Rebirth in a Courtyard: I Am a Little Hunter

The signals and pressure conveyed behind this sent a chill down Yang Weiguo's spine. He keenly realized that these two were not acting on a whim; they possessed specific information and shared the same goal! They were working together to put pressure on him!

What alarmed him even more was Li Huaide's last words, "If we chill the hearts of our meritorious employees and the workers, how can we keep up with production?" It was as if he had directly hit the Achilles' heel of the factory manager!

The awkward atmosphere in the meeting room reached its peak. Some of the other deputy factory directors and department heads pretended to look at documents, while others had shifty eyes; no one dared to speak easily. Everyone knew that Zhou Jianjun and Li Huaide had joined forces to cause trouble, and this was a dangerous situation not to be navigated lightly.

Yang Weiguo took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the turmoil in his heart and a trace of anger that had been suddenly unleashed. He knew that he had to make a statement at this moment, and that he had to stand on the "correct" side.

"Section Chief Zhou, Deputy Factory Director Li!" Yang Weiguo's voice regained its composure, carrying an undeniable seriousness. "The opinions you two raised are very important! Very timely! This has sounded an alarm for us! Boosting production is a crucial task, and so is strengthening ideological work! We must grasp both, and both must be done well!"

The purity of the workers' ideology directly affects the cohesion and fighting capacity of our factory! The situation mentioned by Section Chief Zhou is extremely serious! No matter who it is, no matter their qualifications, as long as their ideology is flawed, they deviate from the principle of serving the people, and engage in factionalism and bureaucracy, the factory's Party Committee will never tolerate it! They must be dealt with seriously as a warning to others!

His gaze swept across the room, his tone resolute: "Please rest assured, Section Chief Zhou, and Deputy Factory Director Li, the factory committee takes your suggestions very seriously! The factory will thoroughly investigate and give a satisfactory explanation to the comrades who have been wronged, to the security department, and to all the factory workers! We must immediately strengthen our ideological work! Meeting adjourned!"

In a tense silence and amidst the complex gazes of the crowd, Yang Weiguo adjourned the meeting. Without looking at Zhou Jianjun and Li Huaide again, he stood up first, his face grim, and strode out of the conference room. His secretary, Xiao Wang, quickly packed his things and jogged after him.

Factory Director's Office.

As soon as the door closed, Yang Weiguo's suppressed anger erupted. He slammed the folder in his hand onto the large desk with a loud "bang".

"Investigate! Find out the truth right now! Where was it last night? Who was it? Who did they attack in the meeting? What's the deal with this 'family member of a martyr'?!" Yang Weiguo roared at his secretary, Xiao Wang, who followed him in, veins throbbing on his forehead.

"Zhou Jianjun and Li Huaide, those two are clearly in cahoots today! They're here for me! Find out exactly who this 'heroic family member' is, what their relationship is with the security department, and what their relationship is with logistics. Don't miss a single detail!"

"Yes, Factory Manager! I'll take care of it right away!" Secretary Wang replied, his face pale with fright, and practically rushed out of the office. He knew the factory manager was truly furious.

Yang Weiguo paced restlessly in his office. Zhou Jianjun… Li Huaide… these two usually kept to themselves, how could they suddenly join forces? Who is this “family member of a meritorious official”? Who could make Zhou Jianjun so forcefully step forward?

Family of martyrs… Security Department… A thought flashed through his mind. Could it be that young man who killed a wild boar a while ago, solving a major problem for the canteen? His surname seems to be Wei? Yes, Wei Chen! He's also in charge of logistics and procurement! No wonder Li Huaide jumped in too!

Thinking about this, Yang Weiguo felt even more furious.

Yi Zhonghai! He was almost certain that the person Zhou Jianjun was talking about who "had ideological problems" and "wanted to be a big shot" was most likely Yi Zhonghai!

Yi Zhonghai was a model seventh-grade worker whom Yang Weiguo had personally promoted. He was the pillar of the first workshop and was slated to be promoted to eighth-grade worker next year! In a way, he was also a symbol of Yang Weiguo among the workers!

What an idiot! It's one thing to mediate within the hospital and flaunt one's seniority, but how dare he hold a hospital-wide meeting? And to criticize someone valued by the security and logistics departments? Isn't he just asking for trouble? He even got himself publicly humiliated by Zhou Jianjun and Li Huaide!

Less than an hour later, Secretary Wang returned, panting, with the investigation results. He had not only learned about the situation from the street office, but also pieced together a detailed account of last night's meeting from some workers living in the No. 95 courtyard of Nanluoguxiang.

As Yang Weiguo listened to his secretary Xiao Wang's report, his face grew darker and darker until it was practically dripping with ink.

"Yi Zhonghai! Liu Haizhong! Two idiots! Completely useless and only good for making things worse!" Yang Weiguo roared in anger, slamming his fist on the desk. "For a piece of meat! For that pitiful bit of so-called 'prestige'! They dare to unite and denounce a meritorious official? A martyr's family member! They even forced that old woman's mother to stay home? Her sister cried from fright?! Are their brains filled with shit?! Do they think that being a 'big shot' in the compound makes them local tyrants?!"

