Siheyuan: After becoming a traitor, first let the Huai Ru River overflow its banks.

This really ignited everyone's anger.

“We’ve held meetings before to ask the three elders to uphold justice for us. But the eldest elder is biased towards the Jia family. In that case, let’s go to the Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill and sue them.”

Almost every household in the courtyard had their belongings stolen by the thief, but they were struggling to find evidence.

Now that someone is taking the lead, they are naturally willing to join in.

“Okay, anyway, we women have nothing to do at home. Let’s go and report them to Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill.”

Inside the house, Jia Zhangshi listened, and as the noise outside grew quieter, she let out a soft hum.

Banggeng was still a child, and he was so frightened that he trembled and clung to Jia Zhangshi's leg.

"Grandma, I'm scared."

Jia Zhangshi patted her grandson, comforting him.

"What's the use of reporting it? Without evidence, it's all for nothing. Don't worry, my dear grandson, Grandma guarantees nothing will happen."

However, Jia Zhangshi did not expect that if other people were in the security department, they might not have any problems without evidence.

But the key to the problem is Li Jianjun.

Inside the Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill, Li Jianjun, Li Weiguo, and Ma Sijiu, having finished their meal, went to their dormitory to rest for two hours.

I start work promptly at 2 PM.

They had just arrived at work when they heard urgent footsteps outside the office door.

Immediately afterwards, the old man who guarded the door came to the office.

“Comrades, the family members of our compound outside the gate say they want to see the security personnel and have something to report.”

Should we let them in or not?

The gatekeeper, Grandpa Zhang, was asking for their opinions, which is also their duty—to ask strangers who come in.

Li Jianjun thought for a moment and then asked Grandpa Zhang.

"Who are these people?"

Grandpa Zhang scratched his head, seemingly trying to recall what these people looked like.

"The one in the lead was a woman, who looked to be in her thirties."

"Oh right, I remember now, she's Lou Bancheng's daughter, but I don't know her name."

He doesn't need to explain the others; they can immediately name Li Jianjun, Li Weiguo, and Ma Sijiu.

"You mean Lou Xiao'e? Did they say anything about it?"

Grandpa Zhang shook his head.

"They only said they were there to report something, but didn't say who they were reporting."

Without further ado, Li Jianjun decided to have them come over and explain things clearly.

"Uncle Zhang, I reckon they're from our courtyard house. Let them in."

Li Jianjun was also puzzled.

There are three old men in their courtyard house, all of whom are in charge and have the responsibility of maintaining order in the courtyard house and mediating disputes between neighbors.

But instead of asking the three old men for help, these people from the courtyard came to their Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill.

Li Jianjun instinctively felt that this was probably a big deal.

Not long after Grandpa Zhang left, Lou Xiao'e arrived with the family members from the courtyard house.

Li Jianjun glanced around and saw that almost all the residents were from courtyard houses, mostly elderly people, women, and children.

Li Jianjun knew all of these people.

When they saw Li Jianjun, they started chattering away.

“Jianjun, you be the judge. My big hen is missing. Someone saw Banggeng stealing soy sauce to eat the chicken. We went to ask Jia Zhangshi, but she refused to admit it no matter what.”

"Yes, yes, my three yuan also went missing. Bang Geng came to our house. Did he steal it or did someone else steal it?"

Li Jianjun immediately understood that these people had come to report the "sticky joke".

Li Weiguo and Ma Sijiu exchanged a glance.

"It's like someone handing you a pillow when you're about to doze off. I was just worrying about not being able to find any leverage over him, and here it is, delivered right to my door."

Hearing Ma Sijiu and Li Weiguo muttering to each other, Li Jianjun directly asked the people in the courtyard to sit down.

"Come on, let's go one by one."

Li Jianjun picked up paper and pen and began taking notes for them.

“I lost three yuan. It was under my pillow. That day, Banggeng came to my house to play. After he left, the three yuan disappeared.”

The three women quickly told Li Jianjun.

Their family was struggling financially, and three yuan was no small sum.

Li Jianjun meticulously recorded it stroke by stroke.

"Any more?"

Lou Xiao'e quickly explained the reason as well.

"My chicken is missing, a big hen worth four yuan. Someone saw Banggeng and those two little girls eating the chicken."

"That's why I'm reporting the 'sticky joke'."

Following suit, others also began to report the "stick meme" using their real names.

People who report others at least write anonymous letters to avoid retaliation.

The families of these residents in the courtyard house directly filed a formal complaint, showing how much they hated Banggeng.

"Look everyone, I've already taken notes for you."

Li Jianjun took out his notebook and read it to them sentence by sentence.

These people all nodded repeatedly.

"If I remember correctly, these are the ones."

After Li Jianjun finished recording, he had all the people put their fingerprints on it.

With this, Qin Huairu will have to kneel and beg him now.

Chapter 21 Sha Zhu Gets a Scolding

Around 4 p.m., Director Li came to inspect the kitchen.

Director Li is in charge of the kitchen work, which is part of his job, but he also has his own selfish motives.

He took a fancy to Liu Lan, a young and beautiful woman who had just gotten married.

He would often come to see Liu Lan under the guise of work, hoping to hook up with her.

At 4 p.m., the kitchen is at its quietest.

Many employees go home in the evening, so there's hardly any need to prepare dinner.

As a chef, Sha Zhu must fully fulfill the responsibilities of the head chef.

As soon as he started work at 2 p.m., Sha Zhu instructed his subordinates to begin a thorough cleaning.

Today is Thursday, which is also the time for the major cleaning as stipulated by Factory Director Yang.

The work in the kitchen involves whether the employees can eat clean and hygienic meals, so the hygiene requirements are extremely high.

Liu Lan was assigned to clean windows, a job that required climbing up and down steep slopes and was somewhat dangerous.

Sha Zhu always sent other men up to clean the windows. In his words, men are tall and it's easier for them to clean the windows.

But today he specifically sent Liu Lan to clean the windows, and Liu Lan was upset about it.

"Hmph, it's just that He Yuzhu was jealous because he saw me staring at Li Jianjun this morning. If he's so capable, he can be as good-looking as Li Jianjun."

"What kind of skill is it to make things difficult for me?"

Liu Lan muttered to herself as she climbed onto the window and wiped the glass.

Xiao Li, another colleague who was assigned to her group, reminded her to keep her voice down.

"Liu Lan, how dare you speak so blatantly about Chef He? He thinks he's superior just because he became the head chef, and he only ever respects his apprentice, Ma Hua."

“In his eyes, we are nothing at all.”

Liu Lan was furious.

"What? Just because he's a head chef doesn't make him any special. I'd say the same thing to him if he were standing right in front of me."

"Look at him, he can't stand being near Qin Huairu, he looks so lecherous."

In the end, I didn't even hold anyone's hand.

Xiao Li thinks so too.

"Exactly, exactly. A 28-year-old single man, and he's already flirting with women."

"Fortunately, he didn't fancy us."

Just then, Liu Lan saw Director Li coming this way through the window.

She glanced back at Sha Zhu, who was sitting on a stool, leisurely cracking sunflower seeds.

Sha Zhu, as the head chef, really took himself seriously. Every time there was a cleaning session, he would make his subordinates do it, while he himself did nothing.

Liu Lan lowered her voice.

"Xiao Li, just wait and see how He Yuzhu makes a fool of himself."

Xiao Li was completely baffled.

What kind of joke could he possibly make?

As they were talking, footsteps sounded in the corridor.

Stunned, he hurriedly stopped eating sunflower seeds and tried to stand up, but it was too late.