Chapter 40 Conviction

Chapter 40: Conviction

When did Xie Xinyi find out? Of course, she knew the day she discovered the chocolate had been swapped.

At first, it was just a suspicion—after all, the taste of the two chocolates was vastly different.

As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. If the quality was so poor, the price couldn’t have been high either.

However, without solid proof at the time, she couldn’t say much. Later, when Master Liu had someone bring over the purchase contracts, she glanced at them in the office and roughly estimated the difference.

Three to four hundred yuan—that was a year’s salary for a junior worker.

She never expected Wu Guifen to be so bold. Swapping the chocolate was already bad enough, but pocketing such a large price difference on top of it?

In those days, all factories were state-owned enterprises. Every brick, tile, and transaction belonged to the state.

If it were just a simple case of swapping materials due to personal grudges, as long as the prices were equal, getting caught would only result in a reprimand or a formal notice. But now, with such a large price gap between the two chocolates, it was no longer just a personal matter.

At best, it could be seen as taking kickbacks for personal gain; at worst, it could be labeled as embezzling state property.

To be honest, Xie Xinyi hadn’t initially considered this angle. It was an offhand remark from Xiao Jiang that reminded her.

When Xie Xinyi suspected someone had swapped the raw materials, Xiao Jiang’s first reaction was, “Is this person short on money?”

Whether Wu Guifen was short on money, Xie Xinyi didn’t know. What she did know was that Wu Guifen must be lacking in common sense.

Private transactions came with risks. Even if undetected, with such a large batch of goods, wouldn’t the recipient wonder about the source? How could it be an equal exchange?

Selling goods privately was risky, but receiving black-market goods was even more dangerous.

It was normal for the other party to pass off inferior products as genuine. When Wu Guifen heard about the large price difference, she was stunned.

“How could there be a price difference? Wasn’t it all exchanged for goods?”

She muttered in confusion, her head lowered, eyes darting as her mind raced. “It can’t be. I clearly checked the goods.”

Her expression was one of disbelief, her voice barely audible. Her round, dumpling-like face was scrunched up, her caterpillar-like eyebrows tightly furrowed—confused, bewildered, as if she were about to curse the next second. Her nostrils flared with each agitated breath...

Her reaction to the price difference was spontaneous, unrehearsed, and the transitions between expressions were seamless. It seemed she truly hadn’t known about the discrepancy, just as Xie Xinyi had guessed.

Wu Guifen had clearly been deceived.

She came from the countryside and was illiterate. The other party must have noticed this and taken advantage by tampering with the contract.

When Xie Xinyi discovered the price difference, she never suspected Wu Guifen of taking kickbacks. After all, Wu Guifen was too busy scheming against the Ice Pop Team to even think about embezzlement.

She was just a housewife, focused solely on her own small world. When her husband was arrested for embezzlement, her foolish gloating made it clear she had no understanding of such matters.

With no awareness of kickbacks and being illiterate, who else would they deceive but her?

Knowing this, and aware of Wu Guifen’s defiant nature, Xie Xinyi realized that merely accusing her of swapping materials wouldn’t be enough to make her back down. So, she exaggerated the charges, using the unequal contract Wu Guifen had been tricked into signing to accuse her of embezzling state property.

In those politically charged times, any charge involving the masses meant that even the most well-connected individuals couldn’t escape punishment—expulsion or imprisonment were inevitable.

Wu Guifen had privately swapped the raw materials, and the two signed and stamped contracts were the evidence.

With the evidence laid out, if there had been no price difference, the factory might have given her a reprimand or a notice. But with such a large discrepancy, it was no longer a simple matter.

Wu Guifen clearly understood this too. When Xie Xinyi presented the financial calculations, she nearly fainted on the spot.

“This... this isn’t... not me... I... I didn’t... I didn’t...”

She glanced at the numbers nervously before looking away, unable to bear the sight of the staggering figures or meet anyone’s eyes.

The growing jeers from the crowd grew increasingly harsh, and the number in front of her was longer than the balance in her passbook. Wu Guifen recalled Xie Xinyi’s earlier words.

Embezzling state property!

She had embezzled state property!

Would she end up like her husband, Jia—asleep at home one moment, dragged away by a group of people the next without a word?

Remembering the scene of Jia’s arrest and her children’s terrified cries, Wu Guifen turned pale, her legs giving way as she collapsed to the ground with a thud.

“I didn’t, I didn’t...”

She sat on the floor, muttering to herself, ignoring Big Chen behind her, who was unsure whether to continue restraining her. Lost in her own world, she seemed entranced, tuning everyone out.

“Wu Guifen, don’t think you can escape consequences by acting like this. Even if you’ve lost your mind, you’ll still face punishment.”

Fang Mingan glared at the disoriented woman on the ground, seething at the losses she had caused the factory out of personal vendetta.

But he was usually so mild-mannered that even now, despite his stern tone, his words sounded like a routine meeting announcement, lacking any real force.

Especially to Wu Guifen, consumed by terror. Despite Fang Mingan and Ms. Liu taking turns pressuring her, she remained unresponsive, ignoring them completely.

Xie Xinyi slowly put away the bill. After Director Fang finished his threats, she calmly knelt down in front of Wu Guifen.

“I know you were deceived too.”

She spoke softly, her tone less sharp than before. Wu Guifen immediately looked up.

