Chapter 36: The Final Straw That Crushed Sun Jiaming

Tonight, I made plans to play ball with Xia He.

Since we last played badminton at Yikangyuan Sports and Leisure Center, the two of us have developed a new relationship—court partners.

But we don't play often, at most once a week; including tonight, this is only the third time. After dinner, Xia He still drove her BMW to the faculty housing complex entrance to pick up Fang Qingye.

We still went to Yikangyuan—it has good surroundings, fewer people than a sports field, and is relatively quiet; of course, this time we didn't run into Liu Dong and his superior.

After nearly two hours of running and smashing, both of us were drenched in sweat. After showering and changing clothes, Fang Qingye still wore a T-shirt and jeans; today, Xia He wore a light beige floral dress, her long hair, previously tied up for playing, now loose over her shoulders, giving off the vibe of a big sister next door.

The two of them sat in the first-floor leisure area to rest and have something to drink.

This time, Fang Qingye didn't drink bubble tea but ordered a can of beer; Xia He also ordered a bottle of beverage, and they drank and rested side by side.

Xia He lowered her head to sip her drink, seemingly lost in thought, then suddenly looked up at Fang Qingye and blurted out: "Xiao Fang, don't you think it's strange?"

"What's strange?"

"The cause of Sun Jiaming's death."

"You mean the reason he jumped—losing heavily in stock trading—is inaccurate?" Fang Qingye asked in return.

"It's not inaccurate, but I feel the matter isn't this simple. I've looked into Sun Jiaming's family situation—losing 900,000 yuan wouldn't drive him to despair."

Xia He voiced the doubts in her heart.

"These past few days, I've been turning this over in my mind, always feeling something's off, but I can't pinpoint exactly what's wrong. I don't dare tell anyone else… sigh…"

At the end, Xia He let out a soft sigh.

Fang Qingye put down his beer can and smiled:

"Senior, I also feel something's suspicious. Sun Jiaming's suicide by jumping definitely has deeper reasons."

"You mean it wasn't because of stock trading?"

"No, it's definitely related to stock trading, but not as simply as it appears. There must be something we haven't uncovered yet—and that thing is the final straw that crushed Sun Jiaming," Fang Qingye said.

"Then what could it be?" Xia He rested her chin on her hands, lost in thought.

Seeing her like this, Fang Qingye chuckled: "Alright, Senior, don't think about it anymore. Sun Jiaming's suicide due to massive stock losses has nothing to do with the unit—this conclusion is fine, isn't it?!"

"Hmm… you're right! Sometimes I just overthink things," Xia He smiled faintly and continued: "I plan to visit Sun Jiaming's home tomorrow with Xia Hangzhang Su. I'll deliver 20,000 yuan in condolence money on behalf of the unit."

Fang Qingye understood: this meant the bank had officially closed the case.

But events took an unexpected turn.

The next afternoon, Fang Qingye was in his office reading *Fundamentals of Mathematical Finance Analysis*, beginning to build a mathematical model, when his QQ suddenly chimed "di di." He looked—it was a sleeping lotus avatar blinking.

It was a message from Xia He.

He opened it and found a new chat message.

"Xiao Fang, you're amazing—I don't even know how to thank you. You've helped me again."

He blinked, then messaged back: "Senior, what are you talking about? I don't understand."

The other side didn't reply immediately.

Fang Qingye was baffled—he hadn't done anything recently, had he?

But he didn't press further.

Perhaps Xia He was busy and couldn't reply—after all, it was work hours.

Xia He was indeed busy.

She had just sent a QQ message when Deputy Manager Su Ming knocked and entered: "Director Xia, we've confirmed it—Sun Jiaming embezzled 400,000 yuan from his friend Zhang Guofu's fund purchase."

Yesterday afternoon, Xia He received bad news: a man named Zhang Guofu came to the branch lobby to withdraw his 400,000 yuan fund product, but staff told him he had never purchased that fund!

Another 400,000 yuan had vanished!

Upon hearing this, Xia He immediately ordered the branch manager to seal the information and personally escorted Zhang Guofu to the VIP room to question him in detail. She learned Zhang Guofu had bought the fund through Sun Jiaming.

Zhang Guofu and Sun Jiaming were middle school classmates, and Zhang had always trusted Sun's character. In the past, when Sun needed to meet deposit targets, Zhang often helped—he was a small businessman with some spare cash and was happy to oblige—who cared which bank he deposited in? Helping a classmate was no trouble.

A year ago, Sun Jiaming approached Zhang Guofu again, introducing a fund. At the time, the market was strong and the fund was rising, so Zhang Guofu decided to invest 400,000 yuan.

Sun Jiaming filled out the fund purchase contract and brought it to Zhang's home for his signature. When transferring funds, Zhang went to the Donghang Nanxin Branch lobby; Sun told him to sign, he signed; told him to enter his password, he entered it. Finally, Sun handed him a slip saying it was done, and Zhang took it and left.

He had no idea Sun Jiaming, desperate for more capital to profit in the stock market, had already set his sights on that 400,000 yuan.

In fact, during the password entry, Sun had manipulated things—making Zhang enter his withdrawal password twice—so Zhang's 400,000 yuan was transferred to Sun's account.

Sun's plan was to temporarily divert the money, then secretly buy back the fund for his old friend once he made profits. But the market suddenly crashed—he lost everything, not just profits but the principal too.

During a drinking session with Zhang Guofu, Sun had mentioned the fund purchase, and Zhang said the stock market was bad—he wanted to redeem the 400,000 yuan.

Sun panicked instantly—embezzling customer funds was a criminal offense!

He also recalled his painful years of stock trading and felt his future was hopeless—he conceived the idea of suicide.

These details were just uncovered by Su Ming through investigations and rushed back to report to Xia He.

Xia He asked, pressing:

"Just this 400,000 yuan? Nothing else?"

"No, nothing else. We've obtained Sun Jiaming's bank account records from the past three years across all major banks. Only this 400,000 yuan from our branch is confirmed as illegal misappropriation—the rest are normal," Su Ming replied.

"Good. I'll report this to the city branch. Our Nanxin Branch has truly been plagued by troubles this year," Xia He said, her face twisted in a bitter smile.

"Yes, but luckily we recently purchased employee fidelity insurance for key staff—this 400,000 yuan hole can be covered. Otherwise, the problem would've been far worse," Su Ming chuckled.

Xia He understood his meaning—the handling of the two branch managers at Pingdong Branch was a clear warning.

She really had to thank that guy.

Fang Qingye's lazy figure flashed in her mind.

Compared to the other two interns who arrived together, this guy wasn't proactive at work—he even slacked off, according to his subordinates' feedback.

But at critical moments, he always played a key role.

Hmm… this junior is quite good.

"Director Xia," Su Ming's voice interrupted Xia He's thoughts: "Who should write this report?"

"Leave it to Fang Qingye. You go find Director Yu of the Finance Section, discuss it, and coordinate the claims matter with Pacific Company," Xia He said.

After Su Ming left, Xia He picked up the landline on the desk; she was going to call Fang Qingye.