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

The day after Chen Yuanda returned from Beijing, he formally met with Qian Yongming.

The meeting was held in a room on the third floor of the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection that was specifically used for such meetings.

When Qian Yongming walked in, his expression was no different from usual.

His pace was neither too fast nor too slow, and his gaze remained level ahead.

He sat down in the chair against the wall, placed his hands on his knees, and sat upright, as if he were attending a routine work conversation.

Chen Yuanda sat down opposite him, and Hu Yuheng sat next to him. On the table was a voice recorder and a folder.

Chen Yuanda didn't rush to speak. He first turned on the voice recorder and then opened the folder.

"Comrade Qian Yongming, I've called you here today to verify a few things."

"you say."

Qian Yongming's tone was very flat.

Chen Yuanda pulled a piece of paper from the folder and placed it in front of him:

"During his time on the special task force, Zhou Haibo has been confirmed to have leaked case information to outsiders."

He recounted how he joined the task force.

The approval document for his transfer was signed by you from the Case Management Office.

Qian Yongming glanced at Chen Yuanda:

"Zhou Haibo's transfer procedures were normal, and I signed the papers according to the process."

The case management office was responsible for reviewing the qualifications of the personnel to be transferred. I thought he met the requirements at the time, so I approved it.

Chen Yuanda didn't reply, but pulled out another piece of paper from the folder and pushed it in front of Qian Yongming.

It was a call log summary, listing three calls Qian Yongming made to a Beijing number a week before Zhou Haibo joined the team, with the time, duration, and base station location clearly marked.

"Who did you call in those three calls?"

Qian Yongming looked down at the record for a while, his gaze lingering on "base station positioning—"

He paused on the line "Chaoyang District, Beijing".

He didn't answer immediately, remaining silent for a moment before speaking:

"I can't quite remember who I was in contact with at work."

Chen Yuanda did not ask any further questions, and instead took out another document and placed it on the table.

This time, a more detailed call log was released, showing that the Beijing number had contacted a prepaid number in the provincial capital's development zone twice within the past three months, and the user of that development zone number has been confirmed as Liu Guixiang.

A distant relative of Qian Yongming.

Do you know Liu Guixiang?

Qian Yongming's fingers twitched slightly, but his facial expression did not change significantly.

"I know her. She's a distant relative of mine and runs a consulting firm in the development zone."

"Have you communicated with Liu Guixiang through her?"

"no."

Qian Yongming's answer was very short.

Chen Yuanda didn't ask any further questions, closed the folder, and leaned back in his chair.

"Comrade Qian Yongming, today's meeting was mainly to get a preliminary understanding of the situation. You can go back and think about it first. We'll continue our discussion tomorrow morning at 10:00. After you go back, do not contact the outside world."

Qian Yongming stood up and walked out of the interview room.

He walked through the corridor without slowing down or looking around.

But Chen Dapeng noticed that when he walked into the stairwell, he paused for a moment, as if he was thinking about something, and then continued walking.

After Qian Yongming left, Chen Yuanda did not immediately remove the materials from the table.

He sat in his seat, mentally reviewing the conversation that had just taken place—

Qian Yongming's answer was watertight, and every sentence placed him in the position of "following procedures".

But when he saw the detailed call log, his finger twitched.

The movement was subtle, but Chen Yuanda noticed it.

He knew Liu Guixiang and acknowledged the existence of those three phone calls, but he said he "couldn't quite remember" why he made them.

Someone who has worked in the case management office for so many years would not easily say something like "I can't remember very well".

His statement that he couldn't remember was itself a form of avoidance.

Hu Yuheng continued:

"He needs time to assess exactly how much we have."

"Then give him 24 hours."

Chen Yuanda stood up and put the folder away.

"It will start promptly at 10:00 AM tomorrow."

……

Meanwhile, another team is heading to the development zone.

Chen Dapeng sat in the passenger seat, holding the registered address of Liu Guixiang's consulting firm in his hand—

The third floor of an office building on Keji Road in the Development Zone.

