Zhang Jingchan walked out of the Zhang family villa with her backpack, preparing to hail a taxi when someone emerged from the shade of a nearby tree.

Zhang Jingchan stood with both hands tucked in her school uniform trouser pockets, looking at him with a calm expression.

The 26-year-old Xu Yi had an intensely scholarly air about him, refined and thin. He looked at the girl before him, revealing a somewhat bitter smile: “Weiyi, I knew you’d be here.”

Zhang Jingchan responded with a simple “Mm.”

Even after being ruthlessly rejected by a young girl, even with a hint of humiliation, Xu Yi still maintained his composure. He asked: “Before, didn’t you say there was absolutely no possibility between you and Achan? Why the sudden change of heart?”

Zhang Jingchan replied: “When it comes to feelings, who can say for sure.”

“Feelings, haha.” Xu Yi laughed self-mockingly. “You said before that you were focused on the college entrance exam and didn’t want to date. Turns out it’s only with him that you’ll talk about feelings. Achan is a good boy, but right now… Fu Ming has encountered some very troublesome matters. If you’re with him now, I’m afraid you’ll suffer and face hardships in the future.”

Zhang Jingchan let out a derisive snort, stepped forward two paces to the roadside, one hand still in her trouser pocket, the other raised to hail a distant taxi. He said: “That’s between me and Achan, no need for your concern.”

Xu Yi stared at his movements.

The taxi slowly approached. Xu Yi said: “This Sunday we agreed to go see a movie together. You’re a girl who keeps her word. Come with me to see one last movie, consider it a farewell. Is that alright?”

Zhang Jingchan frowned, pulled open the car door, tossed her backpack inside, got in, and said: “Not going. There’s nothing to say goodbye about. Stop pestering me. Driver, let’s go.”

Xu Yi stood by the roadside, silently watching the cold lines of the young girl’s profile, watching the taxi drive away.

He returned to his own car, leaned back in the seat, and lit another cigarette.

He and Li Weiyi had never agreed to see a movie on Sunday. But just now, the girl hadn’t refuted it.

She didn’t know.

Whether it was the tone of tonight’s text messages or her words and behavior, everything seemed like a different person. Driven by some inexplicable impulse, he had tested her.

The strange situation from May 11th to 13th, and March 11th to 13th, was happening again.

Who is “she” now?

Where has the girl he admires gone?

——

Li Weiyi didn’t follow Zhang Jingchan’s instructions. Time was simply too tight. She worked until 4 AM before she couldn’t hold on any longer and had to sleep. At 9 AM she crawled out of bed again, randomly stuffed some food in her mouth, and continued working.

At the same time, Zhang Jingchan was taking the English exam. In this subject, President Zhang finally salvaged some dignity, handing in his paper 20 minutes early, his expression somewhat relaxed. He rushed to the Zhang family home before noon, unaware that Li Weiyi had stayed up all night; Li Weiyi naturally also didn’t know that Zhang Jingchan had scored 149 for her, the highest English score in the entire grade.

After the two ate lunch with almost no communication, Zhang Jingchan hurried back to take the liberal arts comprehensive exam he least wanted to face.

After 3 PM, the study was utterly silent. Outside the window came occasional birdsong. Li Weiyi’s pen sometimes scratched across paper, sometimes she tapped at the keyboard.

Someone knocked on the door.

Li Weiyi didn’t even look up: “Come in.”

“Achan.”

Li Weiyi raised her head, glanced at Sister Liu who looked uneasy, and asked: “What is it?” Her eyes returned to the ledger.

Sister Liu was also shocked by the ledgers scattered all over the study floor. She hesitated, closed the door, stepped forward two paces, first placed a plate of snacks on the desk, and said: “I made you some food.”

Despite Li Weiyi’s attention being entirely on the ledger, she was attracted by that oily, fragrant aroma. She glanced at the desk and asked: “What is this?”

“Oh, a specialty from my hometown, called dengxin wowo.”

But Li Weiyi wasn’t really paying attention, just unconsciously responding: “Oh… your hometown, where is…”

Sister Liu didn’t answer.

After a few more seconds, Sister Liu said: “I have something to tell you.”

“Mm, go ahead…”

But Sister Liu seemed to find it difficult to speak.

Li Weiyi had to put down the ledger, rubbed her eyes, and looked at her: “Go ahead, I’m listening. Hurry up, I’m very busy.”

