Chapter 2377: Financing (Part 12)

"My legs are a bit numb; I can't get up for now. Little Xu, Little Du, help me check the back first. There should usually be two or three staff members there. Secretary Zhou's screaming was too loud just now and might have startled them. Help me stabilize things, tell them nothing major happened, and have them supervise each other not to leave their workstations. This Secretary Zhou is suspected of serious dereliction of duty. After you stabilize the back, call one of the accountants on duty today to come to me. Then, one of you two guard Secretary Zhou's room, which is West-102, and don't let anyone in." After Zhou Wei finished giving orders, he remembered another important thing: "Is she... tied tightly? I'm temporarily unable to move freely. If she breaks free and counterattacks in desperation, that would be a disaster."

"Reporting to Chief! Quite tight!"

"Okay, you two go to the back first."

"Yes! We will firmly complete the mission!"

Zhou Wei waved his hand, not wanting to respond anymore.

The teary-eyed Secretary Zhou stopped making large movements after the two guards left. She just tried hard to raise her head and stare at Zhou Wei, crying while making "wu wu wu" sounds in groups of three. Probably "I was wrong."

Zhou Wei's anger subsided. Being stared at like this was uncomfortable—after all, they had been intimate, and he hadn't yet grown cold-hearted to that extent. However, the current situation was nothing less than disaster falling from the sky, and not a small one.

"Slighting a Senator" or worse, "insulting a Senator"—now he, Zhou Wei, couldn't explain himself even with a thousand mouths. If this unknown Senator started spouting nonsense, plus that pile of offended Senators following up to "prove"... a massive storm would arise immediately. If someone wanted to make trouble and fan the flames, either the Nanyang Company ship would be grounded before setting sail, or he himself would no longer be the helmsman, only able to watch helplessly as others sailed away.

My painstaking efforts, running around for the better part of a year...

At this moment, he deeply understood what "working hard for half a year, back to square one overnight" meant.

I've been wronged!

Zhou Wei first propped himself up on the armrest to stand. Enduring the needle-pricking sensation on his soles and the twitching of his powerless calf muscles, he propped both hands on the table, shifted his center of gravity forward, and slowly shuffled small steps along the table. After shuffling most of the way around, Zhou Wei felt some strength returning to his calves. He tried to straighten his posture, moved a small step out, and it seemed fine. He finally felt relieved.

After a few more steps, feeling he could walk normally without support, Zhou Wei left the desk and walked toward Secretary Zhou.

Standing beside Secretary Zhou lying on her side, because of the angle, she could no longer raise her head further. She simply gave up staring at Zhou Wei and dropped her face to the ground.

"What a disaster you've brought upon me!"

"You caused trouble before three o'clock, and I was in Foshan. At 3:40, I received an urgent telegram telling me to return to Guangzhou."

"I was wondering why only five people came to find me besides my little brothers? Am I, Zhou Wei, so unpopular? Is this Nanyang Company so unfavored?"

"Only today do I understand—I have a Lady of the Inner Chamber beside me!"

Secretary Zhou didn't understand what Inner Chamber Lady or Shangguan Wan'er meant, but she obviously understood Zhou Wei's temper. The three-syllable and four-syllable "wu" sounds kept repeating. Drool, snot, and tears gradually moistened the ground. She could only express emotions through head shaking. In just this short while, her face was already covered in stains. Looking at this, Zhou Wei didn't want to pull out the "pear" from her mouth—if he let her speak, what could she say?

Documents from people in the inner circle must be delivered immediately—he had instructed this.

Contact from the big shots in Guangzhou must be notified immediately—this was also instructed.

Official letters from Lingao and private letters from several big shots couldn't be slighted either.

Letters from other Senators, "keep them and wait for me to handle when I return and have time"—this meaning was certainly also expressed.

Many Senators wanted to use his new platform to transform or advance, and others wanted to do something practical but lacked opportunities. Most of these people had no significance for his future work and needn't be valued, but at least the attitude had to appear "valued." After all, it was these people who had lifted him to the throne of Nanyang Company General Manager.

Secretary Zhou's performance was equivalent to offending his base—and it was the kind that offended them to death.

She had "selected" five for Zhou Wei. Presumably, she had received benefits. The only difference was whether she actively asked for them or others insisted on giving, whether it was the Senator or the people around the Senator giving, whether the Senator's people were instructed by the Senator or paid out of their own pocket to complete the Senator's instructions...

This was a crime that could be pinned on her, but was it useful?

He was still holding that thick "Brief Summary of Renangiang Crude Oil Development Plan in Myanmar"! Seventeen days! If it were Zhou Wei encountering this situation, with others saying it was all the little secretary's fault, would he believe it?

