Reborn in 97, I solved a cold case at the Municipal Bureau

Chapter 279 What Time Is It?

In state-owned enterprises, those who can become cadres are all shrewd and capable people.

Upon hearing this, Luo Mingliang immediately abandoned his idea of ​​bringing Zhou Jianguo directly.

If you mess with someone's father, his son will fight you to the death, especially since he's a successful criminal investigator in the city's Public Security Bureau.

"No, I have to report this to the factory manager right away, or something terrible will happen."

Zhou Jianguo wasn't really sure himself, after all, he had lived an ordinary life for most of his life and had never done anything like this before.

But he believed in his son. Ever since the night his father had the accident, he felt that his son had become a different person, matured a lot all of a sudden, and was even transferred to the municipal bureau.

He and Zhou Yi's mother had discussed this matter before, and their final conclusion was: the Zhou family's ancestral graves were emitting auspicious smoke.

But even without these things, he would still listen to his son.

Zhou Yi has been busy investigating the case these past two days and hasn't had time to deal with his parents' affairs.

That very evening, the factory sent someone to the No. 2 Steel Company dormitory to look for Zhou Jianguo, but Zhou Yi was still at the bureau and hadn't gone home yet, so no one was home.

The next morning, as Zhou Yi had instructed, Zhou Jianguo went to the factory at eight o'clock and then swaggered around the factory with his hands behind his back.

He was actually quite flustered, afraid that things wouldn't go as Zhou Yi expected, and that things would get messy.

Sure enough, the security personnel found him soon after and said that the factory leaders wanted to talk to him to see what difficulties he was facing in his life and how they could help him solve them.

Only then did Zhou Jianguo truly breathe a sigh of relief, because his son Zhou Yi had been right all along.

Zhou Jianguo sat in the huge conference room, opposite Luo Mingliang, the head of the security department, the director of the steel rolling plant, and the head of the personnel department.

Zhou Jianguo has been working at the factory for thirty years and has never faced so many leaders alone before.

But since we've already come this far, let's grit our teeth and make the decision.

"Comrade Zhou Jianguo, if you have any difficulties, you can mention them to the factory. There's no need to make everyone tense," the head of the personnel department said kindly.

"Old Zhou, you're one of the first batch of veteran workers in our factory. I'm the branch factory director, and I'm not as senior as you," the steel rolling mill director said, trying to get closer to him.

“Master Zhou, acting impulsively won’t solve anything. Wouldn’t it be better if we sat down and talked?” said Luo Mingliang, the head of the security department, as he offered him a cigarette.

"What are your requirements? The factory will try its best to find a solution," the three asked in unison.

Zhou Jianguo glanced at them, then turned away and said, "I'm not going to talk to you. None of you can make the decision. Call the factory manager."

Then, he asked Luo Mingliang, "What time is it?"

Luo Mingliang raised his hand to look at his watch and said, "8:52."

Zhou Jianguo nodded, crossed one leg over the other, and said, "Okay, I have something to do at ten o'clock."

The three men looked at each other, and Zhou Jianguo didn't respond to anything they said.

Finally, out of desperation, the steel rolling mill manager asked Luo Mingliang to go outside and see if the manager had arrived.

At 9:12, Ding Zhengchang, the director of the No. 2 Steel Plant, drove his car into the plant area through Gate No. 3.

A large number of workers have already gathered at Gate 3, and more people are still coming in. Judging from the situation, there are already more than a hundred people here.

Fearing being recognized by the workers, Ding Zhengchang quickly turned the steering wheel in another direction and then circled around to reach the office building.

Luo Mingliang, who was waiting downstairs, rushed to greet the familiar car as if he had seen a relative.

"Oh my, Director Ding, you've finally arrived!" Luo Mingliang quickly stepped forward and opened the car door.

"How did your talks with Zhou Jianguo go? Didn't I say we could pay his back wages first and tell him not to cause trouble? There should still be some money left in the accounts, right?"

As the two walked inside, Luo Mingliang said, "Factory Director, we... haven't talked about anything yet."

"Huh? What are you doing?"

“He refused to talk to us, saying that we couldn’t make the decision and that we had to wait for you to come before we could talk.”

Ding Zhengchang asked in bewilderment, "When did Zhou Jianguo become so difficult to deal with?"

Ding Zhengchang strode upstairs, pushed open the conference room door, glanced at the scene inside, and immediately walked over to Zhou Jianguo. He grabbed Zhou Jianguo's hands and said sincerely, "I'm sorry, Master Zhou, I'm late and I'm sorry you had to suffer."

Zhou Jianguo's answer surprised Ding Zhengchang and directly disrupted his plans.

"I am not wronged; it is the 1,325 laid-off workers who feel wronged."

"This..." Ding Zhengchang was speechless for a moment.

I just wanted to be humble and polite first, but you came up and slapped me across the face right away?
But having served as factory director for so many years, he immediately changed his tone, saying, "Master Zhou is right. I, Ding, have let down these more than a thousand workers and their families. Actually, the factory has been in dire straits for a long time. Two months ago, the factory leaders held a meeting to discuss layoffs. I overruled everyone's objections and suppressed the matter for two months, thinking we could try to see if there was any chance to revive the Second Steel Plant. Alas... I, Ding, have let down all five thousand employees in the factory."

It's impossible for Zhou Yi to be a prophet who could predict every word of the negotiations, especially since these leaders are all so shrewd.

