CH 39

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.”