Hidden moth

Chapter 40 Time and Space
He Kao initially thought he'd received a scam call; he'd never rented a bank safe deposit box. But he was also sensitive to the term because twenty years earlier, his father, Zhou Du, had been arrested in a safe deposit box at Qiyuan Commercial Bank.

So he didn't hang up, listening patiently until he finally understood what was going on. There was indeed an overdue safe deposit box at the bank, and it was actually rented by his father Zhou Du twenty years ago.

Nowadays, bank safe deposit box services are charged on an annual basis, and the longest lease period is only three to five years. How could there be a safe deposit box in a bank that has been there for twenty years?
This brings us back to the era of reform and opening up, a time of rapid development and unbridled growth. At that time, Qiyuan City Commercial Bank had just been established and launched many innovative businesses.

The slogan at that time was to build a service-oriented bank and pursue growth in intermediary business income beyond the traditional deposit and loan interest rate spread.

The relevant literature also lists a lot of data, such as a certain representative international bank, whose intermediary business income accounts for more than a certain percentage of the total income and so on.

Safe deposit boxes are already the most conservative and secure of many new businesses, but they are also a new thing, and people are not entirely clear about how to do it.

So some people went looking for information, and if they couldn't find any ready-made information, they asked experts to translate the foreign information. Others organized teams to conduct overseas inspections... Some business processes were even learned from film and television works.

This is true, I learned it from the movies!
In some movies, someone deposits a safe deposit box in a bank, and decades later his heir comes to the bank with the receipt... The audience is amazed that foreign banks actually have such a spirit of contract and management level.

At that time, Qiyuan Commercial Bank launched a safe deposit box service, some of which could even be kept anonymously, and items could be deposited and accessed by simply providing credentials and passwords.

Zhou Du did not choose this anonymous service. He rented the safe deposit box with his real name, left his ID number and contact information, rented it for twenty years, and paid the rent and deposit in full at one time.

During these twenty years, he could come to the bank at any time to deposit and withdraw items from the safe deposit box.

Such services no longer exist today because they may lead to various disputes in practice. Later, financial management agencies also issued bank safe deposit box business management regulations and provided unified standardized guidance.

However, before the regulations were introduced, the business that had already been processed was difficult to handle, and some could only continue to be executed according to the original agreement.

For example, for a safe deposit box rented by Zhou Du for twenty years and paid in full, even if the customer cannot be contacted, the bank will not abandon it or open it without authorization before the expiration of the agreement.

Bank safe deposit box rentals have increased several times over the years. The twenty years of fees Zhou Du paid wouldn't even cover a year's rent today, but that's not how it works.

In the first half of this year, the safe deposit box finally expired. According to the original agreement, after deducting the deposit, the bank is still obliged to keep it for another six months and actively contact the customer.

Zhou Du had long since passed away, and the contact information he left behind was no longer valid. But just recently, someone unexpectedly went to the bank to inquire about Zhou Du, and the bank was able to contact Zhou Du's sister, Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan also provided He Kao's mobile phone number, and the bank called He Kao, which surprised He Kao somewhat.

Things that are deliberately placed in the bank safe deposit box are most likely valuables, but my aunt did not get greedy this time.

Based on He Kao's understanding of his aunt, she might not necessarily covet his things, but with her usual temper, she should go to the bank first to open the box and check it for He Kao.

It seemed that the eldest aunt had also gotten scared after what happened last time. The missing batch of fireworks had saved her family from disaster, and they had no idea how He Kao had managed it or where he had hidden it. The more they didn't understand, the more uncertain they felt.

On Tuesday, He Kao didn't even have lunch and took an hour off to go to the bank to handle the matter. However, he returned disappointed because the procedures were incomplete.

He had to provide his father's death certificate and prove that he was the only legal heir of Zhou Du. If not, he had to obtain recognition from other co-heirs.

He Kao asked the staff why they called him if they couldn't hand it over to him. The staff replied that they had to follow the regulations and that they had notified He Kao so that he could bring the documents with him.

