncover such a thing?

If it was so easily discovered by anyone, it wouldn’t make sense for both Accountant Feng and Accountant Xiao to be fooled, they hadn’t spotted the problem.

The fact that the veterans in finance didn’t notice but Zhou Lina did, that would be problematic. However, it was still necessary to be a bit more cautious. She was no longer checking the previous transactions, which always remained a hidden danger.

Just because Zhou Lina hadn’t found an issue now didn’t mean she wouldn’t in the future.

If this matter were to come out, it would definitely cause an uproar. Accountant Zhao felt some regret for being so foolish back then.

Now she was living in constant fear; but regret was useless now. They had all boarded the ship, and there was no turning back.