Seeing Lin Qiang still grinning after hanging up, Hu Xiao gently pushed him.
"What's so funny?"
"Thanking my lucky stars," Lin Qiang pointed at the bright moon. "I've found that when things seem to be going badly, unexpected good things happen."
"Oh? Are you talking about me?" Hu Xiao raised her eyebrows flirtatiously. "I don't have a boyfriend, you know."
"Pfft..." Lin Qiang laughed awkwardly. "You're too clever, don't tease an honest guy like me."
"You, honest?" Hu Xiao laughed exaggeratedly. "Weren't you the one who just ordered severe punishment for those customers? Don't think I didn't notice - you knew those two middle-aged men from next door, right?"
Lin Qiang shook his head helplessly at Hu Xiao: "Too clever!"
"Haha, don't worry. I asked my colleagues - one of them is from a bank," Hu Xiao licked her lips. "I told them to be sure to notify their work leaders to pick them up, and if possible, detain them for 10-15 days. Pretty nice of me, huh?"
"Too nice. It's our first meeting and you're making me feel embarrassed," Lin Qiang sensed Hu Xiao had been lying before - her style was actually very shrewd, always self-deprecating about being foolish.
Not knowing how else to thank her, Lin Qiang spread his hands: "I've got nothing. Take whatever you like."
"Come on, you really think I want something from you?" Hu Xiao casually pushed Lin Qiang's hands down. "Let's go. I just needed someone to eat with tonight. We'll be even after a good meal."
"You choose!"
Hu Xiao wasn't picky. She entered a small eatery, ordered some appetizers and two beers.
Taking advantage of the noisy environment, they chatted freely about bank rules, police tactics, and mostly personal matters. Despite their vastly different personalities, they got along surprisingly well.
Lin Qiang was reminded of Confucius's saying: "The gentleman harmonizes without uniformity. The petty man conforms but lacks harmony." Zhang Jiaming and Fang Qing were alike but incompatible, while he and Hu Xiao were different yet in harmony.
After dinner, they exchanged contacts and said hasty goodbyes. Hu Xiao still had cases to review, while Lin Qiang was done for the day.
...
At the next morning's meeting, Hao Wei was absent. The Dongjiao branch called to say Hao Wei was ill, and Lin Qiang would temporarily take over as acting outlet manager.
Lin Qiang sat in the main chair, amused as he looked at his clueless colleagues.
Those police friends were really loyal - Sister Xiao's dinner wasn't wasted.
"Let's get to work. No more meetings, they're annoying," Lin Qiang waved his arm, ready to dismiss everyone.
Though Hao Wei rarely managed anything, he was still the top leader. With the boss gone, subordinates naturally felt relaxed. Meeting someone like Lin Qiang who hated meetings made them even happier.
"Hey, hey!" Xiao Xiao poked her head out to ask, "What exactly happened to Hao Wei? He always comes in for a morning stroll, this isn't like him at all?"
"Well... the branch didn't explain," Lin Qiang shrugged. "You can all come in a bit later these days, leave early if you finish. Just keep up performance and avoid mistakes."
"Of course." Seeing Lin Qiang also lacked information, Xiao Xiao turned to ask a dazed Zhang Jiaming, "Do you know?"
"Huh?" Zhang Jiaming was at a loss. Hearing Xiao Xiao's question, he quickly shook his head, "Manager Hao hasn't contacted me."
"Ahem, ahem." Zheng Shuai cleared his throat, putting on an arrogant air. "Little Xiao, you're still not good enough. Can't you see who has the source of gossip? I used to be in administration, you know."
"Damn! Why didn't you say so earlier?" Xiao Xiao excitedly stood up and ran around the table to Zheng Shuai's side. "What exactly happened?"
"Hehe." Zheng Shuai glanced questioningly at Lin Qiang. "It's still meeting time, it's not appropriate to discuss."
Lin Qiang just waved his hand with a smile: "I already said the meeting's over. This is our private chat time now."
"Alright," Zheng Shuai shook his head. "This news is explosive. Those who can't handle it should leave first."
He glanced at Zhang Jiaming, implying he should get lost as they weren't on the same side.
But Zhang Jiaming seemed quite interested and didn't leave, looking expectantly at Zheng Shuai.
"It doesn't matter anyway, this has already spread," Zheng Shuai didn't mind Zhang Jiaming's presence and started explaining with relish. "This incident! You can't blame heaven or earth, only Hao Wei's terrible luck! Seriously, such goddamn bad luck!"
"Hurry up and tell us!" Xiao Xiao was burning with curiosity.
"Stop shaking me..." Zheng Shuai spoke like a storyteller, focused and animated. "Well! Last night at 9, the head office's secretary got a call! Note, it was the head office! Guess what it was about?"
