Chapter 653: Seizing Power

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was June of the second year.

Li Huaide felt that the time was ripe.

His father-in-law had privately advised him several times—leave yourself a way out in everything you do, don't be too impatient. But how could Li Huaide listen to such words? Now that he was the Executive Deputy Factory Director and held real power in his hands, these words went in one ear and out the other.

His first target was the factory's Security Section.

Section Chief Wang Qiang had worked in the factory for over ten years; he was the type of honest man who worked with his head down, possessed deep seniority, and had good relations with others. But Li Huaide had long found him an eyesore—for no other reason than that he was an old subordinate of He Daqing.

If he couldn't move He Yuzhu, he would first cut off his left and right hands.

A batch of parts went missing from the Locksmith Workshop.

Using this as a pretext, Li Huaide directly removed Wang Qiang from his post.

The matter of the missing items had originally been arranged by Xu Damao, and Zhang Wei had handled it personally with a few brothers.

Overnight, Wang Qiang became a repairman, and the Security Section was filled with Li Huaide's cronies.

Wang Qiang could not swallow this insult and went directly to He Yuzhu to vent his grievances.

"Zhuzi, regarding the missing items in the Locksmith Workshop, I suspect that someone must have colluded with people inside the Security Section."

He Yuzhu nodded: "Uncle Wang, can you obtain evidence?"

"For the moment... it cannot be found."

He Yuzhu sighed: "Then don't speak of it for now."

Wang Qiang gritted his teeth: "I saw Xu Damao going to find Zhang Wei every day a few days ago. This matter is likely a rotten idea cooked up by that kid."

He Yuzhu smiled: "The few incidents in the factory recently are indeed sinister; the methods of Li Huaide's people this time are different from before. I reckon it's that dog-headed strategist Xu Damao pulling the strings behind the scenes."

"Zhuzi, I'll tell you the truth—Li Huaide's conduct is improper; someone caught him and Liu Lan in the Warehouse. A while ago, he even tried to get handsy and act like a hooligan with Qin Huairu. If Li Lin hadn't happened to be passing by on patrol that day, he almost would have succeeded!"

He Yuzhu's expression darkened: "With such a big matter, why didn't you say anything sooner?"

"I... I was also afraid of causing you trouble. You don't know how crazy Li Huaide has become now. Zhou Hao from the city has come several times to back him up. He has long since stopped taking you seriously."

He Yuzhu sneered: "Heaven wants one to perish, it first makes them mad. Let's wait a bit longer. By the way, what work did he arrange for you?"

"He made me take over Xu Damao's job, go to the Broadcasting Group, and repair loudspeakers with Liu Erhei."

"And what about Xu Damao? Was he transferred to his side?"

Wang Qiang shook his head: "That kid's personnel file is still in the Broadcasting Group, but he hasn't gone there for a long time; he follows behind Li Huaide's backside every day."

After listening, He Yuzhu nodded and patted Wang Qiang on the shoulder: "Uncle Wang, you'll have to suffer for a few days. Regarding the matter with Liu Lan and Qin Huairu, we don't have evidence in our hands; we must obtain evidence first before we can speak."

He led Wang Qiang to his car, and the two of them moved several large boxes into the suite of his office.

"In these few places in the factory," He Yuzhu pointed to several locations on the blueprint, "install this kind of loudspeaker for me."

Wang Qiang looked at it over and over again but didn't understand: "The loudspeaker isn't broken, why replace it?"

He Yuzhu didn't say a word; he connected the loudspeaker to power and then linked it to several pieces of equipment. He aimed the speaker opening toward the door.

When Wang Qiang looked, his eyeballs almost popped out—the situation inside the office appeared clearly on a small screen.

Stunned for a moment, Wang Qiang grinned: "Zhuzi, where did you get this thing? Leave this matter to me; I guarantee I'll handle it beautifully for you."

"It was tinkered together by the Computer Laboratory. Soon, many places in our factory will be equipped with this thing. Let's see who still dares to steal things from the factory."

At the factory administrative meeting the next day, Li Huaide reached his black hand toward Tractor Factory Director Xia Dongming again.

"Today, I must issue a stern warning here to Tractor Factory Director Xia Dongming." Li Huaide knocked on the table. "The batch of tractors exported to Shanxi this time had serious technical defects, causing the factory a loss of several tens of thousands. I propose removing Xia Dongming."

