Chapter 3: 002 This Is a Trap

Tenglong Industrial publicly stated that, without the company's knowledge, 20 million from a dedicated account had been transferred by the Nanxin Branch of Orient Bank into a margin deposit account, used for acceptance of bills by a company called Zhilian Technology, which had no affiliation or business dealings whatsoever with Tenglong Industrial.

This incident caused an uproar in Nanxin and became quite famous throughout the entire Jinghai City banking system, yet the outcome was beyond everyone's expectations.

Seeing that most of the data had already been entered, Fang Qingye wasn't in a rush to rest, so he picked up the teacup on the desk, took a sip, and stood by the window gazing at the scenery outside.

It was spring now, the sunlight was bright and charming, and the peach tree in the bank's courtyard had bloomed, each blossom delicate and gorgeous.

Just at that moment, Fang Qingye suddenly noticed a man and a woman in bank uniforms coming downstairs into the courtyard, apparently to greet guests.

The man was around 40, in a crisp suit. The woman was younger, under 30, with a slender figure, her hair pinned into a bun at the back of her head giving her a capable look, and wearing the bank's grey-black OL skirt suit, giving off a uniform-temptation vibe.

Xia He, Zhao Wenjun!

The two vice presidents of Nanxin Branch.

Branch President Zhang had been on sick leave at home for over a year due to health reasons and hadn't come to work, with Xia He overseeing operations.

The branch's actual number-one and number-two leaders going out together—were they welcoming some important figure?

Sure enough, a black Audi slowly drove into the courtyard, followed by a black Passat.

Seeing the Audi come to a steady stop, Xia He hurried over to open the car door, and a man of about fifty climbed out, shaking hands with the two people waiting.

The city investigation team has indeed arrived!

That man—could he be Liu Baosheng, the vice president of the municipal branch in charge of disciplinary inspection?

Fang Qingye had some impression of him.

This man was very famous in Jinghai City's banking system—upright and incorruptible, having sent two branch presidents to prison in succession, and being dark-skinned, he earned the nickname "Liu Bao Gong."

It seems the municipal branch investigation team has really come; Nanxin Branch is in for some excitement.

But this matter has nothing to do with us, so for now let's just be melon-eating onlookers.

Fang Qingye picked up his teacup and slowly took a sip of tea.

Getting off work at noon for lunch, Fang Qingye naturally didn't go home; the cafeteria food was quite plentiful—for example, today's lunch: fried fish, braised flat beans with taro, mixed vegetable trio, cold jellyfish salad, and a flat bean and river shrimp soup.

After ladling out his food, Fang Qingye turned to look for a seat. Zhang Rong waved him over, so he sat down at the table.

"Hey, did you know? Chen Meimei has been seconded to the city investigation team as a liaison!" Zhang Rong whispered.

"A liaison—that's just running errands and being someone's helper, right?" Fang Qingye said with a smile.

"Running errands is still a good thing—you can get face time with the municipal branch leaders. Chen Meimei is really lucky!" Zhang Rong's tone carried both envy and jealousy.

Fang Qingye glanced at him. In his memory, this kid worked actively, was no slouch in ability, liked to curry favor, and was a very calculating, success-driven person.

So he said while eating: "How about you tell President Xia to swap you in? You're pretty capable, and didn't President Xia praise you at the all-staff meeting?"

"Forget it, I wouldn't dare touch that bad luck." Zhang Rong quickly waved his hand:

"You don't know—President Xia's temper today is huge. This morning Liu Li from our office brought her a document with one wrong character typed at the top, and she caught it and gave her a harsh scolding. When Liu Li came back, she was wiping tears."

Fang Qingye listened and sighed inwardly.

As a manager, Xia He still lacked a bit of finesse.

A true leader never shows joy or anger on their face; you can never glimpse their inner thoughts from their expression.

But then again, it's understandable—Xia He is still young.

After graduating with a master's in finance from Shen Cai and working at the provincial branch for a year, she was directly parachuted into Nanxin Branch as vice president to oversee operations.

Everything had gone smoothly, and just as she was about to be formally promoted at the critical moment, something went wrong—no wonder her mindset was unsteady.

And this is a trap—a trap someone set specifically for her!

Break the trap, weather the crisis, and ascend smoothly.

Can't break it, lose the chance to compete for the top spot, and be forced to leave Nanxin.

In history, her ending was the latter.

Obviously, if there's no variable this time, it'll probably be the same.

But it's a bit of a pity.

Fang Qingye remembered that during his time working at Nanxin, Xia He had treated him quite well.

After all, they both graduated from Shen Cai—she was his senior.

Thinking of this, Fang Qingye couldn't help but shake his head.

"Hey, Fang Qingye, what are you shaking your head for?" Zhang Rong beside him asked curiously.

"Nothing, let's eat. None of this concerns us, so don't waste the effort thinking about it." Fang Qingye replied, focusing on dealing with the food in front of him.

Zhang Rong, however, was somewhat dismissive.

This Fang Qingye—he really does seem too breezy and unconcerned.

After lunch Fang Qingye didn't go home either; he wandered the streets alone for a while, then returned to the office to continue working in the afternoon.

It was just the usual work anyway, nothing difficult—taking it slow was fine.

The bank got off work at five. He tidied up the materials on his desk, went downstairs, took his little scooter from the bike shed, humming a song as he left the unit gate, and wobbled homeward. The unit's messy affairs had long been left behind in his mind.

At this moment, the song of Phoenix Legend came from a CD shop on the street.

At the foot of the rolling green mountains, flowers are in bloom

What kind of rhythm is the most, most swinging

What kind of singing is the most joyful

"The Most Dazzling Ethnic Style"

He used to think this song was terribly tacky, but now it sounded especially warm and familiar, and he couldn't help but sing along.

Walking and singing all the way is the most carefree

If we're going to sing, we should sing the most heartily.......

The little scooter shot through the instant the yellow light at the crossroads turned red.

Passing a place called Shijiaba Market, lots of people were coming and going from the market, and along both sides of the street there were vendors occupying the road from time to time, followed by their sworn enemies—the urban management officers in blue-black uniforms with big-brimmed hats.

So, Fang Qingye saw two urban management officers in uniform arguing with an old man selling strawberries.

The old man looked honest and simple, not the kind of seasoned street vendor who was a slick operator; the strawberries were likely grown by his own family.

Without a fixed stall, he had simply set up wherever he found space on the road, which counted as obstructing traffic for business, so the officers shouted loudly to drive him away.

Such things happened every day in small county towns; no one cared about these matters—unless a physical conflict broke out between the parties, then a crowd would immediately gather, and it would soon appear online.

The headline would generally be: "Urban management beat someone!"

But today that didn't happen; the atmosphere between them was actually quite amicable.

Fang Qingye slowed his vehicle, preparing to leave, but upon seeing the figure of a burly young urban management officer, a smile appeared on his face.

My brother.