Chapter 96: Cause and Effect

Zhao Ruyi returned home, her mind still occupied by the path to making money that Ning Weidong had pointed out to her just moments ago.

She was still hesitating, unsure whether she should really do it.

This time was not the same concept as before; previously, on the line with Wang Jingsheng, she was at best occupying a position in the Factory Office to take a share of the dividends.

But if she did as Ning Weidong said, she wouldn't just be riding the coattails; she would have to do the work herself, finding sources of goods and getting the approval slips.

This was not just a simple matter of words, but involved the exercise of power.

Born into such a family, she had been influenced by what she saw and heard from a young age and knew very early on that when it came to resources and power, there were never any small matters.

However... if she didn't do it, according to Ning Weidong's claim, if it really succeeded, it would likely be more than thirty thousand a month.

Zhao Ruyi was not reconciled.

"So you know how to come back!" Zhao's father was sitting in the living room reading the newspaper; he looked up when he heard the door open.

Zhao Ruyi was startled: "Dad, why are you here?"

Zhao's father gave a light hum: "Taken a fancy to that boy, not against it anymore?"

Zhao Ruyi was speechless; even now, she couldn't clearly define her feelings toward Ning Weidong.

Seeing his daughter remain silent, Zhao's father also felt conflicted.

He sighed: "Forget it, you're not young anymore. It's fate to meet someone you like. Get along well with him, and don't go reaching out your hand at every turn."

Zhao Ruyi felt bitter inside. What did he mean by "reaching out her hand at every turn"? That guy Ning Weidong had more strength than a bear; she couldn't beat him at all and had been getting bullied the whole time, okay?

But she couldn't say this out loud, so she could only silently accept it.

In fact, Zhao's father also found it a bit strange, wondering if her personality had changed because she was in love.

Previously, this youngest daughter was always chattering away and spoke quite sharply; why was she so quiet today?

But he didn't think that his daughter was being bullied.

It was mainly due to the inertia of his preconceived notions over the years; it had always been Zhao Ruyi bullying others, so he just assumed it was the thoughts of a young woman in love.

Zhao's father sighed: "Alright, go get some rest~"

Zhao Ruyi responded, then opened her mouth, wanting to ask her father from a different angle whether what Ning Weidong said was actually correct.

But after hesitating several times, she ultimately didn't speak.

The next day, Ning Weidong arrived at his unit. There was nothing to do all morning, and as it neared noon, he stood up early and said to Chen: "Leader, I'm heading out first."

Chen checked the time: "The cafeteria won't open for another half hour, what's the rush?"

Ning Weidong chuckled: "I have an appointment with someone today."

Wen Aiying's eyes lit up: "A man or a woman?" A fire of gossip burned fiercely within her.

Ning Weidong didn't hide anything and said with a smile: "A girl introduced by my family, she's also from our factory."

When he went back last night, Ning Weiguo had specifically advised him to spread the word at the factory that he was seeing Zhao Ruyi.

Previously, Ning Weiguo had tried every possible way to get Ning Weidong to marry into the Zhao Family, with the goal of using the Zhao Family's influence to provide Ning Weidong with a protective amulet.

Now that this protective amulet had been borrowed, it certainly had to be shown off.

Only in this way could he make those with ulterior motives wary; to put it bluntly, it was using their banner as his own tiger skin.

Sure enough, upon hearing it was someone from the factory, Wen Aiying hurriedly asked: "Oh my, our Weidong is seeing someone! Who is it? Tell your sister."

Even Feng Wen, who usually didn't pay much attention to Ning Weidong, looked over with some curiosity.

Ning Weidong scratched the back of his head and said honestly: "It's Zhao Ruyi from the Factory Office downstairs."

As soon as these words were spoken, the three people in the room were stunned.

Zhao Ruyi from the Factory Office was the factory's famous "little chili pepper" and "tigress," but Zhao Ruyi was also truly beautiful, so even if she was a tigress, it wasn't as if no one had tried to curry favor with her.

Zhao Ruyi had never been polite to them and simply didn't look at those people.

This time, it was unprecedented that she was going to see Ning Weidong—was it real or fake? Wen Aiying was even more curious, but Ning Weidong stopped while he was ahead, dropped a "I'm leaving first," and slipped downstairs in a flash.

Left in the room, the three of them looked at each other; Wen Aiying was simply interested in the gossip about the man and woman.

Chen and Feng Wen, however, each had their own thoughts.

After Ning Weidong left, Feng Wen also stood up and busied himself with going to eat.

Chen smiled as he tidied up his things, muttering about going to grab a bite to eat, but as soon as he stepped out, he went to Li Peihang's room.

"Oh, Old Chen~" Li Peihang had a lunch appointment and was just tidying up his things to leave.

Chen was observant and immediately got to the point: "Section Chief, there's a matter—Ning Weidong and Zhao Ruyi from the second floor are seeing each other. Did you know?"

Li Peihang was stunned and stopped what he was doing: "What?"

