Courtyard House: Inheriting the Restaurant, the Jia Family Wants to Get It for Free

Cheng Shuhai didn't make a fuss, nor did he hold any celebration. He simply quietly revised all the material allocation procedures. On the original basis, he added several procedures such as "on-site acceptance by three parties, archiving photos of key materials, and recording data on the same day".

He wants to use the system to plug all the loopholes.

Just when he thought the most dangerous phase was over.

Late at night, Qin Huairu, pale-faced and holding a document, knocked on his office door.

"Brother, something's happened."

"What's wrong?"

"When we were sorting through the data for the first batch of equipment imported from the Soviet Union, we discovered... we discovered that the most crucial set of installation drawings for the German canning machine was missing."

Qin Huairu's voice was trembling.

"The entire set of drawings is here. The only thing missing is the most crucial page, which details the settings for the sealing temperature and pressure parameters."

Cheng Shuhai strode to the filing cabinet, looked at the empty space, and for the first time, his face darkened.

They stole the steel for money.

Stealing the blueprints reveals a blatant and malicious intent to paralyze his entire project.

The disappearance of the core equipment drawings made the atmosphere in the entire project team extremely tense.

This doesn't seem like stealing steel, just for money. Clearly, someone is trying to sabotage the construction of the new factory from the ground up.

Upon learning the news, Old Zhao was furious and immediately demanded that the police investigate. However, he also knew that with such internal sabotage, finding the real culprit in a short time would be extremely difficult.

"Shuhai, what do we do now?" Old Zhao looked at Cheng Shuhai. "Without that blueprint, the German expert's trip will have to be postponed. The entire production plan will be disrupted."

"The experts' schedule remains unchanged, and the production plan will continue as usual." Cheng Shuhai's answer surprised everyone.

"Without blueprints, how can you install and debug it?"

"The blueprints are in my head," Cheng Shuhai said calmly.

Everyone was stunned.

What they didn't know was that Cheng Shuhai's six months in the Soviet Union were far from a whirlwind tour. He thoroughly studied almost every piece of advanced food processing equipment he could get his hands on. He remembered every single part and every parameter of that German sealing machine perfectly.

This is the real reason why he dared to take on this project.

Although the situation had been stabilized for the time being, Cheng Shuhai knew in his heart that this was only the beginning. If the enemy could make a move the first time, they would definitely make a second and a third.

He called Qin Huairu to his office alone.

"Huai Ru, starting today, put aside all your other work. Focus all your energy on one thing."

"What is it?"

"Check the accounts." Cheng Shuhai's eyes sharpened. "Re-examine all the purchase vouchers, expense reports, and material receipts since the project started. I want you to go through them one by one, like combing through a hair. I suspect the steel transfers are not an isolated incident."

"Brother, I understand." Qin Huairu nodded heavily.

She knew this was a major test from Cheng Shuhai, a crucial moment for her to prove her abilities.

For the next few days, Qin Huairu practically lived in the makeshift finance office.

She buried herself in the mountains of ledgers and vouchers. During the day, she and two young women who had just graduated from accounting school checked the data one by one. At night, after everyone else had left work, she would go through all the suspicious points she had discovered during the day by herself.

She quickly discovered the problem.

A purchase of sheet metal for packaging canned goods worth 100,000 yuan caught her attention.

On paper, this batch of sheet metal was purchased from a legitimate state-owned steel mill at a price that met market rates. However, when Qin Huai checked the warehouse receipts, she discovered that the actual quantity delivered was nearly 20% less than the purchase order.

She immediately found the purchasing agent surnamed Sun, who had been sent by the Light Industry Bureau to handle the purchase.

"Section Chief Sun, I'd like to check with you about this batch of packaging sheet metal in Warehouse No. 3." Qin Huairu placed two documents in front of him. "The purchase order says five tons, but why does the receiving slip only show four tons?"

Section Chief Sun glanced at the form and said nonchalantly, "Oh, this? It's normal wear and tear during transport. These are heavy pieces of sheet metal; it's normal for a few pieces to fall off or get scratched during loading and unloading."

"Normal wear and tear?" Qin Huairu's tone remained calm. "I checked the transportation records. This batch of goods traveled less than 15 kilometers from the steel mill's warehouse to our construction site's warehouse number three. The transport convoy departed at 8:00 AM and arrived at 8:40 AM. The warehousing records show that all the goods were unloaded and counted by 9:00 AM. Section Chief Sun, how did you manage to 'wear away' a ton of sheet metal in such a short time and distance?"

Section Chief Sun never expected that this seemingly quiet woman would investigate the matter so thoroughly.

His expression immediately turned rather unpleasant.

"Mr. Qin, you're new to factory purchasing, so you might not understand the ins and outs of it." He started to act like a senior figure, and his tone became firm. "Factory matters are not the same as settling accounts in the office. There are a lot of interpersonal relationships involved, which a woman like you wouldn't understand."

He was subtly threatening Qin Huairu, telling her not to meddle in other people's business.

Qin Huai didn't argue with him, or even say another word. She simply silently took back the receipt, turned around, and left.

As Section Chief Sun watched her retreating figure, a contemptuous sneer appeared on his lips. He assumed that this woman had been intimidated by him.

But he didn't know that Qin Huairu's account book contained a knife.

That afternoon, a detailed comparison table was placed on Cheng Shuhai's desk.

The table not only showed the quantity differences of the sheet metal, but Qin Huairu also included a comparison of the prices and loss rates of similar materials purchased by other construction sites during the same period.

Not a single accusation, not a single complaint. Only cold, irrefutable data.

"Well done." After reading it, Cheng Shuhai nodded approvingly at Qin Huairu.

He immediately picked up the phone and called Mr. Zhao.

"Mr. Zhao, I suggest that we immediately suspend all of Mr. Sun's purchasing authority and notify the audit team to conduct a follow-up inspection at the factory."

When the news spread, some members of the project team immediately raised different opinions.

"Consultant Cheng, this is a critical period for construction, and the equipment will be arriving on site soon. Is it making a mountain out of a molehill to suspend an important purchasing agent for such a small matter as sheet metal? What if it affects the construction schedule?"