Chapter 29

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Protagonist:

Lin Yi

He clutched the employment report in his left hand, his right hand slapping against it repeatedly; the sharp pa-pa sounds echoed through the meeting room.

The already frigid meeting room, accompanied by his slapping and anger, felt exceptionally icy.

The whole group from the Employment Office lowered their heads, none daring to meet this Director's gaze.

After venting for a while, Zhou Tianming helplessly threw the report onto the desk, interlaced his fingers, and spoke with a sunk face:

"Everyone say what to do — this report went up this morning, and by afternoon the city will be coming at us with clubs to beat us all to death."

No one in the meeting room answered him; a group of people just sat in their chairs, silently staring at the notebooks before them.

As if there were flowers on those notebooks.

A long time passed; hearing no reply, Zhou Tianming's suppressed anger flared again, his right hand slamming hard against the table — amid the pa-pa sounds he shouted sternly once more:

"All of you, speak!"

Hearing that this Office Director was truly enraged, a bespectacled middle-aged man to Zhou Tianming's left leaned over and asked tentatively:

"How about? We massage it a bit?"

The subordinate's words stirred Zhou Tianming slightly, but he quickly shook his head:

"The report can be massaged, but what about next year? If this year's data looks good, next year's will have to look even better — you tell me what we do next year?"

That one sentence from him made the meeting room, which had just shown a faint improvement, fall instantly silent.

Fabricate, it can all be fabricated.

But the problem is, after fabricating, what do we do next?

At this moment, the bespectacled middle-aged man who had spoken earlier leaned over again and said softly:

"Director Zhou, ever heard of 'never winning a hundred battles' and 'never perishing in a hundred battles'?"

This reminder made Zhou Tianming's eyes instantly brighten.

'Never winning a hundred battles' and 'never perishing in a hundred battles' — a single character's difference, yet the momentum they convey are two extremes.

He tilted his body slightly toward the bespectacled middle-aged man, adopting a listening posture.

Seeing this, the bespectacled middle-aged man's face showed a touch of delight, and he hurriedly laid out his idea:

"We slightly adjust our current data, and shift the work focus onto next year's work plan."

"We first admit this year's work fell short, straightforwardly own the mistake."

"Then we craft next year's work plan well."

"Right now it's year-end; we can survey every capable factory in the district, then draw up targeted work plans."

"Submit them together!"

The words were brief, but they hit the key point.

Zhou Tianming's eyes lit up completely; his gaze moved off the bespectacled middle-aged man and swept across the others in the meeting room, his hands clapping lightly:

"That's how we'll do it!"

"It just so happens the Suzhou City Commodity Exhibition and Sales Conference is in a few days; we'll take the chance of delivering invitation letters to thoroughly survey every enterprise in the district."

"Investigate next year's development plans and employment plans."

"Meeting adjourned!"

…………

Zhou Tianming really disliked winter.

If forced to name something more loathsome than winter, it would be winter's endless drizzle.

If forced to name something even more loathsome, it would be going out to work in that endless winter drizzle.

And it was extra work at that.

He held a black umbrella at the roadside, wordlessly watching the road, watching the construction vehicles coming and going on it.

He counted construction vehicles for a while, then shifted his gaze to the hoardings beside it.

2.4-meter walls, pasted with Thirteenth Bureau Construction safety slogans, a surveillance camera every few meters, and workers in reflective vests and hard hats patrolling along the walls from time to time.

Every truck leaving the site was washed spotless, and the truck beds were completely covered with tarpaulin.

Not a speck of dust fell while they moved.

Even the trucks obeyed traffic lights and slowed down at intersections!

Every bit of it exuded an air of utter professionalism.

After circling the construction site twice, Zhou Tianming was very satisfied.

As the saying goes, attention to detail brings success; a company that can hire such a professional construction team absolutely pays attention to detail.

And will absolutely succeed.

Moreover, this is a full 300 mu of factory land; once such a factory is built, it will surely bring employment and tax revenue to Suzhou!

Excellent!

Time to go meet this Lin…

Zhou Tianming walked to the factory's main gate, about to enter, when he suddenly noticed the sign hanging at the gate read Lin Laosan Electrical Appliance Factory, not the Xiaomi Heavy Industry he had heard of.

Wrong place?

Shouldn't be, right?

After hesitating at the gate for a moment, Zhou Tianming still held up his umbrella, walked to the guardhouse, knocked on the window, and asked the guard:

"Excuse me, is this Xiaomi Heavy Industry? I'm here to deliver the invitation letter for the Suzhou City Exhibition!"

The gatekeeper was stunned for a moment, then quickly replied: "This is Lin Laosan's……"

"Wrong, it's called Xiaomi Heavy Industry now!"

"Let me contact the Office for you!"

Minutes later, Zhou Tianming appeared in Lin Yi's office; as soon as he saw Lin Yi, he began to advise him earnestly:

"General Manager, when you're out in the world, your status, position, and fame are given by yourself."

"If it were your father, I wouldn't say this to him, but you're different."

"You just took over your father's position and started making sweeping reforms; take a look at the new factory you built outside."

"You're fully capable of holding up a piece of the sky!"

Chattering on for a long time, Zhou Tianming felt a bit parched, reached out and gulped down the tea in front of him, lifted his eyes, and looked at Lin Yi pitifully.

Being looked at like that by a grown man, Lin Yi felt uncomfortable all over, poured Zhou Tianming another full cup of tea, and only then touched his nose and asked: "Is it really that serious?"

Full wine respects the guest; full tea drives them away.

Zhou Tianming understood this principle, but he pretended to be confused despite knowing, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and asked Lin Yi pitifully:

"Do you know how explosive this year's employment data is?"

Hearing the term "employment data," Lin Yi finally understood why Zhou Tianming had come to him.

It's New Year.

Time to report the data.

Everyone knows what happened last year; if this year is slightly better, it can be described as a slow recovery.

But if next year is still a mess, someone will take the fall.

But he was still very curious about the employment data within the district—exactly what kind of value it was—that would drive an Office Director like him to come find him, to find him, such a small fry.

Curious, Lin Yi stood up and came to Zhou Tianming's side, looked up at the Door, and asked sneakily:

"How explosive?"

He asked very seriously, and Zhou Tianming shook his head: "Pretty explosive!"

"That's why I wanted to take this opportunity while delivering the invitation letter to chat with you!"

"I thought General Manager, seeing as we're fellow villagers, would work hard at this Exhibition, attract some investment, and then boost employment!"

"Help out!"