After the car stopped downstairs, he and two other colleagues got out and went up to the third floor.

We stopped in front of a glass door with the company name printed on the sign.

There was only one woman sitting behind a desk, looking down at her phone.

Hearing the door open, he looked up, his gaze lingering on the person who entered for a moment, but he didn't stand up.

"Who are you?"

Chen Dapeng showed his work ID: "From the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection. Liu Guixiang?"

The woman put down her phone: "It's me."

"There are some circumstances that require your cooperation in the investigation. Please come with us."

Liu Guixiang's expression changed slightly, but she didn't struggle. She stood up, picked up her coat and phone, and followed Chen Dapeng downstairs.

While Liu Guixiang was being taken away, two other colleagues remained in the office to conduct a search.

The desk drawer was unlocked, and there were several account books inside.

When I opened the first book, the amounts recorded inside were not large, mainly daily expenses such as rent, utilities, and office supplies.

When I turned to the second book, several pages in the middle had folded corners, and they recorded several transactions whose amounts clearly exceeded the scope of daily operations.

Each transaction was between 50,000 and 100,000, with only a few words written in the remarks column, and the handwriting was messy.

However, the words "Beijing" and "project" can be identified.

Those pages were photographed and sealed, and taken back to the task force along with the account book.

……

That evening, Liu Guixiang was taken into the interview room.

She sat in the chair, her body slightly stiffer than during the day.

Chen Dapeng sat opposite her, first placing the handmade ledger on the table, and then asked her his first question:

"Whose money were these collected on behalf of?"

Liu Guixiang did not answer immediately.

She was silent for a moment before speaking: "Qian Yongming asked me to accept it. He said it was transferred from a friend and asked me to help with the accounting, but he didn't say what kind of money it was."

Chen Dapeng asked, "What is your relationship with Qian Yongming?"

"He's my cousin."

"After receiving those payments, to whom did you transfer them?"

"It was also transferred to the account designated by Qian Yongming. I transferred it exactly as he instructed."

Chen Dapeng pushed the photocopies of those few pages of the ledger in front of her:

"Does the amount you transferred to the account designated by Qian Yongming match the amount recorded?"

Liu Guixiang said in a low voice:

"It matches."

She didn't offer any further explanation. Her tone wasn't harsh, but she wasn't flustered either, as if she had known all along that she would be asked this question.

Chen Dapeng didn't press further, closed the folder, and stood up.

"You cannot leave the area designated by the task force for the time being. Someone will come to question you again tomorrow morning."

……

The next morning, Qian Yongming went into that interview room again.

After he sat down in the chair, he looked down at the table for a moment, then spoke up:

"I've made up my mind."

Chen Yuanda sat opposite him without responding.

"I signed Zhou Haibo's recommendation materials."

Qian Yongming's voice was a little lower than yesterday.

"Someone contacted me and said they wanted to arrange for someone to join the task force. At the time, I didn't know that person was Zhou Haibo, nor did I know what he would be doing after joining. The other party only said that they would 'help look after him'."

"Who contacted you?"

"Liu Guixiang. She sent me a phone call, saying that someone in Beijing wants to arrange for someone to come in."

"Who's that in the capital?"

Qian Yongming paused for a moment: "The other party didn't say their name, but only relayed the message through Liu Guixiang. I didn't ask who it was at the time because—I felt I could help with this."

Chen Yuanda jotted down a few lines in his notebook, then put down his pen:

"You said you felt you could help, but was it because the other party made some promise, or because you thought there would be no risk in doing so?"

Qian Yongming lowered his head and spoke after a while:

"Both."

The room was quiet for a moment.

Qian Yongming didn't say anything more, and Chen Yuanda didn't press further. He closed the folder.

We will verify what you said today.

He stood up, walked to the door, glanced back at Qian Yongming, and said nothing more.

Hu Yuheng turned to look at Chen Yuanda:

"Director Chen, I feel he's not telling the truth. He flatly denies knowing who the other party is. How is that possible?"

Chen Yuanda sneered: "They won't shed tears until they see the coffin..."