Chapter Three: Eight Hundred Sixty Thousand Steals Thirty Million

Yanqiu touched the safe's inner panel. Broken gold lines pointed toward the floor. Transaction intent transferred. Carrier: 1998 employee subscription register. Location: outside the safe. The shelves had been stripped and the paintings removed. Only a dying money tree remained in one corner. Beneath its ceramic pot, a moldy hardback book had been wedged to keep it level. Han moved the pot. A black balance marked the register's cover. Inside its lining was a transfer agreement with an intact cross-page seal. After Xuanheng's dissolution, the right to repurchase forty-seven percent of Hengchuan's founding shares would pass to an employee trust created by Gu Minglan.