CH 38

It took Zhou Qingbo two seconds to react to why Pei You suddenly asked to buy him coke.

His expression went from confusion to sudden realization, seamlessly connecting as if it only took a moment.

“interesting” Zhou Qingbo’s footsteps moved slightly as he leaned closer to Pei You, smiling mischievously as he looked at him. “Are you trying to appease me?”

The term sounded a bit too intimate, but Pei You couldn’t find another adjective to replace it, so after hesitating for a moment, he accepted it.

“That won’t do.” Teacher Zhou seemed to have an education hobby, trying to seize every opportunity to correct his only student’s “straight male” thinking.

“One trick can’t be used repeatedly; you have to adapt your methods accordingly.” Zhou Qingbo shook his head. “For example, you have to consider the actual situation and adjust your approach to appease someone.”

Pei You: …

Pei You subconsciously slowed down his pace, afraid that Zhou Qingbo’s voice would be heard by the middle-aged man ahead.

They had just had a minor confrontation a moment ago. If the man heard Zhou Qingbo lecturing him on “love matters,” the atmosphere would become even more awkward.

“For example, right now.” Zhou Qingbo paused, saying earnestly, “I’m upset with someone, so you have to stand with me and not change the subject.”

Pei You: …

“…Then, what does it mean to stand with someone?” Pei You asked.

“Well…” Zhou Qingbo gave him a look that seemed to say “you should know,” then thought for a moment. He glanced at the distant figure of the middle-aged man, raised an eyebrow, and whispered, “For example, you could help me put a sack over his head and beat him up. That would be satisfying.”

The answer caught Pei You off guard and he was taken aback for a moment, about to advise Zhou Qingbo to give up this dangerous idea, but then he saw him burst into laughter, leaning his head on Pei You’s shoulder.

“Just kidding.” Zhou Qingbo nudged Pei You with his elbow and whispered in his ear, “Don’t take it seriously; it’s not worth going to jail for someone like him. I’m not angry anymore; I was just teasing you.”

Zhou Qingbo’s temper came and went quickly. His momentary impulsiveness was quickly interrupted by Pei You.

Zhou Qingbo always felt that Pei You was like a positive emotion diffuser. When they were together, even working overtime felt more comfortable than before, let alone dealing with such trivial matters.

“But we still have to buy the cola,” Zhou Qingbo never liked being taken advantage of and was good at pushing it further. He stretched out two fingers and shook them in front of Pei You, pretending, “With such a big psychological trauma, I need two bottles to heal.”

Pei You: “…”

Pei You understood. It suddenly dawned on him that Zhou Qingbo had taken all those twists and turns just to get these two bottles of cola.

But no matter how you looked at it, exchanging two bottles of cola for a cooperative and well-behaved Zhou Qingbo was definitely a good deal.

So, Pei You willingly fell into this “consumer trap” and bought two bottles of cola for him from the supermarket near the construction site.

The middle-aged man waited impatiently at the warehouse entrance for more than ten minutes, wishing he could dig a hole in the sand under his feet. Finally, he saw the belated arrival of Pei You and Zhou Qingbo.

The middle-aged man obviously looked down on Zhou Qingbo, who came to the construction site to “inspect” and had to buy drinks. He glanced at him disdainfully and snorted.

Zhou Qingbo didn’t care how others saw him. He walked up lazily and walked side by side with Pei You. As they entered the warehouse, he casually stuffed the extra bottle of cola he was holding into Pei You’s briefcase.

Pei You glanced at him and Zhou Qingbo innocently blinked at him, making a gesture.

“It’s too heavy,” he said. “I’ll also drink them later.”

Pei You was used to Zhou Qingbo’s whims, so he wasn’t too surprised. He just nodded lightly, then went into the warehouse, holding Zhou Qingbo’s hand and pulling him along.

The warehouse made of colored steel was hot and dim. Cement and sand were piled up haphazardly in the same room, causing irritating construction dust everywhere.

Zhou Qingbo furrowed his brows and chose not to walk through the dusty mess. Instead, he stood at the edge of the warehouse, idly looking around.

On the wall of the main entrance of the warehouse hung a simple paper attendance book. Zhou Qingbo walked over, glanced at it casually, and surprisingly found a few familiar names on it.

He frowned slightly, the nonchalant smile on his face faded a bit, revealing a hint of seriousness.

The middle-aged man and Pei You had already walked deeper into the warehouse to take inventory. Zhou Qingbo confirmed that there were no other people nearby, reached out, and flipped through the attendance book.

The attendance book was already pressed to the first page, with several foremen’s passport-sized photos stuck on it. Zhou Qingbo carefully inspected each one and found the person he was looking for in the second last row.

Having verified his guess, Zhou Qingbo reset the attendance book, thought for a moment, then turned and walked into the warehouse to find Pei You, who was working.

