Courtyard House: Purchasing Agents' Comeback from the Great Famine

Chapter 245 Li Huaide reprimands Liu Haizhong, and Sha Zhu is stopped and inspected by the security

When Lan Xiang heard that Liu Haizhong was going to go find Li Huaide, he quickly advised, "Master, you shouldn't go. It's no use. You should just go back to your workstation and get back to work."

"No, if he doesn't let me be the team leader, he has to return the money to me."

Ignoring Lan Xiang's advice, Liu Haizhong walked out of the forging workshop and headed towards the factory director's office.

Seeing this, Lan Xiang sighed and hurriedly went to discuss it with his fellow students.

Liu Haizhong arrived at the factory director's office. Without knocking, he pushed the door open to go in, but it wouldn't budge. So he knocked on the door again.

"Knock knock knock".

When Li Huaide heard someone knocking on the door in his office, he was instantly enraged. A disheveled female worker in front of him almost cried out, but thankfully she managed to cover her mouth in time.

"Quickly put on your clothes and hide under the table," Li Huaide said hastily.

As he spoke, Li Huaide called out loudly towards the door, "Wait a moment."

An impatient voice came from the office, and Liu Haizhong had no choice but to wait at the door.

After a long while, Li Huaide opened the door and saw Liu Haizhong. He was immediately furious.

Suppressing his anger, Li Huaide asked with a grim face, "Master Liu, is there something you need?"

"Um..."

"Director Li, let's go inside and talk."

Liu Haizhong, acting as if he knew everyone, was about to walk into the office, but Li Huaide stopped him and said in a deep voice:

"Master Liu, what's the matter? Just say it here."

Seeing that there were no outsiders, Liu Haizhong nodded and said with a fawning smile, "Well, Director Li, Director Zhu won't let me be the team leader today..."

"Stop."

Li Huaide raised his hand to interrupt Liu Haizhong and asked, "Master Liu, you came to see me, does that mean you still want to be the team leader?"

Liu Haizhong nodded with a fawning smile: "Director Li, I don't have many merits, but I do listen to the leaders. If you make me the workshop director, I promise I will do whatever you say."

Upon hearing this, Li Huaide's face turned terribly grim, and he shouted sharply:

"Liu Haizhong, I gave you a chance before, making you the acting team leader, to see your abilities. If you were capable, I could promote you to workshop director. But what have you been doing all this time? You couldn't even manage a dozen people properly, not only did production drop by half, but you also created a lot of scrap. You still want to be the workshop director?"

"Go back! Go back right now and start swinging that sledgehammer!"

Hearing Li Huaide's reprimand, Liu Haizhong's face also darkened, but he still suppressed his anger and bowed and scraped as he said:

"Um, Director Li, I gave you two small yellow croakers before. If you don't make me the team leader, can you give those two small yellow croakers back to me?"

Li Huaide shouted, "What little yellow croaker? When did I take your little yellow croaker? Liu Haizhong, let me tell you, this is slander! Do you know what the consequences are for slandering cadres? Get back to the workshop right now, or I'll immediately transfer you to clean the toilets."

When Liu Haizhong saw that Li Huaide was denying the debt, his heart sank to the bottom. But there was nothing he could do, since he hadn't kept any evidence or receipts at the time.

"Director Li, well... I'll head back now."

Liu Haizhong said dejectedly, then turned and left.

"etc."

Liu Haizhong turned around and asked, "Director Li, is there anything else?"

Li Huaide sighed: "Master Liu, I know you want to improve, but tell me, what have you been doing before? You've made a mess of the team. Even if I wanted to promote you, others would have objections."

"How about this, you go back to your workstation and work for now. When you have time, learn from the other team leaders and see how they manage. Once your management skills improve, I'll promote you if the opportunity arises. Is that okay with you?"

Liu Haizhong was already disappointed, but unexpectedly, the situation took a turn for the better, and he hurriedly nodded and bowed in agreement.

"Okay, okay, thank you, Director Li. I'll head back to the workshop now."

"Go."

Looking at Liu Haizhong's back, Li Huaide sneered. Liu Haizhong was such a good-for-nothing that he couldn't even tell that he was just being perfunctory. If he really made him the workshop director, he might have to take the blame for Liu Haizhong if anything went wrong.

After closing the office door, Li Huaide continued working on the tasks he hadn't finished earlier.

When Liu Haizhong returned to the workshop, a group of his apprentices came looking for him.

After hearing the details of Liu Haizhong's conversation with Factory Director Li, the apprentices all wanted to say that Factory Director Li was just giving them a perfunctory answer. However, Lan Xiang winked at them frantically, so the apprentices could only agree with Liu Haizhong and even offered him a few words of encouragement.

......

The second canteen of the steel rolling mill.

As usual, Sha Zhu filled both lunchboxes to the brim today. However, while he usually brought cornbread, today he brought a lunchbox full of white steamed buns, and the other lunchbox contained half a pound of fresh pork. The pork was leftover from when he cooked a large pot of vegetables, and he planned to take it home for dinner.

Seeing this, Old Zhang, who was standing behind him, didn't say a word and quietly walked out of the second canteen.

At 5 p.m., Sha Zhu, carrying a net bag and with his hands behind his back, swaggered toward the factory gate.

Just then, two security officers stopped Sha Zhu.

"What are you doing?" Sha Zhu asked, frowning.

The security officer said in a deep voice, "Open your lunchbox; we need to do a routine check."

Hearing that an inspection was required, Sha Zhu panicked a little. He forced himself to calm down and shouted, his neck stiff:

"Why should you inspect these leftovers? Get out of my way!"

When a group of factory workers saw that Sha Zhu had been stopped by the security department, they stopped to watch the commotion instead of heading home.

The security officer said coldly, "On what grounds? Tell me on what grounds? We suspect you of stealing from the factory. Open your lunchbox now, or we'll have to take action."

"No, you have no right to check my lunchbox. Our canteen allows you to take leftovers home; it's a rule set by Director Yang. I know that. Last time you ate at the canteen, you said I tossed your food in the pan. Is this revenge?"

Sha Zhu twisted the net bag behind him, refusing to let anyone inspect it, acting like a dead pig that wasn't afraid of boiling water.

"Hahaha."

The security officer sneered, "Shazhu, this is a routine inspection. We're not retaliating against you. Besides, Director Yang stepped down a long time ago. He's probably off in the Northwest right now reclaiming wasteland. You still say this is a rule set by Director Yang? Are you really stupid or just pretending? The current director of the steel rolling mill is Director Li."

"Silly Zhu, I'll say it again, open the lunchbox right now, or we'll take action."