WHEN assistance appears in front of you, why not accept it?

　　With the enthusiastic assistance of Lee Mu and his team, Ding Yi’s group completed the account verification work, which was originally expected to take three days, in less than one day.

　　As planned, Ding Yi and Tian Mingjhang focused on the external verification of key loan accounts. The locations of these loan accounts on their list covered almost the entire Xiyu district. They spent most of the day traveling from east to west and finally had only one loan account left to verify—Jhang Yan.

　　Among the loan accounts verified today, one was handled by Huo Yanjhih. The borrower, Lee Tsan, admitted that he personally took out the loan from the bank, but he insisted that it was on behalf of someone named Jhang Yan, who had asked him to take out the loan and paid him a twenty percent commission for his trouble. Lee Tsan even produced a signed IOU and a copy of Jhang Yan’s household registration as evidence.

　　A twenty percent commission amounted to 4,000 yuan. In 1984, when the average monthly salary was less than 100 yuan, this was a substantial sum. Given that Jhang Yan had also left his household registration as collateral, Ding Yi could understand why Lee Tsan would take the risk.

　　Ding Yi noticed something intriguing from the old IOU and Lee Tsan’s writing habits. He wanted to verify his findings by examining Jhang Yan’s signature.

　　When they arrived at Jhang Yan’s home, the verification team went through their routine checks. Ding Yi observed that Jhang Yan wrote the character “火” (fire) with the correct stroke order.

　　In contrast, Lee Tsan wrote the character with an incorrect stroke order. He would first write the long left stroke, followed by the short right stroke and the dot, causing the right stroke and the dot to be connected. The character on the IOU held by Lee Tsan showed this exact incorrect method.

　　If, as Tian Mingjhang suggested, Jhang Yan’s identity had been used fraudulently to take out the loan, it meant that the person impersonating Jhang Yan had the same writing flaw as Lee Tsan. However, this kind of error was quite common, making it a needle-in-a-haystack task to identify the culprit.

　　At least this discovery proved one thing—the problematic loans handled by Huo Yanjhih were the result of someone intentionally trying to siphon funds.

　　These loans, issued in 1984, were part of a new loan product developed by the Hedong Commercial Bank under directives from the provincial government in line with national reform and opening-up policies. The loans had long terms, and the interest was subsidized by the finance department. The list of recommended recipients came from the industrial and commercial departments, aimed at supporting promising private enterprises. Ding Yi didn’t believe that outsiders alone could orchestrate such a flawless operation. Whether it was an inside job or a collaboration between insiders and outsiders was still undetermined.

　　After completing the external verification work and returning to the Xiyu branch, Ding Yi suggested they go out for a meal to reward the team. However, everyone shook their heads and declined. After a long, exhausting day, they all just wanted to go home and took a good rest.

　　Ding Yi didn’t insist. He didn’t feel particularly tired, but having a slight pain in his stomach. They had come in two cars, and after discussing Jhang Yan’s situation with Manager Jhao, Tian Mingjhang arranged for the driver of the other car to take the four other colleagues back first.

　　On the way back, only Ding Yi and Tian Mingjhang were left in the car besides the driver, so they couldn’t talk much.

　　“It’s mealtime, boss. What about coming over to my place for dinner?” asked Tian Mingjhang. He was three years older than Ding Yi and had been working closely with him for the past few months. Over time, he found the formal address “Manager Ding” too stiff for their friendly rapport. They got along well, and Tian Mingjhang genuinely respected Ding Yi, so in informal settings, he called him “boss”.

　　Tian Mingjhang’s family had welcomed a second child three months ago, but Ding Yi hadn’t had the chance to visit. He decided to take the opportunity to see the baby, so he nodded in agreement. On the way, they stopped at a maternity store where Ding Yi bought some baby clothes gift sets and postpartum supplements as presents.

　　When they arrived at Tian Mingjhang’s building, Ding Yi asked the driver to take the car back to the branch.

　　After dinner, Tian Mingjhang’s wife, Ling Yueh, sent their elder daughter to the study to do her homework. She soothed the baby and handed him to her mother-in-law, then went into the kitchen to cut some fruit.

　　When she finished slicing a plate of apples, she called out, “Honey, come get the fruit!”

　　Tian Mingjhang was chatting with Ding Yi and his father in the living room. Hearing his wife’s call, he hurried into the kitchen to help.

