"A fire suddenly broke out at the bearing factory, and the accountant was burned to death."

The sudden bad news startled Qiao Qiqi, and then she suddenly realized something and subconsciously asked, "Was the fire in the finance office?"

Qin Baoguo's face visibly darkened. "Yes, all the previous account books have been burned."

What a coincidence!

Just as they discovered problems with the bearing factory's accounts and were about to continue their investigation, the finance office burned down, killing the accountant inside – a tragic loss of life.

If you say this is a coincidence, Qiao Qiqi would never believe it, not even if you beat her to death.

But that's exactly what happened.

The bearing factory was a key enterprise in Beijing, and the news spread quickly. The next day, the whole city was talking about the fire at the bearing factory, and everyone was curious about how the fire was caused.

The police investigation results came out three days later. The cause of the fire was found to be an electrical fault, but they could not explain why the accountant saw the fire but was burned to death inside.

"We can perform an autopsy to see if there is soot in the deceased's mouth and nose. If there is, it means she was burned to death while still alive. If not, it means she was murdered first and then burned to death." Qiao Qiqi recalled the TV series "Young Justice Bao" that she had watched before, in which Bao Zheng solved cases in this way.

After being reminded, Qin Baoguo immediately went to discuss the matter with the police. Of course, whether it was feasible still needed to be discussed with the family.

People in this era were quite traditional, and they believed that the deceased should be buried with their bodies intact.

So when Qin Baoguo returned and said that his family disagreed, Qiao Qiqi had already expected it.

They couldn't act against the wishes of the deceased's family, so they had to find other solutions.

Qin Baoguo and the police began to investigate the accountant's bank transfer records and movements at the post office. They soon discovered that the accountant had a son studying abroad, and therefore sent a large sum of money to his son every month.

And this transfer amount far exceeded the accountant's salary!

Qin Baoguo went to Xiao Tanghai about this issue. Upon hearing the news, Xiao Tanghai was heartbroken. "I thought Lao Zhang had worked at the bearing factory for so many years and was an honest and upright person. I never expected him to be so foolish as to embezzle public funds to send his child abroad!"

Looking at Xiao Tanghai's clumsy acting, Qin Baoguo said in a businesslike manner, "It's impossible for him to do something so big on his own. Moreover, according to the clues the police have, the loopholes in the bearing factory are far greater than the amount of money Lao Zhang embezzled."

"You suspect that Old Zhang has accomplices in the bearing factory?" Xiao Tanghai asked with a surprised expression. "Have you found out who it is?"

Qin Baoguo carefully observed every expression on Xiao Tanghai's face. Although he knew perfectly well that Xiao Tanghai was the one who embezzled with Lao Zhang, and based on Xiao Tanghai's position, it was very likely that he was the one who embezzled the lion's share and then used the smaller share to bribe Lao Zhang.

But since there was no evidence, Qin Baoguo couldn't alert the enemy, so he deliberately asked Xiao Tanghai, "Who do you think this person could be?"

Xiao Tanghai looked bewildered. "Isn't this something the police should be investigating? If I had known, I would have fired him long ago. Why would I have let him continue working at the bearing factory?"

Seeing that he couldn't get any more information this time, Qin Baoguo asked one last question, "Besides the finance office, where else can we find the bearing factory's accounts from all these years? Or does anyone know about those accounts?"

"There are only two accountants in the finance department right now. One is Lao Zhang, who is in charge. The other is Xiao Li, but she usually just assists Lao Zhang and probably doesn't know much. If you have any questions, I can call her over to see you."

Qin Baoguo thought for a moment and said, "No need, I'll go find her myself."

After saying that, Qin Baoguo turned and left.

As he stepped outside, he could still hear Xiao Tanghai muttering inside, "Old Zhang, are you out of your mind? Even if this gets investigated, you'll only be locked up for a few years at most. It's not a capital offense! Why are you so foolish..."

That evening, Xiao Tanghai finally appeared at the Qin family home, knelt before the old lady, and began to cry, "Mother, my uncle blames you and Xiaoqi for not managing the bearing factory well, causing such a big problem to occur. It's all my fault!"

The old lady was as clear-headed as a mirror. Looking at Xiao Tanghai's crying and sobbing, she frowned and said, "You're such a grown man, what kind of behavior is this, crying and sobbing like this? Get up and speak."

Xiao Tanghai stood up shakily and sat on the single sofa next to him, then continued to cry: "I really didn't expect that someone would embezzle right under my nose. These people are really too hateful! Now that Lao Zhang has committed suicide out of fear of punishment, there is no way to verify the facts, and the police will definitely have a very difficult time."

As he spoke, Xiao Tanghai suddenly looked at Qin Baoguo beside him and said firmly, "Baoguo, you and the police will be in charge of this case. If there is anything I can do to help, please don't hesitate to ask. I will help you if I can."

Qin Baoguo didn't react much, just gave a faint "hmm".

Then everyone in the room continued watching Xiao Tanghai's performance. "I've known Lao Zhang for over ten years. He seems like an honest and simple guy. How could he do something like this? It's really baffling..."

The old lady couldn't bear to hear him sobbing, so she immediately interrupted him and announced some new information: "The higher-ups have sent a supervisory team and a new factory director to investigate. They are determined to get to the bottom of this matter and wipe out all the scourges lurking in the bearing factory. However, I have strongly recommended you to the organization. Starting tomorrow, you will step down to the second line as deputy general manager. The new factory director was transferred from the police station in Jinshi. You must cooperate well with his work."

Xiao Tanghai couldn't cry anymore. "Police? Can someone like that do business?"

"Why can't the police do business? Besides, this isn't an ordinary policeman. You'll see when he arrives." The old lady deliberately kept him in suspense, not revealing how extraordinary the new factory manager was, which made Xiao Tanghai so anxious that he couldn't sleep well all night.

Originally, Xiao Jinpeng was tasked with sending people out to investigate the new factory director, but after a whole night of investigation, they found nothing.

The next day, the new factory manager took office on time, bringing two assistants with him, and was directly assigned to important positions.

Those two seats, which were originally occupied by Xiao Tanghai's men, have now been reassigned to less demanding departments.

Xiao Tanghai realized that this person was deliberately targeting him, so he rushed over to argue, but was rebuffed with one sentence: "I am the new factory manager. From today onwards, I will make all decisions regarding the factory. If you are not satisfied, you can report me to the higher-ups. If the higher-ups decide to remove me, I will leave immediately."