Courtyard House: The Road to an Industrial Power

"Hello, connect me to the security office."

One minute later.

The voice of Zhang Dashan, the head of the security department, came from the other end of the phone.

"This is the security office."

"I am Lin Weidong. Send someone to check if Old Wu from the technical department is home."

"Yes, Director Lin."

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Dashan arranged for two people to go to the personnel department to retrieve Lao Wu's file.

Then the two of them, along with Zhang Chunxia from the factory office, arrived at the entrance of a courtyard house.

What are you people doing?

An elderly woman sitting by the door washing clothes asked the person who came in.

"Auntie, we're from the machine factory. We're here to see Old Wu from the machine factory."

"A machine factory? What machine factory?"

No one in our compound works at the machine factory.

Zhang Chunxia then realized that many people were still unaware of the news about the steel rolling mill's reconstruction.

"Auntie, the machinery factory is the former steel rolling mill."

The older woman curled her lip and said, "It's just a steel rolling mill, what kind of machinery factory is this?"

He pointed to the side room to the left of the main gate and said, "This is Old Wu's house. His wife should be home."

"Someone is looking for Old Wu's wife."

As soon as he finished speaking, a middle-aged woman with red and swollen eyes opened the door and came out.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice trembling with tears as she approached the three.

"You must be Old Wu's wife, right?"

"We're from a machinery factory. We came to see if Lao Wu is home."

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged woman burst into tears.

"My husband, Lao Wu, didn't come home yesterday."

"What?"

Zhang Chunxia and the two soldiers from the security department immediately changed their expressions.

"My husband, Lao Wu, always comes home on time after get off work."

"I waited for him until midnight yesterday, but he still didn't come back."

"I walked all the way to the machine factory, but I still couldn't find him."

"Today I asked the people in the courtyard who work in the factory, and some of them said they saw him leave the factory gate."

At this moment, a soldier from the security department asked, "Has your husband offended anyone?"

The middle-aged woman thought for a moment, then shook her head and said, "No, we don't usually have any conflicts when we fight with others."

An older woman standing nearby chimed in, "Old Wu is always so kind-hearted; he's always the first to help anyone in the neighborhood who needs anything."

Then many onlookers added that Old Wu was usually such a good person.

After learning about the situation, Zhang Chunxia and two security guards rushed back to the machinery factory.

"Knock knock knock!"

There was a knock on Lin Weidong's office door.

"Enter"

Lin Weidong looked up and saw that the person who came was Zhang Dashan.

Seeing the other person's serious expression and furrowed brows, Lin Weidong knew something was wrong.

"Director Lin, I'm afraid something has happened to Old Wu, the one you sent me to visit," Zhang Dashan said before he even got close.

"What?"

"Tell me in detail," Lin Weidong said, gesturing for the other person to sit on the sofa.

Lin Weidong also came to the sofa and sat down opposite Zhang Dashan.

"The factory office staff just came back and told the two people in our security department..."

After listening to Zhang Dashan's explanation, Lin Weidong immediately said, "I'm afraid they're after the weapons research project."

"It should be," Zhang Dashan nodded and said.

"Chen, come in here for a moment."

A young man with a pen clipped to his chest and a small notebook in his hand walked in.

This is Lin Weidong's secretary, Xiao Chen. He looks tall and thin, but his steps are steady as he walks in.

Zhang Dashan could tell that the other party was definitely a master.

"Director Lin, what's the matter?"

Xiao Chen stood in front of Lin Weidong, bowed slightly, and asked.

"Go to the technical department and find Su Wanqing. Get a list of the weapons research groups, Group One and Group Two."

Just as the other person was about to turn and leave, Zhang Dashan added, "Try not to let others know what you took."

Xiao Chen nodded, then closed the door and left.

Zhang Dashan looked at the closed door and asked in a deep voice, "Who is this Xiao Chen? He seems like someone special."

"This is the secretary assigned to me by my superiors; they didn't specify her background."

"How can he be anything but simple?" Lin Weidong asked with a hint of curiosity.

Zhang Dashan said, "When he came in, his steps were steady, his eyes were sharp, and he had an undeniable murderous aura about him."

"He has definitely killed people, and many people at that."

Just as Lin Weidong and Zhang Dashan were chatting, Xiao Chen came to the office with the list.

"Director Lin, this is the list that Section Chief Su gave me."

Xiao Chen handed the list to Lin Weidong, and then said, "On the way here earlier, Li Yichuan, the leader of Group Two, also seemed quite curious about the list."

"Li Yichuan?"

"Okay, I understand. You can go now."

Lin Weidong looked at the list in his hand; he recognized almost everyone on it.

They were all old people from the former steel rolling mill. Suddenly, he saw the last person in a group.

"Wang Yiwei?"

He didn't seem to have any such person in his memory.

Seeing Lin Weidong's strange expression, Zhang Dashan asked, "Director Lin, have you discovered something?"

Lin Weidong shook his head. "It's nothing, I just think it's a bit strange that this person is on this list."

"What's so strange about it?" Zhang Dashan said, taking the list from Lin Weidong's hand.

After looking at it for a while, Zhang Dashan couldn't see anything different.

"Look at the last person in the group, and then look at the age difference between him and the others."

Upon closer inspection, Zhang Dashan noticed the problem: everyone else was over thirty, but this person was twenty-five.

"The last person originally assigned to the group was Lao Wu, but he was most likely added later."

"Hiss~"

Now anyone would notice the problem.

"There's definitely something wrong with this Wang Yiwei," Zhang Dashan said with certainty.

"Should we have our security department keep an eye on this guy for you?"

Lin Weidong thought for a moment and said, "No need to keep a close eye on them. Just pay attention to who they come into contact with in daily life, and check them more carefully when they go out."

Zhang Dashan knew that Lin Weidong was afraid of alerting the enemy, so he nodded and said, "No problem."

While Lin Weidong and Zhang Dashan were discussing countermeasures in their office.

Li Yichuan and Wang Yiwei were in an inconspicuous corner of the machinery factory.

"I ran into Lin Weidong's secretary in the office today."

"He took the lists from Group One and Group Two with him; Lao Wu's disappearance has already caught their attention."

"Next, you need to find a way to gain their trust."

"If you're exposed, you'll have to clean up the mess yourself; your empire will take care of things back home."

After speaking, Li Yichuan habitually pushed up his glasses.

Upon hearing this, Wang Yiwei's eyes twitched. He had never expected to be targeted so quickly.

"I plan to frame someone to attract attention."

Wang Yiwei said fiercely.

Li Yichuan looked at Wang Yiwei, whose face was gloomy, and said, "I'll handle this matter. What you need to do now is find a way to hide yourself."

"Also, if I see you in a bad mood again, I'll personally send you on your way."

"Don't delay my plan."

"Yes... I will be careful," Wang Yiwei quickly replied.

Li Yichuan glanced at Wang Yiwei, who was trying to remain calm, and then turned and walked towards the technical department.