Chapter 57: Comrade Xiao Ning is a Young Backbone

Ning Weidong could tell that Wang Zipeng likely had some personal grudge against Liu Xinwen, and a significant one at that.

Otherwise, he wouldn't be speaking with such sarcasm now that the man was already dead.

He had even specifically mentioned Liu Hong'e; the grudge between the two of them likely had something to do with this "factory beauty."

Ning Weidong listened along the way, arriving at his unit before eight o'clock, and without going to the West Gate, he went straight to the Factory Office to find Li Peihang.

Upon reaching the office, there was already someone in Li Peihang's room.

This person was of medium build with a stern, square face.

After the introduction, Ning Weidong learned that this person was named Lu Zhou, a cadre from the Security Division.

For this investigation team, two people were drawn from the Security Division: one was Ning Weidong, and the other was Lu Zhou.

Lu Zhou looked Ning Weidong up and down; whether it was natural or not, his smile was somewhat stiff as he reached out to shake Ning Weidong's hand: "Comrade Ning Weidong, hello."

Ning Weidong said: "Cadre Lu, hello."

Not knowing what this Cadre Lu's background was, Ning Weidong did not say much, especially in front of Li Peihang.

"Old Lu, such an incident has occurred in the factory this time, and the impact is very bad. Factory Director Li has given instructions that the truth must be uncovered."

Lu Zhou said with an expressionless face: "Please rest assured, organization."

Afterwards, Li Peihang looked at Ning Weidong again: "Comrade Xiao Ning, you are a young backbone, you must learn a lot from the old comrades."

……

They came out of Li Peihang's office.

The door closed, and Lu Zhou gave Ning Weidong a deep look, then walked straight ahead without saying a word.

Ning Weidong did not mind; this Lu Zhou was clearly not on the same side as Li Peihang. Yesterday, Li Peihang did not mention this person, which meant he either hadn't decided yet or hadn't notified him.

Although Li Peihang was only a Section Chief, he managed personnel transfers for the Security Division; theoretically, any work adjustments or position changes had to pass through Li Peihang.

Coupled with the subtle attitude just now, Ning Weidong could roughly judge that this Cadre Lu was on Vice Factory Director Wang's side.

While thinking, Ning Weidong followed Lu Zhou downstairs to a conference room on the first floor.

A piece of white paper was pasted on the dark green wooden door, with the words "Production Accident Investigation Team" written on it in brush calligraphy.

He didn't know who wrote it, but they insisted on adding the four words "Production Accident," surreptitiously defining the nature of the event.

However, in Ning Weidong's view, such petty actions of nitpicking words were of little real significance.

If it were handled internally, such tactics might have some influence, but since Public Security had already intervened, whether it was an accident or a case was no longer something the factory could control.

The room had been cleaned in advance, and the tables and floor were spotless.

Ning Weidong and Lu Zhou sat down, and neither spoke.

After about five minutes, two more people arrived—also one middle-aged and one young—wearing black-rimmed glasses, dark blue Zhongshan Suits, and black leather shoes with pig-eye patterns, with fountain pens inserted into their breast pockets.

The standard configuration for intellectuals of this era.

Ning Weidong guessed that these two must have been drawn from the Technical Section.

The two nodded to Lu Zhou upon arrival, clearly knowing him, then looked at Ning Weidong with a subtle, condescending scrutiny.

These two must have known about Ning Weidong's situation in advance and didn't think much of him at all.

Ning Weidong simply didn't bother to ask for trouble. For a moment, the atmosphere was somewhat awkward.

The young man from the Technical Section was not very comfortable and took out a glasses cloth from his pocket to wipe his glasses, masking his unease.

The middle-aged man was more seasoned and sat there as if nothing were the matter.

Ning Weidong was even more indifferent; anyway, I don't feel awkward, so the one who is awkward isn't me.

Fortunately, the door opened again soon, saving that young Technician; if it had been any longer, he would have wiped his lenses thin.

Two Public Security officers in navy blue uniforms walked in; one was tall and the other short, both in their thirties.

After introductions, the tall one was named Chu Zhongxin, and the slightly shorter one was named Wang Lei; both were from the Municipal Bureau Criminal Investigation Division.

Chu Zhongxin was the lead; Lu Zhou must have known him, as Chu Zhongxin didn't state his rank, but Lu Zhou addressed him directly as Section Chief Chu.

This indicated that Chu Zhongxin was at least a Deputy Section Chief.

The six-person team was complete, and Chu Zhongxin, taking it as his due, immediately took the lead.

The factory side had set the tone from the beginning: to cooperate with the comrades from the Public Security department.

Chu Zhongxin said: "According to the situation we have grasped so far, the worker Wang Hong at the No. 4 workstation of the Second Workshop, where the incident occurred yesterday afternoon, had already reported upwards the morning of the previous day that the machine was behaving abnormally..."

Ning Weidong listened carefully; regarding this accident, everything he had heard before was second-hand or third-hand rumor, but now this was first-hand information.

Chu Zhongxin continued: "According to Wang Hong and the workers around him, the Technician Liu Xinwen of the Second Workshop at the time inspected the machine and stated there were no problems."

Speaking of this, Chu Zhongxin looked at the two people from the Technical Section.

Although it was in the Second Workshop, Liu Xinwen's personnel file was actually in the Technical Section.

Chu Zhongxin continued: "The next day, which was yesterday afternoon, Wang Hong again noticed the machine was not running normally and found Liu Xinwen for a second time to handle it. While Liu Xinwen was inspecting it, a serious accident occurred, resulting in one death and the severe destruction of one large piece of equipment and its associated equipment..."

Finally, Chu Zhongxin summarized: "Our task this time is to thoroughly clarify the cause of this accident—whether it was an accident... or if someone was negligent, causing a man-made disaster."

Speaking of this, his gaze swept over the others and paused for a few seconds: "Now, I will assign the tasks. The two comrades from the Technical Section are responsible for organizing and reconstructing the operating state of the machine before the accident occurred."

He then looked at Lu Zhou, paused for two seconds, and looked at Ning Weidong: "Old Lu, you are familiar with the people; you and Wang Lei are responsible for visiting the workers who witnessed the accident. I and Comrade Ning Weidong will be responsible for investigating the situation of Wang Hong and the deceased, Liu Xinwen."

Hearing this arrangement, Lu Zhou was clearly stunned for a moment.

He had not expected Chu Zhongxin to choose Ning Weidong as a partner; logically, whether in terms of experience, ability, or understanding of the factory's situation, Chu Zhongxin should have chosen Lu Zhou.

Furthermore, before Lu Zhou came, his superiors had told him that everything had been sorted out and the Public Security side would cooperate.

However, now, the situation had clearly taken a new turn.

Chu Zhongxin must know that Ning Weidong was the "sand" mixed in, yet he insisted on keeping him by his side—what did this mean? Lu Zhou looked at Ning Weidong calmly.

Ning Weidong himself was also somewhat surprised, but immediately replied, "Yes."

Chu Zhongxin was swift and decisive; once the work was assigned, he immediately set into motion.

Ning Weidong went to get his bicycle and, together with Chu Zhongxin, exited the factory gate and asked: "Section Chief Chu, where shall we go first?"

Chu Zhongxin smiled: "What Section Chief, just call me brother."

Ning Weidong was stunned; Chu Zhongxin's attitude toward him was clearly unusual.

Could there be some hidden key to this that he did not know about?

(End of chapter)