Chapter 37

On this side, Fang Qingye didn’t wait for a message from Xia He on QQ, but received her phone call instead.

“Xiao Fang, come to my office right now.”

Xia He didn’t say why she wanted him on the phone, and Fang Qingye naturally didn’t ask—he simply agreed, turned, and went upstairs to knock on Xia He’s office door.

Seeing Fang Qingye enter, Xia He left her desk, took out a small jar of tea from the bookshelf, and smiled: “I heard you like tea—this is Yuhua tea I brought from home. Try some.”

Saying this, Xia He pinched a small amount of tea leaves and brewed the tea for Fang Qingye herself.

“Senior, what’s going on today? You’re being so polite?” They were familiar now, and when no one else was around, they spoke casually.

“This isn’t politeness—it’s sincere gratitude!” Xia He said, placing the brewed tea on the coffee table.

Fang Qingye picked up the cup, examined it first, then took a sip before saying: “This is truly good tea—bright fresh green broth, fresh and smooth flavor. It’s top-grade Yuhua tea, right?”

“Yes, exactly.”

Fang Qingye drank two sips, then asked: “Senior, what were you thanking me for on QQ earlier? I don’t get it at all.”

“We guessed right—Sun Jiaming’s death isn’t simple.” Xia He then recounted the entire incident in detail.

Fang Qingye listened, equally surprised.

Just after processing the employee fidelity insurance, the Nanxin branch had this happen—perfect timing.

“Xiao Fang, shouldn’t I thank you?” Xia He smiled brightly.

“It’s my duty,” Fang Qingye replied modestly, then added: “It also shows you’re lucky.”

“Yes, lucky,” Xia He sighed.

Without this employee fidelity insurance to cover the 400,000-yuan hole, would she have met the same fate as Xue Hanghang’s team from Pingdong?

Of course, this luck came from the young man before her.

Was he her lucky star?

The thought felt too idealistic—she couldn’t say it aloud.

“Xiao Fang, there’s another favor I need to ask of you,” Xia He gathered her thoughts, her tone turning serious: “I’m going to the city branch tomorrow to report this matter to senior leadership. Write me a report.”

“Oh come on, you want me to write a report? Senior, is this how you thank me?” Fang Qingye asked.

“I’m truly sorry—I’m swamped with work and have no time. I originally asked Wu Shengli to draft it, but he’s assisting the central bank and police with their investigation… as for others—”

Here, Xia He paused, then continued: “Until this matter is fully resolved, I don’t want more people to know. I’m afraid someone might exploit it for publicity—if the media gets involved, it’ll be worse. I trust you, so I’m counting on you again… you write it, I’ll revise it.”

“Alright,” Fang Qingye agreed.

Writing reports was part of his job—he couldn’t just sit idle all day.

“Then I’ll leave it to you.”

Fang Qingye returned to his office, opened a Word document, and began writing.

And writing a report posed no difficulty for him.

First, he had to clearly describe the sequence of events—no fabrications. That was the bare minimum.

Of course, he could downplay the negatives and highlight the branch leadership’s role in handling the incident: arriving at the scene immediately, calming the family and stabilizing emotions, controlling public sentiment, and so on—all things superiors liked to hear.

Make a big thing small, a small thing vanish.

But the branch’s management loopholes and existing problems also had to be clearly stated—no sugarcoating; these were public facts.

Anyone who made it to branch leadership wasn’t stupid—they couldn’t be easily fooled. Recognizing one’s own flaws deeply was the best strategy.

More importantly, he had to draw broader lessons and outline future measures: strengthening professional ethics training, enforcing strict operational procedures, following rules and regulations, and so on—this was the key, and should take up at least half the report.

And even more crucial: improving the employee fidelity insurance!

Fang Qingye thought as he typed, fingers clacking rapidly on the keyboard.

“Huh… Xiao Fang, you know Wubi?” Liu Meili, passing by, sounded like she’d discovered a new continent.

