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

At 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, three black cars were parked in front of the Liuhe Town government compound.

The first person to get out of the car was Han Bing, the deputy director of the audit bureau. She was a woman in her early forties, not very tall, with short hair, wearing frameless glasses, a dark gray suit jacket, and carrying a briefcase.

Her expression was very serious; she hadn't smiled since she got off the bus.

The second car carried four key personnel from the audit bureau—two veteran auditors and two young people.

Everyone was carrying a laptop and a file bag.

Chen Dapeng got out of the third car.

He was wearing a dark blue jacket and holding a notebook; he didn't look particularly special.

However, He Ying had specifically arranged for him to join the audit team—his role was that of a liaison officer, responsible for communication and coordination between the audit team and the government office.

This is what He Ying told him over the phone yesterday afternoon.

"You're going to the audit team, not to check the accounts. Your job is—to observe."

"What are you looking at?"

"Watch everyone. See who's nervous, who's acting strangely, who's lying to the audit team. Your eyes are more useful than the audit report."

Chen Dapeng didn't ask any further questions at the time, only saying one word: "Okay."

Now he stood at the entrance of the Liuhe Town government compound, looking at the building that was even more impressive than the county government building, and felt a mix of emotions.

The last time he came, he accompanied He Ying on the research trip. He rode in the county magistrate's car, followed behind He Ying, taking notes and reading materials.

He was the liaison for the audit team this time, and he sat in the last car, so no one paid any attention to him.

But this time, he was in more danger than before.

Fang Zhiwen stood at the entrance of the building with a standard smile on his face—the kind of smile that is both enthusiastic and restrained, the kind that is only shown when receiving an inspection from superiors.

He was wearing a dark jacket, his hair was slicked back and shiny, and he looked very energetic.

"Director Han, welcome, welcome."

Fang Zhiwen went up to him and extended his hand.

Han Bing shook hands with him, without exchanging pleasantries, and said directly, "Secretary Fang, our audit will take about a week. We need your cooperation to provide financial vouchers, ledgers, statements, and some project information for the past three years. The specific requirements have been sent to you in writing."

"No problem, no problem." Fang Zhiwen nodded with a smile. "We'll cooperate fully. Director Han, would you like to have a seat in the conference room?"

"it is good."

A group of people went up to the conference room on the third floor.

The conference room is large, with a long table that can seat more than twenty people.

Bottled water and fruit were laid out on the table, and a printed welcome message was placed in front of each person's seat.

Han Bing glanced at the things on the table, said nothing, and sat down by the window.

Chen Dapeng sat in the corner, opened his notebook, and began to take notes.

Fang Zhiwen stood next to the head of the table and began to speak.

They were just saying polite things—welcoming the audit team to Liuhe Town for guidance, and promising that Liuhe Town would fully cooperate and provide accurate information, etc.

After listening, Han Bing only said one sentence: "Secretary Fang, let's begin."

Fang Zhiwen was taken aback; he hadn't expected her to be so direct.

But he quickly adjusted his expression and nodded: "Okay, Lao Zhou, take Director Han and the others to the finance office."

A man in his fifties stood up from the back row. He was wearing a white shirt and reading glasses and looked like an old accountant.

His name is Zhou Deming, and he is the former director of the Liuhe Town Finance Office, where he worked for more than 20 years.

"Director Han, this way please."

The audit team followed Zhou Deming out of the meeting room.

Chen Dapeng walked at the very back.

As he reached the door, his gaze swept across the conference room—Fang Zhiwen was still standing next to the head of the table, but the smile on his face had vanished.

He was whispering something to Qian Cheng beside him, his expression very serious.

Chen Dapeng withdrew his gaze and followed the audit team out.

The finance office is on the other side of the third floor. It's a large open space with five or six tables and filing cabinets lined up against the wall, their doors closed.

Zhou Deming led the audit team inside and pointed to two empty tables by the window: "Director Han, please sit here. Let me know if you need any documents."

Han Bing didn't sit down, but stood in front of the filing cabinet and glanced at the label on the cabinet door.

"Director Zhou, could you please bring out the general ledger, subsidiary ledger, and vouchers for the past three years, in chronological order? Let's start with 2023."

