Beneath the Marriage Pact

Chapter 7: Data as Bait, Each taking a step Back (1)

As Ling Xu 'an pushed open the study door, Shen Zhixia was lying on the desk flipping through old documents, the warm yellow light of the desk lamp fell on the top of her hair, and she didn't notice a few scraps of paper on her side face. On the table lay a floor plan of the old warehouse of the Qin family, with several small circles she had made in red on the corners, and beside it was a notebook with a trimmed edge - she had brought it back from the old house yesterday, with the cover written "Records of the Qin Family's dealings".

He remained silent and leaned against the doorframe to read. Shen Zhixia's fingers, as if sensing something, paused as he looked up, and the pen in his hand "clanged" onto the table.

"Mr. Ling?" She quickly stuffed the notebook under the documents, acting as flustered as a caught student.

Ling Xu 'an did not move. He fished out a note from his pocket and held it between his fingers, shaking it. It was a printed paper with a line of records on it: "User 'Xia' logged into the 'Old Archives of the Qin Family' at 3:17 am today to inquire about details of the cooperation between the Qin family and the Ling family in 2012."

Shen Zhixia's face turned pale in an instant and she held the corner of her dress without saying a word.

"Why didn't Zha Qin tell me?" Ling Xu 'an finally spoke, his voice not high, but with a chill, step by step to the table, slapping the note in front of her, "and deliberately chose the early morning to check? Afraid I'll know?

"I..." Shen Zhixia bit her lip and looked up with a hint of stubbornness in her eyes. "Then how do you plan to explain that Mr. Ling is monitoring me?"

"I'm not monitoring you." Ling Xu 'an raised his forehead and pointed to the small text in the corner of the note. "This is an abnormal record automatically triggered by the security system - the website you logged into was logged out by the Qin family three years ago. Now it's a phishing website, and the system defaults to 'high risk'." He paused and tapped his finger on the desktop. "If I hadn't intercepted it in time, all the information in your account would have been stripped away long ago."

Shen Zhixia was stunned for a moment before she realized - she had searched through the early hours of the morning last night and found this "archive" link in an unremarkable forum, thinking she had found a treasure.

"I just wanted to look up..." She lowered her voice a little, "I want to find out if my mother really worked with the Qin and Ling families back then. Aunt Zhang's diary mentions that mother used to go to the Ling family's old house..."

"So you just look it up yourself?" Ling Xu 'an interrupted her, his tone a little softer but still angry, "The mess of the Qin family hasn't been cleaned up yet. Do you know who's behind the phishing website? In case it's Qin Feng's man again...

"Am I fine?" Shen Zhixia retorted in a low voice, but felt a little flustered in her heart - she really hadn't thought that much.

Just as the two were stiff, the door of the study was tapped gently twice and Chen Mo poked his head in: "Boss, Miss Shen, there's something new about Uncle Er - his secretary just went to the bank to withdraw a considerable amount of cash and booked a flight to Southeast Asia."

Ling Xu 'an's expression darkened: "On which day was it scheduled?" "

"The day after tomorrow afternoon." Chen Mo handed over a screenshot. "I asked a friend at the airport to keep an eye on it."

Ling Xu 'an didn't answer, his gaze still fixed on Shen Zhixia. Shen Zhixia, clutching the note of the interview record, suddenly looked up: "I'll help you look up the evidence of collusion between Uncle Er and the Qin family - his secretary must have taken the money to build connections. I know the Qin family had a 'middleman' before, hiding in the second-hand market on the west side of the city. I can find him."

Ling Xu 'an's eyebrows twitched: "Conditions?"

"You open up Ling's business transaction data for the past five years." Shen Zhixia said straightforwardly, and the stubbornness in his eyes emerged again. "I'm going to check the records of cooperation in the new energy sector from 2012 to 2017, especially those related to the Qin family - I need to confirm whether my mother worked with Ling back then, with your grandfather, or with... Your second uncle."

