"Are you just going to stare at them?"
Li Dong continued to read without even looking up.
"Mom, you’ve been the financial director for almost a year. Don’t you even understand the process for signing and stamping contracts? Aren’t you supposed to check every single page before stamping?"
Li Qin opened her mouth, but no words came out.
"And these statements of account."
"Shengda has been our supplier for three straight months. You signed the account reconciliation confirmation letter each month, didn’t you?"
"When you signed, did you check if the payable amount matched the contract terms exactly?"
"Mom."
Li Dong finally looked up at Li Qin.
"You check the books entry by entry, and you check the contract page by page before stamping. That’s fundamental."
Li Qin’s face flushed red, but she couldn’t argue.
Because everything Li Dong said was correct.
She had just been careless.
She trusted the other party too much.
She never imagined they would hide a line of fine print in the contract’s footer.
Li Dong didn’t lecture her further.
He lowered his head and continued flipping through the last few documents.
’In the Memory Palace, the classification of all the information was nearly complete.’
He had sorted everything into two main categories.
The first category was things he understood.
The method was a contract trap: sneaking in a clause when the contract was sent back to be stamped.
He had already confirmed this point.
Shengda hadn’t mentioned the service fee for three straight months, only to suddenly issue an invoice right before Huaxuan’s audit. The timing was too perfect to be a coincidence.
Furthermore, the way the invoice was set up to be offset suggested an attempt to create the false impression of a late payment.
The second category contained things that felt wrong, but which he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
For example, the corporate information for Shengda Precision Profile Factory.
The company was registered in the Capital City, but its actual production base was in Hebei.
Its ownership structure looked like a normal private enterprise, but a look-through revealed an affiliated company based overseas...
’I don’t get this part.’
But his 0.4 Logic attribute allowed him to spot inconsistencies when reviewing a set of information.
’Something’s not right with this company.’
’Would a normal profile processing plant, engaged in fair business competition, need to resort to such a dirty trick to go after a small downstream factory?’
’Shengda Precision’s annual revenue is hundreds of times larger than Dongyang Hardware’s. It makes no sense.’
’So did Dongyang Hardware snatch one of their core supply chain access slots?’
’That’s a possibility.’
’But...’
’Honestly, I don’t believe Shengda Precision could have failed to notice that Dongyang Hardware was different. How could they still dare to make a move?’
’Couldn’t they just wait for the next opportunity?’
’Unless...’
’...they couldn’t afford to wait.’
Li Dong closed the last document.
He pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind for now, not sharing them with Li Qin.
She wouldn’t understand, and it would only make her panic more.
He took out his phone and dialed a number.
"Hello, Teacher Liu."
Liu Ruochuan’s voice came from the other end of the line.
"Li Dong? What’s the matter?"
"Teacher, I’ve run into a bit of a problem."
Li Dong didn’t go into specifics, just giving a brief summary.
"My family’s company is having a dispute with a supplier. It involves some issues with commercial contracts and financial reconciliation, and it might have a legal dimension as well."
"I was hoping you could help me get in touch with a couple of professors. Is there anyone at the law school who’s familiar with commercial disputes? And over at Guanghua, someone who specializes in corporate finance or supply chain management?"
After a brief pause, Li Dong added,
"If it’s any trouble for you, I can just go ask Teacher Tian Gang."
The other end of the line went silent for a second.
Then, Liu Ruochuan’s voice came through, strained as if he were grinding his teeth.
"Just you wait!"
BEEP—
The call ended.
Li Dong stared at his phone screen, baffled.
"What was that all about?"
’Teacher Liu seemed a little... worked up.’
Beside him, Li Qin looked just as confused.
Less than three minutes later, Li Dong’s phone buzzed with a WeChat notification.
Besides himself and Liu Ruochuan, there were two unfamiliar profile pictures in the chat.
Immediately, a group voice call was initiated.
Li Dong answered the call.
"Li Dong, come, let me make some introductions."
Liu Ruochuan’s voice came through, laced with a tone that said, ’See how dependable I am?’
"This is Professor Chen Ruihua from the law school. He specializes in commercial dispute resolution and contract law."
"And this is Professor Zhou Li’an from the Guanghua School of Management, who focuses on corporate governance and industrial organization."
"It’s an honor, Professors," Li Dong greeted them immediately.
Meanwhile, he was already searching for information on the two professors in his Memory Palace.
’Chen Ruihua.’
’He’d seen that name before, on the table of contents of an issue of the *Legal Studies Research* journal.’
’The Memory Palace retrieved the image from that exact moment.’
’Professor at Yanjing University Law School, doctoral supervisor.’
’A leading scholar in the country for commercial litigation and contract law.’
’His name was in the expert advisory pool for drafting judicial interpretations at the Supreme People’s Court.’
’Zhou Li’an.’
’That name had appeared on a page of the Guanghua School of Management’s official website, which he had browsed on his first day as a freshman.’
’Professor at the Guanghua School of Management, doctoral supervisor.’
’His research focused on industrial organization, corporate behavior, and institutional economics.’
’That paper he wrote on the relationship between promotion incentives for local officials and corporate behavior had a frighteningly high number of citations. He was a leading figure in the field of institutional economics in the country.’
Li Dong’s expression turned a little strange.
’I can’t believe Liu Ruochuan went to such lengths.’
Professor Chen Ruihua, who was clearly a busy man, got straight to the point. "Student Li Dong, Dean Liu has given us a brief overview of the situation."
"Why don’t you explain the specifics?"
"Of course, Professor Chen."
Li Dong gave them a simple rundown of the events.
His explanation was concise and logical, focusing only on the key points and the chain of cause and effect.
The contract signing process.

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