Chapter 37 I wanted to turn my heart to the bright moon, but the bright moon only shines on the ditch...

Zhang Wei is a man of his word. A few days after our last phone call, he personally delivered the USB drive.

After Shen Xingjian got it, he thanked him, but he seemed to be hesitant to speak.

"What's wrong?" Shen Xingjian asked.

Zhang Wei looked embarrassed. After much hesitation, he rubbed his hands and said, "Well... a few days ago, I went to the Science and Technology Building for an interview and saw Accountant Liu in the elevator..."

Zhang Wei said, and hurriedly explained: "Mr. Shen, I swear, I really don't have any other thoughts about her! I'm already married, and I will definitely not have any affairs outside. What I despise most are those who cheat!"

Shen Xingjian: “…”

This is true, but there is no need to be so excited, right?

Zhang Wei observed his expression before continuing, "There were a lot of people in the elevator at the time, so she probably didn't see me. I saw Accountant Liu go to Guanya, and then President Xu came out a short while later. He mysteriously pulled her to the stairwell, and then..."

Zhang Wei looked embarrassed to speak.

Shen Xingjian asked: "Then what?"

Zhang Wei opened his mouth several times but couldn't say the words. Finally, he had to use his mobile phone to show him the secretly filmed video.

In the video, the hallway lights were dim, but the silhouettes of two people could be vaguely seen. Accountant Liu clung to Xu Jiakai's neck, pressing himself against him, whispering something.

Xu Jiakai's expression seemed impatient, but he didn't push her away. Instead, he turned away, avoiding her gaze, and said, "My parents don't know anything, so don't bother looking for them."

Accountant Liu twisted his fingers around his tie and said aggrievedly, "Who told you not to reply to my messages? You didn't answer my calls, and you're nowhere to be found. I couldn't find you, so I had to resort to this last resort."

The fire escape's sensor light flickered. Xu Jiakai took a half step back, leaning his back against the wall, trying to distance himself. "The company is about to open a new business line, so I'll be very busy for a while."

Hearing him say this, Accountant Liu sneered and poked his chest with his fingertips, saying, "Are you really busy, or do you think I'm in the way and blocking you from pursuing the rich girl? You know it in your heart!"

After she finished scolding, she slid her fingers down Xu Jiakai's white shirt. "I don't care about your affairs, but don't think about reneging on what you promised me! This time I just showed up at your parents' house. If I accidentally run into the young lady someday, what do you think I should do?"

When Xu Jiakai heard her mention Shi Yunran, he immediately grabbed her wrist and said in a low voice, "How dare you!"

Accountant Liu didn't expect him to react so strongly. His grip on his wrist was so tight that it hurt. He tried to break free but couldn't move at all. He sneered, "Xu Jiakai, don't even think about turning your back on me! Don't forget that the USB drive is still with me. If you push me too far, neither of us will be able to get away with it!"

Hearing her mention the USB drive, Xu Jiakai seemed to regain his senses. He let go of her and said in a softer voice, "You also said that the USB drive is with you, so why are you so anxious?"

"I'm not in a hurry, but I have to make plans for the baby in my belly, right?" Accountant Liu pretended to be weak, but his tone was firm. "Xu Jiakai, I need a definite answer. When will I get the money?"

Hearing her mention the child, Xu Jiakai frowned in annoyance and pushed Accountant Liu away. "Don't come to me again before the end of the year!"

Satisfied with the answer, Accountant Liu walked away, smiling in her high heels, leaving Xu Jiakai alone in the hallway. He leaned one hand against the wall, wanting to light a cigarette, but was afraid of the smoke alarm going off, so he gave up.

After the entire video was played, the living room fell into a long silence, Shen Xingjian did not speak, and Zhang Wei did not dare to say anything.

The second hand of the wall clock ticked away for a long time before he asked Zhang Wei to send him the video. He said, "Thank you for your hard work today."

Zhang Wei actually had many theories. For example, was Accountant Liu actually planted by Mr. Xu from the beginning? Were Mr. Xu and Accountant Liu involved in some shady dealings? Was it possible that the USB drive contained evidence against both of them?

But Shen Xingjian didn't seem to want to talk about this now, so he wisely shut up.

