After watching Jiang Longcheng and Ye Jianhua’s car drive off into the distance, Li Yi stood rooted to the spot for a long time.
He knew full well that things at the cotton mill were about to get turbulent!
Given Jiang Longcheng’s temperament, he would never rest until he had thoroughly investigated Gao Shubin, Tong Shouliang, and the others.
Of course, Li Yi’s mention of “bad luck” and “falling victim to schemers” was merely an excuse, but that didn’t mean he was speaking without basis.
In fact, the people he’d mentioned were indeed no good—they were thoroughly depraved and guilty of heinous crimes.
Take Gao Shubin, for instance. As the deputy director of the cotton mill, he may not rank very high, but he’s still a power player within the factory.
The reason Li Yi had Jiang Longcheng investigate him was mainly because this guy was about to do something utterly despicable—set fire to the cotton mill’s main warehouse!
The reason Gao Shubin wanted to set the mill on fire was directly related to the power struggles within the factory.
Where there are people, there is a power struggle; and where there is a power struggle, conflict is inevitable.
As a key unit in Beijing’s textile industry, the State-Owned Second Cotton Mill naturally involved substantial interests, and the relationships among the factory’s leaders were far from harmonious.
In fact, aside from Jiang Longcheng—the factory director who had risen through the ranks thanks to his connections—none of the remaining three deputy directors were pushovers.
Among the three deputy directors, He Tianming, the top-ranked one, was a “parachute appointment,” transferred to the cotton mill from the railway system several years ago.
At 32, he was in the prime of his career, full of youthful vigor and ambition.
The second deputy director, Chen Rui, came from a logistics background and was relatively older; while he didn’t harbor such grand ambitions, he hadn’t given up on competing for the director’s position either.
Deputy Director Chen usually comes across as a total nice guy—a fence-sitter who plays both sides—but behind the scenes, he’s a shrewd schemer.
The third deputy director, Gao Shubin, is a homegrown cadre of the cotton mill. Starting as a procurement officer and working his way up to workshop director, he has gradually climbed to his current position as deputy director and enjoys a certain degree of prestige within the factory.
However, while Deputy Director Gao puts on a good show in public, behind the scenes he is full of all sorts of unscrupulous schemes and has a long history of misconduct.
These three men usually can’t stand the sight of one another; they feel unsatisfied unless they’ve exchanged a few barbs. The entire factory is in a state of chaos because of their infighting.
After all, when the leadership above isn’t united, those below have no choice but to pick a side; otherwise, they simply can’t survive.
Of course, if there’s a strong leader at the top to keep things in check, that’s one thing; but if not, the situation becomes serious.
Although Jiang Longcheng wasn’t particularly capable, he was the son of a high-ranking official with a solid political background; his family’s influence and connections spoke for themselves.
On top of that, he’s a ruthless character—if anyone dares to cross him, he’ll make sure they suffer for the rest of their lives.
So, with him keeping them in check, the deputy plant managers didn’t dare to go too far.
But after Jiang Longcheng was assassinated in my previous life, the selection of a new plant director immediately became the focal point of the power struggle among these three deputy directors, and the conflict quickly escalated.
To bring down his most formidable rival, He Tianming, Gao Shubin resorted to all sorts of underhanded tactics behind the scenes—from smear campaigns to writing accusatory letters—leaving no stone unturned.
He Tianming, however, was not to be outdone. He immediately countered Gao Shubin’s actions with even more cunning tactics.
Upon investigation, he discovered that Gao Shubin had been taking kickbacks in the cotton mill’s raw material procurement, and that the materials procured through him had serious quality issues.
To get to the bottom of the matter and bring Gao Shubin down for good, He Tianming personally conducted an investigation deep within the factory’s various raw material warehouses and production workshops, gathering a wealth of evidence.
However, these matters could not be hidden from Gao Shubin, who had deep roots within the factory. Upon learning of this, he was utterly shocked!
He knew that once He Tianming reported the evidence to higher-ups, his fate would be far worse than simply losing his position as factory director—he might even be taken out and shot. After all, the repercussions of certain matters were simply too severe.
Immediately, he summoned several trusted confidants to discuss a countermeasure.
After some secret deliberation, they decided to go all the way and silence the witness by killing him!
So, they quietly and deliberately leaked information to He Tianming’s people, claiming that a shipment of cotton mixed with sand and fibers would soon be delivered to Warehouse No. 2, luring He Tianming and his team to the warehouse area at night to gather evidence.
In reality, Gao Shubin and his men had already poured gasoline inside that warehouse well in advance.
Upon hearing the news, He Tianming and his men fell right into the trap.
That night, after He Tianming and his three confidants had quietly slipped into the warehouse area, Gao Shubin’s men set fire to the dozens of tons of cotton inside the warehouse and locked the doors from the outside.
The fire not only killed He Tianming and his three trusted aides, but also completely destroyed the raw materials Gao Shubin had procured but hadn’t yet had a chance to use.
Not only did they silence their rivals, but they also destroyed all the evidence in the process—a truly ruthless move.
Finally, Gao Shubin and his associates framed He Tianming and his group for arson.
Their reasoning was that He Tianming had planned to burn the raw materials in the warehouse under Gao Shubin’s supervision in order to drag him into the scandal and disqualify him from competing for the position of factory director.
Since Gao Shubin had already bribed the investigators looking into the matter, the case was quickly and absurdly settled.
What was most infuriating was that, having eliminated his formidable rival, Gao Shubin successfully became the director of the cotton mill.
After taking office, Gao Shubin began a massive purge of dissidents; whether they were He Tianming’s people or those of his predecessor, Jiang Longcheng, they were all targeted for elimination.
In his previous life, Li Yi had also been driven out of the cotton mill by that bastard at this very time; one could say he had personally experienced that incident.
Only, at the time, he hadn’t understood all the twists and turns involved!
The truth behind this matter wasn’t exposed until eight years later.
At the time, the cotton mill was undergoing bankruptcy restructuring. During an audit of the factory’s accounts, it was discovered that Tong Shouliang, then deputy director, was suspected of embezzling state assets, and an investigation was immediately launched against him.
Shortly thereafter, Tong Shouliang was arrested.
In an attempt to atone for his crimes, he eventually confessed to the incident, implicating Gao Shubin.
It was only then that the truth behind that major scandal from eight years ago finally came to light!
Although Jiang Longcheng hadn’t died young as he had in his previous life, the power struggle between the deputy directors of the cotton mill hadn’t yet escalated, much less reached a fever pitch.
However, Li Yi dared not take any risks. After all, the fire had broken out at night, and with it being winter, the evening winds were particularly strong, causing the flames to spread rapidly.
Not only did it engulf Warehouse No. 2, but it also reduced all eight large warehouses in the entire warehouse complex to ashes.
Moreover, after the fire broke out, all the factory’s employees, officials, and nearby residents rushed to put it out, ultimately resulting in 17 heroic firefighters being consumed by the flames—a tragedy of the gravest proportions.
Among those who died, there were quite a few faces familiar to Li Yi!
Besides, you can’t guard against thieves forever.
Scoundrels like Gao Shubin should have been weeded out long ago; otherwise, whether it was Jiang Longcheng or the factory’s staff and management, they would remain in constant danger.
That is why Li Yi reminded Jiang Longcheng to be wary of these individuals and, ideally, to investigate them.
He was confident that, given the Jiang family’s resources, investigating a few people like this would pose no problem.