Zheng Shuai drew out his words: "It was the police notifying the chairman to pick up Hao Wei! The charge was prostitution!"
"Holy crap!" Xiao Xiao's mouth fell open. "Hao Wei's into that? Doesn't his kid go to university?"
"Ah, your political awareness is still lacking," Zheng Shuai shook his head. "That's not the key point. The head office is crucial. Think about it - our bank's head office is equivalent to a ministry-level unit. For the police to contact the board of directors over such a trivial matter, demanding the chairman pick someone up - isn't that extreme? It's like calling the Sanitation Bureau Chief to apologize for a janitor's mistake."
"But why?" Xiao Xiao was hooked, anxiously asking, "Then what happened? Did the chairman go that late at night?"
"How could he?" Zheng Shuai explained to Xiao Xiao, "The secretary is no fool. If he let the chairman handle every notice, he'd be fired long ago. The secretary handled this beautifully. After consideration, he found someone from our General Management Department, investigated which branch Hao Wei was from, then notified our branch manager to pick him up. This way, he avoided disturbing the directors, privately informed our branch manager, helped our branch hide this incident, and the branch manager would be grateful to him."
"Then what? Keep going!"
"Well, this is where it gets odd," Zheng Shuai continued with relish. "After that, our branch manager had to get out of his warm bed late at night and rush to the police station to pick up Hao Wei... But when he got there, they wouldn't release him. They demanded the legal representative of Hao Wei's unit come in person! For our bank, that would be the chairman..."
"This... isn't that excessive?" Xiao Xiao asked. "Usually any leader would do, why insist on the chairman?"
"No choice, the police were playing hardball this time, following procedures strictly," Zheng Shuai shrugged. "So our branch manager spent half an hour sweet-talking at the station without even seeing Hao Wei. Poor Hao Wei, at such a miserable time, his wife happened to be abroad. He had no one to take care of him in the middle of the night."
Zheng Shuai licked his lips and continued: "Our branch manager isn't stupid. Sensing something was off, he started pulling strings, trying to get the police to bend the rules and not disturb the board again. But this time... all those small-fry connections were useless. By midnight, the police still wouldn't release him."
"Amazing!" Xiao Xiao exclaimed. "Is this karma for doing too many bad deeds?"
"It's not over!" Zheng Shuai kept dropping bombshells. "At 2 AM, the secretary got another call, saying if the board of directors didn't send someone to pick up Hao Wei, they'd issue a formal written notice! Once it becomes a written document submitted to head office, the nature changes completely - it would have to be discussed at a board meeting!"
"That serious? Hao Wei is done for, right?"
"Hard to say," Zheng Shuai shook his head. "The bank secretary thought it was just a small matter, dealt with after notifying the branch manager. He didn't expect to be woken up again in the middle of the night. Furious, he called the branch manager, scolded him, and gave an ultimatum: if this matter dragged on till morning, he wouldn't keep it under wraps. The police would send an official letter, and it would be handled formally. Imagine that nasty letter being presented at the board meeting - not just Hao Wei, but our branch manager would be in trouble too."
"Damn! Then he's definitely finished!" Xiao Xiao's face lit up, glancing at Lin Qiang occasionally, thinking if Hao Wei was out, her Brother Qiang would be in charge.
"Hey, in the end, our branch manager, ready to cut losses, urgently called the Jijing Regional Vice President!" Zheng Shuai said, somewhat admiringly. "The Jijing Offices VP is a decent guy. After weighing the pros and cons, he personally stepped in. He's a bureau-level official after all, the police couldn't ignore him. They lectured him a bit, had him sign some papers, then let him see Hao Wei. They announced Hao Wei would be detained for 15 days, and no official letter would be sent."
"I think Hao Wei is definitely done for!" Xiao Xiao spoke freely, not caring if Zhang Jiaming was present. "After all this fuss, Hao Wei's become famous. Head office, regional office, branch office all remember him now. How can he keep working?"
"I agree!" Zheng Shuai declared confidently. "If I were the branch manager, I'd transfer him to some weird subsidiary company right away. Too embarrassing."
"Alright, stop exaggerating," Lin Qiang said, quite satisfied after hearing Zheng Shuai's description. Sister Xiao really knew how to handle things. Though Lin Qiang told everyone to tone it down, his face was beaming. "These days, in business, having a drink and finding a girl at night is too normal. It's not such a big mistake, not enough to ruin him."
"Boss Lin, this could go either way," Zheng Shuai analyzed. "Forget head office, this has already spread through the regional office. Even I, a former admin staff, know so much detail. Who doesn't know about the lecherous Hao Wei in our Longyuan branch now?"
"Yeah, Manager Hao is in big trouble this time..." a voice timidly spoke up.
Everyone looked towards the speaker with surprise, which quickly turned to contempt after a few seconds.