Just then, there was a knock on the door.
"Free pedicures, does the boss want it?" A voice with an out-of-town accent came from outside.
Hao Wei and Zeng Baichuan both looked down at their toes, the nails thick and messy. It was indeed time for some grooming.
"Let him in," Hao Wei instructed, as the door was locked from the inside.
The female masseuse looked puzzled, not remembering that the bath center offered pedicure services. However, since the client had instructed, she obeyed, responded, and got up to wipe her hands before going to unlock the door.
As soon as the lock was opened, a gust of wind rushed in, pushing the masseuse with such force that she nearly fell.
A man in a suit suddenly burst in, standing in the center of the room, holding up his phone and smiling at the two half-naked men:
"Come on! Smile!"
Click!
The sound of the phone's shutter came.
Hao Wei and Zeng Baichuan were dumbfounded, feeling as if something had exploded in their heads.
Lin Qiang smiled as he turned the phone around, letting the two see the photo clearly.
"You two have very nice expressions, I'll keep this!"
Hao Wei and Zeng Baichuan still hadn't recovered, staring in disbelief, completely stunned.
"You are..." The masseuse who nearly fell approached.
"You two can leave now," Lin Qiang waved his hand, letting the female masseuses leave first.
The two masseuses were also confused, looking towards Hao Wei.
Hao Wei's expression changed several times, his whole body starting to tremble. Fear, surprise, and anger intertwined and echoed in his heart. How did Lin Qiang find this place?! He had confirmed that Lin Qiang was still in the banking outlet when they booked this room!
"Ahem..." Zeng Baichuan came to his senses first, awkwardly getting up and preparing to put on his shoes to leave, "I'll head back first."
"Please don't, I have so much to say to Team Leader Zeng!" Lin Qiang stepped forward, firmly pressing down on Zeng Baichuan, waving the photo in his hand and smiling, "During a surprise inspection, the audit team leader and the absent outlet director meeting at a bath center. Although it's not a big deal, it's quite a juicy piece of gossip, isn't it?"
"You... you're going too far..." Zeng Baichuan lowered his head, suppressing his voice to a low growl, "Lin Qiang, who do you think you are? Do you know who you're messing with?"
Hearing this, Lin Qiang instead acted as if he didn't care, and respectfully asked, "Oh my, I'm all ears, who am I messing with?"
"You... you... you..." Zeng Baichuan clutched his chest, not knowing what to say anymore.
Seeing the situation, the two masseuses didn't dare to stay any longer and hurriedly left, closing the door behind them.
Lin Qiang released Zeng Baichuan, stepped back, and smiled at the two men: "Alright, perfect there are no outsiders now."
"Lin Qiang, don't you understand yet!" Hao Wei darkened his face and suddenly shouted, "It's all because of you! It's all because of your uncooperative attitude! That's why I had no choice but to ask Team Leader Zeng to help smooth things over for you! Don't you understand?!"
Hearing this, Zeng Baichuan was stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted, pointing at Lin Qiang: "That's right! Director Hao was afraid I would report your bad attitude to the higher-ups, so he specially invited me out to talk!! Don't you understand even this?!"
"I'm truly honored!" Lin Qiang squinted his eyes, bowing deeply in gratitude, "Director Hao has just been released from jail, is seriously ill, and still has the heart to invite the audit team leader out for health care in the middle of the night. I, Lin Qiang, am incredibly grateful to have such a good leader!!"
Hao Wei started trembling again.
As expected, this method wouldn't intimidate Lin Qiang...
A wave of anger welled up, and he pointed at Zhang Jiaming, scolding: "Didn't I tell you to keep an eye on him?! What happened?!"
"..." Zhang Jiaming was speechless. It was Hao Wei who had asked him to invite Zeng Baichuan out, and now it was Hao Wei scolding him for not keeping an eye on Lin Qiang.
Hao Wei still tried to take the initiative, turning to Lin Qiang: "You should know, a foot massage is nothing, this is just official business."
"Of course! I've witnessed Director Hao's power!" Lin Qiang took out his phone and took another picture of Hao Wei's angry expression, "Arrested at a pornographic KTV a few days ago, now here for a foot massage, not only avoiding punishment but also getting paid leave. This makes me, who hasn't rested for days and nights, very, very, very envious!!!"
"Enough! Stop taking pictures!!" Hao Wei stood up, pointing at Lin Qiang with a trembling finger, "Don't think you can achieve anything with these underhanded tactics. If you have the guts to report it, I have the power to suppress it! By now, you should understand, right?! There's no right or wrong, only people! You've ruined yourself with this attitude! Attitude! Is this how you face your superiors?!"
"Oh my, Director Hao has misunderstood, how could I possibly report to the higher-ups?" Lin Qiang flipped through the contacts on his phone, "I have a classmate who went to work for a newspaper, let me ask if he's interested in this kind of material."
"Hahaha! I thought you had some trick up your sleeve!" The usually seemingly weak Hao Wei finally showed his teeth, "Bank matters should be resolved internally. Whoever makes a fuss in the media will become the bank's public enemy. Lin Qiang, if you want to play, I'll play along to the end!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Qiang quickly covered his words with an even stronger, wilder laugh.
"Hahaha! I thought you were going to say something else!!!" Lin Qiang spread his arms and laughed wildly, "So what if I become a public enemy?! One for two, who's afraid?!"
Lin Qiang's wild laughter echoed in the room, filled with a taste of madness.
