Chapter 693: Who are you?

That doesn't seem right either; could the working group all be big idiots?

Suddenly, several cars arrived at the compound this afternoon, followed by many people. It seemed the workload was too heavy to handle, so another working group had arrived.

This was truly lively. One deputy factory director and one division chief were suspended from work to undergo investigation, directly igniting the afternoon's idle gossip time for the office staff.

Sha Qizhi felt that today had been somewhat surreal; he thought that if any more shocking news were to occur in a moment, he probably wouldn't even be surprised.

The steel mill workers were also completely confused. The fruit train had just arrived yesterday, Deputy Factory Director Li had just achieved results, and had just given the Logistics Division a chance to shine; now, not even a day had passed, and everything had collapsed.

Don't even think about it; with the working group stationed here, it's likely that this trade project will be halted again, and the residential area construction has been cast under a shadow once more.

It wasn't just the thought that cheap fruit would no longer be available; now, even the housing wasn't guaranteed, and panic among the workers began to spread again.

The meeting held by the Production Management Division and the Design Division for the cadres in the afternoon was more like a lit match thrown into gasoline, instantly igniting the emotions of the personnel related to the two departments.

After Li Xuewu finished his work at the steel mill, he prepared to get up and head to the Public Security Brigade, but he received news that the production workshop had stopped operations.

Stopping work and stopping operations are two different concepts. Stopping work means a certain worker, or certain workers, cease their own labor to express dissatisfaction.

But stopping operations means the entire workshop's functioning has ceased, and all workers have opposing opinions; this matter is a very big deal.

In the middle of the year, with production tasks so tight, who would dare call for a halt to production!

The workers dared. Housing wasn't guaranteed, benefits were gone, subsidies were gone, the factory's own projects didn't recruit their own people, and now even the factory leadership had "surrendered"—how incompetent must the steel mill leadership be?

Li Xuewu listened to the news on the phone, saying the workers wanted to fight for their rights, wanted reform, and wanted to purge the steel mill's leadership team.

Well, fine, just say it directly... *cough cough*~

After hanging up the phone, Li Xuewu called Han Yating and, in a serious and earnest manner, gave instructions over the phone on how to handle this situation when she went to the workshop in a while.

After arranging things with the Security Section, Li Xuewu called the Fire Section, telling Han Zhan to take people to the scene for emergency response, so that any sudden situation could be handled immediately.

After he finished giving instructions, he didn't stay idle either. From his office window, he had already seen Nie Chenglin and comrades from relevant departments rushing toward the workshop, so he went downstairs as well.

Seeing Han Yating taking people and heading toward the workshop together with Nie Chenglin and the others, he got into his car and headed to the Public Security Brigade.

Li Huai De had lit one part of this fire, and he had been forced to light another; now that it was burning, why not run instead of waiting around?

Xu Si emerged from the main office building and saw the tail of Li Xuewu's command vehicle disappear at the office area entrance in a puff of smoke.

He didn't believe for a second that Li Xuewu was taking the car to the production area; he must have seen that things were going badly and run off.

He understood Li Xuewu's character too well, just as Li Xuewu understood his.

Xu Si didn't complain about Li Xuewu, because he knew Li Xuewu couldn't be bothered to complain about him either; they were cut from the same cloth.

When he arrived at the Public Security Brigade, Li Xuewu didn't get out of the car; he just talked with Han Jiankun in the command vehicle.

When he returned yesterday, Sha Qizhi had reported to him in the office, but it was all Sha Qizhi talking; Han Jiankun hadn't said a word.

Han Jiankun had disappeared in the frontier for such a long time; naturally, he had gone to do the things Li Xuewu had instructed him to do that night at the Sihe Academy.

"I only found Kuozi Bayi and Maimaiti Yaer. The one you mentioned called Mo Ming is said to be dead; he died in a fight with others at the end of March this year."

Han Jiankun sat in the driver's seat without turning his head, just like normal driving; whatever Li Xuewu asked him, he answered.

"Hmm~ dead?"

Li Xuewu was somewhat surprised. In March, he had still done two big deals with Mo Ming. The first time, he used money to buy over two thousand yuan worth of jade seeds; the later time was even bigger—Mo Ming had acquired a lot of grain and Western medicine, which at a glance showed he was planning to pull off a big job.

The trade environment in this frontier was truly chaotic; life and death are fated, and wealth is fickle.