Zhou Deming nodded, took out a key from his pocket, and opened the filing cabinet.

Chen Dapeng stood at the door, watching Zhou Deming carry stacks of documents out of the cabinet.

He moved slowly, carefully carrying each stack as if it were something fragile.

The documents were piled on the table, quickly reaching half a person's height.

Han Bing sat down, put on her glasses, and began flipping through the pages.

The two veteran auditors also sat down, each with a stack, and began to flip through them.

The two young people turned on their computer and started working on a spreadsheet.

The office fell silent, save for the sounds of turning pages and typing.

Chen Dapeng did not sit down.

He stood not far behind Han Bing, his gaze slowly sweeping across the office.

Zhou Deming didn't leave. He sat in his seat, picked up a newspaper, and pretended to read it, but his gaze would occasionally drift from the top of the newspaper to the people in the audit team.

Chen Dapeng noticed that Zhou Deming wasn't looking at everyone in the audit team; he was looking at Han Bing.

He saw whichever page Han Bing turned to.

He stopped at the same line as Han Bing.

He was staring at Han Bing, trying to see what she was looking at.

The office was quiet, with only the sound of turning pages.

But this quiet made Chen Dapeng feel uneasy.

A normal finance office wouldn't be this quiet. There should be phone calls, people moving around, and people discussing things.

But there was nothing here, as if someone had cleared the area beforehand.

……

At 10 a.m., Han Bing paused for a moment when she flipped to a book of vouchers.

Chen Dapeng noticed it.

He took two steps forward and stood behind Han Bing, his gaze fixed on the page she had turned to.

That was a payment voucher for an expenditure of 1.5 million in June 2023, under the category of "Other Expenses".

The payee is "Hongda Trading Co., Ltd".

Chen Dapeng recognized the money; it was one of the five transfer records.

Han Bing stared at the voucher for a few seconds, then flipped to the back to look at the attachments.

The attached document is an invoice issued by Hongda Trading Co., Ltd., with the invoice content being "Building Materials Purchase".

Attached to the invoice was a delivery note, which listed the names, quantities, and unit prices of various building materials.

看起来很正常，但陈大鹏注意到一个细节——送货单上的日期是2023年6月15日，但发票的日期是2023年6月20日。

There was a five-day difference between the two receipts.

However, if it is a genuine transaction, the delivery note and invoice dates should be very close, or at least logically consistent—delivery first, invoice later, no problem.

However, the delivery note did not have the recipient's signature, only a stamp, which was the stamp of the "Liuhe Town Economic Development Zone Management Committee".

Chen Dapeng noted this detail: "150 million yuan in receipts, delivery note dated June 6.15th, invoice dated June 6.20th. The delivery note has no recipient's signature."

He looked up after reading it and met Han Bing's gaze.

Han Bing glanced at him, her gaze lingering on his face for a moment before looking away.

She didn't say anything and continued flipping through the accounts.

Chen Dapeng's heart skipped a beat.

He didn't know what Han Bing meant by that look—was she warning him not to meddle, or was she confirming that he was one of her own?

He returned to his original position and continued to observe.

At noon, the audit team ate lunch at the town government canteen.

Fang Zhiwen arranged a meal, which was simpler than when He Ying came last time—six dishes and a soup, with no alcohol.

Han Bing didn't stand on ceremony; she sat down with her plate and started eating, then stood up after finishing.

"Secretary Fang, we'll continue this afternoon. Please prepare the contracts and acceptance reports for the 2022 projects; we need to review them this afternoon."

Fang Zhiwen smiled and nodded: "Okay, okay, Director Han, don't worry."

Han Bing led the audit team back to the finance office.

Chen Dapeng was walking at the very back. As he passed Fang Zhiwen, he heard him making a low-pitched phone call.

"...Yes, the audit team...I don't know, she looked through it very carefully...Han Bing, female, early forties...Yes, that's her..."

Chen Dapeng didn't stop and quickly walked over.

He guessed, "Fang Zhiwen was on the phone and mentioned Han Bing, probably reporting to Fang Mingyuan."

At 2 p.m., the audit team continued to review the accounts.

After reviewing the 2023 certificates, Han Bing began looking at the 2022 certificates.

