Financial Workplace Survival Guide – CH 039

Chapter 39 ☆, What Should I Do With You?

Xin Xin and Zheng Zaochuan had been companions for so many years, their relationship both close and distant. At least as far as Xin Xin could remember, they had never interfered with each other’s work due to personal reasons.

This time, Zheng Zaochuan had crossed the line.

He didn’t look like a CEO caught up in business battles and facing a high risk of impeachment. He looked like Xin Xin’s highly paid driver, diligently waiting at the office door to pick her up after she got off work.

Zheng Zaochuan’s behavior was aggressive, and his attitude was terrible.

As soon as Xin Xin got in the car, he bluntly said, “From now on, let’s not pursue the matter of Su Chengjie anymore.”

Xin Xin tried to lighten the mood. “What? He’s so powerful; how can he make me unemployed? Are you afraid I’ll stay at your house and eat your food?”

Zheng Zaochuan was annoyed. “Do you really not understand, or are you just pretending not to? He can ruin your reputation, even cause your death.”

His expression was so awful it was terrifying.

Frightened by his expression, Xin Xin said cautiously, “You look really scary right now.”

“Please, please don’t investigate.”

Xin Xin also suppressed her smile, sighed, and turned serious. “I’m sorry, this is my business.”

“Just pretend you’re not investigating for my sake, okay?”

Xin Xin paused, then said seriously, “Do you remember when you asked me if I was investigating for you?”

“I do.”

“But now I feel like I’m not really doing it for you. I know a lot of things are unfair, I know I’m very weak, and I know I’m naive and childish. I also understand that this kind of persistence is futile, likely fruitless, and thankless. But only with people being like this can things change for the better.”

Zheng Zaochuan glanced at Xin Xin; it was a look he knew well. When everyone had given up on him and Hanhai, she had persisted in this way.

Her eyes shone with a determined, burning light, and her tightly pursed lips betrayed an unyielding stubbornness. This vitality, unleashed under extreme pressure, made her seem particularly captivating.

Over the years, he’d understood that Xin Xin was just like that. If you told her not to do something, and it would always be the same, she’d look at you and ask, “Will it always be like this?”

He was an innovator who toed the line between rules and regulations.

She was a staunch defender of sound principles.

“I know, I understand you, I sympathize with you, and I shouldn’t interfere.” Zheng Zaochuan choked on the words, his turmoil pouring out. “But I’m worried about you.”

When Zheng Zaochuan first met Su Chengjie, he was dressed in a sophisticated suit and looked very elegant and gentle. He treated his subordinates with a certain courtesy.

When discussing business partnerships, he would always discuss the benefits to the other party first. And from the beginning, he made no secret of his admiration for Zheng Zaochuan.

“Success doesn’t come to those who stick to the rules. Xiao Zheng, you can definitely succeed.” He admired all those who could create miracles and break industry rules.

At that time, the qualified investor Zhao Xi had brought in wasn’t Su Chengjie’s company. He had his own reasons, primarily out of distrust, and therefore advised Zheng Zaochuan to reject Su Chengjie’s application for capital injection.

Perhaps it was a kind of instinct, like a wild animal, but Zheng Zaochuan had always felt that Su Chengjie was not a simple man.

But the first time he saw Su Chengjie’s bare fangs was during the Hanhai crisis. Due to a customer information leak, the originally selected qualified investor withdrew. At that time, Su Chengjie made a condition, almost demanding that Zheng Zaochuan sell the company at a low price. Zheng Zaochuan refused, saying he needed to consider it.

Later, with Xin Xin’s help, the matter was smoothly resolved. Su Chengjie arrived late and discussed cooperation in a gentle and polite manner, as if the previous threats had been a dream.

So, he invested and became a shareholder of Hanhai. In recent years, Zheng Zaochuan’s business philosophy had been that since it was listed, it should be more compliant and have a better internal structure. But Su Chengjie believed that expansion should be the priority, focusing on short-term development rather than long-term profits.

Their conflict intensified.

Zheng Zaochuan had been unaware of some of Su Chengjie’s activities until their conflict escalated. Unraveling the mystery, he began carefully searching for clues. He suddenly discovered that Su Chengjie had been involved in Hanhai’s initial crisis and several subsequent internal company changes.

He was manipulating Hanhai’s stock price.

Zheng Zaochuan had never told Xin Xin about these matters, believing that the less Xin Xin knew, the better. But now, their conflict had reached a point of life and death, and he had no choice but to reveal Su Chengjie’s terrifying side.

“The last time I called you to pick me up, it was because my secretary had disappeared,” Zheng Zaochuan said with a wry smile.

Xin Xin’s heart sank. “What do you mean?”

Zheng Zaochuan’s eyes flashed with pain. “The family said they didn’t know where he was, so we called the police together. I thought he’d taken the money and run away.”

Xin Xin’s eyes widened. “And then what?”

“A few days ago, he was found drowned in Jiangcheng’s artificial lake.”

“Do you suspect Su Chengjie?”

Zheng Zaochuan frowned. “It’s not that I suspect it, but the suspect had already been arrested and illegally detained. He escaped and jumped into the lake to avoid capture. For some unknown reason, he suddenly developed cramps in the lake and drowned.”

