Chapter 31

Zhou Andong gave a mocking laugh: "You rats really have exhausted your capacity for filth."

He could figure out whose mouth this rumor came from with his eyes closed.

"Do you think spreading this kind of rumor can hurt me at all? All you're hurting is an innocent woman." Zhou Andong raised his hand and slapped Liu Zhiguang's face repeatedly. Liu Zhiguang seemed stunned, not even knowing how to dodge.

"Seriously, you have completely overturned my view of people. You're just too damn cheap."

Qian Wei was also stunned. He didn't expect Zhou Andong to dare hit Liu Zhiguang, or more accurately, to humiliate him. A shiver went down his spine—wasn't this the perfect time for him to show off? Then he let out a roar.

"Zhou Andong, I'll fuck your mother, you actually dare to hit..."

"Slap!"

Liu Zhiguang was now a deputy section chief. If Zhou Andong really beat him up, given Gu Bing's current influence, he definitely couldn't protect him, so the score could only be kept in a little notebook for now. But there was no need to indulge a dog like Qian Wei.

"I'm not your father, so I don't have the patience to indulge you. If you speak to me in that sarcastic tone again, I'll skin you alive."

Qian Wei clutched his face, which was beginning to swell. His eyes were filled with resentment and hatred as he looked at Zhou Andong, but seeing Zhou Andong's half-smiling face, a chill shot from the base of his spine to the top of his head. He extinguished the thought of fighting Zhou Andong to the death and decided to wait for a chance to take revenge later.

Liu Zhiguang touched his face. It didn't hurt, but the inner humiliation made his face flush with anger. Gritting his teeth, he said word by word: "Zhou-An-dong, you actually dare to hit me."

Zhou Andong hurriedly denied it: "Hey, Chang Kezhang Liu, you can't just spout nonsense. When did I hit you?"

"Just now, you hit my face." Liu Zhiguang glared, looking like an angry rooster.

Zhou Andong grinned: "I was just having a friendly and cordial exchange with you; how can you call that hitting? Besides, if I hit you, there should be some marks on your body."

"You..." Liu Zhiguang was so angry he was trembling all over, unable to speak.

"You hit me!" Qian Wei roared.

"Yes!" Zhou Andong admitted it quite frankly, "I hit you, what can you do about it?"

"I... I..." Qian Wei opened his mouth, panting heavily, but after saying 'I' for a long time, he couldn't say anything else.

What could he do to Zhou Andong? If he reported it to the factory, at most Zhou Andong would be made to write a self-criticism and be criticized; it would be meaningless. Instead, if word got out that he had been slapped by Zhou Andong, he would be the one losing face.

Zhou Andong took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it: "The way of heaven is cyclical; who has heaven ever spared? You two look up—three feet above your heads are the gods. If you do too many evil deeds, remember, don't walk on night roads; be careful of running into ghosts."

"Brother Dong!" Yao Jun came back with a cigarette in his mouth, "What are you doing here? Isn't it cold?"

Zhou Andong said with a smile: "Ran into two dogs that were baring their teeth at me, so I gave them a lesson."

Yao Jun looked at Liu Zhiguang and Qian Wei, shook his head, and sighed: "You should make a suggestion to the factory to buy two iron chains and tie them up. If they bite someone one day, the factory won't even reimburse the cost of the rabies vaccine."

Zhou Andong couldn't even be bothered to look at Liu Zhiguang and Qian Wei again. He put his arm around Yao Jun's shoulder and walked into the second workshop: "I need to talk to you about something."

Watching the backs of Zhou Andong and Yao Jun, Liu Zhiguang gritted his teeth: "Doesn't Wang Ruomei's husband work at the Work Safety Bureau?"

Qian Wei nodded: "Seems like it!"

Liu Zhiguang asked: "Who in our section knows someone at the Work Safety Bureau?"

Qian Wei thought for a moment: "Little Chen's brother-in-law seems to be at the Work Safety Bureau."

Liu Zhiguang said sinisterly: "Have Little Chen go visit his sister's house, chat with his brother-in-law, and tell him about the affair between Wang Ruomei and Zhou Andong, so that the people at the Work Safety Bureau all know about it too."

Qian Wei's eyes lit up: "Will Wang Ruomei's husband take a knife and hack Zhou Andong to death?"

Liu Zhiguang shrugged and said with a smile: "Who knows?"

Zhou Andong said: "Scatter everyone out tomorrow."

Yao Jun's spirits lifted: "The Party Secretary is back?"

Zhou Andong nodded: "He's back. The plan is going very smoothly; all that's missing is this final spark."

Yao Jun said excitedly: "I'll go gather the people now and hold a meeting for them first."

Zhou Andong said: "I'll go ask the Party Secretary for money. We can't owe the workers who participated their subsidies."

Yao Jun chuckled: "The subsidy has really boosted their enthusiasm."

Gu Bing had his feet up on the desk, leaning back in his chair and puffing away. Hearing the office door open, he looked up and said with dissatisfaction: "Entering a leader's office without even knocking—you don't put me, the Party Secretary, in your eyes at all. Are you tired of living?"

Zhou Andong picked up an empty tea mug, poured a cup of hot water, and sat down on the sofa, slurping it up.

"On such a cold day, drinking some hot water is really comfortable."

Gu Bing put his feet down and said in an unfriendly tone: "I'm telling you, kid, can you show me some respect?"

Zhou Andong sneered: "How else should I respect you? Should I kowtow to you twice when I come in?"

Gu Bing sighed: "I don't know which deity I offended in my past life to make me run into a guy like you in this one."

Zhou Andong laughed and gave Gu Bing a flirtatious wink: "We must have had an unfinished romance in our past life, which is why we met again in this one. It's just that we were reincarnated wrong; we both have three legs, damn it."

Gu Bing felt a chill and couldn't help but shudder: "Don't gross me out, kid. Let's talk about the next steps."

Zhou Andong said: "Everything is arranged, what else is there to say?"

Gu Bing said: "I want to print the office phone number on the calendar as the sales number. Why are you against it? You know the sales section is full of Zhang Deyou's people; I doubt any of them want us to sell the liquor."

Zhou Andong looked at Gu Bing with great surprise: "You don't understand?"

Gu Bing was about to say he didn't understand, but swallowed the words. He leaned back, looking confident: "Of course I understand, I was just asking."

Zhou Andong jumped up, looking shocked: "Can I say that I don't even know why I'm against it? You actually know. Tell me quickly, why am I against it?"

With a 'clatter', the half-smoked cigarette in Gu Bing's mouth fell onto the desk. His face turned black instantly. He grabbed a book from the desk and threw it hard at Zhou Andong.

"You little bastard, are you trying to make me die young?"

Zhou Andong burst into laughter and caught the flying book: "Getting anxious, getting anxious, why are you getting anxious?"

"I have the heart to kill you, damn it." Gu Bing grabbed another book to throw.

Zhou Andong raised his hands: "Stop, stop, stop. I'm stopping you because I'm digging a pit for Zhang Deyou. That old bastard took away my deputy section chief position and transferred me to the radio station to retire. Even if I don't pour water into the pit to drown him, I'm going to stand by the edge and pee in it to gross him out to death."