After work hours, the CBD quieted down considerably. The hurried figures in suits and ties from the daytime were replaced by scattered young faces heading toward the subway entrances.
Chu Yiran found a seat toward the back of the coffee shop diagonally across from the first floor of Shenshi Tower and ordered an Americano.
Zhao Ling arrived five minutes later, carrying a hot latte and sitting down opposite her.
Today, she wore a khaki trench coat, looking less like she had just finished work and more like she had just come from shopping at a mall.
“Why the sudden invitation?” Zhao Ling asked with a smile, her tone relaxed.
Without any small talk, Chu Yiran took out her phone from her pocket, opened the unread email, and showed Zhao Ling the subject line.
“Sister Zhao, do you know about this email?”
Zhao Ling glanced down at the subject line, her expression unchanged, and lifted her cup to blow on the steam.
“What email?”
“Regarding Certain Facts About Hengyuan Trading Co., Ltd.,” Chu Yiran read the title aloud. “The sender isn’t using a company email address, and I don’t recognize it.”
Zhao Ling took a sip of her latte and said nothing.
“Besides this email, I’ve also received three notes.”
Chu Yiran briefly explained the whole story.
When she mentioned the note about the doormat, Zhao Ling’s brow twitched slightly.
“It was left at your doorstep?”
“Yes.”
Zhao Ling set her cup down and tapped her fingers lightly on the table twice.
“So, you came to ask me if I was the one who left the notes?”
Chu Yiran looked at her.
“Sister Zhao, last time in the cafeteria, you told me that some things are better left seen but not acted upon.”
“You also mentioned the matter of the former affairs specialist, Zhou Ning, saying she discovered procurement issues and then resigned.”
“You know far more than you let on.”
Zhao Ling fell silent for a few seconds before leaning back in her chair.
“I didn’t leave the notes.”
“Then do you know who did?”
“I can guess.”
Zhao Ling looked out at the streetlights outside the window, her voice growing even softer. “But are you sure you want to hear it?”
“I need to know. This person has already found their way to my home. If I don’t even know who my opponent is, I can’t protect myself.”
Zhao Ling studied her for a long moment, her gaze carrying both scrutiny and a hint of approval.
“There’s someone in the administration department named Zhou Ning—your predecessor.”
“Before she resigned, she compiled all the issues she discovered into a complete record and stored it in a private cloud drive.”
“These issues involve related-party transactions between Sun Wanqing and her ex-husband, Fang Zhiyuan. The amounts involved are far more than the 720,000 yuan you saw.”
Chu Yiran’s fingers tightened slightly.
“When Zhou Ning resigned, I conducted her exit interview.”
“She told me she had considered reporting it, but there was no direct evidence proving Sun Wanqing’s active involvement. All the approvals and signatures followed procedures, and on the surface, nothing seemed amiss.”
“She was afraid of being retaliated against, so she chose to leave.”
“But she wasn’t willing to let it go.”
“After she left, she kept waiting for an opportunity.”
Chu Yiran understood.
“I’m that opportunity.”
Zhao Ling didn’t deny it.
“Zhou Ning reached out to me and asked what the new affairs specialist was like.”
“I told her about your performance during the interview. She thought you were meticulous and level-headed enough.”
“The notes were left by someone she entrusted, and the content was provided by her.”
“As for that email, it was probably also sent by her.”
Something was rapidly piecing together in Chu Yiran’s mind.
“So she wants to use me to deliver this information to the audit team?”
“Not entirely.”
Zhao Ling shook her head. “She knows you’re not foolish enough to charge into battle for her.”
“She just wants you to have enough information in hand to protect yourself.”
“If the audit really uncovers problems, the administrative department will definitely be held accountable.”
“By then, Sun Wanqing will need someone to take the fall. You’ve been here the shortest time, making you the easiest target.”
“Zhou Ning has been through something like this before. Back then, she almost got pinned with the blame by Sun Wanqing, which is why she decided to resign.”
Chu Yiran slowly leaned back into her chair.
“So these notes aren’t so much guiding me to expose Sun Wanqing as they are giving me a heads-up in advance.”
“You could put it that way.”
Zhao Ling looked at her. “As for whether you open that email or look at its contents, that’s your own choice.”
“Zhou Ning once told me something I think is quite right.”
“In this company, those who know nothing are the most dangerous, because when the knife comes swinging, you won’t even know which way to dodge.”
Chu Yiran looked down at the now-cold Americano in her cup, the black liquid reflecting the ceiling lights.
“Sister Zhao, I understand Zhou Ning’s intentions.”
“But I have one question.”
“Go ahead.”
“Why are you helping her? You’re in Human Resources, which has nothing to do with the procurement issues in the administrative department. Why get involved in this?”
Zhao Ling set down her cup and remained silent for several seconds.
“Because Sun Wanqing stole my promotion opportunity three years ago.”
The words were spoken flatly, but Chu Yiran sensed something simmering beneath them.
“The position of Deputy Director of Human Resources became vacant three years ago.”
“Sun Wanqing and I both competed for it, but in the end, the spot went to her.”
“She got the position of Deputy Director of the Administrative Department, while I stayed as a supervisor.”
“Later, I found out she won because Fang Zhiyuan pulled strings for her outside.”
“Even though Fang Zhiyuan is her ex-husband, they’ve maintained business dealings since their divorce. Their interests were never truly severed.”
Zhao Ling’s gaze returned to Chu Yiran’s face.
“I’m not some noble person. I have my own reasons for helping Zhou Ning.”
“But at least there’s one thing you and I share: I don’t want to be a pawn on someone else’s chessboard either.”
Chu Yiran picked up her cup and finished the last sip of the cold Americano, the bitterness spreading across the back of her tongue.
“Sister Zhao, thank you for telling me all this.”
“I will open that email and read it.”
“But I won’t take any initiative myself.”
Zhao Ling smiled, stood up, and picked up her bag.
“You’re smarter than Zhou Ning.”
“She shouldn’t have resigned back then. She should have been like you—first secure her own escape route before doing anything else.”
After Zhao Ling left the café, Chu Yiran sat alone for another ten minutes.
Outside the window, the streetlights stretched the shadows of passersby long and thin.
She opened her phone, hesitated for a moment, then tapped into S’s chat window.
The unread message from earlier in the day was still there.
She pressed and held the voice message button.
“Brother, I was too busy today to reply. Just left the office.”
She paused, then added another sentence: “I really want to see you soon.”
After sending it, she stared at the screen for three seconds, then locked her phone, stood up, and left the café.
On the way home, she thought: Zhou Ning was a chess piece already off the board, Zhao Ling was a bystander with his own agenda.
And she, Chu Yiran, had to find a crack to slip through amid everyone’s schemes.
After arriving at the apartment, she turned on her computer and logged into her company email.
The email sat quietly in the inbox folder, its bolded title glaring sharply on the screen.
The body of the email was long, with three attachments.
Starting from the first word, she read line by line.
When she reached the last line, her back pressed against the chair, and her entire body froze.
The benefits Hengyuan Trading had funneled to Sun Wanqing through inflated procurement costs were not 720,000 yuan.
It was 3.4 million.