They Called Me a Gold Digger, So I Bought the Building novel · Chapter 3 of 3
Chapter 3: The Information Door
Temperance and Zhouyi trace Liwen’s use of Peiran’s calendar access, reroute a sensitive Jinghu file through a decoy recipient, and see Beiying attempt to access a request naming Temperance as the required approver.
Zhouyi turned her monitor toward me and blocked the access log with her paint-stained elbow.
‘Temperance, tell me you already know what I’m looking at.’
The screen showed a list of file requests, each marked with a user name, a timestamp, and the document opened.
I knew the names before I reached the bottom.
Peiran’s account had accessed the Shao family calendar, the Jinghu donor brief, and three internal schedules. Beiying’s account had opened the same files minutes later.
Garrett was still standing near the glass door, waiting for an answer I had no intention of giving him in this room.
Zhouyi glanced at him, then back at me. ‘Should I make him useful, or should I make him leave?’
‘He has already been useful.’
Garrett lowered his eyes.
He had once written to his mother that I was the better person in every room. Today, he had watched her remove me from one and said nothing.
The access trail continued beneath his name.
Not Garrett. Liwen’s private assistant.
The assistant had used a shared administrative terminal to request Peiran’s calendar permissions, then forwarded the approval link to an address belonging to Beiying’s art consultancy.
I read the entries twice.
Peiran had not betrayed me. She had opened a door for family, and someone else had learned where the hinges were.
‘How long has this been happening?’ I asked.
Zhouyi pulled her elbow away from the monitor. ‘Long enough that I stopped calling it an accident.’
Garrett looked at the screen. ‘What is that?’
‘A list of things your family believed were private,’ Zhouyi said.
‘Zhouyi.’
‘What? I used a noun.’
I almost smiled.
The access record showed no direct request from Liwen. She had not needed one. Peiran had been given a harmless administrative task, then praised for being helpful. Beiying had received the information. Liwen had remained outside the record.
That was the quality of her work. She liked clean hands and dirty outcomes.
Garrett moved closer, but Zhouyi placed one palm against the edge of the desk.
‘If you want to see the files, ask Temperance.’
He stopped.
I could hear the office outside us. Printers ran. Someone laughed near the reception desk. Shengli continued its day while my husband stood in a glass room learning what his mother had done with his sister’s trust.
‘Did Peiran know?’ Garrett asked.
‘The log doesn’t say.’
‘She wouldn’t do this deliberately.’
‘No,’ I said. ‘She wouldn’t.’
He looked at me. ‘Then don’t treat her as if she did.’
‘I’m not.’
‘You said that very carefully.’
‘You’re hearing it carefully.’
His mouth tightened. He had always wanted honesty after the damage was visible.
It was an expensive preference.
Zhouyi tapped the file tree. ‘There’s a new routing request from the Shao side. It came in twenty minutes ago.’
‘Show me.’
The request concerned the next draft of the Jinghu development agreement. It asked for a revised parcel schedule, the donor access list, and the proposed event calendar.
The request had been sent to a general Shengli inbox.
The intended recipient was listed as Shengli’s document administrator.
‘They’re trying to move faster,’ Garrett said.
‘They’re trying to see who receives the file,’ I replied.
He looked at me. ‘How do you know?’
‘Because they included three documents they already possess.’
Zhouyi leaned over the desk. ‘And because the parcel schedule they attached is the old version.’
The corrected parcel number had been sent that morning. The Shaos had not received it through their official channel.
Someone had noticed the discrepancy. Someone had decided to test whether the correction was intentional.
I had wanted an answer.
Liwen had given me one without realizing the question was mine.
‘Who approved the request?’ Garrett asked.
‘No one yet,’ Zhouyi said.
I reached for the keyboard. ‘Forward it to the municipal development liaison.’
Garrett’s head lifted. ‘That isn’t the correct office.’
‘It is a real office.’
‘They have no authority over the contract.’
‘They have authority over a preliminary filing.’
Zhouyi’s eyes sharpened. ‘You want them to think the file was misrouted.’
‘It was misrouted.’
‘By you.’
‘That distinction will not comfort them.’
Garrett came around the desk. ‘Temperance, this could create a problem for the closing.’
‘The closing will proceed.’
‘You don’t know that.’
I turned to him. ‘You asked what I needed from you.’
His expression changed again, barely.
‘What is it?’ he asked.
‘Nothing. That is the point.’
He absorbed that without defending himself. It was almost impressive. Then again, he had spent a lifetime mistaking silence for restraint.
Zhouyi opened a new routing screen. ‘Where should the decoy go after the municipal liaison?’
‘To the external review address.’
‘The one that still accepts attachments?’
‘Yes.’
‘That address belongs to a consultant who retired last year.’
‘Which makes it safe.’
‘Safe is a generous word.’
‘Use the word you prefer.’
Zhouyi grinned. ‘Legally boring.’
‘That one is accurate.’
She entered the new route and placed the old parcel schedule in the attachment field. Then she added a cover note requesting confirmation from the reviewing party before any further distribution.
The request would travel where Liwen expected it to travel. The file would not.
If Liwen’s channel was still open, someone would reach for it.
If Beiying was only receiving what Liwen handed her, she would wait.
If Beiying was searching for herself, she would move first.
I left the approval box empty.
‘You’re not approving it?’ Garrett asked.
‘The document administrator is.’
‘That’s you.’
Zhouyi stopped typing.
Garrett had finally noticed the structure of the office. He had seen how people brought decisions to me without asking whether I belonged there. He had heard Zhouyi wait for my answer before touching a file.
The room had been explaining itself since he arrived.
He was simply late to the meeting.
‘You said you have a place here,’ he said.
‘I do.’
‘As what?’
‘The person who approves the documents.’
He stared at the screen instead of me.
There were questions he could ask. He chose none of them.
Zhouyi clicked submit.
The altered request left the system and appeared in the municipal liaison queue. The original sender received an automatic notice that the file was under procedural review.
Liwen would dislike that phrase. It meant no one had said no, and no one had agreed to help.
I kept Peiran’s name out of the report.
That was deliberate.
Peiran would learn that her access had been used when the cost of knowing could not be returned to its sender.
For now, I wanted Liwen confident. Confidence made people careless, and careless people left records.
Garrett’s phone vibrated. He read the message and went still.
‘My mother is asking whether I’m still with you,’ he said.
‘You can answer her.’
‘What should I say?’
‘The truth would be a refreshing change.’
He looked at me for a long moment, then typed.
Zhouyi’s screen refreshed before he could send the message.
A new access attempt appeared from Beiying’s private account, and the attached request named Temperance as the person who must approve Jinghu.
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