The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 601 Are you going to see Factory Director Xu? (Bonus chapter for Kurumi丶33's patronage reward!)

Qin Huai very skillfully conducted newcomer training for Wang Gensheng, speaking for about 40 minutes. In the middle of the training, his mouth got dry and he wanted to drink some tea, but he found that Shi Dadan had already drunk all the tea in the teapot. So he went outside to get a bottle of mineral water, gulped down half of it, and then continued speaking.

As for why the kitchen helpers weren't asked to brew another pot of tea...

The kitchen staff had all gone home by now, even An Youyou had left. Otherwise, Qin Huai and the others wouldn't have been able to sit in the kitchen so openly and talk about these things.

After introducing everyone's situation, Qin Huai skillfully pulled Wang Gensheng into the group chat, and regretfully told Wang Gensheng that he woke up late. If he had woken up before Luo Jun died, everyone could have gone to Luo Jun's house for a tea party and some free fruit.

Now that Luo Jun's house has been given to Qin Huai, they can hold tea parties there, but there's no free fruit—Chen Huihong only bought fruit once.

Qin Huai is busy with work and making pastries every day and doesn't have time to go to a boutique fruit shop to pick out fruit.

After introducing everyone's situation, Qin Huai began to question Wang Gensheng about the specifics of his situation: why he failed to transcend the tribulation, and what his obsession was.

Wang Gensheng briefly explained that his failure to transcend the tribulation was a cliché plot that conforms to popular belief.

Wang Gensheng's first incarnation occurred during a chaotic era. As a magical beast, Wang Gensheng did not run away to the mountains like Qu Jing, but instead went directly to the human world to learn the rules and laws, and even became a civil servant in a government agency.

If Wang Gensheng had lived in a law-abiding society with a good social atmosphere, he would have been able to successfully overcome his first ordeal. Unfortunately, the government agencies of his time were basically devoid of honest and upright officials; the only difference was between those who were less corrupt and those who were more corrupt.

Wang Gensheng did not want to go along with the corrupt practices, but he did not have the opportunity.

He didn't even have the chance to report it. Who could he report? All his colleagues and superiors?

Such an environment would be a death trap for a magical beast, so it's understandable that it would fail to transcend the tribulation.

In his second life, Wang Gensheng wanted to continue upholding his beliefs and study diligently to become an accountant. However, he eventually gave in due to pressure from his family and friends, choosing not to participate or report the matter.

This is Wang Gensheng's third incarnation.

It can only be said that Xu Nuo's judgment of Wang Gensheng's obsession and state was very accurate. If Wang Gensheng wanted to successfully overcome his tribulation, he had to firmly be himself and adhere to the beliefs in his heart. No matter how great the danger and obstacles, he had to persevere. Xu Nuo knew very well how difficult it was to persevere, so he chose to use his own life to deepen Wang Gensheng's perseverance before he died.

Even without Qin Huai, Wang Gensheng would definitely have succeeded in overcoming his tribulation in this life, because he has already done so.

Wang Gensheng's story is already very clear.

“Uncle Wang, I still call you that. Now that you are awake, and I know from your memories that Director Xu actually knew that Xu Nuo and Shi Dadan were spirits, as I just told you, we went to Suzhou to see Director Xu once a while ago.”

“I think we can confront Director Xu directly. In fact, this doesn’t even count as a confrontation. I suspect that Director Xu has already figured out that Lao Shi is Xu Mo and An Youyou is the boss.”

"Are you going to Suzhou with me tomorrow afternoon?" Qin Huai asked Wang Gensheng.

Qin Huai felt that Wang Gensheng was the spirit with the smallest difference before and after waking up. This was probably because he was a magical beast. Wang Gensheng's personality was almost the same whether he was a human or a spirit, and there was almost no difference between them.

Since there wasn't much difference, Qin Huai suspected that Wang Gensheng might not be able to face Director Xu for the time being.

The relationship between Wang Gensheng and Factory Director Xu was actually quite complex. They were staunch allies, but the death of Xu Nuo had complicated matters between them. Factory Director Xu did not actively cultivate Wang Gensheng; at least, Wang Gensheng did not receive a rapid promotion or salary increase at the cotton mill. However, Factory Director Xu did not immediately disband the alliance after the report was filed.

