At three o'clock in the afternoon on March 3, the twenty-sixth year of the Republic of China (1937).
A young man wearing a top hat and a long gown came to the Nanjing Branch of the Bank of Communications.
Seeing the unusual popularity, a staff member was holding a black briefcase in his hand. He thought it was a financial sponsor who came to the door, so he hurried to greet him.
"Sir, are you depositing or withdrawing?"
"Oh, I work in the Ministry of Finance. My surname is Zuo. I have official business to see you, Manager Chen."
"It turns out to be Mr. Zuo. Mr. Zuo, Manager Chen is not here, but Xu Xiangli is."
"It's okay if Xu Xiangli is here, please let me know, okay?"
The clerk's surname was Wu. When I heard that the person coming was from the Ministry of Finance, I didn't dare to neglect him.
"Oh, please wait a moment, Mr. Zuo. I'll go and report it first." The clerk surnamed Wu asked Mr. Zuo to sit on the sofa next to the lobby and bowed.
There is a circle of sofas in the lobby, which is a temporary rest area for guests to handle business.
"Okay, time to work."
Mr. Zuo sat on the sofa and picked up a copy of the "Central Daily News" to read.
After a while, a half-bald middle-aged man hurriedly walked down from the second floor.
"Mr. Zuo, this is our Xu Xiangli." The clerk surnamed Wu pointed at the middle-aged man and introduced him to Mr. Zuo.
"Xu Shouxian, Mr. Zuo, right? What do you do for me?" Xu Xiangli smiled and bowed slightly to Mr. Zuo.
"Oh, Xu Xiangli, that's it. Here is an official document for you to take a look at." Mr. Zuo picked up the briefcase, took out an official document from the briefcase and handed it to Xu Shouxian.
Xu Shou took it over and took a look and saw that it was an official document from the Ministry of Finance, which read: "As soon as I see the words, I will pay the person who came with it 200,000 yuan in legal currency for secret official business."
In the column of the signer, there are three characters "Gong Hanzhang" written with a brush.
Gong Hanzhang is the Vice President of the Executive Yuan and Minister of Finance of the National Government.
As one of the four major banks that issue legal currency, Bank of Communications often communicates with the Ministry of Finance on official documents, so Xu Shouxian was very familiar with Gong Hanzhang's signature.
Xu Shou first saw that it was indeed Gong Hanzhang's handwriting, and he had no doubt at all. He turned back to the clerk named Wu and said, "Go and get 200,000 French currency."
The clerk surnamed Wu agreed and went.
Xu Shou first asked Mr. Zuo to sit down, and then sat opposite him.
"Mr. Zuo, which department of the ministry do you work for? Xu often goes to the ministry, why do you look so unfamiliar?" Xu Shou asked first.
"Xu Xiangli, my surname is Zuo, and I work in the Ministry of Finance. This is all you need to know. For other things, it's better not to inquire." Mr. Zuo replied calmly.
Xu Shou first inquired about Mr. Zuo's details, of course with the purpose of further handover.
Not wanting to be blocked by Mr. Zuo with just one word, Xu Shouxian had no choice but to laugh when he thought of the words "secret business trip" on the official document: "Yes, yes, Mr. Zuo is on a secret business trip. Xu was abrupt."
Mr. Zuo ignored his objection and picked up the newspaper and continued reading, while Xu Shouxian could only stay by awkwardly.
His embarrassment did not last long. The clerk named Wu had already prepared two hundred thousand French currency and brought it over in two boxes.
"Mr. Zuo, please take a look at two hundred thousand French currency." Xu Shou opened the box first, and a stack of brand-new French currency was neatly lined up inside.
Xu Shou first noticed that Mr. Zuo was instantly moved, a trace of ecstasy flashed in his eyes, and he stood up excitedly.
However, this very strange gaffe only lasted for a short second or two, and Mr. Zuo quickly regained his composure.
"There's no need to order it. Is there any difference in the amount of money coming out of the bank? Goodbye, Xu Xiangli." Mr. Zuo said calmly, closed the box casually, picked it up and left.
"Slow down, Mr. Zuo, please write a note. This is the rule, please forgive me, Mr. Zuo." Xu Shou quickly stopped Mr. Zuo, and seeing that he was not worried, he explained.
"Okay, it's really troublesome." Mr. Zuo put down the box and Xu Shou handed over the pen and paper. Mr. Zuo wrote a receipt on the table and handed it to Xu Shou.
Xu Shou took it and took a look and saw that the receipt was written like this: "I hereby receive the legal currency of 200,000 yuan from the Bank of Communications, Zuo Tianyi. October 3, the twenty-fifth year of the Republic of China."
"Xu Xiangli, is there no problem?" Zuo Tianyi asked.
There is a document and a receipt, so there is absolutely no problem with the procedure. Xu Shou smiled and replied: "No problem, no problem, Mr. Zuo, please excuse me."
Zuo Tianyi put on his top hat, picked up two boxes, hurried out of the bank gate, hailed a rickshaw at the door, and drove away.
Xu Shou politely walked to the door and watched Zuo Tian go away with a smile on his face.
Suddenly, he felt something was wrong.
"Zuo Tianyi just took a rickshaw and left? No car, no protection personnel? Isn't it a bit too hasty? You must know that there is a huge sum of two hundred thousand dollars in those two boxes."
He picked up the official document and the receipt and looked at it, thinking: "There is nothing wrong with the official document, and there is nothing wrong with the receipt. Why does it feel wrong? No, I have to ask."
Xu Shou quickly returned to the office on the second floor, picked up the phone and called the manager Chen Bai's home.
Soon, someone picked up the phone.
"Manager, I am Shou Xian."
"Oh, Mr. Shou, is something wrong?"
"Manager, just now a person named Zuo Tianyi from the Ministry of Finance came to withdraw 200,000 French currency with an official document signed by Minister Gong. I feel something is wrong, so I called you and asked you to go to Minister Gong to verify."
"Okay, I'll verify it right away."
After saying that, Chen Bai put down the phone.
Xu Shou put down the phone, and the uneasiness in his heart became stronger and stronger. Recalling Zuo Tianyi's undue ecstasy and greed after seeing the huge sum of money, it made Xu Shou even more uneasy.
"Jingle Bell……"
When the phone rang, Xu Shou quickly picked it up: "Shou Min, I just called Minister Gong. He didn't sign any official withdrawal document at all, and the Ministry of Finance doesn't have Zuo Tianyi."
"Ah? Fake?!" The suspicion in his heart was confirmed. Xu Shou was shocked. He quickly threw down the phone and ran downstairs, shouting as he ran: "Hurry, hurry, chase Zuo Tianyi..."
…
The huge amount of fraud quickly alarmed the top brass.
Gong Hanzhang, Vice President of the Executive Yuan and Minister of Finance, immediately called the Nanjing Police Station and ordered the police station to solve the case within ten days.
Police Chief Yang Wenxuan did not dare to neglect when he received the call, so he called the Inspector Duan Yide.
"Yide, this case has been handed over to you. Dean Gong has a deadline of ten days to solve the case. You must take it to heart and don't be careless. You must solve the case within the deadline. Otherwise, we two brothers will not be able to live without food.
I'll take a look and leave it to Lin Chuang." Yang Wenxuan simply informed a few details of the case and solemnly instructed.
"Director, this case is so huge. Why didn't President Gong hand it over to the Secret Service? I guess the perpetrators, even if they were not from the Ministry of Finance, were from other ministries. How dare we go to those big yamen to investigate the case with our little arms and legs?
"Duan Yide obviously doesn't want to take this hot yam.
