Chapter 28: The Way of the World and Human Nature

  Business was a bit sparse, Li Shengli subconsciously glanced at Wen Qian, who was still standing under the tree, not showing any signs of impatience. Li Shengli felt secretly ashamed and quickly walked to Wei Gang, Zhao Jianguo and some former colleagues, smiling: "Please, leaders and everyone, I'm just here to give me face, thank you very much!"

  Li Shengli's social circle is very narrow, and he has been at home for two years. The most senior leader he can invite to the opening of his business is Wei Gang, the deputy director of the Agricultural Machinery Factory. Wei Gang, who is now 32 years old, became a deputy director in 1993 and is considered to be young and promising. However, the factory's performance has not been good lately, and the director, Zhang Daqing, has been avoiding his employees by frequently checking into the hospital. As a result, Wei Gang has become the de facto person in charge of the factory. Li Shengli's mother, Ding Mei, works as an accountant at the factory and knows Wei Gang, who appears to be a talented and handsome man. However, he has a bad reputation for being deceitful and sometimes doing things in a underhanded way. Nevertheless, his uncle is the director of the Municipal Party Committee's Propaganda Department, Wei Chenfeng, which gives him a very special background. Li Shengli had heard his mother complaining about Wei Gang at home many times, saying that he was not a good person and only knew how to flatter those above him while bullying those below him.

  It was actually a misunderstanding by Wen Ze, and Li Shengli had invited Zhao Jianguo, the former director of the third car interval. When he received the call, Zhao Jianguo happened to be at home playing mahjong with Wei Gang, and when Zhao mentioned this matter, Wei suddenly wanted to come over and take a look after thinking of Li Shengli's beautiful and charming wife. After receiving the news, Li Shengli was naturally overjoyed, as he had invited a deputy director-level leader, which would be a great honor for him.

  As for Wen Huai Ming, the deputy department head was too low-key and was directly ignored. Moreover, Wen Huai Ming was originally supposed to come with Wen Qian, but he received a phone call in the morning and was called away to the city, it's unclear if he'll make it back in time to attend.

  At this time, there were not many customers coming in, so I wanted to ask these colleagues to take the lead. More than a dozen people came in at once, and the store immediately became lively. This is also a way to create a lively atmosphere for the opening ceremony. Just as Zhao Jianguo was about to motivate everyone to take action, Wei Gang suddenly said: "Victory ah, it's not me pouring cold water, but opening such a store in Qingzhou may not make much money."

  Zhao Jianguo was taken aback, and his footsteps, which had been about to move forward, retreated. The other dozen or so colleagues who had come with him also fell silent. The surrounding onlookers were in a state of confusion, and no one could hear what they were saying. But Wen Jie remained focused on the situation here, immediately noticing that something was off. After instructing Li Siqing for a couple of sentences, he walked over from the side, and as soon as he approached, he heard Wei Gang speaking loudly: "When doing business, you need to have a clear target audience. Rich people won't come to eat at this kind of small shop, and poor people can just fill their bellies with a pancake from a street stall - who would go out of their way to come into the store to drink a cup of soy milk?"

  Li Shengli, although he had long since resigned, still maintained the respect due to his former leader, bowing his head and smiling: "What you say is true, but now that living standards have improved, many people are willing to go to regular stores to eat a clean and reassuring breakfast..."

  "Is life good?" Wei Gang snorted, looked around and pointed at Li Shengli: "Take you for example, you were one of the top technicians in the factory back then, is your standard of living better now?"

  As soon as this was said, even Zhao Jianguo felt surprised. He had never heard that Wei Gang and Li Shengli had any grudges against each other. If he had known, he wouldn't have let him come today. It's not easy for Li Shengli to get out of that thing, and now he's being slapped in the face like this. It's really too shameless. However, there are many shameless people around. A man in his 40s who had been standing behind Wei Gang all along sneered: "Mr. Wei, you don't know, Li Shengli has been living a life of luxury for the past two years, every day is a drunken dream, that kind of life is not something we can experience, of course, it's just that his standard of living has improved!"

  These words were even more vicious, Li Shengli's face turned iron green, his body was shaking violently, Wen Jian stood beside him without saying a word, staring at Li Shengli with concern in his eyes. Some things, if you can get through them, there will be no more torture, but if you can't get through them, whoever helps is useless!

