036 Another Crisis Safely Averted

Fang Qingye did not receive a message from Xia He on QQ, but he did receive a call from her.

"Xiao Fang, please come to my office right now."

Xia He did not specify the reason over the phone, and Fang Qingye naturally did not ask. He agreed, turned around, headed up to the third floor, and knocked on her office door.

Seeing him enter, Xia He stood up from her desk, took a small canister of tea from the bookshelf, and said with a smile, "I heard you like tea. This is Yuhua tea I brought from home; have a taste."

With that, she took a pinch of tea leaves and brewed a cup for him herself.

"Senior, what’s this for? Why so polite today?" They were close, so they spoke informally when no one else was around.

"It’s not politeness; it’s a sincere expression of gratitude!" Xia He said as she placed the freshly brewed tea on the coffee table.

Fang Qingye picked up the cup, inspected it, and took a sip before saying, "Truly excellent tea. The liquor is bright and fresh green, with a mellow and refreshing taste. This is premium Yuhua, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is."

After a few more sips, Fang Qingye asked, "Senior, what were you thanking me for on QQ earlier? I’m completely lost."

"It turns out we were right—the cause of Sun Jiaming's death is not simple." Xia He then proceeded to explain the entire situation in detail.

Fang Qingye listened, his face full of astonishment. He had not expected that the Nanxin Branch would face such an incident right after they had just purchased the employee fidelity insurance, making it immediately useful.

"Xiao Fang, would you say I should thank you or not?" Xia He asked, beaming.

"It was just my job," Fang Qingye replied modestly, adding, "It also goes to show, Senior, that you are quite lucky."

"Yes, lucky indeed," Xia He sighed. If they hadn’t had that insurance to cover the 400,000-yuan hole, would she have met the same fate as President Xue of the Pingdong Branch? Of course, this "luck" was brought to her by the young man standing before her. Was he her lucky star? Such a thought felt a bit superstitious, so she kept it to herself.

"Xiao Fang, I need your help with one more thing." Xia He composed her thoughts and said seriously, "I plan to go to the city branch tomorrow to report this to the relevant leadership. I need you to draft the report for me."

"Oh? Asking me to write the report? Senior, is this how you thank me?" Fang Qingye asked.

"I’m truly sorry, but I have too much on my plate and no time to write it. I would have asked Wu Shengli, but he’s currently assisting the People's Bank and the police with their investigation... As for others..." Xia He paused, then continued, "Until this matter is fully resolved, I don't want too many people to know, for fear that someone might use it as a pretext to stir up trouble. If it attracts the media, it will be even more troublesome. I trust you, so I have to trouble you... You write it, and I’ll edit it."

"Alright," Fang Qingye agreed. Writing reports was part of his duties; he couldn't just do nothing all day.

"Then thank you for your hard work."

Fang Qingye returned to his office, opened a Word document, and began to write.

The report was not difficult for him. First, he had to clearly narrate the events without fabrication; this was the basic requirement. Of course, he could minimize the gravity of the situation while highlighting the role of the branch leadership—how they arrived at the scene immediately, consoled the family to keep them stable, and worked to control public opinion. These were all things the higher-ups liked to hear.

Minimize the big issues and resolve the small ones.

Naturally, the management loopholes and existing problems had to be clearly stated; there was no point in glossing over them as they were already apparent. The branch leadership were not fools; they were not that easy to deceive. Recognizing one's own problems was the best strategy.

More importantly, he had to emphasize drawing lessons from this incident and the measures to be taken in the future: strengthening professional ethics training, tightening operational procedures, and adhering strictly to regulations... This was the key focus and needed to take up at least half the length.

And, of course, the most important point: perfecting the employee fidelity insurance!

Fang Qingye typed away, his keyboard clattering.

"Oh... Xiao Fang, you actually know Wubi?" Liu Meili, who was passing by, asked, as if she had discovered a new continent.

"I know both Wubi and Pinyin," Fang Qingye replied with a smile. "This computer had Wubi installed, and I was too lazy to download another input method."

