"How could they have been beaten?"
Wang Yu asked with a grim expression. Wu Lingling, seeing the tense atmosphere, stood up directly.
"I'm going to pick Xiao Ling up from school. You busy yourself."
"Okay, alright."
Wang Yu nodded. After Wu Lingling left, he turned to the old director and asked,
"What exactly happened?"
"This... why don't you let Manager Han explain it to you himself?"
As the old director finished speaking, Han Jun, the supervisor of the purchasing department, walked in from outside the office door.
Wang Yu remembered him from a previous meeting – a tall, handsome young man. But now, he was bruised and battered, walking with a limp, with a bloody gash on his lip and one eye so swollen and bruised it looked like an egg.
At first glance, Wang Yu almost thought Master Bao Guo had also been reborn!
"What's going on? Why are you in such a sorry state?"
Wang Yu frowned, motioned for Han Jun to sit in his seat, and took out a cigarette.
"We were beaten by people from the hardware factory."
Han Jun's face was filled with misery. He took the cigarette, lit it, and after taking a long drag, he hesitated and slowly began to speak.
"People from the hardware factory? We don't interfere with each other, and we even have business dealings. Why would they beat you all of a sudden?"
Wang Yu ignored the old director, who was signaling him from the side, and stared directly at Han Jun.
"Well... because..." Han Jun hesitated. "It's because of our business cooperation. Earlier, you, the young factory director, set all the spare parts prices to increase by thirty percent."
"Yes, that's right, I know. I remember it was their Deputy Factory Director Lu Fangquan who personally signed the contract with me. And then?"
Wang Yu also lit a cigarette, handed one to the old director, sat on the desk casually, and gestured for Han Jun to continue.
"Then, two days ago, when we received their supply, the brothers downstairs discovered a problem. Several batches of cast parts failed inspection."
Han Jun said directly, "The steel in several batches of parts had issues with quenching not meeting standards and had air bubbles.
Then, according to regulations, the brothers downstairs sent that batch of goods back. As a result, Lu Fangquan came looking for trouble, saying we were picking fault with them."
"And then, he brought people and beat up the brothers. I went up to reason with him and got beaten up too."
Han Jun spread his hands towards Wang Yu, a look of helplessness on his face.
"That's it? What is the security department for? Letting people beat others on our turf? Also, why didn't you report it to the public security bureau if you were all beaten?"
Wang Yu's face turned ashen, and he spoke directly.
"This..." Old Director Li Ming hesitated and tugged at Wang Yu's sleeve.
"Section Chief Fang Jie of the security department suppressed this matter. It's best not to blow this up. It can only be considered a personal conflict, and reporting it to the public security bureau won't look good."
"What do you mean, 'won't look good'?" Wang Yu was genuinely angry for the first time. "The quality of the parts is related to the safety of the car. When drivers are on the road, it's a life!
Since when has it become justifiable to pass off inferior goods as good? And besides, why would reporting our people being beaten be 'not looking good'?"
"Where is Fang Jie? Have him come and explain himself to me!"
Faced with the furious Wang Yu, both Old Director Li Ming and Han Jun looked helpless.
"Section Chief Fang is not in the factory right now," Li Ming sighed. "He's probably out playing cards somewhere. I heard Lu Fangquan and them are card buddies."
"What? A security department chief, skipping work during office hours to play cards? And he suppressed the matter of our own brothers being bullied?"
Wang Yu, surprisingly, calmed down. "Tell me, what's his background?"
After exchanging glances, Han Jun slowly spoke, his face bitter, "His uncle is Fang Zhongtian."
"Fang Zhongtian, who would extort money even from a passing coffin?"
Wang Yu's expression became extremely grim. He knew of such a person.
Fang Zhongtian's mother was a retired nurse from the county hospital. The former Director Xu of the Metallurgy General Factory was seriously ill, choking on a piece of phlegm and struggling to breathe. She, disregarding the nausea and filth, personally sucked the phlegm out with her mouth, saving his life.
As a lifesaver, Director Xu of the Metallurgy General Factory took great care of the Fang family.
As her son, Fang Zhongtian had no morals. He spent his days leveraging the name of the Metallurgy General Factory to extort money everywhere. He was incredibly greedy, and wherever he went, he wouldn't let go of any opportunity for blackmail.
Hence, he was known as someone who would "reach for money even from a passing coffin" – demanding money even from the dead!