Xin Xin’s encounters with the forces of darkness in her life were primarily through the internet and through warnings and education.

The most horrific crimes committed by those around her were, at most, economic crimes like embezzlement.

She had only seen murder for money and in business struggles in television dramas.

Zheng Zaochuan drove, his face grave. Normally, he loved to crank up the stereo to the max, making the car feel like a bar. But today, he didn’t even play any music.

“Xin Xin, I’m really scared, really scared. Su Chengjie has no moral compunction, but he’s rich. If he wanted to, he could buy more than one life.”

Tears welled up in Xin Xin’s eyes, and a cold fear spread throughout her body. She took a deep breath and asked, “What about the victim’s family?”

Zheng Zaochuan said, “With the compensation, their lives won’t be a problem. I hope they refuse to forgive and strive for life imprisonment.”

Xin Xin thought of Wang Zhuo, the icy hatred that had penetrated his bones, driving a man over fifty with a stable life to risk his life for revenge.

“I’ll be careful, but I’ll leave written evidence. If anything happens to me, it’ll be because of Su Chengjie.”

Zheng Zaochuan quickly interrupted her, “That won’t happen.”

After that day, Zheng Zaochuan never again asked Xin Xin to give up on the case.

Xin Xin’s fighting spirit was inexplicably ignited. She was extremely cautious, having been frustrated the previous time she reported a tip. This time, she carefully inquired about the regulatory personnel.

If this matter involved a vast network of interests, she planned to report the information directly to the higher-level regulatory authorities and simultaneously send it to the Commission for Discipline Inspection. She didn’t believe Su Chengjie’s omnipotence could penetrate every level.

In this process, Wang Zhuo acted like a detective. Not only did he provide Xin Xin with numerous pieces of evidence of Su Chengjie’s misconduct, but he even uncovered his network of connections.

The more information she gathered, the more she discovered Su Chengjie’s cunning nature. His life was multifaceted and complex. On one hand, he was a ruthless businessman, but on the other, he appeared gentle and refined, maintaining good relationships with everyone he could use and a major local taxpayer.

He committed many evil deeds, but he was also meticulous in his upward management.

He could cause an ordinary person to lose his life and everything he had, yet he could also go out of his way to pay for a meal for an insignificant clerk in a government department.

Zheng Zaochuan sighed, “It’s difficult to find this guy’s connections because they’re so wide-ranging. Most people describe him as well-liked and humble.”

Because of his meticulous work, finding flaws in him was incredibly difficult. Furthermore, all the evidence was limited to other companies and specific managers. Any attempt to link him there would likely result in a charge of poor management.

Unless someone turned against him at the last minute and gave him up.

Zheng Zaochuan knew he couldn’t persuade Xin Xin, so he went home every day to help her compile the evidence.

Su Chengjie, who usually managed to be impeccable and meticulous, also had some elusive connections within the underworld. During the crackdown on organized crime, several criminal gangs were apprehended, all with ties to him.

Su Chengjie was even detained for investigation, yet he escaped unscathed.

Xin Xin gained a new understanding of the idiom “the mastermind behind the scenes.”

Zheng Zaochuan now not only picked up Xin Xin for work every day but also drove her there. He was diligent and dedicated, never missing a single day.

Xin Xin felt unworthy. “Actually, I can take the subway these days. It’s so busy, there won’t be any problems. Besides, you’re not exactly safe either. Being with you would be very risky, wouldn’t it?”

Zheng Zaochuan naturally rubbed her head and said smugly, “You don’t understand. I’m an important figure after all. If anything happened to me, everyone would think of Su Chengjie first. He can cause anyone to get into trouble now, but for me, he’d probably want a bodyguard to protect me.”

Xin Xin suddenly realized. Yes, this was Su Chengjie’s method, and it was why it was so difficult to investigate him. Anyone with a conflict of interest with him, on the other hand, remained unscathed.

His method was to divert attention and then settle accounts afterward.

This meant that Zheng Zaochuan was fine, but his secretary was not. But upon investigation, it boiled down to two words: personal vendetta.

The person who kidnapped Zheng Zaochuan’s secretary had absolutely no connection with Su Chengjie.

“The fact that he can maintain such a large number of people and such a complex social network must mean that there are a lot of people doing these things for him. Moreover, he is so cautious that he certainly doesn’t have any confidants, and it’s very likely that his people don’t even know each other completely.”

This was certainly a means to prevent one person’s betrayal from leading to the complete loss of everything.

However, this approach also had significant drawbacks. Once a few individuals had a complete chain of evidence and were exposed, it could easily lead to a prisoner’s dilemma.

With just one piece of information, one could deduce the extent of someone’s criminal activities.

Zheng Zaochuan enthusiastically brought over a whiteboard, which was densely covered with Su Chengjie’s information.

“Doesn’t it look like we’re solving a crime?”

Xin Xin was also very involved and full of enthusiasm, saying, “We are like righteous detectives now, fighting for justice.”

Zheng Zaochuan looked at her with a smile, sighed, and said abruptly, “What am I supposed to do with you?”