AFTER the Chinese New Year break, Ding Yi threw himself wholeheartedly into the task of addressing non-performing loans. By early March, he had become almost entirely familiar with the bank’s loan processing workflows and credit business regulations.

　　The hands-on work was carried out by the Audit Department Manager, Tian Mingjhang, and his team. Ding Yi’s role was to focus on key tasks and provide strategic direction, ensuring the work was completed efficiently and orderly.

　　One morning, upon arriving at work, Ding Yi asked Tian Mingjhang to send him an electronic list of the non-performing loans. Using key points he had gathered from fieldwork and the regulatory guidelines, he wrote a small program to filter the list. This resulted in identifying over a hundred problematic loan cases.

　　Just as he was about to call Tian Mingjhang using his desk phone, his mobile phone rang. It was a call from his elder sister, Ding Jing.

　　“Jing, what’s wrong?” Ding Yi asked. His elder sister, Ding Jing, was a military doctor specializing in surgery. At this time, she should normally be in the operating room unless something urgent had come up.

　　“Could you take a few days off and come home? Dad’s been hospitalized!” Ding Jing replied.

　　“What happened?” he asked, instinctively gripped his phone tighter.

　　“Dad started feeling discomfort in his heart last night, but he didn’t tell anyone. Mom noticed he looked unwell and pressed him about it until he confessed this morning,” she replied. “Dr. Jhang from the cardiology department has tentatively diagnosed it as a heart condition, but they’re not sure yet. They’ve just taken him for tests, and I called you as soon as I could.”

　　“How could this happen?” Ding Yi asked and was in disbelief. His father, Ding Hecheng, a retired general, received top-notch medical care and had regular annual check-ups. There had never been any indication of heart issues before.

　　“Dad is getting older,” Ding Jing replied, signing.

　　“I’ll come back right away,” said Ding Yi.

　　After ending the call with Ding Jing, Ding Yi went to see Syueh Honghuei to ask for leave. Syueh Honghuei approved immediately, assuring Ding Yi not to worry about work and to leave things to Tian Mingjhang. Syueh Honghuei even arranged for a car to take Ding Yi to the airport.

　　Once his leave was sorted, Ding Yi called Tian Mingjhang into his office to delegate the tasks. He handed Tian Mingjhang a copy of the filtered loan list.

　　“Put these loans on hold for now. While I’m away, focus on investigating the non-performing loans that aren’t on this list. We’ll handle the ones on this list together when I get back,” he said.

　　Tian Mingjhang responded with a simple “Okay.” As he casually glanced through the list in his hand, he was immediately taken aback, and a deep sense of admiration rising within him.

　　The non-performing loans listed in this document mostly had issues related to internal approvals or procedural irregularities. Many of these loans had already been audited multiple times by their department due to violations by internal staff. He was astonished that Ding Yi had managed to identify them in such a short period. Although the list wasn’t completely comprehensive, the efficiency displayed was nothing short of remarkable.

　　Initially, Tian Mingjhang hadn’t thought much of Ding Yi as a supervisory leader. The reasons were straightforward—Ding Yi wasn’t professionally trained in finance, nor had he risen through the ranks from a grassroots level. He lacked both theoretical foundation and practical work experience, making him essentially an outsider managing insiders.

　　Supervising both the audit and supervision lines, which involve all business aspects of the bank, requires overseeing numerous internal audits and inspections annually, sometimes up to dozens. This demands extensive theoretical knowledge and rich work experience.

　　However, since Ding Yi’s arrival, he had immersed himself in the bank’s regulations and policies. From the moment Syueh Honghuei assigned him this task, he had been diligently studying the credit-related regulations.

　　Modern commercial banks have stringent internal controls. A couple of years ago, the Hedong Commercial Bank had compiled all its regulations into a comprehensive set of volumes. Excluding new and revised regulations, the compilation alone consisted of over thirty volumes, with five dedicated solely to credit business regulations.

　　Since his office was on the same floor, Tian Mingjhang had lost count of how many times over the past two months he had seen Ding Yi’s office lights still on late at night. Sometimes, when Tian Mingjhang left past ten, Ding Yi was still there, bent over his desk taking notes.

　　Ding Yi’s competence and decisiveness, combined with his ability to prioritize tasks and his humility in seeking advice from others, quickly earned him respect and genuine loyalty from many colleagues. In Ding Yi, Tian Mingjhang saw an unyielding resilience and began to believe that “where there’s a will, there’s a way” was more than just a saying.

　　“As I’ll be on leave, feel free to call me if anything comes up. When you return to your office, please ask Manager Jhang from the Supervision Department to come see me,” Ding Yi said while packing his briefcase.

　　With his instructions clear, Tian Mingjhang took the list and headed back to the Audit Department. On his way, he stopped by the Supervision Department to pass on the message.

　　After arranging matters in the Supervision Department, Ding Yi returned to his apartment, packed his luggage, and headed straight to the airport.

