Li Na’s pregnancy was undoubtedly a major event for the Li family.
After all, among the four siblings in the Li family, she was the only one who didn’t have a child of her own.
Upon learning that Li Na was pregnant, Li Shankui and Zhang Yuehong made a special trip to Beijing from their hometown, bringing along plenty of local specialties.
Also joining them were Li Yi’s second older sister and her husband’s family, who had come to Beijing to seek opportunities at Li Yi’s invitation.
It was now 1982. Although the village had implemented the household contract responsibility system, rural development still lagged far behind that of the big cities.
Therefore, upon receiving an invitation from their younger brother Li Yi to come to Beijing to seek better opportunities, Li Lan and Zhang Xuefeng accepted without a moment’s hesitation.
They first handed over the fields they had been allocated to Zhang Xuefeng’s parents to farm, then took their son, Zhang Ning, and headed straight to the capital.
Once their second sister’s family arrived in Beijing, Li Yi introduced her husband to Long Zhanjun, asking Long to help him get familiar with the operations of the hot pot and barbecue restaurant.
In Li Yi’s plan, his second sister’s husband would become Long Zhanjun’s right-hand man, working alongside him to manage the restaurant business.
As for his second sister, Li Lan, Li Yi directly assigned her to work as An Hong’s deputy.
Compared to his eldest sister, Li Mei, and his third sister, Li Na, Li Yi valued his second sister, Li Lan’s, abilities more highly.
In his previous life, his second sister had been his right-hand woman, and in this life, with business tycoon An Hong personally mentoring her, she would likely grow even faster.
With the arrival of his second sister’s family, coupled with Jiang Xue’s start of the school year, Li Yi’s life was back on track.
Apart from enduring the daily “grind,” Li Yi’s work consisted of driving Jiang Xue to and from school and occasionally heading to the office to oversee operations.
Under his guidance, the progress of Star Investment’s mainland branch was nothing short of meteoric.
First, they purchased an idle office space from the Municipal Finance Bureau for a bargain price of 2 million yuan, successfully resolving the issue of a workspace.
At the same time, after receiving approval from the municipal government, the company began publicly recruiting employees.
Compared to the meager 36 yuan monthly wages typical of domestic enterprises and public institutions, Star Investment offered employees an exceptionally high base salary of 80 yuan per month, along with a full range of benefits.
Where there’s a will, there’s a way—lured by such high salaries, the company’s workforce quickly exceeded 150 people.
Although none of these employees were particularly outstanding talents, their addition finally allowed the company’s operations to proceed normally.
After the first batch of local employees officially started work, the first major project was launched: the trade show initiative.
Vice President An Hong personally oversaw this project, which had an investment scale of 20 million yuan. The initial plan was to establish 50 exhibition venues nationwide and conduct a national tour based on the model of last year’s Premium Light Industrial Products Exhibition.
Meanwhile, Lan Xinyi and her team were conducting due diligence on a large number of domestic enterprises based on the list provided by Li Yi, preparing for future investments.
Meanwhile, Cai Bingyan represented the company in negotiations with the Beijing municipal government to secure a plot of land in the city center for the construction of Star Investment’s mainland headquarters.
As these initiatives progressed, Star Investment’s mainland branch gradually got on track…
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Time flies; in the blink of an eye, half a month had passed!
Once the new company was up and running, Li Yi put the trip to Lin’an on his agenda.
Since this trip was to rescue someone, Li Yi took only a few of his bodyguards with him; he brought no one else.
On the morning of March 8th, International Women’s Day, Li Yi boarded a train heading south to Lin’an.
At 5:00 p.m. the following day, he arrived safely in Lin’an, a city long known as “Paradise on Earth.”
Stepping out of the train station, Zhang Ziqiang glanced up at the gray, overcast sky and asked Li Yi, “Brother Yi, where are we headed now?”
Neither Zhang Ziqiang nor Zhou Wen were entirely clear on the purpose of Li Yi’s trip to Lin’an.
As special agents dispatched by the state, their mission was solely to ensure Li Yi’s safety; they were not authorized to interfere with his actions unless they posed a serious threat to his life.
Li Yi paused briefly, then said, “Let’s find a place to stay first.”