  Zhao Jianguo opened his mouth to mediate, but was stared back by Wei Gang with a single glance. The agricultural machinery factory was declining day by day, and he was seeking a way out. Wei Gang might be transferred to the Light Industry Bureau as deputy director, and his own future was tied to him, so there was no need to offend him for the sake of an insignificant person.

  Li Shengli finally stopped trembling, with a smile on his face, saying: "Boss is joking, those are all in the past, I'm now working hard to live a better life, so as not to tarnish the reputation of Qingzhou!"

  Wei Gang was having a hard time with Li Shengli, but it's actually very simple. It's all because of Zhao Yaqing. When Zhao Yaqing first joined the factory, Wei Gang fell in love with her. At that time, 24-year-old Wei Gang was already the head of the quality inspection department at the agricultural machinery factory and was quite popular among female workers. He thought he would play it cool and wait for Zhao Yaqing to make a move like other women did, then he would pursue her. But unexpectedly, Zeng Wucheng's foolishness led to Li Shengli becoming a hero who saved the beauty, and the two quickly got together, causing Wei Gang to miss his chance. Also because Wei Gang had never expressed his affection for Zhao Yaqing before, so even Zhao Jianguo didn't know until today that Wei Gang held such deep resentment towards Li Shengli.

  Just thinking about that delicate, soft and warm body being pressed down by this man for so many years, and because of this man's incompetence, another disgusting guy also enjoyed that woman. Wei Gang couldn't hold back his anger. Originally, you were tormenting yourself, making me feel like I'm not even a ghost, it's not good to make things difficult for you again. But if you want to make such a fortune and wealth dream come true, it's really too easy for you!

  Wei Gang burst out laughing, attracting the attention of everyone around him. "Actually, there's a saying that goes like this: behind every successful man is a successful woman. Victory, you don't even have a wife, how can you possibly get rich? In my opinion, it's better to sell this store as soon as possible, or else you'll lose everything and become a laughing stock."

  "This is outrageous, absolutely outrageous! Li Shengli suddenly raised his head, Zhao Jianguo saw that things were not going well, took a step forward and tightly grasped his hands, bent down to his ear and whispered in an extremely low voice: "He says one word, your shop will be closed, endure..."

  Just like a basin of cold water was poured over his head, rumors spread that Wei Gang had a strong background in the city. If he wanted to cause trouble, all he needed to do was make a phone call to the industrial and commercial tax authorities or the health department, and this small shop, which carried all his dreams, would instantly disappear into thin air. At this thought, Li Shengli bit his lip tightly, but the smile on his face didn't change: "I'm not competing with the boss, what's success or failure, we're just making a living, just making a living!"

  What times we live in! What times we live in!

  It's hard for people to live, and it's even harder to live with dignity. The world is like a copper furnace, Li Shengli, that straightforward and passionate young man back then, has also been ground down by this furnace, his edges worn off, his spine bent, and the last spark in his heart extinguished.

  Wen Jian looked at Li Shengli's humble and submissive appearance, her eyes almost moistening. She walked up slowly and said loudly: "Deputy Director Wei is wrong. If a man can only succeed with the help of a woman, why not give that lowly thing to the woman and use it on himself?"

  With the nourishment of the internet, when it comes to poisonous snakes, Wen Chuan can proudly look down on his contemporaries and gaze at the masses.

  When he spoke coarsely and humorously, the farm machinery factory workers who were dissatisfied with Wei Gang's overbearing attitude couldn't help but burst out laughing. Wei Gang, however, had a thick skin and a gloomy expression as he casually swept his gaze across the crowd, quickly silencing their laughter. Seeing that it was Wen Can speaking, Wei Gang didn't put Wen Huai Ming in his eyes either, coldly scolding: "You're just a half-grown kid, what do you understand? Go home and let Wen Huai Ming teach you! Do you have the right to interrupt when adults are talking? I'm uneducated and uncultured, but at least I have some manners!"

  Wen Cang smiled and was about to retort, even if this guy's uncle was Wei Chenfeng, there was nothing to be afraid of. Both Fang Mingtang and Zhou Yuanting were within Wen Cang's calculations, a small propaganda minister like him was just a minor matter.

  A faint voice suddenly came from behind, light as a feather, but the overwhelming pressure was something that even Wen Qiang could sense.

  "Oh, you say Wen Huiming is uneducated and untalented?"

  (By the way, as for that legendary female worker, I personally think it's not a big deal, but safety first, so let's just forget about it in this book. If you're interested, search "Deng Bin" on Baidu and you'll know)