69novels Chapter 1074 Deputy Factory Director Li's Misfortune Begins
Chapter 1074 Deputy Factory Director Li's Misfortune Begins
The word "accounts" struck Deputy Factory Director Li like a thunderbolt. His face turned deathly pale, as if he had been doused with a bucket of ice water. Cold sweat streamed down his temples, soaking his shirt collar. He was in a terrible panic, feeling like he had a ball of fire burning inside him, but he couldn't figure out where he had slipped up—how could the falsified material costs and embezzled equipment funds, done so discreetly, have been discovered?
He had no time to think. He could only follow obediently behind the top leader, feeling as if his bones had been removed. His steps were unsteady, like walking on cotton, and every step made him feel dizzy. The gazes of the surrounding employees were like needles pricking his back, filled with curiosity, disdain, and schadenfreude. Only then did he belatedly realize—he was probably falling even harder than Yi Zhonghai; this time, he was truly finished, with no chance of recovery.
Yi Zhonghai stood outside the office door for a long time, his ear practically pressed against the door, but he heard nothing. His face burned with embarrassment—he had just been patting his chest in front of Qin Huairu, assuring her that he would handle the matter, and even promising to deal with Gu Nan. But now, he hadn't even gotten inside; it was utterly shameful. He turned and walked back dejectedly, his steps heavy as lead, a deep-seated resentment simmering within him. He didn't even bother to acknowledge the greeting from Old Wang, the gatekeeper, as he passed the guardhouse.
As Deputy Factory Director Li followed the senior leader into the office, his heart pounded with anxiety. Seeing the senior leader's grim face, as if a storm was about to break, he quickly plastered on a smile, bowing deeply as he approached: "Senior Leader, what brings you here today? What can I do for you? The factory's production targets have been hitting a bottleneck lately, and I've been thinking about..."
Before he could finish speaking, the big boss slammed a thick stack of documents onto the desk in front of him. The papers scattered, revealing dense handwriting and bright red seals. "Take a look for yourself," the big boss said, his voice like ice, chilling him to the bone. "They've recorded quite a few of your 'achievements' here. Take a good look and see what all this is about."
The smile on Deputy Factory Director Li's face froze instantly, like a wax figure frozen in the dead of winter, the lines at the corners of his mouth solidified. He shakily picked up the top sheet of paper, glanced at it twice, and his face turned deathly pale, as white as a freshly painted wall. It was a record from last autumn—under the pretext of approving the steel rolling workshop renovation project, he had accepted two cartons of "Great China" cigarettes and a stack of cash wrapped in kraft paper, totaling five thousand yuan, from the contractor. To cover it up, he had even signed the acceptance form with the false name "Li Jianguo," thinking that in those days there weren't so many rules, and it would all go unnoticed. He never imagined that this debt would be remembered so clearly, even down to the detail of him casually slipping two cartons of cigarettes to Old Zhang in the gatehouse.
He frantically flipped through the pages, his heart sinking like a lead weight. In March, a bearing supplier delivered an imported color TV to him—a large, 21-inch model—which he displayed prominently in his living room. At that time, only a handful of families in the entire factory owned a color TV, and he told others it was "a gift from a relative in Xianghe." Because of this TV, he insisted on giving the factory's purchasing order to a small workshop that charged 30% more than the market price, causing the workshop to shut down for three days due to substandard bearing quality, resulting in a loss of tens of thousands of yuan. The workers cursed him behind his back for days, but he pretended not to hear. In May, under the guise of his son's wedding, he openly and secretly asked the workshop directors to give gifts. Director Wang of the hardware workshop gave a Swiss watch with small diamonds on the dial. At that time, such a watch was worth half a year's salary for an ordinary worker, enough to buy half a pig with some left over.
What gave him the creeps was the last page, which included two photos. One photo showed him in a private room at the "Jufulou" restaurant, drinking with a supplier. The table was laden with Moutai and sea cucumbers, things that ordinary families wouldn't even dare to buy for the New Year back then, yet he had a whole table full of them. There were also two young women standing behind him. In those days when "hard work and frugality" were valued, this photo alone was enough to give him a run for his money.
Another photo shows him, under the cover of night, directing his driver to stuff several boxes labeled "office supplies" into his warehouse. Peeking out from the gaps in the boxes were clearly high-end packaging for "Wuliangye" and "Zhonghua cigarettes." These items were hard to buy even with coupons, yet he was carrying them home like cabbages.
"Big Boss, this...this is all fake!" Deputy Factory Director Li panicked completely, his voice trembling like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "Someone is deliberately framing me! I didn't do any of these things! It must be that kid Gu Nan. He doesn't like me and deliberately had someone make up this lie!"
The senior leader sneered, tapping his knuckles heavily on the table, making a "thump-thump" sound that seemed to strike Deputy Factory Director Li's heart: "Do you think I would have called you here without solid evidence?"
He pulled an even thicker stack of documents from his drawer and slammed them down in front of Deputy Factory Director Li. “Take a look for yourself—this is a recording of you taking 30,000 yuan from Boss Zhang to mix a batch of substandard steel bars into the employee dormitory construction project. You can even hear yourself haggling with him in it. Back then, building employee dormitories was a huge deal. Did you dare use substandard materials to make the workers live in dangerous buildings? This is the expense report you had the finance department falsely report travel expenses. You reported eight ‘business trips’ in three months, but you actually stayed home for half a month. It’s a report of embezzling public funds, and you even have your signature on it. Back then, how many workers in the factory were working overtime to earn work points? And you, you just lay around and took the money. And this, last month you used the excuse of going to the south for an inspection trip to take your wife, son, and daughter-in-law on a ten-day vacation. You visited West Lake, strolled along the Bund in Shanghai, and even went to Xianghe. All the expenses were paid through the factory’s accounts. Business trips are for working, not for you to take your family sightseeing!”
The high-ranking leader picked up a jewelry store receipt and read it aloud clearly: "XX Department Store jewelry store, a pair of pure gold bracelets; are these all necessary expenses for your 'inspection'? Li Jianguo, put your hand on your heart and tell me, haven't the benefits the factory has given you over the years been enough? You're paid by the state, live in a factory-provided house, yet you're engaging in these embezzlement schemes. Do you think you're doing right by the factory workers? Do you think you're doing right by the trust the state has placed in you?"
Deputy Factory Director Li slumped in his chair, his back soaked with cold sweat from his polyester shirt. All he could mutter were things like "I was wrong" and "I didn't mean to." Faced with irrefutable evidence, all his explanations seemed so pale and powerless.