Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life-Chapter 202: The Daily Grind at the Repair Hall

Bing Character Seven Courtyard, the Repair Hall.

The atmosphere today was tense, like drawn bows and unsheathed swords.

The usually orderly courtyard was now completely blocked by a group of cultivators wearing crimson Daoist robes.

The leader, with high cheekbones and upturned eyes, was a senior steward from the Vessel Hall, surnamed Zhang.

Standing beside him was a middle-aged man with a sinister look on his face, a trusted subordinate of the acting manager of the External Affairs Hall, Steward Liu.

"Wang Ming!" Steward Zhang held a thick ledger in his hand and slammed it fiercely onto the table, causing teacups to rattle. "How dare you people at the Repair Hall! The amount of 'Star Pattern Steel' and 'Red Essence Copper' you've requisitioned over the last three months exceeds what the entire External Affairs Hall used in a whole year! And where are the repaired artifacts? The accounts may balance on paper, but I suspect you've been lining your own pockets, swapping precious spiritual materials for scrap to fill the quota!"

"And this wastage rate!" Steward Zhang pointed at the ledger, spittle flying. "Three percent? You're trying to fool a ghost! Even the master forgers of the Vessel Hall wouldn't dare guarantee a three percent wastage rate, so how can a bunch of menial post holders achieve it? This is clearly fabricated accounting!"

The menial post disciples in the courtyard glared back angrily, their hands tightly gripping half-repaired formation plates. If it weren't for Old Wang holding them back firmly, they would have likely charged forward to fight already.

Old Wang, Wang Ming, this once timid, submissive, and bookkeeping-obsessed nice guy from the Accounting Office of the External Affairs Hall, now stood like a nail driven solidly into the center of the courtyard.

He wasn't angry. He even wore that same professional, somewhat fake smile on his face.

But the cold glint in his eyes felt unfamiliar to those who knew him.

"Steward Zhang, one can eat recklessly, but one should not speak recklessly," Old Wang said slowly, straightening his slightly wrinkled sleeve. "You accuse us of fabricating accounts. Do you have evidence?"

"Evidence? This ledger in my hand is the evidence!" Steward Zhang sneered. "There's no explanation for such a low wastage rate other than fraud!"

"Is that so?"

Old Wang suddenly smiled. He turned and waved a hand behind him.

"Li Hou, bring out 'that thing'."

"Right away!"

Li Hou, along with two burly menial post disciples, huffed and puffed as they carried three massive boxes out from the storeroom and dropped them with a heavy *thud* right in front of Steward Zhang.

"What is this?" Steward Zhang frowned, instinctively taking half a step back.

"This is the explanation you wanted."

Old Wang stepped forward and yanked open the lid of the first box.

*Clatter!*

It was filled with blackish metallic scrap, emitting a pungent smell of sulfur.

"This is the impurities and waste material we extracted from the thousand catties of 'Red Essence Copper' allocated to us by the Vessel Hall last month," Old Wang's voice suddenly rose in pitch. He had somehow produced a chart in his hand and thrust it right under Steward Zhang's nose.

"According to Vessel Hall standards, the purity of Red Essence Copper should be ninety percent. But our testing showed the batch you sent us was only seventy percent pure! The remaining twenty percent was all this sulfur slag and iron filings!"

"To ensure the quality of our repairs, we had to expend triple the manpower to perform 'water washing' and 'purification'. We weighed, sealed, and kept samples of every single ounce of this waste! If Steward Zhang doesn't believe it, you can inspect it right now! See if this garbage wasn't forged by your Vessel Hall!"

Steward Zhang's face instantly changed color.

He knew very well this batch of copper had issues. It was ore procured by a relative of a Vessel Hall elder, who had bought a lot of inferior ore to pocket kickbacks. They thought they could fool these ignorant menial post holders in the External Affairs Hall and get away with it. Who would have thought these people actually kept all the waste?!

Before he could speak, Old Wang opened the second box.

It was filled with broken Formation Flag poles.

"'Century-old Wood Struck by Lightning'?" Old Wang picked up a broken piece of wood, sneered, and snapped it with force. *Crack!* It was the sound of rotten wood breaking. "Steward Zhang, you call this Wood Struck by Lightning? This is clearly insect-eaten rotten wood painted with a 'lightning-struck' lacquer! If this kind of thing were used in a formation, the formation would explode upon activation! Who would die then? The menial post disciples of our Repair Hall, or the senior brothers and sisters practicing in the training grounds ahead?"

"You... you..." Steward Zhang pointed a trembling finger at Old Wang, unable to utter a complete sentence.

"Third box!"

Old Wang gave him no chance to catch his breath, yanking open the final box.

Inside were stacks upon stacks of neatly arranged jade slips and blueprints.

"These are the maintenance records for every single artifact our Repair Hall has handled over the past three months," Old Wang's voice rang out strong and clear, carrying throughout the entire courtyard. "Which artifact used what materials, who repaired it, how much time was spent—everything is recorded. We've even annotated and corrected the inherent design flaws on the formation plates you sent us!"

"Steward Zhang, you just said our wastage rate is fabricated?"

Old Wang took a step forward. The aura of confidence born from years immersed in a sea of data actually forced the Foundation Establishment realm Steward Zhang to retreat several steps.

"Our low wastage rate is because we re-refined and reused the materials you threw away as scrap! It's because we optimized all those error-prone designs of yours that were prone to causing furnace explosions!"

"We are saving the sect money! We are cleaning up the mess for your Vessel Hall!"

"Now, do you still want to investigate?"

Dead silence.

A deathly stillness.

The surrounding External Affairs Hall disciples who had come to watch the spectacle stood with their mouths agape, as if witnessing a miracle.

Was this still that timid, submissive Old Wang from the Accounting Office? Was this still that easily bullied menial post department?

This was clearly a bunch of technical masters disguised in menial post skins!

Steward Zhang's face turned the color of pig liver. Looking at the irrefutable waste materials and the excruciatingly detailed data records, he knew he had kicked an iron plate this time.

Not just an iron plate—this was a goddamn spiked steel plate!

If these matters were brought before the Sect Master or the Enforcement Hall, the ones in trouble would definitely not be the Repair Hall, but the Vessel Hall for cutting corners and using substandard materials!

"Fine... very well..."

Steward Zhang gritted his teeth, squeezing out the words from between them. "The Repair Hall... truly lives up to its reputation. Today... this steward acted rashly."

With that, he gave a sharp flick of his sleeve, not even daring to glance at the waste in the boxes, and turned to leave in a fluster.

Seeing this, Steward Liu's trusted subordinate also hunched his shoulders and scurried away, crestfallen.

"We won!"

"Old Wang is mighty!"

"Hall Master is mighty!"

After a brief moment of silence, earth-shaking cheers erupted from Bing Character Seven Courtyard.

Old Wang stood in place, watching Steward Zhang's retreating back. Only now did the hands he had clasped behind his back begin to tremble slightly. It was a tremor of excitement, but also of lingering fear.