The Troubles Caused By a Fiancé

The remainder of the Finance Department's various assortments of professors remained amiable to Xi Chen's late transfer into their department, albeit he was snubbed with no short amount of disdainful and questionable gazes. With half a dozen syllabuses and thesis paper requirements shoved into his arms, Xi Chen stumbled out of the campus with a dark scowl plastered across his countenance.

While they weren't as stubborn-headed and unapproachable as Professor Qiu, it also meant that Xi Chen couldn't easily bait them into taking his villager's boy status into account and presenting alternative methods. The painful result was four graduation-worthy thesis papers that were due at the end of the semester – and on top of that, work from Tianming Corporation, and his own personal projects.

It seemed that only antiquated, stubborn female professors who were used to struggling to assert their academic worth in the market would fall prey to such an easy bait-and-switch. The remainder of the younger staff who had experienced the easy developmental path and used the remainder of their free time to accustom themselves to the tricks employed by the students to worm their way through the semester, and weren't as gullible.

"If I recall correctly – ah, that office building in white?"

Xi Chen cross-referenced with the address that had been marked in the Internal-Use document sent over by Mu Yu-er, and nodded in his heart. Sandwiched between a pastry shop and a seafood restaurant was a small office building – Tianming Corporation's satellite in Jiangbei. Though small and only two stories in height, the exterior was well maintained and devoid of any stripping or decay accumulating on the sides that most small offices faced; the exterior was prim and well-maintained, and secluded within a bustling nest of active customers.

The youth stilled his thoughts and made his way towards the small building. He pushed open the glass doors and entered the internal world of Tianming Corporation, before a flabbergasted expression manifested.

"This… is a bit extravagant, isn't it?"

Contrary to his expectations, the internal design of the building wasn't an array of employees plastered on a horizontal desk tapping at their computers. Rather, the center of the office had been opened to reveal an area dedicated to lounging and recreation, equipped with a delectable assortment of coffee makers, tea kettles, and a vast assortment of snacks, candy, and chips. Encircling the open area were a series of glass cubicles providing three square meters for the occupant – similar to the space demanded by a department head or director executive of a standard company.

"Oh… are you a new intern? Which university did you come from?"

Xi Chen finished his third step, he was interrupted by a soothing female voice from his right. The speaker revealed herself to be a graceful and diligent woman brandishing a pair of oversized glasses as she carefully scrutinized the former, a mellow expression on her countenance. The youth blinked in brief incomprehension at the sudden intrusion, but the woman seemed to have interpreted his response as shock and befuddlement –

"This place is startling to the eyes, isn't it? Don't worry – the office space will be yours when you become a full-fledged employee," the woman gently smiled.

"Interns are consolidated at the second floor. Since there are so many of you, it was difficult to adopt the same standard – oh, but the situation in Suzhou is vastly different –"

"My apologies – I'm not an intern. I was scheduled to start working today by Chairman Mu."

Xi Chen opened the booklet and presented the unofficial employee identification fashioned as a business card to the female employee. The latter was taken aback at his sudden interruption, but a quick scan of the card caused a wave of enlightenment to arise on her countenance.

"Oh… so you are the colleague 'Xi Chen' that we were to expect today?" she brushed up the rim of her glasses.

"The eighth office has been cleared for you. It… is rather odd for Chairman Mu to approve of such a young employee."

The enthusiasm and generosity within her voice had been eradicated the moment her mind registered the words plastered on the lacquered card. Xi Chen responded with a subtle nod and quickly made his way towards the vacated cubicle, ignoring the confused and slightly suspicious glare plastered onto the center of his back.

The business card that the elderly Mu Yun had entrusted to his possession wasn't returned, but it had fulfilled its purpose. Once Xi Chen closed the door and took a glance around his surroundings, he immediately recognized the official identification card hanging from the hook.

As visible from the lounge area, the interior of each cubicle provided three square meters to his own use. Facing the side wall and nestled against the side facing an adjacent cubicle was a large hardwood desk occupied with a printer, three desktop monitors, several shelved books reserved for all corporate employees, and a full notepad. Xi Chen wrinkled his nose at the inauspicious sight of the notepad with no pen, and seated himself at the desk and turned on the workstation at his feet.

Tianming didn't have any regulations on whether employees could change the password to their workstations, but Xi Chen did so anyway. He ignored the missives listed on the internal forum and bulletin board plastered across the display on the left, and instead drew up the excel document responsible for tracking the cash flow.

It wasn't the final document to be presented to the executives and directors, but rather the raw data. And as expected, the employees who were responsible for handling the bulk of the work had done a horrendous job – or rather, for such entry-level expenses, they were rather tossed at the interns to busy themselves with.

