Xu Anan went to work as usual one morning, only to find that everyone's gazes were a little off when she arrived at the bank.
"Xiao Yu, what's going on?" As soon as she spoke, Xiao Yu, with whom she usually got along well, maintained a completely cold attitude. To avoid suspicion, she even stood farther away from Xu Anan.
Xu Anan felt a pang of discomfort and a hint of panic.
At that moment, someone suddenly called her name: "Xu Anan, the section chief wants to see you."
"Yes, coming right away." Without time to dwell on it, Xu Anan quickly responded and walked towards the section chief's office.
The door to the section chief's office was closed, but she could hear voices inside. Although she couldn't make out the words clearly, she could tell there were several people inside.
She raised her hand and knocked. The section chief's voice called her in, and she pushed the door open.
At a glance, she saw three uniformed public security officers in the office.
"Is she Xu Anan?" one of the officers asked.
The section chief nodded, "Yes, she is Xu Anan."
The three officers stood up. "One of your employees used their position to counterfeit a deposit slip and absconded with one hundred thousand yuan. We suspect you are heavily involved in this matter and request that you return to the police station with us to cooperate with the investigation."
Xu Anan was just an eighteen-year-old girl. Hearing that the police wanted to take her to the station, she panicked and was so scared she almost burst into tears, "What deposit slip? I don't know. Comrade Public Security, this matter has nothing to do with me."
"It has nothing to do with you? You'll know once you come back with us for an investigation. Considering you are a young lady, we have been very accommodating by calling you here first before taking you. If you do not cooperate, we will have to forcibly take you away," one of the officers said impatiently.
Xu Anan's tears immediately fell.
But she was too scared, her mind went blank, and she dared not cry out loud. She could only follow the three officers to the police station, feeling wronged.
After they had taken her away, her colleagues behind the counter began to whisper amongst themselves.
"I really can't believe such a well-behaved child could do something like this."
"What do you know? This is a case of judging a book by its cover. I heard that Xu Anan's family is in dire straits. Her elder brother is mentally disabled and also crippled, and her mother has a mental illness. She has a whole family to support. The young girl was greedy for vanity and did something foolish on impulse."
Jiang Yuwei, listening to everyone's discussion, suddenly interrupted, "It's not certain yet. Everyone should get back to work."
"It's fortunate that colleague Jiang was off that day, otherwise, we would have been implicated and ruined."
"Isn't it as plain as the nose on your face? Colleague Jiang comes from a good family and is also excellent. Even if they suspected us, they wouldn't suspect Colleague Jiang. There's no need for that."
Xu Anan was immediately placed in a separate room upon entering the police station, and two officers were assigned to interrogate her.
"What were you doing on the sixth of this month?"
Xu Anan thought for a moment and replied, "I went home the day before, as I had just received my salary."
The interrogator slammed the table, "Where else did you go besides going home? Answer truthfully."
Xu Anan flinched at the sudden noise, "I... I went to the wholesale market in the western district with colleagues that day. After shopping, I went home."
"Do you know that large denomination deposit slips can be withdrawn in different locations? Do you know about inter-provincial fund transfer?"
Xu Anan shook her head and said truthfully, "I'm not very clear about that."
"Then why does the other colleague who was with you know? You are lying!"
"I... I only know that it can be withdrawn in different locations. I'm not a finance major, so I don't know about inter-provincial fund transfer."
"On the sixth, someone saw you withdrawing one hundred thousand yuan from a bank in the western district. The physical description and clothing match yours very closely..."
According to the officers' explanation, Xu Anan learned that the incident only came to light yesterday when the other bank brought the deposit slip for withdrawal. After an investigation, the target was narrowed down to her and another staff member surnamed Zhou.
Because the deposit slips were pre-printed, they would be valid as long as both the personal seal and the bank seal were affixed.
She was not the handling officer, so her seal was not on it, but she did withdraw the money. Her culpability might be less than that of her colleague, but she was still inextricably linked to the matter.
After leaving the police station, Xu Anan returned to the bank.
The bank had not yet made a decision regarding her and the other staff member as the investigation was ongoing, but both were suspended pending further review due to their involvement in the suspicion.
Facing the scornful and disdainful glances of everyone, Xu Anan didn't know how she managed to walk out of the bank.
The job she had finally found was gone like this. That was a staggering one hundred thousand yuan. If this matter was never resolved, wouldn't she be unable to clear her name for a lifetime?
Filled with fear and grievance, there was a moment when she even thought of ending her life to prove her innocence...
"You son of a bitch, this is too much! If Brother Kun hadn't said to keep a low profile lately, would Sun Liu that bastard dare to shit on my head? Now he's even injured you guys." Zhao Liang, furious, smashed the wine bottle in his hand to the ground.
"Liang Zi, take the brothers to get their wounds treated first." After his anger subsided, Zhao Liang suddenly calmed down. He sent the few men away, then returned to the house, pulled out a saber more than a foot long from under the bed, tucked it behind his back, pulled down his cotton coat to cover it, and turned to leave.
"Hey, Brother Biao has been acting a bit strange these past two days. I heard from his subordinates that he seems to be starting a clothing business. He even went to a factory called Shu Se Clothing Factory, I think, and ordered a large batch of clothing, totaling hundreds of thousands of goods."
"Hundreds of thousands of goods? Is he planning to make each of his subordinates carry two packs and stand on the street to sell them every day? Damn it, stop listening to people's nonsense."
Two of Sun Liu's subordinates were chatting when they looked up and saw Zhao Liang standing on the steps nearby. One of them provocatively blew smoke towards him and then said with a grin, "Yo, what wind blew Brother Liang here today?"
Zhao Liang said expressionlessly, "I'm looking for Sun Liu."
"Brother Liu is playing cards inside. It might not be appropriate for you to go now. What if..."
Before the man could finish speaking, he felt a pain in his shoulder.
Zhao Liang shoved him aside and walked straight in.
"Another one rushing to their death. But speaking of which, I heard that Jin Kun was originally like this." The man who was bumped gave his companion a thumbs-up.
"I don't understand why our boss insists on targeting him."
"It's a long story, like a child without a mother. Back then..."
As the two were engrossed in chatting about gossip, they suddenly heard a scream from inside.