After breaking up with my boyfriend, I made a fortune and rose rapidly in my career.

What happened in the lobby on the first floor quickly spread throughout the entire management committee building.

Mr. Li, his face pale, followed Zhao Sihai and his group away, and the forged acceptance report was confiscated. Throughout the entire process, Chen Pingfang didn't say a word, yet his actions were more frightening than if he had simply cursed at someone.

The news spread very quickly.

"Have you heard? The new Director Chen exposed Hongyuan Construction's fake contract on the spot!"

"Just one glance? Those eyes are amazing!"

"This is going to be interesting. This new director is really going to solve a big problem."

In each office, people were whispering amongst themselves. Their gazes towards the storage room on the nineteenth floor held a mixture of awe and curiosity.

Chen Ping returned to his office, closed the door, and locked the forged report in a drawer.

Chen Pingfang knew very well that Zhao Sihai and his group were just scouting ahead. The real problem was the 12 billion yuan accounting issue at the Chipfire Industrial Park. To find out the truth, they first needed to obtain the financial records of the High-tech Zone.

Without hesitation, Chen Ping picked up the internal phone and dialed the finance department's number.

"Hello, this is Chen Pingfang. Please help me connect with Director Liu."

There was a pause on the other end of the phone, followed by a smooth voice: "Oh, it's Director Chen. This is Liu Guangming. What are your instructions?"

"Director Liu, you're too kind," Chen Ping said calmly. "I need all the financial data for the Chipfire Industrial Park project since its inception, including financial details, bank statements, and all accounting vouchers. Please prepare them; I'll come pick them up in half an hour."

There was a full five seconds of silence on the other end of the phone.

"Director Chen..." Liu Guangming sounded troubled. "It's really not that I'm not cooperating. The financial data is too confidential, and the access procedure is very strict. According to regulations, Director Lin's signature is required, but he went to a meeting in the provincial capital today..."

"Before Director Lin left, he authorized me to be fully in charge of the Corefire project," Chen Pingfang interrupted Liu Guangming. "The relevant authorization documents have already been issued by the office."

"Oh, yes, yes, I received the document." Liu Guangming immediately began to make excuses, "But our financial system is currently undergoing an upgrade, and all historical data has been archived and cannot be accessed for the time being. How about you wait until the system upgrade is completed? It should take about... a week or two."

Liu Guangming skillfully shifted the blame to his superiors and the system.

"Okay, I understand."

Chen Ping didn't argue and hung up the phone directly.

Hearing the busy tone on the phone, Liu Guangming pursed his lips, leaned back in his boss's chair, picked up his teacup, and leisurely took a sip.

You think you can mess with me, kid? There are a lot more to this High-tech Zone than meets the eye.

However, just twenty minutes later, there was a knock on Liu Guangming's office door.

"Please come in."

The door opened, and Chen Pingfang walked in. He wasn't carrying a briefcase, but only a red-covered copy of the "Audit Law of the People's Republic of China" and an A4 sheet of paper covered with lines and arrows.

When Liu Guangming saw these two items, his eyelids twitched involuntarily.

Chen Ping walked to Liu Guangming's desk without much expression, placed the copy of "Audit Law" on the table, and pushed it in front of Liu Guangming.

"Director Liu, please turn to Article 45." Chen Pingfang's voice wasn't loud, but Liu Guangming's heart skipped a beat.

Liu Guangming's hands trembled slightly as he subconsciously opened the book.

Article 45 clearly states in black and white: "If an audited entity violates the provisions of this Law by refusing or delaying the provision of information related to the audit matters... the directly responsible supervisors and other directly responsible personnel shall be punished in accordance with the law."

Liu Guangming's forehead began to sweat.

"Director Chen, what do you mean by this? I didn't refuse, it's just the system..."

Chen Ping ignored his explanation and pressed the hand-drawn diagram onto the Audit Law.

"This is a chart I compiled showing suspicious fund flows in the Chipfire Industrial Park. The data comes from publicly available bidding information, bank demand letters, and some engineering contracts."

Chen Ping placed his finger on a square in the center of the chart.

"The total debt is 12 billion. Bank loans account for 7 billion, social financing accounts for 2 billion, and there is still about 3 billion in unpaid construction fees. But I have discovered a problem."

Chen Ping's fingertip slid down a thick arrow and touched a circle marked with interest expense.

"The average annual interest rate for bank loans is around 6%. With a principal of seven billion, the total interest over three years would be at most 1.2 to 1.3 billion. But judging from the bank's collection letters, the overdue interest and penalties alone amount to as much as three billion. Director Liu, you're in finance; can you explain to me how this extra billion or so in interest came about?"

Liu Guangming's face had turned from pale to ashen.

Looking at the logic diagram, Liu Guangming saw that every arrow pointed to a problematic aspect of the project's accounts. He understood: this young man had already calculated the accounts before he arrived! The other man was telling him that he knew everything.

Chen Ping looked at Liu Guangming, his tone very calm.

"Director Liu, things are very simple now."

"Bring out your original ledgers, vouchers, and bank statements now, and we'll go over them one by one right here in this office. Any problems will be resolved internally. Otherwise, I'll call the Provincial Audit Office right now and request a special audit of the Xinhuo Industrial Park project. I'll tell them that I'm being prevented from accessing the financial documents and that I suspect there's significant financial fraud and the loss of state-owned assets."

Chen Ping leaned forward slightly, staring into Liu Guangming's eyes, and said, word by word, "When the time comes, it won't be me talking to you."

The office was very quiet.

Liu Guangming's hand holding the teacup trembled incessantly, and the warm tea spilled out, scalding the back of his hand, but he felt nothing.

Liu Guangming knew he had lost.

This young man in front of me does things in a completely unconventional way, and he has directly grasped my weakness.

The consequence of refusing is openly defying organizational review, and he, as the finance director, will be the first to be taken down as a scapegoat.

"I...I'll go get it."

Liu Guangming practically spat out those words through clenched teeth. His legs were weak as he stood up, and he staggered to the safe behind him. With trembling fingers, he entered a long password and then used the key to open the safe.

The heavy cabinet door was pulled open, revealing neatly stacked accounting books and vouchers inside.

Half an hour later, in Chen Ping's office, which resembled a storage room, there was an extra table with a large number of account books piled on it.

Zhang Chao felt a chill run down his spine and didn't dare to breathe.

Chen Ping sat down in front of the pile of account books and began flipping through them one by one. He flipped through them quickly, his sharp eyes scanning every key figure.

Time passed second by second, and the sky outside the window turned from bright to dark.

The only sound in the office was the rustling of papers turning over.

Suddenly, Chen Ping stopped moving.

Chen Ping's gaze was fixed on a voucher that recorded large sums of money transactions.

That was an expenditure of up to 500 million yuan, which was a prepayment to a company called "Nanzhou Hongsheng Trading Co., Ltd." for the purchase of a batch of imported lithography machine core components.

However, the bank statements attached to the receipt show that the money stayed in the other party's account for less than an hour before being split up through dozens of private accounts, with most of it eventually flowing overseas.

Even more strangely, in the quarterly financial statement following this expenditure, a similar "interest expense" quietly appeared on the balance sheet of the Chipfire Industrial Park.

They engage in fictitious trade to obtain funds, then launder this illicit money under the guise of high interest rates and include it in project losses.

Chen Ping slowly leaned back in his chair, his eyes turning cold.

The problem of this 12 billion yuan deficit is not just about unfinished projects and corruption.

The 3 billion yuan in "interest" was actually state-owned assets that were embezzled and laundered in this way!

This is not just an economic issue, but a direct financial crime.