Chapter 22

A new week arrived.

Wei Xiaolu and Shen Siyan had only just gotten to the company when they passed the technical team. Seeing Wang Chen look up and greet her warmly, Wei Xiaolu’s eye nearly twitched out of place.

She couldn’t let Shen Siyan notice anything strange, so she could only nod back politely. “Morning, Engineer Wang.”

Wang Chen nodded naturally in return, but Wei Xiaolu felt uncomfortable all over.

She realized she seemed to be... a little ashamed of it, and she really didn’t want Shen Siyan to know she hadn’t cut Wang Chen’s advances off in one clean stroke.

What was she resisting?

Wei Xiaolu couldn’t quite say, but she felt vaguely afraid that Shen Siyan would compare how she treated Qi Lang and Wang Chen and draw the wrong conclusion.

But Shen Siyan wasn’t in the mood to dwell on these tiny, trivial details.

In the morning, they held the weekly meeting and laid out the week’s plan. After a busy afternoon, before anyone had even caught their breath, Ai Jin rushed in flustered and said that after taking the expedited fee, the outsourcing company had suddenly gone dark.

Not long after, upper management found out and called both Shen Siyan and Ai Jin away.

After the two of them left, the Product Interaction Department was still peaceful.

But before long, someone posted a video in their small group chat, and the commotion exploded from some corner of the office like water splashed into a pot of oil.

Hearing the uproar, Wei Xiaolu’s heart lurched; a bad feeling clogged her chest.

She set down her work, followed the direction everyone was looking, squeezed into the crowd of onlookers, and looked at the phone screen playing the video.

The filming angle was hidden. The image shook, but it was still possible to make out a fat man pointing at Ai Jin and shouting angrily:

“This is serious dereliction of duty! Utter, complete dereliction of duty! The company trusts you and hands such an important project to you, not so you can take the money and throw it into the water! Hundreds of thousands in expedited fees, and it’s just gone like that? Where is your professional judgment? Where is your sense of risk management?!”

The video cut off there.

But the office area instantly erupted.

“My God, Manager Ai is done for this time..."

“I heard it was two hundred thousand. Who’s taking the blame for this, her or CEO Shen?”

“She was already warned before. This time she really played herself to death.”

Wei Xiaolu stood there in a daze.

A cold shiver ran through her, trembling.

It was no longer just heartbreak for Ai Jin; more than that, it was deep, boiling anger.

Who filmed this video?

And who was so eager to spread it right after the meeting ended?

When Wei Xiaolu asked about the source, the people who had the video were all from the product management team. They had received an encrypted email and jokingly nicknamed it, “Click to Laugh: Manager Ai’s Face-Plant Scene.”

She looked toward Tao Wei, who was in the Product Optimization Team.

That woman was craning her neck curiously to watch the video, shocked while also playing up her role as a liaison, telling everyone not to mock Manager Ai too harshly and urging them to suppress the matter, lest outsiders find out and then we’d be giving people a joke at the expense of our Product Interaction Department.

Wei Xiaolu: “..."

How about you just drink tea and die already.

While everyone was talking over one another, the department’s front door suddenly swung open, and Shen Siyan and Ai Jin walked in.

The office area instantly returned to normal order; everyone went back to their own workstations and tasks. Only Wei Xiaolu, who had run out of the minister’s office, still stood apart.

Shen Siyan suddenly laughed.

Her gaze swept across the office area as she teased lightly, “Quite a stir. Looks like everyone’s very concerned about this project too.”

Someone who loved gossip immediately asked whether the project was going to be cut.

“No. Everything continues as usual; this is just a small hiccup and doesn’t affect the work’s progress.”

After that, Shen Siyan offered a few words of encouragement, then took Ai Jin back to the minister’s office.

They closed the door after going in, leaving Wei Xiaolu outside. It was probably to discuss countermeasures alone. Since that was the case, Wei Xiaolu didn’t go in to join the bustle. With nothing else to do outside, she went over and chatted with coworkers who weren’t busy.

They stayed inside for a very long time. When Ai Jin came out, everyone saw the faint redness around her eyes and the tip of her nose.

Wei Xiaolu wanted to return to the office, but Shen Siyan came walking out head-on.