“They took advantage of your desire for revenge to tamper with the contract,” Xie Xinyi continued. “If you hadn’t harbored those malicious intentions, who could have used you like this?”

She analyzed the situation from Wu Guifen’s perspective, noticing the woman’s clenched fists. Then, she shifted the topic to Wu Guifen’s children.

“Your husband, Jia, is already imprisoned. If something happens to you too, what will become of your two children? Will they have to live under someone else’s roof?”

Xie Xinyi posed the question, seeing the other woman’s expression soften slightly. She shook her head sympathetically. “Without their parents, they’ll have to be at the mercy of others’ whims, with no one to turn to. Don’t you think that’s pitiful?”

Targeting Wu Guifen’s weakness as a mother, Xie Xinyi laid out all the potential consequences.

She wasn’t intentionally trying to scare her, but Wu Guifen had truly crossed a line this time.

Of all people in the world, only small-minded people and spiteful women are hardest to handle.

Wu Guifen harbored deep resentment toward everyone in the Ice Pop Team. If she could swap materials this time, she might do something even more outrageous next time.

Xie Xinyi didn’t want a ticking time bomb around. The only solution was to nip it in the bud, leaving no room for future trouble.

She knew the charge of swapping materials wasn’t severe. Even if Wu Guifen admitted to it, the factory might show leniency due to her children, giving her only a warning. That wouldn’t truly hurt her and might even fuel her resentment, leading her to blame the Ice Pop Team again.

When Wu Guifen was demoted to the boiler section because of her husband’s actions—which had nothing to do with the Ice Pop Team—she still held their team responsible. Otherwise, this fiasco would never have happened.

People often forget the pain once the wound heals.

If you don’t teach them a lesson the first time, they’ll only retaliate more fiercely next time.

She wouldn't be grateful for your mercy, nor would she go easy on you just because you let her off the hook once.

Xie Xinyi had suffered too many such losses in her past life, so when she found out that Wu Guifen had tampered with the raw materials, she decided to hit her hard.

Even if it was just words, she wanted the other party to understand that the plan could backfire.

"I never imagined things would turn out this way."

Sure enough, when Xie Xinyi mentioned the children having no one to care for them, Wu Guifen was immediately scared out of her wits. She grabbed Xie Xinyi's hand like grabbing a lifeline, frantically defending herself. "I only switched out the chocolate. I didn’t know about the rest. I really didn’t."

Xie Xinyi believed that part, but she remained unmoved. Wu Guifen then pointed at the purchase contract and said, "I’m illiterate, as you know. I never read this thing. They just had me sign it, and then they delivered the goods. I had no idea it would turn out like this."

She truly hadn’t known—after all, she was solely focused on revenge. How could she have paid attention to anything else?

"I didn’t take anything from the state, not a single cent. I... I only swapped the chocolate. I didn’t do anything else."

Seeing that Xie Xinyi was just staring at her without saying a word, Wu Guifen spilled everything—her motives and how she had swapped the chocolate.

She didn’t want her two children to be left without parents, nor did she want to carry the shame of being convicts, looked down upon everywhere. Xie Xinyi was right—the children only had her left. She absolutely couldn't afford to screw up.

Having made up her mind, Wu Guifen no longer had the confidence she once had. Not only did she confess everything she had done in front of everyone, but she also voluntarily revealed who had helped her fence the stolen goods.

Her attitude was sincere, her tone anxious. Afraid that Xie Xinyi and the others wouldn’t believe her, she swore up and down, promising that she hadn’t spoken a single lie.

Xie Xinyi watched the woman trembling with fear before her. Sensing the timing was right, she slowly stood up and approached Director Fang.

"I’ll leave her to you. As for the punishment, I trust the factory will give our Ice Pop Team a satisfactory resolution."

Her tone wasn’t aggressive, but her stance was firm. It was clear she wouldn’t let the matter rest.

Wu Guifen collapsed to the ground, all her usual energy drained away.

With the drama over, the rest was up to the factory.

The onlookers dispersed in small groups, and the members of the Ice Pop Team returned to their posts. Liu Yinsheng stood at the end of the corridor, watching the slim figure surrounded by the crowd as she walked away, and heaved a long sigh of relief.

"Are you really not planning to step in, sir?"

Yuan Kang stood beside Old Liu. Only when he saw the other’s furrowed brow finally relax did he dare to ask timidly.

"Butt in? Why would I stick my nose where it doesn’t belong?"

Although the words were spoken harshly, the underlying meaning was clear: Look, look, my apprentice's quite something, isn’t she? Just like me in my younger days.

Yuan Kang had heard Old Liu say that Xie Xinyi was just like him in his youth at least eight hundred times.

He’d said it when he discovered she could tell the ingredient ratios by taste, when she proposed adjusting the chocolate formula during new product development, and even muttered it under his breath when they found out the raw materials had been swapped last time.

Old Liu thought Yuan Kang hadn’t heard, but Deputy Factory Manager Yuan had practically developed a reflex by now. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have rushed all the way to Old Liu’s home to seek his help when Xie Xinyi caught the thief.

Old Liu’s admiration for Xie Xinyi was well-known throughout the factory. Everyone knew the old man was training her as his protégé—everyone, that is, except Liu Yinsheng himself.

Though inwardly worried, he pretended not to care at all. Muttering that it was none of his business, he wound up heading toward the factory director’s office.

Yuan Kang saw it but said nothing. He simply smiled, followed behind, and quietly closed the door.