Chapter 102: Everyone Saw It, But You Alone Didn't (Seeking Monthly Votes!)

Facing the piercing gaze of Ning Weidong, Li Peihang's heart trembled slightly, and he could not help but swallow.

It was the first time he had seen this kind of look in Ning Weidong's eyes.

Before this, Ning Weidong had been quite docile in front of him, calling him "Brother Li" at every turn, but now he was like a leopard ready to devour someone.

Li Peihang suddenly realized that the young man before him was a ruthless person who had dared to charge headlong into the Fourth Workshop even while knowing it was a trap set by Wang Kaifeng.

He realized belatedly that he had to adjust his attitude.

Li Peihang was a man who knew how to read the situation; he immediately grabbed the phone on the nearby desk: "Hello, this is Li Peihang, have Lin Daye bring people over immediately..."

Lin Daye was the Deputy Section Chief of the Security Division in charge of theft, and he was considered a trusted subordinate of Li Peihang.

Calling him over was a way to show his stance; the three people present all understood that Liu Wenbao was finished! At this moment, the young man who had been cleaning the room when Ning Weidong and Li Peihang first arrived suddenly gritted his teeth, seemingly having made up his mind, and stepped forward to say: "Report! Just now I saw Liu Wenbao steal two hundred yuan from Comrade Ning Weidong. I can testify, even at the Police Station."

Ning Weidong was slightly taken aback and looked at this young man, not expecting an unexpected gain.

Meeting Ning Weidong's gaze, the young man's eyes were exceptionally firm, and at the same time, it was as if a fire were burning within them.

He had keenly discovered this opportunity just now, especially when Ning Weidong forcefully knocked down Liu Wenbao and ruthlessly planted the two hundred yuan, which made him even more certain that this was the person he was looking for, and his only chance to turn his life around.

Ning Weidong looked at the young man with a smile that was not quite a smile and asked, "What is your name?"

The young man answered loudly: "Report to the leader, my name is Liu Dong."

Ning Weidong nodded, walked over, patted Liu Dong on the shoulder, and said: "Very good, you saw it all?"

Liu Dong replied heavily: "Leader, I saw it!"

Ning Weidong smiled, then turned to look at the other two, and asked nonchalantly: "Liu Dong said he saw with his own eyes that Liu Wenbao stole my money. You were all in the room just now, he saw it, what about you two?"

The expressions of the remaining two stiffened, and they looked at each other, feeling immense pressure, cursing Liu Dong's ancestors for eight generations in their hearts.

Originally, Ning Weidong targeting Liu Wenbao was to clear out the biggest source of instability, and incidentally to kill the chicken to warn the monkeys, and then win over the others.

He had not expected the remaining three to declare their stance immediately.

But Liu Dong had suddenly jumped out and submitted his letter of allegiance, which made things troublesome.

With Liu Dong having done that, what did it mean for the two of you? If you don't declare your stance, are you trying to stand on Liu Wenbao's side?

If it were an ordinary person, they might have just bitten the bullet and kept their mouths shut.

But they had just seen Ning Weidong's methods; he didn't reason with them at all. They were terrified that if they didn't declare their stance now, they might end up as Liu Wenbao's accomplices later. Neither of them dared to gamble; if that really happened, they would be ruined.

They were all State-owned Workers; usually, as long as they didn't commit a principled error, even the Manager couldn't easily fire them.

But this was a criminal case, and no one wanted to get involved in something that would cost them their rice bowl.

The one who had been standing at the door smoking earlier reacted faster.

From the situation just now, Liu Wenbao had gone out with Xia, leaving him at the door to smoke and Liu Dong in the room cleaning; one could see the relationships and status among the four.

Now that Liu Dong had defected, he naturally saw no need to hold out.

He immediately stood out and said: "Report! I saw it too just now; it was Liu Wenbao who stole the money!"

Ning Weidong smiled and asked: "What is your name?"

This person hurriedly replied: "Leader, my name is Wang Weiran."

Ning Weidong nodded, looked at Xia, who had returned with Liu Wenbao earlier, and tilted his chin: "They both saw it, what about you?"

Xia swallowed, still struggling in his heart.

Unlike Liu Dong and Wang Weiran, he had a closer relationship with Liu Wenbao, and he also knew that this time it was Deputy Division Chief Wang who wanted to deal with Ning Weidong.

If he were to join in accusing Liu Wenbao now and submit his letter of allegiance, what would he say to Deputy Division Chief Wang in the future?

Ning Weidong chuckled: "It seems Comrade Xia's eyes aren't working very well; everyone else saw it, but you alone didn't." As he spoke, he looked at Li Peihang beside him: "Brother Li, with this kind of eyesight, I think it's hard to be qualified for such an important position in the Fourth Workshop."

Li Peihang licked his dry lips; the morning's events had truly exceeded his expectations, and Ning Weidong's decisiveness and ruthlessness made him tremble with fear.

