Mind reading saves the whole family; I'm firmly in the role of a charlatan.

Chapter 242
"How is this possible?" Before Manager Wen could say anything, a veteran employee who had run out to watch the commotion exclaimed in surprise.

Everyone turned to look in the direction of the voice and saw a middle-aged man with a somewhat sallow complexion standing at the back of the crowd.

Suddenly becoming the focus of everyone's attention, the man was stunned for a moment, but still forced himself to say, "That's impossible. Auction items are taken out of the exhibition hall and put back in after the auction. The exhibition hall is guarded by dedicated personnel 24 hours a day, so it's absolutely impossible for an item to be switched after the auction."

After listening to his explanation, Manager Wen glanced at Du Anrao silently. Seeing that she only had curiosity in her eyes and was not angry, he introduced her, "This is Supervisor Li, who is in charge of the safekeeping of the auction items."

Upon learning the man's identity, Du Anrao understood why he was so eager to defend himself.

"Don't panic, I didn't mean to say that you were negligent in your work."

Manager Li's expression remained grave: "Then..."

"There was no theft by those in charge."

Manager Li: "..." Was his expression that obvious? He hadn't even asked the question yet, and the boss already knew what he was thinking!

"If that's the case, how could the auctioned items be..."

"The person who stole the genuine items was not from our auction house, but an outsider."

The internal employees who came over to watch the drama all breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, but were also somewhat puzzled.

"Outsiders? Outsiders are always under close surveillance by security guards when they enter the auction house. How could they possibly switch items without anyone noticing? Unless..."

"Unless someone covers for him."

The group exchanged bewildered glances: "Someone's covering for us? Who is it?"

"Could it be that woman's...brother?" Manager Wen had a sudden thought. He looked down at the contracts in his hand and found that most of them were from five or six years ago, with the earliest being four years ago.

In other words, after his cousin was arrested, this person never found another opportunity to cause trouble in their auction house.

"It's him."

Du Anrao never expected that after he had only given a few simple pointers, Manager Wen would have guessed the identity of the person who had switched the dragon for a phoenix.

While reviewing Xiang Qiufu's biography, Du Anrao intended to focus on Xiang Sida's affairs. However, he initially tried to find information related to her younger brother but failed. It was only after flipping through the pages that he stumbled upon a shocking revelation about her eldest son.

According to the other party's memory, Xiang Sida had come to the auction house several times with Manager Wen's cousin, using his brother-in-law's identity.

Before he arrived, he had already learned from Xiang Qiufu about the items that the auction house was going to auction that day, and he prepared fakes to carry with him.

On the day of the auction, Xiang Qiufu asked Manager Wen's cousin to bring her younger brother into the auction house under the pretext that her husband should take him out to broaden his horizons.

As the accountant of the auction house at the time, Xiang Sida was required to personally audit each item after the auction was completed. He took advantage of this gap to run away and switch the auction items.

He was clever enough to know that vases and paintings were too bulky to carry and would be easily spotted, so he mostly targeted smaller items like seals, jade pendants, and jewelry. The day of the auction was his busiest time, so he didn't notice that the little tail that had been following him had disappeared. By the time he finished his work and his business with Sida was done, the little tail had returned to his side, and after several such incidents, he hadn't even realized it.

Because he brought the person in personally, and because he was related to the owner's family, the auction house staff did not have much suspicion of Xiang Sida, which gave him an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

However, after his cousin was reported and imprisoned, Xiang Sida lost his guide and could no longer engage in underhanded tactics at the auction house.

For this reason, Xiang Sida complained to Xiang Qiufu, blaming the two for their extravagant spending, which caused her "brother-in-law" to take risks and make a mistake, leaving him without a way to make money.

Manager Wen already harbored deep resentment towards the "siblings" because of his cousin's affair, and now, upon learning that this person dared to do such a thing right under his nose, he was even more furious.

"The nature of this matter is extremely serious. My suggestion is to report it to the police immediately."

Du Anrao hadn't expected Manager Wen to be so decisive, but upon closer reflection, it wasn't necessarily a bad way to sever ties with the Xiang siblings.

In this way, even if Xiang Sida is later found to be involved in the trafficking of cultural relics, the auction house, as one of the victims, will not be dragged down because of this overly sensitive kinship.

"Sure, but you'd better redeem these items first to avoid any unnecessary trouble."

Manager Wen's eyes flickered slightly as he agreed, "You're right. We'll handle this as soon as possible, and try to recover these auction items within three days, no, two days. After that, we'll deal with the theft separately, and strive to give you a satisfactory answer within a week."

"As long as you know what you're doing, that's fine. You know more about this than I do." Du Anrao nodded approvingly, deeply appreciating Manager Wen's dedicated attitude.

What a perfect, chosen worker! The boss doesn't even need to say a word; he sets the deadline himself. A lazy boss like me deserves this kind of diligent employee. A raise! He absolutely deserves a raise!

Xi Jingyue: "..." Compared to you, who is a hands-off manager, you are indeed more like a boss.

but……

Xi Jingyue glanced silently at the smug Du Anrao. Some people are probably born with the good fortune to be able to lie down and relax at any time.

Having figured out the whole story, Du Anrao said that it wasn't because Supervisor Li and others were lazy, but the fact that the auction item was changed right under their noses was a major mistake in itself.

Manager Wen noticed that Supervisor Li was uneasy, so he bluntly said, "In the end, this matter can be attributed to the negligence of the guards. They let their guard down just because he was brought in by my cousin, and this mess was caused."

"It's fortunate that these guests trusted our auction house so much that they probably didn't investigate further when they got back. Otherwise, the auction house's reputation would likely have already plummeted because of this. What do you think should be done about this?"

Upon hearing Manager Wen's words, Supervisor Li immediately tensed up and stepped forward, saying, "The manager is right. This is indeed the responsibility of our entire department. We failed to properly safeguard the auction items, resulting in the loss of genuine items and the customer purchasing counterfeit goods from our auction house. This is a major work error, and I am willing to take responsibility and let the company handle it as it sees fit."

[Tsk tsk tsk, why do working people have to make things difficult for each other? This kind of oversight in their work is only possible because your cousin brought them in. However, to be fair, Manager Wen isn't wrong; since a problem has arisen, someone has to take responsibility…]

Thinking this, Du Anrao silently turned his gaze to Manager Wen beside him.

(End of this chapter)