“Pei You.” Zhou Qingbo walked to the depths of the warehouse and called out to him from a distance.

Pei You looked up from a pile of steel bars in front of him, turned to look at Zhou Qingbo, and asked, “What’s up?”

“It’s stuffy in here.” Zhou Qingbo said lazily, “I want to go out and take a break.”

Zhou Qingbo was originally worried that Pei You couldn’t handle these local workers and might get bullied or underestimated. But he had just witnessed Pei You’s ability to deal with people, so he put his worries aside and prepared to go out.

Their gazes met briefly in midair. In that split second, Pei You already understood Zhou Qingbo’s intention. He nodded and instructed, “Go ahead but be careful of the pits outside, and don’t step on any abandoned materials.”

Zhou Qingbo lazily nodded to indicate that he heard him, then waved his hand and walked out of the warehouse.

The middle-aged man seemed irritated by Zhou Qingbo’s attitude and lazy appearance, muttering sarcastically, “Why bother coming to a construction site to pass time? It’s much better to go home and sleep.”

Pei You didn’t even raise his head. He held the folder and wrote down some notes on the form, coldly saying, “Let him do whatever he wants. Show me the detailed purchase orders for the composite materials. I want to see them.”

Compared to previous projects, this construction site was relatively new, and the building framework hadn’t been erected yet. The deep pit of the foundation was filled with countless steel bars and iron mesh, and several excavators were in operation.

Zhou Qingbo walked cautiously around the outskirts of the construction site, squinting his eyes to survey the area until he found the person he was looking for.

He patiently waited for about twenty minutes until the man was about to change shifts and take a break. Then, he approached the man from behind.

“Zhao-ge (Brother Zhao).”

Zhou Qingbo’s voice was slightly raised, and it carried a hint of pleasant surprise. The man he called Zhao was taken aback, startled, he turned around to look at him.

“Ah… Zhou, Manager Zhou,” the man obviously didn’t expect to see Zhou Qingbo there. He instinctively wanted to stand up and greet him but was held down by Zhou Qingbo’s hand on his shoulder.

“No need to be polite; I’m just here to have some fun,” Zhou Qingbo said casually as he sat down on a mound of soil next to the man.

“But you, Zhao-ge, why are you here again? Weren’t you building the factory over there?” Zhou Qingbo casually asked, “This construction site is for a different project, right?”

The man in front of Zhou Qingbo had a dark complexion, calloused hands from dealing with rubber and sand daily, and his knuckles were somewhat cracked from the constant contact with the materials.

Though he was tall, he had a bit of a hunch in his back, giving him a very honest appearance. His round face featured narrowed eyes, and Zhou Qingbo remembered his appearance and even his name clearly after just one glance at Liu Quan’s construction site.

Just now, when Zhou Qingbai saw his name in the attendance book, he was still wondering if it was a different person. However, it wasn’t until he saw the photo of their group’s construction supervisor on the last page that he became completely certain.

When Zhou Qingbo would want to get along with people, he would become very friendly. He wouldn’t put on airs, and Zhao Shan, having seen him before, wasn’t too nervous this time.

“We workers go wherever we are needed,” Zhao Shan said with a simple and honest smile, patting his head and saying, “We finished the work over there, and now we’re here to work on the foundation, so we were transferred.”

“Oh,” Zhou Qingbo nodded, his gaze sweeping over the deep foundation pit not far away, and casually said, “Is the foundation almost done? I see the steel beams are already in place.”

“We’ve just dug it out. The framework hasn’t been completed yet, and we still need to pour concrete later,” Zhao Shan replied.

“In that case, it will take you guys some time to finish the work during this busy period,” Zhou Qingbo remarked.

“Yes, building houses takes time. It can’t be rushed,” Zhao Shan said with a sigh, fanning himself with his safety helmet. “This amount of work can’t be completed in just a month.”

“I see,” Zhou Qingbo’s gaze slightly darkened. Suddenly changing the topic, he asked, “But during this busy period, your entire construction team suddenly takes a week off. Isn’t that a bit unusual?”

Zhao Shan was caught off guard by Zhou Qingbo’s questioning. He hesitated and stammered, “Well… that… “

“Boss Zhou, let me explain,” a younger voice suddenly came from behind Zhou Qingbo, and he turned to find the construction supervisor of this team, Qian Chuan.

“Actually, there’s a reason for this. One of our brothers is getting married, so we wanted to help him with the wedding, and that’s why we all took leave,” Qian Chuan explained with a smile. “But don’t worry, Boss Zhou, it won’t affect our work. We’ll work overtime to catch up during these days off and make sure the project stays on schedule.”

After Qian Chuan finished speaking, his gaze shifted past Zhou Qingbo’s shoulder to Zhao Shan.

