The Audi A6 sold.
Fifty-one thousand. The restaurant owner haggled a thousand off — Zhang Lei let him have it. Net profit on a single car: seventeen thousand two hundred yuan. Purchase price twenty-nine five, reconditioning four thousand three hundred, transfer fee two hundred.
The highest-margin deal since he'd started in the used car business.
That evening Zhang Lei took Su Qing out for hotpot. Nothing extravagant — a self-service place on the east side, sixty-eight yuan per person. But for Zhang Lei, this counted as "treating someone." Not long ago he'd hesitated over a fifteen-yuan bowl of beef noodles.
They sat by the window. Outside, the old district's streets stretched into the dark, sodium lamps casting an amber glow against the glass. The broth bubbled away, slices of beef tumbling in the chili-red soup.
"Business has been good for you lately." Su Qing dipped a piece of tripe, swished it for a few seconds. "From that Mazda to now — it's been about a month? How many cars total?"
"Six."
"Six. That's not bad." She popped the tripe into her mouth and chewed. "Planning to keep doing this?"
"Build up capital first. Once I hit a hundred thousand, I want to rent a small lot. Open my own dealership for real."
Su Qing nodded. Then she set down her chopsticks, picked up her plum juice, took a sip.
"There's something I need to tell you." Her tone shifted — from the loose ease of casual conversation to something deliberate. Measured.
Zhang Lei looked up at her.
"I didn't come to Defa Used Cars just to be a bookkeeper."
His chopsticks paused mid-reach for the tripe.
"I have a friend — she bought a car from Wang Defa before. White Volkswagen Lavida." Su Qing stared into the bubbling pot as she spoke. "Three months in, the transmission died. Got it inspected and found out it was a major-repair car — transmission had been pulled apart, rebuilt, and put back together. Invisible from the outside. Fixing it cost her over twenty thousand."
"Your friend confronted Wang Defa?"
"She did. He said 'you broke it yourself, nothing to do with me.' The contract said 'vehicle condition as-is at time of delivery.' No case even if she sued."
Zhang Lei set his chopsticks down.
"So you went to work there —"
"I studied finance." Su Qing finally met his eyes. "I took the bookkeeping job to find evidence in his financial records. Purchase prices, sale prices, whether there's money that doesn't go through the company accounts. All of that shows up once you get into the books." Find the original chapter at novelping.com.
Zhang Lei held her gaze for three seconds.
He thought of the time Su Qing had messaged him asking "those cars — more than one of them has problems, right?" He thought of how she'd covered for him at the dealership, fed him intel on Wang Defa's movements. He thought of the look in her eyes every time she saw him — friendly, but always carrying something underneath.
"What have you found?"
"Not much." Su Qing shook her head. "Wang Defa's more careful than I expected. Most of the gray income doesn't go through the company account — he uses his wife's card. What I can see is only the surface. But there are some invoices that don't add up. Several cars with purchase prices that are way too low — no legitimate car could be acquired for those numbers. At minimum, it proves he's not buying clean vehicles."
"What are you going to do with it?"
"Haven't decided." She picked up her chopsticks, then put them down again. "Originally I was going to collect enough evidence and file a complaint with the consumer protection bureau. But this kind of thing — would a complaint even work? He's been in this business for over a decade. He knows people."
Zhang Lei was quiet for a moment.
"Why are you telling me this?"
Su Qing looked at him. Steam from the hotpot drifted between them, softening her outline.
"Because you also know he sells accident cars," she said. "And you're not the type who'd use that information to blackmail him. You only used it to protect yourself."
Zhang Lei said nothing.
"And —" She paused. "I didn't want to keep this from you. You've helped me a lot. Selling cars, taking photos — I'm the one who came to you first, every time. If you found out I joined the dealership with an agenda, you might think my helping you was part of it too."
"Was it?"
"No." The word came fast. "Helping you was just helping you. The Wang Defa thing is completely separate."
Zhang Lei studied her for a few more seconds. Then he picked up his chopsticks and dropped a slice of beef into the broth.
"I believe you."
Su Qing's shoulders dropped by a fraction — a tiny motion, but Zhang Lei caught it.
"That Lavida — how's your friend doing now?" he asked.
"Got it fixed. Still driving it. Paid the twenty-plus thousand herself." Su Qing's voice was flat, but Zhang Lei heard what was underneath it. "She's raising a kid alone. That money was six months of savings."
Zhang Lei fished the cooked beef into his bowl. Chewed a few bites. Find the original chapter at g.com.
"Keep digging," he said. "But don't rush it. Wang Defa — you can't let him know you're investigating. What I have on him can protect me, but it can't protect you. You're working under him. If he turns on you —"
"I know." Su Qing nodded. "I won't take risks."
They ate a while longer. The conversation drifted back to everyday things — how much the Audi sold for, what to buy next, whether anything good had shown up at the market lately.
They walked out past nine. The street was quiet. Su Qing's little e-bike was parked outside the hotpot place.
"When are you going to quit the dealership?" Zhang Lei asked.
"Not yet. Give it a while." She pulled on her helmet. "Still have a few months of ledgers I haven't gone through."
"Be careful."
"I know." She started the bike, glanced back at him. "You too."
Zhang Lei stood there watching her taillight disappear around the corner.
Su Qing had joined the dealership to investigate Wang Defa. He'd half-sensed it before — why would a young woman with a finance degree take a bookkeeping job at some shady little car lot? Low pay, bad environment, worse boss.
Now he knew the reason.
She was trying to get justice for her friend.
Zhang Lei rode his e-bike home. The night wind was warmer than two weeks ago — April now. Willow trees along the road had sprouted fresh leaves, swaying gently under the streetlights.
He turned over what Su Qing had said: "You're not the type who'd use that information to blackmail him."
She read people pretty well.
What she didn't know was — Zhang Lei held evidence ten times more powerful than financial receipts. He could see through every single problem in every car Wang Defa had ever sold. If Su Qing needed help — he could give her something far harder than account books.
But there was no rush. Let her finish what she could find on the financial side first.
For now, what he needed to do — was keep making money. Save up a hundred thousand. Open his own lot.
Then he wouldn't need to operate in the shadows on somebody else's turf anymore.