I painted an aircraft carrier on the courtyard house for Dongda University.

At this moment, he remembered what Old Qin had said, and a thought struck him: it seems I need to find time to see Old Qin, otherwise there are some things I really can't understand.

Zhou Weiguo, still lost in thought, walked straight to the workshop entrance and said meaningfully, "Who goes there? They're really putting on a big act!"

The man had been watching Zhou Weiguo intently as he spoke. Upon hearing this, the man even narrowed his eyes slightly.

It seems that those words were spoken to himself just now; was he testing him?

The man laughed heartily: "You must be Chief Engineer Zhou Weiguo? I'm Liu Bentian, the factory director of Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill. Don't misunderstand, these people are really incompetent. They actually wouldn't let me, the factory director, tour the workshop. Don't you think they've gone too far?"

Zhou Weiguo wondered: Did this old man really not know, or was he pretending to be confused? And why did this name sound so "sunny and irritating"?

"Director Liu, hello. Don't you know that these workshops of mine belong to the Second Ministry of Machine Building, and are under the supervision of the First Ministry of Machine Building, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry? The steel rolling mill has no jurisdiction over these places."

Upon hearing this, Director Liu didn't show any surprise. Instead, he looked at Zhou Weiguo with a half-smile: "Then may I ask Chief Engineer Zhou, as the chief engineer of our steel rolling mill, you've been gone for over two months, and I haven't found any documents in any of your records regarding leave or official business. Do you know that your unauthorized absence from your post has caused significant losses to the steel rolling mill, even affecting the oxygen top blower converter workshop? Can you, Chief Engineer Zhou, bear this responsibility?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Weiguo understood that this guy had come to cause trouble.

This guy seems to know a lot, but he knows nothing about the most important things. It seems there's something fishy about Chief Engineer Song's sudden transfer.

Zhou Weiguo, too lazy to argue with him, planned to investigate secretly later. He said with a mocking expression, "Director Liu, are you kidding me? My appointment as chief engineer was only a few days ago, and you're coming to me about this? You're really asking for trouble. Instead of wasting your time, you should be managing your steel rolling mill. It's a mess. I heard last month's output was doubled, and the furnace explosion issue hasn't been resolved. You should be thinking about how to clean up this mess. I'm not going to waste my breath on you. I'd rather be doing research!"

After saying that, he turned around and tried to walk back.

"stop!"

Zhou Weiguo frowned, turned around again, and looked at Director Liu, who had a serious expression.

Director Liu first looked at Colonel Zhang and said earnestly, "Comrade, we are currently dealing with internal issues of the steel rolling mill. Please do not interfere. As the director of Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill, we must seriously investigate and deal with Comrade Zhou Weiguo's issues. Please do not obstruct us from performing our official duties."

Zhou Weiguo looked astonished: This guy is so daring? Is a salary of a hundred yuan worth risking his life for? The most important thing is that he didn't understand his actions at all.

After Director Liu finished speaking, he waved his hand, and more than a dozen security personnel carrying guns rushed up behind him.

What Zhou Weiguo didn't expect was that as soon as these people stepped forward, more than 30 fully armed soldiers suddenly rushed out from both sides of the workshop and surrounded Director Liu and the others.

Now, Factory Director Liu's face turned extremely ugly. He shouted angrily, "Zhang, what do you mean? You're just a guard battalion officer from the Second Ministry of Machine Building. How dare you send troops to surround us? I'm just dealing with internal factory issues. You're creating conflict. Do you want to get yourself killed?"

Colonel Zhang merely glanced at him contemptuously, not bothering to offer a single explanation.

Factory Director Liu was caught in a bind. Seeing Zhou Weiguo slip away, he glared at Zhou Weiguo and said, "Comrade Zhou Weiguo, what are you doing? Do you have any semblance of a state cadre? You're creating conflict and antagonism! Are you trying to rebel?"

Zhou Weiguo looked at him like he was a fool, and said with a smile, "Oh? Do you know what happened to the last person who said I was rebelling?"

Factory Director Liu stared intently at Zhou Weiguo, his face contorted with malice: "Zhou Weiguo, isn't this tantamount to rebellion? Leading outsiders to the steel rolling mill and engaging in armed resistance—I think you're an anti-Communist! Zhou, don't think you're safe just because you have people protecting you. Let me tell you, your protector is about to fall, and that will be your end! Let's go!"

Zhou Weiguo remained silent, circled around to the back of the crowd, found a secluded spot, and went into stealth mode before following Factory Director Liu.

The car drove around and around on the road before finally stopping in front of a small courtyard.

He followed them inside and found two guards standing watch behind the door.

Factory Director Liu went straight into the main house in the backyard. A thin, elderly man in his fifties was sitting in the main seat, drinking tea. When he saw Factory Director Liu enter, his eyes lit up: "Honda, you're back! How did things go?"

Factory Director Liu sighed, "Director Huang, Zhou Weiguo is a tough nut to crack. I led the security department to the workshop to arrest him, but we were driven away by people from the Second Ministry of Machine Building with guns. You didn't see the scene; a hundred or so guns surrounded us. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought we were enemy agents."

Zhou Weiguo then remembered and hurriedly turned on the IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) function.

A splash of red mixed with a faint green stunned him. Then, looking at the black aura surrounding Liu Bentian beside him, he wondered how these two had gotten involved. One was a friendly force with mostly hostility? The other was a complete enemy agent?

At this moment, Liu Bentian said, "Minister Huang, I still stand by my idea. Even if these four workshops in the steel rolling mill are cooperative workshops, they must be led by our Ministry of Metallurgy. What kind of logic is it to open another factory inside the steel rolling mill? That would be a state within a state, utterly absurd!"

Huang's expression turned serious, and he said solemnly, "Honda, you can find a way to deal with Zhou Weiguo, but you're not allowed to touch those workshops. They're joint workshops organized by the First Ministry of Machine Building, the Second Ministry of Machine Building, and the Ministry of Education. Although I'm not entirely clear on the specifics, they're still a joint effort by several ministries, so I have to give them some face. But this is also because Xiao Wang is unreliable. Why should the Second Ministry of Machine Building take the lead in our own workshops? It's utter nonsense! Most importantly, he's praising Zhou Weiguo so highly; otherwise, he wouldn't dare to be so arrogant."

Liu Bentian hurriedly nodded: "That's right! Zhou Weiguo is just asking for trouble. Such good young men like Jinbu and Yuejin have had their lives ruined because of him."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Weiguo's eyes narrowed; it was indeed related to these two troublemakers.

Huang nodded and said, "Yes, I've watched these two kids grow up. Now, because of Zhou Weiguo's framing, not only have their futures been completely ruined, but Old Wu also didn't make it through. Whether it's because of my friendship with Old Wu or because of his grandmother's connections with the higher-ups, I have to help out in this matter."

P.S.: Please urge me to update more and give me good reviews. Thank you!