Chapter 2

Once Qin Fang ran off, Wei Hongying stamped her foot and followed her, leaving Liu Jiande standing there.

"This matter is probably just a misunderstanding. Dongling, don't take it to heart. Qin Fang is a female comrade after all, and something just happened in her family, so it's inevitable that she'll have some emotions!"

Liu Jiande said to Li Dongling, "Don't worry, I will sternly criticize her!"

Having said this much, Liu Jiande believed that Li Dongling wouldn't say anything more. According to the principle of this era that a good man doesn't fight with a woman, if Li Dongling kept harping on this matter, he would be seen as narrow-minded, petty, and calculating.

But when Liu Jiande was about to leave, he heard Li Dongling say, "I can understand that there's been a change in Sister Qin's family, but this matter must be investigated clearly. Otherwise, I'm afraid some people might use this opportunity to stir up trouble!"

Liu Jiande's face changed slightly, and he began to size up Li Dongling seriously, then smiled, "Dongling, don't think too much. The style of our Wireless Factory No. 1 is still quite good!"

Li Dongling also laughed but didn't make a sound. He pulled his luggage and headed toward the employee dormitory in the tube-style building. He would definitely investigate this matter clearly.

In his previous life, after returning to the provincial capital, Li Dongling felt a lingering fear when he thought about this matter later. If he hadn't been tactful and left, then later, perhaps it wouldn't have been just rumors and being spat at behind his back!

Watching Li Dongling leave, Liu Jiande walked toward Qin Fang's home in the tube-style building.

"Manager Liu, how can you be like this? You let that Li Dongling go without investigating at all..."

When she saw Liu Jiande, Wei Hongying was still somewhat dissatisfied and stood up for Qin Fang.

"Hongying, I said that person wasn't Li Dongling, my eyes were playing tricks on me!" Qin Fang, sitting on the edge of the bed, pulled Wei Hongying and said.

"You go out first, I need to talk to Qin Fang for a few words!"

Liu Jiande said to Wei Hongying. Wei Hongying wanted to say something else, but was glared at by Liu Jiande, so she could only go out angrily.

"Qin Fang!"

Liu Jiande looked at Qin Fang, his face looking somewhat unpleasant, "Regarding your situation, the factory leadership and I both hope to resolve it as soon as possible, letting you take Wei Qiang's quota and join our factory as a permanent employee. What's going on with you today? How can I bring up your matter to the factory?!"

"I..."

"I can't harm him!"

Qin Fang, with her head lowered, whispered these words. After her husband Wei Qiang's car accident, the burden of this family fell on her shoulders. She had been married to Wei Qiang for over a year and didn't have children yet, but Wei Qiang's parents were gone, and he still had a younger brother and sister who all relied on Wei Qiang to support them. Now, it all fell on Qin Fang.

After Wei Qiang's accident, Qin Fang had repeatedly gone to the factory leadership, wanting to take over Wei Qiang's position in the factory, but she had always been put off by the factory leadership on the grounds that the factory's personnel quota was full. This wasn't actually deceiving Qin Fang, because the positions had indeed been filled long ago. It wasn't just Xicheng Wireless Factory No. 1; which of Pingyang's large and small state-owned factories wasn't packed full, with a pile of temporary workers waiting eagerly to become permanent?

But Qin Fang needed this permanent employee quota left behind by Wei Qiang. She had to support the younger brother and sister Wei Qiang left behind, and she also had to help her family in the countryside. If she didn't get this quota, the tube-style apartment she was living in now would be taken back!

"What do you mean by harming him?!"

Liu Jiande was full of anger upon hearing Qin Fang's words, "When did I ever tell you to harm him? What kind of person do you take me, Liu Jiande, for? I'm kindly helping you, and you say such things?!"

Qin Fang still kept her head down and didn't say a word. Liu Jiande indeed hadn't directly told Qin Fang to frame Li Dongling, but he had given her hints.

Liu Jiande had told Qin Fang at the time that Li Dongling was a university student; even if he left Xicheng Wireless Factory No. 1, he could go to other state-owned factories or even use connections to return to the provincial capital.

As long as Qin Fang could make Li Dongling leave, a permanent position in the Technical Department would open up. With this position, he would directly arrange for Qin Fang to take over Wei Qiang's quota!

"Kindness treated as a donkey's liver and lungs," Liu Jiande sneered, "I can't help you with the matter of taking over Wei Qiang's quota either. You'd better find someone else. I, Liu Jiande, can't manage your affairs!"

Li Dongling climbed up to the six-story tube-style building. The tube-style building was actually similar to a university dormitory, but it housed far more people than a university dormitory.

