Chapter 75: Factory Director, Good

As soon as Li Xuewu left, He Yuzhu’s temper flared up instantly.

He was already furious that Xu Damao had chosen today to screen the film, and now he heard Li Xuewu say Xu Damao had ruined his plans.

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If this can be tolerated, what cannot? I endured Qin Huaiju—can I endure you, Xu Damao?

“That bastard Xu Damao—I’m telling you, if I don’t crush him, I won’t be able to sleep.”

His apprentice Ma Hua knew of their feud: “What’s going on now? Did he provoke you again?”

He Yuzhu nodded angrily: “That bastard ruined my plans.”

Ma Hua asked curiously: “What plans? He’s got leadership backing him.”

He Yuzhu avoided explaining the details, instead grumbling: “If I didn’t have leadership backing me, I’d take him down myself. This bastard’s definitely coming here to drink with the leaders today—just watch how I handle him!”

He Yuzhu secretly plotted his revenge against Xu Damao, feeling smugly satisfied.

These two were perfectly matched in scheming—this is what they call: no hatred, no meeting!

Li Xuewu returned to the open-air venue and heard Xu Damao still coaxing the Qin sisters: “I’m being serious, Sister Qin—you really can’t sit here. This spot is reserved for factory leadership.”

Nowadays, cadres don’t wield much authority or privilege; Xu Damao’s only way to curry favor with leadership is this.

Qin Huaiju deliberately prodded: “Factory leadership? Who?”

Xu Damao thought he’d scare her by naming names: “Deputy Factory Director Li, Secretary Yang, and others.”

Li Xuewu had just left the canteen, preparing to return to his dorm to pick up his child and go home, when he saw Lou Xiaoe storming through the crowd, face flushed with anger—then she stopped.

Lou Xiaoe’s combat effectiveness is weak—she just shouts from afar, mocks him a little, gives him a light warning—no real aggression.

She’s like a little tiger without claws or fangs, too afraid to fight the fox.

Li Xuewu crossed his arms and watched the farce; seeing nothing escalate, he turned away and moved toward the edge of the crowd.

From today’s perspective, Qin Jingru is quite fetching; for a rural girl to be so well-groomed, her family must dote on her.

This stems from Qin Huaiju’s move into the city.

After Qin Huaiju married into the city, she enjoyed a period of great prestige.

The Jia family, an orphaned widow and child, were seen by city dwellers as fallen nobility; even after Jia Dongxu joined the factory and became a Grade Three fitter, they remained an ordinary household with no substantial wealth.

But to villagers, city workers were the epitome of a “iron rice bowl”—they ate state rations, received industrial coupons, and village girls lined up to marry into the city.

Back then, Qin Huaiju was beautiful, with a shapely figure, looking fertile and desirable—that’s why she married into the Jia family.

Now Qin Jingru’s family hopes their daughter can marry into the city like Qin Huaiju, so they spare her heavy labor, which is why she’s grown so fair-skinned and lovely, her face soft enough to squeeze water from.

Qin Jingru has also lived up to expectations: like her sister, she has a curvaceous figure, a baby face, a cherry mouth, and large, sparkling eyes.

But the girl has seen little of the world, easily dazzled—like rural girls of this era, everything is new, she believes everything she’s told, can’t walk away from anything nice, the city saying being: two sugar candies could buy her.

At this moment, Deputy Factory Director Li, Secretary Yang, Fu Bin, Dong Wenhua, and several other department heads entered.

Seeing them coming from the direction he had just left, Li Xuewu stepped aside to make way.

Workers along the way stepped aside and greeted them.

“Factory Director, good.”

“Secretary Yang, good.”

“Director Li, good.”

Deputy Factory Director Li and Secretary Yang, surrounded by attendants, arrived at the spot Xu Damao had prepared.

Qin Huaiju was also a coward—seeing the factory leaders arrive, she quickly pulled Qin Jingru back to the bench where Banggeng and the others sat.

Banggeng and the others had claimed only one bench, so the two children had to hold each other to watch.

Qin Jingru held Huaihua, Qin Huaiju held Xiao Dang, and Banggeng sat in the middle.

Qin Huaiju had just sat down.

The leaders on the other side also took their seats.

After Deputy Factory Director Li sat down, he scanned the crowd with proud, admiring glances—then suddenly noticed Li Xuewu, wearing a military cotton cap, in police uniform, wrapped in a military overcoat, offering cigarettes to the office cadres.

Deputy Factory Director Li turned and said something to Fu Bin with a smile; Fu Bin stood up and waved to Li Xuewu: “Li Xuewu, come sit here—leaders want to talk to you.”

The factory office secretary quickly placed his small stool beside the long bench where Deputy Factory Director Li and Secretary Yang sat.

Li Xuewu saw the finance and personnel department cadres, instinctively offered cigarettes and exchanged pleasantries; hearing Fu Bin’s call, he pinched out his cigarette, tossed it on the ground, nodded a greeting, and moved back.

He walked to Deputy Factory Director Li and Secretary Yang, saluted, then saluted Fu Bin and Dong Wenhua, nodded to the other department heads, and shook hands with the secretary who had offered him the seat, thanking him.

Deputy Factory Director Li and the others admired Li Xuewu’s manners and bearing—the solemnity inherent in ex-soldiers was something others couldn’t imitate, and was absent among those in the security department.

Deputy Factory Director Li patted Li Xuewu’s arm and said: “Sit down, don’t stand.”

Li Xuewu quickly sat beside Deputy Factory Director Li; the sky wasn’t fully dark yet, the movie hadn’t started, and everyone around was watching the group in the center—especially since Deputy Factory Director Li had specifically called Li Xuewu over.

The crowd began whispering whether Li Xuewu was a relative or nephew of Deputy Factory Director Li, since they shared the same surname.

Right in front of Li Xuewu sat the Qin family; Qin Jingru stared wide-eyed, sneaking glances at Li Xuewu.

This man had a scarred face—looked quite frightening.

Deputy Factory Director Li asked kindly: “How’s it going, Xuewu? Are you adapting to the steel mill work?”

Before Li Xuewu could answer, Secretary Yang teased: “How else could he adapt? He caught our biggest rat on his first day—hahaha!”

The leaders behind them laughed along; Deputy Factory Director Li laughed even harder, patting Li Xuewu’s arm.

Li Xuewu had truly brought honor to Li Huai.

The only ones who had prepared to be whipped were Factory Director Yang and the production management department cadres.

Because Deputy Factory Director Li, Secretary Yang, and all the department heads behind them were newly transferred in over the past two years after several factories merged—they bore no responsibility.

The ones who had to shoulder responsibility weren’t here today—they were frantically trying to smooth things over, with no mood to watch a movie.

Li Xuewu said to Secretary Yang: “Thank you for your criticism, Comrade. I’ll pay more attention to uniting with comrades and strive to adapt quickly to the steel mill’s rhythm.”

Deputy Factory Director Li smiled and introduced: “This is Secretary Yang of our factory. Don’t carry any psychological burden—Secretary Yang didn’t mean it that way. You did well. Maintain your fine conduct, love your post, be devoted, protect the factory, protect the nation.”

Li Xuewu heard Deputy Factory Director Li’s words, extended both hands to shake Secretary Yang’s, then said: “Secretary Yang, good. My party and mass relations have been transferred to our steel mill—you’re my family now. Family always speaks for my own good.”

Secretary Yang patted Li Xuewu’s hand and said: “I know what you’ve done—you’re a good cadre. If you have any difficulties, speak to the organization.”