　　As soon as he entered the kitchen, Ling Yueh sidled up to him and asked in a low voice.

　　“Is your colleague married?”

　　“I don’t think so. But why do you ask this? He’s my boss, you know.”

　　“He seems like a good person—handsome, well-mannered. I think he and Manman would make a great match.”

　　“Your best friend? Hmm, that might be true, especially in terms of temperament.”

　　“Why don’t you ask him? If he’s interested, they can meet and get to know each other.”

　　Ding Yi and Tian Mingjhang had both left their cars at the office. Tian Mingjhang originally planned to drive Ding Yi back in his wife Ling Yueh’s car, but Ding Yi politely declined.

　　Since Ding Yi wasn’t familiar with the roads in this area, Tian Mingjhang insisted on walking him to the subway station. It was less than a kilometer away, and they decided to take the walk as a post-dinner stroll.

　　The sky had darkened, and perhaps due to the overcast weather, there were few pedestrians on the streets.

　　Walking side by side, Ding Yi recalled Tian Mingjhang’s repeated signals at Jhang Yan’s house.

　　“Is there something fishy about Jhang Yan’s loan?” asked Ding Yi.

　　“There definitely is!” Tian Mingjhang replied.

　　But it’s something that couldn’t be discussed openly at the office. This loan had been off the books for over twenty years, and no one had paid attention to it. Tian Mingjhang knew about it because he had participated in the restructuring work a few years ago.

　　Back then, Tian Mingjhang was just an officer in the audit department, primarily responsible for collaborating with the finance department and assisting the accounting firm in verifying assets. The accounting firm requested an old archive for review, and since it was an audit matter, he was responsible for retrieving it.

　　At that time, not all records were digitized, and there was only a catalog. Retrieving a document required pulling out an entire box, which was time-consuming and labor-intensive. The restructuring leadership office was located in the general department, where the tight schedule and heavy workload had turned it into a chaotic mess. The archive manager, too busy to help, simply handed him the archive catalog and the key.

　　Unfamiliar with the archive organization, Tian Minghang spent some time locating the right box. While searching for the requested document, he came across a legal document in the same box that recorded the litigation and withdrawal cases of five loan recipients, including Jhang Yan.

　　When verifying assets, he had cross-checked this loan but hadn’t seen this document in the loan records, so he curiously read through it.

　　“What do you think about this?” asked Ding Yi.

　　He was surprised, realizing that Tian Mingjhang seemed to know quite a bit. From the available records, Ding Yi could only deduce that this was a case of illegal loan issuance, with the responsibility statement concluding simply—Inaccurate pre-loan investigation, illegal loan issuance, resulting in irrecoverable loans.

　　These loans, totaling less than 200,000 yuan, had likely been overlooked due to the small amount. Tian Mingjhang had never mentioned it to anyone and had almost forgotten about it. But encountering these loans during the external audit and seeing Ding Yi’s interest had jogged his memory.

　　“Actually, our bank did sue Jhang Yan and a few other loan recipients years ago. All five loans were handled by an old employee named Huo Yanjhih. After the lawsuit, the other four pointed their fingers at Jhang Yan—”

　　The situation was similar to what had happened with Lee Tsan. After meeting Jhang Yan, the other people realized they had been deceived.

　　“Once the case was filed, since there was no surveillance footage available at the time and Huo Yanjhih, the person in charge, was no longer around, the police could only compare Jhang Yan’s handwriting and fingerprints with those on the loan documents. The results confirmed that Jhang Yan was indeed innocent.”

　　“How do you know all this in such detail?” Ding Yi asked, surprised.

　　“Because of my work, I happened to come across the legal documents for the lawsuit and the subsequent withdrawal,” Tian Mingjhang replied.

　　Ding Yi had a pain in his stomach again. He stopped walking, unable to continue.

　　“Where did you see them?” he asked.

　　“In the archives,” Tian Mingjhang replied, also stopped. He noticed Ding Yi raising his hand to rub his stomach.

　　“Which year’s archives?” Ding Yi asked, ignoring his stomach pain, feeling a renewed sense of hope.

　　“1994.”

　　“I see. Thank you!”

　　“It’s all part of my job,” Tian Mingjhang replied. Unable to resist, he added, “But boss, though work is important, you need to take care of your health too.”

