Chapter 55: 054 Sudden Incident

Bai Ou's father, Bai Chuanzhe, could hold his liquor—Fang Qingye had heard this from his own father, Fang Jianwen.

Back in the day the two of them attended Jinghai Normal School together, and after graduation they were both assigned to teach at the same township middle school. They were both single at the time, so they often drank together.

Fang Jianwen was simply no match for Bai Chuanzhe.

Later, however, for certain reasons the two of them grew distant, rarely keeping in touch, and the number of times they got together to drink could be counted on one hand.

Hearing Bai Ou say this now, Fang Qingye set his mind at ease.

"Alright, Ye Zi, let's bike back—if I'm too late my mom will nag me," Bai Ou said again.

"Fine, I'll give you a ride."

After seeing Bai Ou home, Fang Qingye took a cab back himself, took a shower, played a round of Warcraft, and only then went to bed—his parents weren't home, and no one was around to mind him.

That afternoon at work, Fang Qingye figured it would be like any other day and prepared to slack off, but at half past eight Wu Shengli hurried into the office and told him that President Xia was going to inspect the Jiangwan Road Savings Office and wanted him to accompany her; also going along was Yu Bingshan, section chief of the Planning and Finance Section.

This kind of inspection was routine for a bank—nothing strange about it—except that for the general office side, Xia He usually brought Wu Shengli or Mu Youzhi along. Today it was his turn.

Fang Qingye stuffed his notebook and a ballpoint pen into his briefcase, picked it up, and walked out of the office.

Driver Old Zhang had already started the Passat and was waiting in the yard. Fang Qingye and Yu Bingshan got into the back seat, and within a few minutes they saw Xia He come downstairs carrying her briefcase and take the front passenger seat.

The car left the compound gates heading west. The Jiangwan Road Savings Office was on the west side of the county town; after driving for ten-odd minutes they spotted the savings office's sign. Old Zhang was about to slow down when he heard Xia He say: "Old Zhang, we're not going to the Jiangwan Road Savings Office—we're going to the Liulin Town Sub-branch."

"Got it."

Old Zhang immediately accelerated, and the car sped past the savings office entrance.

Neither Fang Qingye nor Yu Bingshan said a word, but they both understood in their hearts: Xia He was pulling a surprise inspection.

Liulin Town was the largest township in Nanxin County, located on the west side of the county seat, the biggest town by both area and population, formed by the merger of three original townships. The Rutai Canal flowed past the township, and it was known as Nanxin County's "Western Gateway."

The Nanxin Sub-branch had under it one business hall, three savings offices, and one sub-branch. The sub-branch was set up in this township. The car drove southwest for over forty minutes before reaching the town.

The sub-branch was on one of the town's main streets. The Passat pulled over to the side of the road, the three got out, and before they had even stepped through the savings office's front door they heard fierce arguing coming from inside.

What a coincidence? The three exchanged glances and then went in.

They saw a circle of people gathered in front of the counter—a male customer and the staff behind the counter were cursing each other, drawing onlookers into animated discussion, order thrown into complete chaos, and the security guard was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn it, with that attitude of yours I'm filing a complaint—get your boss over here right now!" the man's face was flushed red, aggressive and overbearing.

Xia He's elegant brows furrowed, and she stepped forward.

What are you doing?

Fang Qingye was startled.

You actually dare to step forward at a time like this? You think you're a county leader?

The other party's emotions are clearly out of control—aren't you worried they'll curse you up one side and down the other?

At a moment like this, the smart thing is to stay as far away as possible.....

Fang Qingye muttered.

He glanced at Yu Bingshan beside him, who stood rooted without moving and didn't step forward to stop Xia He either.

This guy wants to watch Xia He make a fool of herself!

Fang Qingye understood.

But he couldn't quite bring himself to let it happen, so he quickly stepped forward, quietly tugged at Xia He's sleeve, and whispered:

"The other party has lost control of their emotions, they're on the verge of going berserk. If you step forward now, whether it'll solve the problem is hard to say, but you'll definitely get cursed out!"

