Case Files Chapter 114: Still Waters and Bitter Cold (7)

Translated by Vivian of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

 

The next day, when he arrived at the bar, Wen JinHan saw that it was a little chaotic, and a lot of people were whispering, their expressions strange.

“What’s this?” Wen JinHan asked curiously.

“I heard that there’s an undercover police officer that got caught and is being interrogated right now.” Jiang Shu looked down, his expression unreadable.

Wen JinHan didn’t panic; after all, he had heard the conversation yesterday, so he knew that these people would lure the snake out of the hole. However, based on today’s situation, it was clear that Ou Chen and the others still didn’t know exactly who the undercover person was. They wanted to put out false information in order to lure that agent out, and perhaps other connected people as well. Wen JinHan rubbed his chin; since they didn’t know who it was, he still had a plan.

“Aren’t you going to post accounts at finance today? Can you take me with you?” Wen JinHan pretended to be more interested in work instead of this information.

“You want to learn?”

“Mn. I don’t want to stay in the bar all the time…”

Jiang Shu’s gaze wavered, but he smiled warmly. “Okay then, I’ll take you there.”

The finance section was on the other side of the building. The entire floor was like a modern office building, and there were many white-collar workers bustling around, either dressed in a suit and leather shoes or a skirt and high heels.

Jiang Shu led Wen JinHan to an office with a sign reading “Special Finance” on the door. Inside, there were four or five people working.

“Jiang Shu’s here?” A man with glasses looked up, and when he saw Jiang Shu, he hastily stood up to greet him.

“You must be very busy at the end of the month, right?” Jiang Shu pointed at Wen JinHan. “He’s with me, so let him learn a bit and he’ll be able to help me in the future. JinHan, this is the financial manager, Manager Wang.”

“I’m Wen JinHan,” introduced Wen JinHan.

“Haha, you even have a subordinate now, Jiang Shu?” Manager Wang took out a stack of papers. “These are the spendings of the club this month, and I’m creating a summary of it right now.”

Jiang Shu and Wen JinHan sat down, and the three of them began copying down numbers.

When they left, Wen JinHan followed behind Jiang Shu and continued to look at the surrounding office area and personnel. Some people also looked curiously at them. When they passed a pantry with a mirror opposite it, Wen JinHan glanced at it.

Sure enough, there were people inside. In the mirror just then, he had seen the secret symbol that only a small group of special agents knew: a pot of irises. It seemed that they had put out the contact signal as soon as he had come in, hoping that he would notice

Unfortunately, he couldn’t do anything at the moment. If Jiang Shu hadn’t accepted this financial work for the club from Li Long, he wouldn’t have even had a proper reason to be here.

Now, the problem was how he could tell them that they had already been exposed and had to retreat as soon as possible.

On the way back, he bumped into Mo Ran. Mo Ran smirked. “Oh, are you also taking on important work? What, do you want to be a manager?”

Wen JinHan said sourly, “It’s not like you’re the only one who can do anything around here.”

When Mo Ran saw that he wasn’t his usual self, he instantly straightened up. “How long have you been here? I’m the one who established this enterprise with Brother Chen.”

“So you can go to the office building frequently?” Wen JinHan said disbelievingly.

“Nonsense! I’m the special assistant to the director of operations!” Mo Ran said arrogantly.

“What’s so good about that? To Ou Chen, only the people in the personnel department are important. The others are just a guise for the public.”

“What do you know?! I also have the authority to see the company’s confidential and personnel information! I’m Brother Chen’s confidant!”

It would be strange if Ou Chen had such a loquacious confidant.

“Stop bragging so much. Why don’t we make a bet?” Wen JinHan crossed his arms.

“A bet on what?” Mo Ran looked at him warily.

“Let’s see who’s the first who can look at information about the company’s personnel. In order to prove that it’s the newest information, why don’t we focus on the people who were hired in the logistics department in the last three months? Whoever can get their names, positions, and salaries first wins.”

“Why not, it’s not like this information is very hard to get. You think just because Ou Chen likes you, he’ll just let you look at the company’s information? Such idiotic nonsense.” Mo Ran smirked at him and left arrogantly.

Jiang Shu, who had been silent the entire time, sighed. “Why do you bother with him? He has the mind of a child.”

“Child? A twenty-one-year-old child shouldn’t be excused. I’m just purposely sorting him out and teaching him a lesson,” Wen Jinhan said gloatingly.

Jiang Shu widened his eyes and looked at Wen JinHan as if he was a stranger.

“What, are you surprised?” Wen JinHan shrugged. “If I was really that law-abiding, I probably wouldn’t still be alive today. Don’t deny it, I know that you’re not that innocent either.”

Wen JinHan ignored Jiang Shu’s reaction and left. He hoped that this act would work, as this was the safest method he could think of. Moreover, now that he had said this, even if Ou Chen suspected Jiang Shu, he wouldn’t have any proof. As for whether taking such a risk was worth it or not, Wen JinHan didn’t have to consider it at all. He was standing here to avenge his passed friends, and if his new friend would also die because of him, then all of this would be for nothing.

