Chapter 555

Lu Gang was a student at Beijing University, but was later expelled for conduct issues.

Because Li Ye shouted out, the investigators questioned him, and Li Ye revealed what he knew about Lu Gang.

Heng San, standing nearby, couldn't stop trembling, silently cursing his bad luck.

This seemingly mild-mannered young man was a ruthless one! Was he about to get screwed again by him?

But Heng San wasn't willing to give up so easily.

When the search team tried to open the safe, Heng San stubbornly held his neck up and said, "We're a legitimate investment firm from Hong Kong, with proper licenses and paperwork—you have no right to search us."

The men in suits, speaking Hong Kong Mandarin even more arrogantly than Heng San, replied, "If you want to open the safe, produce a search warrant. Otherwise, we won't cooperate."

The company did have a license—a legitimate Hong Kong license with both Chinese and English text—and it looked genuinely impressive.

But to a professional like Zou Zou Mengcheng, it was just bluster masking weakness.

While private lending has always been ignored unless someone files a complaint, you've made it look too official—why not open a branch and steal the bank's business too?

Zou Zou Mengcheng quietly told his colleague, " Xiao Wang, call Director Cui right away—tell him this case is huge, he needs to bring people here fast."

Xiao Wang glanced at the bulging backpacks in the hands of the several "fat lambs," licked his lips, and asked, "If the director asks how big this is, what should I say?"

Zou Zou Mengcheng sucked his teeth and said, "Tell him the suspected amount is likely over a million."

Xiao Wang nearly rolled his eyes—these days, how much does a savings office even process in a month?

Still, Xiao Wang looked at the computers in the courtyard and the four large safes, nodded, and slipped away quietly.

Li Ye tugged Zou Zou Mengcheng's sleeve and whispered, "Does this seem normal to you? This is right under the Son of Heaven's nose—how come no one's stopping such blatant money-grabbing?"

"Heh~ Who wants to stir up trouble for no reason? Are you bored? If you hadn't called me, I wouldn't have come—otherwise, I'd have missed this big fish."

Zou Zou Mengcheng nodded toward Heng San and added, "Besides, it depends on the local power players. These operations can't run without local help. The details are complicated, but in short—when money's involved, nothing's strange."

Li Ye nodded silently.

People today have weak fraud awareness. Heng San's group, posing as a Hong Kong investment firm and helping neighbors earn money, had plenty of silent beneficiaries—anyone blocking their path became an enemy.

In such Ponzi schemes, no one reports them before they collapse, and those who profit often shield the operators, even using all their connections to eliminate resistance.

This network of connections

………………

Half an hour later, police and bank personnel arrived almost simultaneously.

It seemed not only Zou Zou Mengcheng sensed "this was serious"—the neighborhood patrol also realized it was too big for them to handle alone, so they called in someone higher up to take the blame.

The newcomers were far more experienced—they immediately separated the trembling "fat lambs" and led them into the rooms one by one.

Back then, no ordinary citizen dared say to the police, "I called 110, so you owe me service," so the three "fat lambs" quickly spilled everything they knew.

Then the police politely checked the suits' passports—and none of them could produce any.

"What? You're not from Hong Kong? Hong Kong company employees? What's an employee? Interrogate each one thoroughly—get every detail."

Seeing the suits and Heng San being taken away separately for interrogation, Li Ye knew that unless Heng San's group had some special backing, they were finished.

Not everyone can withstand interrogation. Under questioning by police and bank professionals, a person's psychological resistance drops drastically—once they admit one thing, everything else spills out.

【You don't need to confess—we already know. You're the mastermind.】

Who could take that?

Why do so many tough guys who normally bristle at authority crack within minutes?

They confess everything even before reaching the station—often right in the police car.

Finally, a young girl, sobbing, opened one of the safes: "I didn't know anything! I was just hired to work—I only get a hundred yuan a month! I really didn't know anything!"

After the safe opened, the entire scene fell silent for several seconds—the large safe was packed with cash, and the bottom layer was clearly not RMB.

Director Cui couldn't help asking the girl, "You say you didn't know? You don't even know how much money is in here?"

The girl, tears streaming down her face, sobbed, "I really don't know! Sometimes they just take money out—just now, Manager Lu took fifty thousand, saying he needed to exchange currency."

"Which Manager Lu? Where does he live? Go arrest him right away!"

"Not just his house—go to the train station and bus station too."

"Don't let that man escape—seal all exits! No one leaves!"