When she turned to the third book, her fingers paused again.

Chen Dapeng walked over and took a look.

It was a receipt from December 2022, for 2.4 million, under the category of "Other Expenses," and the payee was still Hongda Trading.

The attachment is a contract, contract number "LH-2022-018", the content of which is "Road Hardening Project in Economic Development Zone", and the contract amount is 240 million yuan.

An acceptance report was attached to the contract, and the acceptance conclusion was "qualified". The signature of the person in charge of the acceptance was "Qian Cheng".

Chen Dapeng stared at the contract for a few seconds.

He noticed a detail—the contract paper was new, too new.

The contract was signed in 2022, and it's been almost two years now. The paper should be yellowed and brittle by now, but the paper of this contract is as white as if it just came out of the printer.

He glanced at Zhou Deming out of the corner of his eye.

Zhou Deming was still reading the newspaper, but his gaze drifted over again.

Chen Dapeng took two steps back and stood behind Han Bing, secretly typing a few words in his phone's memo app: "240 million contract for 2022, the paper is too new, it might be a later replacement."

After finishing the call, he put his phone in his pocket.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, a senior auditor from the audit team discovered the problem.

His surname is Wang, he is in his fifties, and he has worked in the audit bureau for nearly thirty years.

He was flipping through a certificate from 2021, and when he was halfway through, he hummed in agreement.

Han Bing looked up: "Engineer Wang, what's wrong?"

Engineer Wang took the voucher, placed it in front of Han Bing, and pointed to a signature on it.

"Director Han, look at this signature."

Han Bing leaned over and took a look.

"The date is November 2021, but the signature is in black ballpoint pen. Back in 2021, our county's financial system uniformly required signatures on documents to be in blue-black ink. This signature is either not following the regulations, or..."

He didn't finish speaking, but Chen Dapeng understood what he meant.

Either the violation occurred at the time, or the signature was added later.

Han Bing didn't say anything, but took a picture of the receipt.

Chen Dapeng noticed that Zhou Deming's expression had changed.

He lowered his head, pretending to read the newspaper, but he was holding it upside down.

……

At 5:30 p.m., the audit team prepared to wrap up.

Han Bing closed the last certificate and stood up.

"Director Zhou, that's all for today. We'll continue tomorrow."

Zhou Deming stood up and nodded: "Okay, okay, Director Han, thank you for your hard work."

"Please prepare the 2021 project contract and acceptance report; we need to see them tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll get ready tonight."

Han Bing glanced at him, said nothing, and led the audit team out of the finance office.

Chen Dapeng was walking at the very back. As he passed Zhou Deming, he noticed that Zhou Deming's hands were trembling.

Chen Dapeng didn't linger and quickly walked out.

On the bus back to the county town, Chen Dapeng sat in the back seat, looking at the scenery outside the window.

Han Bing sat in the passenger seat with her eyes closed, as if she were resting.

The car was quiet.

After driving for about ten minutes, Han Bing suddenly spoke up.

"Xiao Chen."

Chen Dapeng looked up: "Director Han?"

"You took a lot of notes today?"

Chen Dapeng paused for a moment, then nodded: "Yes."

"Go back and organize it, then send it to me."

Chen Dapeng's heart stirred slightly.

Han Bing was asking him for something, which means she knew he was there for more than just a liaison, and it also suggests that she and He Ying may have had some communication.

"it is good."

He nodded.

Han Bing didn't say anything more and kept her eyes closed.

Chen Dapeng leaned back in his seat, looking out the window at the rapidly receding fields, his mind preoccupied with the issues he had encountered that day.

Certificates, signatures, contracts, acceptance reports—everywhere there are "patches".

These "patches" indicate one thing—the accounts in Liuhe Town have been tampered with.

It wasn't a minor repair; it was a major overhaul, and it was done very hastily, leaving many traces.

Chen Dapeng pulled out today's records and read them through from beginning to end, finding seven anomalies.

Today is only the first day; the audit will continue for another week.

Fang Zhiwen will not stand idly by.

He will definitely try to prevent the audit team from uncovering more problems.

Will the audit team be able to withstand the pressure and thoroughly investigate the accounts right under Fang Zhiwen's nose?