He didn't have any of these documents, and it was even difficult for him to prove that he was Zhou Du's son. Because when he was five years old, his uncle took him to the police station to change his name and registered him at his uncle's house.

He was later raised by his grandparents, but it was not until he was eighteen that he officially "separated from the family" and settled back in the small building newly built by his grandfather. Now he lives alone.

When encountering such a situation, one usually needs to find someone, so the helpless He Kao thought of two people. First, he contacted Uncle Changqing, the head of the Pugang Town Police Station, through his uncle He Changshan, and then found Qian Guran.

After a week of running around, my uncle finally got all the relevant documents, including Zhou Du's death certificate, proof of He Kao's father-son relationship with Zhou Du, a certificate confirming his mother's disappearance, and even the death certificates of his grandparents.

Although He Kao was a local, he didn't have strong social connections, but he knew how to ask for help. It was the first time in his life that he asked his uncle to run errands for him, and it felt a little strange.

Why would he still look for Qian? When he heard about the various sects, he remembered how easy it was for the Wangqimen sorcerers to get involved in official circles and how they loved to build networks. So if he had any problems, he could just look for Lao Qian!
Qian Guran explained with a wry smile that he just became a disciple and learned the magic by chance, and he did not have much contact with his fellow disciples. He was not a traditional Wangqimen sorcerer.

But Lao Qian came from a wealthy family after all, so he could still make some connections if he wanted to. It was difficult to solve big problems, but it was no problem to deal with small things like this, he could just ask someone to say hello.

Lao Qian really helped. He asked someone to give a heads-up to the president of the commercial bank, and he also found a lawyer to help He Kao draft a legally binding statement of responsibility.

The bank staff hadn't told He Kao that this document was needed, but Lao Qian still advised him to be prepared. He Kao didn't even meet the lawyer; Lao Qian handled all the paperwork for him.

He Kao took these documents to the bank again, just before the National Day holiday, otherwise it would have been delayed for many days.

The receptionist didn't make any trouble this time and was quite friendly. But He Kao, with his sharp ears, heard her mutter, "Actually, we should get another notary public document."

In any case, He Kao finally walked into the safe deposit box warehouse under the guidance of the staff.

Twenty years have passed, and the facilities have been updated a lot, but the warehouse is still the same warehouse, and the layout has not changed much. There are rows of cabinets in a large room, and a separate small room in the corner, which looks a bit like the security booth outside.

At some point, He Kao's eyes seemed to be covered with mist, and his nose felt strangely sore. The safe deposit box wasn't taken from the existing cabinet, but had been brought in separately by staff from another location. It had been there for twenty years, and it was a different model than the existing facilities.

He Kao, who had neither a key nor a combination, witnessed the destructive opening of the lock by staff, a process recorded on video. He Kao also paid for the unpacking fee.

He Kao took the unlocked safe deposit box to the small compartment. When he opened it, he smelled a scent that seemed to have been sealed for twenty years.

The safe deposit box was only the size of an ordinary combination briefcase and felt quite heavy, but there were not many things inside and it was not full. What caught the eye was a pair of brass paperweights, and the rest was a pile of documents.

The surface of the paperweight was engraved with beautiful plum branch patterns. He Kao picked up one casually, but failed to control the strength well and almost twisted his wrist. This thing was too heavy, almost ten pounds!

The material isn't brass but gold, and a pair of these paperweights would weigh ten kilograms. If they weren't fake gold bars with tungsten cores, it would be like winning the lottery!

He Kao was not surprised, but just put down the paperweight silently. At this time, a drop of something wet the back of his hand. He didn't even realize that he was crying.

Is this what my father left behind? He didn't leave any last words!

He picked up the pile of documents again. It seemed to contain financial statements, various transaction records, and yellowed photos. The more He Kao read, the tighter his brows furrowed, shocked and puzzled.

Although he is not a professional, he can see that what is collected here is someone's black material!