Chaos erupted. Zou Zou Mengcheng seized the chance to pull Li Ye out of the Sihe Academy.

"Why are you dragging me? I didn't do anything wrong—I'll just tell them about Lu Gang again if they ask."

"What Lu Gang?! Didn't you see our director give me a signal?"

Zou Zou Mengcheng dragged Li Ye into his Santana: "Hurry, hurry—take me to a public phone, then borrow your car to pick up our people back at the office."

As Li Ye started the engine and turned around, he smiled: "Are you sure your director's signal meant that?"

"Of course it did," Zou Zou Mengcheng said. "One safe had that much—what if all four are the same? That's millions! Who knows how many more people will show up here soon!"

Li Ye drove, puzzled: "No matter how many come, it shouldn't affect you, right?

The money's counted on-site and deposited into your bank's special account, then held until the investigation concludes."

"Huh?"

Zou Zou Mengcheng paused, then mused, "Li Ye, that's a brilliant suggestion—the money should go straight into our bank account."

Decades later, all confiscated, seized, or fined money would be held in bank special accounts—that was common knowledge. But in the 1980s, no such rule existed; Li Ye had casually given Zou Zou Mengcheng a novel idea.

When Li Ye drove Zou Zou Mengcheng to pick up his colleague at Dacaochang Hutong, the gilded signboard outside the Sihe Academy had already been taken down. Crowds blocked the entrance—shouts, cries, and curses mixed together, deafeningly chaotic.

"They're a legitimate company—why was it shut down? Now where are we supposed to deposit our money? Seven percent monthly interest! Does your bank offer that?"

"My money's in there! Give me my money back first! Look, I have the receipt!"

"I don't want interest—just give me my money back, please."

Li Ye spotted Lao Hu, who had caused trouble at Jiang Xiao's shop, now sniffling and wailing, stomping and pounding his chest like a gorilla.

【Does he still have money in there?】

Though Li Ye knew some painful truths, he still asked Zou Zou Mengcheng: "Can confiscated money be returned to innocent civilians?"

Zou Zou Mengcheng fell silent, then said, "Yes. I'll make sure it is."

………………

The situation was more complicated than Li Ye had imagined.

Two days later, in the afternoon, Li Ye, Wen Wen Leyu, and Li Juan arrived at Zaojunmiao and saw Wang Wang Qiangdong and several fellow villagers from Qingshui.

They had been personally assigned by Li Zhong to live west of Li Ye's home—they rarely showed up, but whenever anything stirred around Li Ye's place, they always appeared.

But now they were speeding out of the hutong on motorcycles, throttles wide open, like a gang of street racers.

Li Ye noticed their odd behavior and waved to stop them.

"What's going on? Why are you racing through the hutong? Don't you know how dangerous that is?"

Wang Wang Qiangdong said, "We're in a hurry, Li Ye—people surrounded Chen's Noodle Shop, and they pulled out cleavers. Aunt Chen had no choice but to call Hong Shu, who ordered us to rush over—we need to get there fast."

Li Ye: "."

………………

Today, the group surrounding Chen's Noodle Shop was still led by Lao Hu—but this time, it wasn't five or six people; it was at least thirty.

"It's because you reported the Hong Kongers that Shunhua Company got shut down—now our money's trapped inside. You have to get it back for us."

"Exactly! I was going to withdraw next week—now I've got nowhere to turn. You owe us compensation."

"You've got such a big business—four noodle shops—you can easily spare ten or twenty thousand. Pay up now."

Jiang Jiang Yougui, Chen Chen Jinhua's husband, stood at the shop entrance holding two cleavers, his hands trembling violently like a Parkinson's patient as he faced the mob of "fat lambs."

His appearance was terrifying enough that Lao Hu's thirty men dared not charge forward.

Lao Hu, standing five meters away, held up a stack of receipts.

"Brother Jiang, we're not trying to bully you. Here are our receipts—you know this is real money. When the police sort it out, you can withdraw the principal and interest yourself—you'll even profit!"

Jiang Jiang Yougui, eyes bloodshot, shouted hoarsely: "You're not bullying me? When we didn't buy, you said we were blocking your profits—now you blame us for your losses? Come on then—come closer, and I'll give you the money!"

"Husband, don't be foolish!"

Chen Chen Jinhua tried to grab Jiang Jiang Yougui from behind, but he shoved her aside with one arm, his cleavers shaking even more violently.

It was clear—if Lao Hu's group stepped closer, Jiang Jiang Yougui might not hand over the money, but he'd definitely swing a cleaver.