AFTER ten days’ hospital treatment, Ding Yi was finally discharged.

　　To avoid making his family worried, Ding Yi hadn’t told them about his hospital stay. On the day of his discharge, it was Jhan Syudong who came to pick him up.

　　They had quite a bit of luggage, with each of them dragging a large suitcase back to Ding Yi’s apartment. Surprisingly, Ding Yi’s own clothes and personal items took up only a small portion of the luggage. The majority of the space was occupied by the gifts and supplies his colleagues had brought him during their visits.

　　Previously, Jhan Syudong had rushed to Ding Yi’s apartment to pack his clothes for the hospital stay, but he hadn’t had the time to properly take in the surroundings of Ding Yi’s place.

　　Upon entering again, Jhan Syudong couldn’t help but be amazed.

　　“Wow, this place sure shows your unit’s wealth! How could a staff dormitory look like this? It’s as luxurious as a five-star hotel suite!” he marveled.

　　“It’s not free. I pay rent monthly,” Ding Yi said and shrugged indifferently, making a cup of tea for Jhan Syudong.

　　The apartment was cleaned daily by the company’s janitorial staff, so even though he had been away for over ten days, it remained spotless. To him, this place was similar to a hotel.

　　Sitting on the sofa, Jhan Syudong glanced around the apartment. It was entirely designed for comfortable living—three bedrooms, two living rooms, a kitchen, and two bathrooms, fully furnished. On their way from the elevator, he had even noticed a gym.

　　“It’s a pity that such a place is wasted on a single man like you!” he said regrettably.

　　“You could move in, if you want,” Ding Yi handed him a cigarette and said.

　　Jhan Syudong feigned disgust, exaggeratedly shaking his shoulders.

　　“Do you have a lighter?” he asked.

　　Ding Yi pulled a lighter from his jacket pocket and lit the cigarette for him. Jhan Syudong glanced at Ding Yi’s lighter.

　　“You’re so nostalgic. How many years have you had this lighter? I’ve never seen you buy a new one.”

　　“My brother-in-law gave it to me. He’s no longer around, so I keep it for the memories.”

　　Ding Yi put away the lighter and took out the medicine box he brought back from the hospital to sort out his medication. Recalling the moment when Sia Mingsyuan gave him the lighter, Ding Yi smiled. It wasn’t cheap back then, and Sia Mingsyuan was taken advantage of by him.

　　At this moment, Jhan Syudong noticed a handwritten note in Ding Yi’s medicine box and pulled it out. It seemed to be a list of dietary recommendations from the doctor, detailing what to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

　　“What’s this?”

　　“I have no idea. It was just there when I opened the medicine box.”

　　“This hospital’s doctors are quite thorough,” Jhan Syudong remarked, flicking ash into the ashtray. “Did you find anything suspicious about Lee Mu, the person I asked you to keep an eye on?”

　　“You never asked about him, so I thought you’d already solved the case,” replied Ding Yi. Then he swallowed his medication with a glass of warm water.

　　“This case is a bit complicated,” Jhan Syudong said and took a deep drag on his cigarette.

　　There was no need to hide anything in front of Jhan Syudong, Ding Yi got straight to the point. “Lee Mu does seem suspicious, but it doesn’t appear to have any connection to Lin Haichao. I feel like he’s targeting me specifically.”

　　“Tell me more about this,” Jhan Syudong said. He’s interest was piqued, a professional habit kicking in.

　　“He shows a particular interest in my external work and often shows up at my office at rather suspicious times, as if he’s trying to gather some information.”

　　“Are you suggesting that the incident back then is connected to Lee Mu?”

　　“But his age doesn’t match up,” Ding Yi said, feeling perplexed. “I went to the audit department and reviewed Lee Mu’s background check. The records detailed each employee’s family and social connections. It turns out his family situation is quite straightforward—his mother is a retired insurance company employee, his wife is an elementary school teacher, and his father died in a car accident over thirty years ago. His social connections are not particularly notable either.”

　　“Have you considered another possibility?” Jhan Syudong suggested, frowning. “That person from back then might not be directly related to Lee Mu. Instead, it could be someone who has the power to influence his career or has some leverage over him.”

