Overly Intense [Criminal Investigation] 55p2

Chapter 55 p2: Thank You for Coming to Catch Me

In the early stages of the project, Ma Chen could not grow high-quality organic tea, and he couldn’t even meet the standard line.

Ma Chen had told Logos that it was because there were too few employees, and it was very easy to delay the construction period without enough people.

At that time, the project had just started. The training provided by the county was not in place, and the farming women were unwilling to leave their land at home to work for others, which led to a shortage of labor in the village.

It was Qin Luo who had contacted the relevant units and had gotten a formal title of “employment training base” for the tea factory. She had also roped in other public welfare organizations to send people to the tea factory, which had barely prevented the tea garden’s construction period from being delayed.

Liu Jia knew that the situation was special and did not make things difficult for Ma Chen. In fact, Liu Jia had even specially invited agricultural experts to go to the mountains every month to teach and monitor the seedlings, to help the tea factory protect the growth of the tea.

Later, the planting got on track, and the quality of the output gradually improved.

The tea not only passed the certification, but also gained a good reputation in the market.

The good reputation was exchanged for cost-effectiveness.

It was the result of Liu Jia and Qin Luo running their legs off and stuffing it into various sales channels.

But this also led to a very low net profit for the tea. Ma Chen, the agent manager, could only barely make a living, but he couldn’t make a lot of money.

“Sister Wang, chopsticks.”

Zhan Luo knew that Sister Wang had mysophobia and asked the boss for a pair of disposable chopsticks.

And Qin Luo was an environmentalist and did not use disposable chopsticks.

Turning back, he handed the disinfected chopsticks to Qin Luo. “Here, Sister Qin, yours.”

“Thanks.”

“This person has been doing this for more than half a year. How much did he make?” Sister Wang was filled with righteous indignation. “Especially in the past two years with the live stream sales boom, he could sell tens of thousands of units in one night. Is he really not afraid of being exposed?”

Zhan Luo sat opposite the two women and poured water from the teapot. “He’s already divorced his wife and sent his son to study abroad. What’s there to be afraid of?”

Sister Wang clicked her tongue. “Hey, Little Zhan, you’re wrong. Not every man will put his mind on his family. There are plenty of greedy ghosts who will do anything for a life of debauchery!”

Zhan Luo smiled. “Sister Wang is right. You can’t attach your self-worth to others.”

“As expected of our Logos employee! So eloquent.” Sister Wang picked up her teacup, sniffed it, and took a sip. “I’m used to the tea in our break room. It’s really not used to drinking this cheap stuff.”

After she took a small sip, she added, “So Ma Chen is the worst! How could he send mixed tea to consumers in second- and third-tier cities, and send the standard genuine products to the big cities?”

The tea lover Sister Wang exclaimed at this behavior, “I’m so angry. If I lived in a second-tier city, I wouldn’t even be worthy of drinking good tea, would I?”

Qin Luo was also full of anger. Thinking of what the employee had just recounted, a chill ran down her spine.

“I helped Manager Ma pick up a shipment once before. It was tea bought from outside and was taken to a factory in the next village.”
“Once, when I was having dinner with Manager Ma, I heard him on the phone with a tea merchant. I didn’t dare to think about it in any other way at the time.”
“Oh right, they said they saw the logistics information in Manager Ma’s office. The warehousing system was the same as the one our warehouse used.”

The more Qin Luo heard, the more absurd she felt.

Ma Chen’s shoddy products were not just by the month, but by the batch. This illegal behavior had been going on for at least half a year.

He had first kept some of the genuine products to deal with spot checks and quality inspections, and then had purchased inferior and shoddy substitutes through underground channels to mix with the genuine products.

These substitutes were cheap, had a similar appearance, and could quickly pass muster without careful inspection.

To ensure that the swapping process was not discovered, Ma Chen had specially mixed the genuine and shoddy tea in proportion before shipping, to ensure that the appearance of each batch of products was not too different.

The people under him were responsible for deciding the proportion of shoddy tea to be mixed in, based on the size of the order.

Almost all the orders sent to second- and third-tier cities and rural areas used shoddy tea. It seemed that he felt that the consumers in these areas had a weaker ability to distinguish organic tea. To be on the safe side, the orders sent to high-end customers and the Logos internal sales line maintained the quality of the genuine products.

The organic tea that he had replaced was then sold by the tea merchants at a price lower than the market price. He had taken advantage of the live stream sales boom and had made a net profit from the difference.

From the after-sales feedback, Qin Luo could see that at first, he was only a little greedy, and the adulteration was not much. Later, he gradually became greedy and began to adulterate in large proportions.

In these past few days, the legal team had also reviewed the operating contracts he had placed. He had not only exaggerated the costs and reduced the taxable amount, but had also falsely reported employee wages and embezzled public welfare subsidies.

At this thought, Qin Luo laughed dryly. “After dinner, Zhan Luo, you can accompany Sister Wang to the city’s criminal investigation team. I’ll continue to ask around at the factory in the afternoon.”

***

Qin Luo and Sister Wang stayed in the mountains for two days.

Sister Wang visited the villages, investigated the small workshops around the factory, and even climbed over walls and crossed streams in her high heels to find the warehouse where Ma Chen had made false entries.

Afterward, she had talked to the police officer that Shen Yiyi had introduced several times, carefully checked the catalog, and submitted the collected evidence to the police.

Qin Luo was not idle either.