Kuozi Bayi was the big merchant who did Chinese herbal medicine business with Li Xuewu. He was formerly the Agriculture and Forestry Supervisor for the frontier king Wang Shishicai. He hadn't caught the good times, but he had managed to build a big business relying on his knowledge and language skills.

He actually didn't live in Wucheng either; he was always in the "three-no-man's-land," going wherever the wind was light.

The last time he went to see Li Xuewu, it was because Li Xuewu wanted a lot of things and sold a lot of things; he just wanted to see the big guest from the interior.

This time, Li Xuewu instructed Han Jiankun to follow the contact information he gave to find him, and he really did find him.

Maimaiti Yaer was the bearded man who did meat business with Li Xuewu; the meaning of this name is a boy with leadership ability.

His meat business was indeed doing well. Because of the regional reasons, regardless of whether there was a disaster or not, people like him never lacked money to make.

It seemed the rules were very strict, and the situation seemed very tense, but in the frontier... actually, it was just like that.

According to what Han Jiankun said, Maimaiti Yaer took him swaggering around the bazaar, pointing at stalls and telling him those were his, and there wasn't just one, or taking him out to play—there were all kinds of things.

Maimaiti Yaer lived in Wucheng, and his home was also in Wucheng; no one managed him, and no one managed his stalls; it was just that casual.

When Han Jiankun proposed wanting to see his slaughterhouse and livestock sources, he even drove a jeep and took him directly to the public pasture, pointing at the cattle and sheep on the grassland and telling him that he could get any of the cattle and sheep here.

He also took him to a pasture outside the border line; actually, it was just like that. In summer, the water and grass were lush, cattle and sheep were in herds, and the snow water coming down from the Tianshan Mountains nourished the earth and also allowed the injured cattle and sheep to recover their strength.

The truckload of grain Li Xuewu brought in March actually didn't have much use, but the Western medicine really helped; many herdsmen and cattle and sheep were saved that way.

Kuozi Bayi personally picked up Han Jiankun to go to his home. At that time, his home was in the three-no-man's-land, so Han Jiankun witnessed the outside world.

People from several surrounding places mingled here, and caravans were also there; there were quite a few fun things.

Of course, there were also quite a few merchants. When they heard he was the representative of the March big merchant, they all enthusiastically invited him to eat and drink.

It was only because Han Jiankun's physical fitness was good; if Sha Qizhi had gone, he would have been done for.

They also saw his ability; people there didn't dare to underestimate him, and even less did they dare to underestimate the pistol at his waist.

Daring to represent the March big merchant alone, these people naturally knew he wasn't someone to be trifled with.

Finally, Kuozi Bayi, as the host, invited everyone to drink and eat meat together, and also invited Han Jiankun to explain his purpose.

"Hmm, he is indeed dead; his tent was occupied by someone else."

Han Jiankun nodded and continued: "They only know the March big merchant; they don't know other news. Someone did ask this time when I went, but Kuozi Bayi blocked it."

"Hmm."

Li Xuewu nodded, glanced outside the car, and asked: "And the matters? What did they say?"

"It went quite smoothly."

Han Jiankun sat in the driver's seat very upright, and what he said was also very upright: "Maimaiti Yaer is basically always in Wucheng, and Kuozi Bayi is basically always in the three-no-man's-land. The business between the two doesn't conflict, and both promised they would support and cooperate."

After finishing, he added: "Both invited you to go again."

"Maybe when there's an opportunity."

Li Xuewu saw Shen Fang returning from outside the gate, so he opened the car door and said: "Alright, find a place to rest; I'll stay here until I get off work."

After finishing, without waiting for Han Jiankun to reply, he had already jumped out of the car.

"What are you doing?"

Shen Fang was startled by Li Xuewu suddenly jumping out of the car. He took another look at the driver's seat and curled his lip at Li Xuewu: "You arrived at the place but didn't get out of the car, just crouching inside to scare me?"

"Haha, just teasing you~"

Li Xuewu smiled and looked at the bicycle by his side, asking: "Did you go to the branch bureau?"

"Yeah~ the team leader isn't home, so they just dumped me here where my words don't carry weight."

Shen Fang muttered with hidden meaning, propped up his bike, and then walked with Li Xuewu toward the office.

"Self-investigation and self-correction, three people, all have problems with their work, transferred back to their original units for disposal; six people, have problems with their background."