He paced back and forth in his office, furious. "A level seven worker? He's got himself airs! He's not even level eight yet! And he's already swaggering! Does he think he's some kind of big shot? Should I go to the courtyard house right now, kowtow to Yi Zhonghai, and call him 'Grandpa Yi'?! Huh?! He wants a share of meat? He wants everything! There's plenty of meat in the factory's warehouse, why doesn't he go home and share it?! You bastard!"

"Factory manager, please calm down..." Secretary Wang said cautiously.

"Get over it? How can I get over it?!" Yang Weiguo roared. "Who is Zhou Jianjun? Is he someone you can just fool? Every word he said at the meeting today was barbed! He was practically pointing his finger at me and accusing me of not managing my subordinates properly and condoning bad practices!"

And then there's Li Huaide! That smiling tiger! He's always unassuming, but when it really matters, he's quicker than anyone to deliver the final blow! "Deviating from the mission," "Deviating from principles"! With these accusations pinned on me, how am I supposed to remain the factory manager?!

He abruptly stopped, his eyes icy cold: "Go! Call Old Ma, the foreman of the first workshop! Also, tell Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong, immediately! Right now! Get to my office!"

Office of the First Workshop Director.

Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong were nervously summoned to the factory director's office. They hadn't recovered from the blow of being publicly exposed by Director Wang last night, being placed on probation, and being sent to a training class at the street office. Being summoned to the factory director today made them both feel uneasy, as if a great disaster was about to befall them.

As soon as I entered the factory director's office, I was met with Yang Weiguo's almost fiery gaze and the ashen face of Director Ma of the First Workshop.

"Yi Zhonghai! Liu Haizhong!" Yang Weiguo didn't give them a chance to speak, launching into a tirade of abuse, spitting almost in their faces. "You two have really grown up, huh?! Huh?! You've gotten carried away acting like big shots in the compound?! You've even learned to hold denunciation meetings?! Denounce whom? Denounce the hero who brought hundreds of kilograms of wild boar meat to your factory, solving the canteen's huge problem?! Denounce the family of a martyr?! And even forced that old woman to stay home?! Are you two even human?! Don't you have any sense of responsibility as workers?!"

Yi Zhonghai's face turned deathly pale, his lips trembling as he tried to explain, "Factory director... I... we didn't criticize them, we were just..."

"What do you mean, 'also for unity'?! 'For the collective'?!" Yang Weiguo interrupted sharply, mimicking Wang Guifen's tone from the previous night, full of sarcasm. "Stop spouting your nonsense! Yi Zhonghai! Do you think I don't know what you're up to? It's just that Xiao Wei is capable, got some good stuff but didn't share it with you, didn't give you, the 'big boss,' face! So you colluded with Liu Haizhong to incite the masses and retaliate! Do you know what kind of behavior this is?! This is typical feudal remnant thinking! It's serious individualism! It's a black sheep destroying the unity of the working class!"

Liu Haizhong was so frightened that his legs went weak, he was sweating profusely, his obese body trembled slightly, and he couldn't even speak.

"And you! Liu Haizhong!" Yang Weiguo turned his attention to him. "A level six blacksmith, instead of focusing on honing your skills, you're always thinking about how to become an official and how to put on airs! You think even Yi Zhonghai's farts smell good! You think you're something special just because you're given a position of power? You want to run the government? Who do you think you are?! I think your thinking is even more dangerous than Yi Zhonghai's! You're completely blinded by ambition!"

Yang Weiguo unleashed a torrent of abuse, venting all the frustration he had felt at the Standing Committee meeting and the pressure he had been under from Zhou Jianjun and Li Huaide on these two unlucky souls who had run into the line of fire.

"Do you even know how much trouble you two have caused?!" Yang Weiguo gasped for breath, pointing at the two men.

"Chief Zhou of the Security Department! Is he someone we can mess with? He directly attacked us at the factory meeting! He said our factory's ideological construction was lax and that we were condoning unhealthy tendencies! Deputy Director Li of Logistics also slammed his fist on the table! He said we've deviated from our principles! Who do you two think you are? Huh? Are you worth two factory leaders getting angry about at the Standing Committee meeting?! You've completely disgraced me! You've completely disgraced the factory!"

Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong were completely dumbfounded, their minds blank. Last night they only thought they had angered Director Wang of the street office, but they never expected it would actually reach the factory's standing committee?! And even provoke two powerful leaders from the security department and logistics department to join forces against them?

Wei Chen's power... was terrifyingly immense?! The two were now filled with endless regret and fear, their hearts filled with remorse. If they had known Wei Chen had two such powerful figures backing him, they would never have dared to harbor any ill intentions! It was just some meat, wasn't it?!

Seeing the two men's dejected and ashen faces, Yang Weiguo's anger subsided slightly, but his frustration intensified. To quell Zhou Jianjun and Li Huaide's anger, and to give the entire factory an explanation, he had to come up with a solution.

"Director Ma!" Yang Weiguo looked at the director of the first workshop.

"Factory Manager," Director Ma responded hastily, his eyes filled with exasperated anger as he looked at Yi Zhonghai. Yi Zhonghai was a key figure in his workshop, but this time he had made a huge blunder, causing the entire workshop to lose face.