Chen said: "I just heard it from Little Ning himself."

Li Peihang blinked; this news was truly a significant shock to him.

Others might not know, but he knew Zhao Ruyi's background, and this woman's personality was not easy to deal with. When did Ning Weidong get together with her?

He frowned and said: "Could it be a mistake?"

Chen said: "Section Chief, I'm also doubtful, so I thought I'd mention it to you first, and then we can go to the cafeteria later to see what's actually going on."

Li Peihang nodded: "Alright, I understand."

After sending Chen away, Li Peihang sat back down, frowning as he pondered this matter.

On the other hand, Ning Weidong went down the stairs to the second floor and headed straight for the Factory Office.

The Factory Office was at the other end of the large staircase and occupied three rooms—one large and two small.

Ning Weidong had never been there before and didn't know which room Zhao Ruyi was in, so he went directly to the large office with the door open and poked his head in to look.

This office was quite large, about the size of a classroom, and had over a dozen desks inside.

Near the door was a young man in his twenties who frowned when he saw Ning Weidong and said: "Comrade, who are you looking for?"

Ning Weidong scanned the room, had already spotted Zhao Ruyi, and said with a chuckle: "I'm looking for Zhao Ruyi." Without waiting for the young man to speak again, he raised his hand and called out inside.

Zhao Ruyi was looking down at something, looking as if she didn't quite understand it, scratching her head from time to time.

Hearing someone call her name, she immediately raised her head.

Along with her were the others in their Office, all eyes converging on Ning Weidong.

Ning Weidong smiled nonchalantly and called out "Ruyi" once more.

Zhao Ruyi blushed for once, immediately got up and walked out, and under the gaze of everyone, dragged Ning Weidong away from the doorway, saying crossly, "Why did you come here!"

Ning Weidong said, "To ask you to go eat."

Zhao Ruyi stomped her foot in a huff.

Ning Weidong glanced at her sideways and said displeased, "What? Has your partner caused you, Miss Zhao, to lose face?"

Zhao Ruyi paused, sensed Ning Weidong's mood, and hurriedly said it wasn't that.

Ning Weidong gave a hum: "It better not be! Let's go, let's go eat."

"Oh~" Zhao Ruyi replied, and like a wronged little daughter-in-law, followed behind Ning Weidong as he walked away.

And at the same time they left, a wave of discussion broke out in the Office. "Hey, who was that just now?"

"I don't know! Looks a bit familiar."

"I know, that's from the Security Division, seems like he was just transferred to the Office Building."

There are two places in the Red Star Factory where the water is deepest: one is the Logistics Department Office, and the other is the Factory Office.

These two offices belong to the best places in the Manager, and those who can sit firmly here have no lack of background.

Most of them knew about the situation in Zhao Ruyi's family.

They couldn't help but be curious about what kind of person Ning Weidong was to have actually taken down Zhao Ruyi.

Coming out of the Office Building, Ning Weidong and Zhao Ruyi walked shoulder to shoulder to the canteen to eat, then took a stroll around the Manager, and only went back separately when it was almost time for the afternoon shift.

As soon as Zhao Ruyi returned to the Office, two female colleagues she was on good terms with immediately came over to ask what was going on with Ning Weidong.

Zhao Ruyi actually hadn't wanted to announce her relationship with Ning Weidong so early, but things had reached this point and she couldn't deny it, so she simply told the truth: it was introduced by her family.

The speaker had no intention, but the listener did.

Having just seen Ning Weidong's height and appearance, most people in the Office had thought it was someone Zhao Ruyi found herself; they hadn't expected that such a spirited young man was actually arranged by her family.

Another thing was that they started calculating what kind of background Ning Weidong had; since it was introduced by her family, it must be a match of equal social status.

At the same time, in Wang Kaifeng's office at the Security Division.

"Bang~" "Clatter~"

Wang Kaifeng, with a livid face, fiercely slammed a pot of black Go stones onto the floor.

Feng Wen, who was nearby, was startled and stood where he was, not daring to move.

It wasn't until a long while later that Wang Kaifeng took a deep breath, waved his hand, and said, "Clean it up."

Feng Wen nimbly began to clean up the stones on the floor.

Wang Kaifeng sat down, his expression uncertain, and in a very low voice, cursed "pretty boy," but feeling helpless and listless, he said, "Xiao Wen, go notify them to stop our operation targeting Ning Weidong."

Feng Wen's movements paused, and he lowered his head and replied.

In fact, he had already guessed it before he came.

When he heard Ning Weidong say earlier that he was in a relationship with Zhao Ruyi, he hadn't believed it immediately, but went to the canteen to look; seeing Ning Weidong and Zhao Ruyi together, acting intimate and laughing and talking, he was then certain and ran to report to Wang Kaifeng.

He also anticipated that with this layer of connection, Wang Kaifeng could no longer easily make a move against Ning Weidong.

Originally, although Ning Weidong had Ning Weiguo and the Wang Family behind him.

