Chapter 412: Investigating the Case (Part 2)

Kong Zhengyi locked himself in his study, his heart pounding with anxiety. He replayed the cassette tape over and over. Each time he heard Hou Weidong’s words—“There is evidence. You can’t deny it, understand?”—a realization slowly dawned on him.

“Hou Weidong made Zhou Changquan’s attitude very clear: investigate seriously, let the evidence speak, punish severely without leniency. But the key lies in the first eight characters. As long as there is no evidence, everything will be fine.”

“This Hou Weidong is so young, yet his schemes are so deep. He is destined for great things, damn it.” Kong Zhengyi cursed under his breath, thinking about Hou Weidong’s lofty rhetoric.

He took out the photocopy of the whistleblowing letter and studied it again. Convinced that he had covered his tracks perfectly, he finally felt a sense of relief.

Alone in the study, he retrieved a common anti-theft door key from a hidden spot. It was the key to another apartment—his biggest secret. After serving as the director of the Finance Bureau for so many years, he had accumulated some savings. He dared not keep them at home, so he had used an ID card from another region to buy an apartment specifically to store his wealth.

Even his wife did not know about this secret.

After putting the key back, Kong Zhengyi paced around the study. His expression gradually turned grim, his teeth clenched, and a fierce light appeared in his eyes. “Liang Chao, you have gone too far. I am not finished with you.”

After parting from Kong Zhengyi in the main hall of Xinyue Building, Hou Weidong walked briskly back to his home in the same complex. He stepped onto the balcony, turned off the lights, and hid in the darkness to observe the movements below. The view from his balcony was excellent, allowing him to see far beyond the main gate.

Short and slightly overweight, Kong Zhengyi walked alone outside Xinyue Building. Under the dim streetlights, his solitary figure cast a long shadow. At this moment, he lacked the arrogance of a Finance Bureau director; he looked much like an ordinary middle-aged man struggling to make a living, walking alone on the street, an official without his entourage, sharing the same lonely silhouette as any commoner.

After walking two or three hundred meters, he stopped in front of an ordinary Santana sedan. He glanced left and right before getting into the car.

In the bedroom, Xiaojia sat in a chair, her belly large with pregnancy. She held a magazine but wasn’t reading it, chatting aimlessly with her mother, Chen Qingrong.

The apartment in Xinyue Building had three bedrooms. To take care of Xiaojia, Chen Qingrong and Zhang Yuanzheng had moved in to help.

Chen Qingrong was cutting up old cotton pants to make diapers for the unborn baby. “Used cotton cloth is the best. A baby’s skin is tender; it must be soft.”

Xiaojia watched her mother’s happy expression and said, “Everyone uses disposable diapers now. They are very good. Cloth diapers are too troublesome.”

Chen Qingrong said firmly, “You don’t understand this. I never trust disposable diapers. Keeping urine on a baby’s bottom all night gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. If kept like that for too long, the baby’s skin certainly won’t stand it.”

“Friends who have used them say that babies sleep better with disposable diapers, which is good for their growth.”

“Those are just money-grabbing gimmicks.”

Knowing her mother was stubborn, Xiaojia did not argue further. After all, cloth diapers had been used for thousands of years, and everyone had managed fine without any issues. She decided to stick to tradition.

After cutting the cotton cloth for a while, Chen Qingrong said, “Once we have a child, there will be much more household work than before. Weidong rarely does chores when he comes home; he just buries himself in the study. He only sits in an office; he is certainly not as hardworking as your father was. When we had you, we didn’t hire anyone; just the two of us raised the child. Your father was incredibly diligent then. He would wash his hands with soap as soon as he got home and start cooking.”

Xiaojia found her mother’s nagging both amusing and exasperating. “Mom, why do you still think that way? Weidong is so busy every day that his heels turn over. Sometimes he even has to write drafts when he gets home. There isn’t much housework anyway; why make him do it?”

In the factory residential compound, there were many tough female workers. They played the role of men in the factory and held absolute authority at home. Chen Qingrong was not a frontline worker; as a purchaser, she had traveled widely and seen much. However, having lived in the factory compound for so long, she was accustomed to scenes where women spoke loudly and men spoke softly. This made her subtly worried about the relationship between Zhang Xiaojia and Hou Weidong. With the arrival of a child, household chores would suddenly increase. Chen Qingrong wanted Hou Weidong to share the burden. Secondly, her daughter was too gentle and seemed unlikely to control Hou Weidong. She planned to encourage Xiaojia, helping her daughter gradually manage her son-in-law. Once a habit was formed, things would become easier.

Having finished his observation on the balcony, Hou Weidong walked into the living room, intending to return to the study to review the speech draft prepared by the Propaganda Department for Zhou Changquan. Chen Qingrong came out of the bedroom, still holding some cotton cloth. Seeing the bowls and chopsticks on the dining table, she smiled at Hou Weidong. “Weidong, I am making diapers for the baby and my hands are busy. Can you wash the dishes?”

Hou Weidong often went out for social engagements with Zhou Changquan, so he rarely ate dinner at home. On the rare occasions he did, Xiaojia always advocated eating lightly at night, so dinners were simple. Hou Weidong had basically never washed dishes.

He had eaten dinner out today and hadn’t expected the dishes to be unwashed. Hearing his mother-in-law’s request, he paused for a moment, then smiled and rolled up his sleeves. “Mom, you’ve worked hard. There are ready-made disposable diapers on the market now; I wonder how effective they are.”