To put it bluntly, he was just an employee. The bosses' infighting was none of his business. He was just trying to help Mr. Shen because he was such a nice guy. Now that Zhongyue was gone, there was no need for him to get involved, so he said goodbye and left.

That night, looking at the contents of the USB flash drive, Shen Xingjian thought for a long time.

He knew that once this decision was made, there would be no room for maneuver between him and Xu Jiakai.

But there were some things he had to ask for clarity in person.

"You suspect... Xu Jiakai has been embezzling Zhongyue's public funds from the very beginning?" After returning to Villa No. 1 in the evening, Gao Xing listened to him talk about what happened during the day and tried to sort out the cause and effect.

At the dinner table, Shen Xingjian’s face was solemn: “It’s not suspicion, it’s certainty.”

In fact, he should have noticed something when Xu Jiakai first proposed buying his Zhongyue shares at market price. In reality, Zhongyue hadn't suffered losses in the two years since its founding, but had consistently profited. He and Accountant Liu had colluded to manipulate the accounts, creating the illusion of deficits. This allowed him to buy at a low price and then resell it to Guanya at a high price. That's why he was so enthusiastic about the Guanya acquisition and why he had the money to splash out on a villa in Dongjiang Garden.

The USB drive Zhang Wei brought contained not only Zhongyue's real accounts from the past few years, but also evidence of their embezzlement of public funds. It was clear that this was Accountant Liu's way out for himself.

"Isn't this illegal? If you pursue this, won't he go to jail?" Gao Xing suddenly remembered something. "Could this be why he killed you?"

Shen Xingjian didn’t know.

Emotionally, he was unwilling to believe that Xu Jiakai would kill someone for such a small amount of money; but his reason reminded him that if Xu Jiakai was really the murderer, this amount of money would indeed be enough to be a motive.

Whether it is true or not will soon become clear.

Two days later, in a private room of a restaurant in Xinjiehui, Accountant Liu met the legendary Shen Xingjian for the first time.

Accountant Liu joined the company six months after Zhongyue was founded. Although he had always known about Shen Xingjian's existence, he had never met him in person and only saw his name when doing the accounts. According to Xu Jiakai, if his partner had not broken his leg, he would never have been trapped in Jingnan and stranded in a small company like Zhongyue.

When she first received the call yesterday, Accountant Liu was still dismissive, but when Shen Xingjian told her about the USB flash drive, she panicked. Xu Jiakai didn't know the USB flash drive was lost yet, and thought it was still in her hands, so she could use it as a bargaining chip to negotiate with him. If Xu Jiakai knew that the USB flash drive fell into Shen Xingjian's hands, she would be completely finished.

It is said that a thief is always guilty, and Accountant Liu is like this now. She knows what she has done and is also clear about what will happen to them if the people in front of her pursue the matter.

"Boss Shen...how did you get my phone number?" Accountant Liu lifted his hair, and a sweet fragrance emanated from his every move. He looked at his face carefully and asked tentatively.

Accountant Liu was not sure how much Xu Jiakai knew about this matter. He was worried that Shen Xingjian would expose the matter, and he was also afraid that the two of them had already teamed up and were ready to put all the blame on him, so he was trembling with fear.

At the other end of the dining table, Shen Xingjian sat at the junction of light and darkness, with floating dust dancing in the beam of light.

“You used to be an employee of Zhongyue. It’s strange that I have your phone number?” Shen Xingjian said calmly.

"How could that be?" Accountant Liu smiled hurriedly, "Boss Shen wanted to see me... is there something?"

Shen Xingjian didn’t waste any time talking to her. He just put the USB drive on the table and said straight to the point: “Do you want to tell me yourself, or should I ask the police to ask you?”

Accountant Liu saw Shen Xingjian's resolute attitude and knew that the embezzlement of public funds could no longer be concealed. He sold Xu Jiakai out in a second: "It's him! It's Xu Jiakai! He forced me to do it!"

She said, holding back tears, trying to gain sympathy: "Xu Jiakai and I are classmates. He is two years younger than me. We met in the student union. At that time, he had just enrolled as a freshman, and I was his senior. We became familiar with each other after a few visits..."

