Chapter 163: Internal Strife

Mentioning Li Peihang, Wang Guoqiang smiled faintly: "Li Peihang is a man of great ambition but little talent. He considers himself Li Weibing's successor, and now that he sees an 'outsider' rising to power, he certainly won't be reconciled to it."

Jiang Liya chimed in: "If we concentrate our strength to target Deputy Factory Director Chu, he will certainly sit on the sidelines. Not only will he not help, but he will also kick a man when he's down."

Wang Guoqiang said: "Kicking a man when he's down is unlikely; he isn't that stupid. But as long as he sits on the sidelines, that is enough for us."

Speaking to this point, Wang Guoqiang paused, then added: "Besides Li Peihang, there is also Ning Weidong..."

Mentioning Ning Weidong, Jiang Liya frowned.

Wang Guoqiang said: "This Ning Weidong, I must say I underestimated him before, otherwise things wouldn't have turned out like this."

Jiang Liya hurriedly said: "Factory Director, you can't be blamed for that. Who could have imagined that a kid watching the gate would have such great ability."

Wang Guoqiang waved his hand: "Ability is secondary; luck is more important. If it weren't for his sudden engagement to Zhao Ruyi, we wouldn't be so passive now. This is what you call fate."

Jiang Liya sneered: "But I'm afraid his luck has run out this time. Such a thing happened in the Fourth Workshop, and since he was originally responsible for that side, if they start assigning blame now, I'm afraid he won't be able to escape."

Wang Guoqiang chuckled: "That would be fine if it were so, but this time it doesn't involve Ning Weidong. This is a production accident, not a safety accident, so it won't implicate the Security Division."

Jiang Liya pursed her lips, clearly feeling it was a pity.

Early the next morning, Ning Weidong was called over by Li Peihang.

Late last night, Ning Weidong hadn't gone back either, just making do for the night in the Office.

Just now, right at eight o'clock, Ning Weiguo's phone call came through, asking about the situation at their Manager.

Just after finishing the call, Li Peihang arrived, saying he had just gone to the canteen to get breakfast and asked him to come over and eat together.

Arriving at Li Peihang's Office, there were two steaming lunch boxes on the desk.

Inside were two portions of tofu pudding, and on the lids of the lunch boxes to the side were two flower rolls each.

Li Peihang said: "Eat while it's hot; we were tossed about all night yesterday."

Ning Weidong was not polite, nor was he picky; no matter where he was, to integrate in, one could not be blindly pretentious.

Being picky about this and that.

Ning Weidong held the lunch box, slurped a mouthful of tofu pudding—the sauce was a bit salty—and ate a bite of a flower roll.

Li Peihang sat down beside him and also began to eat.

Ning Weidong knew that him calling him over couldn't be as simple as just eating breakfast.

Sure enough, after eating a few mouthfuls, Li Peihang said: "Just now, a few of the heads at the Manager held a meeting..."

Ning Weidong raised an eyebrow; with such a big thing happening, the Manager definitely had to have an explanation, and the most important part of that was coordinating internally.

It would be best to reach a consensus within the Manager first, so it would be easier to speak when outside.

But given the current situation at the Red Star Factory, Li Weibing had long been unable to hold the line, and wanting to reach a consensus was likely impossible.

Ning Weidong said: "Wang Guoqiang couldn't stand the loneliness again?"

Based on Li Peihang's reaction, Ning Weidong guessed that at this meeting, Wang Guoqiang, who had been lying low for several months, must have made a move again.

Li Peihang was stunned for a moment, then praised: "Brother, you guessed it. At the meeting today, Wang Guoqiang concentrated his fire to attack old Chu; looking at his intent, he wants to pin the blame for this incident on old Chu."

Ning Weidong's eyes narrowed slightly.

Regarding this Deputy Factory Director, his impression was quite deep.

Because last time, it was precisely to promote Deputy Factory Director Chu that Li Weibing made a deal with Wang Guoqiang, letting go and allowing Ning Weidong to be placed in the Fourth Workshop.