Shen Fang reported while walking: "Wang Zhengwei gave instructions to handle them specially and transfer them to logistics."

After introducing this, he said helplessly: "What kind of business is this? Could it be that if the grandfather is... then the grandson must be that? This is just nonsense."

"Hey!"

Li Xuewu heard Shen Fang grumbling, turned his head, and glared at him; his eyes held a warning and a reminder—one couldn't talk nonsense at a time like this.

Shen Fang also nodded helplessly, indicating he understood.

It was only because they were in a powerful department, only because they were in the Public Security Brigade; if these words were outside, it would be a big deal.

If it were in a department related to culture and arts, it would be even more troublesome.

Shen Fang wasn't a talkative person, and even less was he someone without a sense of proportion; it was just with Li Xuewu and Wang Xiaoqin that he said these things.

Li Xuewu also knew his character, but he couldn't trust the people in this compound; people are many and mouths are messy, and it might just slip out.

Li Xuewu didn't want the Public Security Brigade's iron triangle to break up.

Now Beixinqiao had Duan Youting, Jiaodaokou had Ji Yuxiu and Old Xing and the others, and adding the Public Security Brigade, Li Xuewu dared to guarantee these people were worry-free.

An inner triangle, with another triangle layered on the outside, plus the sub-bureau, the club, and the detention center forming yet another triangle—the connections of Li Xuewu in the Eastern District are rock solid.

And this was just within the system; if one counted the streets and the district, and counted the supply and marketing cooperatives and the steel mill, Li Xuewu was even more stable.

Wasn't it because Shen Fang saw his boat was stable that he got on board? Wang Xiaoqin, Huang Gan, and the others—which one wasn't?

Caution makes for a ten-thousand-year boat; Li Xuewu had become cautious~

"Did you receive the fruit I had someone send to your home?"

"Don't even mention it~"

Shen Fang smiled bitterly: "I was on duty here last night, and my wife brought the kids here to find me, saying that person from last time came again, gave a lot of fruit, and ran off as soon as he put it down. I couldn't find the person to return it, and I didn't dare throw it away."

"Can you tell Biaozi? Why does he always launch a surprise attack, running off without saying a word? My wife doesn't believe me when I explain."

Shen Fang rubbed his face and said: "She just thinks I took benefits from someone to do things for them, saying the person who delivered the things didn't look like a good person."

"Haha, he had a lot of things to do yesterday."

Li Xuewu also laughed and teased: "Did you do something in the past that made your wife worry?"

He actually knew what was going on; it was Old Biaozi deliberately teasing Shen Fang. The two had known each other for a long time, and it had happened several times; Old Biaozi was always being mischievous, not delivering properly, deliberately teasing Shen Fang's wife.

Shen Fang waved his hand and said: "She's young and just thinks these things aren't normal; what kind of friend sends things to the house like this?"

After finishing, he smiled and said to Li Xuewu: "But still have to thank you; it's all good fruit, must have cost a lot of money~"

Li Xuewu glanced at him sideways, smiled, and entered the office.

Shen Fang also knew what Li Xuewu meant; when entering the room, he glanced at Wang Xiaoqin's office before entering Li Xuewu's office.

"Your secretary hasn't returned yet? I already saw your driver."

"He returned, he's at the steel mill."

Li Xuewu lit a cigarette, threw the pack to Shen Fang, and sat behind the desk, saying while looking at the log: "He's busy with handover work, I didn't let him follow."

After finishing, he looked at the log and asked Shen Fang: "How was the situation when you went to the branch bureau?"

"Still the same."

Shen Fang sat opposite Li Xuewu, looked back at the door, leaned in, and said in a low voice: "Director Gao is going to be in danger, and Director Zheng doesn't seem very stable either."

"Hmm, is there any definite news?"

Li Xuewu took a puff of his cigarette, narrowed his eyes, and asked Shen Fang: "Did they say who will be in charge next, or if the people below have any reaction?"

"Who would dare?"

Shen Fang curled his lip, glanced at Li Xuewu, and said softly: "Everyone is shrinking their heads, everyone knows it's dangerous; who would dare to stick their head out at a time like this."

"Specifically~ humph, I think we still have to wait."

Shen Fang flicked the ash into the ashtray and said: "Wait for the municipal bureau. Once that settles, it will be the branch bureau's turn; by then, it might not be any more stable than the municipal bureau."

