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

The emergency room lights were very bright.

Chen Pingfang sat in the treatment chair as the doctor stitched up the wound on his forehead. The needle pierced his skin, causing a sharp pain, but Chen Pingfang's expression remained unchanged.

Xiao Yuhan stood to the side, holding the black leather ledger and hard drive in her hand, her gaze never leaving them.

"Secretary Chen, the wound is a bit deep. It would be best to stay in the hospital for observation overnight," the doctor said while stitching up the wound.

"No need," Chen Pingfang said calmly. "I'll leave as soon as I'm done sewing."

The doctor was taken aback for a moment, and wanted to persuade him again, but Xiao Yuhan waved his hand: "Listen to him."

She understood Chen Pingfang's thinking. Wang Jianzhong certainly wouldn't sit idly by and wait to die; she had to act before he could destroy more evidence.

Ten minutes later, Chen Ping, with a bandage wrapped around his forehead, walked quickly out of the hospital with Xiao Yuhan.

Liu Tiemian's car was already waiting at the door. Zhang Zheng, sitting in the passenger seat, opened the car door as soon as he saw them come out and said, "Brother Chen, I got the hard drive back, and I'm copying the data."

The car drove directly to the city government office.

In the dead of night, only a few emergency lights were on in the office building, and the corridor was quiet, with only the sound of a few people's footsteps.

Chen Ping pushed open the door to his office, and Liu Tiemian had already connected the hard drive to the computer.

On the screen, folders popped up one by one, containing not only electronic backups of the ledgers but also several audio recordings.

Chen Ping opened the first recording.

"Secretary Li, when will this month's payment arrive?"

"Don't worry, Mr. Zhao, I'll talk to the boss and get the approval within three days."

"Thank you very much, Secretary Li. This is just a small token of my appreciation."

The audio was clear; it was a conversation between Li Ming and Zhao Defu.

In the second recording, Li Ming's voice was impatient: "The boss urgently needs this money. You guys need to hurry up and not keep the higher-ups waiting."

After listening to the recording, Xiao Yuhan's expression gradually turned cold.

Chen Ping opened the black leather ledger and looked through it page by page, remembering every single entry clearly.

"March 15, 2019, Wang Jianzhong, environmental impact assessment fee for Jinshuiwan project, 500,000 yuan, cash."

"June 22, 2020, Wang Jianzhong, land planning adjustment in the eastern part of the city, 800,000, transferred."

"September 10, 2021, Wang Jianzhong, building materials purchase rebate, 1.2 million yuan, cash."

unambiguous evidence.

Liu Tiemian clenched his fist: "Wang Jianzhong can't escape now!"

Zhang Zheng's face flushed red: "With this evidence, the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection will definitely open a case!"

Just then, the television on the office wall suddenly turned on.

Everyone was stunned for a moment.

The words "Emergency Broadcast" popped up on the screen, and then the scene switched to the press conference room of the city government office.

Wang Jianzhong stood on the stage, his face haggard and his eyes red-rimmed. He first bowed deeply, then said in a hoarse voice, "Fellow citizens, friends from the media, on behalf of the municipal government, I apologize to you all."

The office fell silent instantly, with everyone staring intently at the television screen.

"I made serious oversight mistakes during the supervision of the Jinshuiwan project." Wang Jianzhong raised his head, his eyes seemingly still glistening with tears. "My secretary, Li Ming, abused his position, using my name to swindle and accept huge bribes."

He paused, then raised his voice even louder: "I have handed Li Ming over to the judicial authorities so that he can face the full force of the law!"

The television camera then cut to footage of Li Ming being escorted away by the police. Li Ming had his head down, his expression blank.

Xiao Yuhan suddenly stood up, staring at the screen, her knuckles turning white from clenching her fists.

"What is he doing..." Zhang Zheng's voice was trembling.

"He's trying to push Li Ming out as a scapegoat," Chen Pingfang said coldly.

Wang Jianzhong's move was ruthless. He preemptively held a press conference, portraying himself as a misled leader and accusing Li Ming of committing crimes under his name. In this way, all the records in the ledgers concerning Wang Jianzhong could be interpreted as Li Ming embezzling money.

Li Ming, the scapegoat, has clearly made a deal with Wang Jianzhong and taken the blame for everything.

The office landline suddenly rang.

Xiao Yuhan answered the phone, her brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

"Yes...I understand...I will cooperate with the investigation..."

After hanging up the phone, she looked at Chen Pingfang: "It's a call from the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection. They said that although they have the account books, because Wang Jianzhong voluntarily admitted his responsibility for negligence, and Li Ming insisted that he was the one who took all the money, they can't take coercive measures against Wang Jianzhong directly. They can only conduct an organizational interview first."

Liu Tiemian slammed his fist on the table: "Damn it!"

Zhang Zheng slumped into the chair, completely drained of energy.

The office was deathly silent. Wang Jianzhong had managed to absolve himself of all responsibility by employing only one secretary.

Chen Ping closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and forced himself to calm down.

Something's definitely wrong.

He picked up the black leather ledger again, ignoring the entries with names written on them, and flipped directly to the last page. It contained a handwritten summary by Zhao Defu.

Chen Ping picked up a calculator and began to check each item one by one. He compared the total profits of the Jinshuiwan project over the years with the total amount of expenditures recorded in the ledger.

The numbers on the calculator screen kept changing.

Ten minutes later, Chen Ping raised his head.

"The money doesn't match."

Xiao Yuhan turned around: "What?"

Chen Pingfang pointed to the summary section at the end of the ledger: "According to Zhao Defu's records, the Jinshuiwan project illegally made nearly one billion yuan. But the money used to bribe various officials, including the money recorded under Wang Jianzhong's name, only amounted to tens of millions."

He paused, then said, word by word, "The remaining large sum of money, we don't know where it went."

Liu Tiemian was stunned: "Where did the money go?"

"Wang Jianzhong took the lion's share, but he didn't keep track of it. It's also possible that he wasn't the one who took the most money at all," Chen Pingfang said, staring at the ledger.

No one spoke in the office.

Chen Ping turned and walked to the computer, reopening the spreadsheet on the hard drive. He clicked on the view menu and selected to show hidden columns.

The screen flickered, and several previously hidden columns appeared.

In a seemingly ordinary section for material costs, a code name appears repeatedly: Teacher.

Every sum of money transferred to this teacher was laundered through underground banks, and the amount was substantial, far exceeding the money given to Wang Jianzhong.

Chen Pingfang's pupils contracted sharply, and he turned the computer screen towards Xiao Yuhan.

Xiao Yuhan looked at the code name, her expression turning serious.

"Wang Jianzhong is so desperate to kill someone to silence them," Chen Pingfang said calmly, "because he wants to cut off all the leads to this teacher, not just to protect himself."