He Yuzhu spoke unhurriedly: "Deputy Factory Director Li, you are too arbitrary in this matter. I have tested the batch of tractors sent back; the problems are mainly in two aspects—one is the steel, and the other is the usage environment. The conditions there are harsh, and the usage is also rough and barbaric. The same batch of equipment had no issues in the south. It was caused by multiple factors; it cannot all be blamed on Factory Director Xia."

Deputy Factory Director Sun nodded in agreement: "I agree with Factory Director He's opinion. I think someone deliberately sabotaged this batch of products."

"I've also looked at it; new tractors are just built like this? How much money must that be," said He Daqing.

In the end, even Party Secretary Wang, who had always leaned toward Li Huaide, stood on He Yuzhu's side this time—he knew clearly in his heart that perhaps this matter was something Li Huaide had people do.

Li Huaide did not succeed and, filled with anger, went to the canteen to find Liu Lan.

Liu Lan was still washing vegetables by the sink. He grabbed her and walked toward the Warehouse.

He never imagined that what he did this time would be recorded by someone.

After finishing, Li Huaide returned to his office. Xu Damao followed him in, looking shifty.

"That idea of yours last time didn't work," Li Huaide said with a dark face.

Xu Damao laughed dryly: "Ten tractors were all ruined, yet I still couldn't get Xia Dongming removed."

"You didn't do this cleverly enough." Li Huaide lit a cigarette. "The Tractor Factory tested it; the steel indeed had problems, but it was mainly caused by human usage. Such a waste of so much money. You must quickly find a way to get money."

Xu Damao's eyes rolled: "Deputy Factory Director Li, why don't you remove Yu Haitang first? You gave her several manuscripts you wrote, and she didn't broadcast a single one."

"Fine." Li Huaide directly wrote an appointment letter and slapped it down for him.

Li Huaide knew that if he didn't satisfy Xu Damao this time, Xu Damao wouldn't continue to do dirty work for him.

Holding the appointment letter, Xu Damao ran faster than a rabbit.

He headed straight for the Broadcasting Group, slapped the paper onto Yu Haitang's desk, and shouted at the top of his lungs: "Yu Haitang, you've been using me as a lackey these days; open your eyes and see what's written on this!"

Yu Haitang glanced at it with her peripheral vision and curled her lip slightly: "Ho, the Deputy Factory Director personally came forward to dismiss me? Fine, then you can do this broadcasting business yourself; I'm not serving you anymore!"

Xu Damao put an arm around her shoulder with a cheeky grin: "Yu Haitang, don't be so fierce. If you serve me well, I won't make things difficult for you. If you don't listen to me, then don't blame me for being impolite..."

Before he finished speaking, Yu Haitang's foot moved violently—her heel stepped hard onto the top of Xu Damao's foot.

"Ow—!" Xu Damao let out a miserable shriek, clutched his foot, and jumped up, "You dare step on me, see if I don't deal with you—"

The door was pushed open with a "bang," and a middle-aged woman rushed in: "Haitang, what's wrong? What's wrong?"

Yu Haitang pointed: "This scoundrel tried to get handsy with me!"

Without a word, the middle-aged woman grabbed a folder and went for Xu Damao's head: "You wicked thing, you dare bully Group Leader Yu, I'll beat you to death!"

Xu Damao dodged around the office clutching his head and bumped right into Liu Erhei, who had just entered.

The middle-aged woman shouted: "Liu Erhei, hit him! He's bullying the Group Leader!"

Liu Erhei had been enduring Xu Damao for days—ever since this kid became Li Huaide's follower, his personnel file was still in the Broadcasting Group, but he didn't do any work at all, leaving it all on Liu Erhei alone. Liu Erhei had long been holding back his anger, and hearing that he dared to bully Yu Haitang, he stepped forward and punched Xu Damao right in the eye socket.

Xu Damao squatted on the ground on the spot, covering his eyes and howling: "Liu Erhei, you just wait for me! I am a Group Leader now!"

Liu Erhei was stunned for a moment, then spat: "Even if you were the Factory Director, if you bully Little Sister Haitang, I will still hit you!"

"Meeting! I want to hold a meeting!" Xu Damao scrambled up, grabbed the appointment letter on the table, and held it up in front of Liu Erhei and the middle-aged woman, "See that? The Group Leader now is me! It's me!"

The middle-aged woman waved her hand dismissively: "So what if you're a Group Leader? Can you fire me?"

"Lawless, simply lawless!" Xu Damao shouted while jumping up and down, "Meeting now, we are reorganizing the Broadcasting Group!"