I'm in the county town, and you say I'm a big shot?

Chapter 376 Bank Run
It was still raining the next day. The rain subsided a bit after lunch, and Fang Qingye went to the bank.

Since Nanxin Rural Bank does not yet offer online banking, transfers must be made in person at the bank counter. Fang Qingye then drove to the Changle Road branch, which was the closest to the nursery.

Before Fang Qingye even reached the bank entrance on Changle Road, she saw a long queue on the sidewalk, with people holding umbrellas and discussing among themselves.

He looked ahead and realized that the front of the line was actually inside the bank's lobby!
what happened?

Fang Qingye found a parking space, parked her car, and walked to the side of the line with an umbrella. She saw an elderly man in his sixties or seventies in the line and asked, "Sir, what business do you need to wait in such a long line for?"

"I'm withdrawing money," the old man replied.

"So many people are here to withdraw money?!" Fang Qingye was very surprised to see the long queue.

At this moment, an older woman behind him kindly explained, "Young man, don't you know? I heard that this rural bank is about to go bankrupt, so you need to withdraw your deposits quickly."

"No way? This business has only been in operation for a little over a year, and it's already going out of business?!" Fang Qingye asked.

"Haven't you heard that people from above have come to investigate? Someone has embezzled our depositors' money! If we don't withdraw it now, it'll all be gone!" the old woman said, then looked Fang Qingye up and down: "Young man, are you here to withdraw money too?"

"Yes, I saved some too," Fang Qingye said truthfully.

"Then hurry up and go! Otherwise, they'll be gone!" the older woman said, suddenly remembering something, and warned, "You can't cut in line, you have to wait at the back. Young people should have manners!"

"Yes, yes, thank you."

Fang Qingye naturally didn't need to queue. He had deposited 380 million yuan and was a VIP customer of the bank, enjoying the privilege of fast-track processing.

But as he walked into the lobby and saw the anxious elderly people queuing up, Fang Qingye knew he had better not reveal his VIP status. Otherwise, if these old folks saw him, they would think he was using his privileges to cut in line and would definitely eat him alive.

Moreover, he didn't believe that the rural bank would collapse in such a short time. However, a bank run is a very serious matter, and if it is not resolved quickly, it will cause a shortage of bank liquidity.

Because this kind of emotion is contagious!
If a rural bank runs into problems, and this spreads to other banks and the entire financial system, then the trouble will be immense!

The bank branch was noisy, like a bustling market. Fang Qingye wanted to ask the bank staff what was going on, but seeing that they all looked nervous and were busy, and none of them were people he knew, he figured they wouldn't tell him the truth.

Just then, a young man in a bank uniform hurried into the lobby through a side door. Fang Qingye looked at him and exclaimed: "Isn't this Li Liang?"

Li Liang is from Nanxin and used to work at the Fengyi branch of Dongfangxing Bank in northern Jiangsu. The summer before last, Fang Qingye participated in a surprise inspection organized by the provincial branch and went to Fengyi. As a result, it was found that a loan handled by Li Liang was problematic, and the borrower provided forged property rights certificates to fraudulently obtain the loan.

It was later discovered that Sun Peng, the then-branch manager of Fengyi branch, colluded with outsiders to defraud Li Liang of loans and set him up.

After the truth came out, Sun Peng was dismissed and sentenced, but Li Liang was also punished and transferred from the credit department. He later resigned and returned to Nanxin to apply for a job at the rural bank. He even went to the nursery to visit Fang Qingye.

Fang Qingye saw the hurried footsteps about to leave and quickly called out to them, "Li Liang!"

Li Liang stopped and recognized the person who had called him. He quickly greeted him, "Mr. Fang, are you here to withdraw money?"

Fang Qingye nodded.

Li Liang glanced at the people around him and said in a low voice, "Mr. Fang, with so many people here to do business, I'm afraid the bank won't be able to finish even if it closes today. I'll try to find a way to let you go first."

