Chapter 156: Old Foxes All

On the way to the Hengshui Winery, Liu Xing told Bureau Wu about how Li Dawei had sold his house to scrape together money for the accounting department.

To his surprise, Bureau Wu did not show any surprise. He simply uttered a soft "hmm" and left it at that.

This made Liu Xing somewhat panicked. "Uncle, don't you want to seek justice for Li Dawei? He has ended up in this state entirely because of the Hengshui Winery!"

"How much do you think Li Dawei's house is even worth?" Bureau Wu could not help but speak up. "At most, one or two thousand yuan. The reason things have come to this is his own doing, not yours."

"You mean to say that selling his house was just to cover up his own tracks? Not like what Li Weiwei said?" Liu Xing asked in shock.

After all, with Director Zhang's bribery scandal coming to light, Li Dawei was certainly inescapable in his complicity. Put this way, everything suddenly made logical sense.

"Yes, though Li Dawei's current predicament does involve what Li Weiwei mentioned. Of course, he is also doing it for Li Weiwei's sake, not wanting her to know that her father is such a failure." Bureau Wu sighed softly. "This time, I think Li Dawei did the right thing. If I were in the same situation, I would also choose to conceal the truth."

This truth was that if Li Dawei wanted to continue serving as the director of the Hengshui Winery, the bribes he had previously taken hand-in-glove with Director Zhang had to be returned.

And selling the house was precisely to pay back that money.

Upon realizing this, Liu Xing leaned back against the seat with a bitter smile.

However, this time he did not harbor resentment toward Li Dawei for deceiving him; instead, he concurred with Bureau Wu's perspective.

...

After the jeep cleared the boundaries of Saltpeter Village, it parted ways with Guo Daquan's sedan.

The journey passed in silence, with Liu Xing keeping his eyes closed the entire way, deep in thought.

It was not until they arrived at the main gate of the Hengshui Winery that he opened his eyes and stepped out of the jeep, bringing Kang Fuquan along with him.

The fat security guard at the gate recognized Liu Xing. Without waiting for instructions from Li Dawei, he immediately opened the gate with a wide grin. "Brother, it's been a long time since I last saw you!"

"Yeah," Liu Xing nodded. After giving the fat guard a pat on the shoulder, he followed behind Li Dawei into the Hengshui Winery.

After parking the jeep, Bureau Wu followed behind with Ding Lan and Niu Lianfang.

It was currently working hours at the Hengshui Winery. Although there were few pedestrians around, the roaring sound of machinery was somewhat grating to the ears.

"Old Li, where are we heading?" Seeing that the direction Li Dawei was leading them was not toward the workshop, Liu Xing could not help asking.

"We are going to see Secretary Yan first, and then go get the tools to fix the bottling equipment. Today, I don't ask that you fix it, I just hope you can offer me some constructive suggestions." Li Dawei sighed softly. "You have no idea how much pressure Secretary Yan is under right now!"

"Once I go in, the old gentleman won't feel any pressure anymore," Liu Xing teased.

"Why?" Li Dawei asked, puzzled.

"Because he is going to tell Secretary Yan about how the Zhongyi Winery was swindled out of forty-six thousand yuan." Bureau Wu could not help smiling. "Too bad, though—before we even got here, I already called Secretary Yan to tell him."

"Ah?" Li Dawei froze.

Liu Xing was also somewhat surprised. "Uncle, this isn't right of you. Why didn't you give me a chance to shine?"

"Your chance to shine should be fixing the bottling equipment." Bureau Wu glanced at his watch. "Stop chattering nonsense, let's hurry. Secretary Yan is still waiting for us!"

"Fine!" Liu Xing had no choice but to quicken his pace.

A moment later.

In front of a somewhat dilapidated office building.

Li Dawei took the lead and walked straight inside.

Near a window, Liu Xing spotted Secretary Yan, along with several other leaders of the Hengshui Winery.

They were currently holding a meeting, discussing things with great enthusiasm.

As for the topic, Liu Xing did not even need to listen to know it was about repairing the bottling equipment.

Seeing that the meeting was still ongoing, Liu Xing sensibly refrained from following Li Dawei into the office. Instead, he waited in the hallway with Kang Fuquan, only entering the office once Li Dawei called him in.

This time, Bureau Wu, Ding Lan, and Niu Lianfang did not follow; they had quietly slipped away while Liu Xing wasn't paying attention.

However, Liu Xing was a perceptive person. From the very beginning, he had felt that Bureau Wu tagging along to the Hengshui Winery was rather strange. This sudden disappearance immediately put him on guard, though he said nothing and silently walked up before Secretary Yan.

"It's good that you're here." As soon as they met, Secretary Yan reached out and patted Liu Xing on the shoulder. "You know, when I found out that the Zhongyi Winery was swindled out of forty-six thousand yuan, my very first thought was that you would run away too!"

This remark was not an unfounded suspicion, considering Liu Xing had also taken twenty thousand yuan from the Hengshui Winery.

"Look at what you're saying. Am I that kind of person?" Liu Xing retorted with a teasing smile. "Did you specifically have Old Li call me over just to see if I would run away?"

"Hahaha... How could that be!" Secretary Yan burst into a hearty laugh upon hearing this. "Since you're here, I won't waste words with you. Hurry up and go to the workshop with Old Li to discuss repairing the bottling equipment!"

Originally, he had plenty more to say, but in the end, he held back.

Because he saw confidence in Liu Xing.

And once confidence was present, saying anything more would be pointless.

After all, no matter what, repairing the bottling equipment was the top priority.

Hearing this, Li Dawei smiled and led Liu Xing out of the office.