The study was quiet, with only the sound of the lamp's current. Chen Mo stood at the door, neither advancing nor retreating, and secretly glanced over at Shen Zhixia - the demand was not low, how could Ling's business data be casually shown to outsiders?

Ling Xu 'an stared at Shen Zhixia for a long time, but she didn't hide, just met his gaze straight, her eyes shining like fire. He suddenly chuckled, reached out and pinched his brow: "You do make conditions."

"Not a condition, a deal." Shen Zhixia corrected him, "I'll keep Uncle Er for you and give me the authority to find out the truth. Fair."

"Fair?" Ling Xu 'an raised his eyebrows and walked up behind her, bending over to look at the Qin's floor plan on the table, his warm breath sweeping past her ears, "Do you know how much the Ling's data is worth? Just you find an 'middleman'...

"Not just." Shen Zhixia suddenly moved her chair forward to avoid his approach, her cheeks burning a little. "I also know that the Qin family had a 'hidden account' back then, remembering to whom money was stuffed, Aunt Zhang said hidden in..." She paused for a moment, deliberately not finishing.

Ling Xu 'an's eyes grew deeper. The Qin family's secret account? If we could get the evidence of the collusion between Uncle Er and Qin Zheng, it would be complete.

"Give you two hours of permission every Wednesday afternoon." He suddenly relabsed, straightened up and walked towards the window with his back to her, "Go to the data room and check, Chen Mo will accompany you -- no copying, no taking pictures, and the permission will be turned off if you exceed the time limit."

Shen Zhixia was stunned for a moment, not expecting him to agree so quickly: "Really?"

"When did I ever deceive you?" Ling Xu 'an turned back and glared at her, but showed no anger. "But if you dare to play tricks - like secretly recording data..."

"I won't!" Shen Zhixia quickly assured, her eyes shining like stars, "I'll just check the part related to my mother, and I'll tell you the result!"

Ling Xu 'an said nothing and waved Chen Mo in: "Sort out the data room tomorrow and file the new energy materials from 2012 to 2017 separately and mark them as' confidential '."

"All right!" Chen Mo quickly responded, secretly giving Shen Zhixia a thumbs-up - Miss Shen was the first to get the boss to give in and open the data room.

When Chen Mo left, Shen Zhixia remembered something and pulled out the notebook from under the document and handed it over: "This is for you." It was the clues about the Qin family that she had sorted out last night, with the names and addresses of several old employees of the Qin family written on it. "These people may know about Uncle Er. You ask Chen Mo."

Ling Xu 'an took it and flipped through it. There was a note in the notebook with her elegant handwriting: "The middleman in the old market in the west of the city is called 'Old Ghost'. He will have tea at the teahouse at the north entrance of the market on Wednesday afternoon."

He looked up at her, Shen Zhixia was lowering her head to sort through the documents on the table, her ears a little red.

"Thanks." He whispered.

Shen Zhixia paused for a moment, did not look back, just made a low "um".

Ling Xu 'an walked out with his notebook and stopped at the door again: "There's coffee in the data room. Don't go on an empty stomach on Wednesday afternoon."

Shen Zhixia suddenly looked up. He had already left. The study door was gently closed, leaving warm light from the desk lamps in the room. She touched her burning ears, looked down at the note of the visit record, and suddenly laughed - it turned out that he wasn't really angry, but worried that she had been tricked by a phishing website.

Shen Zhixia went to the data room punctually on Wednesday afternoon. Ling's data room was on the basement floor of the villa, like a small library, with rows of filing cabinets and the smell of old paper in the air. Chen Mo stood at the door and gave her a temporary access card: "Miss Shen, the card will expire automatically in two hours. Call me if you need it."

"Thank you." Shen Zhixia took the card, took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

The filing cabinet was marked with years, and the new energy materials from 2012 to 2017 were placed separately on the innermost shelf, in blue folders and labeled. She went through 2012 first - that's the year my mother got into trouble.