　　Hedong City, the capital of Hedong Province, ranks first in the province in terms of GDP, closely followed by Linghai City. Although the two cities have similar GDP figures, they are geographically over six hundred kilometers apart. Even with the highway connection, the journey still takes a significant amount of time.

　　Given the sudden situation, Ding Yi booked the earliest available flight back. By the time he reached Hedong, it was already past one in the afternoon.

　　Leaving the airport, Ding Yi took a taxi straight to the Hedong General Hospital of the PLA. As he stepped into the special care unit for high-ranking officials, he saw his elder sister Ding Jing and his niece Sia ChingChing sleeping on the sofa in the outer room. The door to the inner room was slightly ajar.

　　Ding Jing slept lightly and woke up as soon as Ding Yi opened the door. She sat up on the sofa and rubbed her temples.

　　“How did you get here so quickly?” she asked.

　　“I flew back,” Ding Yi replied, placing his suitcase behind the sofa. “How’s Dad? What’s his condition now?”

　　“He just fell asleep. He’s still on an IV, and Mom is with him inside,” Ding Jing said, smoothing her hair before tying it into a bun. “The pain has eased after two rounds of medication.”

　　“Is it confirmed? Is it really heart disease?”

　　Ding Jing nodded.

　　“Dr. Jhang said Dad’s heart disease is congenital. He was always healthy before, so it never manifested. But now, with age and poor sleep, it’s finally surfaced.”

　　“I’ll go check on him,” Ding Yi said, moving towards the inner room.

　　“Wait. Come sit here. I need to talk to you,” Ding Jing quickly stopped him and said.

　　Ding Yi glanced at his niece sleeping on another sofa.

　　“We might wake up Chingching.”

　　“Don’t worry about her.”

　　“Have you discussed Dad’s treatment plan?” Ding Yi sat down next to his sister and asked.

　　“I was just about to discuss that with you. Dad is almost eighty now, and at his age, surgery isn’t advisable. The best approach is conservative treatment.” Ding Jing said. As she spoke, she turned and gave Ding Yi a meaningful look.

　　“You mentioned Dad isn’t sleeping well at night? Is it because of me?” Ding Yi understood a little and asked.

　　“What else could he be worrying about?” Ding Jing said and sighed. “At his age, there’s nothing else for him to stress over. You’re not dating anyone, and you’re obsessed with uncovering the truth from the past, ready to sacrifice everything. How could that not worry him?”

　　Ding Yi remained silent for a moment before he spoke with difficulty, “Sorry, it’s my fault.”

　　Seeing Ding Yi’s guilty and conflicted expression, Ding Jing was reminded of the despondent figure he once was, hiding in his room, smoking and drinking all day. The memory pained her. Thinking of the proud and carefree brother he used to be, her resentment towards the woman responsible for their current situation deepened.

　　“We’re family. No apologies needed! I just wanted to remind you, when you see Dad later, say things to ease his mind, even if they’re just lies,” she said and deliberately gave Ding Yi a hard pat on the back.

　　“Got it,” Ding Yi replied.

　　At that moment, Sia Chingching woke up from the sofa opposite them. She rubbed her eyes and, upon seeing Ding Yi, looked surprised.

　　“Hey, Uncle! You’re back already? I thought you wouldn’t arrive until tonight,” she said.

　　“I flew back. Why aren’t you in school?” Ding Yi asked. He was still feeling down, sounded a bit stern.

　　“Grandma is getting old, and Mom is busy. I took some time off to come and help,” Sia Chingching immediately sat up straight and answered honestly.

　　From her infancy, Sia Chingching had always been afraid of her uncle. She was never this afraid of her father, but after her father passed away, her fear of her uncle only grew.

　　When Sia Chingqhing was a child, her father was in the military and her mother was busy with work, so she often stayed at her grandparents’ house. In fourth grade, a close friend invited her to a birthday party, and she forgot to inform her family in advance. She played until late and didn’t return home, causing the entire family to panic. The adults called every classmate’s house until they finally found her.

　　When she got home, her mother scolded her severely. Instead of admitting her mistake, she talked back, infuriating the adults. At that time, Ding Yi was young and hot-headed. He picked Sia Chingching up and gave her a thorough spanking. Since then, she behaved like a little lamb in front of Ding Yi.

　　Ding Yi didn’t bother responding to her. He stood up and walked towards the inner room, intending to give their mother a break. Seeing that there were enough people here, Ding Jing took her white coat from the hanger and went back to the surgery department to finish her shift.

　　Halfway to the room, Ding Yi remembered something and turned back to Sia Chingching.

　　“Does Hedong University offer part-time graduate programs? In finance?” he asked.

　　Sia Chingching was stunned for a moment before responding, “I think they do. I’ll find out tomorrow when I go back to school.”

　　Ding Yi just nodded and turned to enter the inner room.

　　Sitting on the sofa, Sia Chingching was in a daze. Is her uncle going to be her schoolmate?