Sister Liu’s face flushed red, her gaze melancholic yet sincere: “I just wanted to tell you… this matter, it’s not appropriate for me to tell the master either, but I feel it should be said.”

“What matter?”

“Starting over a month ago, there’s been a Mr. Li, seems to be an old acquaintance of the mistress, who has come several times.”

“And then?”

“Each time… each time he and the mistress are alone in a room together. I didn’t intentionally listen, but sometimes their voices are very loud. I heard them talking about ‘money,’ ‘feelings’ and such. Also, there were some… some… strange sounds.” Sister Liu’s head was buried low. “I didn’t dare get too close, but… the mistress specifically instructed me that I absolutely cannot tell anyone, including you and the master.”

Li Weiyi’s heart skipped a beat. She asked: “What you’re saying is true? If there’s even half a sentence of slander, you know the consequences? My dad definitely won’t let you off. I’m sure you’re aware of my family’s influence in Chen City.”

Sister Liu was indeed frightened, hurriedly waving her hands: “No, no! This kind of thing, how could I slander! I… I originally didn’t want to meddle, but over these years, the master and you Achan have been very good to me. Plus I hope your family stays harmonious and happy. I’m afraid the mistress might have a momentary lapse in judgment…”

Sister Liu was almost in tears. Li Weiyi interrupted her: “Do you have anything else to say?”

“No… nothing else.”

“I understand. Thank you, Sister Liu. Regardless of what the real situation is, I hope you’ll follow my mom’s instructions and besides me, don’t tell anyone, including my dad. I’ll handle this matter.”

“Okay, okay! Achan, I’ll do as you say.”

Sister Liu left. Li Weiyi let out a long breath, leaned back in her chair thinking, then stood up and walked out of the room. Leaning against the second-floor railing, she could see Wu Xinhui playing cards with several other ladies, looking cheerful and completely normal.

Li Weiyi instinctively didn’t believe it, but Sister Liu had described it in such detail—and what reason would she have to slander?

Perhaps there was some misunderstanding.

This matter, she really couldn’t bring up with Zhang Jingchan, solely based on a housekeeper’s one-sided account, to raise such a topic. That was Zhang Jingchan’s own mother. From the first day they met, she saw the blanket he kept in his car for his mother and knew that although he didn’t say it, he both respected and loved his mother deeply in his heart.

The accounting matter was urgent and critical, concerning Zhang Moyun and Fu Ming’s life and death, as well as their entire family’s fate. The two of them had absolutely no spare time to deal with other matters. Li Weiyi decided that after resolving the accounting issue, she would bring this up with Zhang Jingchan.

In the evening, Zhang Jingchan returned to the Zhang family looking haggard after finishing the liberal arts comprehensive exam. The two ate dinner, one checking accounts, the other reviewing company materials or helping out. At 10 PM Zhang Jingchan had to return to the Li family.

That night, Li Weiyi worked until 5 AM before sleeping.

On the third day, Zhang Jingchan finally didn’t have to take exams or go to school. He arrived at the Zhang family home at 8 AM, pushed open the study door, only to find Li Weiyi fast asleep on the sofa wrapped in a blanket, with several ledgers still by her hand.

He wondered why she hadn’t returned to her room to sleep, then immediately understood—she was probably worried, and had spent these two nights sleeping while guarding the ledgers.

Zhang Jingchan sat on the other side of the sofa, watched her for a while, then got up and left the study. He found Sister Liu in the kitchen and asked: “What time did Achan go to sleep last night?”

Sister Liu replied: “Should have been very late. I got up at 4 AM to use the bathroom and the study light was still on. When I got up around 6 AM, the light was off.”

When Li Weiyi woke up again, the entire study was extremely dark, curtains tightly drawn, lights off. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, only then noticing someone else sitting nearby.

Zhang Jingchan stirred and also sat up straight, asking: “Awake?”

“What time is it? Why aren’t the lights on?”

“Noon, 12 o’clock.” Zhang Jingchan said, “Why didn’t you listen to me and stay up so late?”

Li Weiyi answered: “I’m anxious, afraid there won’t be enough time.” Just as she was about to stand up, her legs went numb from her previous twisted, curled-up sleeping position on the sofa, and she fell back toward the sofa. Zhang Jingchan grabbed her in his arms, but her body was too heavy, directly knocking the petite Zhang Jingchan over onto the sofa, with her body pressing down on his.