Most of the folders were cooperation agreements and project reports, and when she turned to the third one, Shen Zhixia's fingers paused. It was a letter of intent for the New Energy Materials cooperation between Ling and Qin, dated August 15, 2012 - a month before his mother's death.

The letter of intent was signed by the representative of Party A as "Ling Zhengxiong", and the representative of Party B... It's Mom 's name: Shen Qingyao.

Shen Zhixia's heart skipped a beat and she quickly rolled down. The letter of intent read, "Qin provides the core catalyst sample, Ling is responsible for mass production testing," followed by a "sample handover record," and mom wrote a line of small print below it: "The sample purity is insufficient and needs to be purified again. Not delivered to Ling for the time being."

It turns out that Mom did work with Ling back then, and it was Ling Zhengxiong! Did she discover Ling Zhengxiong's problem, and that's why...

"Miss Shen?" Chen Mo suddenly shouted at the door, "Half an hour left."

Shen Zhixia came to her senses and quickly flipped through the materials from 2013 - after her mother's death, did the cooperation between the Qin family and the Ling family continue? When she turned to the last page, she saw a "Project Termination Notice" signed by Grandpa Ling, dated January 2013, which read "Termination of cooperation due to serious quality problems in the materials provided by Qin".

Did Grandpa Ling know? Did he also notice something was amiss, and that's why he ended the partnership?

Shen Zhixia had the key page in mind and was about to close the folder when she suddenly found a photo in it - a photo of her mother and Grandpa Ling standing at the entrance of Ling's laboratory, both laughing. Mother was holding a report in her hand, which was the letter of intent she had just read.

On the back of the photo, there was a line in Grandpa Ling's handwriting: "Qingyao girl has a good eye. This catalyst is indeed wrong."

Shen Zhixia's eyes suddenly welled up with tears. It turns out that Grandpa Ling has always known that Mom is being wronged. Is his termination of cooperation a disguised way to protect Mom's reputation?

"Time is up, Miss Shen." Chen Mo's voice came again.

Shen Zhixia quickly tucked the photo back into the folder, took a deep breath and walked out. Chen Mo looked into her red eyes, asked no more questions, just handed her a bottle of water: "The boss is waiting for you in the study."

When Shen Zhixia pushed open the door of the study, Ling Xu 'an was looking at the surveillance footage on the computer - it was the image of the tea house in the west of the city, where the old ghost was sitting by the window drinking tea, followed by a young man who looked furtive.

"Got it?" He didn't even raise his head.

"Um." Shen Zhixia went up to him and repeated all the letters of intent and termination notices she had seen. "My mother did work with my second uncle back then. She found that there was something wrong with the catalyst and didn't hand in the sample - I suspect that it was because of this that my second uncle conspired with Qin Zheng to harm my mother."

Ling Xu 'an paused his fingers on the keyboard and pulled up a document: "I asked Chen Mo to look into the old ghost. He used to be the accountant of the Qin family and did have some hidden accounts. The young man in the surveillance footage just now was Uncle Er's secretary, presumably there to buy the hidden accounts."

"Then we..."

"Not in a hurry." Ling Xu 'an turned off the surveillance and said, "We'll do it when they make the deal and get caught." He paused and looked at Shen Zhixia, "The letter of intent you found, I'll ask Chen Mo to retrieve the original and see if he can find any evidence of Uncle Er's tampering."

Shen Zhixia nodded, hesitated for a moment, and then said about the photo: "Grandpa Ling seems to know that my mother was wronged..."

"He knows." Ling Xu 'an said in a lower voice, "After the cooperation ended, he scolded Uncle Er and suspended him for half a year. It was just that there was no evidence to do anything to him." He looked at Shen Zhixia, "My grandpa has always felt sorry for your mother, and that's why he's willing to help us."