Although he had experienced turmoil before, he had always been under the wing of his uncle, Li Weibing. During the most chaotic and dangerous times, he had always been within the factory, protected by his uncle, and had never personally experienced particularly cruel struggles.

It wasn't until Wang Guoqiang arrived that, although he suppressed Li Weibing in terms of momentum.

But Li Weibing was, after all, an old Manager, and his foundation in the factory was there. Moreover, the situation of the struggle had changed in the last two years and was not as intense.

Li Peihang let out an "uh" and subconsciously nodded.

Xia, however, felt a chill; Ning Weidong's meaning just now could not have been clearer—he was going to move against his job.

He had elderly parents and young children at home, and his wife had just given birth to their fourth child; if his job had problems at this time, the sky would collapse for his family.

Although, in theory, neither Ning Weidong nor Li Peihang had the qualifications to move his job, looking at Liu Wenbao lying on the ground sleeping like a baby, he didn't dare to gamble his family's fate on Ning Weidong not moving him.

Xia hurriedly said: "Leader, I—I saw it too! I saw it!"

Ning Weidong walked up to him and looked straight at him for a few seconds, until Xia averted his gaze, before patting him on the shoulder: "That's more like it. Everyone saw it, but you alone didn't; your eyes must have a problem, and that's not good! By the way, what is your name?"

"Leader, my name is Xia Dongqiang," Xia replied.

Ning Weidong patted him with added force and turned to look at Li Peihang: "Brother Li, later when Section Chief Lin comes, have the three of them explain the situation in detail and give a copy to the Police Station; these are all evidence."

The three people present felt a chill; if it were just within the factory, there would still be room for maneuver, but once the transcript was sent to the Police Station for the record, the nature of the matter would be different.

Among them, Liu Dong didn't care at all; he had burned his bridges the moment he stood out.

Although Wang Weiran was a bit uneasy, he didn't have many other thoughts.

On the contrary, Xia Dongqiang, who had been the most hesitant just now, had a fluctuating expression upon hearing this. Knowing there was no turning back, he decided to go all the way.

He had been the last to submit his letter of allegiance, his attitude had been the most hesitant, and his performance had been the worst.

Originally, he had harbored fantasies that Ning Weidong's reckless actions would surely leave behind handles, and perhaps Liu Wenbao would still have a chance in the future.

But Ning Weidong was clearly more thorough in his considerations, actually wanting to send the testimonies of all three of them to the Police Station.

If he changed his statement again, it would be perjury.

Thinking of this, Xia Dongqiang had no choice but to follow this path to the end.

And now, the most important thing was to completely solidify the matter and make it foolproof.

So that even after Liu Wenbao woke up, he would have no chance to recant or overturn the case.

Xia Dongqiang steeled his heart and said loudly: "Report to the leader, I want to report to the organization; Liu Wenbao has even more crimes..."

Ning Weidong was stunned; he hadn't expected that after Liu Dong just now, a Xia Dongqiang would come along too.

Li Peihang was also dumbfounded; even when a wall is about to collapse, people don't usually push it like this.

Originally, he had felt that Ning Weidong's methods were too crude and feared there would be no way to clean up the aftermath.

He hadn't expected that those in the Fourth Workshop, who logically should all have been Liu Wenbao's people, would actually jump out one after another to stab him in the back.

Especially the situation Xia Dongqiang described; the two hundred yuan was something Ning Weidong had fabricated out of thin air, but what Xia Dongqiang spoke of were real, solid crimes.

In the Fourth Workshop, Liu Wenbao not only frequently stole raw materials to sell for money, but had even stolen classified scrapped parts and taken them out.

According to procedure, these scrapped parts were all supposed to undergo special processing; taking them directly outside could very likely lead to a leak of secrets. Ning Weidong raised an eyebrow and glanced at Liu Wenbao again.

He wondered what kind of expression this guy would have when he woke up.

Actually, Ning Weidong hadn't intended to be this ruthless at first; he mainly wanted to seize the initiative and then kill the chicken to scare the monkey, so as to control the situation.

And incidentally, clear out one person to save a spot for Ning Wei.

Since Liu Wenbao himself had a dirty backside, then there was nothing to be done.

However, this way, it actually saved some trouble with the aftermath; he could just handle things strictly according to official business.

At this moment, Lin Daye arrived with two people, all three of them equipped with guns.

Li Peihang hadn't explained things very clearly over the phone just now, so the three of them thought something major had happened and were panting for breath when they arrived.

Upon learning the situation, the three looked at Ning Weidong in shock.

They were all from the Office Building; although they weren't in the same Office, Ning Weidong had been popping into this room and that room every few days to get familiar with everyone.

They hadn't expected that the usually jovial Ning Weidong could actually take down Liu Wenbao in a single move.

After some pinching of the philtrum and slapping of the face, they finally managed to wake Liu Wenbao up.

This guy didn't know what was going on, blustering and still daring to act tough, until he was pinned down and handcuffed, at which point he realized something was wrong, but it was already too late.

