Chapter 177: Outsider

"He's coming?" Ning Weidong said, "What happened?"

Zhao Ruyi said, "That's not it; it's still about the matter of inviting us to dinner, saying we'll go to Donglaishun in the evening."

Ning Weidong let out an "Oh," having thought there was some other situation.

Since it was discussed during the day and left for Zhao Ruyi to arrange, he didn't have any objections; tomorrow is fine.

After finishing the meal, Zhao Ruyi cleared the things away, and Ning Weidong went to her Office to look at the few transactions from this period.

Zhao Ruyi washed the bowls and plates, wiped her hands clean, came back, hugged his neck from behind, and claimed credit: "How is it, not bad, right~"

Ning Weidong turned his head and kissed her: "Quite good, better than I expected."

Having received praise, Zhao Ruyi felt as if she had eaten honey, reached out, and pulled open the drawer beside her: "Right, Li Yuanchao sent over a list yesterday, take a look."

Ning Weidong immediately perked up, took the list, and examined it: "From the Mechanical Department?"

Zhao Ruyi nodded: "The other party is from Hang City; they found Li Yuanchao, and he passed it on to us..."

Ning Weidong made a "tsk" sound, thought for a moment, and said: "Is it an enterprise or an agency?"

Zhao Ruyi said: "The team leader is from their local agency, but they are only acting as a proxy."

Ning Weidong knew that at this time, many private-natured underground factories had already sprouted in some places in the south; in fact, what Wang Kaixuan had done in Min Province before was similar to this situation.

He asked: "What percentage does Li Yuanchao get?"

Zhao Ruyi said: "Thirty percent~"

Ning Weidong heard her mood and asked: "What? Reluctant? You were the one who sought them out in the first place."

Zhao Ruyi pouted and said: "How would I understand these things~ You talked it up so much, I didn't feel confident about it~"

Ning Weidong smiled, imagining Zhao Ruyi's mindset at the time; the foundation of their relationship wasn't solid, so she could only place more chips to make Ning Weidong hesitant to act recklessly.

That was why she brought the Li siblings into it.

Now the situation was clear, and the circumstances and mindset had changed.

One must know that the reason Approval Documents could be hyped up was because of their inherent scarcity, and the huge price difference formed by the dual-track system between the inland and the coast.

And as for Li Yuanchao's side, although he held a high position and great power, he was not in direct charge, whereas the Wang Family and Zhao Family directly controlled the approval of many materials.

Although Li Yuanchao only wanted thirty percent, the volume this time was quite large, and having to give away thirty percent for nothing made Zhao Ruyi somewhat unhappy.

She somewhat regretted going to find Li Kangmei.

Ning Weidong didn't care much, saying indifferently: "Thirty percent isn't much."

Zhao Ruyi had wanted to find resonance with Ning Weidong, and would have been content even if Ning Weidong had scolded her a bit, but who knew Ning Weidong would have this attitude.

She couldn't help but raise her voice: "Thirty percent isn't much! That's over two hundred thousand!"

Ning Weidong said: "I actually hope they want more."

Zhao Ruyi frowned, sat on the chair beside her, and said seriously: "What does that mean?"

Ning Weidong said: "If Li Yuanchao wants more, it shows he is a person who is profit-seeking, blinded by money, and lacks a sense of proportion. Isn't it good that such a person holds many of the resources we need in their hands?"

Zhao Ruyi was still not quite sure of Ning Weidong's meaning; she was still too young.

Ning Weidong continued: "However, thirty percent, this number is rather vague; there should be an element of probing."

"Probing?" Zhao Ruyi pursed her lips: "You mean, we don't need to negotiate further and should just agree directly?"

Ning Weidong said: "Agree. Not only must we agree, but we must also get the Approval Document as quickly as possible to let them see our capability and sincerity."

Zhao Ruyi nodded: "I understand."

At the same time, on the other side.

Inside a Cadre sanatorium in the suburbs of Beijing.

Li Yuanchao was swimming in an indoor pool when a woman wearing a long dress and high heels walked in from outside and came to the edge of the pool.

There was no one else by the pool, and the sound of the high heels stepping on the tiles seemed very abrupt.

Li Yuanchao turned his head to look, turned his body and swam over, braced himself against the shore, and sat up on the edge of the pool.

The woman had just come over, picked up a towel from the lounge chair nearby, and handed it directly to him.

Li Yuanchao wiped his face, then rubbed his hair while asking: "Did the Zhao girl reply?"

The woman said: "Not yet, she probably thinks we are asking for too much."

Li Yuanchao gave a non-committal hum, stood up from the edge of the pool, sat down on the nearby lounge chair, took a sip of iced soda, and said: "Do you think it's too much too?"

The woman spoke without reservation: "Thirty percent is too much; given the situation this time, twenty percent would be about right."

Actually, the woman had always found it strange; normally, Li Yuanchao didn't have this personality. They had already agreed to cooperate with Zhao Ruyi, and furthermore, Li Kangmei was in the middle of it. This was the first deal, yet he asked for more—what did this mean? Li Yuanchao finished the soda, lay back, and said indifferently: "Right, what has Ning Weidong been doing lately?"

The woman was stunned; Li Yuanchao had indeed mentioned before that she should pay attention to Ning Weidong's movements.

But Ning Weidong was only the second-best choice for the marriage between the Zhao Family and the Wang Family, and he wasn't a child of the courtyards, so what was worth paying attention to?

