"Friends?" The secretary looked Qin Xiaoyu up and down, and said suspiciously. Qin Xiaoyu looked very young, and didn't seem like she was friends with Director Feng.

The door to the conference room opened, and a group of people rushed out. Director Feng was in the most prominent position in the middle, calling out to those around her. She listened indifferently to the people around her, and absentmindedly glanced up, suddenly seeing Qin Xiaoyu.

"Xiaoyu, what brings you here?" Director Feng greeted her with a beaming smile. The secretary, who had just stood up to report, realized she had gotten into trouble and cautiously followed.

"Is something urgent? Are you about to have a meeting?"

"Director Feng, the restaurant has been arranged..." a cadre-looking man walked over and said in a low voice.

"Come on, Little Fish, let's go eat together."

"It's already noon?" Qin Xiaoyu was so busy that she didn't notice the time.

"Look at you, so busy you don't even have time to eat? Come on." Director Feng didn't stand on ceremony, grabbed Qin Xiaoyu's arm, and pulled her downstairs.

There were quite a few people at the Second Light Industry Bureau, and the canteen was also very large. At the very back there was a reception room, which was a huge private room. Two tables of dishes were already set up inside, and more were being served.

Director Feng was led inside to take a seat of honor, and she pulled Qin Xiaoyu to sit down next to her.

"I've almost finished negotiating my collaboration plan with Little Sun."

"Really? You're really something!" Director Feng exclaimed, and everyone around looked over.

"This Director Fei, he's not a Yulin brain, he's a rock."

"It's like a rock that's fallen into a cesspool, smelly and hard." A cadre next to him added a catchphrase, and everyone around laughed. It seems that Director Fei's reputation has spread far and wide.

“That’s right, we’ve done a lot of work, but she’s always been stubborn and won’t listen to reason. If you can really persuade her, that would be a huge help to me. Such a star company is on the verge of collapse, and the bureau and the city are taking it very seriously.” Director Feng’s expression turned serious.

“Director Fei is very difficult to deal with, and I have no way to deal with her either,” Qin Xiaoyu said with a smile. Seeing that Director Feng was a little disappointed, she quickly added, “So I bypassed her and went to Director Xie.”

"You mean Old Xie? She's retired." Director Feng shook his head.

“We can rehire him.”

"But does she agree?" Director Feng still had doubts in his eyes.

"I've convinced her, and she's agreed to return to the factory to take charge."

"Oh, Xiaoyu, I'm truly impressed!" Director Feng looked at Qin Xiaoyu, shook his head and sighed, unsure how to praise her properly.

After the meal, Director Feng took Qin Xiaoyu back to his office, had her sit down, and personally poured her some water.

"Little Fish, you have no idea how big a deal you've made," Director Feng sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"This little sun was a shining star enterprise ten years ago. But since the factory manager changed, it has been declining year by year and is now in trouble."

"I think Director Xie is a very capable person, so why would she leave the factory to her incapable daughter?"

"It's a long story. I worked at the Second Light Industry Bureau for a long time, and I already knew about their factory when I was working in the office. No one else could tell this history."

It turns out that Xie Lanhua and her daughter have always been at odds. Like all strong-willed mothers, Xie Lanhua is used to being critical, and Fei Xiuxiu grew up under her mother's harshness. She tried her best, but rarely received a word of praise from her mother.

The only time Xie Lanhua, who was known for her impartiality, used connections was to get Fei Xiuxiu into the factory and into the technical department.

This was also the thing she regretted most in her life. Fei Xiuxiu had no interest in those design drawings, but the technician, Xiao Sun, had won her heart.

This is an ambitious young man, a college graduate, full of enthusiasm, but he always goes against Xie Lanhua, challenging her authority more than once, which makes her very disgusted.

Fei Xiuxiu's relationship was ruthlessly ended by Xie Yulan, and she soon married a worker at the power plant. It was a large state-owned enterprise with high wages and good benefits; he had no flaws except for not loving her.

But that was the norm for marriages in those days, and Fei Xiuxiu didn't feel that she was any less fortunate than others.

As Xie Lanhua approached retirement age, the Second Light Industry Bureau suggested rehiring her to better utilize her remaining energy. Another reason was the lack of successors at the Little Sun Children's Clothing Factory; she had been too autocratic in recent years and hadn't cultivated a capable successor.

But then, tragedy struck. Fei Xiuxiu's husband had heard rumors that she was still having an affair with Xiao Sun. That day, they had a huge fight, and on his way to work, he fell off his bicycle and got caught in the wheel, dying instantly.

Fei Xiuxiu was traumatized, her personality changed drastically, and she had constant conflicts with her mother.

At this time, taking advantage of the policy support, Xiao Sun requested to run for factory director. Xie Lanhua certainly didn't want Xiao Sun to fall into his hands, but there was no one who could match him.

At the time, Director Feng presided over the meeting in his capacity as the director of the Second Light Industry Bureau's office. The scene got out of control several times and was extremely heated.

Xie Lanhua made several breakthroughs and narrowly defeated Xiao Sun, winning the majority of votes.

Just then, Fei Xiuxiu, pale-faced, suddenly appeared at the meeting and asked to participate in the election, leaving the meeting with no choice but to adjourn.

The leaders of the Second Light Industry Bureau held a meeting overnight to discuss the future of Xiaotaiyang Children's Clothing Factory. They unanimously decided that Xie Lanhua should not be allowed to make the collective enterprise hereditary, so Fei Xiuxiu was not qualified to participate in the election.

The meeting was nearing its end when Xie Lanhua suddenly burst in, her face streaked with tears, on the verge of a breakdown.

"Please, let my daughter be the factory manager!" She knelt down on the ground with a thud.

"Comrade Xie Lanhua, you are also a Party member, how can you do this?" The bureau chief was furious.

"I only have this one daughter. If anything happens to her, I will be letting Lao Fei down!" Xie Lanhua brought out her trump card, and everyone in the conference room fell silent.

"Old Fei is Director Xie's husband? What happened to him?" Qin Xiaoyu's heart was filled with emotion. In Zhou Xing's information, the only word for Xie Lanhua's husband was "deceased," without any further details.

"Old Fei's death can be considered a work-related injury, but he was later classified as a martyr. When Little Sun was first established, the factory was in poor condition and didn't even have a factory building. They just borrowed a shed. That year, there was heavy rain, and while trying to salvage supplies, Old Fei was electrocuted while wading through water to move fabric." After Director Feng finished speaking, Qin Xiaoyu understood everything.

The reason why we say that the Little Sun is their life's work is because it was built with human lives at stake. Xie Lanhua sacrificed so much.

“She brought up Lao Fei, and we couldn’t do anything about it. In the end, she retired, and Fei Xiuxiu became the factory director. Xiao Sun stopped causing trouble and simply stopped going to work; her whereabouts are unknown.”

"Thank you, Aunt Feng, this is so helpful. I will handle this matter carefully, please don't worry."

"Xiaoyu, just let me know if you need anything. I hope these factories can recover and at least ensure that the workers have enough to eat and wear. You're helping me out in this way." Director Feng chuckled as he saw Qin Xiaoyu downstairs.

When she returned to the Zhou family home, she found it very lively; it turned out that Zhou Xing had been discharged from the hospital.