Li Weiyi laughed “pfft,” and was just about to get up when Zhang Jingchan pulled her, drawing her back to his chest.

Li Weiyi: “…”

Both her arms were braced on either side of his head, looking down at him with a half-smile: “President Zhang, are you sure you’re still thinking about taking advantage of me right now?”

In the darkness, she didn’t see the rueful smile that also floated into Zhang Jingchan’s eyes. President Zhang, who had failed in his scheme, probably also realized that now, the timing was wrong.

After all, opposite him was his own body.

He braced one hand against the sofa and sat up, causing Li Weiyi’s body to lean back and retreat. However, Li Weiyi, who rarely had the upper hand, couldn’t resist showing off desperately. She let out two “hehe” sounds and said: “If you really want a kiss, I’m not opposed to accompanying you. Come on, close your eyes. I’m going to do another sofa pin.”

Zhang Jingchan looked at her in the darkness.

Li Weiyi puckered her lips high toward him: “Come on, baby.”

Zhang Jingchan let out a long breath, pushed aside her arms, stood up and strode away, pulling open the curtains with a “whoosh.”

Li Weiyi burst out laughing.

The room suddenly brightened. Zhang Jingchan turned around, his expression as calm as if the person who had just fled in disarray wasn’t himself. He said to Li Weiyi: “Go wash up, eat something first.”

Li Weiyi obediently swaggered off.

After a while, she ran back like a gust of wind, shouting: “Your interruption made me forget about important business! I found it! I found where the problematic accounts are! Over these four years they’ve embezzled a full 80 million, hidden very deeply, but I’ve rooted them out!”

The two sat back at the computer. Li Weiyi opened several spreadsheets and spread out four or five ledgers, saying: “The answer lies in this subsidiary of Fu Ming.”

As a rapidly expanding private family enterprise, Fu Ming Group’s internal management and organizational structure were quite immature—even downright casual and chaotic. The group had multiple subsidiaries under its name, sometimes establishing a new subsidiary company whenever opening a new construction project. The functional divisions between group headquarters and subsidiary companies were also unclear. For example, headquarters had a procurement department, but procurement authority for subsidiary companies was sometimes retained at headquarters, sometimes still at the subsidiary level. Much of this was caused by “people,” because there were simply too many nepotistic relationships.

Furuida Commercial Company was such a subsidiary with extremely great independent authority. Its business scope was quite interesting. Fu Ming’s main business was real estate, and every year there would be heavy equipment depreciation or scrapping. Furuida was responsible for warehousing, transportation, and recycling of some heavy equipment and building materials, as well as reselling obsolete equipment.

“Fu Ming’s accounts are very messy, you know that, right?” Li Weiyi’s eyes were bright.

“I know.”

“Some subsidiaries use paper ledgers, some are electronic. Some are incorporated into the group’s unified system, some have separate systems. In short, your headquarters finance department being able to roughly balance the accounts each year is already quite difficult. If you really scrutinize it, there are problems everywhere. This situation makes the flow of funds and assets between different subsidiaries even more opaque and difficult to verify.”

“Mm.”

“They exploited this loophole.” Li Weiyi pulled out a blank sheet of paper, wrote “Furuida” in the center, and wrote the names of four subsidiary companies around it, saying: “For example, look at this transaction. In February 2012, heavy equipment worth over 8 million, after being used in a previous project, was transported to Furuida. This batch of equipment had only been purchased for 2 years and still had a long useful life.

“In April 2012, Furuida sold a batch of old equipment for only 800,000 in revenue.

“In June 2013, that 8 million worth of equipment that had entered inventory the previous February was depreciated by half on the books, transported to subsidiary B for use, experienced a series of quality problems and accidental damage during use, and was scrapped after half a year.

“In July 2013, Furuida reported to headquarters, applying for 9 million in funding to purchase new equipment.

“Do you see it? Was what they sold in April really old equipment? Did it really only sell for 800,000? Was what was given to subsidiary B in June the following year really relatively new equipment? Was it really scrapped that easily?

“One in, one out, one high, one low, one buy, one sell, crossed exchanges—there are many, many such transactions. If Furuida wanted to swap things around and sell off the group’s quality assets for cash, there was a lot of room to operate.

