035 The Final Straw That Broke Sun Jiaming

Tonight, I had an appointment to play badminton with Xia He. Ever since our last session at the Yikangyuan Sports and Leisure Center, we had added a new layer to our relationship: we were now "badminton partners."

We didn't play very often—at most once a week. Counting tonight, this was only our third time. After dinner, as usual, Xia He drove her BMW to the entrance of the faculty residential complex to pick up Fang Qingye.

We went back to Yikangyuan. The environment there was pleasant, and compared to the public stadium, it was much less crowded and relatively quiet. Thankfully, we didn't run into Liu Dong and his boss this time.

After nearly two hours of running and smashing, we were both drenched in sweat. Once we had showered and changed, Fang Qingye was back in his standard T-shirt and jeans, while Xia He wore a beige floral dress. Her long hair, which she had tied up for the game, fell loosely over her shoulders, giving her the air of a girl-next-door.

We sat in the first-floor lounge to rest and grab a drink. This time, instead of milk tea, Fang Qingye ordered a beer, and Xia He chose a soft drink. We sat there, sipping our drinks and resting.

Xia He lowered her head, nursing her drink, seemingly lost in thought. Suddenly, she looked up at Fang Qingye and blurted out, "Xiao Fang, don't you think it's strange?"

"Strange? What is?"

"The reason for Sun Jiaming's death."

"Are you saying that the claim about him jumping off a building due to massive stock market losses is inaccurate?" Fang Qingye asked in return.

"It’s not just about accuracy. I don’t think things are that simple. I’ve looked into Sun Jiaming’s family situation; a floating loss of 900,000 yuan shouldn't have been enough to drive him to such a desperate end."

Xia He began to pour out the doubts she had been harboring.

"I’ve been mulling this over for the past few days. I keep feeling like something isn't quite right, but I can't put my finger on what it is. It’s not something I can talk about with others, sigh..."

By the end, Xia He let out a soft sigh. Fang Qingye set down his beer can and said with a smile:

"Senior, I’ve also felt that there’s something fishy going on. There must be a deeper reason for Sun Jiaming’s suicide."

"You mean it wasn’t because of the stocks?"

"No, it definitely has to do with the stocks, but it’s not as simple as it looks on the surface. There must be something we haven’t uncovered yet—something that was the final straw for Sun Jiaming," Fang Qingye explained.

"Then what could that be?" Xia He rested her chin on her hands, lost in thought.

Seeing her like this, Fang Qingye laughed. "Alright, Senior, stop thinking about it. Isn't the conclusion that his suicide had nothing to do with the company a good one?"

"Hmm... you're right! I have a habit of overthinking things." Xia He smiled, pursing her lips. She continued, "I plan to go to Sun Jiaming’s home tomorrow with President Su to visit his wife, representing the company to deliver a 20,000-yuan condolence payment."

***

Fang Qingye understood what this meant: for the bank, the matter was now officially closed.

However, events took a turn neither of them had expected.

The following afternoon, while Fang Qingye was in his office reading *Benchmark Analysis Methods in Mathematical Finance* and beginning to build a mathematical model, his phone buzzed with a QQ notification. He looked down to see a "Water Lily" avatar flashing.

It was a message from Xia He.

He opened it, and sure enough, there was a message: "Xiao Fang, you’re truly incredible. I don’t even know how to thank you; you’ve helped me out in a huge way again."

He blinked in confusion and typed back: "Senior, what do you mean? I don’t understand."

The other side didn't reply immediately.

Fang Qingye felt baffled. He hadn't done anything lately, had he? But he didn't press the issue. Perhaps Xia He was suddenly busy—after all, it was work hours.

Xia He was indeed busy.

Just after she sent that QQ message, Vice President Su Ming knocked on her door. "President Xia, it has been confirmed. Sun Jiaming did indeed misappropriate 400,000 yuan from a fund purchase belonging to his friend, Zhang Guofu."

Just the previous afternoon, Xia He had received some terrible news. A man named Zhang Guofu had come to the lobby downstairs to withdraw his 400,000-yuan fund product, only to be told by staff that he hadn't purchased such a fund at all!

Another 400,000 yuan had vanished into thin air.

Upon hearing this, Xia He immediately ordered the lobby manager to keep the matter quiet. She personally invited Zhang Guofu to the VIP room and questioned him in detail, only then discovering that Zhang had bought the fund through Sun Jiaming.

It turned out that Zhang and Sun were middle-school classmates, and Zhang had complete trust in Sun's character. In the past, whenever Sun needed to meet his deposit quotas, Zhang would often help him out. Zhang was a small business owner with some spare cash, and he was happy to oblige—after all, money had to go into a bank somewhere, so why not help a classmate?

A year ago, Sun had approached Zhang again to introduce this fund. The market was looking good at the time, and the fund was performing well, so Zhang decided to invest 400,000 yuan.

Sun had filled out the contract and brought it to Zhang’s home for him to sign. When it came time to transfer the funds, Zhang went to the lobby of the Nanxin Branch. Sun told him where to sign and when to enter his password. In the end, Sun handed him a slip, told him it was all taken care of, and Zhang left.

How was Zhang to know that Sun, desperate for capital to chase bigger profits in the stock market, had been eyeing that 400,000 yuan?

In fact, Sun had pulled a trick while Zhang was entering his password, making Zhang input the withdrawal password twice. In the end, the 400,000 yuan had been transferred directly into Sun’s own account.

Sun’s plan was to "borrow" the money temporarily, make a profit, and then secretly buy the fund for his friend. He never expected the market to take a nosedive, leaving him with nothing—not even the principal.

***

During that time, Zhang Guofu had been drinking with Sun Jiaming and mentioned the fund, saying that since the market was down, he wanted to redeem his 400,000 yuan.

Sun panicked. Misappropriating a client's funds was a criminal offense! Thinking of the bitterness of his recent stock trading losses and seeing no future for himself, he had been driven to contemplate suicide.

Su Ming had just finished investigating through various channels and had rushed back to report the latest findings to Xia He.

Xia He listened and then asked, "Just this 400,000? Nothing else?"

"Indeed, nothing else. We worked with the People's Bank and the police to pull the records for every account Sun opened at every bank over the last three years. We found that only this 400,000 at our branch was misappropriated; everything else was normal," Su Ming replied.

"That’s a relief. I’m preparing to report this to the city branch. This really has been an autumn of troubles for our Nanxin Branch," Xia He said with a bitter smile.

"Indeed. But fortunately, we recently bought employee fidelity insurance for staff in critical positions. We can cover this 400,000-yuan hole; otherwise, the situation would be far more severe," Su Ming said with a chuckle.

Xia He understood what he meant. The fate of the two presidents at the Pingdong Branch was a warning for them all.

*I really should thank that guy.*

An image of Fang Qingye’s lazy demeanor floated into Xia He’s mind. Compared to the other two interns who had been assigned to the branch, he wasn't particularly diligent—some subordinates even complained that he was lazy.

Yet, at every critical juncture, he always played a pivotal role.

*Hmm... this junior of mine is actually quite something.*

"President Xia." Su Ming’s voice broke her train of thought. "Who should write this report?"

"Give it to Fang Qingye. You go see Section Chief Yu of the Finance Department and discuss contacting the Pacific Insurance Company for the claim," Xia He commanded.

After Su Ming left, Xia He picked up the desk phone. She was going to call Fang Qingye.