"You're exaggerating."

Li Xuewu blew the ash off his cigarette and said: "I think the wind is strong above, but it's not blowing much below; the club side is still very stable."

"Hey, that's just you guys."

Shen Fang gestured with the hand holding the cigarette and said: "Not up, not down, just the middle force; doesn't everyone have to take care of you? You're the executive force."

After finishing, he looked at Li Xuewu again and asked: "Did you calculate for yourself what your background actually is?"

"What background?"

Li Xuewu narrowed his eyes and said: "My grandfather counts as a small merchant, also counts as a poor person; my father counts as a worker, and I count as a cadre."

"Why? Did someone ask?"

Li Xuewu's narrowed eyes lifted, and he said: "If it really comes to defining us, this scene will truly be something to see."

"Hehe, just wait, you can't run."

Shen Fang laughed and glanced at Li Xuewu: "They are counting this above, pointing according to the roster; the old guys have all been pointed down, and it's about to reach the younger generation."

Li Xuewu knew who the old guys Shen Fang was talking about were; they were the old public security teams in the capital. After being accepted, a portion was retained and became the basic police force.

With the passage of time, this batch of people and those recruited later had all been washed several times; not many remained.

But this time the washing was thorough; checking files, pointing at the roster, and clearing them out—that was truly thorough enough.

Li Xuewu didn't need to worry; he had proper personnel relations and wasn't involved with the recruitment; he had entered the public security side as a cadre, and his foundation was very clean.

What Shen Fang said, he also understood; it was nothing more than rectifying the team. Relationships like Shen Fang's and Duan Youting's recruitment might be a bit troublesome.

The two talked about work for a while, mainly Shen Fang reporting to Li Xuewu about the recent training and assessment, as well as the contingency drills conducted according to Li Xuewu's requirements.

When they were about to finish, they talked about the situation of the dormitory building in the east courtyard. Master Dou wasn't there today, and Shen Fang had been following the progress, so he simply told Li Xuewu about it.

The internal water, electricity, and heating renovations were almost done, and they were installing windows and doors, and glass was being installed at the same time.

After all this was finished, it would be painting the interior, and finally, cleaning and setting up beds and office furniture.

In the past, the building used stoves for heating, but this time it was directly changed to radiators, which actually let the steel mill workshop earn another sum.

"Master Dou said they could build a boiler room in another place and change the heating here while they were at it, for unified heating, and asked if we could do it."

Shen Fang looked at Li Xuewu and said: "Wang Zhengwei agreed; it will cost more, saying they can get money from the branch bureau."

"It's fine, even if we can't get it, we have to do it ourselves."

Li Xuewu extinguished his cigarette and said: "This can't be skimped on; people have frozen to death in the capital's winter. How can we manage without proper heating?"

After finishing, he gestured behind him and said: "Connect the special service team's compound as well; we're not short of this bit of money. Anyway, we have to burn it once, and we'll have bath water for the winter."

Li Xuewu didn't feel bad about this money; one shouldn't do things that cause suffering, and he didn't want to set up stoves to work here in the future.

The capital's heating pipelines actually existed in the fifties; the capital's thermal power plant was even given by the Big Brother.

But the main supply was still some factories and key units in the eastern suburbs.

By the fifty-ninth year, the heating pipelines had already run through the long Changan Street from east to west, creating conditions for important public buildings along the way to use heating and hot water supplied by the thermal power plant.

Of course, what was mentioned here were still key units and public buildings; the Public Security Brigade definitely couldn't connect to this kind of pipe network, and they didn't have the funds, so they still had to burn boilers.

Shen Fang didn't talk to Li Xuewu for long; he had work, and Li Xuewu also had work.

Wang Xiaoqin is currently busy with the recruitment, and since Shen Fang has been running all the errands for the Public Security Brigade, Li Xuewu has to make the final decisions on everything else.

That is why Li Xuewu was working at the Public Security Brigade office this afternoon.

Because the Public Security Brigade currently has no active patrol missions, there isn't much work; the focus remains on training, assessments, and the training materials currently being prepared.

He still needs to review the overall framework for the Public Security Brigade submitted by the office.

This mainly includes the plan for the team leaders, squad leaders, and platoon leaders—selected from the existing public security members after the new recruits finish their training—to head to the mountains together for follow-up training.

