Chapter 49: Stop Fishing—This Is a Matter of Life and Death

Liu Meili, with her fury having nowhere to vent, saw Li Lifen daring to speak at this moment and immediately turned her fire on her full blast:

“Make a decision? What kind of bullshit decision is this?! I specifically called the city bank back then, and they clearly said Sogou input method was allowed—now you’re reneging?!”

She scanned Li Lifen up and down: “Li Lifen, are you behind this? Afraid of losing first place and making Chairman Yang revoke Wang Xiaohong’s ranking? Banning Sogou?!”

Hearing Liu Meili say this, the female team leader from Wuyang Branch also looked suddenly enlightened: “That’s right… I knew it! Chairman Yang must’ve lost his mind to make such a stupid decision—so it’s you behind this!”

“Yes! It’s definitely her!”

Hearing them say this, Li Lifen could no longer hold back and shouted: “So what if I said it? Wang Xiaohong using Sogou input method violates bank regulations!”

“Oh my goodness… it really is you! Li Lifen, you’re so despicable!”

“Disgusting and low!”

“Who’s despicable and low? If you’ve got guts, use Wubi—beat me with Wubi and prove you’re truly capable!”

Chairman Yang stood nearby, his face dark with anger, unwilling to interject.

He had experienced the ferocity of these grassroots branch women before.

But Li Lifen, why are you saying this now?! Aren’t you just pouring oil on the fire?!

The commotion in the organizing committee’s office drew the attention of the deputy branch manager. Seeing the union chairman being surrounded and attacked by two old women, with a crowd of onlookers, he couldn’t stand it!

He immediately called the team leaders of both branches: “Bring your people back right away!”

The farce ended like that.

Liu Meili was dragged back to her own team by Wu Shengli; angry as she was, she knew the outcome couldn’t be changed.

At lunchtime, Xia He and Su Ming arrived to discuss how to proceed with the competition.

“Director Xia, Director Su, I can’t participate anymore,” Zhang Rong said, looking dejected.

He didn’t know Wubi at all!

As for intelligent full pinyin? Microsoft Pinyin? It couldn’t compare to Sogou at all.

Sigh…

I wanted to show off in front of the bosses, but ended up making a fool of myself.

Before the two leaders could speak, Liu Meili panicked.

“What if we’re short a competitor? Are we going to be looked down on by that Li Lifen again?!”

Xia He frowned slightly.

Nansin Branch’s performance in earlier events was barely passable. Now, in this Chinese character input contest, we can’t even muster enough participants!

It’s embarrassing for me as branch manager.

Wu Shengli and Liu Meili felt even more humiliated.

We trained for so long, got free boxed lunches every afternoon, and collected overtime pay—just for this result?!

“Who knows Wubi?!” Xia He asked.

Whether we win or not is one thing, but we must at least have enough competitors.

Everyone looked at each other, silent.

There were people who knew Wubi, but some had already competed in two events and weren’t eligible for the third; others were eligible but too slow, afraid of making a spectacle.

You’ve got to know your limits.

Seeing everyone silent, Xia He sighed softly.

You can’t seriously expect me to compete, can you?

Though my Wubi typing speed isn’t slow, this still…

“Fang Qingye knows Wubi. His typing speed is pretty fast,” Chen Meimei suddenly said.

“That’s right… Xiao Fang—he types fast. I even encouraged him to sign up for the competition originally,” Liu Meili immediately chimed in.

Fang Qingye knows Wubi and types fast?

This was something Xia He hadn’t expected.

But since both Chen Meimei and Liu Meili said so, it was probably true.

But what’s this guy doing on weekends?

Didn’t he say he was going fishing?

He mentioned it when we played badminton on Friday.

Stop fishing—this is a matter of life and death…

Xia He made her decision immediately: “Alright, have Fang Qingye come to the branch right away—there’s still time.”

“I’ll call him,” Liu Meili volunteered, pulling out her phone, dialing, holding it to her ear, then saying to Xia He after a pause: “The call went through… but no one answered.”

“I’ll call!”

Wu Shengli also pulled out his phone.

“This kid’s definitely refusing to answer Liu Meili’s call—he doesn’t want his weekend interrupted!”

He thought this, pulled up Fang Qingye’s number, and dialed.

On the other end, the ringtone of Phoenix Legend blared:

Who is singing

Warming the loneliness

White clouds drift, blue sky remains

Tears drift away

But still no one answered!

Wu Shengli’s lips twitched involuntarily.

In fact, Fang Qingye wasn’t deliberately ignoring the call—he’d set his phone to silent.

Ever since that one time his fishing was interrupted by Song Dahai’s call, he’d kept his phone on silent during every fishing trip.

At this moment, he was fishing near the main channel of Jiaogang, close to Wujiazhuang.

It was overcast today, no blazing sun—perfect for fishing. Fang Qingye wore a tank top and shorts, over which he’d put on a sun-protective jacket, and a straw hat, sitting on a small folding stool by the riverbank, focused on his fishing.

His luck was good: after only half a day, he’d caught seven fish of varying sizes.

The only disappointment was that he’d heard turtles could be caught here, but he hadn’t even seen a single one.

Seeing it was past twelve, he was hungry, so he stood up and walked to his car parked by the roadside nearby to grab some bread for a snack.

Fishermen don’t care about fancy meals—just fill the belly.

As he walked, he pulled out his phone from his pocket and glanced at it—suddenly startled: several missed calls, all from colleagues at work!

From Liu Meili all the way to Xia He—call after call.

What happened?

Did something major occur in the competition?

Even if something major happened, why call me?

Fang Qingye thought this, but still dialed Xia He’s number back.

The call connected quickly. Before Fang Qingye could ask what was wrong, he heard Xia He’s slightly anxious voice: “Xiao Fang, where are you? Why didn’t you answer?”

“I’m fishing, so I turned on silent…” Fang Qingye explained, then asked: “What’s going on? Why did so many people call me?”

Xia He didn’t answer his question, but asked: “Where are you fishing?”

“Near the main channel of Jiaogang, close to Wujiazhuang,” Fang Qingye answered honestly.

“Wujiazhuang? Is that in Wuyao Town? That’s closer to Jinghai! Perfect—hurry to the branch and join the competition!”

“Huh? Me compete?” Fang Qingye was stunned.

Xia He briefly explained the situation over the phone, then urged: “Hurry over and replace Zhang Rong.”

This matter…

Fang Qingye had zero desire to go.

“Director Xia, I do use Wubi, but my typing speed isn’t fast enough to match Li Lifen,” Fang Qingye said.

“I’m not asking you to beat Li Lifen… but you can’t seriously expect me, your senior, to go compete myself? Don’t dawdle—this is a matter of life and death! If you don’t have a car, I’ll send the driver to pick you up!” Xia He said on the other end.

You going would be fine too.

The branch manager competing in person would cause a sensation!

Of course, saying that now would be inappropriate.

Refusing was clearly inappropriate, and he couldn’t think of a good excuse.

“Alright then…” Fang Qingye agreed: “I’ll drive myself over.”

“Don’t rush—drive slowly, stay safe, just get to the branch before two,” Xia He added with a final reminder.