Yet before they even stepped out of the front door, Secretary Yan suddenly called out to Liu Xing, "Kid, you have to give it your all! You can't let the others look down on you."

The Hengshui Winery was currently divided into two factions.

One faction strongly supported Li Dawei.

While the other faction opposed Li Dawei at every turn.

Consequently, they also doubted Liu Xing's abilities. Had it not been for the incident at the Zhongyi Winery this time, it would have been quite difficult for Liu Xing to even set foot inside the Hengshui Winery!

"Just have your fine wine and gourmet food ready and wait for my good news." Knowing Secretary Yan's thoughts inside and out, Liu Xing waved a hand without looking back, bringing Kang Fuquan along in Li Dawei's footsteps toward the nearest workshop.

...

On the way, Li Dawei looked around and asked, "Huh? Where are Bureau Wu, Niu Lianfang, and Ding Lan?"

"I have no idea!" Liu Xing spread his hands with an amused smile. "I thought you were the one who arranged for them to go do something earlier!"

"Do I have that kind of capability?" Li Dawei scratched his head in confusion. Seeing that Liu Xing did not look like he was lying, he dropped the matter and pushed open the door to the workshop on the right.

Kang Fuquan, following right behind, suddenly covered his nose. "Good lord, why is this smell so foul?"

"It's the smell of evaporating alcohol, of course it's foul." Liu Xing picked up a face mask from a nearby workbench and handed it to Kang Fuquan. "Stay close behind me and just watch. You don't need to do anything else."

"Alright!" Kang Fuquan quickly put on the mask.

Liu Xing put one on as well, lifting his head to survey the workshop.

Noticing that there were very few workers actually operating the machinery, with only a dozen or so maintenance workers bustling about, he could not help frowning.

Seeing this, Li Dawei immediately asked, "Should I have them clear out?"

This had been agreed upon beforehand, so naturally, the promise had to be kept.

"You can." Liu Xing nodded.

In his view, these maintenance workers would only cause trouble for him; having Kang Fuquan by his side was more than enough.

"Then wait here for a moment." Li Dawei hurriedly walked over to an elderly maintenance worker standing in front of a piece of bottling equipment. However, after talking for quite a while with no result, not a single maintenance worker was willing to leave.

In other words, these maintenance workers were clearly not part of Li Dawei's faction.

Otherwise, when the factory director gave an order, it wouldn't have reached such a stalemate.

This caused Liu Xing to shake his head and ask, "Uncle, how do you like working here at the Hengshui Winery?"

"Not good. Breathing in this pungent odor makes me feel like it'll shave years off my life." Kang Fuquan missed the subtext of Liu Xing's question and frowned as he replied.

"What if the odor problem gets solved?" Liu Xing teased in return.

"Well... that would be worth considering." Kang Fuquan smiled.

After all, the Hengshui Winery was a state-owned enterprise; it was no worse than being a teacher.

"Then I'll have a chance to arrange a regular staff position for you here." After saying this, Liu Xing walked toward Li Dawei.

"Really?" Taken aback, Kang Fuquan was overjoyed and quickly hurried to keep up with Liu Xing.

Without answering Kang Fuquan's question, Liu Xing reached out and patted the bottling equipment next to Li Dawei. "What's going on? Can you not even order a lowly maintenance worker around anymore?"

"It's not that," Li Dawei said awkwardly. "Old Wang says he can fix these bottling machines in a couple of days, and asked me not to interfere."

This Old Wang was unquestionably the elderly maintenance worker standing in front of the bottling equipment.

At the moment, he was glaring at Liu Xing as if he were an enemy.

"Heh..." Liu Xing didn't get angry; instead, he laughed. "He claims he can fix it in two days now, but what was he doing for the past few years?"

Every single word of this was like a dagger, so infuriating that the old maintenance worker grabbed a wrench and pointed it straight at Liu Xing. "Who do you think you're talking to? Believe it or not, I'll bash a hole in your head?"

"I believe it, of course I believe it." Liu Xing kept his hands behind his back and responded with a smile. "But I believe even more that if you hit me, your life is as good as over."

"You!!!"

The old maintenance worker was left speechless by the retort.

He truly never expected that this kid named Liu Xing would have such grit; it completely caught him off guard. Had he known this would happen, he never would have agreed to the factory leaders' request to get mixed up in this muddy water.

"Listen to me, I don't care who sent you here to disgust me, but right now, I want you to get out." Liu Xing's gaze turned sharp. "Give me two hours, and I can fix this broken piece of bottling equipment right in front of you."

The bottling equipment before them still looked relatively new, with no obvious signs of leaking.

This meant it had undoubtedly been bought at second-hand prices from some other bankrupt winery just to serve as a quick fix.

It was simply that the assembly method was completely wrong—many pipe joints were installed backward, and the capacitor wires were hooked up incorrectly. If these were corrected, getting it back to normal operation shouldn't be too difficult.

"Stop spouting nonsense!" roared the old maintenance worker. If it could be fixed in two hours, wouldn't that mean he and the other maintenance workers were nothing more than good-for-nothings who only ate and did no work?

"What if I pull it off?" Liu Xing countered.

"If you pull it off, I'll take your last name!" The old maintenance worker threw down his wrench, his hair practically standing on end with anger.

"I don't want a son as old as you. How about we make a bet? If you lose, you leave the Hengshui Winery forever; and if I lose, I'll return that twenty thousand yuan to the Hengshui Winery and never set foot here again," Liu Xing proposed with a smile.

"Deal!" The old maintenance worker agreed without a moment's hesitation.

After all, he and six or seven of his apprentices had spent half a month trying to fix this very bottling equipment, yet they hadn't even been able to figure out why the machine jammed upon startup.

For Liu Xing to pull it off would be nothing short of a miracle.