“It’s almost break time,” Qian Chuan frowned slightly and scolded him in a low voice, “Don’t chat around here, be careful not to delay the work.”

Afraid of being caught in another awkward situation, Zhao Shan quickly got up from the ground, dusted off the dirt from his clothes, and hurried away, as if he was afraid that Zhou Qingbo would interrogate him again.

That “secret operation” they just pulled off wasn’t too clever, but it was simple and effective. Zhou Qingbo frowned slightly, squinting at Qian Chuan for a moment.

Construction supervisors like Qian Chuan were difficult to fool, but after giving him a brief look, Zhou Qingbo decided not to pursue further questions. His interest seemed to return to the construction site, and he got up from the ground, dusted off his clothes, and prepared to go somewhere else to explore.

After Zhao Shan almost slipped up, Qian Chuan didn’t dare leave him alone and quickly found a clever and well-informed site supervisor to accompany Zhou Qingbo, pretending to be his “tour guide,” while he went to report the news to Liu Xin.

Liu Xin seemed to be busy with something; it took three attempts to get through the phone, and he answered with a displeased “What is it?”

Qian Chuan briefly explained what had just happened, and there was a two-second pause on the other end of the phone, followed by a furious roar.

“Didn’t I tell you to clean up everything?”

“We did clean up,” Qian Chuan complained. Who would have expected Zhou Qingbo to have nothing better to do than check the attendance book?

“You are all useless?” Liu Xin sneered, “You go tell Old Li that this isn’t a trivial matter. If they find out something, we’ll all be in trouble.”

“But… keeping things hidden isn’t a good idea either. I think the guy with him is a perfectionist,” Qian Chuan muffled his voice, taking a few steps behind the row of houses and whispering, “If they investigate thoroughly, they are sure to find something out of the ordinary. So, Liu, think of a way to shut them up.”

Liu Xin was well aware of the seriousness of the matter. During this period, Pei You had thoroughly audited Dongjiang’s accounts, exposing all the fraudulent and unbalanced transactions. He interrogated each department with data like an interrogation session.

Liu Xin couldn’t deceive indefinitely; unless he sent the entire company on leave and sent them all home, there would always be someone who couldn’t react in time, and the lie would be exposed. The past two days, he had been receiving updates from his secretary, and he felt that Pei You was close to uncovering all of Dongjiang’s internal affairs.

Liu Xin had no doubt that Pei You’s investigation methods would eventually expose all of his secrets.

Liu Xin wanted to get rid of those two thorns, but the problem was that the situation hadn’t reached its worst point yet, and he was still somewhat hesitant.

“You think it’s that easy?” Liu Xin gritted his teeth and said, “Zhou Qingbo is Zhou Cangshan’s younger brother. You’re crazy to mess with him.”

“Then deal with the guy around him,” Qian Chuan suggested. “From what I see, that young master doesn’t understand anything and is here just to laze around. The main work is done by the other guy. If we can make him loosen his grip, the young master won’t find any faults.”

Liu Xin didn’t reply immediately, wrestling with conflicting thoughts in his mind.

“…Forget it, we’ll see,” Liu Xin finally said irritably. “Let’s see how far he has dug. If it’s just this issue, I can reimburse Qingshan and avoid taking such a big risk.”

“Alright then,” Qian Chuan said. “If there’s any news, I’ll call you.”

Liu Xin grunted impatiently and reminded them not to show any weakness in front of Pei You before hanging up.

At that moment, Pei You was still unaware that he had become Liu Xin’s “key target.” He stood in front of the warehouse, casually checking the documents in his hands. The older man idled beside him, occasionally glancing at the documents but not really understanding much of the detailed data.

Pei You didn’t bother to explain his work to the man. He finished inspecting the warehouse and made a few notes on the audit report he was carrying.

“Oh, by the way,” Pei You said, “I noticed that you have some machinery equipment rented externally. Is that part of the lease here?”

“It’s in the office, I have to go back and check,” the older man, smoking a cigarette, mumbled vaguely.

“And there are non-material procurement contracts,” Pei You continued. “If there are any reimbursement forms, please find them together—”

He was interrupted by a call on his mobile phone. It was the audit team from Beijing. The woman on the other end said they had sent the analytical review report to his email and advised him to check it.

Pei You acknowledged the information and asked about the results. The woman informed him that the material procurement prices in Dongjiang were higher than other construction companies under similar conditions, averaging about 30% higher.

He asked if they had done a cross-sectional comparison, and the woman confirmed they had, and all the data were in the report.

Pei You thanked her, then his phone received the name of a company from her. He looked at the name on the screen, raised his head, and said to the older man, “The work here is temporarily finished. Please return to the office, and I need to review your project procurement documents again.”

At the same time, the older man’s face turned a little pale, and he began to realize that he had become a person of interest. He quickly said, “Alright, I’ll go back and find them.”