Wang Gensheng offended so many people in the cotton mill. If it weren't for Director Xu protecting him, he would have been demoted to a hard and tiring job long ago.

Not to mention that Wang Gensheng didn't sell the double crab bun recipe that Xu had promised him, because it was a keepsake from his friend, and he couldn't bear to sell it. The money for Wang Gensheng's father's surgery was lent to him by Factory Director Xu, and it took Wang Gensheng many years to pay it off with interest.

Regarding the Red Silk Cake, Wang Gensheng only briefly mentioned it when recounting his past lives. Before he woke up, he was unwilling to tell Qin Huai the truth because the Red Silk Cake was a dessert he could never face in his life.

He both longed to eat it and feared mentioning it, so he couldn't tell Qin Huai the truth, couldn't tell Qin Huai which friend made the red silk cake, and dared not tell Qin Huai that he actually had no idea what the red silk cake tasted like. Even the only bite of sweet red silk cake he ever tasted was eaten by Wang Gensheng with tears in his eyes on the day he promised to die.

The red silk cake was sweet, and tears were salty, but to Wang Gensheng at the time, they tasted bitter.

The reason he couldn't describe the taste was because he had no real taste in his memory, only real pain.

For Wang Gensheng, regardless of whether Xu Nuo's death was an accident or not, he bore responsibility. Xu Nuo was killed in a truck accident on her way back to the city after buying ingredients for making red silk cakes in the countryside.

Xu Nuo promised to make him red silk cakes so that he could eat them after get off work on Mid-Autumn Festival. However, Deputy Factory Director Zhou and others found out his exact whereabouts, which led to his being hit by a car and killed.

For Wang Gensheng, he bears an inescapable responsibility for Xu Nuo's death.

Wang Gensheng kept the package of red silk cakes until the Lunar New Year. On New Year's Eve, when Wang Gensheng went to the cupboard to take out the oil paper package, he discovered that the red silk cakes had long been eaten by mice. The clever mice had gnawed a large hole in the back of the oil paper package, which Wang Gensheng had never noticed when he opened the cupboard.

Wang Gensheng kept the oil paper that had been gnawed by rats for more than 20 years until it could no longer be preserved and tore apart during a move.

Wang Gensheng had no promises to leave him anything, but he tried his best to preserve every single item that was promised. Under these circumstances, Wang Gensheng never saw Director Xu again after leaving Suzhou, which shows the complex feelings he had for him.

Now that Wang Gensheng has woken up, he knows that Xu Nuo is actually a spirit, and his death does not represent a true death. However, this does not mean that Wang Gensheng can absolve himself of responsibility for Xu Nuo's death.

Because that's the kind of person Wang Gensheng is.

He is stubborn and insists on what he believes in. Whether it is a human or a spirit, his personality will not change because he is a magical beast, and he insists on fairness, justice and the magical beast in his heart.

Faced with Qin Huai's question, Wang Gensheng remained silent.

"Even if Director Xu knows that Xu Nuo is a spirit and that he can be reincarnated, he will still blame me."

“The promise made after reincarnation is no longer a promise; his son did indeed die because of me.”

"Director Xu won't blame you," Qin Huai said, looking at Wang Gensheng. "Because Xu Nuo told him before he died not to blame you."

“When we visited Director Xu at the nursing home last time, he didn’t mention much about the promises, probably because he didn’t want to. But I could tell he loved his youngest son very much.”

“You will remember what Xu Nuo said to you before he died, remember it for a lifetime, never forget it for decades, and prove with your actions that you remember what he said.”

“I believe Director Xu feels the same way; he won’t blame you. And if he knew you were a spirit and promised to wake you up, and now that you’ve actually woken up, he’ll be happy.”

Wang Gensheng's eyes reddened for the first time.

"Then I'll check flight tickets now." Wang Gensheng took out his phone to book a flight.

"I've already checked the schedule. There's a flight to Shanghai tomorrow afternoon at 2 pm. I can take the plane and then the high-speed rail to Huang Ji for dinner. After resting for the night, I can visit Director Xu at the nursing home the next morning and invite Mr. Gong along as well."

"If Director Xu knew that he actually knew so many spirits, he would definitely be very surprised."

(End of this chapter)