After giving Wei Xiaolu a smile in acknowledgment, Shen Siyan went straight to the deputy minister and the director to arrange the next steps, and gave a reason for temporarily handing off authority: she was going to the outsourcing company herself to collect the debt.

Back in the office, looking at Shen Siyan packing up to leave, Wei Xiaolu felt a little lost.

She blurted out, “You’re going yourself?”

Shen Siyan stopped and looked back at her.

“Coming with me?” Shen Siyan paused, then added the form of address, “Little sister.”

“Sure thing, CEO Shen.” Wei Xiaolu didn’t even think before closing her computer and standing up.

They left the company under everyone’s gaze.

Just from that teasing, mocking scene earlier, Wei Xiaolu didn’t need to think hard to imagine how chaotic the department would be after Shen Siyan left.

But while she was still worrying about the colleagues behind them, Shen Siyan had already shifted her attention to the debt dispute. She drove straight to the outsourcing company and stopped beneath the office building.

This was Wei Xiaolu’s third time there, so she very skillfully led Shen Siyan up to the floor where the company was located.

But once they arrived, Wei Xiaolu felt a deep sense of despair.

That office of less than a hundred square meters was already empty. Through the fully transparent glass door, there were only a few scattered odds and ends left inside. All the windows were shut tight; not even the wind got in. It looked a little eerie.

Wei Xiaolu hated seeing this kind of stillness. She shrank back and unconsciously edged closer to Shen Siyan.

“How did everyone run off?” Wei Xiaolu raised a hand, intending to wrap it around Shen Siyan’s arm, but just before touching it, she suddenly came to her senses and quickly pulled back.

But Shen Siyan seemed to notice. She reached out and drew Wei Xiaolu in by the back.

“It was premeditated. It should’ve been a small company already on the verge of collapse; after grabbing one payout, they just hid.”

“Then do we have to find their people before we can recover the money according to the contract?” Wei Xiaolu asked.

“That’s right.” Shen Siyan patted her back. “Come on, let’s go downstairs and take a look.”

Shen Siyan wasn’t looking aimlessly. She went straight to property management and asked to see the building’s property manager.

At this moment, Shen Siyan became very forceful. Wei Xiaolu had never heard her speak with such a cold, hard tone before.

But forcefulness really was effective.

The property manager for this floor arrived late and was already impatient. The moment he came, he said this company’s lease was up, they were supposed to leave, and once they left, it had nothing to do with them anymore.

This time, Shen Siyan was completely unceremonious. She directly revealed her identity and stood before the property manager with her arms crossed, radiating oppressive pressure as she warned him, “Our company was cheated out of nearly a million. I have conclusive evidence right here. If they ran away, we’ll immediately report this as extortion. This place will become a crime scene. But if you cooperate with us and help find them and recover the losses, then this will remain strictly a commercial dispute, and it won’t affect your ability to rent to the next tenant.”

The property manager cowered the moment he heard “crime scene.” “Fine, fine. I’ll go up and open the door for you. Go in and see if you can find anything.”

Shen Siyan gave a completely emotionless “Mm,” then followed the manager back to the emptied office.

As soon as the door was opened, the property manager slipped away. Shen Siyan waved her hand through the drifting dust in front of her and walked inside.

Wei Xiaolu hurried in behind her.

“First see if there are any leftover documents on their desks,” Shen Siyan said. “Some related files may contain personal information.”

“Oh... okay.” Wei Xiaolu scratched her arm and started rummaging through things hesitantly.

Unexpectedly, this company had a strong anti-tracing mindset. Wei Xiaolu found paper scraps shredded to bits in the corner and called Shen Siyan over.

After thinking for a moment, Shen Siyan suddenly said, “Look again and see if there are any delivery boxes or anything else that might have an address on it.”

“Right.” Wei Xiaolu kept searching.

In the end, Wei Xiaolu found a crumpled express envelope in the trash. After picking it up and flattening it out, she saw that the electronic waybill had been wrinkled and scratched up.

But after a careful look, she could still make out the recipient as Mr. Luo, along with a fragmented delivery address—

It wasn’t this building. The address was in another city district.

