Siheyuan: Starting from 1958

When Yi Zhonghai brought Banggeng back to the workshop, the workshop director had already returned to his office.

He thought that he had gone to the factory director's office to report Wang Dong without anyone noticing.

Seeing that the workshop director was not in the workshop, he returned to his workstation and started working as if nothing had happened just now.

As he was working, Yi Zhonghai noticed something was wrong.

The workers around him seemed to have discussed something beforehand. They looked at him from time to time and talked about something in a low voice.

If only one or two workers did this, Yi Zhonghai might have treated it as an accident.

But if dozens or hundreds of co-workers are looking at you and talking about you, then explaining it as an accident will not work.

At first, Yi Zhonghai thought there was something on him, which attracted everyone's attention.

For this purpose, he asked Bang Geng to check it for him. After confirming that there was no problem, he began to listen to the discussions of the workers around him, trying to figure out why they were pointing fingers at the master and apprentice.

"This Yi Zhonghai really refreshed my horizons..." a worker commented in a low voice.

Another worker immediately responded: "I knew Yi Zhonghai was very shameless, but I didn't expect him to be this shameless."

"In order to report someone, he even claimed to be ill to deceive everyone. How shameless..."

"Do you think he might have gone to report the director..." the worker who spoke first immediately asked with an interested expression.

"It's hard to say..." The worker next to him answered with a mysterious expression.

"Do you remember ten years ago?"

"Yi Zhonghai and Banggeng suppressed Director Yang in the workshop and tried to curry favor with Director Li. As a result, the incident became a big deal. Our director immediately announced that Yi Zhonghai would be removed from his position as the production team leader and Banggeng's apprenticeship time would be increased by three years."

"The two of them must be holding a grudge and are taking this opportunity to take revenge on the director."

The worker who proposed this idea immediately showed a worried expression on his face: "Then our director is too wronged."

"If it weren't for the director, our workshop wouldn't have been so stable for the past ten years. If such a good person loses his position as workshop director because of Yi Zhonghai and Bang Geng's reports, it would be a loss for our workshop."

"Who says it's not?" This statement immediately attracted the agreement of several workers.

One of the workers followed up and said, "I think we should stay away from Yi Zhonghai and Bang Geng from now on."

"They can report the director. If we do something to offend them one day, they might report us as well."

This statement once again caused everyone to echo: "We should really stay away from people like Yi Zhonghai who say one thing in front of others and another behind their backs."

"I remember how Director Yang took care of him back then, giving him cash from the workshop every year."

"As a result, as soon as Director Yang made a mistake, Yi Zhonghai turned ruthless and even wanted to use Director Yang as a stepping stone to curry favor with Director Li. He did everything he could to suppress Director Yang in the workshop..."

"Now that Director Li has fallen, do you think we can report this matter to the higher-ups? This is ungrateful and a personal vengeance... maybe we can even get a reward from the factory."

The two workers' eyes lit up and they replied, "Yi Zhonghai and Banggeng can report our director, and we can report them in return."

"If the factory thinks this matter is not a big deal and does not intend to punish Yi Zhonghai and Bang Geng, all the workers in our workshop will report it. I don't believe that this matter will not attract the attention of the factory leaders."

Other workers around him responded one after another: "Count me in too..."

"After lunch, let's go to the factory director's office to report Yi Zhonghai, this ungrateful villain." Hearing this, Yi Zhonghai's face turned pale.

I thought I had successfully concealed from everyone the fact that I had gone to the factory director's office to report Wang Dong, but I didn't expect that everyone in the workshop knew that I had just gone to the factory director's office to report someone else.

More importantly, these workers misunderstood that they were reporting the workshop director. Isn't this asking for trouble?
If these words were to reach the ears of the workshop director and he mistakenly thought that I had just reported him, how would Banggeng and I continue to work in the same workshop in the future?

If the report on Wang Dong could be seen by the new factory director, and he could become the new factory director's confidant and have the new factory director as his backer, the workshop director would not be able to do anything to him no matter how angry he was.

But it would be bad if his and Banggeng’s pledge of allegiance was not noticed by the new factory manager, and he failed to become his confidant and continued to be an ordinary worker in a workshop.

From now on, the heavy and tiring work in the workshop will definitely be done by the master and the apprentice.

The more Yi Zhonghai thought about it, the more solemn his expression became. At the same time, he frowned and thought of a solution in his mind. No matter what, he must not let the discussions in the workshop reach the ears of the workshop director.

He immediately stood up and interrupted several workers: "Stop talking nonsense."

"I did go to the factory director's office to report someone just now, but the person I reported was definitely not our director."

"The director and I don't have any deep hatred, why should I report him..."

A fifth-level fitter on the opposite side refuted bluntly: "Master Yi..."

"What nonsense."

"We are not in the factory director's office, so how can we know who you just reported?"

"We are just discussing this matter. It is not against the law. Why do you say we are talking nonsense?"

"Moreover……"

"You said you didn't report our director, so you didn't report him. If you have the guts, show us the evidence."

"Anyway, I know you just sneaked into the factory director's office."

"If you were reporting someone else, you could have done so after get off work. Why did you pretend to be sick and leave the workshop, sneaking into the factory director's office without letting us know?"

"It's obvious that he has something wrong."

"Besides, it's not like you don't have any grudge against our director."

"If I remember correctly, you and Bang Geng have received a disciplinary order from the director. You might want to take advantage of this opportunity to settle a personal grudge."

The more Yi Zhonghai listened, the deeper his frown grew. At the same time, he felt powerless in his heart, as if he couldn't wash himself clean even if he jumped into the Yellow River.

Fearing that the other party would say something shocking that would harm him, he quickly interrupted: "I said... I didn't go to the factory director's office to report our director..."

"If you say that again, I'll sue you for slander..."

The other party seemed to be arguing with Yi Zhonghai and asked bluntly: "How did I slander you?"

"I only said it's possible that you might have gone to the factory director's office to report our director, but I didn't say it was certain."

"You want me to believe what you just said? Fine. Just show me the evidence." (End of this chapter)