I feel right at home in the world of the courtyard house.

The guesthouse was filled with smoke in Li Jing'an's office. Li Jing'an sat behind his desk, which was covered with receipts. On the sofa sat Section Chief Zhang from the personnel department of the steel rolling mill and Section Chief Gou from the security department. Wang Defa stood in the middle of the office.

"Tell me, what exactly happened?" Li Jing'an pointed to the receipts on the table and said to Wang Defa.

"Chief, what's wrong? I really don't know," Wang Defa asked doubtfully, feeling a little uneasy as he wondered if he had been discovered for taking two bars of soap and a bed sheet.

Li Jing'an slammed his hand on the desk: "What are you pretending to be confused about? These are the loss reports for the linens you've managed these past few days. There are so many! Don't you have any explanation?"

"Ah, Director, these are all reports of losses submitted by the waiters. It has nothing to do with me! I'm just following the procedure. I follow the procedure for every single loss report."

"Procedure? You have the nerve to talk about procedures? We've always followed procedures before, and we didn't have this many scrapped items! How exactly did you follow these procedures? Were you really in charge? Or are you resorting to underhanded tactics?"

"I'm innocent, Chief! I've been wronged! The waiters just bring me one and I replace it; it has nothing to do with me! I was just transferred here, and the waiters all said that's how it's always been done!"

"Fine, you're still being stubborn, huh? It's alright." Li Jing'an said coldly. "I've already sent Deputy Director Huang, along with the accountant and Section Chief Song from the guest room department, to reconcile the accounts. We'll have the results soon. Let's see how long you can keep up this stubbornness."

"Why should I be polite to him? Why don't I just arrest him and take him back to the security department for questioning? Then everything will be clear!" Chief Gou of the security department, who had been sitting on the sofa, spoke up, staring at Wang Defa with a malicious tone.

Upon hearing the head of the security department's words, Wang Defa trembled violently, his heart filled with panic, and cold sweat broke out on his brow. Just then, there was a knock at the door, and it was Deputy Director Huang returning with the accountant and Section Chief Song.

"Director, we just checked the damage reports and the existing linens, and found that most of the linens that were reported as damaged shouldn't have been reported at all. Moreover, many of the replaced items weren't even from our station; they were switched out by someone else. We don't know where they got the junk from, and they were reported as our station's property. There were also some materials that weren't recorded. One bed sheet wasn't registered, and there were more than a dozen bars of soap and twenty toothbrushes—none of them had any relevant records!" Deputy Director Huang strode in and immediately reported the verification results to Li Jing'an.

"Bang!" Li Jing'an slammed his hand on the table again, pointing at Wang Defa with burning anger, and shouted angrily, "What else do you have to say? Huh? I didn't expect that you would cause me trouble in the External Relations Department. I was lenient with you because it was your first offense and transferred you to the Guest Room Department, and you still dare to pull this trick?"

"I'm innocent! I didn't report it; it was the waiters who reported it. It has nothing to do with me!" Wang Defa stammered, his voice trembling uncontrollably, completely lacking the confidence he had just displayed.

"Is that so?" Li Jing'an narrowed his eyes, staring sharply at him, then turned to shout outside, before turning to Deputy Director Huang and instructing, "Let them in."

Deputy Director Huang immediately went out and soon brought in several service staff. The leader was Qin Huairu, who led several service staff from her team. They were carrying a basket of old, discarded linens, which they placed on the office floor with a clatter.

Li Jing'an's gaze swept over the faces of the waiters, and he said in a deep voice, "I see on the damage report that your team reported the most damages. Take a good look at this basket; are the items you reported as damaged?"

Several waiters crowded around to take a look, then shook their heads, insisting, "No, this isn't from our unit at all. We can tell at a glance!" "It must have been secretly replaced by that Officer Wang. It wasn't this junk when we reported the damage!"

Wang Defa stared dumbfounded at the scene before him. Several waiters rushed to push all the blame onto him. His eyes were wide open, he pointed at everyone, his mouth agape, unable to utter a word for a long time. He was so anxious that his face turned red, but he had no way to refute them.

Seeing the waiters looking like they were about to swear oaths, Li Jing'an impatiently waved his hand to stop them: "Alright, alright, alright, you can go out now."

After the waiters left, the office fell silent. Li Jing'an remained silent, his gaze returning to Wang Defa, staring at him coldly, the atmosphere so oppressive it was hard to breathe. Wang Defa felt a chill run down his spine, his legs trembling uncontrollably, almost unable to stand.

"Is there anything else you want to say?" Li Jing'an broke the silence, asking in an icy tone.

"Chief, I'm innocent!" Wang Defa pleaded again, his voice trembling with tears.

"Is there anything else you want to say besides that? If you continue like this and don't tell me anything useful or truthful, then I'll have the security guards take you away and handle this officially." Li Jing'an's face was gloomy, and his tone was utterly uncompromising.

As soon as he finished speaking, Chief Gou of the Security Section stood up and walked towards Wang Defa, as if to take him back to the Security Section for interrogation. Wang Defa trembled violently again, his legs went weak, and he stammered, "Chief, I...I admit it, I took two bars of soap, just two!"

"Are you kidding me?" Section Chief Gou sneered, rolled up his sleeves, his eyes fierce, and reached out to grab him.

Wang Defa was so frightened he almost jumped out of his skin. He quickly added, "And there's another bed sheet! The rest really has nothing to do with me, I swear, I really didn't take anything else!"

"Hmph, you think it's okay just because you say so? Let me tell you, it's not a matter of how much you admit. Everything needs evidence." Li Jing'an narrowed his eyes, staring intently at him, clearly not believing his one-sided statement.

Wang Defa, his face flushed with anxiety, hurriedly waved his hands and protested, "Really, Chief, why don't you believe me? You can come to my house and see, those two bars of soap are still there, untouched! If it really doesn't work, I'll go home right now and get them back to the station! And that bed sheet, my mom took it to give away, I'll go back and have her get it back. I really didn't mean to take anything from the station, I just didn't have time to buy new things, so I took some from the station to fill in. I was originally planning to give the station extra money, you have to believe me, Chief!"

"I think we shouldn't waste our breath on him. He's still not being honest. He's only admitting to this little thing and trying to get away with it! Let me take him to the security department for a proper interrogation!" Section Chief Gou immediately suggested to Li Jing'an, his tone full of impatience, determined to take Wang Defa away for a thorough investigation.

Li Jing'an waved his hand at him, indicating that he should sit down first and there was no need to be in such a hurry. Then he looked at Wang Defa, his tone filled with a hint of disappointment and regret, and slowly said, "Defa, you just graduated from university and have only been in the institute for a short time. I have always had high hopes for you and wanted to train you well. What you did today has really disappointed me."

After saying this, Li Jing'an sighed deeply, his expression full of heartache. He paused, then continued, "I don't want to push things too far and leave you no way out. Here's what we'll do: I've already had the accountant tally up all the abnormal losses, discrepancies in the accounts, and all the missing items. The accountant calculated it to be four hundred yuan in total. Don't worry about whether these things are secondhand or new; just calculate it based on the new purchase price. You just need to make up the four hundred yuan. I also specifically called Section Chief Zhang from the personnel department here today." Li Jing'an paused and looked at Wang Defa.

"How this matter should be handled, whether or not to report it, depends entirely on your attitude. If you can make up the money, we'll move you to another place and transfer you back to the factory. Our small guesthouse can't accommodate a big shot like you. Of course, if you don't make up the money, then we'll have Section Chief Gou take you away. We'll handle this officially, investigate as necessary, put you in jail as necessary, and sentence you as necessary."