Ning Weidong personally didn't have much contact with Deputy Factory Director Chu, and hadn't even seen him many times.

He only knew that this person was the 'closed-door disciple' Li Weibing had his eye on, to continue his influence in the Manager after he retired.

But then again, regarding this accident in the Fourth Workshop, Deputy Factory Director Chu indeed had some responsibility.

After he was promoted to Deputy Factory Director, he was in charge of labor and production.

When a production accident occurs, there is definitely leadership responsibility.

Only the Fourth Workshop had a relatively special situation, because it was a confidential task from the higher-ups; during this period, it belonged to dual leadership, and the Red Star Factory internally ceded most of the management rights.

Now that an accident happened, it was a bit tangled.

However, from Wang Guoqiang stabbing Deputy Factory Director Chu at the first opportunity, one could sniff out a trace of unusual meaning.

Clearly, Li Peihang had also noticed.

Ning Weidong's thoughts raced, and he understood Li Peihang's meaning; this was coming to him to seek support.

Although Ning Weidong personally didn't count for much, he represented the attitude of the Wang Family and the Zhao Family to a certain extent.

At the same time, Ning Weidong also knew about the friction between Li Peihang and Deputy Factory Director Chu.

This was no secret; Li Peihang had complained about it more than once.

If Deputy Factory Director Chu were to be taken down by Wang Guoqiang this time, Li Weibing's side would have no other choice but to bet all their chips on Li Peihang.

Ning Weidong grasped his meaning and immediately stated his position: "Brother Li, what is our relationship? No matter what, I am definitely on your side~"

Li Peihang laughed: "Brother, there's no question about you, but..."

Speaking to this point, Li Peihang hesitated.

Ning Weidong understood his meaning and simply stated it directly: "Brother Li, do you want me to go back and talk to the family?"

Li Peihang slapped his thigh: "That's it. Brother knows you are in a difficult position too, but if you can help your brother this once, brother will definitely remember your kindness for a lifetime."

Ning Weidong made a 'tsk' sound and said with difficulty: "Brother Li, you know my situation. It's not easy being a live-in son-in-law, not to mention that I haven't even made this live-in son-in-law status official yet..."

Li Peihang also understood and didn't count on Ning Weidong being able to have much effect; the reason he said this was actually to ask for the best to get the middle.

By setting the request very high, even if it didn't work out in the end, settling for the next best thing would still be acceptable. Ning Weidong understood this too, so he first emphasized his own situation and difficulties, then said: "However, Brother Li, as for my sister-in-law's side, and Ruyi's family, you definitely can't count on them to exert much effort. But if you gain an advantage on your side and take the opportunity to give it a push, it shouldn't be difficult."

Li Peihang pursed his lips and nodded.

This result was within his expectations.

Ning Weidong added: "However, Brother Li, this time Wang Guoqiang is targeting Deputy Factory Director Chu; if you drag your feet, Factory Director Li's side..."

Li Peihang waved his hand and said: "It's fine. At most, he'll scold me for a while. My brother isn't at the Manager, and if old Chu is finished, I'm the only one left, so what can he really do to me~"

Ning Weidong nodded, knowing that this was the reason why Li Peihang was so bold.

……

On the other side, inside Deputy Factory Director Chu's Office on the fifth floor.

A young man in his twenties pushed the door open and came in, walking to the side of the desk to say: "Factory Director, Ning Weidong just went to Li Peihang's office."

Deputy Factory Director Chu gave an "mm," reached out to pick up the white enamel tea mug in front of him printed with 'Advanced Worker', and blew on the tea leaves floating on the surface of the water: "When does the investigation team from above arrive?"

The young man said: "They will arrive this afternoon."

Deputy Factory Director Chu nodded and said nothing more.

The young man, however, was pained and distressed: "Factory Director, Li Peihang is doing those things in secret; don't you plan to talk to the old Factory Director about it?"