Gu Yunteng, Chairman of the Bada Group, originally named Gu Teng, turned sixty this year. He rose to prominence thirty years ago. At the time when Zhou Du had established his own engineering team, Gu Yunteng, who had just changed his name, was a rising star in Jianghuai Province's business community.

When he was 30 years old, he founded Bada Real Estate Development Company, the predecessor of today's Bada Group, and made his first fortune in old city renovation projects.

By the time he was 40, Bada Group had become the largest private real estate company in Qiyuan City by assets. Its headquarters, the Yunteng Building, was completed at that time and remains one of Qiyuan's landmark buildings.

He Kao's company had a business partnership with the Bada Group, so he had heard of him. It was said that Gu Yunteng had been considering retiring over the past two years, gradually handing over the management of the group to his son.

His son, Gu Ziyuan, nicknamed "Round Belly," is 36 years old and a well-known young entrepreneur in Qiyuan City. He frequently receives various titles and is now the president of Bada Group. In the past two years, as his father has gradually retreated from the public eye, he has seen more and more opportunities to appear on camera.

The materials in the safe deposit box were nothing special. They all belonged to Gu Yunteng, including his collusion and transaction records with many bigwigs in Qiyuan at that time. Even the amounts from 20 years ago were shocking.

He Kao sighed inexplicably, because these negative news were basically outdated. In the past twenty years, Qiyuan had experienced more than one major earthquake!

It was impossible for He Kao to know all the people in the materials, but after a quick glance, several of the ones he remembered seemed to have been in that kind of report and had been to places with very regular schedules.

Even if there are still some who slip through the net, twenty years is already past the maximum statutory prosecution period.

But it cannot be said that these materials are worthless. If someone continues to commit crimes during these twenty years, then these materials can still serve as supporting evidence.

So many years have passed and so many people have gone in, but Gu Yunteng is still doing well. His business is growing bigger and bigger, and he is involved in more and more fields.

He Kao was very puzzled. Where did his father get all these materials? Did he collect them himself or get them from somewhere else? Remembering that his father was a hidden moth, he might really have a way to get these things, but why would he do this?
According to the original agreement provided by the bank, my father rented the safe deposit box just one month before the accident. This means that my father was already a safe deposit box customer of this bank and could enter and exit the safe deposit box normally.

However, on the day of the accident, he did not go through the registration procedures to enter, but appeared inexplicably in the safe deposit box warehouse. He was discovered by the staff on duty through surveillance, and then the police were called.

Why the father did that at the time is a mystery.

He Kao only found out today that his father had actually rented a safe deposit box in the bank a month in advance. Two words inexplicably flashed through his mind - scout the location.

There was no reason, and no need to ask why. It was just a sudden thought that popped up in his mind. Perhaps because he had been thinking too much about the hidden moth recently, He Kao had actually thought of a possibility.

It is said that the hidden moth can appear anywhere out of thin air, but there should be conditions, such as the premise is that he has been to this place before.

Is that so? He Kao didn't know either. This was just a fleeting guess.

Picking up the pile of documents, I found a red book at the bottom - the house ownership certificate.

When I opened it, I saw that it was a house on the sixth side of Building 10, Guanliu Mansion, with a construction area of 180 square meters, four bedrooms, two living rooms and two bathrooms. The owner was Zhou Du.

Guanliu Mansion was also completed 20 years ago. The developer was Bada Group. It is located on the riverside in the western part of the main urban area. Its promotional slogan is "ecological river view luxury house", low-density large-sized low-rise buildings. It was considered a very high-end residential community in Qiyuan at that time.

Even today, twenty years later, second-hand houses in Guanliu Community are still very expensive, not only because of the good landscape and property services, but also because of the good school district.

When did his father own this house? He Kao had no recollection of it, and his grandparents probably had no idea either, otherwise they would have never heard of it.

The community is still there, and the houses are still there, but no one has lived there for twenty years. I don’t know what it has become. Maybe it has been occupied by someone else a long time ago?

He Kao transferred all his things into the backpack he was carrying, expressed his gratitude to the bank staff, and walked out the door with a lot of questions and complicated feelings.

**
(End of this chapter)