But that was, after all, a distant connection, and Ning Weiguo's own energy was limited, having absolutely no ability to counter the Red Star Factory.

What Ning Weidong could rely on in the Manager was nothing more than the uncle and nephew, Li Peihang and Li Weibing.

The Li uncle and nephew were their opponents, so Wang Kaifeng had no scruples about dealing with Ning Weidong.

But once Ning Weidong became the Zhao Family's son-in-law, the situation was different.

Making an issue out of Ning Weidong was slapping the Zhao Family in the face; the consequences of such a provocation were not something Wang Kaifeng could bear.

And this was precisely the goal Ning Weiguo was anxious to facilitate the marriage for.

As the relationship between Ning Weidong and Zhao Ruyi spread through the Manager, this "leverage" was considered borrowed.

Soon, there was movement on Li Peihang's side as well.

After eating in the afternoon, Ning Weidong was reading a magazine in the Office when Li Peihang came over swaying with a tea mug, beaming with joy: "Weidong~ what are you studying?"

Ning Weidong looked up, immediately stood up, and said with a smile: "Oh, Section Chief!"

Chen hurriedly stood up to greet him.

Li Peihang waved his hand and said: "Old Chen, is that form from the day before yesterday finished?"

Chen hurriedly said "It's done," and took a form out of the document basket beside the desk.

Li Peihang took it, looked at it, nodded, and was about to leave, but turned back and said to Ning Weidong: "Weidong, come with me for a moment."

Ning Weidong replied and came to Li Peihang's office.

As soon as he entered the room, Li Peihang smiled, pulled Ning Weidong to sit on the sofa: "Brother Weidong, I heard that you've taken down that little chili pepper from the Factory Office?"

Ning Weidong gave a dry laugh, thinking to himself what kind of glorious history this woman Zhao Ruyi had to have earned such a big reputation.

"Brother Li, you mean Zhao Ruyi~" Ning Weidong explained: "It was arranged by my sister-in-law, we're just seeing how it goes for now."

Li Peihang suddenly understood; it was no surprise if Wang Yuzhen had stepped in.

He knew Wang Yuzhen's background, and patted Ning Weidong: "You must hold on to this; other than her temper being a bit direct, that girl is top-notch in every other way."

Ning Weidong laughed out loud; he could feel that Li Peihang's attitude toward him today had changed compared to before.

Previously, in Li Peihang's eyes, Ning Weidong was just a younger brother of Ning Weiguo who couldn't be brought out into the open.

But now, Ning Weidong is the prospective son-in-law of the Zhao Family.

If it were just Ning Weidong and Zhao Ruyi dating in private, he wouldn't care too much.

After all, whether such a thing would succeed or not was still up in the air.

But since it was introduced by Wang Yuzhen and mutually acknowledged by both families, the nature of the situation was different.

After finishing the topic of Ning Weidong and Zhao Ruyi, Li Peihang changed the subject: "Right, there's a gathering this Sunday organized by my cousin Li Ge. Weiguo and Yuzhen will both be there, why don't you come join the fun, how about it?"

Ning Weidong's heart stirred; he had heard from Ning Weiguo that this Li Ge was the son of Li Weibing, but he didn't work at the Red Star Factory; instead, he was a teacher.

The school was the same technical secondary school that Ning Weiguo, Wang Yuzhen, and Li Peihang had attended.

However, by the time Li Ge arrived, Ning Weiguo and the others had long since graduated, so it couldn't really be considered a teacher-student relationship.

Ning Weidong smiled and said, "That sounds great. I often hear my brother and sister-in-law mention that Brother Li, but I've never had the chance to meet him."

As for why he was suddenly invited, Ning Weidong was very clear in his heart that it was also because of the Zhao Family.

Previously, Ning Weidong didn't qualify, but now that he had hooked up with Zhao Ruyi, he could be considered to have successfully started eating this "soft rice."

After coming out of Li Peihang's Office, the smile on Ning Weidong's face faded away.

Ning Weidong didn't know much about Li Ge, but he could be certain that Li Ge was definitely a more core figure on Li Peihang's side.

Organizing this gathering to invite Ning Weidong over likely had no other purpose than simple solicitation, to be kept for the future.

Right now, Ning Weidong and Zhao Ruyi are not yet married.

As for whether to go, he had to go back and ask for the opinions of Ning Weiguo and Wang Yuzhen.

It wasn't that Ning Weidong lacked his own ideas, but that such matters required extreme caution; sometimes what looks like a simple meal could be used by others to make a huge fuss.

Ning Weidong's foundation is the Wang Family, is Ning Weiguo and Wang Yuzhen; even if he marries Zhao Ruyi, this principle cannot be easily discarded.

The more stable he is on the Wang Family's side, the more the Zhao Family will value him.

The Wang Family side is the cause, and the Zhao Family side is the result; this point must be clearly understood.

If one cannot even distinguish the order of cause and effect, no matter how noble their background or how many resources they have in hand, they will soon lose everything and be kicked out of the game.

(End of this chapter)