Reborn in 2000: I'm the Boss's Driver

In early March, a light rain fell in the provincial capital. The air was fresh after the rain, and Lin Fan made a point of opening the car window when he drove Zhou Wenyuan to work in the morning.

"Spring rain is as precious as oil," Zhou Wenyuan said, looking out the window. "The power supply should be stable this year."

"Yes, spring is here, and we should speed up all our work," Lin Fan said.

After parking my car at the company, I entered the lobby and heard a commotion. Several people in work uniforms were gathered around the front desk, looking agitated.

"What's going on?" Zhou Wenyuan walked over.

The receptionist was almost in tears: "Mr. Zhou, these people are from the construction team. They say our company has been in arrears on payment for the project for three months, and they won't leave until they get their money today."

The construction team leader was a dark-skinned man in his forties with a loud voice: "Boss, we don't want to cause trouble, but we really have no choice! The workers are waiting for their wages and food!"

Zhou Wenyuan frowned: "Which project? Who's in charge?"

"The contract for the expansion project of the Chengbei Substation was signed with our company's infrastructure department," said the stern-faced man. "We've contacted them countless times, and the department head says it's going through the procedures, but it's been three months and the procedures aren't finished yet!"

Zhou Wenyuan's face darkened: "You all go to the conference room and wait. I'll have someone handle this."

After saying that, he turned to Lin Fan and said, "Go and find out what happened."

"it is good."

Lin Fan immediately called the infrastructure department, but the director was not there, saying he had gone to the construction site. He then contacted the vice president in charge of infrastructure, but the vice president could not explain the specific situation either.

Back in the meeting room, the construction team was still waiting, and they all looked unhappy.

"Masters, could you show me the contract?" Lin Fan asked.

The dark-skinned man handed over a copy of the contract. Lin Fan examined it carefully; it was indeed a project of the provincial power company, with a contract amount of 8.6 million yuan, payable according to progress. According to the contract, the second payment of 2.4 million yuan should have been made three months ago.

"How many times have you contacted the infrastructure department?" Lin Fan asked.

"It's happened at least ten times!" the dark-skinned man said. "Every time they say it'll be done soon, but the money never comes. Assistant Lin, we're not having an easy time either. Dozens of workers are waiting to eat. Some of them have children in school who need tuition fees. If this drags on any longer, the project will have to stop."

Lin Fan understood. It was obvious that someone was deliberately blocking things.

"Okay, you can go back now. I'll definitely give you an answer before I leave work today," Lin Fan said.

"Really?" The dark-faced man looked at him suspiciously.

"Really." Lin Fan said with certainty, "If you don't get an answer today, come back to me tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll trust you this once."

After seeing the construction team off, Lin Fan went straight to the finance department. The director was a woman in her fifties surnamed Sun, who wore glasses and looked very serious.

"Director Sun, why hasn't the second payment for the expansion project of the Chengbei Substation been made yet?" Lin Fan asked bluntly.

Director Sun adjusted his glasses: "Assistant Lin, the payment application for this project is with the Infrastructure Department. They haven't submitted the complete acceptance documents yet. According to company regulations, payment cannot be made without the acceptance documents."

"What's missing in the materials?"

"The site supervisor's signature is missing, as is the project manager's confirmation form."

Lin Fan understood. The problem still lay with the infrastructure department.

Just as he was about to go find the head of the infrastructure department, Yang Zhiyuan rushed over: "Lin Fan, Chairman Zhou wants you to go over there."

Back in Zhou Wenyuan's office, Zhou Wenyuan was reviewing documents.

"Have you found out?" he asked without looking up.

"The infrastructure department is holding back the acceptance of materials, and the finance department cannot make payments according to regulations," Lin Fan said. "The construction team's workers are waiting to be paid, so the situation is indeed urgent."

Zhou Wenyuan put down the documents: "Who is the head of the infrastructure department?"

"Li Ming, forty-five years old, has worked in the infrastructure department for ten years," Yang Zhiyuan said from the side. "This guy... doesn't have a good reputation."

"How is it bad?"

"They say they like to extort money," Yang Zhiyuan said in a low voice. "The construction team has to bribe officials if they want to get paid smoothly."

Zhou Wenyuan sneered, "What era are we living in? How dare you do this? Lin Fan, you handle this. You have this afternoon to settle this matter."

"Yes."

Outside the office, Yang Zhiyuan whispered, "Brother Lin, this Li Ming is not easy to deal with. I heard he has connections in the company; he's one of the vice president's men."

"If you have a reason, you can go anywhere; if you don't, you can't move an inch," Lin Fan said. "Let's go to the infrastructure department."

The infrastructure department was on the third floor, and the office was quite large. The department head, Li Ming, wasn't there; he was said to have gone to the construction site. The deputy department head was there, surnamed Wang, in his forties, and his attitude towards Lin Fan and Yang Zhiyuan was lukewarm.