She had met with the local government leaders, had an emergency meeting with various departments, and the municipal government had actively persuaded Qin Luo to continue the agricultural and female aid enterprise. They would find a way to help the enterprise make up for the losses and restore some of its reputation.

But these words did not move Qin Luo. She said to the leaders with a cold face, “Arrest him.”

“Shut down the small workshops in the mountains.”
“Pay the social security subsidies and public welfare subsidies for this year to the employees.”

The county’s finances were tight, but the leaders gritted their teeth and agreed in order to keep the enterprise.

But even so, Qin Luo did not give a clear answer on whether they could continue to cooperate.

That night, Qin Luo took Sister Wang and the leaders to dinner.

At the dinner table, Qin Luo said bluntly that her company’s social events had a rule against drinking. No matter if they were male or female employees, whether they were driving or not, they would not drink with them.

The dinner was very simple. The leaders and these literati had nothing much to talk about, and it ended quickly.

Qin Luo did not wait for Ni Lifeng to come back from the provincial capital, but she did wait for the finance and care work group from Logos.

Seeing that the logistics team was taking over for Qin Luo, the crowd no longer pestered her about her whereabouts. Even when Qin Luo’s plane landed, no one in the WeChat group asked her if she had arrived safely.

They had never fought in the same trench before, so their friendship was naturally weak.

As Qin Luo was waiting for her luggage at the carousel, she kept comforting herself with this psychological suggestion.

“Go back and get some sleep. You look terrible.” It had rained in the mountains before they left. Sister Wang’s suitcase and pant legs were covered in mud. She glanced at her boss. Qin Luo was not much better off.

“Then I’ll take you home in a bit.” Zhan Luo had a sharp eye and immediately went up to get Qin Luo’s suitcase when he saw it.

Qin Luo glanced at her watch. It was just four in the afternoon.

She had been busy dealing with this tricky criminal these past two days and had no time to pay attention to other company news. Now, many of her businesses were still at a standstill, and Logos was in a precarious state. How could she calm down and rest?

“No need. Take me back to the company.”

“Little Qin, you can work hard by yourself. I really can’t do it anymore.” Sister Wang dragged her own suitcase, waved at the two of them, and left in a hurry. “I’ll take a taxi back myself. See you tomorrow.”

Qin Luo nodded and said, “Thank you for your hard work.” She looked down and fiddled with her phone, slowly walking toward the exit.

Since she had hung up on Liu Jia that day, the other had not taken the initiative to send her a message again. Every day, besides coordinating work, she would not say much.

When she came back from a business trip before, she would at least ask if she had landed.

Qin Luo looked at the new media employee group chat. Liu Jia had just ordered them afternoon tea and then had sent a message to soothe their frustration from frequent overtime, and had also made a grand promise of a team-building trip to Thailand at the end of the year.

Qin Luo found Liu Jia’s chat box and bit her lip, thinking for a long time:

[I’ve landed. I’ll be back at the company in a bit.]

But she had walked more than ten steps, and Liu Jia still hadn’t replied.

Qin Luo used what she thought was her trump card:

[I’m sorry. Don’t be angry.]

The trump card still had some effect. Liu Jia replied to her:

[Why are you still going back to the company? Didn’t Shen Yiyi pick you up?]
[Huh?!]

This name was too resounding. It could scrape the mud from Qin Luo’s heart at any time.

She had just reached the exit, and when she looked up, there was a dense crowd of people standing in front of the pick-up railing.

Shen Yiyi was picking her up?
Where was Shen Yiyi?

Maybe she had been too busy these past two days and hadn’t had time to wipe her lenses. Qin Luo turned 180 degrees on the spot like a wooden doll but couldn’t find a familiar figure.

Zhan Luo was pushing the cart, holding Qin Luo’s briefcase in his hand. Seeing her standing there in a daze, he asked strangely, “Sister Qin, what’s wrong?”

Qin Luo had no time to answer him. She had found the answer she wanted through the gap in the crowd. She strode toward the other person, leaving Zhan Luo behind.

Shen Yiyi had her hands in her pockets and was standing in an empty space a meter away from the crowd, watching Qin Luo walk toward her.

She hadn’t originally intended to reach out her hands.

But after seeing Qin Luo, she could open her arms without any reason.

Qin Luo’s suit jacket hadn’t been changed in two days. She approached cautiously, not wanting to remind the other that her body was covered in mud.

She wanted to hug her.

Although she was wearing heeled shoes, and the height difference was more than a little, she didn’t know if the other could bear it if she leaned on her with all her weight.

But Qin Luo still leaned on her tightly.

She buried her head in Shen Yiyi’s hair. The broadcast behind her was reminding someone that they had lost a piece of luggage. Zhan Luo was standing behind her with her bag. The person picking her up was shouting, “I’m here.”

Qin Luo ignored it all. She leaned on the other’s shoulder and handed her body over to her.

“Liu Jia said you were coming back today. I was just taking my uncle to the high-speed rail station.”
“Are you very tired?”
“Liu Jia said I should take you home for dinner and sleep.”
“Um… Qin Luo… your colleague is watching us.”

An embrace, a trumpet that was not easy to fall, a holy grail that had been extinguished in a dangerous place grew flames again. It easily burned Qin Luo’s heart.

Qin Luo said in a muffled voice at her neck, “Thank you for coming to pick me up.”

Thank you for coming to catch me, to catch the me who has been pickled by failure.