"No need, I'm a VIP customer," Fang Qingye said with a smile. "I just wanted to ask what happened, why are so many people here to withdraw money?"

"I don't know who's spreading this nonsense, saying that all the bank's funds have been misappropriated and that if we don't withdraw our money soon, we'll be out of cash. Everything was fine this morning, but after breakfast, so many people suddenly showed up," Li Liang sighed.

"Where are your leaders? Where is President Zhao? He's not doing anything about this huge incident? If this continues, something terrible will happen!" Fang Qingye asked.

"The bank's leaders and branch managers were all called to a meeting at headquarters this morning. It's because the provincial banking regulatory commission's inspection team is here," Li Liang explained. "But I think they'll be here soon!" "Oh, I see. Li Liang, you go ahead and do your work," Fang Qingye said.

"Okay, I'm going out to take care of something. Call me if you need anything." Li Liang said and hurriedly left the business hall.

Just as Li Liang had said, a few minutes later, a group of people suddenly poured into the hall. Fang Qingye saw Zhao Wenjun, the president of the rural bank, Zhang Xiaojun, the chairman and former assistant president of Baoshang Bank, as well as Zhang Rong and Duan Yunshan, the branch presidents of the rural bank.

Xia He was there too!

There were a few other people he didn't recognize nearby; they were probably members of the investigation team sent by the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

Xia He was taken aback when she saw Fang Qingye in the hall. Of course, she couldn't go up and greet her at this moment.

He quietly took out his phone.

Soon, Fang Qingye's phone received a notification sound on WeChat. Fang Qingye saw that it was a message from Xia He.

What are you doing here?

"Withdraw the money," Fang Qingye replied immediately.

“I deposited over three million here before the Lunar New Year but forgot about it. I only remembered it yesterday when I was chatting with you, so I came to collect it today.”

Xia He paused for a few seconds, then gave a speechless look.

Just then, Zhao Wenjun took the microphone from the employee and loudly addressed the depositors, "Dear depositors, I am Zhao Wenjun, the branch manager of the rural bank. I guess many of you recognize me!"

Zhao Wenjun's words quickly attracted everyone's attention. Many of the elderly people queuing up knew him or had heard of his name.

Seeing that the business hall had quieted down, Zhao Wenjun pointed to a middle-aged man and continued, "This is Comrade Ren Chengbing, the director of the Third Supervision Division of the Provincial Banking Regulatory Bureau, and also the leader of this inspection team."

"They are also members of the inspection team," Zhao Wenjun said, pointing to Xia He and the others. "They're here to answer everyone's questions!"

"I just want to ask one question: has someone misappropriated our savings? Is the village bank about to close down?" A middle-aged woman's voice immediately came from the queue.

"Yes! Does it exist or not?"

"Can we withdraw our money?!"

Several people nearby chimed in, and the business hall became chaotic again.

"Give it to me!" Ren Chengbing reached out, and Zhao Wenjun quickly handed him the microphone.

"Depositors, I am Ren Chengbing, the head of the inspection team sent by the Provincial Banking Regulatory Bureau. After preliminary investigation, we have not yet found any cases of misappropriation of bank funds!" Ren Chengbing said loudly into the microphone.

Seeing the disbelieving looks on everyone's faces, he quickly added, "Even if it's discovered that someone embezzled the funds, we will definitely investigate to the end! Your funds in the bank are safe! Please rest assured!"

"Team Leader Ren is right!" Zhao Wenjun shouted again, "I, Zhao Wenjun, would never cheat ordinary people out of their hard-earned money! If you don't believe me, you can withdraw your funds at any time! We have plenty of money!"

As they were talking, several staff members entered the business hall with their own cash boxes, escorted by armed guards.

"See that? It's full of cash!" Zhao Wenjun continued loudly, "I hereby announce that the bank will remain open today, operating until the last customer has finished their business!"

(End of this chapter)