"Assistant Lin, Secretary Yang, are you looking for Director Li? He's not here."

"It's okay if you're not here; it'll be the same if I find you." Lin Fan sat down. "When can we submit the acceptance documents for the Chengbei Substation expansion project to the finance department?"

Deputy Director Wang's eyes flickered: "This... is still being sorted out, it'll be done soon."

"How long is 'soon'? The construction team has been waiting for three months; the workers are waiting to get paid." Lin Fan stared at him. "Director Wang, give me a straight answer."

"I really can't make that decision; it needs Director Li's signature."

"When will Director Li be back?"

"It's hard to say, maybe this afternoon, maybe tomorrow."

Lin Fan understood; they were stalling. He stood up: "Fine, then I'll wait for Director Li to return. But Director Wang, let me remind you, Chairman Zhou is very concerned about this matter; it must be resolved before the end of the workday."

Deputy Director Wang's expression changed, but he remained defiant: "We follow procedures, it doesn't matter who comes."

As they left the infrastructure department, Yang Zhiyuan said, "Brother Lin, it seems they're not afraid."

"It's not that I'm not afraid, it's that I'm fearless," Lin Fan said. "Let's go find the construction team."

Lin Fan called the dark-skinned man and arranged to meet him at the construction site. Lin Fan and Yang Zhiyuan drove there.

The construction site is in the north of the city. It's a newly built substation. The main structure is complete, and the workers are doing the finishing touches. The dark-skinned man is Liu Dazhu, the construction team leader.

"Assistant Lin, is there any news?" Liu Dazhu asked anxiously.

"Not yet," Lin Fan said. "But Captain Liu, I want to ask you something. Why is the material inspection stalled? Is it because you didn't follow the standards for construction?"

"Absolutely not!" Liu Dazhu exclaimed anxiously. "We've been in the construction business for twenty years, and we've never cut corners! Look at this quality, this workmanship—it absolutely meets the standards!"

He led Lin Fan on a tour of the site. Although Lin Fan didn't understand electrical engineering, he could tell that the work was done meticulously and the materials used were of good quality.

"Then why didn't the supervisor sign it?" Lin Fan asked.

Liu Dazhu hesitated, glanced around, and lowered his voice: "Assistant Lin, to tell you the truth, we already signed off on the project. It's Director Li who won't accept it, saying he wants a 're-inspection.' They've done three re-inspections, and each time they find some minor flaws and make us 'offer something' as a token of appreciation."

How much do you want?

"They asked for 100,000 the first time, but we didn't give it to them. Later, they raised it to 200,000." Liu Dazhu smiled bitterly. "Assistant Lin, the profit from this project is only 500,000. If we give them 200,000, the workers will have worked for nothing."

Lin Fan understood. This wasn't a work-related issue; it was a people-related issue.

"Where are the original inspection materials?" he asked.

"In our company, we always keep the original copies of the supervisor's signature."

"Okay, go get it now and bring it to me," Lin Fan said. "Also, send me a copy of the photo with the supervisor's signature."

"OK!"

Liu Dazhu immediately sent someone to retrieve the materials. Lin Fan sent Zhou Wenyuan a short message, briefly reporting the situation. Zhou Wenyuan replied with a single word: "Investigate."

An hour later, the materials arrived. Both originals and copies were present, the supervisor's signature was complete, and the date was three months prior. This meant the inspection had been completed three months ago.

Lin Fan took a few photos and went straight back to the company.

This time, he didn't go to the Infrastructure Department, but instead went to the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Office. The director's surname was Zhang, and he had a good relationship with Zhou Wenyuan.

"Director Zhang, I need your help with something." Lin Fan explained the situation and showed the photos of the materials.

After reading it, Director Zhang's expression turned serious: "This Li Ming is incredibly audacious. Assistant Lin, leave this to me; you can all go back now."

"Do you need a construction team to cooperate?"

"Yes, you need to have them come over tomorrow morning."

"it is good."

As Yang Zhiyuan left the disciplinary inspection office, he said with some concern, "Brother Lin, isn't this too hasty? Li Ming has someone backing him..."

"If someone's backing you, you need to act swiftly and decisively," Lin Fan said. "Dragging it out will only cause more trouble."

At 3 PM, the disciplinary inspection office went to the infrastructure department. At 4 PM, Li Ming was called in for a talk. At 5 PM, the news spread—Li Ming had been suspended from his duties pending investigation.

At 6 o'clock, the finance department notified the construction team to come and complete the payment procedures tomorrow morning.

The whole process took less than a day.

After get off work, Lin Fan drove Zhou Wenyuan home. On the way, Zhou Wenyuan said, "Today's matter was handled well. It resolved the problem and also served as a warning to the person involved."

