A Storm is Brewing, Undercurrents are Surge

Chapter 117 A Storm is Brewing, Undercurrents are Surge

The laboratory was quiet for a while.

Qian Zhiyuan took a deep breath, walked up to Zhang Yong, and extended his hand.

"Zhang Yong, I'm truly impressed."

"Did you practice this before? Or maybe you practiced some kind of internal energy cultivation? Like that kind where you tie sandbags to your hands to make them steady?"

Zhang Yong reached out and shook hands, then smiled.

"You're too kind, classmate. What you said about tolerances was indeed very professional. My feel for it comes from a lot of handling when repairing cars, and it can't compare to the systematic theory you've learned. I'll have to rely on you to oversee things on the blueprints in the future."

Qian Zhiyuan paused for a moment, then smiled and patted Zhang Yong on the shoulder.

After exchanging a few words, Zhang Yong took a piece of paper out of his work clothes pocket and unfolded it on the workbench.

It was the registration form for the Youth Industrial Literature Society.

"Teacher Fang, Teacher Zhao made me the vice president of the club."

Zhang Yong pushed the form in front of the group, saying, "My company is just starting out, we have nothing but this form."

He looked at the four graduate students.

"If you're interested, feel free to come. We can collaborate with the Chinese Literature Department and write articles together."

Qian Zhiyuan glanced down at the top of the watch: "Youth Industrial Literature Society," with a personal seal of Zhao Huaijin from the Chinese Department stamped below.

"Oh! I remember you! Zhang Yong, a master craftsman of a great nation!"

"No wonder your name sounded familiar! I read your article; it's the kind of thing only someone who lives in a library could write."

"Impressive! I'm truly impressed!"

As he spoke, he picked up a pen and wrote his own name below Zhang Yong's.

The girl with glasses next to me also came over and signed her name at the back.

The remaining two boys exchanged a glance and then signed.

Fang Qiming leaned against the lathe, watching the four graduate students fill in their pens on the registration forms one after another, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

"Alright, that's enough for today. I won't assign any homework for the first day."

He clapped his hands. "Zhang Yong, I'll arrange for Qian Zhiyuan to assist you with the nozzle issue. We can have a few extra as spares tomorrow. You can all go back now."

"Zhang Yong, don't ride your motorcycle too fast. Look at your face, you must have fallen off your bike."

Zhang Yong was both amused and exasperated. He didn't explain, but simply folded the registration form carefully and stuffed it into a brown paper bag.

"Okay, thank you, Professor Xie Fang."

He changed out of his work clothes, picked up his coat, said goodbye to the four graduate students, pushed open the iron gate, and walked up the cement steps.

The autumn wind blowing in from the ground dispersed most of the smell of engine oil from the basement.

Zhang Yong mounted the Jialing 125, turned the key to start the engine, and the engine sputtered to life.

The leaves of the plane trees on campus are starting to turn yellow, the streetlights are not yet on, and the last bit of light on the horizon is pressing down on the concrete roof of the engineering building.

He twisted the accelerator, and the car shot out of the school gate.

Baoding. Gaoyang County.

In the living room of Building 3, second floor, of a residential compound belonging to a large state-owned factory, the curtains were drawn tightly.

On the coffee table were two enamel mugs, an opened pack of Hongtashan cigarettes, and an ashtray filled with cigarette butts.

Chen Guoliang, deputy director of Baoding United Machinery Factory, sat on the sofa with an official document in his hand.

The document header reads: "Case filed for investigation."

The document was signed by the Economic Crime Investigation Division of the Baoding Public Security Bureau.

He turned to the second page of the document, his eyes fixed on a line of text: "Ma Degui, the legal representative of Yongxing Oil Processing Plant in Gaoyang County, is involved in the case."

Sitting opposite him, Ma Degui had his legs crossed, picked his teeth, and his face was bulging with fat.

"Old Chen, don't just stare at that piece of paper. Let me tell you, all five of them in Beijing have been arrested. They're being held by the Chaoyang District police station, and none of them have come out yet."

Ma Degui tossed the toothpick onto the coffee table.

"I heard that Zhang Dewang, that good-for-nothing, also confessed. Fortunately, he didn't know much. At most, he knew that I told him to take the IOU to Beijing to collect the money, but he couldn't say anything else."

Chen Guoliang slammed the document on the coffee table, causing the ashtray to bounce.

"Is this all the fuck you can do?"

He cursed in a low voice, but his words were filled with venom.

"Five people can't handle one child?"

'

Ma Degui's face looked really bad.

"Who knew that kid had some martial arts skills! My five brothers couldn't even hold him down!"

He held out his hand and gestured.

"The police have seized everything, and impounded the car. Someone must have tipped us off beforehand! It's not that I'm incompetent; someone else is on our side!"

Chen Guoliang closed his eyes, and the veins on his temples throbbed twice.

"We really can't do business in Tongzhou anymore! I can't even find Boss Zhou anymore, and can Xu Dacheng still be used in Fengtai?"

"Xu Dacheng went to Shijiazhuang last week, saying he was laying low for a while." Chen Guoliang leaned back on the sofa. "No one's touching his auto parts store in Fengtai for now, but he doesn't dare come back."

Chen Guoliang took a cigarette out of the pack, lit it with a lighter, and took a deep drag.

"I'm going to ask you a question, so tell me the truth honestly."

"you say."

"We have several sets of account books; are you handling them securely?"

"Don't try to hide anything from me. At a time like this, don't let anyone find any evidence against you."

Ma Degui was stunned for a moment.

"—You have your own copy of the ledger. The payments went through my personal account, not your factory's corporate account. The invoices were issued by Yongxing Oil itself."

"What about transportation?"

"Transportation—" Ma Degui's voice dropped a bit, "There were two trips where we borrowed vehicles from the factory's transport team, but they were outsourced orders, and the orders listed different goods."

Chen Guoliang burned a bit of ash between his fingers with his cigarette butt, which fell onto his trouser leg, but he didn't take a picture.

"Listen to me carefully."

He put the cigarette in his mouth and stared intently at Ma Degui.

"The Economic Crime Investigation Department came to the factory last week for a questioning, saying it was a routine visit. But I found out that they had retrieved the transportation team's dispatch orders from the second half of last year."

Ma Degui's toothpick fell to the ground.

"If they find your receipts for those two train trips and match the times and routes, who do you think they'll investigate next?"

The living room was quiet for several seconds.

Children were playing jump rope in the residential compound outside, the rubber bands snapping against the concrete ground.

Ma Degui licked his lips.

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

Chen Guoliang stubbed out his cigarette in the jar and leaned forward.

"Shut down your oil refinery first, hide the equipment on a hilltop, burn any remaining ledgers, and completely cut off contact with those downstream suppliers."

"besides,"

His voice lowered even further.

"That kid Zhang Yong, he's a continuing education student at Peking University now. I checked at Peking University, he got off at Chaoyang Station. There are a lot of people on the road, and he's actually quite skilled; his cowardly act was all an act."

Ma Degui squinted.

"What do you want to do?"

"Don't make a move." Chen Guoliang shook his head. "After all, this is the capital city. We can't make things too big."

"I have another idea."