Once inside, one could see all sorts of miscellaneous items piled up in the corridor. On both sides of the corridor were rows of small single rooms, as well as shared water rooms and toilets. Many rooms even had stoves set up in front of them. Cooking here really meant that if one family stir-fried chili, everyone in the building would cough, and if one family quarreled, the whole building would watch the show.

Relying on his memory, Li Dongling found the room assigned to him. It was only because Li Dongling had a permanent employee position at Xicheng Wireless Factory No. 1, plus a position like the Technical Department, that he could be assigned a bed in the tube-style building. That's right, a bed!

Many of the people living in this tube-style building were whole families, and there were plenty of cases where several generations of a family lived in this room of ten-plus square meters.

Even this was considered a good treatment. Many single employees in the factory, as well as temporary workers, didn't have the opportunity to live here even if they wanted to.

Li Dongling pushed open the door. There were quite a few things placed inside, looking a bit messy—after all, several grown men lived inside—but at least it wasn't dirty and was passable.

Putting his things on the empty bed, it was clear that the two roommates knew Li Dongling was coming and had cleared out a bed for him; otherwise, this bed would definitely be piled full of things.

Picking up the mirror on the table, Li Dongling saw a young face with the long hair of this era, sword-like eyebrows, star-like eyes, and a high-bridged nose that gave Li Dongling's face a three-dimensional feel.

Compared to the scholarly air of just graduating from university, the current Li Dongling had the feeling of a young actor from a TV series. If he didn't have this level of good looks, which could be considered the "campus heartthrob" level of Hanxi Jiaotong University, Li Dongling wouldn't have been able to win An Xue's heart.

Looking at the face in the mirror and then at his still-flat abdomen, Li Dongling couldn't help but let out a long sigh. In his previous life, after he arrived in the provincial capital, he entered the Provincial Machinery Design Bureau. In the end, besides ending up with a beer belly, a hunched back from long-term overtime, and thinning hair, his career didn't make much progress, and he didn't make it to the end with An Xue either.

Li Dongling looked at himself in the mirror, let go of the past in his heart, curled the corners of his mouth, and said to the person in the mirror, "Hello, 1993!"

Not long after Li Dongling finished tidying up the bed, the door was pushed open, and a thin, tall man in his thirties wearing glasses walked in, carrying a pile of documents.

"You must be Dongling, right? I'm Zhou Wenyang."

Zhou Wenyang put down the documents and said warmly to Li Dongling, "I heard from our Technical Department director long ago that a top student from Hanxi Jiaotong University was coming. I've finally waited for you!"

After hearing this, Li Dongling paused, took out a cigarette, and offered one to Zhou Wenyang.

Even the director of the Technical Department knew Li Dongling was coming, yet when Liu Jiande heard Li Dongling's name today, he acted as if he had never heard it before. If Li Dongling didn't believe there was something fishy going on here, he wouldn't be Li Dongling!

"Monkey King cigarettes, these are good cigarettes!"

Zhou Wenyang took the cigarette and sniffed it under his nose. This cigarette was produced by the local cigarette factory in Pingyang. The Pingyang Cigarette Factory was also the big brother of the tobacco industry in the entire Northwest region. Of course, it was also the best state-owned factory in the area, with annual revenue exceeding 600 million. Who knows how many people broke their heads trying to squeeze in.

For Zhou Wenyang, who was married, this cigarette, which cost several yuan, was no longer suitable for him. On weekdays, he just smoked some cheaper loose cigarettes to satisfy his craving.

Li Dongling took out a metal lighter and lit the cigarette for Zhou Wenyang. Seeing this metal lighter, Zhou Wenyang's eyes lit up, "This lighter wasn't cheap, right!"

Hearing Zhou Wenyang's comment and looking at the metal lighter in his hand, Li Dongling couldn't help but think of An Xue. This lighter was a gift she gave Li Dongling. Someone had smuggled it from Eastern Europe. This lighter was an imitation of Japanese and Korean ones, mainly used for export. A metal lighter like this could sell for over 60 yuan in an inland city.

Seeing that Li Dongling didn't speak, Zhou Wenyang started talking to himself, "Speaking of which, university students like you, Dongling, who still return to their hometowns, are really rare.

Nowadays, university students either go to special economic zones like Pengcheng, or to Shanghai, the capital, etc. At worst, they try every possible way to stay in the provincial capital.

But since you've come, Dongling, our Technical Department finally has someone useful. You don't know what level those people who graduated from technical schools are at; they can't even understand the blueprints..."