"It's because Director Zhang acted quickly," Lin Fan said.

"You provided crucial evidence," Zhou Wenyuan said. "Lin Fan, I've noticed a characteristic of yours—you don't provoke trouble, but you're not afraid of it either. You know when to be tough and when to be soft."

Lin Fan smiled and said, "I just feel that things that need to be done should be done, and people who need help should be helped."

"We can cooperate with Liu Dazhu in the future," Zhou Wenyuan said. "He's a conscientious worker and an honest person. Our company needs a construction team like this."

"Yes."

The next day, Liu Dazhu came to the company with a banner, insisting on seeing Lin Fan. The banner read, "Solving people's worries, honest and upright."

Lin Fan was embarrassed to accept the money, but Liu Dazhu insisted, "Assistant Lin, if it weren't for you, we wouldn't have been able to get through the year. The workers all said they want to thank you properly."

"It's what I should do," Lin Fan said. "Working hard and doing a good job on the project will be the greatest gratitude you can give me."

"Definitely! Definitely!"

The news spread quickly throughout the company. Everyone said that the new assistant to Chairman Zhou, despite his low-key demeanor, was incredibly efficient and decisive, even managing to bring down the troublesome Li Ming from the infrastructure department.

Some people were curious about Lin Fan's background, but after investigation, it turned out he was just someone transferred from Gangcheng. He used to work for the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, and now he's a driver and assistant. Nothing special, but he's reliable.

Yang Zhiyuan asked Lin Fan privately, "Brother Lin, weren't you afraid of offending someone when you went to see Director Zhang of the Discipline Inspection Commission yesterday?"

"What's there to be afraid of?" Lin Fan said. "We'll act according to the rules, with reason and evidence. Besides, if Chairman Zhou wants us to investigate, we'll investigate. If the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up."

Yang Zhiyuan said admiringly, "You're so steady."

In truth, Lin Fan knew he wasn't being reckless. Having been reborn, he'd seen far too many things like this. Some people, the more you soften them, the harder they become. And the more you harden them, the softer they become.

The key is to stand on the ground, gather evidence, and strike decisively.

After this incident, those in the company who wanted to make things difficult for Zhou Wenyuan became much more restrained. They knew that Zhou Wenyuan wasn't someone to be easily fooled.

A week later, the infrastructure department got a new director, a capable and efficient person transferred from a branch office. The payment process went smoothly, the construction team received their money, and the project was successfully completed.

In mid-March, the company held a cadre meeting. Zhou Wenyuan stated at the meeting: "Our power company is a service-oriented unit. Internally, we must serve our employees well; externally, we must serve our customers well. Anyone who dares to solicit bribes, demand favors, or harm the interests of the company or the public will be dealt with severely without exception!"

The audience was silent.

After the meeting, many people took the initiative to greet Lin Fan, and their attitude was noticeably more enthusiastic.

Lin Fan remained the same as always, driving when he needed to, running errands when he needed to, and keeping records when he needed to. He was unassuming and didn't put on airs.

But everyone in the company knew that this seemingly ordinary driver and assistant was not someone to be trifled with.

Interestingly, since then, the efficiency of various departments in the company has improved significantly. Documents that needed to be approved, payments that needed to be made, and tasks that needed to be completed have all become much smoother.

Sometimes, when Lin Fan went to various departments to handle matters, the other party would proactively say, "Assistant Lin, don't worry about this, we'll take care of it right away."

Yang Zhiyuan joked, "Brother Lin, you're now the company's 'efficiency catalyst'."

Lin Fan smiled and said, "It's not that I'm amazing, it's that Jay Chou is amazing. What everyone is looking at is Jay Chou's attitude."

That being said, Lin Fan knew in his heart that sometimes, if you demonstrate your ability and principles, others will respect you.

This is strength.

There's no need for ostentation or boasting; simply getting things done well is the greatest strength.

Over the weekend, Lin Fan took his family to an amusement park in the provincial capital. Baby Beibei had a great time, riding the carousel, driving toy cars, and eating cotton candy.

Looking at the children's smiling faces, Wang Juan said to Lin Fan, "Xiao Fan, your work is going well now, and the children have adapted to life in the provincial capital. That's wonderful."

"Yeah, everything's fine." Lin Fan hugged his son. "It's just that sometimes I miss Gangcheng, I miss my parents, and I miss my sister's family."

"Let's go back and visit during the May Day holiday."

"it is good."

As the sun sets, the amusement park lights come on. A family sits on the Ferris wheel, enjoying the night view of the provincial capital.

The lights were bright, and the traffic was heavy.

This city is becoming their new home.

Lin Fan found his place in this new home.

They don't compete or fight, but they are indispensable.

It doesn't flaunt its power, but it carries its own weight.

This is the life he wants.

Down-to-earth, stable, and capable.

enough.