1994: Starting with unpaid leave

Just last year, Wang Gaofei watched a Hong Kong-mainland co-production film called "Flirting Scholar" at the Workers' Cultural Palace.

From his professional intellectual perspective, this film uses noisy farce to cover up its intellectual poverty and sensory stimulation to replace aesthetic pleasure. It is a desecration of history and a dismantling of the integrity of literati, as well as a regression in aesthetics and an overabundance of vulgar tastes.

So he only critically read it three times and then stopped reading it.

But what he'd experienced these past two days kept reminding him of a line from a movie:

"Life's ups and downs happen so fast, it's really too exciting."

Just a few days ago, he was the secretary of factory director Gao Yi, who affectionately called him the eyes and ears of the factory!

In the blink of an eye, he was demoted to the No. 1 production workshop, and went from being a secretary to a loader.

As a college graduate with five years of work experience, he didn't understand why.

Although I don't understand, I still try to make amends.

So on the night of his job transfer, he imitated Wu Qianzhu's way of giving gifts, carrying two bottles of Beidacang to Director Gao's house.

Director Gao remained very kind, but he simply refused to see him.

That wasn't all. The very next day, in the factory's list of day off adjustments, everyone else was given one day on and two days off, with their wages reduced to one-third of what they used to be. But he was the one who was given one day on and three days off, with his wages reduced to one-quarter of what they used to be!

He spent the whole day lying at home, racking his brains but still couldn't figure out why.

If his mother hadn't called him out to buy some cheap eggs, he would probably still be meditating on the kang (heated brick bed).

However, when he entered the courtyard and saw that Dong Jianguo was in charge of selecting and weighing the eggs for the customers, he originally thought of turning around and leaving.

But when he saw that the person in charge of collecting money was Zhou Xiuyun, he couldn't help but stop and take a second look, which is how Dong Jianguo caught him.

Wang Gaofei glanced at Zhou Xiuyun and saw that she was smiling as she collected money from an old lady for eggs without noticing him. He couldn't help but cough twice, trying to get her attention.

Seeing Wang Gaofei's affected and coy manner, Dong Jianguo felt disgusted.

This guy used to act all high and mighty in the factory office, but now that he's fallen from grace, he's no better than a chicken, yet he still acts all high and mighty.

Dong Jianguo found these kinds of people as annoying as flies, but since there were other customers in the courtyard, he couldn't directly confront them, so he simply spoke up to remind them:

"Secretary Wang, just say what you need to say. What's with all this winking and cajoling? Even if you coughed up blood, would my wife still go with you?"

Pointed out by Dong Jianguo, Wang Gaofei blushed slightly, but still scoffed dismissively, "Hmph! Vulgar!"

Dong Jianguo was genuinely amused this time, and replied in a voice only the two of them could hear: "Yeah, you're the most meticulous, you're the most meticulous among all the top students."

"you!"

Provoked by Dong Jianguo's nonsense, Wang Gaofei's eyes widened immediately.

There were still a few customers picking out eggs in the courtyard. Seeing Wang Gaofei and Dong Jianguo arguing, one of them said without even looking up:

"What's wrong with you? Are you going to buy eggs or not? If not, move aside. Can't you see there are people waiting in line outside?!"

"Exactly, what's the point of glaring at the boss?! Without Xiao Dong, we wouldn't even be able to buy these cheap eggs!"

Zhou Xiuyun, who had just finished collecting the money, saw this scene immediately, quickly stood up and stood next to Dong Jianguo, glaring angrily at Wang Gaofei, showing a rare fierceness:

"What are you going to do?!"

Zhou Xiuyun didn't give the factory office secretary, who had caused her husband to lose his job, even the slightest smile.

Upon hearing Zhou Xiuyun's voice, Yueyue, who was maintaining order at the courtyard gate, hurriedly ran in.

Without thinking twice, the little girl stood next to Xiuyun and kicked Wang Gaofei's leg:

"You bad guy, don't you dare bully my godmother!"

Dong Jianguo's gaze swept over Yueyue, then glanced at his wife, before he remembered that he had been busy installing the rain shelter since he got back and had forgotten to ask his godmother about it.

