Velvet Chains of a Tycoon

"Shut up for a bit? Sure, I'd love to shut up, but do you think shutting up will save me from paying the debt?"

Du Xiaomei immediately lost her temper, pointing at Qin Jian and his sister as she shouted.

"Qin Jian, let me make this clear: if you end up owing hundreds of thousands, don't even dream of me helping you pay it off. I won't live with a man who has no job and is drowning in debt. If things go south, we'll just get a divorce and each go our separate ways."

Qin Ran knew that Du Xiaomei had always been an extremely pragmatic woman. In her eyes, benefits mattered far more than loyalty or friendship.

In fact, before marrying Qin Jian, Du Xiaomei had been in a long-term relationship. Qin Jian, on the other hand, was introduced to her by someone else. When they met for their arranged meeting, Du Xiaomei hadn't even broken up with her ex-boyfriend. It was only after learning that Qin Jian was already paying off a mortgage and worked as a project manager at a gas company with a monthly salary of 15,000 yuan that she ended her relationship with her ex and married Qin Jian.

A woman who prioritized benefits over everything else could enjoy prosperity together but would never endure hardships alongside others.

Qin Ran didn't have time to argue with Du Xiaomei. She pulled her brother along, and the two hopped onto Qin Jian's electric scooter. First, they went to find the workers under Qin Jian who were installing the gas pipelines. They all claimed they had followed the blueprints, which Qin Jian had photocopied into two copies—one for each team—but now neither team could find their blueprints.

With the blueprints missing, there was only one explanation: someone had either taken them or destroyed them.

"I should've taken photos of the blueprints with my phone," Qin Jian lamented. He never expected such a major mistake in the project he was responsible for.

"Who handed you the blueprints, Brother?" Qin Ran asked.

"It was Sun Guoping, the project manager."

Qin Jian, visibly frustrated, explained, "I was originally in charge of the gas pipeline installation for another development, which was almost completed. Two days ago, I was suddenly transferred to this new development. I thought it was because they valued me more..."

Qin Ran understood. It must have been Yang Cheng's uncle who set up her brother. The day before the scandal about the Yang family's greedy rent hikes in Bincheng was exposed, Yang Cheng's uncle—the general manager of the Bincheng Gas Company—must have instructed the project department to set a trap for her brother.

Qin Jian had been to Sun Guoping's house. A couple of years ago, when Sun Guoping bought a new house and was renovating it, Qin Jian had helped install the gas pipelines.

When they arrived at Sun Guoping's house, he was having dinner. Seeing Qin Jian, Sun Guoping quickly said, "This has nothing to do with me. It was Manager Zhang who ordered me to transfer you to the new development as the project manager. You made such a big mistake due to your own negligence. Who do you expect to cover for you?"

Qin Jian hurriedly replied, "Manager Sun, I'm not asking you to cover for me. I just need you to give me another copy of the blueprints."

"There was only one set of blueprints, and I gave it to you before the start of the project. Where am I supposed to get another copy?"

Sun Guoping was clearly impatient. "You're barking up the wrong tree. Go talk to General Manager Zhang. See if he can point you in the right direction."

After saying this, Sun Guoping gave Qin Ran a meaningful look. General Manager Zhang's sister's family had been subjected to online harassment recently, and it was rumored that Qin Jian's sister was behind it.

Qin Jian was an honest and straightforward person, but he had a troublesome sister who dared to provoke General Manager Zhang. No wonder he was in such trouble.

To avoid getting caught in the crossfire, Sun Guoping decided to keep his distance from Qin Jian in the future, and better yet, to cut all ties.

"You didn't keep a backup?"

Qin Jian clearly didn't believe Sun Guoping. "For previous projects, you always kept a copy of the blueprints."

"This time, the project started very urgently. My printer was broken, so I couldn't make copies of the blueprints."

Sun Guoping complained, "If you hadn't lost the blueprints, I wouldn't have been scolded by General Manager Zhang. He's also demanding the blueprints from me, and I was planning to ask you for them."

Qin Ran understood. Sun Guoping and General Manager Zhang were in cahoots, or at least, Sun Guoping had aligned himself with General Manager Zhang. He wouldn't help Qin Jian.

People always follow the path of self-interest, especially when General Manager Zhang was the company's general manager, and Qin Jian was just an ordinary old employee, now on the verge of being fired.

"Then where did Manager Sun get the construction blueprints from?" Qin Ran asked calmly.

"Naturally, from the development," Manager Sun said, unconcerned.

Qin Ran nodded, then pulled her brother away. "Alright, we won't bother Manager Sun anymore."

She led her brother out of Sun Guoping's neighborhood. "Let's go find the person in charge of the water, electricity, and gas pipelines at the development. He must have the blueprints."

"What good does it do if he has the blueprints? I don't have them," Qin Jian said, almost in tears. "I can't prove that the blueprints I received weren't the ones from the development."

Qin Ran thought for a moment, and a light bulb went off in her head.

"Brother, does the development where you installed the pipelines have surveillance cameras?"

Qin Jian paused, thinking for a while before shaking his head. "I don't know. It's a new development, still under construction. There might be cameras in key areas, but certainly not in the unfinished units."

"Do you install the pipelines only in the unfinished units?"

Qin Ran asked, "Don't you install any outside? What about underground pipelines?"

"Of course, we install underground pipelines. On the first day, when we went to install them, it was raining. I and five of my workers took shelter in the security office, and we studied the blueprints there."

Qin Jian's eyes lit up. "The security office must have recorded the blueprints. We need to go to the security office and check the footage from that day as soon as possible."

The siblings rode their electric scooter to the entrance of the development, where a security guard was on duty, though not the one from the morning before.

"That guard works the day shift. You should come back tomorrow morning to see him."

"We're not looking for the guard; we need to check the surveillance footage from the morning before," Qin Jian explained, asking the guard for help.

"To check the footage, I don't have the authority. This is a construction site. You need the approval of the security captain. Without his approval, you'll need to call the police, and we'll cooperate with them to view the footage."

"Can you call the security captain and ask for permission?" Qin Jian pleaded.

The guard took out his phone and dialed, but the call didn't go through. He looked helpless. "It's not that I don't want to help, but I can't reach him. It's evening now, and even if I could, it wouldn't do any good. Come back tomorrow morning. He starts work at eight, and you can find him at the sales office."

"Do you know where the security captain lives?" Qin Ran quickly asked.