"Fewer and fewer people know Wubi these days," Liu Meili remarked before walking away.

He finished nearly 3,000 words in less than two hours. After checking for flow and typos, he was done. He originally planned to send the file via QQ, but decided to follow official protocol instead. He printed it out, went upstairs, and handed it to Xia He.

"You're done already?" Xia He was surprised. She asked Fang Qingye to sit and have some tea while she carefully read the document.

*Wow... it's much better than I expected!* Xia He thought to herself as she read, giving it a mental thumbs-up. It was detailed where it needed to be and concise where it should be—especially the mention of the employee fidelity insurance at the end. Was there anything to improve? It was just a subtle way of hinting at her own accomplishments to the higher-ups. It seemed Fang Qingye understood her intentions perfectly.

"Not bad, Xiao Fang," Xia He said, looking up at him. "If I didn't know you wrote this, I would have thought it was done by a veteran administrative staff member."

"Thank you for the compliment. If there’s nothing else, I’ll head back down," Fang Qingye said, preparing to leave. Work was over, and he didn't want to spend another second in the office.

"Alright, you've been working hard lately, go back and get some rest," Xia He said, then sighed softly, "I just don't know if I can pass President Zhang's inspection."

Seeing the worry on her face, Fang Qingye offered some comfort: "I don't think it will be a big problem. After all, it didn't cause any financial loss to the bank, and your prompt handling prevented any major negative impact. Of course, a reprimand is inevitable."

"I hope you're right," Xia He said.

Early the next morning, Xia He took a car to the city to report to the branch leadership. Fang Qingye didn't know the specifics of the meeting, but when he ran into her in the hallway the next afternoon, she took the initiative to greet him. Seeing that her expression was normal, he knew she had weathered the storm.

A few days later, an official document arrived from the city branch. It reprimanded the leadership of the Nanxin Branch, ordering them to reflect deeply and ensure that such problems would not happen again. This document was distributed to all branches in the system, with instructions for staff to study it. The language was stern, but anyone could see it was merely a reprimand—they didn't even have to write a formal self-criticism. It was night and day compared to how the Pingdong Branch leadership had been handled previously.

Immediately following this, the branch issued another directive, requiring the promotion of employee fidelity insurance across all branches in the system.

The crisis had been averted once again.

It was the weekend. Xia He was in her office reading documents, humming a tune—she liked to do this when she was in a good mood and alone. Her phone on the desk rang. She picked it up, smiled, and answered. A man's voice with a slight Wu accent came through.

"President Xia, I really envy you for getting through this so easily."

It was Xue Tao, who had been demoted to the Zhongxiang County Branch after his subordinate embezzled 500,000 yuan from depositors to gamble.

"The amount involved in my subordinate's case wasn't as high as yours, so the branch leadership showed some leniency," Xia He replied.

"How much difference is there between 400,000 and 500,000? You were just smart enough to think of getting that employee fidelity insurance. If I had done that for my subordinate back then, I wouldn't have ended up in this predicament." On the other end, Xue Tao sighed deeply.

"President Xue, don't lose heart. With your ability, you will return to the Pingdong Branch sooner or later. Mencius said, 'When heaven is about to confer a great office on any man, it first exercises his mind with suffering...'" Xia He consoled him.

"Haha, let's hope so," Xue Tao laughed on the other end. "President Xia, when you rise to greatness in the future, don't forget me."

They chatted for a few more minutes before hanging up.

*Don't forget me when you rise to greatness...*

Xia He thought of what Xue Tao had said, and a slight smile appeared on her fair face. She picked up her phone, went on QQ, and sent a message to Fang Qingye.

"Xiao Fang, are you free tonight? Let's go play ball."

After a while, he replied.

"It's Friday. Aren't you going home?"

"I'm going tomorrow. There's nothing to do at home anyway. After we play, I'll treat you to tea. I heard there's a nice teahouse at Yikangyuan..."