“I know both Wubi and Pinyin,” Fang Qingye smiled. “This computer was originally set to Wubi, so I never bothered downloading another input method.”

“Fewer people use Wubi these days,” Liu Meili said, then turned and walked away.

Nearly three thousand characters, written in under two hours. He checked again for sentence flow and typos, then finished.

Fang Qingye had planned to send the file via QQ, but after thinking, he decided to follow proper procedure.

So he printed it out, went upstairs, knocked, and handed it to Xia He.

“You finished this fast?” Xia He was surprised.

She asked Fang Qingye to sit and drink tea, then picked up the document and read it carefully.

Wow… much better than she’d expected!

Xia He nodded inwardly as she read.

Where details were needed, they were detailed; where brevity sufficed, it was brief—especially the final part on employee fidelity insurance.

What could be improved?

It was merely a subtle hint at her own achievements.

Clearly, Fang Qingye understood her intentions.

“Good job, Xiao Fang,” Xia He looked up. “If I didn’t know you wrote it, I’d think it was from a seasoned office document specialist.”

“Thank you for the compliment. If there’s nothing else, I’ll head down,” Fang Qingye said, turning to leave.

It was after work—he didn’t want to stay in the office another second.

“Alright, you’ve worked hard lately—go rest well,” Xia He said, then sighed softly: “I wonder if I’ll pass Zhang Hangzhang’s review.”

Seeing Xia He’s expression darken, Fang Qingye paused, then offered reassurance:

“I think it’ll be fine. No financial loss occurred, the response was timely, and there was minimal negative impact. Of course, some criticism is inevitable.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Xia He said.

The next morning, Xia He drove into the city to report to branch leadership.

Fang Qingye naturally didn’t know what happened during the report, but when he met her in the hallway that afternoon, she greeted him voluntarily.

Seeing Xia He’s expression was unchanged, Fang Qingye knew she had passed this hurdle.

A few days later, the city branch issued an official red-headed document. It criticized the Nanxin branch leadership, ordered them to reflect deeply, draw broader lessons, and ensure such problems never recurred.

The document was also distributed to all branches within the system, requiring internal staff to study it.

The wording was stern, but anyone with eyes could see it was merely reprimand and education—no formal self-criticism was demanded, a world apart from how the Pingdong branch leadership had been handled earlier.

Shortly after, the branch issued another document, mandating the widespread promotion of employee fidelity insurance across all branches in the system.

The crisis had once again passed safely.

It was the weekend. Xia He sat in her office, reading documents, softly humming a tune—when she was in good spirits and alone, she liked to do this.

Her desk phone rang. She picked it up, smiled, and answered. A man’s voice with a Wu accent soon came through.

“Director Xia, I envy you—you passed so easily.”

It was Xue Tao, demoted to Zhongxiang County Branch after his subordinate embezzled 500,000 yuan from depositors for gambling.

“My subordinate’s involved amount wasn’t as high as yours—branch leadership gave me a break,” Xia He replied.

“What’s the difference between 400,000 and 500,000? You were clever enough to get employee fidelity insurance. If I’d done the same for my subordinate, I wouldn’t be where I am now,” Xue Tao sighed heavily over the phone.

“Director Xue, don’t lose heart. With your ability, you’ll return to Pingdong Branch eventually. Mencius said: When Heaven bestows a great responsibility on a person, it first tests his resolve…” Xia He comforted him.

“Heh, I hope so,” Xue Tao laughed on the other end. “Director Xia, when you’re promoted someday, don’t forget me.”

They chatted a few more minutes before hanging up.

“If I grow rich, don’t forget you.”

Xia He thought of Xue Tao’s words, and a faint smile appeared on her pale face. She picked up her phone, opened QQ, and sent Fang Qingye a message.

“Xiao Fang, free tonight? Let’s play ball.”

After a while, he replied.

“It’s Friday. Aren’t you going home?”

“I’m going home tomorrow. But there’s nothing to do there—after we play, I’ll treat you to tea. I heard Yikangyuan has a tea house with excellent tea…”