　　He often noticed that when everyone on the floor had gone to the cafeteria for lunch, Ding Yi would still be in his office. Sometimes, even after they returned from eating, Ding Yi still hadn’t gone to the cafeteria. Maintaining such a routine would inevitably cause stomach problems.

　　As the stomach pain eased a bit, Ding Yi shrugged it off, saying, “It’s okay, I just need to take some stomach medicine.”

　　A few minutes later, they reached the subway station. Noticing Tian Mingjhang’s hesitant expression, Ding Yi chuckled inwardly and asked, “Is there something else you want to say?”

　　After some hesitation, Tian Mingjhang finally brought up his wife’s suggestion.

　　“I really appreciate the concern from you and your wife. But I’m a committed bachelor; marriage isn’t in the cards for me,” Ding Yi said, smiled endearingly.

　　Hearing this, Tian Mingjhang didn’t push further. He was curious but not nosy; everyone has their own way of life, and sometimes saying too much doesn’t help.

　　“Oh, by the way,” Tian Mingjhang continued, “Today, Manager Jhang from the Supervision Department called me. The Risk Management Department, along with relevant departments and the supervising leaders, conducted a preliminary review of the loan write-off for Honglin Building Materials. Generally, various professional committees need to have someone from the Discipline Inspection Commission supervise their meetings. When I’m not around, it’s almost always the Supervision Department that handles it. Their preliminary opinion was to agree on the write-off. Tomorrow at work, the Risk Management Department will likely hand over the special audit materials for the write-off. This loan amount is significant, so you had better assign a few capable auditors for the special audit.”

　　“Got it,” Ding Yi replied. “Twenty million is not a small amount!”

　　The next day, upon receiving the preliminary review materials from the Risk Audit Committee for Honglin Building Materials’ loan write-off, Tian Mingjhang assigned personnel to conduct a special audit. He then returned to consolidate the preliminary drafts and began drafting a written report on the external audit findings.

　　Meanwhile, Ding Yi, under the guise of external audit work, requested several files from the General Affairs Department. He found the legal document Tian Mingjhang had mentioned, and its contents matched exactly what Tian had described.

　　According to loan management regulations, this document should have been filed with the loan records and kept until the loan was fully repaid. Ding Yi had a vague sense that the legal document was not filed with the loan records but instead was categorized under document archives with a thirty-year retention period. This suggested that someone might have wanted to conceal it, and once the retention period expired, the document would be destroyed following standard procedures, making future inquiries impossible.

　　Who could have had the opportunity to interfere with the archiving of this document? People from the grassroots branch and sub-branch offices would have almost no chance to handle such documents. Since this document ended up in the audit archives, it meant that personnel from the audit department, the archive management department, or even the branch leadership at the time might have had access to it.

　　Now, the colleagues from Xiyu Branch who were there when Huo Yanjhih issued the loan in 1984, and those who could have influenced the archiving of documents in 1994, became key to continuing the search for the truth. However, so many years had passed, and most of those old employees had retired. How could he start investigating them?

　　Moreover, if the person who impersonated Jhang Yan had not had the lawsuit dropped and was reported to the police, would the police have already caught this loan fraud culprit through a comparison with the massive fingerprint database?

　　If thinking about it from this perspective, Ding Yi realized that the person who proposed dropping the lawsuit back then was also highly suspicious!

　　After pondering this for a few days, Ding Yi went back to review the Party Committee and Risk Audit Committee meeting records from 1994, as well as the rosters from 1984 and 1994, which contained the most complete list of departmental employees. What he didn’t know was that all the archives he accessed were being logged by the archivist, Lin, who sent a list of them via messages to an unverified account.

　　Ding Yi found the rosters he needed from several departments and carefully took photos of them with his phone. As he was just starting to go through the Risk Audit Committee meeting records, Lee Mu knocked on the open door and walked in.

　　“Deputy Manager Ding, I noticed you hadn’t replied to the Party Committee meeting notice I sent through the OA system yesterday. The meeting starts in half an hour, so I wanted to remind you just in case you missed it,” he said.

　　Ding Yi looked up to see Lee Mu standing right in front of his desk, which struck him as odd. Usually, Lee Mu would make a show of waiting for Ding Yi to invite him in. Today, it seemed like the sun was rising in the west.