However, since Li Yuanchao had spoken, she couldn't ignore it, so she replied: "Ning Weidong hasn't had any special actions lately; he's just going to work and coming home as usual..."

Li Yuanchao having people pay attention to Ning Weidong couldn't really be called surveillance; it was far from that intensity, just some daily behaviors summarized a little.

Li Yuanchao said: "Keep watching him; this person is not simple."...

The next morning, Ning Weidong ultimately didn't get into the car Zhao Ruyi used to take him to work.

Originally, Zhao Ruyi had been adamant, saying she would pick him up by car yesterday and drive him today.

As a result, after the successive battles last night, she wouldn't get up for anything this morning.

Ning Weidong had no choice but to take the bus to work for the first time in a long while.

There was no direct bus to the Red Star Factory from here, and Ning Weidong didn't want to transfer, so he simply walked a few more steps, passed Nanluoguxiang, walked west along Di'anmen Street, and there was a bus after passing Shichahai.

Just as Ning Weidong was walking, someone suddenly called him from the side: "Hey? Are you Manager Zhao's husband?"

Ning Weidong turned his head and happened to see three people coming out of the alley next to him.

Two women and one man; the one calling him was Xiao Dang, who had delivered the food last night. She had seen Ning Weidong and recognized him.

Beside her was a woman of about thirty, who could be considered quite fashionable and pretty by today's standards.

At this age, before Ning Weidong transmigrated, she might have been considered a young girl or a young married woman, but in this era, that was a bit of a stretch.

Next to this woman was a young man of medium build, just over 1.7 meters tall, with slightly curly hair.

He was currently sizing up Ning Weidong.

Ning Weidong didn't want to get involved with them, but there was no need to be too obvious about it on the street, so he said with a smile, "Is that Comrade Xiao Jia? What a coincidence~"

Xiao Dang hurried forward a few steps: "It really is you~ Are you on your way to work?"

Ning Weidong nodded and asked in return, "Are you?"

Xiao Dang chuckled sheepishly: "I don't have a job~ By the way, this is my aunt, and this is my brother. They are going to work, and I'm going to the market to buy some vegetables for my mom."

Ning Weidong knew that the meals for Zhao Ruyi, including grocery shopping and cooking, had effectively been outsourced to Qin Huairu.

He nodded at the two of them and didn't linger.

Watching Ning Weidong walk away, Xiao Dang couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

Actually, she regretted calling out to Ning Weidong the moment she did; the two of them weren't really acquaintances, and calling out to him abruptly without having anything to say was just too awkward.

It was just that her mouth was faster than her brain; as soon as she came out of the alley, she spotted Ning Weidong's 1.85-meter-tall frame at a glance.

Qin Jingru, who was to the side, withdrew her gaze and asked, "Xiao Dang, is this the husband of Manager Zhao that your mom mentioned? He looks so young!"

Xiao Dang nodded: "I caught a glimpse of him from afar when I was delivering food yesterday, but he really is tall, even taller than my uncle."

Mentioning this, Qin Jingru pursed her lips and muttered in a low voice, "What's the use of being tall? I hope he's not just a silver-tipped pewter spear."

Xiao Dang didn't hear clearly and asked, "Aunt, what are you muttering about?"

Qin Jingru came back to her senses, gave a dry laugh to brush it off: "Nothing~" She then looked at the young man on the other side: "Bang Geng, what are you dazing for? You're going to be late."

Bang Geng came back to his senses, raised his hand to check his watch, and hurriedly quickened his pace.

Ning Weidong got on the bus and swayed all the way to the Manager.

He hadn't expected to run into those three people again this morning.

But it was just a passing thought; the three of them didn't linger in Ning Weidong's mind at all.

Arriving at the Manager, Ning Weidong had nothing to do, so he continued to hold his Correspondence Education textbook and read.

The results for the previous Correspondence Secondary Specialized School exam had already come out, and Ning Weidong had passed the exam as expected.

Although it was correspondence, the academic qualification was the same as a full-time one, and he enjoyed the benefits of a secondary specialized school graduate.

He directly obtained Cadre Status, completely resolving the hidden danger of being a worker acting as a cadre.

In the afternoon, Zhao Ruyi called again to confirm the time and place for Wang Kaixuan's treat that evening, saying she would drive to pick him up tonight.

Ning Weidong smiled and said pointedly, "Have you developed a taste for it?"

On the other end of the line, Zhao Ruyi choked and said crossly, "Just ride your bicycle~ You really know how to tease me."

Although she said that, when it was almost time to get off work, Zhao Ruyi still came.

The two of them didn't wait for the hour to strike and left early, heading all the way to Dongcheng.

Because the time had been agreed upon, when Zhao Ruyi drove over, she saw the two of them waiting at the entrance from afar, and the one leading them was none other than the host, Wang Kaixuan.

Beside him followed a young man of similar age, not very tall, wearing glasses, who didn't look like a Northerner.

Ning Weidong guessed that this must be someone who had come with Wang Kaixuan from Min Province during this trip, intending to see how things were.

Hearing is believing, but seeing is reality.

If Wang Kaixuan had just gone back and boasted vaguely, relying on his father's old connections, it might have been fine if it were just small matters.

Just like the few orders he brought back this time, he made several thousand yuan in one turnover.

But if he wanted to do something big, he would definitely have to send someone to Beijing to scout the path.

From this point, one could also see Wang Kaixuan's status.

This is the way of the world: when people leave, the tea goes cold. No matter how his father was before, now that the person is gone and there is no one in the family to step up, he can only be excluded from the inner circle.

(End of this chapter)