This is a must; one cannot be like Old Jiang, training soldiers and officers separately, only to find they don't recognize each other in the end.

The Public Security Brigade is a grassroots security management force, so a certain level of tacit cooperation is still required; it is better to have these team-leading officers participate in the training.

These individuals were all selected by Shen Fang and Wang Xiaoqin from the existing Public Security Brigade, along with a list of demobilized personnel requested from the personnel department for review.

Each squad has both a primary and a deputy leader; the primary ones are already on the list, while the deputies are not—these spots are reserved for those who excel during training.

Among this batch of trainees, it is not just graduates; there are also many people Wang Xiaoqin requested from the personnel department.

These people are quite willing to come; not only is their expertise a match, but job placement is currently a real struggle.

Wang Xiaoqin is being extremely picky, only taking the best and rejecting the rest.

Li Xuewu took a look at the personnel files attached to the report; they are all excellent material, and some even held higher ranks than him when they were demobilized.

At this time, there are quite a few company-level officers returning to wait for job assignments, especially those with rural household registrations.

There are many on this list from the suburbs, and they all have excellent past records, with many having even participated in combat.

Li Xuewu is not short on trainees, but he is currently very short on people who can lead teams like this.

Especially grassroots team leaders; they are the cornerstone of the force and, even more so, excellent teachers for training new recruits.

By the time he was about to get off work in the afternoon, Wang Xiaoqin still hadn't returned, but he did receive a phone call from Sha Qizhi.

Sha Qizhi knows that the division chief keeping him busy at the steel mill isn't just to give him time to handle the work he fell behind on, but also to have him keep an eye on the factory's dynamics.

He had just heard the news relayed back from the security department, and after calling to confirm, he reported it to Li Xuewu.

"Production has temporarily resumed. Factory Director Yang gave a promise on-site that he would fully consider the workers' demands and work with the relevant departments to resolve the issues."

"The residential area project construction is progressing well, and there is no need to worry about funding issues for the time being."

"At the same time, regarding the trade project, Factory Director Yang said he is already communicating with the working group. Regardless of whether Deputy Factory Director Li has issues, the trade project will not stop. He said the second shipment of agricultural tools and various commodities is already being planned and is being prepared to be loaded and sent to the frontier."

"Regarding the self-managed projects of the Production Management Division and the Design Division, Factory Director Yang guaranteed on-site that he would listen to the opinions of worker representatives before deciding on the fate of the projects, and that there would be no hasty actions."

"Finally, regarding the joint enterprise project, Factory Director Yang said the factory is already preparing to build several factories for materials that the steel mill is short of, in accordance with existing policies, and the personnel to be recruited will be prioritized from the steel mill."

Sha Qizhi gave Li Xuewu a general overview of the situation—the meaning was absolutely correct—and also described the situation on-site.

With Factory Director Yang's promise, and the fact that the steel mill had already made progress on relevant issues, the workers resumed work under the appeal of the grassroots Party organization.

As the roar of the machines in the workshop started up again, the hearts of Yang Fengshan and the others were half-settled; the other half awaited the investigation results from the working group.

The beating Nie Chenglin received last time had just healed, and there was also a mark on Yang Fengshan's forehead; the two of them had almost been unable to hold back this time.

Especially when Nie Chenglin arrived on-site; he thought his prestige would calm the scene, but he didn't expect to become the point that intensified the conflict.

The content that Kuang Yusheng and Xia Zhongquan went back to convey was the notification from Deputy Factory Director Nie, demanding the removal of existing self-managed projects, the cancellation of subsidies, and other welfare conditions.

Although they both explained that the factory would hand these projects over to the joint enterprise and that the children of the workers would be prioritized for recruitment,

the workers were already earning good money, and this money should have been theirs to begin with; why should it pass through the hands of the joint enterprise?

Besides, if they go to the joint enterprise to recruit, does it mean they will definitely recruit their children?

Many children are not of age; what now? Are they going to pull children out of elementary school classrooms to come to work?

Furthermore, there are cases where the children of age are girls; who would be willing to let them go down to the workshop?

Finally, the joint enterprise factory was built with the steel mill's own money and is managed by the steel mill itself; it should have been recruiting the children of the workers from the start. Now it has become a condition for negotiation—how could the workers accept that?