　　“Oh, sorry! I’ve been so busy I forgot. I did see the message. I’ll go to the meeting room shortly,” said Ding Yi.

　　Lee Mu didn’t leave. He noticed the roster on Ding Yi’s desk and, curious, stepped closer to take a look.

　　“Wow! The 1984 roster looks like this? Can something so old still be of use?” he asked.

　　“I’m just cross-checking to see if the salary reductions for the loan officers who were punished back then were implemented,” Ding Yi frowned slightly and replied. This excuse didn’t sound very convincing, he thought.

　　“You’re so dedicated. I’m impressed!” said Lee Mu. He closed the roster, his gaze briefly lingering on the open meeting minutes in front of Ding Yi.

　　“Is there anything else, Assistant Lee?” Ding Yi said and didn’t miss Lee Mu’s wandering eyes.

　　“Ugh, no! I need to prepare for the meeting now,” Lee Mu replied and left.

　　Shortly after Lee Mu left, Tian Mingjhang came in.

　　Ding Yi pointed to the sofa and said, “Sit down please. Let’s make it quick; I have to attend the Party Committee meeting soon.”

　　Instead, Tian Mingjhang pulled up a chair and sat next to Ding Yi. He cautiously glanced at the door before leaning in and lowering his voice.

　　“Honglin Building Materials is suspected of transferring funds.”

　　“Are you sure?”

　　Honglin Building Materials had taken out a fifty million yuan loan from the Linghai branch to build a new production line. But within two months, their legal representative and chairman, Sun Weidong, died in a car accident. Sun Weidong’s wife took over the business, and within two years, not only did the performance plummet, but the accounts also showed massive debts. Because of the overvaluation of collateral, the Linghai branch managed to recover thirty million yuan through a lawsuit and auction of the collateral, leaving the remaining twenty million as bad debt on the books. Now, another two years had passed, and Honglin’s operations had ceased. They had filed for bankruptcy, and the process was underway.

　　“Absolutely!” Tian Mingjhang said. “Boss, do you remember Wang from the audit department?”

　　Ding Yi nodded, he had heard of him. Last year, the head office recruited a top talent for the Linghai branch—an ace with a CPA certification who had been a senior auditor at an accounting firm. He had joined them because he wanted to return to his hometown of Linghai for career development.

　　Tian Minghang continued, “Honglin’s business dealings aren’t exclusive, but they have a particularly close relationship with a company called Fonghan Real Estate. About fifty percent of their annual business volume is with Fonghan. Coincidentally, when Wang was at the accounting firm, he audited Fonghan Real Estate’s financial statements for the past few years. He specifically handled the audits for construction-in-progress and inventory. Yesterday, we asked Honglin for their delivery notes since the loan was issued in 2015, and Wang immediately noticed significant discrepancies between those figures and Fonghan’s inventory records.”

　　“Are the discrepancies substantial? How big are they?” Ding Yi asked.

　　Tian Mingjhang leaned in and whispered a number into Ding Yi’s ear, causing his expression to become even more serious.

　　Ding Yi tapped his fingers on the table, pondering for a few minutes before saying to Tian Mingjhang.

　　“Could you go back to your office and review everything again with Wang? Once the Party Committee meeting is over, I’ll report the basic situation to President Syueh. You might need to provide the detailed information,” said Ding Yi. He wasn’t confident in explaining the accounting specifics himself.

　　After receiving his instructions, Tian Mingjhang returned to his office. Ding Yi attended the Party Committee meeting as planned, and afterward, he went to President Syueh’s office to report.

　　After listening to the report, Syueh Honghuei asked Tian Mingjhang and Wang to his office. Once Wang finished explaining the audit findings, Syueh Honghui’s face darkened.

　　He erupted in anger, “Get the legal department involved and sue Honglin!”

　　“Hold on, President Syueh. The way these two companies transferred funds is quite covert. It would be difficult for us to gather evidence on our own. I suggest we report this to the police and let the economic investigation department handle it. They would be much more efficient,” Ding Yi said frankly. “Moreover, if we sue Honglin first and alert them, Fonghan Real Estate might fabricate new data, making it harder for us to act later even if we involve the police.”

　　“Good idea. We’ll have the legal department proceed on both fronts. Report to the police first, then file a lawsuit!” Syueh Honghuei replied gravely.