In the afternoon, Wen JinHan didn’t work in the bar, and instead returned to the room. At this time, Ou Chen was in his study, so he didn’t bother him and quietly read a book by himself.

In the evening, Li Long pounded the door and came in.

“Brother Chen! An employee in the logistics department that was hired last month, Zhou Shu, didn’t show up after going out for lunch at noon!”

Ou Chen frowned. “Why did you find out just now?!”

“The others thought that he had gone to a supplier shop to look at decoration materials, but later, someone called the supplier, and it turned out that no one had gone. His phone is off, and there’s no one at his address.”

“Someone tipped him off,” concluded Ou Chen.

“Great. Could there be someone even deeper undercover?” Li Long widened his eyes.

“We’ll know more once Lin Sheng looks into it.”

It was dark, but Wen JinHan still hadn’t slept; he was waiting. Sure enough, Ou Chen appeared in the doorway, looked at him for a while, and said slowly, “Come with me to the conference room.”

Wen JinHan put down his book in surprise and followed him to the conference room.

The room was full of important people in Ou Chen’s organization. Mo Ran was also there, trembling in the corner. When he saw Wen JinHan come in, his expression immediately became ferocious.

Ou Chen sat down, leaving Wen JinHan awkwardly standing next to him.

“Today, an undercover police officer ran off,” Ou Chen addressed everyone.

“According to Lin Sheng’s investigations, this person got alerted and ran away because someone went to the personnel department to look up his information.” Ou Chen looked at Mo Ran. “You’ve never cared about personnel information, and you should also know that that was confidential.”

“Brother Chen, it’s not like that! I wasn’t trying to alert him! I was being used by someone!” shouted Mo Ran. Then, he pointed at Wen JinHan. “It was him, he told me to go look!” Tears appeared in his eyes, and he looked aggrieved; he had never hated Wen JinHan this much.

“He told you to go?!” Li Long suddenly roared, about to teach him a lesson.

Wen JinHan finally recovered from his shock and hastily stopped him. “Wait! Although I don’t exactly understand what you guys are talking about, it was indeed me who suggested for Mo Ran to look at the information, so it’s not his fault.”

Besides the shocked Mo Ran, everyone turned their dagger-like gazes onto Wen JinHan.

Wen JinHan stepped back subconsciously. “It was my fault, I was angry that Mo Ran had so much freedom, so I purposely provoked him and made a bet with him to see who could find out information about the company’s personnel. I just wanted him to get reprimanded by someone, but I didn’t expect that it would have such severe consequences. I didn’t know about an undercover spy, and he didn’t know either…” Wen JinHan began rambling.

“Why did you want to look into the logistics department?” Durin asked, narrowing his eyes.

“I-I didn’t know any of the departments. I only knew that Mo Ran was in the operations department, and Jiang Shu and I have gone to the finance department before, so using those two wouldn’t have been fair. Besides those, I only knew about the logistics department, because the person who’s in charge of maintenance for the wine cellar said that he was in the logistics department…”

“Then why did you only look into new employees hired in the past three months?” pressed Durin.

“I just set that limit randomly. If it was a very old staff member, Mo Ran might already be familiar with them, so I would’ve lost too easily…” Wen JinHan bit his lip. “I didn’t think that it would lead to this, but it really wasn’t Mo Ran’s fault. Jiang Shu was also there at the time, so he can testify to this. If need be, just punish me.”

Mo Ran was still staring at him in shock, unsure of how to respond.

Ou Chen had someone summon Jiang Shu and carefully questioned him before sending him away.

“JinHan has been with me for over a year, and he’s never asked about anything related to the business, and he’s neve left this building. I believe him.” Ou Chen clearly expressed his stance.

Among the others, some of them agreed, though some were still doubtful, but they couldn’t do much about it.

“Mo Ran, don’t think that just because JinHan absolved you, you’ll be off the hook. If you weren’t always provoking him, JinHan wouldn’t have been so impulsive. In the future, be more careful, or else there will be consequences.”

Mo Ran nodded vigorously, and before he left, he couldn’t help but look at Wen JinHan again 

After everyone left, Ou Chen stood up. “Punish you? Do you know how severe the punishments here are?”

Wen JinHan looked at him, his expression aggrieved. “You’re in charge around here, so if you want to kill me, it would be very simple, and you wouldn’t have needed this trial. I don’t want to be here at all, nor do I want to quarrel with the others all the time. If I knew the police officer, I would’ve definitely asked him to help me leave!”

Ou Chen hugged him and gently stroked his back. “Okay, okay, I didn’t realize you had such a strong temper before. I already said that I don’t doubt you, but I’m the boss, so I needed to make sure the people under me wouldn’t say anything, right? Didn’t I promise you I would take you outside sometime? Let’s go the day after tomorrow.”

 

Wen JinHan was lying in his arms, his expression conflicted and not listening to him at all. For some inexplicable reason, when Ou Chen had remained silent while he was being questioned by the crowd of people, he had actually felt aggrieved and angry…