With this incident, the workers remembered the joint enterprise matter. Didn't the factory director say last time he would consider and research it? It had been several days, the joint enterprise factory buildings were being built, but there was no progress on recruitment—this was also a fire of anger at being ignored.

Nie Chenglin ran fast this time; seeing the workers rushing up, he fled. It was only because Yang Fengshan couldn't stand it anymore that he stepped in to resolve it.

According to the news relayed back by Sha Qizhi, after the incident was handled, Kuang Yusheng, Xia Zhongquan, and other cadres from the two departments were called by Yang Fengshan to attend a meeting.

As for Nie Chenglin, he was called by the Secretary to attend a meeting; the matter should not dissipate easily.

Whether it was on Yang Fengshan's side or Yang Yuansong's side, there were people from the working group following them, intending to investigate the management execution of the steel mill's leadership team.

Now that Li Huai De's matter is not yet over, Nie Chenglin has also gotten into trouble, and it is such a large-scale collective reaction event; the working group will definitely not let Nie Chenglin go.

Yang Fengshan has already lost Deng Zhiwang and cannot afford to lose Nie Chenglin again, especially when Li Huai De's situation is unclear; he cannot let Nie Chenglin get into trouble.

The working group did not inform the factory about Li Huai De's matter, even though both Yang Yuansong and Yang Fengshan requested it.

This time, Yang Yuansong really gave the working group the cold shoulder. Yang Fengshan couldn't get any favor from the Secretary or the working group, and he had even less patience for the people in the departments.

The meeting room was very noisy; Kuang Yusheng even stated the workers' demands one by one, showing his attitude of standing on the workers' side.

This is a very dangerous move, especially when he is the head of the department. Truly standing on the workers' side undoubtedly means abandoning his status as a cadre, yet he is still sitting there with that status.

Yang Fengshan was also very angry with him and criticized his management, but Kuang Yusheng retorted on the spot.

Only the leaders at or above the deputy division level of the two departments were in the meeting room, along with Factory Director Yang Fengshan, Deputy Secretary Gu Weijie, and Factory Office Director Xu Si, so Kuang Yusheng dared to speak his mind.

He spoke directly about the current situation of the workers in the two divisions regarding the relevant projects, and also said that Deputy Factory Director Nie ignored the workers' opinions and their advice, made this plan directly, and forced the implementation of the plan. This has nothing to do with their management; they were respecting the relevant documents and directly disseminating them.

Seeing that Kuang Yusheng had actually started to engage in organizational and mass relations, Yang Fengshan frowned in a headache.

Gu Weijie, however, saw the clues; these methods were not Kuang Yusheng's usual style of doing things, but they were very similar to someone else's.

What can Yang Fengshan say to Kuang Yusheng now? Everything he did was normal; they just did what Nie Chenglin asked them to do.

He also knew that Nie Chenglin was careless, anxious, and had lost his mass base.

In the past, Nie Chenglin was a patriarchal cadre; he was like that when he came up from the grassroots, and he is still like that now.

It worked before, being able to make decisions without regard for the voices below, but what time is it now?

Are Kuang Yusheng and the other one both right?

Not necessarily. Why didn't this situation appear before? It was because these two neutralized the contradictions between the top and the bottom, making the policies gentler and easier to accept.

It's just that this time, the two of them didn't handle it and directly conveyed Nie Chenglin's opinions down—how could there not be trouble?

Yang Fengshan could already see that now Kuang Yusheng and Xia Zhongquan were representing their respective departments in conflict with Nie Chenglin.

This work cannot continue; either replace Nie Chenglin, or replace these two.

He is unwilling to replace Nie Chenglin, but replacing these two is also difficult to handle.

At the very least, in their respective departments, both are pillars of existence, both are old comrades, and both represent the opinions of their respective departments.

If he proposes replacing the two of them now, the conflict won't need to be handled; it will definitely intensify to a certain degree.

If he cannot replace these two, he can only adjust the division of labor.

There is no possibility of reconciliation; the heads of the two departments under the supervisor's leadership both oppose him, and Nie Chenglin himself no longer has the face to manage these two departments.

Now Yang Fengshan asking the Secretary to talk to him is also to protect him, and even more so to protect his own right-hand men.

This incident broke out too quickly and too suddenly; everything started from the big-character posters in front of the working group's door, and by the time they got off work, two deputy factory directors of the steel mill had gotten into trouble in one day.