Xia He came to her senses instantly and stopped in her tracks.

Just now she'd only been thinking about solving the problem—she'd been too hasty!

"You go outside first.....

Xia He obeyed and walked back to the door, only to find Fang Qingye hadn't followed.

What is he doing?

She saw him take off his tie, stuff it into his trouser pocket, and suddenly walk toward the man making a scene.

"Comrade, I'm a reporter for the Jinghai Daily stationed in Liulin Town. Some concerned citizens said a dispute had broken out here, so I came specifically to cover it."

After saying that he also took a press credential out of his briefcase and flashed it: "This is my press card." But before the man could get a good look, he calmly slipped it back into his pocket.

The man, hearing that a reporter had come to cover the story, immediately got fired up: "Comrade, you've come at just the right time—you've got to expose them properly in the paper. Damn it, this bank's service attitude is terrible."

"Comrade, I'm interviewing you right now, so watch your tone, or else having it written up won't be good for you either," Fang Qingye reminded him with a solemn face.

"Right, right, I should watch my manners." The man suddenly came to his senses.

"Comrade, please step into the VIP room and explain the situation in detail, would you? Don't worry—exposing unhealthy practices in the industry and protecting consumers' lawful rights and interests is the duty our newspaper owes." Fang Qingye appeared very patient.

"Now that's what I like to hear. Today I'm definitely going to give you the full rundown." Saying that, the man followed Fang Qingye into the VIP room next door.

Within a few minutes, Fang Qingye and the man walked out of the VIP room. The man gripped Fang Qingye's hand tightly: "Comrade reporter, thank you so much."

"You're welcome. Don't worry, we'll definitely report it fairly and objectively," Fang Qingye said with a smile.

Watching the man leave, the account manager—who had seemingly materialized out of nowhere—entered the VIP room. He looked at Fang Qingye, wanting to explain himself: "Comrade reporter, let me explain—it's not the way he made it sound..... Huh, wait, that's not right. You're not a reporter—you're Fang Qingye from the General Office!"

The account manager had recognized him.

"That's right, I'm Fang Qingye."

"Thank you, thank you for helping us out of that mess." The account manager caught on and was overjoyed.

"You're welcome..... you'd better watch yourself from now on." Fang Qingye smiled, then patted the account manager on the shoulder: "Take a look at the door."

Somewhat puzzled, the account manager turned around and saw Xia He standing at the door, her face like ice, with Yu Bingshan behind her.

He naturally recognized Xia He, and his expression immediately changed. He hurriedly greeted them: "President Xia, Zhang Kezhang Yu, hello!"

Xia He's expression remained grim. She only said: "Where are your two directors? Why aren't either of them on site?!"

"Director Luo went to Li Xing General Steel Ball Manufacturing Company to see the boss about pulling in deposits, and Director Duan....."

The account manager hemmed and hawed, unable to explain clearly.

Xia He grew even angrier on hearing this: "Get Director Duan to come see me immediately!"

"Please wait a moment, I'll go find it right now." The account manager wiped the sweat from his forehead and hurriedly left the VIP room.

Xia He and the others didn't linger there long either, but went to the savings bank's internal office, where bank counter team leader Jing Chunling gave Xia He a detailed account of the ins and outs of what had happened today.

It turned out the man was called Zhang Baoguo, who had come to handle a card cancellation. The bank's card cancellation procedures were extremely cumbersome, so Zhang Baoguo kept complaining, "I'm just cancelling a few cards, why is it such a hassle!" and kept urging them on.

The teller handling his business was called Yang Yue, who began to explain, but Zhang Baoguo wouldn't listen and kept complaining. In the end, she really couldn't hold back and replied: "I've been operating everything the whole time, all you have to do is sign a few names, what's so troublesome about that?"

This immediately enraged Zhang Baoguo, who began shouting and cursing loudly, using very foul language. How could a young Miss like Yang Yue stand for it?

And so the scene Xia He had witnessed came to pass.