Volume One: Hat of Jiangcheng Chapter 64: What It Means to Be Professional (Part Two)

The northern wind was gradually dying down, and the pleasant sunlight streamed through the half-open back window, casting its warmth upon the chessboard resting on the low table beneath. At the two ends of the table, Feng Ping and Wang He each held a Go piece between their fingers, chatting idly while engaged in a match.

Though the other signing rooms in the secondary hall of the county yamen remained a hive of activity, these two secondary officials enjoyed a rare moment of leisure, able to brew a pot of clear tea and pass the time with a game of Go.

After placing another stone, Wang He slightly raised his grizzled eyebrows and said, "I never imagined you would find yourself with such idle time. Didn't the county magistrate assign the matter of last year's tax shortfall to your charge? By rights, you ought to be exceptionally busy right now."

"Such trivial matters naturally fall to those below me to handle; otherwise, how could I, the county vice-magistrate, possibly manage?" Feng Ping replied with a beaming smile. "Aren't you the same? Just after the turn of the year, there must be a mountain of documents awaiting your attention, yet here you are, drinking tea and playing Go with me just the same."

"I am different. The magistrate took several of my duties upon himself, and though I was busy for a couple of days prior, I have only found leisure today. But you, Vice-Magistrate Feng, are in a different position. Those account books number at least a hundred..."

"Heh, isn't the household department there for that? Matters of accounts like these naturally must be handed over to them for examination and verification before any further action is taken."

"So you've dumped the entire burden onto the household department?" Wang He's gaze flickered. "I heard that the household department originally had five clerks on duty, but two days ago, three of them suddenly requested leave, and it seems someone prompted them to do so. Could that be your doing, Vice-Magistrate Feng?"

Feng Ping leisurely took a sip of tea, then draped his black piece toward the corner of the board. "I have plotted this move for a long time, and you would do well to be careful. Why are you suddenly so concerned with the affairs of the household department?"

"A brilliant stroke indeed! Why didn't I foresee it before? There is a certain Li Ling in the household department, and I doubt I am the only one keeping an eye on him—aren't you doing the same? Yet with you making your intentions so glaringly obvious, aren't you afraid he will lodge a complaint with the magistrate?"

"What complaint could he possibly make? The three of them took legitimate leave, and he approved it himself; how could any blame attach to me? Furthermore, if he fails to accomplish the task and cannot command the respect of others, do you truly believe Magistrate Wei would step forward to champion his cause?"

"Indeed. If Li Ling indeed lacks the capability, once his flaws are exposed, his position as chief clerk can be stripped away. You and those three are all playing toward this same objective, aren't you?" Wang He said, dropping a stone that abruptly altered the entire balance of the board. "Still, you shouldn't be too careless. That Li Ling is a master when it comes to calculation; who knows, he might actually manage to accomplish the task single-handedly."

"Impossible." Feng Ping's eyes remained fixed on the board, his expression solemn as his tone turned resolute. "He possesses some skill, no doubt, but how could such intricate and chaotic accounts be easily sorted out? You mustn't forget he has just entered the yamen and was nothing more than a commoner previously. What experience or capability could he possibly have?" Having said this, he finally selected a spot, placed his stone down, and let out a long breath.

"Your move makes a certain amount of sense, but you overlooked the idle piece I played earlier. This is a recurring trap!" Wang He declared as his piece fell swiftly, instantly wiping out a cluster of his opponent's black stones and clearing up the entangled battlefield.

Feng Ping's gaze shifted. "This... you planned this thirty moves ago?"

"At the time, it was merely an idle move, but who would have thought it would become the deciding factor now? I accept your concession." Wang He smiled, picked up his teacup, and took a sip of plain water steeped in tea leaves—a method advocated and passed down by the founding emperor. The taste was indeed far more palatable than the concoctions brewed with various spices mixed into the tea.

"Very well, I admit defeat. The day is still young; shall we play another round?" Feng Ping conceded the game by discarding his stone.

"No, I have some official duties that require my attention." Wang He stood up, but just as he was about to leave, he suddenly turned back and said, "Winning or losing a single game of chess is of little consequence, and we could always play another. But certain matters are entirely different. Once you underestimate someone, the consequences can be far more severe than you imagine, and there is never any possibility of taking it back. You would do well to ponder this carefully."

Watching Wang He leave after dropping those words, Feng Ping was stunned at first, but then let out a dismissive laugh. "That old fellow grows more timid by the day. Can that Li Ling truly turn the heavens upside down? I reckon he'll be up to his neck in work during these days, and most likely he'll commit numerous blunders. When that time comes, I'll take him down, and incidentally make Wei Liang pay a price as well..."

Just as he felt everything was entirely within his grasp, several handymen slowly carried in a chest filled to the brim with documents. This left Feng Ping somewhat puzzled. "What are these things? Who told you to carry them to my study?"

