I slept with my sister's classmate, and she turned out to be my boss.

Friday afternoon.

Chen Yuanda returned to the provincial capital from Beijing.

Without notifying anyone in advance, he walked directly into the task force office with his suitcase.

Hu Yuheng was visibly startled when he looked up and saw him:

"Director Chen? Why didn't you let me pick him up?"

Chen Yuanda leaned his suitcase against the wall:

"No need. Is everyone here? Let's have a meeting."

"Okay, I'll arrange it right away."

Ten minutes later, several members of the task force sat around the conference table.

Chen Yuanda took a document out of his briefcase. The cover was blank, with only a handwritten number on it.

He opened the file and got straight to the point:

"Sun Desheng's resume has been verified. He did indeed serve as vice governor during Zeng Zhiyuan's tenure as a provincial leader, and his responsibilities included project approval and fund allocation."

He looked up and glanced at the crowd.

"The time window completely overlaps with that of the provincial capital project."

Hu Yuheng took the document and flipped through it, turning the pages more slowly than usual.

Chen Yuanda waited until she finished reading before continuing:

"The fact that their areas of responsibility overlap doesn't prove anything. But there is one piece of information worth noting."

Sun Desheng and Zeng Guosheng appeared on the activity list of a chamber of commerce in the provincial capital at the same time.

The project took place in the second year after its completion in the provincial capital, less than a year before its final phase.

The meeting room fell silent for a moment.

Chen Yuanda glanced at Hu Yuheng and asked:

What do you think?

Hu Yuheng put down the document:

"A single instance of them attending together doesn't prove anything."

But the timing was too coincidental—less than a year after the project ended, the two appeared at the same event.

If we can find the chamber of commerce's financial transaction records, we'll have a basis to proceed.

Chen Yuanda nodded:

"The Chamber of Commerce's files are being coordinated, but it's uncertain how much we'll be able to obtain."

He didn't say anything more and closed the file.

……

After the meeting, Chen Dapeng returned to his office, placed copies of Sun Desheng's resume and the list of chamber of commerce members side by side on the table, and began comparing the timelines.

He looked at it several times, confirming the sequence of events, and then wrote a line in his notebook:

"Sun Desheng's area of ​​responsibility overlaps with the provincial capital project, and Zeng Guosheng appeared at the same event—the timing coincides."

He closed the notebook, and as he looked up, his gaze inadvertently swept across the opposite side—

Zhou Haibo's computer screen was lit up, but the keyboard remained silent.

Chen Dapeng noticed that Zhou Haibo's gaze was fixed on the two documents on his desk, not just a normal glance, but a deliberate pause before looking away.

Chen Dapeng didn't look up, but secretly smiled and continued to align the two copies, circling Zeng Guosheng's name with a pen.

Zhou Haibo stood up, picked up his water cup, and walked towards the tea room.

As he passed Chen Dapeng's seat, he didn't slow down, but Chen Dapeng noticed out of the corner of his eye that he glanced at the documents on the table again.

A few minutes later, Zhou Haibo returned from the tea room, sat down, and continued looking at his computer.

He picked up his phone, turned it on, then turned it off, and then placed it face down on the table.

Chen Dapeng glanced at the time and made a mental note of it:

At 3:20 p.m., Zhou Haibo looked at the document for the second time.

Near the end of the workday, Chen Dapeng took a copy of the chamber of commerce list to Hu Yuheng's office.

He knocked on the door and only went in after hearing "come in".

He placed the copy on her desk, pointing to the names towards the end of the list:

"Director Hu, Sun Desheng and Zeng Guosheng are separated by three lines, and there are several other names in between. If we pull up the background information of all the participants from the Chamber of Commerce, there might be other points of overlap."

Hu Yuheng looked down at the list for a while, but did not respond immediately.

She pointed to Zeng Guosheng's name on the list, then moved to Sun Desheng's name, and then looked up:

"The direction is right. But we'll have to wait until the Chamber of Commerce files arrive before making any decisions."

Chen Dapeng nodded and was about to turn around.

Hu Yuheng suddenly called out to him:

"Has Zhou Haibo acted strangely today?"

Chen Dapeng paused for a moment:

"He glanced at Sun Desheng's materials on my desk in the morning, and then glanced at them again in the afternoon. He stayed a little longer than usual when he passed by."

Hu Yuheng didn't speak, his gaze lingering on the edge of the table for two seconds:

"Okay. You can go home now."

As Chen Dapeng stepped out of Hu Yuheng's office, he ran into Zhou Haibo.

Zhou Haibo smiled, just like usual:

"get off work?"

Chen Dapeng smiled and said, "Yeah, I'm getting ready to leave."

The two people passed each other and went in opposite directions.

Chen Dapeng slowed his pace as he reached the top of the stairs and glanced back—

Zhou Haibo's figure disappeared at the other end of the corridor. His steps were normal, but a little faster than his usual unhurried pace.

Chen Dapeng looked at it for a couple more seconds, then turned and went downstairs without lingering.

It was already dark when we arrived at the gate of the compound, and the streetlights had just come on.

He didn't go straight to his residence; he stood by the roadside for a while.

Two things were running through my mind at the same time:

Sun Desheng and Zeng Guosheng appeared on the same chamber of commerce list, three lines apart, at the exact time of the second year after the provincial capital project was completed.

Zhou Haibo glanced at the materials on his desk twice today. The second time, he lingered for a longer time than the first, and after looking at them, he turned his phone screen down.

The two lines are in different directions, but both are moving forward.

……

The next morning.

Chen Yuanda's office door was always open.

As Chen Dapeng passed by the door, he saw him looking at a document.

Hu Yuheng went into Chen Yuanda's office and came out with a copy in his hand. He went straight to the filing cabinet and locked it in the drawer labeled "Chamber of Commerce Information".

Chen Dapeng sat in the chair, looked at the locked drawer, didn't ask any questions, and continued to organize the materials at hand.

During lunch, Liu Chang, sitting next to Chen Dapeng, casually mentioned:

"Director Chen came straight to the office after getting off the plane yesterday, without even putting down his luggage. I guess they're in a hurry to get him here in Beijing."

Chen Dapeng picked up a piece of food:

"There must be some progress on Sun Desheng's trail."

Liu Chang did not ask any further questions.

The two of them finished their lunch quietly.

Zhou Haibo went out again in the afternoon, this time for a longer period of time than before.

He didn't take a water glass; he simply stood up and walked to the end of the corridor.

Chen Dapeng remained seated, his gaze fixed on the materials in front of him, but he kept track of the time Chen Dapeng had left.

Nearly twenty minutes later, Zhou Haibo returned, sat down, picked up his phone, glanced at it, and put it down, screen down on the table.

Chen Dapeng wrote the time in his notebook without looking up.

He didn't know who Zhou Haibo had called today, but Hu Yuheng had mentioned it before—

It takes at least three attempts to confirm a behavioral pattern.

The first one has already happened, the second one is underway, and he is waiting for the third one.

Sun Desheng's connection has not yet been finalized; the Chamber of Commerce's files are still being coordinated, and Zeng Guosheng's name is just a dot on the list, a few lines away from Sun Desheng's.

Both lines are moving forward, but at different speeds and in different directions.

He put down his pen, closed his notebook, stood up, tidied his desk, and prepared to leave work.

As he reached the door, he glanced back at Zhou Haibo's spot.

Zhou Haibo was also packing his things, and there seemed to be nothing unusual about him.

Chen Dapeng withdrew his gaze, pushed open the door and walked out, silently reciting to himself:

"Soon."