Chen Qingrong took the opportunity to repeat her earlier arguments to Hou Weidong. In Lingxi, Li Jing had used only disposable diapers for Little Chou Chou, not using a single traditional cloth diaper. Of course, the diapers she used were ultra-thin and expensive models, and the effect was indeed good.

Naturally, Hou Weidong could not use this as an example. He rolled up his sleeves and efficiently cleared the rice bowls into the kitchen. During his years in Shangqinglin, he had often cooked for himself, so he was not unfamiliar with household chores. It was only after reuniting with Xiaojia in Shazhou that he had basically stopped doing housework.

Xiaojia, with her belly protruding, stood at the kitchen door. Hou Weidong was rinsing the dishes with running water. He turned his head and said, “Don’t come in; the floor is slippery.” Xiaojia watched him work with interest. “In my memory, you’ve hardly ever washed dishes. Now you seem quite efficient. You are not just a good-for-nothing.”

After washing the dishes and returning to the study, Xiaojia felt her lower back ache and lay down on the bed to rest. Chen Qingrong sat by the bedside, unraveling some thread from gloves and quickly knitting a vest for the baby. Her hands moved like flying, dazzling Xiaojia.

“You must care for a man, but also manage him strictly. Men are like children; if you don’t watch them for three days, they will tear the roof off the house.” Having successfully directed Hou Weidong to wash the dishes, Chen Qingrong sat by Xiaojia’s bed to impart her wisdom.

Xiaojia asked, “Where is Dad? Why hasn’t he come back yet?”

Chen Qingrong replied, “Your father is a technical backbone of the factory. After this batch of old workers left, many technical tasks could not be done. The factory decided to rehire some technical backbones. Your father couldn’t bear to be idle, so Factory Director Zhu Yanbing called him today, and he went back to the factory. He told Weidong about it yesterday, but Weidong didn’t think much of it.”

At nine o’clock, Zhang Yuanzheng returned from the factory. He had met with several old friends who had retired together. Zhu Yanbing had personally accompanied them, and they ate in the factory cafeteria. With the factory director present, the old men felt honored and had drunk a bit too much without realizing it.

Entering the room, Zhang Yuanzheng’s face was flushed red. He announced loudly, “Starting tomorrow, I am going back to work at the factory as a technical consultant for the Fifth Workshop.”

Seeing her husband unsteady on his feet, Chen Qingrong said angrily, “If you can’t handle the horse urine, drink less. Don’t make a fool of yourself here.”

Zhang Yuanzheng’s face was red, but he just wanted to laugh. He waved his hands and feet, saying, “Young people today don’t learn skills; they aim too high. Back when we were apprentices, we followed our masters every day, seizing every opportunity to learn. Now, the masters teach earnestly, but they don’t want to learn.”

For this generation of workers, regardless of their trade, technical skill was a source of pride. A skilled master was highly respected in the factory. However, entering the 1990s, many enterprises went bankrupt. Whether skilled or not, everyone was laid off. This directly affected a whole generation. Consequently, many young people in the factories were unwilling to learn skills honestly. For many tasks requiring high technical content, the factory had no choice but to invite old masters back.

Chen Qingrong knew Zhang Yuanzheng had a low tolerance for alcohol. Seeing him unsteady, she knew he was thoroughly drunk. While scolding him, she prepared to help him into the room. After just two steps, Zhang Yuanzheng felt a wave of nausea in his stomach. He couldn’t control it and vomited profusely in the living room, like flowers scattering from the sky.

Hou Weidong was in the study modifying the speech draft. The phrase “technical backbone” in the draft carried a tone of pride.

Chen Qingrong, who was cleaning the living room, came out angrily. “This old man, at his age, still thinks he is thirty.” She then said to Xiaojia, “Xiaojia, do we have any mung beans? Boil some mung bean soup for your father to sober up.”

Xiaojia stood at the door, covering her nose with her hand. “The mung beans at home have been there too long; I threw them out long ago.”

Without waiting for Chen Qingrong to arrange it, Hou Weidong volunteered, “I will go buy some.” Chen Qingrong thought it was not a good idea. “Forget it. It’s so late; the shops are closed. Where can you buy mung beans?” Hou Weidong still turned around, put on his coat, and said, “I will drive around and look. I should be able to find some.”

He finally bought mung beans at a small shop. Back home, Chen Qingrong started boiling the mung bean soup to sober him up. After all this commotion, when Hou Weidong sat back in the study, his previous train of thought was completely broken. He smoked a cigarette and drank some tea, gradually regaining his focus.

As he was about to finish, Xiaojia walked into the study. Hou Weidong said, “Stay back. The computer has radiation; don’t get close.” Xiaojia giggled. “Is it that serious? In the government offices, pregnant female colleagues use computers just the same.”

“Better to be careful ten thousand times than to have any oversight.” Thinking of Little Chou Chou, Hou Weidong held his ground more firmly.

Xiaojia was still obedient. She stepped back a few paces and stood at the door. She did not agree with her mother’s views, but thinking of the various chores after the baby was born, she felt somewhat apologetic. “After we have a child, it might affect your work.”

Hou Weidong was somewhat surprised. “Why do you say that? The child is yours and mine. Serving him is my responsibility and my duty. I couldn’t be happier.”