Road to Revival

The next day at work, Jia Jianxin, harboring ulterior motives, was restless and uneasy. He paid close attention to Tao Tang's movements; if Tao Tang convened a joint party and government meeting, he would most likely suffer the same fate as Quan Jianhe. Although Li Luo believed Tao Tang wouldn't make a fuss, it didn't put him at ease. The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, believing that in terms of the nature of the matter, this was far worse than Quan Jianhe's case. Putting himself in Tao Tang's shoes, he knew he would never let this go.

Tao Tang did convene a meeting, but it wasn't a joint meeting of the Party and government; it was a business meeting about personnel and labor. He heard Li Zhibin informing Liu Xiuyun to attend the meeting, and because his office was diagonally opposite Vice President Liu's, he clearly heard Li Zhibin's words.

"Was it because of Xiao Ye?" Jia Jianxin wondered. He really wanted to ask Ye Mei in person, but he didn't dare. His uncle was right; he absolutely couldn't have any more relations with that little brat. Even if Tao Tang investigated, he could only deny it to the end. If he admitted to planting a spy in front of the chairman, he would have no place in the company and would probably have to leave Hongxing.

But he hated Ye Mei to the core. He vowed to make her pay the price.

The meeting didn't last long, ending in less than an hour. Not long after hearing Chen Yan's voice from next door, Jia Jianxin saw Liu Xiuyun swaying back, bringing with her a strong scent of perfume. Soon after, he saw Tao Tang and Li Zhibin walk past his office door; Li Zhibin was carrying a travel bag, as if he were going on a long trip. Soon, Jia Jianxin learned from Wang Zhiping that Tao Tang had gone on a business trip, taking his uncle and several people from the marketing department to Zhizhou to visit clients.

Jia Jianxin realized this was Tao Tang's first business trip since taking office. The trip to East Lake didn't count. With Tao Tang gone, Jia Jianxin, who had felt a heavy weight on his chest, suddenly felt relieved. His first priority was to find out exactly what the labor conference had discussed.

He couldn't attend such business meetings without prior instruction, but Jia Jianxin easily uncovered the meeting's content. He saw the meeting minutes Chen Yan drafted afterward immediately; it was indeed about discussing the use of temporary workers, clearly something Ye Mei had brought up. Chen Yan's draft followed a standard official document format: time, location, meeting agenda, convener, and participants. The meeting minutes were as follows:

1. The Human Resources Department is instructed to conduct a thorough review of all temporary workers employed by the company by the end of May, identifying the units and positions employing temporary workers based on current staffing levels. Temporary workers should generally not be hired for general positions.

2. For temporary workers whom the company absolutely needs to retain, equal pay for equal work will be strictly implemented after this "zeroing out" work is completed. Formal labor contracts will be signed with them in batches according to the number of vacancies.

3. Temporary workers who no longer need to be retained should be laid off in batches. The timeframe should not exceed the end of the year.

4. From the date of issuance of this memorandum, no unit within the company may independently hire temporary workers. If hiring is necessary, a written report must be submitted to the Human Resources Department, which will be responsible for making the arrangements. The Human Resources Department should strengthen personnel management, especially the management of temporary workers.

The last point in the minutes confirms that the Human Resources Department was definitely criticized. It's possible that Liu Xiuyun was also criticized as a result.

However, it's estimated that the guesthouse isn't a place that's obligated to keep temporary workers, and that little vixen Ye Mei will eventually be fired, unless she really hooks up with Tao Tang...

Bored until 10:30, Jia Jianxin received a call from Yao Shounian, the head of the Marketing Department's Comprehensive Section. He immediately perked up. "Okay, okay, I was just thinking about where to go for fun. Come pick me up, oh, no, I'll come over." After saying that, Jia Jianxin locked his office, said goodbye to Zhang Xingwu, told him he had some personal business to attend to, and left Building 3 for the Marketing Department. From afar, he saw Yao Shounian's Wrangler parked there.

Li Luo and Liu Shulin followed Tao Tang to Zhizhou, and Yao Shounian was now free.

"Where to?" Jia Jianxin asked Yao Shounian after getting into the passenger seat.

"How about going fishing at Feiyuan Park?"

"It's up to you. Just the two of us?"

"I called Brother Bai, he's waiting over there, everything should be arranged."

"Okay, let's play a few rounds after dinner. It's been a while since I played; I've been really frustrated lately, nothing's going right. Let's go."

The Wrangler drove out of the factory area from the east gate and headed towards Feiyuan Reservoir.

