The richest man started taking advantage of loopholes after joining Alibaba.

At 10:40 a.m., in the lobby on the first floor of the Weiguang headquarters.

Three black Buick GL8s were parked at the main entrance of the building. The license plates were Beijing plates, which follow the numbering rules for official vehicles.

The first person to get off the bus was a middle-aged man in a dark jacket. He was not tall, wore gold-rimmed glasses, and carried a black briefcase. The briefcase was bulging, and the zipper was not fully closed, revealing the corners of a stack of documents.

He was followed by seven people, some in uniform and some in civilian clothes, each carrying a bag or a folder.

Verification team.

Two from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, two from the Financial Stability Bureau of the People's Bank of China, one from the Cyberspace Administration of China, and two from the State Administration for Market Regulation.

Four departments, eight people, flew in from Beijing on an 8:00 AM flight, landed at Xiaoshan Airport at 10:20 AM, and headed straight to the headquarters of Weiguang.

The specifications are not low.

As the group of people filed in through the revolving door, the young woman at the lobby reception was printing temporary passes for the visitors.

Her hand paused for a moment; the paper coming out of the printer was crooked, but she didn't try to straighten it.

These people have a certain aura that sets them apart from the company's usual business partners, suppliers, and investors.

How should I put it? It's like they've come to audit your accounts—not like an accounting firm, but like someone coming to your door to audit you when you've done something wrong.

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses walked to the front desk, took out a document holder from his briefcase, and flashed it.

"The East China Regulatory Bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission is conducting a routine inspection. Please notify your responsible person."

The girl's face paled slightly, and she picked up the phone to make a call.

But before the call could be connected, the elevator opened with a ding.

Lin Che stepped out of the elevator.

He changed his clothes—it wasn't the 9.9 yuan hoodie anymore, but a dark gray business jacket over a white shirt, without a tie, and the top button was fastened to the second button.

I got my hair cut, I don't know when, but I look much more refreshed than last night.

Xie Yu followed behind him. Xie Yu had also changed his clothes, wearing a bespoke suit and a dark blue Windsor knot tie.

As if by prior arrangement, the two switched from a disheveled state of not having slept all night to a state of receiving guests.

"Good morning/afternoon, leaders."

Lin Che walked over with a smile and extended his hand.

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses was surprised that the other person would come out to greet him, and hesitated for half a second before shaking hands.

"Mr. Lin? I'm Qin Gang from the East China Bureau of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, and I'm leading this inspection team."

"Director Qin, it's an honor to meet you. The meeting room upstairs is ready, please."

His tone was so natural.

It's not the kind of "pretending to be calm" naturalness, but a genuine, heartfelt relaxation.

It's like knowing this group of people would come today, and knowing what would happen after they arrived.

The eight-member inspection team followed Lin Che and Xie Yu into the elevator and went up to the eighteenth floor.

As I walked down the corridor, two people came from the opposite direction—they weren't employees of Weiguang, they were dressed casually, and their faces were completely unfamiliar.

One of them even took out his phone and took a picture of the inspection team entering the meeting room.

Xie Yu noticed and turned around to take another look.

Those two people were sent by Sun Zheng.

The conference room was large, with a long table for twenty people, on which were placed bottled water and teacups.

After the inspection team sat down, Qin Gang opened his briefcase, took out a stack of documents, placed them on the table, and opened the first page.

"Mr. Lin, to be frank, I'm here today because I received a formal complaint accusing Weiguang Technology's 'Weiguang Credit Purchase' product of illegally issuing consumer loans. Specifically—"

He adjusted his glasses.

The whistleblower argues that Weiguang Technology lacks any of the licenses required for consumer finance companies, banking institutions, or online micro-loans, yet it has provided "buy now, pay later" credit services to tens of millions of users through its credit purchase function, potentially violating the "Administrative Measures for Consumer Finance Companies" and relevant regulations of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

He finished reading, closed the document, and looked at Lin Che.

The other seven members of the inspection team also looked at Lin Che.

In the corridor, the two men sent by Sun Zheng stood outside the glass wall of the conference room, pretending to look at their phones, but their eyes kept glancing inside.

The meeting room was made of semi-transparent glass, so people could be seen from the outside, but not from the details.

They are waiting.

Lin Che's expression changed.

