The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 249 Entrepreneurship
"The one who tied the knot must untie it." Zhong Kui stood in front of a skyscraper, looking up at the four large characters "Dongjun Industry" hanging high above the office building, and said leisurely. Then he turned to Qi Fei and said with a mischievous smile, "Young Master, you didn't expect to make your debut like this, did you?"

"I'm just an ordinary police officer from the Criminal Investigation Division of Nancheng Police Station, not some young master. Once you step through this door, don't mention this matter again," Qi Fei said seriously, finding it anything but funny.

At this moment, Lu Man hurriedly came out and stood very close to them, whispering, "No one in the company knows that President Qi is in trouble. Fortunately, apart from me, no one in the group has ever seen Qi Fei, and they don't know your relationship with President Qi. I told everyone I met that you are reporters writing about the entrepreneurial journey of Dongjun Industrial, so please keep a consistent story."

Indeed, since Xi Ziyun was murdered, let alone set foot in Dongjun Industry, Qi Fei has only seen him a handful of times in Qidong County.

Who would have thought that one day this alienation could become an advantage in concealing one's identity?

Lu Man led them to a meeting room and gave them a pre-prepared list: "These are all veterans of Dongjun Industrial. They know best about President Qi's entrepreneurial journey."

Qi Fei sat in the negotiation room, feeling a sense of unreality.

The people here are far more familiar with Qidong County than he is.

The first person to enter was an elderly man whose hair had all fallen out. Qi Fei glanced at the list—"Xu Tong," employee number 0003. This employee number was enough to explain the situation.

Xu Tong had just sat down when, before Qi Fei could even ask a question, he spoke up first: "Did President Qi agree to this interview?"

"Mm," Qi Fei replied.

Xu Tong frowned. "This isn't like him. I heard he hasn't been to the company for several days." He glanced at the young people sitting opposite him, then realized there was a difference between insiders and outsiders. "Oh, it's nothing. I haven't been in good health these past few years, so I haven't been involved in company matters. You're reporters, right? Go ahead and ask." He coughed twice. According to the information, he was even two years younger than Qi Dongjun, but he looked like an old man.

Xu Tong's appearance was the first reminder to Qi Fei that, beneath Qi Dongjun's sprightly appearance, he was already an old man.

“I’ve looked at the information. You’re the most senior employee besides General Manager Qi. You’ve been working for General Manager Qi since 1998.” Qi Fei tried to appear detached. “Everyone says that General Manager Qi earned his first pot of gold on his entrepreneurial journey that year. There are many different opinions about this story. You were one of the first to work for General Manager Qi. We hope you can tell us what the situation was like in 1998 from your own experience.”

Xu Tong touched his bald head with his veins bulging: "There's nothing to say about this. The stories outside are all embellished. Doing business is hard work, and it's actually quite boring to break it down like this."

1998 was not only Mr. Qi's lucky year, but also mine. I remember that year, I was just an ordinary tailor when Mr. Qi suddenly came to my shop. He said he had heard that I was the best tailor in the area, and that he had a clothing order that he needed help to finish quickly. He asked if I could join him.

"Of course it's good to make money when you open a business, so I agreed without thinking too much." He suddenly laughed as if it were a very interesting thing. "Looking back now, I was really young and naive. This matter almost killed me."

The order he mentioned was far beyond what an ordinary tailor could handle. He was given only a week to supply a thousand sets of fashion items to an overseas supplier, which wasn't difficult in itself. The problem was that his fabrics were all wrinkled and needed ironing. Ironing the fabrics alone took three days. Then, according to the patterns requested by the client, my wife and I stayed up for four consecutive nights, barely sleeping, and the sewing machine was practically smoking as we worked, before we managed to deliver the goods.

After we finished this job, we both got seriously ill.

At that time, Mr. Qi said he didn't have any money on hand and would pay me after he received the payment for the goods. I'm an honest person, and seeing how sincere he seemed, I agreed without much thought.

Back then, things weren't like they are now, where everything involves a contract and legal counsel. I just accepted a blank IOU from him, and that was it. He ran around doing all sorts of things, and after the goods were delivered, there was no news for three months.

My wife has started complaining that I was scammed.

Unexpectedly, at the beginning of the fourth month, he really came back.

I remember it was raining heavily that day. I was making clothes for customers in the shop as usual when a person wearing a military green raincoat ran all the way from the alley entrance and brazenly took off the raincoat in front of my shop. Rainwater splashed everywhere and soaked all the fabric in my shop.

Despite wearing a raincoat, Qi Dongjun's hair was still soaked.

He was panting, his eyes were shining, and he pulled a wad of hundred-yuan bills from his pocket, placed them on my sewing machine, and said that the payment for that batch of goods had arrived.

When I counted the money, it was several times more than he had promised, so I took a few bills and returned the rest to him.

He was stunned. He insisted on giving me all the money, saying that without me, he wouldn't have received it. This was the first time he had made money in the years he had been doing business, and he had to thank me.

We were pushing and shoving each other around in the store when the money accidentally spilled all over the floor. Seeing this, he put on his raincoat and rushed into the rain.

I'm an honest person. I said I'd take what I was supposed to, and I don't want to take advantage of others.

I'm not happy at all to have received this money.

As I squatted down picking up the banknotes from the wet ground, I regretted not chasing after them.

Unexpectedly, just as they were picking up the money, Qi Dongjun returned.

I thought he regretted giving me too much money, and I was about to sort out the money and give it to him.

Unexpectedly, he grabbed my hand as I handed him the money and asked if I wanted to join him in the clothing business. He said he wanted to build the largest clothing factory in East China, and that I was hardworking and skilled. He needed a master tailor to help him.

That's just how Qi Dongjun is. He's so enthusiastic and passionate that you fall for him without even realizing it. Xu Tong couldn't help but laugh as he spoke. "I agreed without really thinking about it, and when I got there, I found out that this big deal he was talking about was only for him. Including me, there were only two of us. Haha, that guy!"

Then I foolishly followed him around, working day and night. He took orders, I did the work. Who would have thought we'd get to where we are today!

Xu Tong was immersed in memories of his years of struggle, but not everyone in the room felt moved. Zhong Kui asked, somewhat unceremoniously, "Just the two of you? Isn't your employee number 0003? Then who is employee number 0002?"