Because of Li Luo, Yao Shounian had been deliberately currying favor with Jia Jianxin. Over the past few years, Yao Shounian had paid for all their outings together. Since Yao Shounian's general affairs department was essentially the general manager's office of the marketing department, managing the marketing department's business expenses, Jia Jianxin didn't stand on ceremony, since Yao Shounian wasn't spending his own money anyway.

The road was relatively clear at this point, and half an hour later, the Wrangler drove into Feiyuan Resort, a comprehensive resort located southeast of Feiyuan Reservoir. Bai Lizhe was already waiting there, and upon seeing Jia Jianxin, he exclaimed, "Hey, Brother Jia, it's been a long time since we last met..."

"That's right, I've been wanting to get together with Brother Bai for a while now. Haha." Jia Jianxin greeted Bai Lizhe, but his eyes darted to the two alluring girls behind Bai Lizhe. Bai Lizhe was never short of beautiful women, and they were all public beauties.

"What do you do all day, Brother Jia?"

"Busy and aimless. How can it compare to Brother Bai's carefree lifestyle..."

"Haha, buddy, you're joking. You wouldn't understand my predicament. Anyway, let's go fishing. Old Zhang has already taken his fishing gear. Let's catch some good fish and give them to the kitchen for a whole fish feast at noon..."

Old Zhang, whose real name is Zhang Yuqing, is a shareholder of Xinle Karaoke and a good friend of Bai Lizhe. He's played mahjong with Jia Jianxin twice, but they're not very close. With stricter management and rising entertainment standards, Xinle Karaoke has become the only remaining karaoke establishment in Pingquan, and its operations are becoming increasingly diversified. However, Jia Jianxin has only heard of the place but has never been there.

They weren't fishing in the reservoir itself, but in a high fishing pond beside it. The reservoir has fish, but they're not easy to catch; it requires skill and, more importantly, patience.

They got back in the car and drove for ten minutes to the high fishing pond. Jia Jianxin, who liked Chinese sturgeon, greeted Lao Zhang from the Violet Karaoke Bar, grabbed his fishing tackle box, and went fishing with Bai Lizhe in the pond where the Chinese sturgeon were kept. Yao Shounian, Lao Zhang, and the two scantily clad women who were clearly girls from the karaoke bar went fishing for crucian carp. Yao Shounian preferred crucian carp soup.

Only a few of them were fishing in the huge pond. Jia Jianxin chose the largest willow tree, opened his fishing box, took out a stool, sat down, and then began to prepare his fishing gear.

"This place won't work; we won't catch any fish here," Bai Lizhe reminded him.

"I don't have your skills, it's too hot..." Jia Jianxin didn't want to move.

Bai Lizhe's choice of location was indeed excellent. In less than ten minutes, he achieved his goal: a sturgeon, about a foot and a half long, leaped out of the water and struggled, splashing up a large amount of water.

"Brother, at least two and a half pounds... haha..." Bai Lizhe used his fishing rod to drag the big fish, exhausting its strength. "**You'd better come over here obediently."

"Haha, lucky people don't need to work hard." Jia Jianxin wasn't envious of Bai Lizhe catching a big fish. He sat under the shade of a tree, looking at the fishing float that was standing still on the water, and his eyes kept glancing at Zhang Yuqing out of the corner of his eye.

Bai Lizhe brought over the still-struggling fish, put it in the fish basket submerged in water, took out a cigarette case, and handed a cigarette to Jia Jianxin. "Brother, are you familiar with Mu Jianhua? He works at your factory."

"Mu Jianhua? I know him, but not well. I think he was arrested recently."

"Arrested? Why?"

"It seems to be because of drug use... This person isn't a formal employee of Red Star; he was fired a long time ago and was forced into drug rehabilitation. Why are you asking about him?" Jia Jianxin was a little puzzled, thinking that Bai Lizhe, who already had some wealth, had nothing to do with Mu Jianhua.

"A friend asked about him... because he's from your Red Star, so it was just a casual question, nothing serious."

"I knew it. Why would you date someone like that? Oh, and those two, are they girls from Brother Zhang's karaoke bar?"

"Take a fancy to him? It's simple." Bai Lizhe laughed. "If you want to get to know him, I'll introduce you after dinner. But I advise you to forget it. Old Zhang's taste is a bit too low. You'd better not get on that kind of public bus... By the way, that Mu Jianhua, please find out for sure, he really was taken to a drug rehabilitation center?"