The problem was, many people were afraid to offend such a person. It was easier to deal with the King of Hell than a troublesome minor official.
After all, the Metallurgy General Factory was a major enterprise specially supported by the province, holding a pivotal position in Jiangyang County, a prominent industrial city.
No one would willingly offend the Metallurgy General Factory for such a petty and despicable individual.
This led to Fang Zhongtian's rampant and arrogant behavior.
"Section Chief Fang Jie of the security department is Fang Zhongtian's nephew? How could such a person be the head of the security department?"
Wang Yu was truly hearing about his own security department chief's background for the first time.
"There's no choice. When the former factory director was in charge, we needed to rely on the Metallurgy General Factory in many aspects. Fang Zhongtian had some influence there, so they gave his nephew a position to keep him occupied."
Old Director Li Ming sighed. He was well aware of the situation.
But such idle positions existed in any factory or enterprise, and they were impossible to eliminate.
The Metallurgy General Factory, with its established pedigree, was too powerful for their small factory to contend with.
Not to mention they were currently the creditors of their own factory!
"So it's best for us to..."
The old director looked at Wang Yu, who had fallen silent, and sighed helplessly. Han Jun also shook his head.
"Young factory director, how about I give the brothers some extra bonuses as consolation?"
Han Jun likely assumed Wang Yu would let it go, considering the bigger picture. So he tentatively said to Wang Yu.
"There will naturally be consolation bonuses..." Wang Yu nodded, then abruptly changed the subject.
"But this matter can't be left like this!"
"But Fang Zhongtian's side..."
"There's no 'but'!"
Wang Yu directly interrupted Li Ming and Han Jun.
"Let alone just Fang Zhongtian's nephew, who is Fang Zhongtian himself? Just a greedy worm who relies on the Metallurgy General Factory's power, a piece of trash."
"Others may fear him, but I don't fear him!"
"Besides, what's the Metallurgy General Factory?
"Take the injured brothers and those unqualified parts with me to the hardware factory to demand an explanation!"
"Yes, young factory director!"
Han Jun suddenly stood up and fiercely extinguished his cigarette butt.
"I, Han Jun, will accompany you!"
...
In the deputy factory director's office at the Hardware General Factory.
The entire office was filled with smoke. On the cluttered desk lay leftover bones of roast chicken and several empty beer bottles.
Deputy Factory Director Lu Fangquan, slightly tipsy, held a hand of cards, his face flushed.
"I say, Old Fang, why don't you play a card?"
Below Lu Fangquan sat a thin, sharp-featured youth with half a cigarette butt in his mouth, holding his poker cards uncertainly.
This was his card game partner, Fang Jie, the security department chief of Jiangyang Automobile Factory.
If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, no one would believe that such a scrawny, weak fellow could be a security department chief.
"What's the hurry?" Fang Jie casually rubbed his cards and let out a burp, "There's no rush anyway."
"When it's almost time to get off work, won't you need to clock in at the factory? It seems your young factory director is returning these days." Lu Fangquan asked with a smile.
"Him?" Fang Jie snorted through his nose. "What's Wang Yu? What can a little kid do to me? Those brats from the purchasing department a few days ago were beaten, but it was all for nothing."
With a contemptuous look, Fang Jie shifted to a more comfortable position,
"Damn it, Wang Yu, that little brat, didn't offer any tribute to my uncle when he took office. I was thinking of finding an opportunity to deal with him, and this time he ran right into the muzzle. Pair of 8s."
Fang Jie spoke with an air of seniority, referring to Wang Yu as "little kid" repeatedly, showing no self-awareness that he himself was likely younger than Wang Yu.
"But I think this little kid has some tricks up his sleeve."
Lu Fangquan rubbed his chin, implying something. "Are you sure you should be so careless? Pair of Kings, I raise."
"Careless, my ass! Pair of 2s, I trump." Fang Jie slapped his cards onto the table, looking contemptuous.
"Don't say he's not here, even if he were in front of me, I'd still dismiss him as nothing."
Before his words had even faded, the office door was violently kicked open.
"Who?" Lu Fangquan roared, reacting before even seeing who it was. "Who let you in?"
Bang! A dull thud.
A metal casting with cracks was directly thrown onto the tabletop.
It instantly shattered the glass on the table, sending shards of glass flying everywhere.
"Wang Yu? What are you doing here?"
This commotion sobered Lu Fangquan up considerably. Seeing the person's appearance, he exclaimed in surprise.