Last night, Qin Yuanzheng had told Yang Wenyan, "The other party hastily and urgently transferred the stolen goods. I reckon they couldn't hide them well, so tomorrow, he will definitely show up and handle this matter personally. After all, he might not trust an outsider."
Qin Yuanzheng: "The person is definitely a worker inside the food factory. So, he will probably ask you for leave, Cousin. When the time comes, let him take it. Once he leaves the factory, Guan Wenjun can just send someone to keep an eye on him."
When Qin Yuanzheng said this, Yang Wenyan was still wondering in his heart if that person could be Du Erniu, who was in charge of deliveries.
After all, food was scarce nowadays, and most people didn't have enough to eat.
Incidents of deliverymen stealing food were not unheard of in the past.
However, they usually only dared to steal a few ounces, never too much, as it would be too obvious.
But this time, a clear one hundred catties had been stolen, and another two hundred catties were suspected to be stolen, pending evidence.
If it wasn't the delivery driver Du Erniu, then it must be the supervisor of the business department. After all, the pick-up slips were issued by the business department supervisor, and he was the one interfacing with the clients. It would be much more convenient for him to steal grain than anyone else.
When Qiao Lanshu told him back then that Director Wei Zhengye was also a suspect, Yang Wenyan remained skeptical.
Because Wei Zhengye had worked at the food factory for a long time. He was considered Yang Wenyan's right-hand man, helping him manage the workshop, and his working ability was outstanding.
Besides, he had a daughter and a grandson to support. Would he dare?
Thinking about this, Yang Wenyan didn't speak for a long while.
Wei Zhengye thought Yang Wenyan disagreed with his leave request, so he said, "Factory Manager, if not, I can get off work early, even an hour early is fine. It's freezing outside right now, and it gets dark early. If I get off work early to move the things over, it'll save me from walking in the dark."
Yang Wenyan lowered his head and glanced at the desk calendar. Then, he said, "Alright, alright, don't I know your family's situation? If you need to take leave, take it. Go back early, move your things, and hurry back to work."
A smile appeared on Wei Zhengye's face as he laughed, "Alright, Factory Manager. Don't worry, I'll be back to work in two hours at most."
Saying that, Wei Zhengye turned and walked out the door.
As soon as Wei Zhengye stepped out of the food factory, he was spotted by the people from the management committee.
Guan Wenjun had instructed that if anyone came out of the factory during working hours, no matter how many, they had to be secretly tailed.
Therefore, someone immediately went to tail Wei Zhengye.
...
When she got off work in the afternoon, Qiao Lanshu came out of the food factory, the pick-up slip still in her pocket.
Qin Yuanzheng came to pick her up early this time. After all, Guan Wenjun and Qiao Lanshu had been close recently, and Qin Yuanzheng was afraid Guan Wenjun would come to harass his wife again.
As soon as Qiao Lanshu got in the car, she said to him, "Brother Zheng, I want to make a trip to the state-run restaurant."
Qin Yuanzheng reached out to straighten her scarf and asked, "Want to go to the restaurant for a meal?"
Qiao Lanshu shook her head. She took out the receipt and said, "I want to go to the state-run restaurant and ask around, see if I can fish out any information."
Qiao Lanshu whispered, "This morning, the delivery driver came to ask me for the slip, but I didn't give it to him. I figured the reason they never kept the slips before was probably because the pick-up slip and the delivery receipt are different. So, the copy kept by the sales department to hand over to finance for verification is likely the state-run restaurant's receipt."
Qin Yuanzheng understood. It meant there was one slip for picking up the goods and another for receiving them.
Qiao Lanshu guessed that the other party might have genuinely delivered goods to the state-run restaurant, but the state-run restaurant probably didn't request that much. For example, they picked up a hundred catties of goods, but the state-run restaurant only received fifty catties, and the remaining fifty catties might have been embezzled.
Qin Yuanzheng was silent for a moment before saying, "They should have a dedicated person handling this. If you go over as an unfamiliar face, they might not fall for it."
Qiao Lanshu said softly, "Let's just give it a try. I know what I'm doing."
She was still wearing the garment factory's work uniform. She deliberately hadn't changed out of it, just for the sake of probing.
Nothing bad would happen inside a state-run restaurant. Qin Yuanzheng thought about it and still took Qiao Lanshu over.
He whispered, "I'll wait for you at the door. If anything seems wrong, come out immediately."
