"Enter."

He Chong roughly saw who was coming through the cracks in the blinds, and immediately sat up straight, making himself look less hanging.

It was Steven who came in, and Chiba felt a little relieved when he saw him.

"Director, sit down." He Chong stretched out a hand and politely invited.

Steven nodded, and as soon as his ass was on the chair, he said bluntly, "I heard it all outside, she didn't lie, I believe her." Then, cast a sincere gaze at Chiba.

"Steven, she's a major suspect." Li Muyuan said, but he raised a hand.

"Only those who have evidence are called suspects, and those who have no evidence can only be regarded as suspicions. I'm willing to vouch for Chiba, and if she really gets involved in this, I'll bear all the consequences. ”

He Chong thought for a while and pulled Li Muyuan away: "You go to the office area and ask a few more people to see if there are any new clues." ”

Li Muyuan reluctantly walked out, with a trace of worry in his eyes.

"This time thanks to the Director." He Chong stood up and shook Steven's hand, with a rare humility.

Chiba was puzzled.

"Yes, as a member of the company, it is impossible not to know about it. What's more, the theft was from me several times, and if it continues to be so unclear, I'm afraid I'll be suspicious. ”

"Whoever betrays the Universal Director won't either. Before I came, my sister specially greeted you, asked me to communicate with you more, often asked you for advice, and said that you are her most trusted person in the company. ”

"The two Mr. He are really falsely praised, I just did my duty to do what I should do, there is nothing worthy of praise. In fact, it is far more difficult to understand a person than to make a good design, and when I entered the world, it was based on Shi Ran's relationship, but I didn't expect him to do this kind of thing, but I didn't notice it at all. ”

As he spoke, Steven looked at Chiba, who was like a duckling in the rain, full of embarrassment and grievances.

"Therefore, just based on Pei Minli's words, I think it is inconsiderate to conclude that Yang Qianye is also involved."

"They're usually fine." He Chong said indignantly.

Steven always kept smiling and commanded the army: "Shi Ran and I are also very good." ”

He Chong put Fang Cai's small wine bottle back in the drawer, and stared at Yang Qianye suspiciously: "The two times before and after were from the key, I really can't believe her." ”

Chiba was about to open her mouth to plead, but was stopped by Steven.

Of course, she should be punished, and she should be fined for her poor supervision, and she should have a major demerit recorded in accordance with the employee code, and she should be fined. Mr. He has just taken office, don't be appeased, but ...... On weekdays, she is also diligent, and she takes her work very seriously, hoping that Mr. He can give her a chance to redeem her merits. ”

The second half of the sentence is his true intention.

He Chong arched two thick eyebrows, expressing doubt.

"What chance?"

"The company has struck hard this time, and the blow is very strong, and the leaker has not only smashed the reputation of the industry, but may also be punished by law. I think that Shi Ran and the rest of the soldiers must have a grudge, if the remnants of this group of people are not cleaned up, it will inevitably cause hidden dangers to the company in the future. If Mr. He can be trusted, I would like to ask Ying and Yang Qianye to be responsible for the follow-up investigation of this matter in their spare time, what do you think? ”

He Chong gestured with his right hand for a pistol, put down his chin and rubbed it for a while, and reluctantly responded.

"Well, it's mainly your second department, and it's a good idea for the director to take care of the aftermath. In this way, Shi Ran has been dismissed, the position of deputy manager is also vacant, and the group of dragons has no leader, or you will fill this seat? ”

"Mr. He is no one. I'm just a drawer, I can't do management, so you'd better find another man. ”

"The director is humble ......"

"I've always been humble and conceited, but only if I'm self-aware. It's time for the management team of the second department to change blood, but that person is definitely not me. ”

"In that case, you think about it first, and we'll talk about it later." Remembering that He Yina had emphasized Steven's stubborn personality, He Chong decided to postpone the matter, "As for what I just said, please bother the director." ”

"Yang Qianye, don't thank you for your magnanimity."

Chiba swallowed with difficulty.

He Chong raised his head arrogantly and didn't look at her at all.

Mr. He...... Thank you. The last two words were so light that only she could hear them.

