NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1036: Clean-up (1)
Rajmohan Kulkarni stepped into the office without any expression, placed his lunchbox his wife had packed, on the table. Later, he went to remove the old flowers that had dried up on Lord Ram's idol.
Kulkarni is always the first one to the office, and he is also the most dedicated one, so whenever someone entered the office, they first came forward to greet him with a smile, talk a few words, and only then did they go to their cubicles.
" It has been nearly a week since his highness Sarvesh has taken the throne of Surya Nagari. I wondered why we haven't got any orders from the above? " Long Jian, a refugee from the Ming Dynasty who has become a permanent citizen of Surya Nagari as well as a member of the panchayat as an accountant, asked the question he had in his mind.
Apony Tangayan, an immigrant from the Americas, cleaned out the dried-up flowers on his ancestral totem and responded as he sat down, " Who knows, but hearing the legends of this great warrior from the mainland, he is unlikely to keep quiet for a long time."
Just as he was about to continue, his words stopped because the basket in which fresh flowers are usually put was empty. " The flower lady did not come today? "
Long Jian does not have any idols on his desk, so he usually does not use flowers, but he looked into the desk of his neighbour, a native from Suvarnadwipa; his basket was also empty.
He scratched his head and looked up at Rajmohan Kulkarni, " Brother Kulkarni, has the flower lady not come today? "
Kulkarni did not respond. Instead, as if he was a robot who was continuously looping back to the same action again and again, he kept wiping the idol of Lord Ram several times.
" Brother Kulkarni? "
Rajmohan Kulkarni was startled awake. His face was a little pale.
" What happened, brother? You don't look alright, are you sick? " Long Jian asked with concern.
" Huh, I'm alright, it's just that I haven't gotten a lot of sleep yesterday."
" Oh, have you been working overtime once again? " Apony, who was listening to the conversation, suddenly chimed in.
Rajmohan shifted his eyes from left to right, as if he were trying to avoid causing suspicion. " Something like that, but don't worry, I will be alright. I will take some rest during the lunch break."
Although Long Jian and Apony found the behaviour of Rajmohan a little odd, they did not think much about it.
The topic once again returned to the matter of the new monarch, who had been enthroned to their frontier, sorry, now they should call it their kingdom of Surya Nagari.
Their work was mostly boring; it involved working with accounts, approving finances, approving the tax filings, and things like that.
As time went on, more colleagues joined the office, and with the sound of a bicycle bell ringing, their supervisor had also arrived.
" Kulkarni, come to my office." The first thing the supervisor did after coming to the office was to call Rajmohan.
Rajmohan jumped as if he was startled, but he quickly regained his emotions, wiped his face, and walked into the office.
Most people did not think much about it, but Long Jian and Apony looked at each other with their brows furrowed. Something was really wrong. Why did the supervisor look like he had seen a ghost, and why did Rajmohan look so pale after he was called?
" Brother, do you think they are doing something shady? " Long Jian whispered.
Apony quickly diverted his gaze and continued to turn the pages, " Who knows, but it's really weird. The last time I saw the supervisor this scared was when the governor had come to inspect. Also, have you noticed the supervisor hasn't brought the lunch box today? "
" Oh, come to think of it, you are right. That man has never left the side of the lunch box ever since I have known him."
The speculation and gossip were strong, but being Chinese and a Native American, they mostly acted low-key and blended in as much as possible, so they ignored what had just happened and went back to their work. But a few minutes later, something happened that could not be ignored at all.
"Bang!"
The door was kicked open, and a bunch of police officers rushed in with guns and lathis in hand.
Everyone was startled, so they stood up and raised their hands without any resistance.
Long Jian took a big gulp of saliva when the muzzle of the gun was pointed at him, but thankfully, it was not for long. The police officer lowered the gun and looked around as if he were searching for his prey.
He made some weird gestures with his hands, and immediately, like wolves splitting apart to hunt in smaller packs, groups of police rushed into various corners of the office. They went into the bathroom, storeroom,and ledger room. Heck, they did not even leave the attic, where all the older documents were placed.
" Sir, there is something here! "
Suddenly, there was a shout from the group of police officers who went to the basement.