He knew very well that Zhou Jianguo couldn't win against them, and might even be led astray by them.

So he told Zhou Jianguo that if he couldn't keep up with what the other person was saying, or if he felt something was wrong, the best way to deal with it was to ignore them and never follow the logic in what they were saying, or he would be in trouble.

Just ignore him. Let him say his thing and you say yours. Just pretend he never said anything.

This method can be summarized in one sentence: "A novice can defeat a master with a flurry of punches." Zhou Jianguo ignored Ding Zhengchang's impassioned words and directly asked Luo Mingliang behind him, "What time is it?"

Luo Mingliang glanced at his watch: "9:20."

"Director Ding, we can only talk for half an hour at most. I have to go to Gate No. 3 in a bit. Everyone is waiting for me."

Ding Zhengchang felt like he had punched cotton, and could only sit down and talk to him.

Zhou Jianguo didn't beat around the bush and said directly that he had a way to sell steel coils, and that selling the steel coils would allow him to pay the laid-off workers their wages and resettlement fees.

Ding Zhengchang was startled and quickly said, "This steel coil is not like others; it's not scrap metal that can be sold casually. Master Zhou, don't be fooled! We understand your anxiety; we're even more anxious than you... we..."

If Zhou Jianguo didn't want to listen to the factory director's rambling, he would just ask Luo Mingliang what time it was.

After asking twice, Ding Zhengchang looked at Luo Mingliang with dissatisfaction. Luo Mingliang had no choice but to take off his watch and hand it to Zhou Jianguo.

"Director Ding, I have a younger brother named Zhou Jianye who runs his own business in the south. After hearing that our No. 2 Steel Plant was experiencing a steel sales slump, he helped me find a company in the south that makes agricultural tractors and is willing to buy a batch. He called me yesterday to tell me about it, and I immediately shared this good news with everyone. Everyone was so happy and said they wanted to come and ask you today if it was feasible. I assured them that the director would definitely not abandon us in our time of need. The director is even more eager than we are to turn the steel in the warehouse into cash. Right, Director Ding?"

These words were taught by Zhou Yi, with the aim of placing the other party on a moral high ground.

Factory Director Ding could only nod.

"So everyone's request today is very simple: can we sell this batch of steel coils? Factory manager, give us a straight answer."

Upon hearing this, Director Ding began to speak in bureaucratic jargon, saying that he would organize the leadership to study the matter and that it was not something that could be decided in a short time.

Zhou Jianguo asked Luo Mingliang, "What time is it?"

Luo Mingliang grinned, saying with a wry smile, "Master Zhou, the watch... the watch is for you."

"Oh, oh." Zhou Jianguo glanced at his watch, then suddenly asked, "Director Ding, do you know Kong Laosan?"

"Is it... that model worker from the steel mill?"

"Good memory!" Zhou Jianguo said, giving a thumbs up. "He said if you didn't agree, he would hang himself at your doorstep."

"..."

Instantly, everyone in the room was in a state of confusion.

Ding Zhengchang panicked: "We can't act impulsively. We can talk things over."

"Yes, I advised him, and he listened to me."

Ding Zhengchang breathed a sigh of relief: "He's not going to hang himself?"

"No, he originally planned to hang himself at your doorstep with his family of three, but after I persuaded him, he said he would go alone," Zhou Jianguo said seriously.

"Forehead……"

……

When Zhou Yi heard Zhou Jianguo's words, he was brushing his teeth and sprayed out a mouthful of water.

"Dad, that's a great idea!"

"Hey, I've figured it out. This and that don't work. Confucius's trick is the most effective. I'm willing to risk my life to see if you're scared."

This may sound funny, but it's actually quite heartbreaking. What can a powerless person do besides live a miserable life?

Fortunately, it's a new society with legal constraints, moral condemnation, and a sound social structure to support it.

In the evil old society, even fighting to the death wouldn't have mattered.

"And then what happened? Did Director Ding agree?"

"They agreed, and asked how they planned to sell this batch of steel coils. So I had them bring me the phone, and I called your third uncle. He talked to them. I have to say, your third uncle is a real businessman; nothing can be hidden from him. The factory manager even tried to raise the price again. Your third uncle quoted reference prices from steel mills in several provinces, as well as current raw material prices and stuff. He said he'd already done market research... market research what was it again..."

"Market research."

"Yes, yes, market research, I don't know anything about that. Luckily, I have your third uncle, otherwise this matter would have been really difficult to handle."

"Oh, right, I forced the factory manager to write me a written agreement," Zhou Jianguo said, pulling out a piece of paper.

Zhou Yi took it and read that it read: "I, Ding Zhengchang, the factory director of Hongcheng No. 2 Steel Plant, hereby promise that all proceeds from this cooperation with a certain tractor factory will be used first for the resettlement and compensation of laid-off workers on April 15th."

Zhou Yi asked in surprise, "Dad, you actually got the factory manager to write this document? You're amazing!"

This was truly unexpected for Zhou Yi; he had originally thought that a verbal promise would be enough.

Unexpectedly, my father even made the factory manager write a written agreement.

"Dad, how did you do that?"

Zhou Jianguo said smugly, "I told Kong Laosan in advance that when the time came, he should bring a rope to us. If the factory director refused, he would hang himself on the spot."

"Uh..." Zhou Yi suddenly felt a little confused. Is this how it's done?

(End of this chapter)