　　If this was the case, it could only mean that the person back then was now in a high position.

　　“Currently, the leadership in the banking industry is getting younger. None of the branch leaders are old enough to fit the profile. If we rule them out, the next level is the head office’s management,” Ding Yi nodded and said.

　　“That will be even harder to investigate. According to your theory, this person might already be suspicious of you and has planted a spy in your midst. What do you plan to do next?”

　　“I’ll lay out more bait; the fish will eventually bite.”

　　Ding Yi smirked. If it weren’t for Lee Mu’s incompetence, he would still be clueless and unable to find any leads.

　　“Be careful. If there’s anything I can help with, don’t hesitate to tell me,” Jhan Syudong said.

　　Over the years, he had seen the dark sides of human nature. Those in high positions were often the most intolerant of interference in their affairs.

　　“I will, don’t worry,” Ding Yi said as he tossed a whole pack of cigarettes to Jhan Syudong after seeing him finish his smoke. “But actually, I do have a favor to ask. If it’s too difficult, just forget what I said.”

　　“Oh, come straight to the point! Just tell me what you need.”

　　“There are fingerprints left by the person who impersonated Jhang Yan in the loan documents. Could you check the fingerprint database for any matches?”

　　He wasn’t sure about Jhan Syudong’s work protocols and didn’t want to cause him any trouble.

　　“No problem, leave it to me,” Jhan Syudong agreed immediately. He understood how crucial this was to Ding Yi. As for the procedures, those could be handled.

　　However, when it came to Lee Mu, Jhan Syudong felt a bit hesitant. He hadn’t told Ding Yi anything about Lin Haichao’s case, so Ding Yi might not have a clear perspective. It seemed like he needed to give Ding Yi some context about the case.

　　“I remember you interact with Lee Mu quite a bit at work. Keep an eye on him.”

　　“In what way?”

　　“Lin Haichao’s case originally appeared to be just an economic crime. A large portion of his debt was from high-interest loans issued by organized crime figures. This connected it to a ‘Crackdown on Gang Crimes’ operation we’re running. About half a month ago, Lin Haichao’s daughter, who’s in college, went missing. She still hasn’t been found, and we suspect it’s related to his debts. That’s why we’ve combined the investigations and hoped to uncover more leads,” replied Jhan Syudong. He was clearly troubled by the case.

　　Ding Yi pondered for a moment and asked, “What makes you think Lee Mu is involved?”

　　“It’s partly in his eyes, but mainly there’s another small detail,” Jhan Syudong was thirsty after saying so much, so he took a sip of tea before continuing. “Lin Haichao’s wife, Sieh Singlan, works at our city’s Public Security Bureau. When we arrived at the branch office’s yard after receiving the report, she was already there. At the scene of Lin Haichao’s incident, Lee Mu was also present. When he saw Sieh Singlan, his face was full of surprise.”

　　“He shouldn’t be surprised?”

　　“Let me finish. We checked Lin Haichao’s phone records. His last call was with Sieh Singlan, but by then, he was already dead. Sieh Singlan said Lee Mu answered the call, yet Lee Mu didn’t mention this in his initial statement. When we questioned him again, he claimed he forgot. Overall, his behavior is very suspicious.”

　　“What’s the point of hiding that? How does it benefit him?”

　　Ding Yi was puzzled. Lee Mu had always been a meticulous self-serving person.

　　Jhan Syudong joked, “I thought you knew him quite well. Do you know what does he value most?”

　　“Promotion,” Ding Yi replied immediately.

　　That was beyond doubt. Lee Mu was one step away from joining the branch leadership team. Initially, he must have hated Ding Yi so much that he didn’t even bother to pretend. But later, for some reason, he changed his attitude.

　　“So, it seems we’re on the same path. And we should keep exchanging information,” said Jhan Syudong.

　　During his hospital stay, Ding Yi had some downtime, so he pulled out the list of key individuals he had previously found in the archives. Among these people, three stood out—one was the former head of Xiyu Sub-branch, who unfortunately had passed away; another was Jhao Chin, a loan officer who had conducted pre-loan investigations with Huo Yanjhih; and the last one was Chin Lipong, who had a good relationship with Huo Yanjhih.