He did see the working group secretly happy; they couldn't help but be happy. They hadn't even exerted any effort, and problems had already been exposed here—wasn't this just rushing to deliver credit?

Now it's even worse; the people below are rioting, and the ones above have collapsed. The working group has a premonition that in a few days, they will take over the leadership work of the steel mill entirely.

Yang Fengshan can allow them to investigate, but he will not allow them to hinder the normal production of the steel mill.

Especially the deputy factory directors; they absolutely cannot get into trouble at this time, otherwise he will have to roll out by the end of the year.

So now, even though he knows Li Huai De did it on purpose, and even that he was the one who did it, Yang Fengshan still has to coordinate with the working group to save him.

Saving Li Huai De is saving himself; it is saving the normal production order of the steel mill.

In the past, he could tolerate the working group's attitude problems, but now that even Yang Yuansong cannot tolerate it, he has even less to tolerate.

If the working group does not release Li Huai De and eliminate the influence, then he can only stand on the opposite side of the working group.

When he returned, Yang Fengshan had originally requested the Security Section to do a good job of security for the office building today, implicitly saying not to let big-character posters appear at the working group's door again.

But Jin Liangcai, the deputy division chief of the working group who went along to handle the matter, said that the constraints on the masses should be loosened, that the channels for the masses to report work should not be hindered, and that the enthusiasm for this kind of reform should not be hindered.

There were many people at the time, so Yang Fengshan just gave him a deep look and ignored him.

The news fed back by Sha Qizhi was that Han Yating did not strengthen the security work of the office building, but arranged for duty personnel to register personnel entering and leaving the building door after work.

Han Yating is a cadre who has been doing internal affairs for a long time, so she is naturally handy at dealing with these two-sided demands; she didn't make things difficult for anyone in the security personnel, saving face for everyone.

When Li Xuewu put down the phone, he was still shaking his head. He just wanted to sigh that Li Huai De's play was really well-acted, and both Yang Yuansong and Yang Fengshan were caught in it.

Yesterday, Sha Qizhi said that Deputy Factory Director Li and Secretary Yang had a serious talk for a long time when they were participating in the fruit train activity at the station.

Li Xuewu can be sure that Li Huai De has been acting according to the script he gave him, so a bigger play will be staged tomorrow.

He is wondering whether to go to the Public Security Brigade to work tomorrow first, and then go back after the steel mill side is about done.

After getting off work in the evening, Li Xuewu let Han Jiankun send him off first, and only then let him go to pick up Sha Qizhi.

Since Sha Qizhi became Li Xuewu's secretary, he hasn't ridden a bike either. With a leader like Li Xuewu who cares so much about his subordinates, he naturally wouldn't let him walk back.

As soon as he entered the courtyard gate, Li Xuewu saw Ji Weidong's big motorcycle parked in the courtyard, thinking that this kid must have come to freeload a meal again.

Qin Jingru closed the big gate from behind and whispered to Li Xuewu, "He brought a girl with him."

"Ji Yuxiu?"

Li Xuewu asked with his eyes hanging, but then denied it. Qin Jingru knows Ji Yuxiu; she has seen her many times.

"Then who is it?"

"He said it's his wife."

Qin Jingru pursed her lips and entered the foyer first; the kitchen was still busy with the meal.

"Hey! How can you guys be faster than me?!"

Li Xuewu walked into the foyer and saw Han Yating sitting on the sofa with Ji Weidong, and Gu Ning was keeping them company.

Seeing Li Xuewu come in, Ji Weidong was finally no longer awkward; he stood up and came towards Li Xuewu.

"We didn't have traffic jams after work; we came from the outer ring."

As he spoke, he gestured to Li Xuewu and asked, "Why haven't I seen you send me fruit? That's too uncool."

"Who are you?"

Li Xuewu twitched the corners of his mouth, changed into slippers, pushed Ji Weidong away, smiled at Han Yating, and said, "Don't be restrained; it's just like your own home."

After finishing, he beckoned to his daughter who was standing by the sofa watching Han Yating, signaling her to come over for Daddy to hug.

Li Shu stared with big eyes, sizing up the guest who came to the house. In the past, Uncle "Di" always came by himself, but this time he brought someone with him, which made her very curious.

It's also because outsiders don't often come to Li Xuewu's house. Li Shu's memory of liveliness is all over at the Sihe Academy, so she always stares with big eyes and observes when strangers come to the house.

