Courtyard House: The Road to an Industrial Power

As soon as it was light, Liu Guangtian and Liu Guangfu followed Lin Weidong to the steel rolling mill.

The two brothers, dressed in faded old clothes, clutched the letters of introduction Lin Weidong had helped them obtain, their faces filled with nervousness and anticipation.

They knew this was the first step in getting rid of Liu Haizhong and starting a new life, and there was no room for error.

Upon arriving at the personnel department of the steel rolling mill, Lin Weidong explained his purpose.

Section Chief Wang of the Personnel Department was a middle-aged man in his forties. He had long heard of Chief Engineer Lin's reputation, and seeing that Lin had personally brought him, he immediately and warmly welcomed him.

"Chief Engineer Lin, it's too kind of you to come in person. These two must be Comrades Liu Guangtian and Liu Guangfu?"

Lin Weidong nodded: "Section Chief Wang, thank you for your help. These two comrades want to work in the factory. The machine tool workshop is still under renovation. Which workshop do you think is suitable and can arrange it for them first?"

Section Chief Wang thought to himself that he would definitely give full respect to the person personally recommended by Chief Engineer Lin.

He remembered hearing that the two men were Liu Haizhong's sons, and that Liu Haizhong worked in the forging workshop and had recently been punished for damaging workpieces. He immediately had an idea—to arrange for them to work in the forging workshop.

Having Liu Haizhong lead the way would both do Chief Engineer Lin a favor and provide mutual support between father and son—a win-win situation.

Section Chief Wang replied with a smile, "No problem, I'll arrange it right away."

"Okay, then I'll trouble Section Chief Wang." Lin Weidong turned and left the personnel department without saying anything more.

After completing the formalities, Liu Guangtian and Liu Guangfu followed Section Chief Wang to the forging workshop, where they ran into Liu Haizhong.

Liu Guangtian and Liu Guangfu immediately sensed that something terrible was about to happen, but now they couldn't escape either.

Section Chief Wang said with a smile, "Master Liu, I'll bring you two apprentices."

Liu Haizhong looked up and saw that it was his two sons. His face darkened instantly, and his eyes were filled with resentment.

He never expected that these two brats would actually get into the steel mill and be assigned to his subordinates! Wasn't this deliberately trying to embarrass him?

As soon as Section Chief Wang left, Liu Haizhong revealed his true colors.

He threw a heavy pile of iron blocks in front of the two men and said coldly, "Since you're here, don't even think about slacking off! Move these iron blocks to the corner, and then wipe all the tools in the workshop. If you dare to slack off, see how I deal with you!"

Each of these iron blocks weighed dozens of kilograms, and Liu Guangtian, who had an injury on his forehead, found it particularly difficult to lift them.

Liu Guangfu wanted to help, but Liu Haizhong assigned him other tasks.

For an entire day, Liu Haizhong deliberately targeted them, either making them do the hardest and dirtiest work, or nitpicking and making things difficult for them in every way.

"Hurry up! Are you trying to slack off by dawdling?"

"Clean your tools properly! How can you work properly if you're so careless?"

"You can't even do this simple thing right, you're such a useless piece of trash!"

The insults continued unabated, but Liu Guangtian and Liu Guangfu swallowed their anger and endured it silently.

They knew that now was not the time to resist, and they could only wait until after get off work to go find Lin Weidong.

Liu Haizhong had just returned home in the afternoon when the deaf old lady called him to her house.

The deaf old woman closed the door and went straight to the point: "Why do you think your two sons dared to treat you like this? It's all because Lin Weidong was instigating it!"

Liu Haizhong looked up at the deaf old woman and said, "I know, I saw them go to Lin Weidong's house that day." The deaf old woman nodded and said, "Good to know!"

"Lin Weidong did it on purpose!"

"You targeted him and reported him before, and now this is his revenge."

Liu Haizhong sighed: "What can I do? He's an official, and I'm just a worker. How can I fight him?"

