Rebirth 04: Starting from Taking an Unconventional Approach

"Uh, President," Lu Hai suddenly said, "what does that business development person do?"

"Business outside the province," Han Fei said. "The pilot program in Guangdong is about to start, and the bidding announcement for Zhejiang Province will be released next week. We need to have a dedicated person to liaise with the provincial mobile network and track the data."

"Should we directly expose new employees to these sensitive tasks?"

"Of course not. It is indeed risky for newcomers to handle sensitive business. We need to be aware of the risks, but we can't let those risks stifle our expansion. We need to let newcomers learn by doing, step by step, according to the steps we've designed. Initially, business development personnel will only deal with the provincial mobile network's public data and routine needs. The core settlement, revenue sharing, and strategic communication will still be handled by us veterans. For example, Lu Hai can take on the execution-level business work in Guangdong, with newcomers assisting him, since he has already been to Guangdong once and performed quite well."

Lu Hai smiled shyly.

"Although I almost got tricked into saying something," Han Fei added.

Everyone burst into laughter.

"Oh, and one more thing," Han Fei said. "Today is Saturday. Although we can't have a normal two-day weekend yet, starting this week, everyone can take one day off per week on a flexible schedule. You can arrange which day you want to take off yourself, just let us know in advance. We'll make sure there's at least one person on duty for each position every day. Everyone's been exhausted lately. Health is the foundation of everything, so we can't let ourselves get overworked. Meeting adjourned."

......

The emergency observation room at Jiaotong University Affiliated Hospital was bathed in glaring sunlight. These multi-person rooms primarily served for intravenous infusions and patient monitoring, and were frequent haunted by all sorts of oddballs. After Han Fei and Zhang Ruiyi arrived at the observation room, a man with a bandage wrapped around his head got up and left; such people usually suffered head injuries from falling and injuring themselves while drunk.

They stopped at the door. There were four beds in the room, three of which were occupied. Elephant was sitting on the bed by the window, clearly having just made a joke, while Ma Yongxing and his two men were still laughing. Because Elephant was so large, the hospital had to bring in an extra-long and wide bed.

"Hey, President Han, Miss Zhang!" Elephant called out, noticing the two people at the door.

The two entered the room, and Han Fei nodded to Ma Yongxing, placing the fruit basket on the bedside table.

"Brother Elephant, you've really gone through a lot this time, taking such a big risk. How's your injury?" Han Fei asked.

"It's nothing serious, just a superficial wound," the elephant said with a smile. "That dog's mouth wasn't very strong, just sharp teeth. I got a rabies vaccine, and the wound didn't get infected, so I can be discharged today."

"How are your preparations going?" Ma Yongxing asked.

"It's already been integrated into Qian Youde's explanatory materials," Han Fei said. "It can be submitted on Monday."

Ma Yongxing nodded and called Han Fei and Zhang Ruiyi to the fire escape at the end of the corridor. As Han Fei and Ma Yongxing smoked together, Ma Yongxing told Han Fei about the production site.

"That's a bit unusual," Ma Yongxing said.

"Abnormal?"

"Yes, I left two people there to keep watch. From last night until now, there hasn't been a sound from that hideout. No one has come back, no one has been taking anything out, and there's no sound of machinery."

"Do you think they might have noticed?"

"It's hard to say," Ma Yongxing said. "Those people who do this kind of business are not low on vigilance. Maybe the driver who delivered the goods last night reported back that he felt he might be being watched, and then the higher-ups ordered them to stop temporarily. It's also possible that they originally planned to rest today, or that something else happened internally and they were waiting for instructions from above."

"But," Zhang Ruiyi said, "if they really sensed something was wrong, shouldn't they have destroyed their hideout and run away as soon as possible?"

"Miss Zhang is right." Ma Yongxing looked at the cigarette glow. "But one thing I'm sure of now is that, at least so far, no one has entered the hideout. The truck is still there, the goods are still there, and the hideout hasn't been shut down. If they were really sure they were being watched, they should have moved out overnight, not stayed until now."

Han Fei nodded thoughtfully: "That means they're observing. They're unsure if there's any danger, so they're stopping to see what's going on."

"Okay," Ma Yongxing said, "I'll have someone keep an eye on things over there, and they'll let you know if anything happens."

After the two finished their cigarettes, Ma Yongxing went to pick up Daxiang from the hospital. Han Fei and Zhang Ruiyi arrived at Han Baohua's ward, but the doctor was examining Han Baohua, and his aunt was sitting at the door of the ward.

When Zhang Ruiyi introduced herself, she gave a slight bow. Han Fei noticed that his aunt liked this gesture, as she always complained that young people nowadays no longer gave this gesture.

"How's my dad doing these past few days?" Han Fei asked.

"The doctor said he's recovering well, so don't worry," Auntie said. "But just now... just now when I went to the water room to get some water, I saw someone standing at the door of your dad's ward."

"Who is it?" Han Fei asked.

"A man, who looked to be in his fifties, was wearing a black shirt and was very thin. He just stood there, not knocking on the door, not looking inside, just standing there."

Before Han Fei could even think, the words had already escaped his lips: "Do you know him?"

My aunt shook her head: "I don't know him. I asked him who he was looking for, but he ignored me. I took two steps closer, and he turned and left, walking quite quickly. I chased him to the stairwell, but he had disappeared."

"What does he look like?"

"I didn't see his face very clearly," my aunt said. "He kept his head down the whole time, and he seemed to have some difficulty walking, he was dragging his feet a bit. Oh, right, when he got to the top of the stairs, he suddenly coughed loudly twice, coughed really hard, like he was going to cough up his lungs."

Zhang Ruiyi opened her mouth as if to speak, but Han Fei glanced at her, and she closed her mouth again.

"It's alright, Auntie," Han Fei said. "Next time you see someone like that, don't go near them. Just call a nurse or security guard."

"I went to the nurses' station and asked. The nurse said that someone did ask for your dad's room number this morning, and that person claimed to be an old friend of your dad's. But I just don't think something's right. I saw that person standing at the door as soon as I went up the stairs, not moving at all. I asked him, but he wouldn't say anything. If he really was an old friend, why would he act like that?"

Han Fei nodded, his mind racing with a jumble of faces, but he couldn't recall anyone he knew or why anyone would be standing in front of the ward just to wait there. He patted his aunt's arm and stood up. "It's alright, Auntie, don't overthink it. Maybe it's some former publishing employee or author who's too shy to come in and is just standing there hesitating. As for my dad, try asking him if he has any old friends he's lost contact with, but don't tell him about this directly, so he doesn't overthink it. I'll go tell the nurses at the station now, and if any strangers ask for the ward, they should contact me first. We have things to do at the publishing house, so we'll head back now."