108: Chapter 107 Trouble, Despair

At 2:00 PM, the change of legal representative was completed.

Outside the Administration for Industry and Commerce, Ding Jianping was all smiles.

"Little Huo, sorry for the trouble."

"It's nothing, Boss. I'll head back to the company first."

"Mm, you go back first. Don't worry, I've already arranged for people to deliver those backlogged items."

"When you get back to the office, tidy things up. You can start working at the new company in a few days."

Huo Xiaoxiao nodded, hopped on her small electric scooter, and headed toward the company.

"Let's go."

Ding Jianping took one of his subordinates and left in a taxi.

Fifteen minutes later, Huo Xiaoxiao returned to the company and inspected it once more. Satisfied that there were no packages left behind, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, the scene of Ding Jianping leaving flashed through her mind.

For some reason, she felt he was a bit different from usual.

When processing the transfer of legal representative, she had seen a look of secret joy in his eyes several times.

Could it be my imagination?

Huo Xiaoxiao laughed at herself.

What could he possibly want from her? She was just a pauper.

Besides, the company had gone bankrupt. As the boss, how could he possibly be happy?

Huo Xiaoxiao just doubted her own judgment.

She had originally thought Ding Jianping had good ideas, but after joining, she found him stubborn and his ideas very outdated.

However, this job hadn't been a complete waste.

Sitting at her desk, resting her chin in her hands, the handsome face of Lin Feng appeared in her mind.

"Knock, knock, knock..."

"Open up! Open the door!"

"Is anyone there? Do you think you can just hide by not opening the door? I bought a TV using your express delivery service, and now that you've gone bankrupt, you're not delivering the goods?"

"Open up, you heartless delivery company! You swallowed our packages—have you no shame?"

"Everyone, let's break down the door! Let's go in and see if anyone is still inside."

"I suggest we call the police. The boss must have stolen our things and run away."

"I bought a folding bike worth over 10,000 yuan, and now they're telling me they can't find it? Who's going to pay me back for my money?"

The noise outside startled Huo Xiaoxiao.

She stood up from her chair, her brow furrowing involuntarily.

Hadn't Ding Jianping already arranged for the express packages to be delivered? Why were people still coming to cause trouble?

And judging by the noise, there were quite a few of them.

Huo Xiaoxiao's brow furrowed further, and the image of the deeply hidden secret joy in Ding Jianping's eyes flashed through her mind again.

Could it be...

Her pupils dilated, and she broke out in a cold sweat, terrified by her own thought.

Bang...

The door was kicked open, and a dense crowd of people—at least thirty of them—rushed in.

The already small office area was instantly packed. Terrified, Huo Xiaoxiao's face drained of color; she retreated involuntarily and sat down on the floor with a thud.

"W-what do you want? I'm warning you, don't do anything rash."

"Otherwise, I'm calling the police."

Huo Xiaoxiao picked up an ashtray from the desk and brandished it at the crowd.

But her body was trembling.

"Huo Xiaoxiao! It's her! She's the new legal representative of the delivery company. I just went to the Administration for Industry and Commerce to check the records; the legal representative was changed just this afternoon."

"Oh, so she's the boss. She looks pretty, but she's so heartless."

"Call the police? Don't bother; we've already called them."

"That's right, don't let her run away. We'll wait for the police to arrive."

Several men blocked the door, leaving no gap at all.

A group of women pointed at Huo Xiaoxiao and started verbally attacking her.

They spewed obscenities, calling her a slut, a bitch, and worse.

Someone even claimed she was Ding Jianping's mistress; they were on the verge of physically attacking her.

"Waaaah..."

"I really don't know anything."

"Ding Jianping said he was opening a new company and was temporarily transferring this one to me. It has nothing to do with me!"

"You say it has nothing to do with you? We don't believe you."

"You're clearly in on it together, swallowing our packages and trying to run away."

"Just wait, the police will be here soon. We'll see if you're still so stubborn then."

These victims had lost their reason. Most of them had bought relatively expensive items, which was why they had united to defend their rights.

Those who had bought small items worth ten or twenty yuan wouldn't come to cause trouble over lost packages.

"Who called the police just now?"

A resonant voice rang out from outside the door.

A police officer in uniform stood at the doorway, scanning the crowd with a sharp gaze before finally fixing his eyes on Huo Xiaoxiao.

"Officer, it's her! This woman stole our packages and tried to run away!"

"I spent several hundred on a necklace to wear for the New Year, and now it's lost!"

"My phone, which cost over 3,000, is also missing!"

"Arrest her! This woman is a scammer!"

The middle-aged police officer in charge listened to the accusations with a frown, finally piecing together what had happened.

"You guys go check the situation here, including the data on the computers. Contact the Administration for Industry and Commerce and ask about the change of legal representative."

"Yes, sir."

Several subordinates entered the office area and began their search.

Huo Xiaoxiao's face turned ashen; she knew she had been played.

And this trap was bottomless.

A few days ago, she had seen with her own eyes the mountain of backlogged packages.

That was worth hundreds of thousands. How could she possibly pay for it?

"Chief, we logged into the backend of Jida Express and found about 500,000 yuan worth of packages backlogged."

"I just contacted my colleagues at the Administration for Industry and Commerce; they said the legal representative for Jida Express was changed this afternoon."

"The current legal representative is Huo Xiaoxiao."

The lead officer's brows tightened. He looked at Huo Xiaoxiao and said in a serious tone, "Miss Huo, you heard it too. You are currently the legal representative of the express company. So, where did those 500,000 yuan worth of packages go?"

"I... I don't know. From yesterday until now, Ding Jianping has been moving things out, saying he hired temporary workers to deliver those backlogged packages to the customers."

"This morning, he suddenly came to me and said he wanted to set up a new company. He asked me to take over as the legal representative of the old express company first, saying that if he didn't transfer it, there would be some trouble with the new company."

"I... I didn't know he would trick me."

"In that case, if these facts are true, Miss Huo, you may need to come back to the station with us for a while."

"This has nothing to do with me! It was all Ding Jianping framing me!"

"Miss Huo, please don't get agitated. Trust in the law. The current evidence is very unfavorable to you."

"Then... will I go to jail?"

"I can't go to jail, my parents would be so upset they'd die! Waaaah..."

"500,000 yuan is a huge sum. This involves suspected fraud. Unless you can pay back the money, otherwise..."

The middle-aged police officer shook his head and sighed.

He had been a police officer for so many years; he knew exactly how these things worked.

This was a setup, and since Huo Xiaoxiao was now the legal representative, she had to bear the burden of the 500,000 yuan in lost packages.

As for Ding Jianping, unless there was direct evidence proving he was the mastermind, there was really nothing they could do about him.

Bang...

Huo Xiaoxiao collapsed to the floor, her face ashen.

Her once lively eyes were filled with despair. Who could have imagined that in just a few hours, she would become a prisoner about to be incarcerated?

500,000 yuan—even if her parents came, they wouldn't be able to come up with such a huge sum of money on short notice.