Chapter 20: The Light of the Right Path

Lynch was not a straightforward person; he couldn’t possibly think about how to confront a woman that very first time they met.

He had once heard a story from a friend in a small room in another world. That friend’s story wasn’t as fantastical or exciting as others; it was simply a story of numbers continuously growing.

He hadn’t done much either. During the brief peak of his prosperous life, he summarized a few key success experiences, one of which was to always convince the accountant to be on his side.

An accountant can do so many things, more than most can imagine. A simple example: an accountant can quietly make millions, even billions, of funds disappear without anyone noticing. If it weren’t for someone needing to use that money later and realizing something was wrong, this could have remained hidden forever.

Here, they could easily blur the source of some funds and report this money to the federal tax bureau. Although most people hire accountants to reduce their tax payments.

Lynch’s current world was not highly information-driven; many things were still kept by manual copying. This meant the accountant’s special role would be even more important.

Having an accountant on his side was crucial. She could use her expertise to solve many problems for Lynch. Some things couldn’t be fully mastered by simple learning; he needed a trustworthy woman.

Trustworthy didn’t mean they had to be a tightly bonded pair, but their fates needed to be closely linked. They wouldn’t separate because of conflicts and then expose each other’s secrets. It was a strange kind of connection.

Anyone who carelessly destroys another person also destroys themselves. So before speaking, everyone carefully considers and weighs the pros and cons.

Compared to male accountants who like to take control, women are easier to manage. Many say men are controlled by hormones, but women are too—at least some women still believe in love.

After hearing Lynch’s words, Vera’s expression turned strange. She smiled, then sighed, “I appreciate your words. I know you just want to get closer…”

That’s the advantage of being handsome—no need to say much, others consider Lynch’s position and find a suitable reason for him. She looked at Lynch and shook her head slightly, “I’m married. What you said is inappropriate. Let’s just talk business, okay?”

Lynch pursed his lips and nodded, “Just business…”

Once emotions and complex chemistry inside a person start to change, stopping it might already be too late.

They seemed to have no barrier from their brief, interesting conversation and kept talking business, but only they knew whether their supposed-forgotten talk truly had any effect.

After a short negotiation, Lynch decided to hire Vera as the accountant for the Empire, fully responsible for all accounting tasks there. If the Empire’s business grew, more people would join the office.

After agreeing on her salary, Vera said goodbye to Lynch. She needed to file paperwork at the firm and then apply for an employment agreement—she would only work at the firm if she had no full-time job.

The firm was a comprehensive place, handling bookkeeping services and placing some accountants into full-time enterprise roles, also offering other related services.

This might seem like the firm was losing talent, but actually it wasn’t. Some talent was rare, but some could be produced in quantity, and the society was not short of people.

These accountants who left the firm would expand its influence citywide and even across the Baylor Federation, bringing the firm more attention and clients. This was healthy development, especially since these accountants were still affiliated with the firm.

Once Vera submitted her application and signed the agreement with Lynch, she would shift from earning hourly wages at the firm to a regular full-time accountant’s salary. This was a big step up for her.

That evening at home, she told her husband about it. Vera’s husband was an auditor. It was interesting: most people praised women’s caution with numbers but didn’t trust them with important tasks.

For key jobs, people tended to trust men more. Larger companies had more male accountants.

“You’re later than usual. Got a new job?” Her husband worked at a big company with a good salary but looked down on his wife’s small firm job.

It was like a professional athlete looking down on amateurs—there was a subtle disdain built from experience.

He flipped through financial news, seeing a tax scandal in Kurland City. Local tax bureau management colluded with businessmen to evade taxes. Someone exposed it, and the case was spreading, involving several congressmen. The entire federal tax system’s attention was focused there, possibly triggering changes in state tax and financial systems.

Besides basic laws, local laws clearly took precedence over national laws, including those on tax and official misconduct.

As a top accountant and middle-class elite, Vera’s husband was keenly following these developments, hoping to become a junior partner at his company within two years.

His focus was on the newspaper, and his words were an unthinking attempt at maintaining family communication—he might not have realized what he said.

Vera went to the kitchen to prepare dinner for her husband and child. While handling ingredients, she nodded, “The firm offered me a job. I thought it would be bookkeeping, but they want me full-time.”

The decision wasn’t final yet. The firm would decide who to assign to the Empire unless the employer strongly requested.

Though nothing was fully settled, Vera spoke as if she was definitely going to be the Empire’s accountant, her heart far less calm than she showed.

If a bullet from another space hit her head, she might say it was fate—though her pronunciation wasn’t precise.

Her husband raised an eyebrow and, after a few seconds, refocused from the paper. He leaned sideways, eyes fixed on the carpet rather than his wife’s back. “Full-time?”

“Yes, full-time!”

That sparked some interest. “What’s the company’s registered capital?”

Vera hesitated slightly, feeling embarrassed, “One hundred bucks.”

Her husband quickly straightened up, crossed his legs, and opened the paper again. “Not bad, one hundred bucks. At least you’ll have more time to do what you want…”