"Standard import from Ming Ming Mining Industries, 8.3 million RMB. Selective import from Bu Liu Xing, 87.6 million RMB," the youth murmured to himself, before rubbing at his brow in confusion.

"Standard import? Selective import? Those… refer to the quality of stone mined before processing, right?"

If what was provided in the internal definitions was correct, the former referred to the stones that had been mined from the entrance of an ore body or vein to a maximum linear depth of five hundred meters. The latter referred to the specialized ore veins that receded deep beyond the earth's surface, and could only be extracted from depths of one to two kilometers underground.

It should be expected from Tianming Corporation, one that focused on high-quality jadestones and jewels, to only import a small amount from standard mining, but the companies… couldn't be recognized. Xi Chen ran the internal listing, public listing courtesy of Shenzhen, and the private network of Suzhou, but still couldn't find a resemblance to a mining corporation.

The best he could achieve was that both Ming Ming Mining Industries and Bu Liu Xing were shell companies under an individual's controls…

"… they are planning a middle-ground investment tactic? Running off with the dividends as well?"

The majority of mining corporations were firmly grasped under Western titular ownership, and were discoverable on NASDAQ or equivalent stock exchanges. Although Hua owned a substantial but smaller network of stock ownership, only artisanal and individual mining corporations would be unlisted in either market categories.

A furthered search caused Xi Chen's eyebrows to sink in disapproval. He had no conclusive evidence, but the sheer amount of entry-level expenses towards unlisted companies caused his heart to make the conclusion in his heart.

Create multiple shell companies, accept investments for a batch order distributed alongside of the shells, and pocket any profits for individual use.

"A basic plan – how could the analysts not detect and void such easy play?" Xi Chen muttered, before his lips pursed into a scowl.

"…unless they know who is responsible, but can't retaliate. Though the true damage can only be calculated once asset verification is conducted…"

Xi Chen tapped the base of his chin with a finger and browsed through the cloud storage. The relevant documents were pulled and had their raw data transferred onto a blank worksheet, and once he had confirmed the differences between the calculated entry-level assets and expenses, a knock rang from the cubicle door. The youth pulled the door ajar to reveal the female employee from earlier standing with a stack of papers clenched in her hands, and displayed a brief nod.

"Meeting's beginning soon."

With the short, indifferent statement, she left the cubicle and strode towards the lounge area. Xi Chen glanced at the formula busily computing through the dozens of sheets of raw data, before grabbing at the small block of papers printed on the desk. When he approached the lounge area, the youth discovered he was the last to arrive.

The remainder of the employees had assembled by their respective seats, each containing either a loosely assembled stack of papers, or a booklet containing their notes. As Xi Chen sat at the only empty seat available – an awkward bean bag tossed at the side besides two indoor lounge chairs, the person seated at the head arrangement coughed into his hand.

"Just the daily usual, folks," he sighed and tapped his head with the stack of papers clenched in his hand.

"We've got mountains of papers to sort through and analyze to ensure the company doesn't topple over on its heels, while the executives and designers spend as much as they want. Anyone got inputs for today?"

"The damned interns don't even know how to properly typeset a report!" a male employee seated at the side slumped over and clutched his head in agony.

"They don't even understand basic formatting architecture, and they call themselves graduates of a prestigious university! Each year, they become worse and worse at understanding basic concepts – how does one simply mistake a delayed exponential growth observed in raw data and slap on a linear regression fitting and smile as if they climbed Mt. Tai!?"

"HR seems to have thrown in an additional 15 million RMB in redecorating their internal environment, or so does their expenses. Although I don't know if its Su Yuyin embezzling funds for her personal projects again or what – she really did pick up a few nasty habits from her studies in America, didn't she?"

"I did a brief scan of entry-level expenses sustained by the company," Xi Chen cut in when several employees had enjoyed their turn to complain.

"Someone's utilizing a basic middle-ground investment hook to siphon away at the company's funds. Assuming that a tenth of the unlisted companies that are engaged in these entry-level investments are satellites, then there are twenty leaks at the minimum that need to be plugged."

There was a wave of silence that enveloped the lounge area, and Xi Chen found himself the target of numerous grimaces and pained expressions. The head employee responsible for the Jiangbei satellite coughed and clasped his hands together.

"That… we can't do anything about that. That's related to the chairperson's granddaughter and her fiancé."

"Although asset verification isn't complete, initial estimates range from 100 million to 300 million RMB per year in unnecessary expenses."

The grimaces dripped with blood, and Xi Chen could only heave a despondent sigh. Beyond the shadow of the irritated expressions, the youth could see a hint of an elderly man's uncomfortable look.