That year the flowers bloomed 1981

Chapter 1490 Are we going to have hot pot again?

On Thursday morning at nine o'clock, the tax officials, who had been "fooled" by Jin Hong, returned to the headquarters of Jingnan Group. With the full cooperation of Finance Manager Yang and Li Ye, they investigated the matter of those invoices again.

Old Yang, the finance officer, had control over the financial data, while Li Ye was the deputy leader of the project preparation team. The two were clearly working together to cause trouble, which greatly alarmed some people.

After making a phone call, Shang Bin came to see Ma Zhaoxian with a frosty expression. Ma Zhaoxian's assistant quickly stood up to try to stop him, but was rudely pushed away.

Upon seeing Ma Zhaoxian, Shang Bin whispered sharply, "General Manager Ma, what exactly are you trying to do? Do you have to make a scene that everyone in the city knows about and become a laughingstock?"

Ma Zhaoxian coldly raised his head, first waving his hand to signal his assistant to leave and close the door, then said indifferently, "Whose joke are you watching? My joke?"

Shang Bin sneered, "Isn't that right? Our two units have only been merged for less than half a year, and there's already such a mess. What do you think the higher-ups will think of you?"

"You're not some young, inexperienced greenhorn like Li Ye anymore, are you? Is it really meaningful for yourselves to fight amongst yourselves? Is this the outcome the higher-ups want to see?"

Shang Bin believed his reasons were sufficient.

The establishment of Jingnan Group was a major merger project strongly promoted by many at higher levels, and it was also a standout achievement in last year's annual report.

But it's only been six months since the merger, and there have been stabbing and perjury incidents before, and now there's the news of corruption at the highest levels. It's like a new bride wanting a divorce just a few days after she's married into the family, making her in-laws look very bad.

As for trivial matters like taking kickbacks, lining one's own pocket, or enriching oneself at the expense of the public, they are as insignificant as a man smoking, drinking, gambling, or fishing compared to divorce.

Shang Bin assumed Ma Zhaoxian would understand, but Ma Zhaoxian's lips slowly curled up, and he slowly said, "Then what kind of result do you think the higher-ups hope to see? Can you achieve the result they want?"

Shang Bin was both surprised and angry, and asked Ma Zhaoxian, "Why can't I do it?"

But after saying it, Shang Bin felt that he didn't have much confidence in what he said.

The higher authorities hope that after the merger of Jingnan Group, both parties will integrate their high-quality resources, complement each other's strengths, and rejuvenate both established companies, enabling them to make significant contributions to the country.

However, the current situation is that Southwest Heavy Truck is sluggish and its only "advantageous capabilities" are not valued by Light Truck Company. On the contrary, the various conditions of the First Branch Plant make Southwest Heavy Truck envious.

This is like a guy who's incredibly good at making money marrying a girl who's average-looking, from an ordinary family, and has average abilities.
If you want to live a good life, you still have to rely on the boy's efforts. Girls can't offer much help except for giving birth.

And this child represents the rank within the organization, Ma Zhaoxian's "chair".

Ma Zhaoxian has already been promoted. Do you still want to use a boy's money to subsidize your wife's family? To make your wife's family proud too?

That's not impossible, but you should at least be considerate of the boy, raise the child well, and fulfill your duties as a virtuous wife and loving mother, right? You can't keep getting upset with the boy every day, can you?

But now Shang Binming is waving the big banner of "equality" and recklessly turning money that doesn't belong to him into "private money." How do you expect Ma Zhaoxian and Li Ye to feel about that?
Ma Zhaoxian said calmly, "Secretary Shang, I don't want to fight with you, but Jin Hong's behavior is too ugly. The office building hasn't even had its foundation laid yet, and he's already embezzled hundreds of thousands."

If she waits until the office building is completed, won't she be a multi-millionaire? At that point, our sins will be even greater.”

Shang Bin's eyelids twitched involuntarily, and he felt a little flustered.

He and Cong Jinhong had indeed expected to make tens of millions from this office building. If Li Ye hadn't ruined their plans when they bought the land earlier, they would have each made ten million.

Shang Bin tried hard to suppress his emotions and said calmly, "When we decided to have Cong Jinhong oversee the construction project of the office building, you voted in favor. Now that she is suspected of any illegal activities, we can share the responsibility."

"Really? I remember Jin Hong saying in the meeting a few days ago that if there was any tax evasion, she would take full responsibility. We have the meeting minutes."

Shang Bin was speechless after being rebuked.

Are you trying to dig a pit for me to jump into?

It was Shang Bin who suggested that Jin Hong take charge of procurement, but Ma Zhaoxian did not object. At that time, Shang Bin felt that this was giving him face, but now, no matter how he thinks about it, he feels that Shang Bin was harboring malicious intentions.

If this matter blows up, Ma Zhaoxian will certainly be labeled as "belligerent" by some people, but the biggest impact will be on the higher-ups' opinion of Shang Bin. If the higher-ups all dislike Shang Bin, will Jingnan Group become Ma Zhaoxian's one-man show?

Isn't that obvious? If the two of them switched places right now, Shang Bin would also torment Ma Zhaoxian to death.