Qiao Lanshu nodded. She got out of the car, took the receipt to the counter of the state-run restaurant, and smiled, "Hello, comrade. I'd like to find your purchaser to verify an order. I'm from the food factory."
As she spoke, she even showed her work badge to the receptionist.
The receptionist took one look and immediately said, "Don't you guys only come at the end of the month? It's only the middle of the month."
Qiao Lanshu: "The situation is a bit special this time..."
Then, she revealed a hesitant expression, as if she wanted to say more but stopped.
The receptionist didn't ask further and just said, "Go straight to the office. Purchaser Liu hasn't gotten off work yet."
Qiao Lanshu hadn't even said anything, but the receptionist directly mentioned Purchaser Liu.
It seemed the person interfacing with the food factory was Purchaser Liu?
Qiao Lanshu calmly followed the receptionist's directions and arrived at the office of the state-run restaurant.
In the office, several people were sitting at their respective workstations working. The state-run restaurant was very large, specifically used to host leaders from various departments, so it was usually very busy, and the requirements for ingredients were also very high.
When Qiao Lanshu walked in, everyone in the room looked up at her.
She stood there poisefully and asked with a natural expression, "Sorry to bother you, comrades, but may I ask which one of you is Purchaser Liu?"
At this moment, a middle-aged man wearing blue overalls stood up by the window. He said, "That's me. Little comrade, are you... from the food factory?"
Qiao Lanshu smiled and nodded. She walked over to Purchaser Liu and deliberately lowered her voice, "Purchaser Liu, it's like this. There was an order yesterday..."
She paused intentionally, staring at Purchaser Liu's expression, and said in an even lower voice, "Director Wei told me to come to you to get the delivery receipt. He said the matter is a bit urgent and told me I must get it from you in person."
When Purchaser Liu saw Qiao Lanshu, he noticed she was an unfamiliar young girl.
Truthfully, he was a bit hesitant.
However, Qiao Lanshu's expression, her tone, and the fact that she mentioned Director Wei...
Of course Purchaser Liu knew about yesterday's order. Could it be that they had been found out?
Purchaser Liu's face turned slightly solemn. He looked at Qiao Lanshu, narrowed his eyes, sized her up, and asked, "Which department are you from? How come I haven't seen you before?"
Qiao Lanshu pretended to be nervous and stammered, "I-I'm a temp worker. I haven't been working here for long."
Looking at her naive appearance, Purchaser Liu thought he was probably overthinking it.
Every time the food factory delivered goods, they never kept a copy of the delivery slip.
What the finance department verified was the receipt of goods.
Even if he handed the receipt over to Factory Manager Yang Wenyan right now, there wouldn't be any flaws.
After all, his receipts were all processed according to the standard procedures of the state-run restaurant. In the past, a regular staff member from the sales department would come to collect the receipts every month.
However, he heard that the staff member had been arrested and sent to a labor camp for marriage fraud.
That was why a young girl had been sent to pick up the receipts instead.
Purchaser Liu did not think it was a big deal, so he dug out yesterday's receipt for the fried dough twists and handed it to Qiao Lanshu, saying, "Are you only taking this one? Do you need to take back the ones from the first half of the month too?"
He still had over a dozen receipts here, all from the food factory, for things like pickles, bread, pastries, soy sauce, vinegar, and so on—a messy stack of them.
Of course, Qiao Lanshu did not want them. After all, taking those receipts back would be useless; this was the only useful one.
She took the receipt and glanced over it roughly, only to see that the weight of the fried dough twists written on the receipt was actually just twenty kilograms.
That was forty jin!
Out of one hundred jin of fried dough twists, the state-run restaurant had only received forty jin. So where did the remaining sixty jin go?
The receipt bore the official seal of the state-run restaurant, and the receiving clerk's signature had the surname Liu, which was presumably Purchaser Liu.
Qiao Lanshu tucked the receipt into her pocket and looked at Purchaser Liu with gratitude. "Purchaser Liu, thank you so much. Director Wei is in a hurry for this receipt, so I won't take the others for now. I'll go back and ask Director Wei, and if he needs them, I'll come back to get them from you tomorrow."
With that, she turned to head out the door. Before leaving, she politely bid her farewells, "Thank you, Purchaser Liu. I won't disturb your work anymore. Wishing you smooth work and may you have wealth and prosperity."
Purchaser Liu: "..."
Everyone else: "..."
Purchaser Liu muttered, "It's not even the New Year, what is she wishing me prosperity for?"
