Chapter 26: Labeling

Ning Weidong got up, washed his face and brushed his teeth, and got himself ready.

He went to the Upper Room and took a glance; on the Eight Immortals table sat the meal Wang Yuzhen had left for him that morning.

He wolfed down a bite and then hurried out the door.

Last night, Ning Weiguo promised to call Li Peihang when he went to work today.

Ning Weidong decided to strike while the iron was hot; since he was on the night shift today, he had all day free.

He sat on the bus to the Manager and pondered in his mind what he should say when he saw Li Peihang later.

It wasn't the peak hour for commuting, so the bus was fast, and in half an hour, he had arrived at the stop outside the factory.

Ning Weidong got off the bus and followed the sidewalk to the South Gate.

"Hey? Weidong, why are you here? Aren't you on the night shift today?" When he reached the factory gate, he was spotted by Wu Bingzhong in the guard room.

Ning Weidong made up an excuse: "I left something in the factory, so I came over to get it and take a bath while I'm at it."

The Manager issued bath tickets regularly, which was equivalent to a free bath.

Wu Bingzhong nodded without asking further, and at an angle where others couldn't see, he winked, the meaning being to remind Ning Weidong not to forget about yesterday's matter.

Ning Weidong pretended not to understand, said "I'm off" with a chuckle, and entered the factory.

Wu Bingzhong looked at his back, curled his lips, and made a "tch" sound.

Don't look at how things seemed on the surface; deep down, Wu Bingzhong looked down on Ning Weidong.

If he could label people, the only label he would give Ning Weidong would be two words—idiot.

Ning Weidong didn't know what Wu Bingzhong was thinking, and even if he did, he wouldn't care.

Because in his experience, people who are very certain that others are idiots are, in all likelihood, the real idiots themselves.

Ning Weidong walked along the small path toward the West Gate, and after leaving Wu Bingzhong's field of vision, he immediately changed direction and headed straight for the Factory Office.

The Factory Office was not far from the South Gate; Ning Weidong took a detour, entered through the north door of the Factory Office, and went up the terrazzo stairs, taking two steps at a time to reach the third floor in one breath.

The Factory Office Building was quite large, and the main administrative departments of the Manager were all located here.

The Security Division was at the east end of the third floor; although Ning Weidong knew this, it was indeed his first time coming here.

Unless necessary, ordinary workers were not very willing to deal with those in the Office Building.

Ning Weidong, however, had no such taboos and walked along the corridor after reaching the third floor.

The first Office next to the stairs had its door wide open.

There was heating in the Office Building, so it felt hot even wearing a coat; naturally, there was no problem with leaving the door open.

Inside the Office sat three people, two men and one woman, who were chatting.

One of them had sharp eyes and saw Ning Weidong hesitating in his steps, slightly lifting his head as if looking for a door plate; the side profile he saw was also unfamiliar, so he immediately got up and chased after him: "Hey~ Comrade, who are you looking for?"

Ning Weidong stopped; in fact, he had already spotted the Safety Section Office and was just about to head straight there, but since someone called out to him, he said with a chuckle: "Hello, Comrade. I'm from the West Gate, and Li Kebian asked me to come."

The person who came out of the Office was not old, only twenty-five or twenty-six, wearing a Zhongshan Suit and black leather shoes, with his hair parted in a three-seven split, looking like a young elite. He looked Ning Weidong up and down and frowned: "Section Chief Li asked for you?"

Ning Weidong said "Yeah."

The young man wanted to say something else, but another middle-aged man in his forties inside the room interjected: "Go to the third room down."

Ning Weidong said thanks, nodded to the young man again, and continued walking inside.

The young man frowned but didn't say anything, turning back to go inside.

Ning Weidong reached the outside of the third Office, raised his hand to knock three times, and said at the same time: "Section Chief, it's Little Ning~"

A "come in" came from inside the door. Ning Weidong pushed the door and entered.

The Office inside was not large, with a window facing south, so the lighting was quite good.

Under the window sat a desk covered with a glass plate, and behind the desk sat a sturdy man in his early thirties.

"Section Chief~" Ning Weidong bowed as soon as he entered the door.

Li Peihang gave a hearty laugh, got up to greet him, and reached out his hand: "Weidong, I just talked to your brother on the phone."

Ning Weidong rushed forward two steps and shook hands with Li Peihang with both hands: "Section Chief..."

Li Peihang said: "What Section Chief? Call me Brother Li. Your eldest brother and I have been friends for nearly twenty years."

Ning Weidong gave an honest smile: "Brother Li, well~ my brother taught me that I must address people by their titles at work."

Upon hearing this, Li Peihang laughed: "That Ning Weiguo~ Fine, address me by my title at work, and call me brother outside the factory. Got it?"

Ning Weidong replied.

Li Peihang patted him on the shoulder, looked him up and down again, and then pointed to the side: "Sit down and talk."

Li Peihang's Office had no sofa; what served as a sofa was a dark wooden bench, the same style as the one in the Factory Protection Team lounge, though it had a cotton cushion on it, which made it a bit more upscale.

Next to the bench was a separate chair.

Li Peihang let Ning Weidong sit on the bench, while he pulled the single chair over himself, and without further ado, went straight to the point: "Tell me what's going on."

When Ning Weiguo called earlier, he only said his younger brother was coming, and as for the reason, he only touched upon it slightly without going into detail.

Otherwise, Ning Weidong wouldn't have anything to say when he arrived.

Ning Weidong watched Li Peihang, waited for him to sit down before he sat down himself, and said seriously: "It's like this..."

Blah, blah, blah—he used the most concise language to recount the situation of Wu Bingzhong approaching him.

At the end, he said: "Section Chief, I don't know what's really going on behind this Wu Bingzhong, but I don't think he would act without a reason, so I thought of you... If it weren't for you, I'd still be out in the wind and sun at the Factory Protection Team..."

As he spoke, Ning Weidong observed Li Peihang's eyes and reactions.

Based on his judgment, Wu Bingzhong was likely not one of Li Peihang's people; otherwise, he wouldn't have rashly come to him.

There were two other possibilities: either this matter was aimed at Li Peihang, or Li Peihang was staying out of it.

If it were these two situations, Li Peihang's reaction would be different.

After listening, Li Peihang's brows were already knitted into a 'chuan' shape, and his strong masseter muscles were twitching.

In front of Ning Weidong, he didn't hide anything.

Ning Weidong was seventy to eighty percent certain that their Squad Leader, Xu Jinshan, was one of Li Peihang's people.

The person behind Wu Bingzhong this time was most likely coming for Li Peihang.

Furthermore, last night Ning Weiguo had revealed Li Peihang's background: his uncle was the top leader at the factory, Li Weibing.

Now it was basically confirmed that Xu Jinshan was Li Peihang's man, and someone was trying to pull up the radish and bring out the mud.

Another point was that Li Peihang's own hands were not clean, otherwise he would not have had that kind of reaction.

Ning Weidong did not have any moral squeamishness; in this dusty, bustling world, how many people could truly remain unstained while emerging from the mud?

More than that, the world is bustling, all for the sake of profit; the world is clamoring, all for the sake of gain.

It is just that in the eyes of different people, the manifestation of "profit" differs; for some it is money, for some it is beautiful women, for some it is establishing merit and career, and for some it is leaving a name in history.

And Ning Weidong, from the moment Ning Weiguo called in the morning, to when he just knocked on the door and entered, and sat down in this Office, within the confines of the Red Star Factory, had already been labeled as one of Li Peihang's people.

(End of this chapter)