Wait for the inspection team to issue the seizure notice.

Waiting for good news to reach Beijing.

In the conference room, Lin Che listened to Qin Gang's words and nodded.

"Director Qin explained it very clearly, I understand."

He offered no explanation, no argument, and not even a hint of nervousness.

He turned and glanced at Xie Yu.

Xie Yu picked up a file bag from beside his seat. It was a dark brown kraft paper bag with a red seal across the opening.

He stood up and handed the file folder to Qin Gang.

"Director Qin, this is the complete set of compliance authorization documents for Weiguang Credit Purchase."

Qin Gang took it, tore open the seal, and pulled out a stack of papers.

The first page is a copy of an official document with a red header.

The heading is a joint document issued by two entities—the Supreme People's Court and the People's Bank of China.

The document number includes a security classification.

Title: Approval of the "Pilot Project for Innovation in Government-Assisted Credit Information".

Qin Gang stopped.

He looked down at the document number, then turned to the second page—the main text of the approval.

He read very slowly.

After the other seven members of the inspection team noticed the change in his expression, two of them came over to look, while the rest fell silent.

Lin Che knew the core content of the document without having to memorize it—Weiguang Technology was approved as a "pilot unit for government-assisted credit investigation innovation." Within the pilot scope, it could rely on its own data system to carry out credit assessment services and provide "credit payment" functions in specific consumption scenarios.

This approval carries extremely high weight.

Because the issuing authorities were the Supreme People's Court and the People's Bank of China.

This means that Weiguang's credit purchase is not a "consumer loan"—it is a compliant and innovative product under the framework of "government-assisted credit investigation".

No consumer finance license, no banking license, and no online microloan license are required.

It has its own license.

A license that's more powerful than all those other licenses combined.

Qin Gang finished reading the entire document, which consisted of twelve pages, and the seals on each page matched perfectly.

He put the documents on the table, took off his glasses, wiped them, and put them back on.

"This document..." His tone changed, from businesslike to cautious, with a hint of reassessment, "I need to verify the original."

"The original document is in the safe," Lin Che said. "I can have someone retrieve it, or I can ask Director Qin to contact Deputy Director Chen of the Financial Stability Bureau of the Central Bank directly to verify the document number. He is one of the people who handled this approval."

He gave out a mobile phone number.

Qin Gang looked at him for two seconds, then took out his phone and dialed the number.

The call was connected.

Qin Gang walked to the corner of the conference room and spoke in a low voice for about three minutes.

He came back and sat down three minutes later.

His expression had completely changed.

It's not that I'm being serious, it's that I'm...relaxing.

It even carried a hint of—a smile?

"President Lin," Qin Gang pushed the document back, "the document is fine; the central bank has confirmed it."

He paused for a moment.

"Not only is there no problem, but Deputy Director Chen asked me to pass on a message to you."

Lin Che picked up his teacup and took a sip.

He said—

Qin Gang's tone carried a subtle undertone, as if he were conveying praise on behalf of a superior:

"The pace of innovation is going very well, the higher-ups are very satisfied, keep it up."

Lin Che put down his teacup and smiled.

"Please thank Director Chen for me."

In the corridor outside the conference room, the two "spies" sent by Sun Zheng kept a close eye on what was happening inside the glass wall.

They saw the leader of the inspection team stand up and shake hands with Lin Che.

It wasn't the kind of businesslike handshake.

Qin Gang took the initiative to walk around the table, walk over to Lin Che, extend his hand, and pat Lin Che's shoulder with his other hand as he shook hands with him.

Pat on the shoulder.

In the context of Chinese officialdom, this action has only one interpretation—approval, or even praise.

The two eyeliners exchanged a glance.

One of them suddenly lost his balance, his knees buckled, and his back slammed against the corridor wall. He slowly slid down the wall and sat on the ground.

His hands were shaking.

The phone screen was lit up, and half-typed text in the WeChat chat box hadn't been sent yet—"Mr. Sun, the investigation team has entered the meeting room, expected..."

What are you expecting?

He couldn't continue.

Another person crouched down to look at him; his lips were pale.

"What should we do?"

The person sitting on the floor stared at the screen in the conference room—Qin Gang and Lin Che walked side by side toward the door, chatting and laughing as they went, like old friends.

"It's over."

He only said those two words.