Chapter 26: Misappropriation of Funds

Translator: Azza

Editor: Conspiracing

The aunty asked in curiosity, “The case? What case?”

Lin Dongxue was so angry that Xu Xiaodong was such an unreliable guy. He wasn’t able to investigate and find out anything but blabbed about the case.

Lin Dongxue was busy looking for a way out, “I am very sorry, we can't disclose this.”

The aunty challenged, “That doesn’t fly with me. Kong Wende is my employee. Of course I have to know about his affairs. What happened to him?”

𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Lin Dongxue was struggling trying to think of something to say to avoid the subject. Who knew that Xu Xiaodong was so naïve that he’d just blurt out, “He was killed!”

“What!?” Aunty was shocked and put her hand over her mouth.

Lin Dongxue was now internally dying from Xu Xiaodong’s stupidity. The aunty asked, “Who did it?”

“If we knew who did it, we wouldn’t be here.” Xu Xiaodong laughed at his own sense of humour.

“So you are investigating here? Do you suspect that it was someone from the company?”

“No, no, we just inquiring about everything. Oh right, don't talk about it to anyone, our police have not publicly announced this.”

“Understood!”

Lin Dongxue was so angry. She would obviously tell her colleagues as soon as they left, and he just told her, “Don't tell anyone.” Saying that is no different from saying nothing.

Xu Xiaodong asked thinking he was clever, “Do you know if Kong Wende had any enemies?”

“As far as I know, no. Kong Wende's popularity is quite good. Even if there are one or two colleagues who he isn’t on good terms with, they wouldn’t be at the point of murdering each other!”

Lin Dongxue steered the topic back and asked, “You mentioned that Kong Wende is insuring his family. What was the situation?”

“Insurance? We work for an insurance company. It’s normal to buy insurance for ourselves. Some months, you underperform so you buy insurance for yourself to bring up your numbers. This is normal. For example, I bought policies for my whole family.”

Lin Dongxue glared at the stunned Xu Xiaodong. “You have nothing to say now, right? Thinking you’re so smart!”

Lin Dongxue continued to ask, “We still want to know why he owes a huge amount of debt.”

“This...” Aunt wanted to start but stopped herself.

“If you don't know, we’ll ask someone else.” Xu Xiaodong was already standing up.

“He misappropriated company funds!” Aunty suddenly testified.

The two sat back down again, and Lin Dongxue asked surprised, “What!? Why didn't you say that earlier?”

“I just remembered it!” Aunt smiled awkwardly. This performance of hers was really bad. Even Lin Dongxue saw through it. The other party must know that Kong Wende is already dead. On the one hand, she was scared and on the other hand, she was worried that they would accuse her so she didn’t say.

In this way, Xu Xiaodong’s inadvertent hypothesis of the case had also played a part.

“Can you talk about it in detail?”

“This is what happened. Kong Wende was responsible for the training of newcomers. In the first half of the year, the company's accountants found dozens of empty invoices. Hundreds of new employees that didn’t actually exist. There was someone who took a lot of money saying that they had done lots of training in their name. The total amount of funds was about 400,000.”

“So much!?” Xu Xiaodong exclaimed.

“As this case was investigated, it landed on Kong Wende’s head. This guy thought that his plan was foolproof, but when the company’s specialists checked, they found out it was him. I privately talked to him. He admitted to the misappropriation. It started with small amounts in the beginning, but as time went, on the amounts became larger and larger, and so did his courage. He actually moved away 400,000. Everyone is an old colleague. I didn’t want to make a fuss about it in court. I ordered him to repay the money and I didn’t care how he did it. Later, he did pay the money back, and I didn't mention it anymore.”

“What month did this happen in?” Lin Dongxue inquired.

“I remembered this happening in early April of this year!”

“Thank you for your cooperation.”

Leaving the insurance company, Lin Dongxue tried to summarize the clues. She analyzed, “It seems that Kong Wende misappropriated the company funds prior, and then when the father-in-law was sick. He took the money to get rid of the disease, and then he got found out, so he was forced to get money from a loan shark.”

Xu Xiaodong pondered, “At the end of the day, the biggest suspect is the loan shark.”

“Do you really think that the loan sharks will kill people?”

“Who is part of loan shark’s organisation? Do you know? Some are former gang members. You have not crossed paths with them. You don't know how ruthless these people are!” Xu Xiaodong said confidently.

Lin Dongxue thought, if Chen Shi didn’t point it out before, perhaps she would think so too. In short, she was more willing to believe Chen Shi’s speculation that the loan shark is not a murderer.

“It's getting late; I’ll send you home!” Xu Xiaodong offered with a smile.

“No need, I will take a taxi myself. See you at the station tomorrow.” After that, Lin Dongxue went straight to the side of the road and waved down a taxi.

In the evening, she sent a message to Chen Shi telling him about the progress. Chen Shi did not reply, maybe he really went to sleep. She could not help but complain, why was this guy acting so leisurely at this time.

Early the next morning, she went to the bureau and to find the forensics department. In the empty office, the squadron leader Peng Sijue was looking at some data on the screen. From the few cans of Red Bull on the table, he must have been working all night.

“You’re here at the right time!” Peng Sijue began. “The DNA identification results are on the table. Look at it yourself.”

Lin Dongxue took a look, the DNA from the blood sample of the little boy and the DNA from the blood on the handle were actually 99% matching. She almost exclaimed out loud. Chen Shi’s guess was completely spot-on. The boy and the murderer are father and son.

“Why are you so happy?” Peng Sijue suddenly poured a bucket of cold water over her, “Look at the third page.”

Lin Dongxue turned to the third page with a suspicious look. After reading the results, she said with amazement, “That drop of blood!”

Peng Sijue turned around in his chair and held a bag of mints in his hand. “The blood is from the male owner, not the murderer.”

“No, the handle is cracked. It’s obvious that the finger of the murderer had been scratched. How can the blood of the male owner splash on it?”

“That’s your job, I only provide the results of the test.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“Wait, who was the man who was with you yesterday?”

“A driver! Why?” asked Lin Dongxue.

“I didn't speak to you! Just go! Don't hinder my work.” Peng Sijue hurried her away with a straight face.

“Hmph, who is he giving his stink face to?!” Leaving the lab, Lin Dongxue groaned in her heart. However, after thinking about it, Peng Sijue was very helpful. She should give credit where credit is due.

Some people in the team had yet to arrive. Lin Dongxue went outside to buy a Yong An Soybean set, and went back to the forensics lab. She offered with a smile, “Captain Peng, thank you. I bought you a breakfast set, eat it while it’s hot!”

“I appreciate the thought but I don't eat anything from outside, you take it!” Peng Sijue rejected while he continued squinting at the computer.

If she didn't know that he was such a character, Lin Dongxue would really want to throw the breakfast in his face. She continued politely, “I’ll leave it on the table!”

“Hey! Take it away!”

When Peng Sijue turned around, Lin Dongxue had already disappeared. He shook his head and sighed. He stood up and closed the door. Then, he opened the hot breakfast and tasted a spoonful of pork and preserved egg congee. He complained, “It's really bad!”

Then, he ate all the food really quickly.