Chapter 108

In the afternoon, Li Xuewu began interrogating the three male workers.

The first to be called in was Guo Dapiezi; upon seeing Xu Damao, he knew trouble was coming and silently cursed the bastard for having a mouth as loose as a cotton-padded pant waist.

He wanted to tough it out and deny everything, but the chilling smile of the Public Security Squad chief made his heart pound.

That smile was truly terrifying—better not to smile at all.

“Speak up. We’re from the same factory. Tell me, and I can look out for you. Holding out on me won’t help—speak up, and I’ll see if I can smooth this over.”

Guo Dapiezi didn’t trust Li Xuewu—he wasn’t Xu Damao, didn’t live in the same courtyard, and had no connection with Li Xuewu.

Han Yating, who sat with Li Xuewu during the interrogation, kept a stern face and stared fixedly at Guo Dapiezi.

Guo Dapiezi shrank under Han Yating’s gaze and asked, “You really can help me?”

Han Yating snapped, “Stop wasting time. Are you going to talk or not? If not, I’ll write ‘refused to confess,’ and we’ll move to the next one.”

This was the unspoken understanding—the good cop, the bad cop, taking turns, pulling and pushing, pressuring the suspect.

“I’ll talk, I’ll talk… that…”

Damn, the more they dug, the more they found. With limited resources in the steel mill, only the attractive ones had a shot at getting into the administration or service department; the unattractive ones were shunned—just big, burly workshop workers.

Who was playing whom, who could say?

Adding the five Xu Damao mentioned, subtracting the duplicates from these three confessions, they uncovered three more female workers.

In the afternoon, Liu Fusheng and Wei Tong came to work; with Han Yating and Xu Ning staying behind, each took a Security Team member and headed out on assignment.

Those with jobs visited their workplaces; those without went door-to-door among neighbors. When they returned, Li Xuewu went to the police station to issue summonses for Guo Dapiezi and the other two; with the one Xu Ning had issued for Xu Damao, they now had four.

With summonses in hand, they began the detention procedures for Xu Damao and the other three.

While upstairs handling documents, the phone rang. The office was empty—only he was there—so he answered.

It was indeed for him—the gatekeeper said someone named Li Wenbiao was looking for him.

It must be the paperwork had come through. His adoptive mother had written a certification letter; with the official seal, it would be enough—no time wasted. The neighborhood committee would handle the filing, so it wouldn’t delay his opening.

He instructed the team member guarding the detention room to keep a close watch on the four, forbidding them from whispering to each other, then mounted his horse and rode out the gate. Lao Biao was waiting beside the gatehouse.

Li Xuewu didn’t stop as he rode past; he merely waved his hand, and Lao Biao pedaled his bicycle to catch up.

After a few hard pedal strokes, he caught up: “Wu Ge, Director Wang gave me the documents—I came straight to you.”

The main roads were now clear of snow; riding a bicycle was no longer difficult.

At this time, each main road was assigned to nearby factories or villages for cleaning, and they had to be kept spotless.

But patches of ice still lingered, so Li Xuewu didn’t ride fast, holding the reins and waiting for Lao Biao—falling in this weather would be brutal.

Bumping along, they arrived at Lin Tingting’s supply and marketing cooperative and walked straight through the hall to the back courtyard. When she saw him, she turned her head away and ignored him.

Later, at home, Li Xuewu realized: Lin Tingting must have heard Gu Ning say something when greeting him, then seen him meet Gu Ning at the gate, and finally seen Gu Ning walk away crying—she’d surely misunderstood, thinking he and Gu Ning had something going on.

Li Xuewu blinked. He had business today, no time to explain—later, he’d tell her. He went into the back courtyard.

Director Ma was sipping tea in his office. Seeing Li Xuewu, he courteously offered him a seat.

This visit was far more cordial than the last—he even got offered a cigarette.

Li Xuewu had Lao Biao hand over the neighborhood committee’s documents, then placed an envelope underneath—nothing much, just a token.

Director Ma was pleased and chatted with them about the cooperative’s requirements.

The cooperative’s scrap goods were mostly damaged, worn-out, or stockpiled waste—someone had to come pick them up. Once the contract was signed, they’d no longer be responsible for that area.

Of course, Director Ma knew how to handle things—he made it clear that as long as it stayed within the cooperative’s scope, anyone inspecting could be told it was a cooperative business, and any issues should be directed to him.

Li Xuewu had helped Lao Biao establish a connection with Director Ma and now planned to gradually step back. Lao Biao was no worse than him—both had crawled out of the mud; who cared about face? At this point, if you didn’t care about face, nothing could stop a ragpicker.

Director Ma drafted a contract—a supplementary agreement for the scrap company—entrusting the cooperation group fully with its operations, no payment to the cooperative, no compensation either.

Lao Biao signed it, stamped it with his newly carved seal; Director Ma stamped it too.

Done. He could start acquiring scrap materials right away—so long as he delivered the monthly quota to the scrap company, he’d be considered qualified.

Actually, even if he failed, it didn’t matter—the scrap company’s contract dared not include any penalty clauses against the cooperative.

Perfect. This was exactly what Li Xuewu wanted.

Seizing the opportunity, Li Xuewu also told Director Ma that the recycling station was just being set up and might need the cooperative’s help with some building materials and tools.