Beijing. State-Owned Second Cotton Spinning Factory!
Jiang Longcheng arrived at his office early this morning and personally went to the archives room to retrieve the personnel files of all the factory’s mid- and senior-level leaders.
Of course, requesting files on so many people was merely a smokescreen; what he actually wanted to see were the files on Gao Shubin, Tong Shouliang, and Yang Guangbi.
Although he had been working at the cotton mill for several years, Jiang Longcheng actually knew very little about the people under his command.
It must be said that he had truly been derelict in his duties as factory director!
To put it bluntly, given his track record, if it weren’t for his family’s formidable connections, this factory director position would never have fallen to him!
Jiang Longcheng pulled out the personnel files of Gao Shubin, Tong Shouliang, and Yang Guangbi, then began to examine them carefully.
But after a quick glance, aside from noting that Gao Shubin had previously worked in the same production workshop as these two—leading him to speculate that Tong Shouliang and Yang Guangbi might have been promoted by Gao Shubin—he couldn’t glean anything else.
But that didn’t matter. If he couldn’t figure it out, someone else surely could!
Just then, a soft knock sounded at the door!
“Come in!”
As the office door swung open, Secretary Wang—with her curvaceous figure—stepped inside and said, “Director, there are a few comrades waiting for you at the main gate. They say they’re from the district office!”
Jiang Longcheng’s eyes lit up instantly, and he immediately said, “Hurry up and bring them in!”
“Yes, sir!”
Before long, they were ushered in.
There were five of them in total, all dressed in dark blue official uniforms. Leading the group was a middle-aged man wearing glasses.
After Secretary Wang left, the middle-aged man immediately said, “Hello, Director Jiang. I am Hu Liang, Head of the Financial Audit Section at the District Audit Bureau. These are my colleagues. We’ve been sent by Secretary Jiang to assist you with the internal audit!”
“Hello, Section Chief Hu. Please, have a seat, everyone!”
“Director Jiang, Secretary Jiang has already briefed us on the general situation before we arrived, so let’s get straight to the point!”
“Alright!”
“You’re currently investigating the factory’s internal accounts, primarily those of the Procurement Department and Workshops 1 and 2, correct?”
“That’s right. I suspect there are issues with the accounts in those departments, but I don’t have concrete evidence. I hope you can conduct a thorough review!” said Jiang Longcheng.
“No problem. To avoid alerting them, we’ll enter your finance department under the guise of the District Audit Bureau conducting a review of last year’s financial records. Please notify the relevant departments of this shortly, and leave the rest to us!” said Hu Liang.
“Alright!”
Jiang Longcheng immediately had Secretary Wang summon the head of the Finance Section, briefed him on the situation, and instructed them to cooperate fully.
The head of the finance section was a bit puzzled—hadn’t they just finished an audit six months ago? Why were these people back again?
But this sort of thing had happened before, and since they were the ones being audited, they naturally dared not say much. They could only scurry along, leading Hu Liang and his team out of the office.
Shortly after seeing Hu Liang and his team off, another group arrived at Jiang Longcheng’s office—they were from the Economic Crime Investigation Division of the District Public Security Bureau.
They, too, had been ordered to come to the Cotton Spinning Factory to assist Jiang Longcheng with the investigation.
While the auditors from the Audit Bureau had been examining the books, this new group was here to investigate the people—specifically Gao Shubin, Tong Shouliang, Yang Guangbi, and others!
Meanwhile, after assigning the investigative tasks, Jiang Longcheng immediately convened a factory management meeting.
At the meeting, citing the constant demands for payment from upstream suppliers—which had thrown the factory into chaos—Jiang Longcheng ordered Gao Shubin to immediately travel to Shandong and Henan provinces.
Have him pay a visit to the heads of those raw material suppliers and ask them to hold off for a while, with the aim of pushing the repayment date back to after the New Year.
Gao Shubin didn’t suspect anything, especially since this kind of assignment was always considered a cushy job.
After all, you can’t exactly show up empty-handed, especially when you’re going to ask for a favor—you’ve got to offer something in return!
As for how much to give, that was entirely up to him. Who knows—this trip might just net him a few thousand extra in his pocket.
He readily agreed on the spot.
Little did he know, however, that Jiang Longcheng’s move was a deliberate ploy to keep him occupied while launching a multi-pronged investigation into him.
While Jiang Longcheng was busy launching an investigation into those “minions,” over in Qingshan County, Long Zhanjun had already arrived in the county seat with Li Gang.
