Feng Wu felt tired yet happy during this period.
On one hand, he managed a security team of sixty people, responsible for the safety of tens of thousands of square meters, including the board factory, trading company, and Yaochi Garden.
On the other hand, he was temporarily filling in for Jing Yongli as the acting general manager of the Yaochi Garden project department, with the three construction units under his management.
Although this acting general manager position didn't hold much real power, as the project was managed by a professional team, he was responsible for external liaison, and his final signature was required for project progress payments.
This indicated that Yang Jian had begun to trust him. As long as he performed well and pushed the project forward smoothly, he would surely enter Yang Jian's inner circle in the future, and the "acting" part of his title could be removed, making him the true general manager.
Therefore, he personally inspected key areas twice a day, primarily to prevent Shen Hua's people from deliberately causing trouble and sabotage. The sand quarry on the riverbank was particularly concerning, as Shen Hua had stationed seven or eight people there, making conflicts likely.
"Brother, why do you look unwell? Are you sick?"
Just as he returned from patrolling the riverbank, Feng Wu encountered Feng Wen, who was driving back, on the road entering the factory area. He noticed his brother's poor mental state.
Feng Wen, sitting in the driver's seat, shook his head. "It's nothing. I might have eaten something bad today; I have a bit of diarrhea."
Feng Wu glanced into the car and saw two men in the back seat, so he asked, "Brother, who are these two?"
"Oh, these are out-of-town clients buying templates. Their order volume is large, and they want to assess our production capacity and tour the factory."
"Alright, you can go in then."
Feng Wu didn't suspect the people his brother brought in. It was common for clients to visit the factory for inspection. However, the factory was not currently in operation, so he wondered what kind of results they could possibly glean from their inspection.
Feng Wen drove the car directly into the board factory. His father was on duty at the gate, so naturally, there was no inspection or questioning.
The factory was currently shut down, but Liu Chao's glue workshop and offices were still operational. The financial staff and clerks were recruited by Jiang Bin from Hancheng. Along with the kitchen workers and Liu Yong and his wife who ran the convenience store, there were still over twenty people at the factory.
After greeting Jiang Bin, Feng Wen led the two clients to tour the production workshops, warehouses, and other areas.
The machinery in the production workshops was powered off. The interior was kept very clean, with no flammable materials like wood.
The two men, who had put on makeup, seemed a bit disappointed. This place was the core area of the entire factory complex, but it was impossible to set it on fire. Everything was made of iron and couldn't burn, unless gasoline was poured on it. However, there were cameras everywhere in the factory, and they dared not bring large containers of gasoline.
These two men were sent by Xiao Wen to commit arson. Their mission was to destroy the most valuable machinery, materials, and factory buildings of the board factory.
But the current situation made things difficult for them. The factory had two zones. One was the old factory they were currently in, which specialized in producing construction templates. It was entirely made of red brick factory buildings, with wooden beams supporting the roofs covered by asbestos tiles.
It was difficult to start a fire in such buildings, and even if they burned, their value would not be significant.
The other was the new factory area for producing decorative panels, located opposite the board factory. It was a steel structure factory built to standard specifications and was guarded by professional security personnel twenty-four hours a day.
There was indeed a lot of wood in the new factory buildings, but the decorative panels were not within Feng Wen's scope of business. His business was selling construction templates, so he couldn't take them into the new factory area, and it was impossible for them to set fires in both factory areas simultaneously.
"There are cameras everywhere here. When you act at night, it's best to think about your escape route. I won't be responsible if you get caught."
Feng Wen walked with them, explaining as he went. Forced by Xiao Wen and others, he had no choice but to cooperate with these two in their arson plan.
"Manager Feng, can you find a way to cut the camera wires?"
The man wearing a fake beard looked at the omnipresent, blind-spot-free cameras and felt that the mission was very difficult. Arson might not be difficult, but a clean getaway would be.
Feng Wen shook his head. "I can't cut them. The machine room is in the security department, and there are people on duty twenty-four hours a day. If any camera shows an anomaly, it will alert them, and someone will come to check within two minutes."
"Then how do we get away?"
"You can't run. If you run after the fire starts, the police will definitely suspect me. The best way is for you to return to the guesthouse after setting the fire, pretend that nothing happened, and leave normally tomorrow morning."
"Are you kidding me? We're not going to run and wait to be caught? There are cameras everywhere; it's inevitable that we'll be discovered."
"Then you can only leave when there's chaos with many people around, and you can only escape towards the village. The other directions have security guard posts."
Feng Wen was helpless. He couldn't escape responsibility no matter what. But compared to paying two million yuan and being crippled, being held accountable by Yang Jian should be easier. After all, they were relatives; he couldn't send himself to jail, could he?
He took the two men to inspect the finished product warehouse and the raw material warehouse. The finished product warehouse was empty. The sales of templates were very good, and there were rarely any inventories. After the factory stopped production, there wasn't a single template left in the warehouse.
The only place to set a fire was the raw material warehouse, where large quantities of semi-finished products were piled up. These were thin wooden boards, 1.5 millimeters thick, 50 centimeters wide, and 1 meter long, almost like paper. They were very dry and easily ignited.
After touring the factory area, it was time for dinner. Feng Wen dared not let them eat at the factory for fear that Jiang Bin might question them, which could easily expose them. So, he took them to Xinqiao Town for a meal and confirmed their escape route.
Then, he sent them back to the guesthouse and arranged for them to stay in a standard room. Feng Wen himself left the board factory. He and his wife lived in the prefabricated houses near the security department.
Knowing that something big was about to happen, coupled with the beating he received, Feng Wen was in pain and tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. When his wife asked if he was sick, he brushed it off, saying he was uncomfortable with diarrhea.
It was eleven o'clock, and there was no movement.
At one in the morning, there was still no movement. Feng Wen harbored a glimmer of hope that those two men would back down and abandon their arson plan.
By more than three in the morning, Feng Wen was extremely sleepy. Just as he was about to fall asleep, he was suddenly awakened by the emergency assembly whistle from outside.
Then, he heard someone shouting that there was a fire and the sound of security guards running downstairs.
They had made their move. Feng Wen was filled with regret. From now on, he would be an accomplice to the arsonists. His only hope was that those two men would escape successfully, then he would still have a chance to explain, saying he didn't know those two weren't really there to buy templates.
As long as he adamantly denied any collusion with those two men, the police wouldn't hold him responsible. However, the factory would definitely hold him accountable, at most firing him.
But Yang Jian, and even his parents and younger brother, would not forgive him. If all else failed, he could take the one million yuan given to him by Xiao Wen and return to Xiangnan. He could still have a good life.