"But we didn't really have a relationship back then. Although he had expressed interest in me several times before, I had a boyfriend at the time, so I always rejected him. Later, after I graduated, I ran into him again at a Christmas party hosted by a friend. At the time, I was having a hard time finding a job and was drinking alone. He came over to comfort me, saying he was starting his own business and could help me find a job."

"I drank too much that day and I don't remember anything that happened afterwards... When I woke up, I was already in the hotel..."

Accountant Liu stole a glance at Shen Xingjian's expression while speaking. Seeing that he was unmoved, he increased his tone and cried, "I wanted to call the police, but he refused to let me. He even knelt down and begged me to give him a chance..."

Accountant Liu sobbed, and Shen Xingjian rolled his eyes in his heart and said impatiently: "You should know that these are not the dirty things I want to hear."

Accountant Liu saw that crying was useless, so he sobbed a few times, wiped away his tears, and continued, "Xu Jiakai was afraid that I would call the police, so he arranged for me to work at the company. I thought he was trustworthy, so I got together with him. Everything was fine, but a few months later, he suddenly proposed to me and said he wanted to give me a home..."

"I was immersed in his lies at the time, thinking I had found true love, so I happily agreed. Until early March, he suddenly said that he had invested all his money in stocks and lost it all. He also said that he was sorry and that all debts could only be repaid in the next life!"

"I was already pregnant with his child at the time, and I couldn't just watch him jump off the building and leave the child without a father! I cried and begged him not to, and he cried too, begging me to help him!"

Shen Xingjian had reviewed the contents of the USB drive, and the record of their embezzlement of public funds did indeed begin in early March of that year. However, this did not mean that Accountant Liu was telling the truth. If, as she had said, they had drunken sex on Christmas Day, proposed on Valentine's Day the following year, and were pregnant in March, the progress was far too fast. Furthermore, as a recent graduate with no work experience, she might not even be able to properly handle the real accounts, let alone the fake ones. Even with Xu Jiakai's cover, it would be impossible for her to do it on the spur of the moment.

Shen Xingjian didn’t expose her and let her continue.

Accountant Liu saw that he still had no expression on his face, and he became even more worried. He simply burst into tears and said, "Boss Shen! I originally only wanted to help him this time, but he said the entire company was his, and it was just a transfer from one hand to the other, so I shouldn't worry! I know this is illegal, and I tried to persuade him several times, but he threatened me with the baby in my belly! He even beat me!"

"I'm a woman, and he beat me to the point of having a miscarriage. He also coerced me into committing a crime. I'm so scared! I have no choice, Mr. Shen!"

Accountant Liu cried heartbreakingly, as if the person who deducted the money from the account was not her but Xu Jiakai.

“In other words, you admit that the anomalies in Zhongyue’s accounts in the past two years were secretly manipulated by you and Xu Jiakai?” Shen Xingjian asked pointedly.

"He threatened me! I'm innocent, Mr. Shen!" Accountant Liu was still stubborn, insisting that it was Xu Jiakai who instigated and forced her, and she was also a victim.

Accountant Liu is a smart person. She knows that as long as she insists on this point, she can only be considered an accomplice at most. Because according to the accounts, the public funds embezzled from Zhongyue passed through several hands and finally flowed into Xu Jiakai's account. The court will also pay special attention to this point when making a ruling.

As Xu Jiakai's lover, she had plenty of ways to take the money out of Xu Jiakai and spend it openly.

After watching Accountant Liu's performance, Shen Xingjian had a basic idea in his mind.

Before leaving, he advised Accountant Liu: "Don't be so excited about your pregnancy. Be careful not to disturb the fetus."

At the same time, in a top-floor mansion on the riverside of Minghai City, 32-year-old Xu Jiakai stood quietly in front of a floor-to-ceiling window as big as an entire wall.

Outside the window, a jade plate hangs high, the bright moon is like frost, the cold moonlight is interwoven with the gorgeous neon lights, and melts into the rolling river water under the feet, flowing endlessly.

"I turned my heart to the bright moon, but it only shines on the ditch."

In the darkness behind him, the woman sitting on the sofa straightened her clothes and hair, wiped the blood from the corner of her lips, and laughed coldly.

"Xu Jiakai, let's wait and see!"