Chapter Eleven: A Small Ripple

  Du Qingqing drove, Li Fu sat in the passenger seat, and Yu Ming was in the backseat. Yu Ming felt that Du Qingqing and Li Fu's relationship had improved greatly because of this incident. This wasn't good; before he understood Li Fu, he shouldn't get involved with a member of the opposite sex.

  The three of them rarely spoke, and no one mentioned the 100,000 yuan that had been confiscated as evidence. Back at the company, she didn't see Nian Qiu, but saw a security guard instead. The security guard said, "Miss Du, Mr. Du wants you to go to his office immediately."

  "Alright." Du Qingqing went to the 33rd floor and called ten minutes later: "You guys go to the financial department on the 10th floor."

  Li Fuhe and Yu Ming took the elevator to the tenth floor, which was the administrative floor. The security guards had sealed off the finance department, with Niu Qiu and two other security guards standing on one side. Inside the finance department, there were several security guards, and a few men were searching around.

  Du Qingqing stepped out of the elevator and walked up to the two people, saying: "They say that Nian Qiu stole the wedding ring of Zhang, the deputy manager of the finance department."

  The finance department called and asked the Star Company to send someone to the finance department to pick up the salary cards of three new employees. Niu Qiu looked around but didn't see anyone, so he went himself. It was his first time coming to the finance department, and it took him a bit of time. When he left the finance department waiting for the elevator, people from the finance department ran out and wouldn't let Niu Qiu leave. Soon security arrived, and it turned out that there had been a theft.

  "Arrest the thief and retrieve the stolen goods. The company can't find the ring, nor can they sue Niu Qiu. This matter has alarmed the board of directors and Mr. Du." Du Qingqing looked at the two men who were searching the finance department to the elevator passage: "They are the four major pillars of Wanshengtong Company, his name is Wang Chao, his name is Ma Han."

  "Qingqing, how did you come?" Liu Mang shook hands warmly with Du Qingqing at the entrance of the finance department: "This little thing can be done by someone below."

  The vice president was present, Du Qingqing casually shook hands with Liu Mang, turned his head and said: "You go and find out if Manager Zhang dropped the ring somewhere."

  Yu Ming walked towards Nai Qiu and asked in a low voice: "Did you take it?"

  "Does it matter whether I took it or not? Anyway, these people are determined that I did it." Nian Qiu replied with a hint of a smile. As soon as he left, the theft was discovered. It's as if everyone waited for him to leave before checking if anything was missing.

  Yu Ming didn't say a word, turned around and entered the finance department. The finance department is a large department with branches such as settlement department, cash department, etc. There are many employees, mostly women. Everyone's bags were placed on the table, while others went to another room for assembly. They agreed to let the investigators rummage through their personal belongings.

  Inside the finance department, there were eight security guards and two employees from the Wan Shi Tong company dressed in suits. Yu Ming approached one of the security guards and asked, "Excuse me, which package belongs to Deputy Manager Zhang?"

  "That's her office, everything is inside."

  The office had been searched, Yu Ming was not interested in finding someone who had already searched the place, he looked around and squatted down to slowly examine the trash can with a pen. Then he walked into the next room and asked: "Which one is Deputy Manager Zhang?"

  "What's the point?" Deputy Manager Zhang, who was around thirty years old, was very impatient with Ming. What a joke, bringing up some trivial matters as if they were a big deal.

  Yu Ming smiled and replied: "How many years has Manager Zhang been married?"

  "Three years."

  "Oh!" Yu Ming asked: "Can I take a look at your cell phone?"

  "Cell phone? Is it necessary? Can I put a ring in the cell phone?" The person next to him laughed.

  "Cell phone, thank you." Yu Ming insisted.

  Manager Zhang unhappily handed his phone over to Yu Ming. Yu Ming opened the phone and slowly checked it, then returned it to Manager Zhang: "Thank you."

  "You're welcome." Yu Ming was so polite that Manager Zhang felt a bit embarrassed.

  Yu Ming walked to the door and suddenly turned back to ask: "Manager Zhang didn't have lunch in the cafeteria this noon, did he?"

  "No, don't look for the restaurant anymore."

  Du Qingqing looked at Yu Ming, what is this kid doing, not looking for things? But saw Yu Ming nestling in the corner, dialing a phone call. After making a few calls, Yu Ming completely slacked off and began to admire the view on the 10th floor. About twenty minutes later, Yu Ming received a call and left the 10th floor.

  Five minutes later, Yu Ming came back and put a ring on the table, saying to the deputy general manager in charge: "Found it."

  "Where did you find it?" the deputy asked.

  "In any case, it's been found."

  Deputy General Manager looked at Deputy Manager Zhang, and Deputy Manager Zhang nodded very affirmatively that it was his own thing.

  Deputy Director said: "You must clarify."

  Yu Mingdao said: "At least it proves that the thing is not taken by Nian Qiu, and at the time of the theft, I was in the criminal police team, so it's impossible for me to take it. So I think that's it."

  Li Fu added: "In addition, the Ministry of Finance should apologize to Niu Qiu."

  The financial manager, a woman in her fifties, smiled lightly and said, "You're kidding."

  "No kidding, you insulted him, I think you should apologize." Li Fu insisted.

  "What if I don't apologize?"

  "That can only prove that the executives of Du International are of low quality." Li Fu replied very seriously: "I'm not familiar with Nai Qiu, but I'm his colleague and our working environment is the same, so I insist that you represent the finance department to apologize to Nai Qiu."

  The dead foreigner is quite true, muttering in Ming Xin's heart.

  "Director Du Qingqing, did you hear your subordinate say that the quality of our high-level executives at Du International is low?" Unable to deal with the small fry, they can only fire at Du Qingqing.

  Du Qingqing walked over with a smile and said: "Sister Li, I've found the thing. Let's just pretend this never happened."

  "Why?" Li Fu looked at Du Qingqing and said, "Just because she is a high-ranking executive, while Nie Qiu is an ordinary employee? If you do something wrong, then you've done something wrong. Even Clinton had to apologize to the public for his infidelity."

  "Never mind." Yu Ming whispered in Li Fu's ear: "You don't understand China, Deputy General Manager, can we leave?"

  The vice president was on the phone, gesturing to wait a moment. After hanging up the phone, he said: "Little Li, Mr. Du requires you to apologize in writing to Niu Qiu within three days. Also, Mr. Du wants to see Yu Ming at 5 o'clock this afternoon."

  Four people took the elevator downstairs under everyone's gaze. As soon as the elevator door closed, Du Qingqing slapped her forehead. Li Fu was puzzled and Yu Ming said: "Li Fu, you have offended the entire administrative department."

  "What did you say?"

  "Women between the ages of 45 and 60 are the most untouchable group in both work and life. They are full of energy, mostly spreading private gossip and rumors around their homes and workplaces, and will use the most trivial rules to make things difficult for you. In public, they won't give you a good face, which means telling everyone that you're her enemy. The worst part is that half of the administrative department managers are women over 45."

  "For example?"

  "For example, if you use A4 paper for your leave application form when the regulation requires A8 paper, then your leave application is invalid and you'll be considered absent from work. When filling out your salary slip, she uses a neutral pen, and even if there's just one tiny smudge, she'll make you rewrite it. During holidays and festivals when welfare benefits are distributed, the apples are always the smallest, the bananas are always the most rotten, and easily, they give out vouchers that have already expired..."

  PS: During the rush for the list, vote with your tickets.