Shen Zhixia felt warm in his heart. It turned out that Mom wasn't fighting alone; there were people secretly protecting her.

"By the way," Ling Xu 'an suddenly fished out a small box from the drawer and handed it over, "Here you are." It was a small USB drive, "and inside it was a backup of the data you just looked up - I had Chen Mo secretly copy it so you wouldn't forget."

Shen Zhixia was stunned for a moment, then took the USB drive: "Didn't you say no to copy?"

"I can't tell you to copy." Ling Xu 'an raised an eyebrow. "What I asked Chen Mo to copy doesn't count." He paused, the corner of his mouth curved. "If you want to look up something next time, just ask me. Don't go to those messy websites anymore."

The USB drive was warm in his pocket, and Shen Zhixia smiled with his fingertips rubbing against the fabric: "Thanks. But aren't you afraid that I'll do something bad with the backup?"

Ling Xu 'an glanced at her and pointed his finger at the image of the old ghost drinking tea on the screen: "If you want to sell the secret account to Uncle Er for money, it's not too late to go now - his secretary just gave the old ghost a cowhide bag, which looks quite heavy."

"No way." Shen Zhi Xia went over to look at the surveillance footage. The old ghost was stuffing the cowhide bag into his bosom, moving so hurriedly that he turned over the plate of melon seeds on the table. "My mother didn't ask for any benefits from the Qin family back then, and I didn't ask for any."

Ling Xu 'an didn't respond. He tapped his fingers on the keyboard and retrieved the surveillance footage from the back door of the teahouse: "Chen Mo has brought people to block the back door. We'll act as soon as they finish the transaction." " He paused and then turned his head to look at her. "Do you want to go to the scene?"

Shen Zhixia was stunned: "Is it appropriate for me to go?"

"Why isn't it appropriate?" Ling Xu 'an took the car keys and stuffed them into her hand. "The secret account is the clue you provided. You deserve half the credit for the arrest."

In fact, he wanted her to see his second uncle's tail caught, didn't he? Shen Zhixia held onto the car key and didn't break it. As she followed him out, she heard him add in a low voice, "If you're scared, grab my arm."

The car stopped at the corner of the back alley of the teahouse. Chen Mo, wearing a cap, was leaning against the wall smoking. When he saw them coming, he quickly choked his cigarette: "Boss, Miss Shen, the old ghost just went into the toilet. I guess he wanted to hide the cowhide bag."

There was a smell of gas in the alley, and a few broken cardboard boxes were piled up beside the trash cans, making a rustling sound in the wind. Shen Zhixia glanced towards the back door of the teahouse, which was slightly ajar, revealing the faded red curtain hanging inside.

"Don't be in a hurry." Ling Xu 'an held Chen Mo, who was trying to move forward, "Wait for him to come out."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the curtain was lifted and the old ghost came out with a hunched back, his hands empty but his lower back bulging - the cowhide bag was indeed hidden in his clothes. He looked left and right, then hurried towards the entrance of the alley. Just as he passed the pile of cardboard boxes, suddenly two men emerged from inside and twisted his arms, one on the left and the other on the right.

It was Chen Mo who brought him along. The old ghost let out a "ow", and the cowhide bag on his lower back dropped to the ground, and stacks of cash rolled out, glaring red.

"Police! Don't move!" Chen Mo showed his ID (borrowed from the security team), bent down and picked up the cowhide bag. "Old ghost, come with us."

The old ghost was still struggling and cursing, but Shen Zhixia stared blankly at the cigarette box he had dropped on the ground - it was "Red Camellia" brand, which Aunt Zhang used to smoke and said it was cheap.

"What's wrong?" Ling Xu 'an touched her arm.

"Nothing." Shen Zhixia shook her head as she watched the old ghost being pushed into the car parked at the entrance of the alley, and suddenly remembered what Aunt Zhang had written in her diary: "The old ghost loves to take advantage of small things and is willing to tell the truth when given a pack of cigarettes."