“CEO Shen!” Wei Xiaolu ran to Shen Siyan and handed her the envelope. “Look!”

Shen Siyan took the envelope and immediately made a judgment. “Luo Defa, the company’s legal representative.”

“I remember this person. I met him last time, but why is the delivery address so far away?” Wei Xiaolu couldn’t figure it out. “Was it sent to Luo Defa’s home?”

Shen Siyan thought about it and shook her head. “Hard to say.”

The two of them searched a while longer but found no other leads. In the end, when they contacted the property manager to lock up, he nervously asked whether they were going to call the police. If there wasn’t enough information, he could provide the phone number of the person who had signed the lease contract with him.

Shen Siyan took the number, but it was the same person who had been in contact with Ai Jin. The call was switched off, so the traceable information was practically zero.

Back in the car, Shen Siyan rested one hand on the steering wheel and tapped it absently. To avoid disturbing her, Wei Xiaolu went to a nearby café and bought two cups of milk tea.

“CEO Shen,” Wei Xiaolu said, climbing into the passenger seat and handing one over. “The address still isn’t clear. We can only see the city, not the exact location. How are we supposed to find it?”

Shen Siyan accepted the milk tea. When she looked up at Wei Xiaolu, she seemed to blank for a moment, then narrowed her eyes and smiled. “Thanks, little sister.”

After taking a sip, she began explaining, “I’m using Luo Defa’s financial situation and social standing to guess where this address is most likely to be.”

Wasn’t that just like looking for a needle in the ocean?

Wei Xiaolu felt the answer was still far off. She picked up the envelope again and carefully tried to identify which words the damaged address might have been.

Her eyes moved once, and she realized that although the sender address was too wrinkled to read, a few clear characters were still faintly visible.

“Hey, CEO Shen, this sender address seems to have... something something... park?” Wei Xiaolu tilted her head left, then right, guessing, “What was it... a park zone?”

Shen Siyan’s fingers stilled.

She turned and looked at Wei Xiaolu twice.

“How many characters in front of that?” Shen Siyan asked.

Wei Xiaolu counted based on the spacing. “Pretty short. Without the province and city part, maybe only five or six characters.”

“Innovation Industrial Park.”

Shen Siyan said it suddenly, her tone extremely certain.

Wei Xiaolu nodded vaguely in understanding. She didn’t know what use knowing the sender’s address had for finding the recipient. Were they supposed to go ask the sender about Luo Defa’s whereabouts?

But in the middle of her confusion, Shen Siyan gave her a thumbs-up.

“You’re amazing, little sister,” Shen Siyan said, her right hand unclenching and then lightly patting the top of Wei Xiaolu’s head. “You helped me a lot.”

“Huh?” Wei Xiaolu touched her forehead.

“Innovation Industrial Park is the registered location for many startups and tech companies,” Shen Siyan said. “My line of thinking was wrong from the start. This address may not be Luo Defa’s home address, but another one—”

Before she could finish, Wei Xiaolu suddenly understood. “Oh! He might have another company!”

Shen Siyan nodded with a soft laugh, lifting one brow at Wei Xiaolu.

“I get it,” Wei Xiaolu said, opening her bag and taking out her laptop. “I’ll search now for which newly registered tech companies have appeared in that city over the past few years.”

“Okay.” Shen Siyan leaned in too and looked at the screen with her. Her lowered hair brushed against Wei Xiaolu’s arm, leaving a faint itch.

Wei Xiaolu slightly drew her arm back.

Shen Siyan, who noticed everything, immediately caught the tiny movement. She tucked her hair behind her ear, then rested her hand on Wei Xiaolu’s arm and rubbed it back and forth, as if soothing the itch.

Wei Xiaolu turned her head and met Shen Siyan’s eyes.

“You search first,” Shen Siyan was already looking at the computer screen. “I’ll filter.”

But the warm touch still lingered on her forearm.

Shen Siyan hadn’t let go of her.

Wei Xiaolu stole a glance at the neat, well-trimmed fingers resting on her arm, and for some reason, she started blaming Shen Siyan instead. Why hadn’t she grabbed her in that horror-void of an empty office, but touched her here, in this calm, closed car?

Please, please. At this rate, the sound of her heartbeat would be way too obvious.