"Talk to the old Factory Director about what?" Deputy Factory Director Chu raised his eyelids to glance at the young man: "No matter what, Li Peihang is the old Factory Director's own nephew. What do you expect the old Factory Director to do? Sacrifice his own kin for the sake of justice?"

The young man was speechless for a moment.

Deputy Factory Director Chu continued: "The old Factory Director has been kind to me; no matter what, I cannot make things difficult for him. However..."

Speaking to this point, a cold sneer flashed in Deputy Factory Director Chu's eyes: "However, it doesn't matter if I create some trouble for Li Peihang. Isn't he trying to use Ning Weidong to find support from the Wang Family and the Zhao Family? Then I will make sure he doesn't succeed."

……

In the afternoon, Ning Weidong was reading in his office.

After meeting with Li Peihang in the morning, Ning Weidong understood that there would be another round of maneuvering in the Manager regarding this accident.

And the situation this time was even more complicated.

Previously, the situation in the Manager was quite clear-cut, mainly between the two sides of Li Weibing and Wang Guoqiang.

There were those like Deputy Factory Director Liu who drifted outside both sides, but they were not the mainstream.

But this time, as Li Weibing was looking at his upcoming retirement, the conflict between Deputy Factory Director Chu and Li Peihang could finally no longer be suppressed.

This was equivalent to a split appearing in Li Weibing's own faction, which was undoubtedly a new opportunity for Wang Guoqiang.

And this time, Ning Weidong did not think highly of Li Peihang.

It wasn't that Li Peihang's ability was lacking.

It was still that saying: once you reach this position, personal ability actually isn't that important.

The reason for saying Li Peihang wouldn't make it, when it all boiled down to it, was because he never received Li Weibing's support from start to finish.

This was the key.

If Li Weibing really wanted his nephew to ascend, even if Li Peihang's ability were slightly inferior, he could absolutely be pushed up.

This was also why, when Li Peihang was seeking support, Ning Weidong appeared very conservative and was unwilling to put in effort.

Because Li Peihang simply couldn't win.

But standing from Li Peihang's perspective, he also had reasons why he had to fight.

For Li Peihang, letting Wang Guoqiang ascend was better than letting Deputy Factory Director Chu ascend.

Once Wang Guoqiang ascended, the people previously in Li Weibing's line would inevitably be squeezed out.

The result would be that they would have to huddle together for warmth.

At that time, Li Peihang would inevitably be able to carve out half of the territory left behind by Li Weibing.

And because of his blood relationship with Li Weibing, he might even get more than Deputy Factory Director Chu.

Moreover, facing the pressure from Wang Guoqiang, Li Peihang and Deputy Factory Director Chu would have to maintain cooperation, regardless of their personal feelings.

In this situation, no matter how aggressive Wang Guoqiang was, Li Peihang would still be a regional lord in his own right.

But if Deputy Factory Director Chu were allowed to take over, Li Peihang would at most be promoted half a grade to become the Division Chief of the Security Division.

By then, who among those left behind by Li Weibing would still recognize him as a nephew? They would all legitimately gather under Deputy Factory Director Chu's command.

At that time, even if it were for the sake of Li Weibing, Deputy Factory Director Chu would only pay lip service to Li Peihang.

The former is a regional lord, while the latter is left sitting on the sidelines.

Whoever was in Li Peihang's shoes would know how to choose.

Even if dragging Deputy Factory Director Chu's feet at this time only benefited Wang Guoqiang, he had to do it.

……

At this moment, the phone on Ning Weidong's desk rang.

Putting down the fountain pen in his hand, Ning Weidong reached out and picked it up: "Hello, this is Ning Weidong... Okay, I'll be there right away."

The call was from Li Peihang; the investigation team from the higher-ups had just arrived and was convening a meeting of the leaders of the relevant departments in the Manager.

The Security Division naturally could not be bypassed, and both Li Peihang and Ning Weidong had to go.

(End of chapter)