Han Yating actually likes her; she tried to hug her, but Li Shu dodged her, moving towards Gu Ning's side continuously.

When Han Yating stopped reaching out, she moved her little legs closer to Han Yating and looked carefully.

Li Xuewu just saw that Han Yating was embarrassed by his daughter's gaze, so he wanted to coax her.

But Li Shu has been close to him and Gu Ning recently, and she has also become naughty; she doesn't listen easily.

At this moment, Ji Weidong walked back, stretched out his hands, and smiled at Li Shu, "Come, let Uncle Ji hug you."

"Di!"

Li Shu heard something in Ji Weidong's words that she seemed to remember. Her little finger pointed behind the room, and she learned a sentence in a decent way.

Ji Weidong and Han Yating didn't know what it meant, but Li Xuewu and Gu Ning both knew. Fearing they would be embarrassed, they quickly changed the subject.

"Did you guys get your certificate?"

"Yes."

Han Yating was used to answering Li Xuewu's questions directly, so as soon as Li Xuewu asked, she opened her mouth to speak.

Li Xuewu also smiled and nodded, saying, "Congratulations. Support each other and understand each other in the future."

"Thank you, Division Chief."

Han Yating was still a bit unable to let go. She also knew the relative relationship between Ji Weidong and Li Xuewu, but she just wasn't used to it for a while.

Just after Han Yating finished speaking, Ji Weidong was unwilling. He gestured in Li Xuewu's direction and said to her, "He is younger than me. You can just call him Little Brother directly at home. At home, there are no leaders or division chiefs."

Li Xuewu smiled and nodded, saying, "We are all relatives, so relax. Public is public, private is private. We are all young people, so let's interact more."

"Yes."

Han Yating smiled embarrassedly and responded to Li Xuewu's words.

Li Xuewu didn't call her Sister-in-law, and she didn't dare call Li Xuewu Little Brother, so they just addressed each other as peers.

What she didn't know was how improper Li Xuewu and Ji Weidong were when they were together. They had already agreed to call each other's wife Little Sister-in-law, and neither of them would let the other off.

But when he really saw Ji Weidong bring Han Yating home, Li Xuewu had to follow the rules.

He had to acknowledge Ji Weidong's words and let Han Yating call him that; it was nothing more than a form of address.

Gu Ning hadn't said much the whole time. After she and Ji Weidong arrived, it was the old lady who arranged for them to sit.

It wasn't the first time she had seen Gu Ning, but they hadn't spoken. Han Yating still couldn't quite talk to Gu Ning, as if there were many layers of obstacles between them.

Before Li Xuewu returned, the two of them sat on the sofa and just teased Li Shu, all to relieve the embarrassment.

Seeing that guests had arrived, the old lady went to the kitchen to help Qin Jingru arrange the dishes.

In the old lady's concept, there was no reason to neglect someone who brought a new wife to visit.

Especially since Ji Weidong was an in-law of the family, and his parents were not around. Coming to visit here after getting their marriage certificate made her unable to just dismiss them with four dishes, out of sincerity and closeness.

Li Xuewu didn't say much to Han Yating, just fearing she would be embarrassed, but instead chatted with Ji Weidong.

They chatted about life, asked about their marriage, and their arrangements after marriage.

Because everything was simplified, after their application was approved, Han Yating led the way, and they formally visited the elders in Han Yating's family.

Regarding Ji Weidong, Han Yating had already told her parents. This time was the first and last meeting before the wedding, which caught Han Yating's parents off guard.

But when they heard about Ji Weidong's family background and work, and saw that their daughter's heart was set, they nodded.

Plus, Ji Weidong's mouth is as sharp as Li Xuewu's, so he chatted very well with Han Yating's parents.

So they got their certificate the day before yesterday and had a meal at Han Yating's house. Ji Weidong took his sister with him, and the whole Han family was there, which counted as their wedding.

Because Ji Weidong's identity is special, the Han family understood, they just felt a bit sorry for their daughter.

They got their certificate the day before yesterday and came to visit today. Li Xuewu also understood that Ji Weidong was preparing to hand over all the relationships in Beijing to Han Yating. In the future, things in Ji Weidong's family would be handled by her, and it would no longer be Ji Yuxiu, the little sister-in-law waiting to be married.