Back in the second part, the audience was silent, and suddenly such a big thing happened, everyone was afraid of being burned, and they all pretended to work hard and had no intention of inquiring.

Chiba entered Steven's office, and Steven poured water and gently closed the door.

In order to explain the context of the future in the shortest possible time, he pondered for a moment before speaking.

Shi Ran and Chu Bing have long sold their plans and ideas to another advertising company that competes with Huanyu to earn gray income. That's right, it's Du Mei, who has a sensitive relationship with David. It just so happened that they favored my things, and they asked headhunters to poach me again and again, so several plagiarism cases before and after were in our department. There are five people involved, and the evidence is conclusive, otherwise the company would not dare to invite people from the Commercial Crime Division to arrest people directly. The matter was reported by me, and I accidentally heard Pei Minli discussing with the people of the third department on the refuge floor about matching the key, so I dug up the old ghost Shi Ran. ”

After listening to his narration, Chiba suddenly realized.

"Director, I really have nothing to do with them, I swear to God."

"I believe in you. But in this society, swearing is the most unconvincing self-justification, and you are still too naïve. You keep the keys, and each one has your fingerprints, and it's understandable that people don't believe it. Steven said objectively and fairly, and sighed, "Today I guarantee that you want you to have more eyes in the future, the workplace is not a place to make friends, you can not hurt others, but you must prevent others from harming you, that Pei Minli took advantage of you." ”

Chiba lowered her head, feeling unspeakably uncomfortable.

"I was really negligent, I didn't expect the ghost to be around."

"Remember the last time David? If Pei Minli hadn't poured laxatives into his tea, he wouldn't have run to the bathroom in the gap between the purifiers and caused himself trouble. Of course, he is not a good thing, these people can be said to be unscrupulous for the sake of profit, making this line of miasma. As soon as this incident came out, it just suppressed this evil spirit. ”

"The most surprising thing for me is Manager Shi."

"Not everyone who smiles and works with you has a good heart. Shi Ran is good enough to be a man, no one in the company calls him the most kind and unscrupulous leader, what is the result. It's not like eating the bowl and thinking about the pot, everything has nothing to do with money. ”

"Why don't you get paid for what you do?"

"The law of survival. Everyone wants to get ahead, and naturally there will be people who use the wrong method. I have actually been eyeing that Pei Minli for a long time, that girl has her ears pricked up at any time, and her mind is not on work at all, no wonder she is nicknamed Little Rabbit. She whispered to the people of the three departments on the refuge floor several times, and it was a coincidence that she always bumped into me. Hey, I don't know if I'm lucky or unlucky. ”

"Lucky, unlucky...... Superintendent, what do you mean? ”

"Luckily, I found out about her deeds, and unfortunately, it wasn't her who I wanted to follow, it was another person."

After hearing this, Chiba found that Steven was staring at him tightly, and the smile on his face had already been put away.

"Who does the director want to track?"

"I mentioned it just now, Shi Ran."

When Shi Ran's name was spoken, Steven seemed to have a deeper meaning, and Chiba was even more surprised than just now—she remembered the task that Chocolate had arranged.

Steven paced back and forth in the room for a long time before stopping.

"There are hidden secrets behind Shi Ran."

She panicked when she heard this. She wanted to tell Steven that she was also quietly stalking Shi Ran, but unfortunately she couldn't say it. Steven's starting point may be out of curiosity, but her starting point is about revenge.

"Shi Ran has been in the company for many years, and aside from this incident, his performance is also remarkable. He has no nepotism with the boss's family, and he climbs up step by step by relying on his own strength, and he is also a talent. It stands to reason that such a hard-won job should be satisfied with him and cherished, why take risks to do such a thing, it is nothing more than for money. But what does he want so much money for, I don't figure it out. Steven said as he picked at his scalp in confusion.

"Yes, he doesn't smoke or drink, and he doesn't have any bad habits. Living alone in Lucheng, buying a house and a car is still paid in full, there should be no financial pressure. With his income, it is not difficult to marry a wife, have children, and invest in financial management. ”

"You seem to know him well?" Steven asked suddenly, but there was a hint of surprise in his eyes rather than suspicion.

"Oh, the company basically knows that he joked before that we should help him find a girlfriend, and he said it himself."

