Chapter 84 — Targeting Xia Xue

"Boss Wang, we've got trouble—that bitch Xia Xue actually showed up at our door!" Huang Shu hung up the phone and hurriedly wheeled himself into the inner office to Wang Pu's room.

"What the hell?" Wang Pu slammed his palm on the desk and snarled. "Is she ever going to let this go? She's already dug up our connections at customs, and now she's coming to our doorstep?"

"You don't think that kid spilled something while he was in there, do you?" Huang Shu frowned. "But by all logic he shouldn't have. Su Dazhi was the one who made contact with him. The man who used to liaise with me has already been transferred out. This is a newly opened channel—it shouldn't lead back to us. Unless..."

"Unless what?" Wang Pu pressed.

"Unless Su Dazhi let something slip earlier and exposed our connection," Huang Shu reasoned.

"Damn it. That Su Dazhi—he didn't die unjustly after all." Wang Pu made to slam the desk again, but glanced at his gauze-wrapped hand and let it drop in resignation.

"What do we do now, Boss Wang? Are we going to see this Xia Xue or not?" Huang Shu asked.

"What do you think?" Wang Pu countered.

"I say we see her. Find out what she wants," Huang Shu said. "If we refuse, won't that make us look even more suspicious?"

"You have a point. She can't necessarily have any evidence—if she did, she'd have come straight to arrest us." Wang Pu nodded. "Then we'll see her. Call downstairs and have her come up."

Five minutes later, Xia Xue was received in the reception room outside Wang Pu's office.

"Hello, Officer Xia." Wang Pu shook her hand warmly, then said, "Please, sit down. I'll have my secretary bring some tea."

"No need to trouble yourself. I'm just here to get some information from you." Xia Xue waved a hand.

"Very well then. May I ask what brings Officer Xia to see me?" Wang Pu nodded and sat down across from her.

"Boss Wang, may I ask what relationship Su Dazhi has with you?" Xia Xue asked abruptly.

"Su Dazhi?" Wang Pu's heart lurched—had they found Su Dazhi's body? Yet his face betrayed not the slightest unease. "Oh, you mean him. He's my brother-in-law. Why do you ask?"

"Su Dazhi has disappeared," Xia Xue said evenly. "We suspect he's connected to a smuggling case."

"Disappeared? Smuggling?" Wang Pu feigned astonishment. "Are you sure you've got the right person? My brother-in-law is a thoroughly honest man—how could he be involved in smuggling? Come to think of it, now that you mention it, I do seem to have not seen him for quite a long time."

"Do you know nothing at all about his activities?" Xia Xue fixed him with a stare and pressed. "I've heard he used to be an employee of your group. Doesn't his disappearance strike you as strange?"

"He was indeed my employee for a time. My secretary Huang Shu was hospitalized after a car accident, so I had my brother-in-law, Su Dazhi, fill in for a while. But he truly wasn't cut out for the work, so once Secretary Huang was discharged, I let him go," Wang Pu said.

"And after you dismissed him, you never heard from him again?" Xia Xue asked.

"Well... if you mean afterward, he did come to see me once," Wang Pu said after a brief hesitation.

"What did he want?" Xia Xue asked.

"He wanted to borrow money." Wang Pu sighed. "I didn't want to bring this up, but since you're asking, Officer Xia, I can't very well hide it."

"What do you mean?" Xia Xue asked, puzzled. "Why would there be anything to hide about lending money?"

"He'd been gambling outside and racked up debts to loan sharks. He came to me for money to pay them off." Wang Pu sighed again. "I didn't want to lend it at first, but he said that if I didn't help him, someone was going to hack him to death. He is my brother-in-law, after all—I couldn't just watch him die. The sum was rather steep, but I lent him the money anyway. 'Lent' is putting it politely—it was practically a gift. I knew full well there was next to no chance of ever getting it back."

"How much?" Xia Xue asked, her interest quietly piqued.

"Five million." Wang Pu shook his head. "I may have money, but parting with five million just like that still hurt. But what could I do? Who else could I blame for being saddled with a relative like that?"

"Are you certain he used the money to pay off gambling debts?" Xia Xue asked. "Not to fund smuggling?"

"How would I know? I've got so much on my plate at the company every day—I can't exactly follow him around to watch him repay debts." Wang Pu spread his hands. "As for what he did with the money, how would I have any way of knowing?"

"Who can prove that Su Dazhi borrowed money from you?" Xia Xue asked.

"Does something like this really need proof?" Wang Pu shook his head. "There's no need for me to prove anything. Whether or not I gave him money is a private family matter—it hardly seems to fall within your jurisdiction, does it?"

"Boss Wang, I'm assisting with an investigation, and I hope you'll answer truthfully, because what you say is extremely important to us," Xia Xue said.

"All right. Secretary Huang was present at the time, and the money came out of my personal slush fund—it never went through the company accounts," Wang Pu said. "This sort of thing isn't exactly honorable to begin with. Family scandals shouldn't be aired in public. I didn't want anyone else to know."

"Very well, Boss Wang. May I ask about your company's total assets?" Xia Xue nodded and changed the subject.

"Our company's total assets are somewhere over a hundred and sixty million," Wang Pu said.

"And how much are your personal assets?" Xia Xue continued.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't disclose that. These are personal matters—there's no need for me to tell you." Wang Pu said flatly. "I'm a private entrepreneur. You should be well aware that these things are highly sensitive and can't simply be made public."

"Fine. If you won't tell me, I'll just go check your accounts at the bank myself." Xia Xue said indifferently. "I hope you haven't lied to me just now. All right, that's all for today's questioning. If I need anything further, I'll come back to see you."

"Yes, yes, I'll cooperate as much as I can." Wang Pu rose to his feet and said to Xia Xue, "Officer Xia, I won't see you out—the group's affairs are rather busy."

"No need to see me out." Xia Xue waved a hand and left the office.

"Damn it!" Wang Pu snarled viciously. "That little bitch actually came to investigate my assets. Good thing I'm clever enough—I put all the money into anonymous Swiss bank accounts. Otherwise she really would have caught me."

When Xia Xue had asked about his personal assets, Wang Pu had been secretly alarmed. It seemed she must have sensed something; otherwise she would never have asked such peculiar questions.

What a headache. He wondered how far along the police were with his case. Wang Pu picked up the phone and dialed a number belonging to an acquaintance.

"Brother Tong, I heard my brother-in-law seems to have gotten himself into some trouble." After a bit of small talk, Wang Pu asked as if by casual chance, "What? Who told you? Oh, that Xia Xue? No kidding—she's been suspended? All right, good to know."

Wang Pu hung up the phone, seized by a surge of irritation: "Damn it, what the hell is Xia Xue playing at? She's already been suspended, and she's still coming after me."

"What did Brother Tong say?" Huang Shu asked.

"It's got nothing to do with us at all—it's all that Xia Xue's doing. She's been suspended, and she still goes poking into the case. Damn her, she's like a ghost that won't leave us alone. What's that woman really after?" Wang Pu fumed.

"Whatever she's after, she's definitely got her suspicions about us now. That's not a good sign," Huang Shu said with a shake of his head. "This is going to be trouble."

"What do you mean? She's been suspended—what is there to be afraid of?" Wang Pu shot back.