Chapter 113

Seeing Jian Qiu went to find Yao Jun, and Gu Bing came over holding a teacup. Amidst the greetings of Secretary Gu along the way, he walked onto the stage and sat behind the conference table. Unknowingly, this guy actually possessed a trace of the majesty of a superior.

Immediately after, Qian Zhen also arrived. He smiled and greeted Gu Bing, then sat to one side. The two whispered a few words to each other, and then did not speak again.

At 12:02, Gao Qingkui and Zhang Deyou finally arrived late. The two acted as if they didn't know Gu Bing and Qian Zhen, and without even a greeting, they sat down.

Qian Zhen and Gu Bing looked at each other, and both smiled slightly. Looking at this, it seemed they were about to tear off the mask of civility.

"Ahem!" Gao Qingkui turned on the microphone, coughed, and tested the sound, "Um, the meeting is about to start, everyone please quiet down."

The venue slowly quieted down, and Gao Qingkui gave the microphone to Zhang Deyou. After all, he was about to retire, and for this period of time, Zhang Deyou had been in charge of the factory's work, so this meeting had to be presided over by Zhang Deyou as well.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Zhang Deyou tapped the microphone: "Comrades, this meeting is mainly to summarize the sales situation before and after the New Year. Before that, there is one more thing to announce."

Speaking of this, Zhang Deyou paused, scanned the crowd below, and said with a fake smile: "I think everyone has already guessed it, right? Yes, it's the bonus. Our factory leadership made a promise: whoever sells the 80 tons of liquor in stock will be rewarded with two jiao per bottle."

Here, I want to thank Comrade Zhou Andong. It was he who brought our factory back from the dead, and it was he who made the six-bottle Da Gaoliang sell for a high price of tens or hundreds. Even Vice Mayor Zuo said that Comrade Zhou Andong is a rare talent, and that the bonus of two jiao is a bit low for Da Gaoliang being able to sell for such a high price. Therefore, I discussed it with the old factory director, and also to implement Vice Mayor Zuo's suggestion, we decided to increase the bonus for Comrade Zhou Andong."

As soon as Zhang Deyou's voice fell, a buzzing sound of discussion immediately rose from below.

"80 tons of liquor, how much money is that?"

"Eighty thousand!"

"How much?"

"Eighty thousand!"

"Others have sold some too, but certainly not much. I estimate Zhou Andong can get seventy-eight or seventy-nine thousand."

"So much?"

Some people's voices were trembling, and some people were jealous. Eighty thousand! That's enough for them to earn in a lifetime, but what did Zhou Andong do? Didn't he just come up with ideas? The ones running errands were all factory employees. Why does he deserve so much money?

Zhou Andong crossed his arms, leaned against the back of the chair, and watched all this. And the people sitting beside him secretly looked at his expression from time to time; there was envy and jealousy, but because they were sitting too close, no one dared to gossip.

At this time, Zhang Deyou lifted the red cloth, revealing the covered banknotes. To achieve a shocking effect, this old thing actually used ten-yuan denominations, stacked together, which really caught the eye.

Zhang Deyou held the microphone and said: "Here is 79,167. Because other comrades also sold a lot of liquor, but they were all sold according to the Da Gaoliang price, their bonus is still two jiao."

"Why?" A loud roar came from the crowd, "We sold the liquor in response to your leadership's call, so the factory could get through the difficulties. You can't treat us differently just because of the price difference."

"Right, if you increase it, increase it for everyone, otherwise don't increase it at all."

Seeing Jian Qiu, Yao Jun, and more than ten brothers from the second workshop stood in the crowd. In front of them were Chen Laolai, Meng Xiaoping, and Ding Liuhe—these three pieces of trash.

"Why should this bonus be given to Zhou Andong alone?" Chen Laolai suddenly shouted. This guy was in his thirties, and his scalp was covered in patches of ringworm, which made people's skin crawl.

Meng Xiaoping followed up and shouted: "Giving this money to one person is unfair; it should be distributed to all of us employees."

"Exactly!" Ding Liuhe shouted: "Why give it to him alone? The liquor was brewed by all of us employees. If we hadn't brewed these 80 tons of liquor, what would he have to sell? We should have a share of the bonus."

Hearing them say this, some jealous people reacted and started shouting along.

"Right, this money should be split equally among us. Why give it all to Zhou Andong?"

Questions rose one after another. Seeing Jian Qiu's face grew colder and her heart grew colder. These people were truly a group of ingrates; as soon as they were full, they started smashing the pot and cursing their mother. She felt that everything Zhou Andong did for them was too worthless. Now she was wavering, thinking about letting Zhou Andong resign so they could open a small shop and live a quiet life together, which would actually be quite nice.

Yao Jun's face was livid, and just as he was about to make a move on the three of them, he was stopped by Seeing Jian Qiu.

Zhang Deyou and Gao Qingkui directed this scene—could it be just to ensure Zhou Andong didn't get the bonus? No, absolutely not. There must be something hidden, it just hadn't been exposed yet. So she had to wait, wait for the final result to come out.

Zhou Andong was also waiting, including Gao Qingkui and Zhang Deyou. The commotion below grew worse, and some even started hurling abuse at Zhou Andong.

Time ticked away, and Zhang Deyou couldn't sit still, constantly checking his watch.

Gao Qingkui's brow also furrowed, and he held his enamel teacup, drinking tea sip after sip to hide his nervousness.

Suddenly, the gate of the Cultural Center was kicked open with a bang. Yao Qixin stumbled in, followed by two people: Liu Zhiguang and Qian Wei, who hadn't been to work for a long time.

On the stage, Gu Bing, Qian Zhen, Gao Qingkui, and Zhang Deyou, who were sitting facing the gate, all saw it.

A trace of a smile finally appeared on Gao Qingkui and Zhang Deyou's faces, and their expressions became relaxed.

The employees suddenly felt that the atmosphere was a bit wrong, and the discussions and abuse gradually disappeared. Except for the footsteps of Yao Qixin, Liu Zhiguang, and Qian Wei, there were no other sounds. The entire venue fell into an eerie silence.

When Wang Ruomei saw Yao Qixin arrive, her face suddenly turned pale. A very bad thought suddenly appeared, and she got up and walked out. But she was sitting in the innermost part, and by the time she stepped over the legs to get out, Yao Qixin had already run onto the stage.

Wang Ruomei let out a roar: "Yao Qixin, what do you want to do?"

Yao Qixin grabbed the microphone, glanced at Wang Ruomei, and began to giggle. It was a morbid laugh, looking gloomy and sinister.

"Wang Ruomei, you forced me, it was all you who forced me, so don't blame me."

As things developed to this point, some people showed victorious smiles, especially Liu Zhiguang and Qian Wei, who kept searching for Zhou Andong's figure in the crowd. Because there were too many people, they didn't find him. But it didn't affect their joy of victory at all; the smiles on their faces were quite satisfied. They had won, and Zhou Andong would soon be kicked out of the distillery. The pent-up anger in their hearts had finally been released.