Unbeknownst to Steven, these circumstances were actually secretly investigated by her.

"I just think he has bad habits and spends a lot of money."

"Why do you say that?"

Steven stepped forward to make sure the door was locked, then removed the DSLR camera from the filing cabinet.

"I'll show you something, but I can't tell anyone."

"I promise." She held up three fingers.

"I love photography, you know, just take pictures around with my camera when it's okay......"

"I love your photos." She couldn't help but interrupt Steven's words and expressed her admiration again, "The last photo exhibition was very shocking. ”

"I'm not talking about that, but what I'm going to show you is related to the last photo exhibition. At the beginning, more than 1,000 photos were taken, and in the end, 80 were selected for the exhibition, and there are still many left. Those are also photos reflecting the demolition of the old city, and there is nothing special about the content. But there is a group of them that is very strange, you take a look, the mysteries are all in it. ”

As he spoke, Steven turned on the camera, rummaged through them one by one, and froze on a photo after more than ten seconds.

This is a photo of the demolition area from a bird's-eye view. In the center of the photo is a red brick building, surrounded by almost all ruins. Judging from the dilapidated roof and the structure of the house alone, this house should be older than Chiba, and never younger than her, because she and Mo Lianzhi lived in a red brick house like this back then.

"Nothing special." She searched through the photos meticulously, and at the same time, Steven pressed the "+" with his thumb, and the photo grew larger and larger in the display frame, freezing on a small car parked at the intersection.

"Car, I can't see the license plate number clearly, is there any problem?"

"Look at this one again."

Steven shows the next photo, and it seems that from this one, his pursuit of composition, scene, and artistic conception has been aside, more like a paparazzi secretly shooting, just trying to capture the people of the event, regardless of beauty.

This photo is quite clear, and the person who stepped down from the car was Shi Ran, whom they both knew.

"What is he doing there?" Chiba's nerves all over her body began to get excited.

"I'm wondering too, you keep looking."

Steven didn't rush to answer the question, because so far he didn't know what Shi Ran was doing there.

The following photographs show a clear chronological order: Shi Ran enters the alleyway from the intersection, enters the red brick building from the alleyway, and then burrows into a room at the end of the corridor on the top floor. From cautious to somewhat sneaky, it is not difficult to see that he is extremely cautious and deeply afraid of being discovered.

"Who did he go to, and there were still people living in it like that?" Chiba waited curiously to see the photo below, but Steven stopped pressing the buttons, put the camera on his chest and said slowly.

"I've inquired and found that the residents of that area have long since moved away, and the water and electricity have been cut off, so only some scavengers and homeless people are borrowing houses there to shelter from the rain."

"And what is he going to do?"

"If you think about it, what is the possibility of going to that kind of place except to meet people?"

"I don't know."

Steven's eyes were like unfathomable clouds rolling in his sockets, and he carefully calculated and spoke his guess.

"I'm not completely sure, but I just combined what he did in the company with this set of photos, and I think it's possible."

"Director, don't sell it, say it quickly."

"There are a lot of underground casinos in Deer City."

"Gambling money?" She opened her mouth wide and instantly realized, "No wonder, taking the risk of stealing the company's plan turned out to be to accumulate gambling funds and fill the deficit." ”

"What I said was just speculation, especially after looking at the last photo."

Steven turned on the camera again, his voice darkened, and his expression was filled with a hint of pride.

The most shocking thing about Chiba in all the photos was this last one - another person walked out of the hut.

"Who is this? How kind of like you. ”

"Am I that strong?" Steven stroked his naturally curly hair, and the person in the photo had the same hairstyle, "It's not me. ”

"Where's Manager Shi?"

Steven shook his head.

"I've been waiting for a long time and I haven't come out...... I was afraid that something would happen, so I mustered up the courage to go upstairs and take a look. ”

"Ah, you're so daring."

"There's an old-fashioned padlock on the door that can't be opened, but it can be pushed open. Guess what I saw? ”

"What?"

"Shi Ran is not in it, it is an empty house, except for some discarded daily necessities, there is only a plastic stool, there is a black plastic bag on it, the contents are estimated to be worthless, otherwise they would have been taken away by the waste pickers."