　　Ding Yi first called the others on the list. He mentioned he was reviewing Huo Yanjhih’s loans for external work and subtly tried to probe for information, but he didn’t gain any useful leads.

　　After Jhan Syudong left, Ding Yi called Jhao Chin and Chin Lipong. He couldn’t reach Jhao Chin, but when he called Chin Lipong, he directly introduced himself. Chin Lipong was delighted and insisted on meeting in person.

　　They arranged to have a meal together. When Chin Lipong saw Ding Yi, he was overwhelmed with emotions. After hearing about Ding Yi’s experiences over the years and knowing he was doing well, Chin Lipong felt relieved and smiled.

　　He genuinely cared about Ding Yi. Regarding Huo Yanjhih’s case, he shared everything he knew, but unfortunately, during the time the loans were issued, he wasn’t stationed at the same branch as Huo Yanjhih. Therefore, his information was limited and not very useful to Ding Yi.

　　During their meal, Ding Yi mentioned that he couldn’t reach Jhao Chin. Chin Lipong immediately promised to help him find Jhao Chin’s new phone number.

　　The next day, Ding Yi returned to work.

　　On his first day back, he had a full schedule of meetings. The morning was occupied by the bank president’s office meeting, and in the afternoon, there was a quarterly regulatory meeting convened by the Linghai Regulatory Bureau of the CBIRC.

　　Having been away from work for a while, Ding Yi was unclear about the progress of the Honglin case. During the meeting, he listened to Syueh Honghuei’s report to the regulatory bureau leaders and got a preliminary understanding of the case’s developments. After the meeting, Ding Yi went to Tian Mingjhang’s office to get more details.

　　The case had been followed up by the Legal Department and the Risk Department. Since each department manager reports on their key work during the weekly meetings, Tian Mingjhang had a fair understanding of the case’s progress and explained what he knew to Ding Yi.

　　“After the Economic Investigation Division collected evidence from Fonghan, their findings were similar to the issues our audit had identified. The tricky part now is that Sun Weidong’s wife requested a fingerprint comparison. The results showed that the fingerprints on the loan documents didn’t match Sun Weidong’s fingerprints.”

　　“What do you mean? There isn’t any surveillance footage?” asked Ding Yi. He looked at Tian Mingjhang in surprise.

　　“There’s no issue with the surveillance footage. It shows that it was indeed Sun Weidong who came to sign the loan documents. But somehow, Sun Weidong’s wife insisted on a fingerprint comparison, and after the results came out, she was even more adamant that the person in the footage wasn’t Sun Weidong. The case has reached a deadlock because of this,” replied Tian Mingjhang.

　　Currently, their lawyers were still working on gathering evidence.

　　“Since the fingerprints don’t match, did the Economic Investigation Division find any match in the fingerprint database?” Ding Yi continued to ask.

　　Nowadays, everyone’s fingerprints are recorded when they get their ID cards. Ding Yi found it hard to believe that they just happened to find someone without a recent ID.

　　Tian MingJhang shook his head. Noticing it was almost time to get off work, he reminded Ding Yi, “It’s time to clock out, skipping meals is bad to your stomach. How about going to have lunch, boss?”

　　Reflexively, Ding Yi reached for his phone to check the time, only to realize he hadn’t brought it with him. He remembered that during the meeting, he found carrying the phone inconvenient and had placed it on the chair behind him.

　　“You go ahead. I’ll grab my phone from the small conference room,” he replied.

　　As Ding Yi approached the conference room, he saw Lee Mu coming towards him with his phone in hand.

　　“You left your phone behind,” said Lee Mu.

　　Ding Yi thanked him and took the phone, heading straight for the elevator. While waiting for the elevator, he casually checked his phone and noticed a missed call and an unread text message, both from Chin Lipong. The message contained Jhao Chin’s phone number.

　　After exiting the elevator, Ding Yi called Chin Lipong to thank him. During the call, he noticed a faint noise in the background. He allowed himself a slight, almost imperceptible smile.

　　It seems the fish is about to take the bait!