After looking at what the constable had found, the police officer exclaimed, " It's gold. "
" God damn it, someone is actually mining gold and smuggling it without informing the Frontier Tch Kingdom's government. "
" Quickly, find out who is responsible for this. " His face was livid. If his highness knew what had happened right under his nose, he couldn't even imagine what would happen to him.
Long Jian and Apony, who were already on the edge of breaking down, were startled when the police officers advanced to get hold of them. They did not know what they had done. They were instinctively about to resist, but still, remembering the law at the last moment and knowing that they could appeal in the court and call upon the 5th, they cooperated. But who would have thought that the next moment, the supervisor and Rajmohan Kulkarni actually tried to break out of the office and run away.
" Captain, someone tried to jump out of the window. It seems like we have found our suspects. "
The police captain's nostrils flared, " Get those **** for me! "
After staying in the police station for a day, Long Jian, Apony, and everyone else were eventually released, but they were not happy at all. Instead, they had a look of astonishment. Who would have thought that their supervisor had actually colluded with a civilian who had just found a small-scale gold mine to embezzle all the gold for themselves without informing the government, taking the permit, or even paying the taxes?
More importantly, who would have thought that the kind and honest Rajmohan Kulkarni, the person who is the earliest to arrive and latest to leave, would actually be the intermediary between the supervisor and the smuggler?
Their worldview was repeatedly challenged. In a matter of a few hours, they were brought to the point of doubting everyone.
What they did not know was that such raids happened not only in their office but in all the government departments of the previous frontier government.
The name of the demon sword of the Empire was not for nothing. Although Sarvesh did not do anything the first month he had taken the throne, he was internally infiltrating his forces into the police of Surya Nagari. So after weeding out the problematic police within Surya Nagari, he took decisive action to clean out the pesky weeds in the government and pull out all the roots of corruption that had been attached to it.
For the first time, a large-scale purge took place in Surya Nagari, granting King Sarvesh Ranavikrama immediate dominance and authority over the kingdom.
This change was not felt by the normal people because the corruption they faced was corruption at the lower levels, and it had not been terminated yet. But the larger businessmen of the Surya Nagari Kingdom immediately noticed the difference. It was as if, overnight, the obstacles that blocked their path were nowhere to be seen.
---
Rajeev Singhania was pacing around the large office with a look of worry on his face. Miss Pallavi was biting her nails and repeatedly tapping the table. Both of them looked worried.
Singhania moving picture machine grew faster than they could ever imagine. In over a year of its establishment, its entertainment product, the moving picture machine, along with the top-selling story, had already monopolised all the entertainment centres of the frontier.
Driven by this wealth, they expanded overseas until they even expanded to the mainland. But they faced a dilemma: they were bottlenecked in the procurement of art talent. Although they could always employ people directly from society and train them ground up, it costs too much, and it takes a lot of time. Besides, employing talent like this is always a hit-and-miss case because some people can stick to drawing while some cannot. Some might have talent when they were picked, but it would turn out in practice that they had no talent at all.
So the plan was put forward to establish a comprehensive Animation Art University in Surya Nagari, but their problems started here. Permission was not given, and the person from the Department of Education actually covertly demanded a 5% stake in the company. And when they went to complain about this matter to the police, surprisingly, the police were in on it as well. The police officer actually had the gall to ask for 3% more because of their inability to cooperate.
Unwilling to bend their knee, Rajeev Singhania and Miss Pallavi both decided to shift the company to the mainland, where the business atmosphere was much better. Even Purushottam, the chief engineer of the company, agreed, but still, it was a big decision, and a little unwillingness, resentment, and refusal to admit defeat was present in the hearts of everyone involved in the company.
It is at this time that Mr Gopalan, the director of public relations for the company, broke in with a smile like that of a blossoming lotus.
" HAHAHAH, good news, good news! "
" Rajeev, all those **** in the government and the police have been arrested by the new king. "
" We no longer have any obstacles. "
" Also, the new queen, what was her name again? Yes, Queen Mahalakshmi Ranavikrama has invited all the top businessmen of the frontier. Oops, " he knocked his head in annoyance, " I keep forgetting we are a kingdom now. She called us all to a meeting. "