Amidst this swirling laughter, Zeng Baichuan finally couldn't hold on anymore.
He pulled Hao Wei, advising: "Director Hao, calm down, calm down a bit."
Lin Qiang smiled, you Hao Wei might not be afraid, but eventually someone would be.
Hao Wei turned his face away, not looking at Lin Qiang, speaking to the wall: "Go ahead, do whatever you want, what can you do? For this little thing, at most they'll suspend me for half a year? But you... hmph, if you make the bank's internal affairs public in the media, no company in the entire financial circle will accept you in the future, your career is in imminent danger."
Before Lin Qiang could respond, Zeng Baichuan collapsed first! He was just here for an audit, he didn't want to get involved in this mess.
"Hao Wei!! Don't be like this!! Let's talk this through!!" After complaining to Hao Wei, Zeng Baichuan turned to Lin Qiang with a terrified face, "Manager Lin, you won't do this, right? This isn't good for anyone, right?"
Lin Qiang nodded with a smile: "Of course, I can't wait to get close to Team Leader Zeng, how could I do such a thing? The bank's internal affairs are internal affairs, even if the leaders are biased and unfair, we shouldn't bring it to outsiders to solve."
"Right! Manager Lin! I knew you were a smart person!" Zeng Baichuan's goldfish eyes bulged, and he smiled along, waving at Zhang Jiaming, "Jiaming, make a cup of tea for Manager Lin too!"
"Oh... yes..." Zhang Jiaming didn't have any chance to speak, he could only obey. But in fact, in the current situation, Zhang Jiaming was the most terrified.
The two half-naked big shots would have lifeboats to escape if the ship sank.
For him, jumping into the sea was the only option left.
"Manager Lin... here's your tea..." Zhang Jiaming tremblingly handed a cup of tea to Lin Qiang.
"Mm." Lin Qiang took the tea, only smiling at Hao Wei and Zeng Baichuan.
"Manager Lin, we had some misunderstandings before, let's use tea instead of wine, and let bygones be bygones!" Zeng Baichuan raised his own teacup, vowing solemnly.
"Team Leader Zeng, we indeed don't have any grudges, and I know it's all arranged by the leaders," Lin Qiang pointed upwards, putting down his teacup without intending to drink.
Zeng Baichuan slapped his thigh, also putting down his teacup and smiling along: "That's right! Manager Lin, you're a sensible person! We're all at the mercy of circumstances in this world!"
"Then I'll trouble Team Leader Zeng to be lenient when reporting to the bank."
"Ah! Your banking outlet has been performing very well! There's nothing to criticize! I'll make sure to praise Manager Lin for your tireless work, working day and night to cooperate!" Zeng Baichuan waved his hand, relieved. He had worked hard to get to the Audit Department, and he didn't want to be dragged into a whirlpool by Lin Qiang, this mad dog. Why should he, Zeng Baichuan, take the risk for issues between Hao Wei and Lin Qiang?
Hao Wei just kept facing the wall, breathing heavily. Zeng Baichuan's attitude made him resentful, but he didn't dare to say anything.
"By the way, there's one thing I don't understand," Lin Qiang pressed on, "Team Leader Zeng, Director Hao was fine, so how come he's suddenly bedridden? With such an important inspection happening at the banking outlet, him being here for a foot massage doesn't seem quite right..."
"Well..." Zeng Baichuan also looked a bit embarrassed, turning to look at Hao Wei, tentatively asking, "Director Hao, what do you think... should we..."
"Hmph... the inspection should be about done, right?" Hao Wei said quietly.
"Well... that works!" Zeng Baichuan was in a difficult position on both sides and had to choose a middle ground, "Manager Lin, we've seen pretty much everything we need to, these past couple of days. After tonight, we'll wrap things up, how does that sound?"
Lin Qiang thought for a moment, and nodded.
With Zeng Baichuan retreating, undoubtedly a major problem was swept away. Moreover, the time bomb of Zhong Sheng had already been quietly planted, this audit no longer had any value to exploit.
"In that case, you three can continue," Lin Qiang waved his hand, and finally said to Hao Wei, "Director Hao, I look forward to your early recovery and return to take charge."
"Don't bother worrying about me, just take care of your own business," Hao Wei forced a smile, "One hundred million is not a small number."
"Hehe, Director Hao wasn't here, but news travels fast," Lin Qiang didn't waste more words, just as he opened the door preparing to leave, he bumped into a staff member in front of the door.
The staff member held out a receipt, saying: "The invoice you requested is ready."
"Oh." Lin Qiang took the invoice, saw it and laughed again, taking out his phone to take a picture, "A company invoice, for dining expenses, signed by United Bank. Director Hao really knows how to save money."
He slapped the invoice on the table before striding away!
Of course, Lin Qiang didn't really leave. He turned and went to the front desk, entering the sauna room with Zheng Shuai. After a refreshing steam for nearly an hour, the two came to a private room and had a simple massage while drinking ice water.
"Haha, how did you capture this expression?" Zheng Shuai held up Lin Qiang's phone, laughing out loud for the eighth time, "Hao Wei's expression is too innocent, really too innocent."
"Huff..." Lin Qiang answered him with a snore.
"..." Zheng Shuai smiled helplessly, waving at the masseuse to let them go first, "Sigh... it's indeed time for a good nights sleep."
That night, Lin Qiang slept very comfortably, but the other three might not have been so lucky.