My Dongguan Love Story

My face darkened instantly. I stared directly at Zhou Zhengtao and asked angrily, "Are you saying you're not going to give me the money?"

When Zhou Zhengtao saw my face darken, he not only didn't hide it, but his smile deepened, looking completely unconcerned.

He had worked in this factory for a long time and had long since mastered a set of methods, having dealt with countless new employees.

First, he would trick the new, naive young man into spending money to buy cigarettes, then secretly pocket the cigarettes for himself. After a couple of days, he would find some excuse to kick him out, without anyone noticing.

After a month, he not only didn't spend a penny on his own cigarettes, but even had some left over to give to his underlings, so they were all willing to follow him.

Zhou Zhengtao exhaled a smoke ring and looked at me with a smile: "Dazhuang, I won't let you suffer for nothing by smoking your cigarette. Here's the deal: you don't have to do anything today, just lie down and sleep."

I'll also assign you some easy tasks so you can have a comfortable workday. At the end of the month, I'll talk to HR and tell them you've performed well enough to get a permanent position, and they'll give you a raise of two hundred yuan.

"How about it? These benefits are much more worthwhile than a carton of cigarettes."

Zhou Zhengtao gave me a look that said he had me figured out.

Because he always used this trick—a mix of coaxing and deception—to win over new employees. As for the promise of a permanent position at the end of the month and an extra two hundred yuan? Don't even think about it. If you just listen to him and coast along, he'll find an excuse to fire you for not working properly in a couple of days. And you won't even have a chance to argue.

As for asking him for the money for the cigarettes later? What cigarettes? He's unlikely to admit to it.

Although I don't know what he's up to, I'm absolutely unwilling to suffer a loss of 240 yuan without being able to speak up.

Although I have some money now, I'm not going to squander it. I'm saving it all to get married!

Seeing Zhou Zhengtao's shameless attitude, I didn't intend to waste words with him.

I walked over to the two people who were reading a story magazine and took the cigarettes from in front of them. They looked up at me in confusion, wondering what I meant.

After taking all six packs of cigarettes that Zhou Zhengtao had given me, I went to his desk, reached into the drawer, and took out half a carton of cigarettes. I also took the half-smoked cigarette from his mouth, extinguished it, and put it back in the cigarette case, leaving him not a single one.

No one had ever tried to snatch a cigarette from him before, so he didn't react for a moment. It wasn't until I took the cigarette away that he came to his senses, glaring at me with a dark look in his eyes: "Chen Dazhuang, what do you mean by this?"

I glanced at him and said, "Consider that cigarette you smoked earlier as my treat."

After I finished speaking, I walked out with the cigarettes, and I could hear Zhou Zhengtao's angry roar in my ears.

"Damn it, you brat!"

Immediately following was the sound of something being thrown to the ground.

The dark-skinned security guard was stunned when he saw me snatch the cigarette and walk out. He looked at me with disbelief: "You, you actually dared to steal the captain's cigarette?"

I shrugged. "What? His cigarettes? He didn't pay. These are mine."

As I spoke, I took out a pack and tossed it to him. He had just warned me not to buy cigarettes, though he hadn't dared to say it completely because of Zhou Zhengtao's authority. But he was still a decent person. I'm new here, and I need to get to know some people to get started. So I gave him a pack of cigarettes.

When he saw me toss him a pack of Furongwang cigarettes, he was immediately flattered. He hadn't expected that I, who had risked snatching the cigarettes from Zhou Zhengtao, would actually share them with him. And these were Furongwang cigarettes, quite expensive; he usually couldn't afford them.

He smiled and accepted the cigarette, took one, and took a puff. "Thanks. My name is Li Jie. What's yours?"

"Dazhuang".

"Oh, Dazhuang, you're really brave. When I first arrived, the captain tricked me out of a pack of cigarettes. I was really angry, but I didn't dare to take it back. You did something I didn't dare to do today."

"But you've offended him like this. You're probably going to have a hard time at work from now on. You might even get fired by the team leader."

"Fire me?" I asked, a cigarette dangling from my mouth, as I glanced at him with a smile.

Only the HR department has the authority to fire employees of Dingsheng. What power does Zhou Zhengtao have to fire people? Besides, I am the new factory manager. Once I understand the situation in the factory, the power dynamic will shift, and it will be me who fires him.

I took a few puffs of my cigarette and took the opportunity to ask Li Jie about the situation at the factory.

There are eleven people in the security department. Today, seven are on the day shift and four are on the night shift.

My main job is to patrol the factory area.

First, it prevents internal employees from stealing factory materials and throwing them out of the fence; second, it prevents outside thieves from entering the factory to steal.

Currently, there's one security guard at the factory gate, and the remaining six are in the security room. Who will patrol?

I looked at Li Jie with a puzzled expression: "Has anything been stolen from the factory recently?"

Li Jie was taken aback by my question. He glanced at the doorway inside the house, then leaned closer to me and whispered, "Yes, things have been going missing lately."

"Then why don't you go out on patrol?" I asked him, puzzled.

"Um, the captain said we don't need to patrol and that we should all stay in the security room."

There was something he didn't say. The sun was so strong and scorching outside, nobody wanted to go out on patrol. When the captain said there was no need to patrol, everyone was overjoyed. Who would want to go out?

What business is it of theirs if things are stolen from the factory?

Anyway, they only receive 700 yuan a month, so whether or not something is lost doesn't affect their salary.

As I listened to Li Jie's words, I squinted and pondered, wondering if the loss of the item was related to Zhou Zhengtao.

Given his habit of always cheating people out of cigarettes, he might have been involved in stealing things from the factory.

Just then, a car horn sounded at the door, followed by a truck and a bright red sedan.

When I saw the car, I was stunned. It looked just like Lin Huimin's car.

Lin Huimin called me yesterday, and I told her I was busy at Dingsheng No. 2 Factory and wouldn't be able to visit her in the next couple of days. Could it be that she couldn't wait any longer and came rushing over?

My eyes lit up when I saw a bright red car parked in front of the security room. A tall, beautiful woman stepped out of the driver's seat; it was Lin Huimin.

Upon seeing the approaching car, Li Jie quickly went outside.

The woman next to Lin Huimin said to him, "We're from Guangyuan Building Materials. We're delivering goods; please verify and sign for them."

"Okay, sure." Li Jie nodded.

Suddenly, Lin Huimin's eyes lit up, and she ran over. Before he could react, Lin Huimin pounced on me, jumped up, wrapped her legs around my waist, and kissed my lips deeply.

Li Jie was stunned.

The owner of Guangyuan Building Materials actually kissed Dazhuang? What's going on?

I was so deeply kissed by Lin Huimin that I almost couldn't breathe. I turned my mouth away and looked at her, saying, "Be careful, there are so many people around."

Lin Huimin listened to my words and shook her head with a smile: "I don't care, I haven't kissed you for days, I'm going to kiss you as much as I want."

As she spoke, she raised her lips and kissed me passionately.