After they left, Lin Qiang finally sat back down in his chair, rubbing his temples and cursing: "Fucking exhausting. How did those above end up nurturing a bunch of people like this?"
"You!" Xiao Xiao finally snapped out of her shock. "I thought I was good at scolding, but you're the real boss... Those shouts scared even me."
"Mm, women's voices have more penetrating power, while men's are more intimidating," Lin Qiang said, looking at Xiao Xiao's expression and smiling. "But in your case, maybe someday you'll have both penetrating power and intimidation."
"Stop joking about!" Xiao Xiao swung her arm to hit Lin Qiang but couldn't bring herself to do it. Finally, she sighed softly and said gently, "Forget it... What do you want to eat? Let's buy something quickly so you can go get some sleep."
"It's fine, I'll eat during the night inspection. I can't sleep then anyway," Lin Qiang waved his hand and lay on the desk. "All of you, go eat with Zeng Baichuan. Eat as much as you can for free, help me eat more, eat them out of house and home."
"Eat with them?! Haven't we suffered enough?" Zheng Shuai cursed.
"Hehe, you going to eat is annoying to them," Lin Qiang laughed. "Think about it, what can they talk about at the dinner table? Nothing but cursing me. If you're there, they won't be able to curse comfortably. Let them choke on it."
"When you put it that way, it makes sense," Zheng Shuai scratched his head.
"Xiaozhao, you take the lead. Go with them, apologize, and eat together. After all, they're from the audit department. Don't make things too tense," Lin Qiang nudged the dazed Lin Xiaozhao beside him.
"Oh... um..." Lin Xiaozhao asked concernedly, "Manager, if you keep this up, won't you... really... work yourself to death?"
"Now even you're cursing me!"
"Haha!!"
Amidst the laughter, the others hurriedly left, catching up with the dinner group.
A few seconds later, loud snoring echoed in the meeting room.
At 11 PM in the office, Lin Qiang put down his boxed meal and took a big gulp of mineral water, ready to endure the torment of the night. The whole day hadn't been as difficult as he had imagined. He had managed to steal about 15 minutes of sleep every hour, and after work, he had slept for a full 4 hours. Human potential truly is limitless.
After eating, Lin Qiang was preparing to go out and proactively "answer questions" when his phone rang. The caller was Hu Xiao.
"Her?" A slight smile spread across Lin Qiang's face. "I wonder what she wants so late at night."
"Hello."
"Lin Qiang? It's Hu Xiao."
"Mm, what's up?"
"There's something I just found out that you might be interested in..." Hu Xiao's voice on the other end sounded a bit conflicted.
"Hey, just say it." Lin Qiang suddenly felt it probably wasn't good news. A police call at night was never a good sign.
"I'm sorry, don't blame me, I just found out..." Hu Xiao said apologetically, "That Hao Wei we arrested the other day was bailed out yesterday."
"What?! He's already out?"
"Yeah, it seems they pulled some pretty big strings this time, we had no choice but to release him. I was on field duty at the time, and they didn't notify me." Hu Xiao apologized, "Really, I was planning to help you all the way."
"It's okay, it's okay, you've already helped a lot," Lin Qiang repeatedly declined. "To do this much is already very good."
"Sigh... I still feel like I've let you down," Hu Xiao laughed apologetically. "How about this, when you're free someday, I'll treat you to a meal."
"Haha, that would be great."
"Oh? Are you free now? I happen to have nothing to do."
"Now..." This time it was Lin Qiang's turn to be embarrassed, "I'm still working overtime, sorry."
"Hey, at a bank, right? That's normal. Where's your workplace? I'll come wait for you."
Lin Qiang was taken aback. Hu Xiao's words carried a persistent tone, determined to follow through on the dinner invitation.
"No, no, it's not regular overtime. It's the kind that lasts until tomorrow morning."
"That's too much! Don't they want people to live?" Hu Xiao knew bank work was stressful, but still asked, "Then how about tomorrow night?"
"Tomorrow night I also have to work overtime..."
"You... you don't want to eat, do you? If you don't want to, just say so," Hu Xiao complained intentionally.
"Absolutely not," Lin Qiang said in a low voice, covering his mouth. "I guess I'm getting my comeuppance. Someone's been giving me a hard time lately."
"Huh? Giving you a hard time? Don't you have supervisors above you?"
"Well, we have many departments here. The situation is complicated."
"Banks..." Hu Xiao sighed. "It must be very tiring, doing this job."
"Mm, very tiring."
"Then I'll wait for you to invite me. Having a meal and chatting is supposed to be a relaxing thing, don't think of it as a task. Also, if you don't invite me, I'll never call this number again, you know."
"Definitely."
Hanging up the phone, Lin Qiang first smiled helplessly. This Hu Xiao really had quite a personality, saying "I'll never call this number again" after just a few sentences. Probably someone who values face and doesn't like to pester others.
Soon, his smile turned serious again.
Hao Wei.
He was already out.
Yet during the audit department's inspection, he was hiding away.
You're comfortably lying at home while I suffer here?!
According to the official statement, Hao Wei was currently ill and staying in the hospital, needing to recuperate for over ten days. That's why all the trouble fell on Lin Qiang.
In the end, it seems the 15-day detention had become a joke. As long as the higher-ups wanted, Hao Wei could "leave the hospital" at any time and return to take charge, and the audit department could "finish their inspection" and leave whenever they wanted.
By then, even if he completed the 100 million yuan task, it would probably be difficult for him to continue working in this branch.
Power was such a thing - it can be just and upright, eliminating evil and promoting good; equally, it can turn black into white, putting profit above all else. Thinking of this, Lin Qiang couldn't help but laugh at himself.
"For someone as insignificant as me, Lin Qiang, you're going to such lengths. You must be tired."
A knock on the door sounded, and Zhang Jiaming poked his head in with a smile: "Manager Lin, the audit department has some questions."
"Hmph." Lin Qiang looked at his watch. "Every half hour, right on time."
Without saying more, he followed Zhang Jiaming back to the meeting room.
As soon as they entered the meeting room, Zhang Jiaming quickly sat back down next to Zeng Baichuan. The two smiled at Lin Qiang and then started whispering to each other.
"Who has a question?" Lin Qiang asked the scattered auditors.
"Over here!" A young man with a neat side part raised his hand, looking slightly apologetic.
"Oh, coming," Lin Qiang walked behind him. "Where?"
"This one, the insurance policy the company bought for employees," the auditor pointed at the document, frowning. "This policy is very strange. Few companies buy commercial insurance for employees, only some high-level management in very large enterprises have this benefit. But judging from the information, it seems to be a small home improvements company?"