Read Chapter 7: — WHAT QIN KNEW

The new supplier, Tengda, was little more than a trading shell. Its material came from a small factory capable of producing whatever quality certificate a buyer requested—as long as the buyer paid for the paper.

Mufeng returned with samples and had them tested against Huashi's failed stock.

They matched.

Procurement director Wang Yougang tried every defence available to a man who had spent years learning how not to answer a direct question. Prices had risen. Procedures allowed flexibility. Certificates had looked valid. His wife had been ill. Everyone made mistakes.

Mufeng kept asking for one thing.

"The approval form."

There was none.

At last Wang claimed Qin had authorised the supplier verbally.

Mufeng called Qin on speaker.

Qin's answer was careful enough to sound rehearsed. He remembered telling Wang that any change required proper procedure and perhaps suggesting he speak with Mufeng.

Wang exploded before the call had ended.

"You old bastard. Who paid for your treatment in America?"

The room became still.

Mufeng submitted a full report to Chairwoman Hua Suxian. Wang was dismissed and later investigated for bribery. Qin was permitted to resign quietly.

Mei was furious.

"Thirty years of service should not buy immunity."

Mufeng understood her. He had initially felt the same.

But Hua's decision was not simple weakness. Qin had helped build Huashi and had once been loyal to Hua's father. She had chosen to remove him without destroying the final years of his life.

Leadership, Mufeng began to understand, sometimes meant carrying a decision that everyone else was free to misunderstand.

He visited Qin after the resignation.

Their conversation was courteous until Mufeng asked the question he had carried since his first day.

"Who was behind the screen?"

Qin's cup stopped halfway to his mouth.

"No one."

"I heard a woman cough."

"Then perhaps Huashi really is haunted."

Qin laughed too loudly.

Mufeng did not press further.

Soon afterward, Hua appointed him general manager of the group.

Cai Jiahan flew to the United States almost immediately.

Linda warned Mufeng that Cai was collecting data, searching for evidence that outsourced production contracts had benefited Mufeng personally.

Mufeng dismissed the gossip in public.

Privately, he became careful.

The night he moved into Qin's former office, he stepped behind the embroidered screen.

There was just enough space for a small woman to stand unseen.

Through a narrow gap between panels, the chair where he had sat during that first negotiation was perfectly visible.

Mufeng stared through it for a long time.

Someone had indeed been watching him.