“At first glance, every batch of equipment has entries and exits, with sufficient justification and complete accounting. And because it involves different subsidiaries, equipment wear and tear is recorded in the subsidiary accounts, so the costs are erased. Therefore on the books, Furuida overall looks passable. But if you put together the equipment accounts from these subsidiaries plus Furuida and calculate them together, that’s an extremely terrifying number. Over the past 4 years, Fu Ming has lost an extra 80 million on this alone!

“Zhang Jingchan, this isn’t something one person, or even a few people, could accomplish. They’re a group. Someone is well-versed in financial statements, seized on this loophole, and with Furuida at the core, has accomplices in several subsidiaries. They’re all sucking Fu Ming’s blood together. The faster Fu Ming expands frantically, the more advantageous for them, the more viciously they suck. Your dad stands so high, and doesn’t understand finance. No matter how bold and decisive, he couldn’t possibly see these details. Moreover, he has the common problem of many private entrepreneurs—he’s overly trusting and lenient with old subordinates.”

Zhang Jingchan sat upright in his chair, hands resting on the armrests, expression cold and severe, eyes sharp.

“Furuida’s person in charge is called Li Minghui. I’ve met him a few times. He’s in his thirties, one of the young fellow townsmen my dad brought out from the old hometown. He’s already worked at Fu Ming for seven or eight years.”

Li Weiyi asked: “This Li Minghui, who would be standing behind him?”

Zhang Jingchan fell silent. He pulled out a stack of executive files from the desk, spread them out and tossed them on the table. Li Weiyi looked through the names one by one: Cheng Chuan, Vice President of Finance; Li Jinxiong, Construction Director; Zhang Fengming, Zhang Jingchan’s second uncle, Vice President of Procurement; Liu Ying, Marketing Director; Wu Mingrui, Wu Xinhui’s biological older brother, Human Resources Director; Xu Yi, Chairman’s Assistant…

Li Weiyi said slowly: “The most correct thing to do now is report it to the police. Once the accounts are given to the economic crimes police, they’ll understand immediately. With such a large amount involved, they’ll file the case right away and control the relevant people. They’ll find the money trail as soon as they investigate, whoever the big ghost is will have nowhere to hide. None of them will be able to escape.”

“You’re right.” Zhang Jingchan only said this one sentence.

“But we can’t do that, can we?”

Zhang Jingchan’s eyes were like they’d been soaked in frost and snow: “Once such a big case breaks, all of Fu Ming’s creditors will swarm in. The fragile balance my dad has worked so hard to maintain these past months will collapse directly. All of Fu Ming’s assets will be frozen, including the 90 million my dad put in the futures market, which won’t last until September.”

In that case, they would still lose completely in this game.

Li Weiyi sighed: “Then what do we do? We can’t just let them off. And they’re going to harm your dad in two weeks. If we don’t find them, how can we leave with peace of mind?”

Zhang Jingchan crossed his arms over his chest, right hand pressing against his chin, index and middle fingers lightly tapping beside his lips, deep in thought.

“Let’s go look, then we’ll know.”

Li Weiyi’s heart tightened: “We… investigate ourselves?”

“If it were before, definitely not possible. We’d be discovered by the other side before even entering Furuida’s warehouse. But now is a special period, which actually provides us convenience. Because my dad withdrew all the working capital, all construction sites have stopped, and Furuida has also ceased operations. The vast majority of workers have gone home.”

“Which means… their workshops and warehouses are very likely unmanned?”

Zhang Jingchan nodded and said: “Exactly. My dad investigated before and found nothing, so he’s already given up. Now is actually when they’ll be most relaxed and off guard. Although Fu Ming’s accounts are messy and unmanageable, for large-value assets, several subsidiaries’ main warehouse keys all have backups in my dad’s office. It’s just that he never goes to look.”

Now Li Weiyi also felt this was feasible. She snapped her fingers: “Beautiful! Ginger is spicier when it’s old. Our dad still kept a backup plan after all. So what are we waiting for? Let’s go. At 12 o’clock tonight we’ll be bounced back.”

Zhang Jingchan said: “To be cautious, let’s find a few helpers, but not too many, or it’ll easily attract attention.”

“Who do you want to find?”

Zhang Jingchan looked at her thoughtfully.