Afterwards, under the lead of Li Peihang and Lin Daye, they began taking statements from Liu Dong, Wang Weiran, and Xia Dongqiang.

At that time, the Manager's Security Division possessed the functions of a police station to a certain extent; its power was very great, and also very vague.

It was unclear what it could manage and what it couldn't.

It took over an hour to finish the procedure and have the few people press their fingerprints; only then did Li Peihang take his people away, leaving this place to Ning Weidong.

This roller-coaster-like operation this morning made Li Peihang realize that his impressions and thoughts regarding Ning Weidong were all wrong.

After Li Peihang took his people away, only the four of them remained in the Office.

Ning Weidong sat behind the large desk at the very back of the Office, while the other three stood.

Ning Weidong said with a smile, "From now on, we are all our own people; everyone sit, sit, don't be formal."

The three didn't dare to sit, looking at each other as they slowly sat down.

Yet at this moment, a knock on the door suddenly came from outside.

The three, who were about to sit down, suddenly stood up again.

Immediately, the door to the Office was opened, and two people walked in, one after the other.

The one in front was Chen, who said with a smile, "Little Ning, a young comrade has come today; the Section Chief said to assign him to your side, so I specifically brought him over for you."

Behind Chen, the one who arrived was Ning Wei.

"Oh my, Leader, how could I trouble you to come in person?" Ning Weidong immediately stood up to welcome him.

Towards Chen, the proper attitude still had to be maintained.

Chen said, "How many times have I said it, don't 'Leader' this and 'Leader' that, call me Old Chen! Besides, you have four people under you now, and I only have two left after you left my side; you tell me which one of us looks more like a leader."

After a bit of banter, Chen didn't stay long; he knew that Ning Weidong's place here was a place of trouble.

After sending him off, Ning Weidong returned and looked at Ning Wei, who was still standing in place, and said, "Xiao Wei, give an introduction and get to know the comrades."

"My name is Ning Wei." Ning Wei's introduction was only four words, and his face was stiff and very serious, though in reality, he was just hiding his inner nervousness.

Ning Wei wasn't even twenty this year; he used to hang around on the streets and had never been to the Manager at all.

Being suddenly transferred over by Ning Weidong felt very much like being forced into a situation he wasn't ready for.

Ning Weidong said with a smile, "No need to be nervous, everyone in this room is our own people."

Upon hearing this, the three of Liu Dong secretly let out a sigh of relief.

It was very clear that this young man had an unusual relationship with Ning Weidong; Ning Weidong saying they were all his own people in front of them counted as a declaration of stance.

Ning Wei responded and nodded at the three.

Ning Weidong added, "It just so happens that Liu Wenbao is gone; let Xiao Wei take over his work for now, does anyone have any objections?"

The other three quickly agreed; one would have to be brain-dead to have objections at this time.

Ning Weidong pointed at Liu Dong and said to Ning Wei, "If you have any problems with the work, just look for Xiao Liu."

Liu Dong's eyes lit up, knowing that this was the reward for him being the first to stand out just now.

He immediately stepped forward to pledge his loyalty.

Wang Weiran and Xia Dongqiang stood to the side without a word; who told them not to be the first to stand out just now! Ning Weidong fished a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes from his pocket, took one out for himself first, and tossed it to Ning Wei: "Pass them out to everyone."

The few people present were stunned; they hadn't expected Ning Weidong to be so generous.

With their wages, it wasn't that they couldn't afford it; after all, a pack of Zhonghua only cost seven mao.

The problem was that they couldn't buy them at all! Even if one managed to get a cigarette coupon, asking at the store would just result in them having none.

Ning Wei nimbly passed one to each person, and seeing Ning Weidong light up, the few then took out their matches.

Ning Weidong took a puff and asked, "Tell me, what is the situation with those Military Representatives?"

Taking down Liu Wenbao just now and seizing the people in the Office at the fastest speed was only the first step.

The next step was to unite all forces that could be united.

Among them, the most important were the Military Representatives here at the Fourth Workshop.

The logic behind placing Ning Weidong here to dig a pit this time was actually very simple; to put it plainly, it was to use the special nature of the Fourth Workshop to amplify the consequences of mistakes.

If you want to destroy someone, put them in a position that their abilities cannot match.

Then you don't have to do anything; just wait for them to make a mistake.

If they don't make a mistake, then help them make one.

Liu Wenbao, who was just taken down, was the one who did this.

Yet before he could play his part, Ning Weidong arrived and took the initiative to cut him off.

That said, as the Security Officer in charge of the Fourth Workshop, to finish off Ning Weidong, it certainly cannot be a small matter.

And once a major incident occurs, it is not just Ning Weidong alone who will be affected.

Among them, the one most affected would undoubtedly be the Military Representative of the Fourth Workshop.

——

Bonus chapter, seeking monthly tickets! One thousand monthly tickets, one bonus chapter.

(End of this chapter)