Let me first see how many people I've offended! Zhou Wei completely lost interest in being tender with the fairer sex, slowly turned around, and went to find Secretary Zhou's notebook.

Flipping page by page, those five that were delivered to him had basically been visited three or four times. On the sixth day after he left Guangzhou for Danzhou, Senator Huang Lu, who had proposed the Brunei oil development plan, stopped visiting. And after he returned to Guangzhou, his development plan summary was delivered to his bedside. It seemed her first "gate fee" acceptance was around the sixth day.

Zhou Wei was checking the accounts when a voice suddenly came from beside him.

"Chief!"

"Reporting to Chief! The person has been brought!"

Zhou Wei looked—the one Little Xu called over was Little Tan, the trainee cashier he had brought from Lingao.

"Trouble Little Xu to make another trip—go to the Police Bureau to report a case. It would be best if Director Mu Min could personally lead a team here." Zhou Wei had already decided on the procedure for handling this—to seriously handle it with great fanfare.

"Then, Little Tan, help sort out this visitor registration form. How many Senators came to visit, who they were, where they stayed, number of visits, dates of first and last visits, average interval... That's all for now. There's not much stuff. Just do it here and hurry up. This will probably also need to be submitted as evidence. Try to finish before the police arrive." Zhou Wei didn't have time to do this work now. He needed to think carefully about how to settle things.

"Yes, Chief!" Little Tan didn't talk much. After finding blank paper, he sat by the desk, but the puzzled gaze was inevitable.

"Secretary Zhou is suspected of dereliction of duty." Zhou Wei didn't know why he needed to explain this to Little Tan. Little Tan had already heard from the guard when called over. What puzzled him was why this previously glamorous Secretary Zhou now had such a messy face. But since the leader had spoken, one had to respond.

"Oh, I heard that several agencies had snap inspections on administrative work style yesterday afternoon, and several Senators personally led the teams! Didn't expect the Chief to start self-inspection as soon as he returned!"

Ouch! Zhou Wei suddenly felt a toothache.

This is... what's going on? Zhou Wei had worked in finance in the old spacetime—to be precise, mainly in financial academia. He couldn't immediately guess what this self-inspection meant, but he could feel that this matter was definitely related to him, and this action was also a form of stance-taking. Speaking of stances, what other stance could there be? A stance saying Zhou Wei's secretary can totally disrespect other Senators, or a stance saying Zhou Wei can look down on other Senators?

Damn, we don't know what Old Liu means by this move, but judging by Mayor Liu's usual way of doing things, this move probably isn't preparing to flip the table, but preparing to "raise the price."

As long as he was willing to negotiate, Zhou Wei's emotions slightly stabilized. The fear was having nothing to discuss.

Little Tan was sorting accounts while Zhou Wei looked at those intercepted letters—these letters, in his view, were either "nonsense" or "vague and empty." Those truly substantive with some value were one in ten. In the past, he would probably have quite harshly commented on them internally, savoring them as jokes. But now he couldn't laugh at all. The more he looked, the more his head hurt.

What the hell is this!

After Little Xu finished reporting to the police and returned, Zhou Wei arranged for him to help Secretary Zhou, who was lying on her side, to sit up kneeling, then stand guard beside her. Just when Little Tan had filled one sheet of paper, a staff member under him ran in from outside with a somewhat panicked expression.

"General Manager Zhou! People from the Police Bureau are here..."

Before he finished speaking, the main door in the outside corridor was pushed open with a clang, followed by the chaotic footsteps of a group of people.

Before Zhou Wei could speak, the waiting room door was pushed open, and a large wave of people surged in.

Mu Min knew Zhou Wei would return today and had specially selected more than a dozen crack troops to wait at the bureau. As soon as the report came, without waiting for Little Xu to speak, Mu Min led the team straight over. "Corruption and dereliction of duty" was the solution method Zhou Wei had to choose, but this also had implications. What if Zhou Wei really had ordered it? Then this "corruption and dereliction of duty" could only be pinned on that Secretary Zhou.

What if the framing was too crude? Rather than letting naturalized police detect something wrong at the scene, then following standard procedure to file reports and leave records, and finally having Liu Xiang or someone else step in to suppress it—going through all that trouble, it was better for her to personally take the field and deliver a favor. After all, though her mother-in-law hadn't participated in the policy direction "discussion," she was still interested in the business opportunities of the Nanyang Company...

She knew little about Zhou Wei, but from the private letters her husband had given her, she roughly knew some things before and after the establishment of the Nanyang Company. So she was somewhat worried. If someone had really died, she absolutely wouldn't sell this "favor." She personally led the team and specially brought a nurse and a forensic doctor, also containing this layer of meaning.

(End of Chapter)