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

Tuesday afternoon.

Zhao Zhengping received a message from an unknown number.

"Zhou Haibo has been summoned for questioning and has been removed from the special investigation team."

After reading it, Zhao Zhengping did not reply and deleted it directly.

He had long suspected that Zeng Zhiyuan had people in the task force, but he didn't expect them to be exposed so quickly.

That afternoon, he lost all interest in working...

After get off work, he didn't let the driver take him home; he drove himself.

It was already dark when I got home.

The wife was preparing dinner in the kitchen when she heard the door open and peeked out:

"Why are you up so early today?"

Zhao Zhengping didn't answer, only saying, "I'm a little tired."

Then he went straight into the study and closed the door.

He sat down at his desk, turning on only the desk lamp, not the main light.

He reached into the bottom drawer, pulled out the old document, and turned to the page with his own handwritten annotations.

Under the light, the handwriting was exceptionally clear.

"Zhou Haibo has been summoned for questioning and has been removed from the special investigation team."

Thinking back to that message from the afternoon.

He didn't know what Zhou Haibo had confessed, nor did he know if Zhou Haibo had mentioned him.

But he knew that if Zhou Haibo spoke up, the task force would have more information.

Those things don't need to point directly to him; as long as the task force keeps following the direction, they'll eventually reach him.

He sat at his desk for a long time.

The sound of his wife knocking on the door came from outside:

"Zhengping, dinner's ready."

He didn't respond immediately, and after a few seconds he said, "You eat first, I'm not hungry."

The footsteps outside the door paused for a moment, then left.

He didn't go to eat, and read the document again from beginning to end, including the annotation he had casually jotted down years ago—

"Funding arrangements have been finalized."

Taken individually, those few words are just a normal note.

However, when considered in conjunction with the actual flow of those funds, its meaning becomes entirely different.

He closed the file, put it back in the drawer, and locked it again...

Then, I picked up my phone and scrolled to my daughter Zhao Yike's chat window.

She hasn't contacted him for a while.

He looked at the screen, typed a line of text, and then deleted it.

He typed another line and sent it—six characters:

"Don't come back. Take care."

After sending the message, he placed his phone face down on the table without waiting for a reply.

A few minutes later, my phone vibrated.

He turned the screen over and saw a line of text lit up:

"Dad, take care of yourself too."

He didn't reply, deleted the message, and put his phone back on the table.

He didn't know if this message would help Zhao Yike, but it was the only thing he could do right now.

……

The next morning, just after the task force finished its morning meeting, Hu Yuheng's landline rang.

On the other end of the phone was Gu Xinming:

"Director Hu, this is Gu Xinming. There's something I didn't mention last time, but I've been thinking about it for the past couple of days and I think I should tell you."

Hu Yuheng put down his pen:

"you say."

"When Sun Desheng mentioned that box of documents back then, he also mentioned a name, 'Old You'."

Gu Xinming paused here, as if recalling the scene at that time.

"He said at the time, 'Send it to the old place, Old You knows what to do.'"

At the time, I thought "Old You" was one of the employees in that office building, but after thinking about it, I realized that didn't seem to be the case.

None of the managers in that office building have the surname You; he must be referring to someone else.

Hu Yuheng asked, "Are you sure he meant 'Old You'?"

"I'm sure. I was standing outside the door at the time. His voice wasn't loud, but I heard those two words very clearly."

The way he said those two words was different from how he spoke other things; it was as if he were instructing someone who had already made arrangements and didn't need to ask any more questions.

"Do you remember the context in which the nickname 'Old Yu' came about?"

Gu Xinming thought for a moment before speaking: "At the time, he was explaining what to do after the documents were sent over, saying, 'Old You will know how to handle them once they arrive.'"

After hanging up the phone, Hu Yuheng wrote "Old You" in his notebook and added a question mark next to it.

She mentally compared this clue with the information she already had—

Sun Desheng did arrange for documents to be delivered to an office building in the development zone during his time on the provincial capital project.

The recipient's name was Zeng Guosheng, but Sun Desheng did not say "the recipient will handle it" at the time; he said "Old You knows how to handle it."

This shows that "Old You" was not a temporary replacement, but a long-term trusted contact person of Sun Desheng.

She stood up, walked to the filing cabinet, opened the file bag labeled "Sun Desheng," and took out the personnel relationship materials inside.

During his time working in the provincial capital, Sun Desheng met many people, but not many of them had the surname You.

She copied down all the names of people with the surname You and made a list—

There are four people in total: You Jianguo, You Zhiqiang, You Haitao, and You Yuanming.

She took the list back to her desk, looked it over against Sun Desheng's job responsibilities and time frame, and then circled one of the names—You Yuanming.

His resume shows that he worked for a state-owned enterprise in the provincial capital's development zone and had several work-related interactions with Sun Desheng.

However, the document did not record which specific projects You Yuanming had participated in, and the information was incomplete.

She picked up her phone and dialed Chen Dapeng's number:

Come to my office.

Chen Dapeng arrived quickly.

Hu Yuheng recounted the new clue about "Old You," and then pushed the list of names with the surname You in front of him:

"Gu Xinming called today to add a detail."

Sun Desheng mentioned a man named "Old You" who said he knew how to handle that box of documents.

There are four people with the surname You on this list. The one most likely to have had contact with Sun Desheng is You Yuanming, but the information is incomplete.

"Check this person's resume from back then and see if you can find more information."

Chen Dapeng took the list and glanced at it, his gaze lingering on the name You Yuanming:

"When did You Yuanming begin his tenure at that state-owned enterprise in the development zone?"

"The materials state that it was from the late 1990s to the early 2000s, which coincides with the time window of the provincial capital project."

Chen Dapeng didn't ask any more questions, folded the list, and put it in his pocket.

"I'll verify it as soon as possible."

He turned and walked out of Hu Yuheng's office. After returning to his seat, he turned on his computer and began searching for You Yuanming's public information.

There aren't many entries that can be found, mainly records of his job changes during his time at the state-owned enterprise in the development zone and reports of several public events.

He read through them one by one, stopping when he turned to the third page—

It was an old report about a project signing ceremony in the development zone. The accompanying photo was a group photo of the meeting, with a list of attendees below the photo.

He zoomed in on the picture and saw that the face of one person in the last row was not very clear, but the name next to him was You Yuanming.

He took a screenshot of the group photo, noted down the date and location of the signing ceremony in his notebook, and then compiled the screenshot along with You Yuanming's relevant information into a folder, labeled "Old You - to be verified".

After doing all that, he stood up, went to Hu Yuheng's office, and explained the situation.

Hu Yuheng did not immediately respond after hearing this, but only said three words:

"Continue the investigation."