Wang Gaofei couldn't lash out at Zhou Xiuyun.

Looking down at Yueyue, he saw that she was just a 5 or 6-year-old girl. Although she looked somewhat familiar, he didn't think they were that close, and she was definitely not a leader's relative.

So he naturally took his anger out on the girl:

"Whose little brat is this? Doesn't anyone care? Is he born without any upbringing? Does this wild child have no parents?!"

Yueyue was already putting on a brave face, but when Wang Gaofei scolded her, she immediately pouted and started crying, clinging to Xiuyun's leg.

Zhou Xiuyun was even more unhappy.

Yueyue has lost her father and has a very hard life.

Wang Gaofei's words are tantamount to stabbing the child in the still-healing wound with a knife!

She shielded Yueyue behind her, her peach blossom eyes wide open, but before she could react, a figure appeared in front of her.

Dong Jianguo stopped looking at him with amusement and stared at Wang Gaofei expressionlessly: "Secretary Wang, do you know whose child she is?"

Wang Gaofei pushed up his glasses: "Whose child is it? You didn't have a bastard child with some random girl, did you?"

He turned slightly to the side, his gaze bypassing Dong Jianguo and fixing on Zhou Xiuyun, who stood behind him with a furious expression:

"Xiuyun, I truly feel sorry for you for ultimately choosing such a man..."

Before the word "sorrow" even landed, Dong Jianguo had already made his move.

Without any warning, like an enraged cheetah, his right hand suddenly reached out and grabbed Wang Gaofei's collar.

With a sudden tumble, Wang Gaofei had no time to react. He felt dizzy and was slammed onto the cold, muddy ground like a sack of rotten potatoes!

With a "thud," Wang Gaofei's face slammed hard onto the ground, even bouncing exaggeratedly twice!

His face was not only scraped, but blood from his nose mixed with mud was smeared all over his face, and even his glasses were thrown far away. He was in a very sorry state.

But that wasn't all; Dong Jianguo then stomped on his face.

"That child's name is Wang Xiaoyue. Her father was a driver at a textile factory named Wang Xiang!"

"Does that name sound familiar? Back when Director Zhao was still in charge, the factory refused to compensate his father. You were the factory office secretary then, so you were probably the one who suggested this solution, weren't you?"

"And when her mother, Zhao Hongmei, was holding the child and about to petition, if I remember correctly, it was you who led people to stop her."

"How come you've already forgotten something that happened only a few years ago?"

Wang Gaofei was taken aback, not expecting this to be the case, and hurriedly explained:

"Dong Jianguo, don't spout nonsense without evidence! Did you see me give you this advice?!"

"As for stopping Zhao Hongmei and telling her not to cause trouble... what can I do when the leader assigns something like that?"

"Hold!"

A ruthless glint flashed in Dong Jianguo's eyes.

The foot that was stepping on his face suddenly lifted up, about to stomp down on Wang Gaofei's head!

In his mind, these lackeys who abused their power were the most despicable.

Before anything went wrong, he fawned over his superiors.

After things went wrong, it became, "It was all my superiors' orders; I'm actually a good person!"

But without obedient lackeys eager to climb the ranks, how much evil can a single leader commit?

Seeing that Dong Jianguo's kick was powerful and heavy, and that it would definitely cause an accident if he stepped on it, several customers who came to buy eggs quickly stepped between the two and stopped him.

These people were all veterans of the factory. Even if they hadn't witnessed what happened to drivers Wang Xiang and Zhao Hongmei back then, they knew something about it.

Although I despise the actions of the old factory director and Wang Gaofei, I don't want Dong Jianguo to actually hurt anyone.

Seeing Wang Gaofei get up from the ground to pick up his glasses, Dong Jianguo shouted a warning across the crowd:

"Just because I call you Secretary Wang doesn't mean you're something special! Aren't you just a factory worker now?"

"You're so dedicated to getting things done for your superiors, right? But what happens after you've finished? Those superiors just throw you aside like trash!"

"Weren't you a top student? Weren't you a cultured person?! All those years of schooling, and you've just wasted your time?!"

"Don't ever come to our house again! We'd rather feed our eggs to the dog than sell them to you!"