Chapter 337: The Many Lives Under the Supervisory Sword

The sword in Li Huaide's hand, named "Safety Production and Technological Advancement Supervision Team," as soon as it left its sheath its cold light swept across the Steel Factory's corners, stirring the already turbulent power field and casting shadows of varying darkness in the hearts of every person, whether involved or not.

The Supervision Team's office was set up in a room on the second floor of the Administrative Building that had originally stored clutter; after an overnight cleaning and a sign being hung, it became a bona fide new power base.

Although Li Huaide does not often take charge, his confidant—the pen‑wielding officer of the Publicity Section—holds daily command, and the atmosphere has already changed.

Those entering and exiting are no longer ordinary clerks, but rather self‑possessed "Supervisor" with notebooks tucked under their armpits, or workshop cadres and team leaders who have been "summoned for a talk", even ordinary workers. The air is heavy with a blend of fresh paint smell and intangible pressure.

The first "preliminary supervision comments" for Workshop Three did not result in formal punishment, yet the ripple effect has already begun to spread. The report's vague accusation—"some positions tend to simplify essential safety procedures in pursuit of output"—was like a soft thorn that pierced the hearts of the newly appointed Director Liu and the entire Workshop Three management.

They were forced to expend massive effort to re‑sort all operating procedures, organize extra safety training, and prepare for a possible "re‑inspection", further aggravating a production rhythm already battered by accidents.

Other workshops placed on the key "Supervision" list also began to tremble with rumors. Workshop Two's Director Wang is an old subordinate of Yang Weiguo, technically solid but blunt‑tempered.

When faced with the Supervision Team's "situation‑understanding" interview, he nearly slammed the table: "Which safety rule in our workshop hasn't been implemented? The equipment is a bit old, but maintenance has never been sloppy! Production pressure comes from the factory, and now it's being blamed on us?" Fortunately, the deputy director beside him held him back, averting a larger clash. Still, the rumor that "Workshop Two's director's attitude resists supervision work" quietly spread.

Director Li of Workshop Five is far more diplomatic. He prepared a thick stack of rectification reports and pledges in advance; when the Supervision Team arrived, he greeted them with a smile, offered tea, and acknowledged every raised issue with an impeccably sincere attitude, even proactively "exposing" two trivial, harmless problems in the workshop to show cooperation. In private, however, he gave his confidant a wry smile: "This isn't supervising safety; it's supervising us to pick sides!"

The ordinary workers' mindset is even more complex. Some genuinely see strengthened safety supervision as a good thing—after all, no one wants to be the next accident victim; but many feel an extra restraint and tension. They operate more cautiously, fearing that a slip could earn them a "violation of procedures" label; informal chatter among coworkers has dwindled, since who knows which remark a schemer might hear and report to the Supervision Team as "thought dynamics"? A suppressed, mutually wary atmosphere quietly spreads along the production line.

Amid this wave of supervision, some naturally sensed the scent of "opportunity".

Xu Damao is one of them. He now works in the Publicity Section, a colleague neither too close nor too distant from the pen‑wielding officer stationed in the supervision office. Seeing the Supervision Team's growing clout and Deputy Factory Director Li's increasing authority, his restless heart was stirred again.

Xu Damao deliberately sought chances to approach that officer, offering cigarettes and chatting, his words brimming with a "profound understanding" of supervision work and admiration for Factory Director Li's "far‑sightedness". He even "proactively reported" the "public opinion" he heard in the plant about certain workshop management's "rigidity". Though no tangible reward arrived yet, he felt he had caught a line, and the future looked promising.

The change is more evident in Qin Huairu. She works in Logistics, originally having little to do with production safety supervision. Yet Li Huaide clearly has not forgotten this piece. The Supervision Team's need for various material support and inter‑departmental coordination naturally falls to the Logistics Section.

Under Li Huaide's instruction, Qin Huairu was "seconded" to devote part of her effort to assist the Supervision Team's logistical support. This gave her more legitimate reasons to enter and exit the supervision office and interact with Li Huaide's confidants.

