Chapter 52: Do You Understand the Rules?

Factory Director Li withdrew his gaze from the window, turned back to sit behind his desk, picked up his tea mug, and took a sip: "Peihang, what happened?"

Generally, Li Peihang would not come directly to his office unless it was a very important situation.

Li Peihang looked solemn: "Third Uncle..."

Once inside the room, Li Peihang immediately recounted the situation.

Li Weibing listened without much reaction, as if the matter being discussed had nothing to do with him at all.

Not until Li Peihang finished did he say, neither salty nor bland: "Handle this matter well; don't cause me any trouble."

Li Peihang nodded: "I understand. Don't worry, I will handle it well."

Li Weibing let out an "un," then asked again: "By the way, just now you mentioned that..."

Li Peihang hurriedly added: "It is Ning Weidong, the younger brother of Ning Weiguo from the Mechanical Bureau."

"Ning Weidong..." Li Weibing repeated the name: "What kind of person is he?"

Li Peihang caught the subtext and asked in surprise: "You want to use him?"

Li Weibing said: "This time the Wang Family spent a lot of effort on Ning Weiguo's position; it seems they really want to cultivate him. After all, he is the old company commander's son-in-law, and you two are classmates."

Li Peihang pondered for a moment and did not answer immediately.

Li Weibing saw his hesitation: "Hmm? You have concerns?"

Li Peihang weighed his words: "Third Uncle, this... Ning Weidong is different from his brother. He has never been very sociable in the Security Division. However, he has taken the initiative to come to me these past few days, which doesn't match the rumors. I'm not quite sure about him."

Li Weibing said dismissively: "If you aren't sure, then test him out. One should have more patience with young comrades."

"I understand," Li Peihang replied: "Third Uncle, if there is nothing else, I will head back first."

Li Weibing waved his hand. Only after Li Peihang closed the door and left did he let out a long sigh, then walked back to the window to continue looking down.

At this time, the Factory Protection Team that had been drilling had already left, and there was not a shadow of a person below the Factory Office Building.

Li Weibing stood there for a long while, muttering to himself: "An eventful autumn..."

On the other side, Li Peihang returned to his office, pondering the meaning behind Li Weibing's words just now.

Using Ning Weidong actually had nothing to do with Ning Weidong himself; what mattered was that he was Ning Weiguo's brother, and Ning Weiguo was the old company commander's son-in-law.

Li Peihang understood his third uncle's idea: he wanted to lean toward the Wang Family through Ning Weiguo.

Don't look at how Li Weibing called him the old company commander; that was all ancient history from thirty years ago. Before this, they were not on the same side.

However, facing the parachuted-in Wang Guoqiang, Li Weibing had to seek stronger support from the outside.

Ning Weidong was just a pebble.

A stone thrown to ask the way, to see what the reaction was on that side.

But then again, Ning Weidong had to be a pebble; if he were a piece of rotten wood, there would be no way to use him.

So, one had to "test him out" first—not to see if Ning Weidong had ability, or how strong his ability was.

It was simply to see if his head was clear, if he understood the rules, and if he did, how much he understood.

Thinking of this, Li Peihang reached out and picked up the phone on his desk: "Hello, this is Li Peihang... come to my office for a moment."

After hanging up the phone, about five minutes later, he heard the sound of jogging footsteps in the hallway.

A smile curled at the corner of Li Peihang's mouth. Although he knew the other person's character wasn't great, this attitude alone was satisfying.

One phone call, and he came running immediately.

Hearing a knock, Li Peihang said "Come in." The door opened, and a sturdy young man over 1.8 meters tall with a side-parted hairstyle entered. He controlled his rapid breathing and called out "Leader."

The one who arrived was Wang Zipeng, who had fought with Zhou Kun yesterday and lived in the back courtyard.

It was fortunate that Zhou Kun had shown restraint yesterday and hadn't aimed his fists at his face, otherwise, he wouldn't be able to show his face today.

Li Peihang said "Sit" with a chuckle, but he did not come out from behind his desk like he had when receiving Ning Weidong.

Wang Zipeng was not qualified enough.

"Hey..." Wang Zipeng sat on the chair closest to the desk, sitting on only half his buttocks with his back straight: "Leader, what instructions do you have for me?"

Li Peihang said: "Ning Weidong at the West Gate, he lives in the same courtyard as you?"

Wang Zipeng was stunned. He hadn't expected Li Peihang to call him over in such a rush just to ask about Ning Weidong, but he didn't have time to overthink it and hurriedly nodded: "We are in the same courtyard."

Li Peihang didn't beat around the bush and said directly: "Find an opportunity to take a look at this person for me..."

As soon as Wang Zipeng heard this, he immediately wanted to spill out his impression of Ning Weidong.

But the words reached his lips, and he swallowed them back down.

If Li Peihang wanted to hear those things, he wouldn't have specifically called him over.

Since he had called him over and asked him to do it "for" him, it was not without purpose.

One of Wang Zipeng's great strengths was that he never tried to be clever in front of his leaders.

This was a sentence his father had emphasized to him on his first day of work.

Wang Zipeng said: "Don't worry, I will go arrange it immediately."

At this time, Ning Weidong had already returned to the West Gate guard room.

As soon as he entered, Wang Yong said half-jokingly: "If you hadn't come back, I would have wanted to go over and see if you'd fallen into a pit."

Ning Weidong laughed it off. It wasn't hard to guess from Wang Yong's state that Xu Jinshan wasn't there. He craned his neck to look into the inner room: "Is the Squad Leader out?"

Wang Yong responded, and the two didn't say much more, just sat there killing time.

The day passed in the blink of an eye.

It was almost four in the afternoon, time for the shift change.

Ning Weidong was just calculating what vegetables to buy at the market after work when Wang Zipeng arrived.

He lifted the door curtain and entered as if he were returning to his own home, saying brazenly: "Where's Old Xu?"

Wang Yong looked up and immediately said with a smile, "Oh, Officer Wang, are you looking for our Brother Xu?"

Wang Zipeng waved his hand to indicate there was nothing in particular, took a cigarette out of his overcoat pocket, handed them out to Ning Weidong and Wang Yong, sat down on a chair nearby, and said with a smile, "Right, Weidong, I only found out yesterday that when that grandson Zhou Kun bared his teeth at you the other day, you managed to tame him in one go?"

As he spoke, he was beaming with delight, as if it were he who had knocked Zhou Kun down.

Although Wang Zipeng had called out Xu Jinshan's name upon entering and knew Xu Jinshan wasn't there, he didn't leave; instead, he sat down, and it seemed somewhat deliberate how he steered the topic toward Ning Weidong.

By rights, the original owner had no friendship with Wang Zipeng; although they lived in the same compound, one lived in the back courtyard and the other in the side courtyard, so they had no dealings with each other.

Moreover, the original owner had a good relationship with Zhou Kun, so naturally, he and Wang Zipeng could not see eye to eye.

Could it be that because of the conflict with Zhou Kun the day before yesterday, he felt that the enemy of an enemy is a friend? Ning Weidong pondered inwardly, unsure of what medicine Wang Zipeng was selling in his gourd, and hummed and hawed, dealing with him perfunctorily.

After another moment, Wang Zipeng raised his hand to check his watch and said, "Weidong, you all change shifts at four o'clock, right... I'm leaving a bit early today, let's go together, brother; tonight, it's my treat, let's go to a restaurant and have a drink."

(End of this chapter)