"What about others?"

"You forgot, I just came out with a curly hair."

Chiba was shocked, and a pair of eyeballs almost didn't fall out.

Steven turned off the camera and carefully placed it back in the filing cabinet.

"I guess the bag contained his changed clothes."

"He's wearing makeup and a wig, where is he going, and why?"

"He came down the stairs to the other end of the alleyway, then turned right, and then he was out of sight."

"If you're right, there must be an underground casino nearby, and it's disguised to be a cover-up."

"I still think this guess is a bit forceful. It is unlikely that you will meet anyone you know in such a remote place, if it is just for gambling money, is it necessary to spend so much time? ”

"Estimated scorer......" Chiba muttered, "I know that when he was involved in stealing the design draft, he had the illusion that he didn't know before, and someone who could do this must be quite vigilant." ”

I agree with that, but as a friend of his, I feel sorry for him. He could have put his heart and soul into his work, sat firmly in the manager's chair, and was considered to be the best among his peers. I didn't expect to fall so hard when I made a mistake. ”

"Is there anything else that is possible besides gambling money? Do we think too much, maybe he is just going to do something very ordinary? ”

"Huh." Steven smiled tastelessly, "Are you going on a blind date?" ”

When the phone rang on the table, he picked up the "hey" sound, listened wordlessly, and then said "okay" and hung up the phone.

"Where did you just go?"

"After he turned to the brick building, he was out of your sight."

"Oh yes, this is *."

Steven is like telling a storytelling with ups and downs in the plot, and doubts are thrown one after another, which makes Chiba's blood boil. She had a hunch that the clues Steven had provided intersected with the task that Chocolate wanted her to complete.

"The road behind you can go straight to the main road to the left, but to the right is wrapped around the building and back to the road in front, which is where he parked. I watched for a long time, and he didn't come out of that end after turning right. ”

"You mean he's gone?"

"I'm a materialist, and I certainly don't believe in disappearing into thin air."

"Is it possible that another car will pick him up from behind?"

"The road is not wide, at most three people are walking side by side, and cars can't pass through it at all."

"Director......" Chiba looked at Steven, and the indescribable interest flashed in both of their eyes at the same time.

"I don't know why, and so am I. My gut tells me it's nothing to do with the company, but I'm curious to figure it out, out of pure curiosity, would you like to come with me? ”

She nodded almost without thinking.

Steven looked at the time and notes on his phone.

"The company has been busy in the past two days, and after it is busy, I plan to ask him in person."

"Will he tell you?"

"I can't be sure, but I have to think about prying his mouth open. If he really gets into any vices, I have the obligation to persuade him to stop the precipice. ”

"What do I need to do?"

"Write a review and hand it over to Mr. He, this is the right thing, and when this limelight passes, we will take the time to go there and have a look."

"Understood, thank you, Director."

Chiba bowed deeply to Steven, and just as he stepped away, he turned back.

"Chocolate ......," she called, feeling a heat on her scalp and sweaty hands holding the handle.

Steven, however, didn't have any suspicious expression, just a natural shrug.

"What?"

"No, nothing." She smiled, trying her best to look like she wasn't flawed.

"Oh, go get to work."

Passing through the office area and through the hallway, she went straight to the bathroom and threw cold water on her face in front of the washstand. Looking at the face covered in the mirror, there was a pain that the glass was torn apart before it shattered.

There were so many things that happened on this day that I didn't have time to think about it, but it seemed to be back to square one. It feels like a drowning person, floating and sinking and being washed ashore in a daze when no one rescues him. But she saw the underwater situation clearly, muddy and muddy, just like this office, this company, this building, this city, this society.

Society is the product of people's hearts gathering together, and she thought she was ready to take precautions before stepping out of the welfare home, but today's class is really enlightened, which gives her a deep understanding of the word hypocrisy.

Whether it is the deep hiding of the "good old man" Shi Ran, or the hypocrisy and greed of the "good sister" Xiaotu, they all easily deceived her eyes. If Steven hadn't stepped forward to vouch for herself, I'm afraid she would have lost her job by now and wandered aimlessly and desperately through the streets.

Looking back, it's time to revise and correct the credulous, black-and-white habits of life.