Shang Bin suddenly smiled faintly: "Old Ma, no one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes, but as long as he is truly repentant, we should give him another chance. I have carefully investigated Chi Fengchun's problems, and they are all trivial matters."

Chi Fengchun is Shang Bin's driver. He was unlucky a few days ago during the internal investigation led by Shang Bin and has been suspended from his duties. This makes Shang Bin take the initiative to bring up his matter, which has a strong sense of "turning hostility into friendship".

However, Shang Bin slowly shook his head: "If someone makes a mistake, they must be punished. Chi Fengchun must be dealt with seriously, and the same goes for Cong Jinhong."

"you"

Shang Bin didn't expect Ma Zhaoxian to be so ruthless, daring to "turn against his own family for the greater good" even for his own personal driver. Wasn't he afraid that Chi Fengchun would expose all his past misdeeds?
Which driver doesn't know about some shocking scandals? Are you, Ma Zhaoxian, really an infallible saint?
Just as Shang Bin was furious and about to break off all pretense of civility, there was a rapid knocking on the door.

Then Ma Zhaoxian's assistant opened the door and came in without waiting for Ma Zhaoxian's consent, with Li Ye's assistant Zhou Ziqing by his side.

"President Ma, Secretary Shang, the deputy general manager just went up to the rooftop and specifically notified Deputy General Manager Li to go over. Deputy General Manager Li climbed up and took a look, and that's what she looked like..." Ma Zhaoxian suddenly stood up: "What happened to her?"

Zhou Ziqing said with a strange expression, "I can't be sure either, which is why Li Ye asked me to inform you that he has secured the passage to the rooftop and hasn't alerted anyone else."

"Take me to see it quickly!"

Ma Zhaoxian walked out with a dark face, walking very fast despite being in his forties or fifties.

The building where Jingnan Group is located is an old building. To get to the top, you have to climb a steel ladder. Who would bother climbing up there to see the view?
Considering that Jin Hong's complexion had clearly deteriorated these past few days, if she were to actually jump and end it all, Ma Zhaoxian would be in real trouble.

Shang Bin, who was following behind Ma Zhaoxian, had a different idea.

Would you really jump? If you did, it would be a brilliant move.

When Ma Zhaoxian and Shang Bin reached the bottom of the steel ladder, they found that Li Ye hadn't gone up.

Shang Bin said angrily, "Li Ye, why didn't you go up? What are you standing here for?"

Li Ye said calmly, "I'm afraid I won't be able to explain it clearly, so I'm waiting for the two leaders to come and witness it together."

“If anything happens to you from Jin Hong, you will bear the primary responsibility, the full responsibility.”

Shang Bin rushed ahead and started climbing, but when he finally reached the top of the building, he was immediately disappointed.

Jin Hong was indeed sitting on the very edge of the rooftop, but her feet were dangling inside. If she wanted to fall, she would have to fall backward.

This sitting posture didn't seem dangerous to Shang Bin; it was purely meant to scare him.

Sure enough, as soon as Jin Hong saw the people coming, she immediately burst into tears, sobbing, "You all want to frame me to death, fine, I'll do as you wish, I'll go die now!"

Why the hell didn't you die just now?

Shang Bin gritted his teeth, but all he could do was try to comfort her, saying, "Sister Cong, don't get agitated. Come over here first, and we can talk things over."

"I'm not going."

Jin Hong had gone through so much trouble to get Ma Zhaoxian and Shang Bin to come over, how could she possibly compromise so easily?

She said, with tears streaming down her face, "I've been working day and night on the office building project, finding funding, securing land, bidding on projects, and procuring materials, but in the end, I'm caught in the middle."

"We outsiders come to the capital and are targeted and schemed against at every turn. When buying materials, we are taken advantage of because we are newcomers, given an exorbitant price, and then we are falsely accused of crimes."

"Don't come any closer, or I'll jump!"

"I'm innocent! I'm truly innocent! Jin Hong has worked hard for the company, even if she hasn't made any great contributions, she has certainly put in a lot of effort. How can you bear to frame me?"

When a woman starts to cry, it's like putting on a play; she can't stop for a while, leaving Ma Zhaoxian and Shang Bin in a dilemma—they don't know whether to try to persuade her or not.

After everyone stood there for a few minutes, Li Ye suddenly turned to Shang Bin and asked, "Secretary Shang, do you have any cigarettes?"

"what?"

Li Ye glanced at Ma Zhaoxian, then turned to Zhou Ziqing below and said, "Sister Zhou, bring us a pack of cigarettes."

"."

Shang Bin was stunned, thinking that this was some clever plan that Li Ye had come up with to rescue Cong Jin Hong.

But when Zhou Ziqing brought up the cigarettes, Li Ye actually lit one and gave it to Shang Bin.

"Want one? Standing for too long is getting stuffy, I'll have one to relieve the boredom."

Shang Bin then realized what was happening and began to berate Li Ye: "You've gone too far, Li Ye! What time is it? How can you still be smoking?"

Li Ye chuckled and said, "Otherwise what? You don't mean we have to eat hot pot, do you?"

"Ow~"

Jin Hong really cried this time, her cries were heart-wrenching, she was more wronged than Dou E.

(End of this chapter)