"Forgive this humble servant, Your Honor. The household department sent these over, saying they are the account books and other items Your Honor previously ordered to be inspected and verified. Additionally, there are some case files requiring Your Honor's review," a handyman hurriedly explained in a low voice, leaving Feng Ping completely dumbfounded.

After a long while, by the time he recovered his senses, the two handymen had already departed, leaving an entire chest containing over a hundred sets of account documents right before him. Feng Ping's breathing hitched slightly before he snorted disdainfully, "Utter nonsense! In a mere four days, he actually dares to send all the accounts back? Does he expect me to check and recalculate everything for him? Such dereliction of duty—how can he possibly serve as a clerk in our yamen?"

Muttering under his breath, Feng Ping reached into the chest, pulled out an account book, and began flipping through it with the sole intention of picking faults and finding errors. Yet, as his eyes scanned swiftly down the pages, his expression gradually shifted. By the end, his eyes widened in shock—everything before him aligned closely with his previous estimations, and the final figures were clearly and neatly tallied at the bottom.

Unable to sit still any longer, he immediately rose, took the account book to his own desk, spread out paper, picked up his brush, and set up his counting rods to calculate the figures meticulously. As an official who had attained the status of a provincial graduate, Feng Ping possessed a certain mastery in mathematics. In the span of just a quarter of an hour, he arrived at the final figure, which matched Li Ling's conclusion down to the last digit.

"This... must be a coincidence." Feng Ping quickly formulated an explanation, immediately pulled out two more account books, and calculated them with equal care. Yet, the results matched Li Ling's figures once again, without the slightest discrepancy.

Now he was truly unsettled. He resolutely pulled out a dozen more account books and bent over his desk to calculate them one by one. As he worked, time slipped away unnoticed. When he finally looked up, he discovered that night had already fallen. At some point, the occupants of the surrounding signing rooms had all left, and the offices were entirely empty.

By this time, Vice-Magistrate Feng could no longer afford to worry about the hour. He simply stared blankly at the stack of account books and final figures upon his desk, muttering, "This is impossible... utterly impossible..." After two hours of intense labor, he found that not a single error existed in the accounts submitted by Li Ling. On one occasion, his own initial calculation differed from Li Ling's, only for a re-examination to reveal that he had made an oversight and an error of his own!

At this point, Feng Ping completely lost the courage to verify the remaining dozens of account documents. After all, the ten he had examined were chosen entirely at random; the other party could not possibly possess prescience, knowing beforehand which specific books would be drawn and placing them there just to await his verification!

Thus, an astonishing conclusion laid itself bare before Feng Ping: the household department, consisting of Li Ling, had spent a mere three days clearing and auditing over a hundred account books and documents without a single error! What made it even more crucial was that the household department only had two people to begin with, and he knew all too well how much capability Lin Qing possessed...

"How on earth did he accomplish this? Was he naturally born solely for the purpose of keeping accounts? Even when the household department previously had eight or nine men, such a task would have taken at least ten days, yet he managed to calculate every single account in just four days? How can this be?" Feng Ping could barely control his tongue as he whispered the questions churning within his heart.

Following that, Wang He's previous warning echoed in his mind: *"...Once you underestimate someone, the consequences can be far more severe than you imagine..."* Had he truly underestimated Li Ling's competence, and might this even bring about greater future troubles?

"Impossible! When all is said and done, he is merely a lowly clerk in the county yamen, while I am a court-appointed official. Should I fear him?" Feng Ping drew a sharp breath, forcing himself to calm down rapidly. He then paced back and forth across the room, secretly plotting his next move: "It seems that trying to make him commit errors or forcing him to withdraw from the yamen in despair will no longer work. I must employ other methods. I still need to start with those members of the household department. Since they have already taken this step, there is no turning back for them. It seems that when they return the day after tomorrow, I must find a way to press them further."

Only when he believed he had devised a countermeasure did Feng Ping manage to steady his panicked mind, which had been shaken by Li Ling's miraculous performance. With a flick of his sleeve, he extinguished the lamp and stepped out into the night.

In the county yamen at that hour, aside from a side room in the front office where a light still burned and a few runners kept watch, the only illumination came from the magistrate's living quarters in the rear courtyard.

Upon hearing Ximo's detailed report, Magistrate Wei Liang relaxed his tightly furrowed brows slightly. "Li Ling truly is a master at keeping accounts. In a mere four days, he has actually managed to complete such a burdensome task."

"Indeed, I also feel that Clerk Li is truly formidable," Ximo said with a deep sense of admiration. "The stacks of account books carried in back then were like mountains; I thought it would take at least half a month to sort them out. Yet he accomplished the entire task in just four days, and even gave Vice-Magistrate Feng quite a fright."

However, Magistrate Wei did not rejoice for long. The smile that had just surfaced on his face quickly faded. "Even so, this merely allows him to protect himself, yet in the end, this is not what I hoped to see." He then gave a self-deprecating sigh. "Still, I am in no position to criticize him; in truth, I am far more incompetent a magistrate than he is. I wonder when Mister Cao will return. If this drags on any longer, I truly fear complications will arise once more..."