The deaf old woman squinted and said, "We can join forces. As long as we unite, killing him won't be a problem."

Liu Haizhong's heart stirred. He already hated Lin Weidong to the core, and now, provoked by the deaf old woman, his anger burned even more fiercely.

"How can we join forces?"

The deaf old woman said in a sinister tone, "Aren't we no match for him?"

"Then instead of fighting, we'll ruin his reputation!"

"Spread the word in the factory that Lin Weidong is instigating your son to separate from you."

"They even deliberately assigned them to your subordinates to embarrass you. People like that don't deserve to be chief engineer!"

Liu Haizhong's eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly: "Good! That's the plan! I'll make sure he's completely disgraced!" As he came out of the deaf old woman's house, Liu Haizhong saw Liu Guangtian and his brother walk into the west courtyard.

He snorted coldly, turned around and went home, already plotting how to spread rumors.

In the west courtyard, Liu Guangtian and Liu Guangfu told Lin Weidong everything that had happened in the workshop that day.

"Chief Engineer Lin, Liu Haizhong is targeting us all the time, making us do the hardest work and verbally abusing us. We can't take it anymore. Could you please help us transfer to another workshop?"

Lin Weidong's face darkened upon hearing this. He hadn't expected the personnel department to assign someone to Liu Haizhong's team, and he certainly hadn't expected Liu Haizhong to go so far as to use his position to settle personal scores and make things difficult for his own son.

"Don't worry, I'll handle this. I'll go to the personnel department tomorrow and transfer you all."

The next morning, Lin Weidong went to the personnel department. "Section Chief Wang, could you please transfer Liu Guangtian and Liu Guangfu to another workshop? The forging workshop is not suitable for them."

Section Chief Wang was stunned and asked in confusion, "Chief Engineer Lin, why is that?"

"It's not very convenient for them in the forging workshop."

"Please arrange it as soon as possible. I'm fine with any workshop, as long as it's not in the forging workshop."

Seeing Lin Weidong's resolute attitude, Section Chief Wang didn't dare to ask any more questions and could only nod: "Okay, I'll arrange it right away. Transfer them to the assembly workshop; they're short-staffed there too."

"Okay, thank you very much, Director Wang." Lin Weidong said, turning around and leaving the personnel department.

The personnel staff were buzzing with discussion: "What on earth happened? He was just assigned to the forging workshop yesterday, and he's been transferred today?"

"Yes, why is Chief Engineer Lin so insistent?"

Everyone was filled with doubt, but no one dared to ask any more questions.

Meanwhile, Liu Haizhong had already begun spreading rumors within the steel rolling mill.

He deliberately chatted with his coworkers in the workshop and canteen, exaggerating as he said, "Do you know what? That scoundrel Lin Weidong actually tried to get my son to separate from me!"

"They even brought them into the factory and deliberately assigned them to my subordinates to embarrass me!"

"Really? Chief Engineer Lin doesn't seem like that kind of person?" someone asked doubtfully.

"Why not?" Liu Haizhong sighed, feigning grievance.

"I saw my two sons go to his house with my own eyes, and when they came back, they brought up separating the family and severing ties with him!"

"If he hadn't been instigating this behind my back, how dare my son treat me like this? He just wants to destroy my family!"

He also fabricated many details, saying how Lin Weidong promised them benefits and how he sowed discord between them, describing it in great detail.

In those days, it was considered a very bad thing to instigate others to divide their family property, as it violated traditional family ethics.

Although everyone respects Lin Weidong, they all had their own thoughts after hearing such rumors.

"I never expected Chief Engineer Lin to be this kind of person. He's so disappointing."

"Yes, no matter what, the bond between father and son shouldn't be destroyed like this."

The rumors spread further and further, and some people even sent a letter of complaint directly to the factory office, accusing Lin Weidong of "breaking up other people's families and having bad character."

The personnel department staff only found out the reason Lin Weidong did this after hearing the rumors circulating in the factory.