Chapter 132 Collusion

Chapter 132: Secret Dealings

"Has Yao Congxing acted strangely recently?" Shen Qingye asked.

"Acted strangely?" Xiao Du repeated. Shen Qingye clarified, "Yeah, anything different from his usual routine—either at work or in his personal life."

A thought crossed her mind but slipped away before she could grasp it. Xiao Du pondered for a moment before replying, "Strange... Well..."

Suddenly, it hit him. "Ah, right! Recently, Mr. Yao has been asking me to bring him project documents and policy files from several years ago. It struck me as weird since they were all old files..."

Shen Qingye was taken aback. "Old files?"

She pressed, "Did he say why he needed them?"

Xiao Du replied, "He just mentioned wanting to review the company's development process in recent years to better guide its future and figure out the company’s next steps..."

His voice lowered slightly. "I thought it was strange, but... he’s the boss, what could I say?"

He left it hanging, but Shen Qingye understood his implication and found it puzzling.

Reviewing old documents to guide the company’s future?

Shen Qingye and Yue Lingchuan exchanged a look, suspicion dawning on both.

"Anything else?" Shen Qingye continued.

Xiao Du thought hard before suddenly snapping his fingers. "Oh! There’s one more thing—recently, Mr. Yao has been dropping by the copy room quite often. Does that count?"

"The copy room?" Shen Qingye frowned. "Himself? An exec, handling this himself?"

"Yeah," Xiao Du agreed, just as confused. "Mr. Yao is usually very busy. In the past, either I or another assistant would handle such errands for him. But lately, I’ve seen him in the copy room multiple times, running copies of something."

"At first, I worried I’d messed up, which made him handle such trivial tasks himself. But after a while..." He paused. "He said it was private—didn’t wanna bother us, so he handled it alone."

Shen Qingye asked, "Do you know what documents he was copying?"

Xiao Du shook his head. "No idea." That was precisely why he found it so odd.

Shen Qingye went quiet, thinking.

Old company files... and personally visiting the copy room...

It hit her. She turned sharply to Yue Lingchuan. "Could it be—"

Before she could finish, Yue Lingchuan seemed to have reached the same conclusion, his face hardening. He immediately turned to Xiao Du. "Where is your company’s copy room?"

Seeing their urgency, Xiao Du got nervous and quickly led them there.

Only one staff member was in the copy room, staring in confusion when they walked in. After they identified themselves, she hastily stood up.

"Shoot! I’ll tell you whatever I know!"

Shen Qingye asked, "When did this start?"

"Yao Congxing? Mr. Yao?" The clerk thought for a moment before nodding. "Yes, yes. Over the past few months, Mr. Yao has been dropping by all the time to copy stuff. At first, I found it weird because Xiao Du or others usually handled that. Mr. Yao rarely came himself. The first time I saw him, I even asked if he needed help, but he just asked me to show him how to use the copier, saying it was a small task he could manage..."

She eyed the cops warily. "So I backed off."

"At the beginning..." The clerk paused to think. "Oh, it should have been around New Year's, back in January!"

"Must've been January. He came once—just that one time! After the New Year, he began showing up more often over the past few months."

"Just from what I noticed... about five or six times."

Why would he be visiting the printing room so frequently...?

Yue Lingchuan asked, "What was he copying each time?"

"How should I know?" The clerk gave a bitter smile. "He handled everything himself. I'm just a lowly clerk—it wasn't my place to ask. But... every time he came, he'd be carrying a thick stack of documents. Once, when he was copying, the machine ran out of paper, and he even asked me where to find more."

"A thick stack of documents?" Shen Qingye's voice lifted slightly as she turned to look at Xiao Du. Xiao Du looked stunned at first, clearly not catching on. But when he met Shen Qingye's gaze, it slowly clicked for him—his face cycling through shock and horror.

He forced out the words: "The policy documents I helped Chairman Yao find... were also quite thick."

The pieces clicked for Shen Qingye. Exactly as she thought!

Everything started adding up, and what had been unclear before suddenly made perfect sense.

Yue Lingchuan's face went dark as he took out his phone and made a call. When the other end picked up, he cut straight to the point:

"Do you know about Hongyun Group?"

The voice on the other end paused. "Hongyun? Yeah, I know them."

He chuckled. "Brother Yue, why the sudden interest in them? What, thinking of coming back to inherit the family business?"

Yue Lingchuan replied, "Enough with the jokes. It's work."

He asked, "Do you know Hongyun’s business direction over the past two years?"

"Business direction?" The other man grew serious. "They started in transportation, but in recent years, they've been shifting into supermarkets and retail. At first, nobody gave it much thought, but surprisingly, they actually made it work. They’ve opened several large chain supermarkets in Pingjiang and nearby cities, and they're doing alright."

"Supermarkets?" Yue Lingchuan pressed further. "Do they... have any involvement in the home goods industry?"

"Home goods? Not that I know of—wait, no! Now I remember!" The man on the phone suddenly slapped the table. "At a gathering a while back, I think I heard Hongyun’s Director Liu mention they were interested in the home goods industry, but nothing ever came of it later. Everyone assumed they scrapped the project."

Shen Qingye leaned in, listening to the call, then glanced at Yue Lingchuan. He continued, "About when was this?"

"Mid-last year," the man said. "This connect to your case somehow?"

"It does," Yue Lingchuan replied. "Thanks for this. No big deal—I’ll treat you to a meal when I have time."

The other man laughed. "No need for formalities, Brother Yue. Just a small favor!"

After hanging up, Yue Lingchuan didn’t hesitate before calling Captain Ma, who was leading the investigation into Hongyun Group’s board members. He got straight to the point: "Captain Ma, during your search, focus on their offices and studies. Look for any policy documents or project materials from Guangxin Group in recent years."

Captain Ma was silent for a moment before responding in a low voice, "Are you saying... you suspect Yao Congxing is colluding with people from Hongyun Group?"

"Very likely."

"Understood. I’ll have my team search immediately."

After hanging up, ignoring the bewildered expressions of the two in front of him, Yue Lingchuan and Shen Qingye simultaneously returned to Yao Congxing’s office, going through his drawers and bookshelves.

But he'd clearly been careful—at least in his office, they found nothing unusual. Shen Qingye kept at it. Half an hour later, when Yue Lingchuan’s phone rang, she immediately looked up.

Sure enough, Captain Ma’s voice carried a hint of relief: "Xiao Yue, we found multiple copies of Guangxin Group’s project and policy documents in the offices of Liu Anfa, Wu Huiqiang, and others."

"Your guess was right."

A thrill ran through her.

Exactly as expected.