During a chance "encounter", Li Huaide whispered to her: "Huairu, supervision work is the top priority in the plant right now; you're in Logistics, well‑informed, so stay vigilant. If you sense any stir, report it promptly. I won't shortchange you."

The implication in those words made Qin Huairu's hair stand on end. She understood she had to not only give her body but also serve as eyes and ears. The sense of humiliation deepened, yet thinking of her family's increasingly hard livelihood and her son's isolation, she could only bow her head lower and softly reply, "I understand, Director Li."

She began to pay closer attention to the plant's idle gossip, especially complaints or discontent about Factory Director Yang's cadre line and each workshop's genuine reactions to supervision work. These fragmented pieces, after her filtering and relaying, became one of Li Huaide's channels for grasping grassroots dynamics.

She sank deeper into the quagmire; behind the numbness in her eyes, a flash of cold calculation occasionally surfaced—since she couldn't escape, she would try to extract whatever benefit she could from it.

In this vortex stirred by the supervisory sword, the Security Section led by Li Ping'an stands like a steady reef in a rapid current, adhering to its established boundaries.

The Supervision Team also once tried to extend its reach to the Security Section, citing a "review of the plant's overall safety prevention system" and requesting access to certain patrol records and security plans.

Chen Jianghe, who handled the reception, remained neither obsequious nor arrogant, stating that specific deployments and records involving the plant's core security belong to internal management documents of the Security Department; if they need to be reviewed, they require the department head's approval and must be filed with the plant Party Committee.

At the same time, he supplied pre‑prepared fire‑facility layout maps and daily safety publicity materials that did not involve the core, his attitude impeccable yet firmly holding the line.

Li Ping'an explicitly stressed at the departmental affairs meeting: "The Security Section's duty is to maintain plant public order, prevent sabotage, and safeguard production order. The Supervision Team's work has its own focus; we do not interfere, but we also absolutely will not allow any external body, under any pretext, to disrupt the Security Section's normal, independent operations. When issues arise, everything follows the prescribed procedures."

His stance quickly reached Li Huaide's ears. Li Huaide was not surprised and even somewhat admired Li Ping'an's "principled" approach. In his view, Li Ping'an is a fine blade; although he does not now wield it entirely, at least the edge does not point toward him, and the hand holding the blade is steady.

In future contests, such a neutral, potentially borrowable "blade" is more valuable than those weeds that readily tilt to one side. He temporarily set aside further probing of the Security Section.

On Yang Weiguo's side, there is little to say about Li Ping'an's "impartiality". After all, the Security Section has not sided with Li Huaide and has kept distance on the Supervision Team issue, which he regards as a rare support.

Within the Siheyuan, the details of this high‑level power struggle have not fully permeated, yet Xu Damao's increasingly upright bearing and occasional hints of the "plant's wind direction", as well as Qin Huairu's deeper fatigue and an indefinable gloom in her brows when she returns home late, still allow sensitive neighbors to sense something out of the ordinary.

Yan Bu Gui's small eyes still swivel, trying to parse from these changes any information advantageous to him; Sha Zhu continues to curse and grumble, thinking the plant's officials do nothing all day; Jia Zhangshi only worries about the household's grain and whether his grandson has again been wronged.

Xi Kua Yuan remains tranquil. Li Ping'an returns home each day, still checking his son's homework, urging martial practice, and chatting casually with his wife.

The plant's shifting fortunes seem merely a series of reports in his briefcase that require careful handling. Only in the deep quiet of night does he calmly replay each faction's moves in his mind, assessing the power and trajectory of Li Huaide's "Supervision Sword", and plotting deeper plans for his and his family's future.

The supervisory sword now hangs high, its reflection revealing not only hidden hazards in the production process but also each piece's stance, struggle, and choice on the power board. This campaign, named "Safety" and "Progress", has an uncertain outcome, yet its impact has profoundly altered the steel plant's ecology. Everyone, in their own way, is confronting this hanging sword.