They then joined Li Yeqiao and Liu San, who had been waiting at the county bureau, and headed to the bus station outside the West Gate, where they boarded a bus bound for the city center.
After seeing Long Zhanjun and the others off, Li Gang immediately returned to the bureau and dialed the number for Jiang Longcheng’s office.
…….
Beiguan Village. Grassland Beef and Lamb Grill & Hot Pot Restaurant!
Having just finished up for the afternoon, Li Yi was getting ready to have dinner with a few of his younger brothers.
Today, to treat his younger colleagues, Li Yi had taken it upon himself to cook a pot of mutton spine stew for them.
“Sheep scorpion” refers to the sheep’s spine. It’s called that because, once cut open, it resembles a scorpion.
Although the Chinese have been eating sheep scorpions for over a thousand years, it wasn’t until the past few decades since the Reform and Opening-Up that people truly learned to turn this meager cut into a delicacy.
At the very least, few people today know how to prepare it properly, and those who are truly wealthy and powerful don’t eat it.
But Li Yi knows that when prepared properly, “sheep scorpion” tastes far better than ordinary mutton.
Especially when used to make a clear broth hot pot, the flavor is truly exquisite.
So today, before the restaurant opened to customers, Li Yi took out the dozen or so sets of lamb scorpions the shop had stockpiled and carefully disassembled them one by one.
After thoroughly cleaning all the lamb spine pieces, he placed them in a large cast-iron pot and began simmering them over low heat.
By the time the customers had all left, the lamb spine was perfectly stewed.
Li Yi immediately had Dongzi, Qiangzi, and the others carry the lamb spine out to the table in large bowls, then ladled the stewing broth into a copper pot, ready for dipping meat and vegetables.
However, before they could even start eating, the roar of a car engine echoed from outside.
Immediately afterward, Jiang Longcheng, clad in a cotton overcoat, strode into the restaurant with a ruthless, unyielding gait.
Seeing that Li Yi and the others were just about to eat, Jiang Longcheng burst out laughing: “Slow as molasses—I just happened to arrive in time for dinner. What luck!”
“Did you follow the smell here, you rascal? How did you know exactly when we’d be eating?” Li Yi said with a smile.
“Hahaha, let me see what goodies you’re about to eat!”
However, when Jiang Longcheng saw the large bowl of lamb spine soup on the table, he immediately teased, “Brother Li Yi, you’re being way too cheap. How can you serve the younger brothers this meatless stuff?”
Li Yi smiled and said, “If you don’t like it because there’s no meat, don’t eat it!”
Jiang Longcheng, of course, wasn’t going to listen to him. Without waiting for Li Yi to invite him, he sat down right next to him, then, mimicking Li Yi, reached out and picked up a piece of lamb spine to gnaw on.
The lamb ribs had been stewed until they were completely tender. With a gentle pull, the bones split apart, easily revealing the meat clinging to the bone and the fragrant bone marrow inside.
After just two bites, Jiang Longcheng’s eyes widened in amazement.
“Hahaha, Brother Li Yi, I take back what I said earlier. This stuff might not have much meat, but damn, it’s delicious!”
Jiang Longcheng’s words couldn’t help but remind Li Yi of that “It’s so good!” guy from his past life—wasn’t he just like this?
“You’re the head of a major factory, after all. Why do you come running to my little shop every day? Don’t you have to manage things at the factory?” Li Yi asked as he ate.
“Do you think I’m that idle? I’m here to deliver a message!” Jiang Longcheng mumbled, chewing on a bone.
“What message?”
“They called from your hometown. They said the person you’re looking for has already set off and is expected to arrive in Beijing early tomorrow morning. They want you to go pick them up at the train station!”
Hearing this, Li Yi’s eyes lit up instantly, and he immediately said with a smile, “Great, great, great! They’re finally here!”
Then Li Yi asked again, “Did they say how many are coming?”
“They said three!”
Li Yi knew that if there were three people, Li Yeqiao and Liu San must have come as well.
With that in mind, he said right away, “Lend me your car tonight—it’s hard to get a cab around here in the early morning!”
“Lending you the car is no problem, but can you even drive it?”
“Don’t underestimate me. What’s so hard about driving a beat-up 212? Want me to show you how to drift?” Li Yi said with a laugh.
“Forget it—my life is worth a lot more than that!”
Without even looking up, Jiang Longcheng tossed the car keys in front of Li Yi and went back to gnawing on the lamb spine in his bowl!
…….