“Before we left, I already contacted the City Hotel and the Military Region Guesthouse. We can stay at either place, but it’s up to you, Brother Yi, to decide where we’ll go,” Zhang Ziqiang said.
“Which one has better facilities?” Li Yi asked.
“The City Hotel. That’s where the provincial and municipal governments host senior officials—it has the best facilities in the entire province!” Zhang Ziqiang replied.
“Then let’s go to the City Hotel. Also, see if you can arrange to borrow two cars—we’ll need them quite a bit over the next few days!” Li Yi said.
“Yes, sir!”
Shortly after, the group braved the light rain to head outside the station, hailed two taxis, and headed straight for the City Hotel.
As Lin’an City’s finest guesthouse, the Municipal Hotel indeed offered excellent accommodations—even surpassing the top-tier hotels in Beijing.
Of course, the price was also quite steep.
Even with their special credentials, Zhang Ziqiang and the others still had to pay 20 yuan per room per day—an amount that equaled a month’s salary for many people.
Fortunately, Li Yi wasn’t short on money, so he booked three rooms right away!
After settling in, Li Yi turned his attention to the rescue mission.
Regarding the matter of Xiao Jingzhu’s parents, Li Yi had specifically sent people to investigate and was quite well-informed.
According to the investigation, Xiao Jingyu’s parents were both locals from Lin’an, and before the incident, they had both been employees at the Pioneer Furniture Factory.
The Pioneer Furniture Factory in Lin’an was a small local furniture manufacturer that only supplied the local market. At its peak, it employed around 500 workers and was classified as a small enterprise under district administration.
What led to the deaths of Xiao Jingzhu’s parents was a massive fire. According to police records, the accident occurred on the afternoon of March 18, 1982—just nine days from now.
It is said that when the disaster struck, the factory workers were busy with production as usual. Suddenly, thick, billowing smoke erupted from the top floor of the factory, instantly turning the sky black.
Within less than a minute, raging flames erupted, engulfing the entire furniture factory.
A subsequent investigation revealed that the fire originated from an aging electrical panel in the southeast corner of the first-floor warehouse. A malfunctioning transformer caused a short circuit, generating high-temperature sparks that fell into a paint bucket below, igniting the fire.
Due to the dense accumulation of goods on the first floor and a series of unexpected malfunctions in the fire safety equipment, the staff on duty missed the optimal window for firefighting.
Finally, as the air pressure inside the warehouse continued to rise, accompanied by the sound of a dust explosion, the tragedy was consummated.
According to statistics, the fire claimed the lives of 118 people and injured more than 250 others. The average age of the victims was just 25, with the youngest being only 14—all young people in the prime of their lives. It is truly heartbreaking!
Although Li Yi had come this time because of Xiao Jingyu’s parents, now that he was here, he wanted to save everyone.
But how to rescue them—that required careful planning.
Since he knew the cause of the fire, the most direct and effective approach was to inform the factory leadership of the potential hazards—just as he had done when helping the county sugar factory address safety issues.
The problem was that he was in a strange place and didn’t know the furniture factory’s management. If he just showed up unannounced and brought this up, they certainly wouldn’t believe him.
Of course, Li Yi could “return to his old ways” and play the charlatan; that approach would likely solve the problem.
But the situation now was different from two years ago. Back then, he was a lone wolf; he could make all the bold claims he wanted, and whether they came true or not wouldn’t affect him in the slightest.
Now, however, he’s constantly surrounded by Zhang Ziqiang, Zhou Wen, Yang Zhiwen, and Xiao Wu. Anything he says today could be reported to the relevant authorities the very next moment.
Whether his charlatan antics succeed or fail, they’ll bring endless trouble—which is why Li Yi has rarely played the charlatan over the past year.
More importantly, even if he managed to build connections with the factory leadership and resolve the issue with that faulty electrical meter box, the disaster would only appear to be resolved.
But if the furniture factory’s leadership didn’t take it seriously and replace all the aging wiring throughout the entire plant, a disaster would still be impossible to completely avoid.
After much deliberation, Li Yi decided to take a different approach to the problem. If he couldn’t trust anyone else with it, then he would take over the entire factory himself!
With that thought, a complete plan took shape in Li Yi’s mind…
………..