"It's a simple matter, just wait a moment." Jia Jianxin wondered why Bai Lizhe didn't ask Yao Shounian, but he still took out his phone and dialed a number with one hand. "I'll ask the security department and I'll know. When the police come to the factory to arrest someone, they can't possibly not inform the security department. The head of security is our buddy."

Fan Yong confirmed that Mu Jianhua was indeed detained a few days ago for drug use.

"Oh, that makes it easier to reply to my friend. Thanks, bro." Bai Lizhe turned around and went back to his "post" to focus on fishing again.

Of the two girls from the karaoke bar, the one wearing a low-cut purple dress came over empty-handed and stopped in front of Jia Jianxin. "Brother Jia, right? How were your results?"

"I'm ashamed to say we haven't opened for business yet." Jia Jianxin first noticed a pair of plump, bare feet wearing leather sandals and bright red nail polish. His gaze then moved upwards, where the voluptuous and robust young woman's proud breasts were particularly alluring.

"The fish are catching so well over there... there must be at least ten! It's not just fishing, it's like catching them by hand! Jia, you're so handsome! You've never been to Xinle, have you?"

"No. I don't like singing." Jia Jianxin swallowed. The girl's eyelashes were beautifully done, and her skin was very nice... "What's your surname?"

"You can just call me Ningning... Who said karaoke bars are only for singing?" the hostess teased blatantly.

Jia Jianxin thought the girl named Ningning was quite sexy. "So what do you do at the karaoke bar?"

"There are many things I can do, like drinking and chatting with you... Of course, I only go with handsome guys like Brother Jia."

"Alright then, you'll have a couple of drinks with me later." Jia Jianxin stared at Ningning with a lecherous look.

"No problem," Ningning squatted down, her bare arm touching Jia Jianxin's arm, and the fishing rod tilted. "Yay, a fish took the bait..."

Jia Jianxin reached out his left hand and pinched the girl's fair arm. "You're so fair-skinned."

Ningning screamed exaggeratedly...

Bai Lizhe, who was fishing on a wooden platform extending into the water, turned around and said, "Brother, why don't we go eat? It's getting hot. A few ice-cold beers would be fucking awesome." As he spoke, he grabbed a swaying fish and removed the hook from its gills.

"Okay, I'll listen to you, Brother Bai." Jia Jianxin stood up as well. Ningning squatted down to tidy up the fishing gear that Jia Jianxin had left behind.

After dinner, Jia Jianxin, as he had hoped, took Ningning to a hotel. He didn't even ask how much Ningning cost. Afterwards, feeling refreshed, Jia Jianxin played four rounds of mahjong with three other people, losing about 3000 yuan. It was the kind of small-scale mahjong, played in the study, purely for entertainment. And he didn't have to pay; Yao Shounian had given him 5000 yuan as "gambling money" before they even started playing. Bai Lizhe laughed at him, saying that his success in love inevitably led to his failure at gambling, to which he simply laughed and didn't refute. Returning from Feiyuan Amusement Park, it was almost the end of the workday. He checked his landline's call log; there were only two unimportant calls. A feeling of loneliness welled up inside him, realizing that since Tao Tang took office, he had become increasingly "marginalized" in the general manager's office.

I'm only 33 years old... Thinking about my future, the satisfaction I get from having fun vanishes without a trace.

Zhu Ning, the Party Branch Secretary from the General Manager's Office, came over. "Xiao Jia, where have you been? This is really bad luck. The Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau actually issued a shutdown and rectification notice to the factory! Are they trying to kill us? General Manager Tao also wants us to supervise this month's production progress. The first week's completion was good, but this is troublesome..."

Jia Jianxin was also taken aback. "A complete shutdown?"

"This is outrageous! Just the fact that the instrument panel is shut down is a disaster! What's wrong with the Technical Safety Department?"

"What should we do then?"

"What can we do? President Zhou has already gone to the city." After saying that, Zhu Yu hurriedly left.

Jia Jianxin just listened. The production stoppage had nothing to do with him. He was even somewhat gloating because Tao Tang's arrival not only blocked his uncle's future but also increasingly showed signs of targeting his uncle.

"Serves him right!" Jia Jianxin immediately remembered what Mu Qingyun had said. The Environmental Protection Bureau came to inspect the company and wanted to meet the new head of the company. He was so arrogant that he refused to meet them. Now he's getting his comeuppance! Serves him right! It was supposed to be just a meal, but now he's going to be in serious trouble.