In winter, it gets dark early, and the sun has already set.

The wind in the twelfth month of the lunar calendar blows on people's faces, taking away all the warmth.

Shi Zhen turned on the light bulbs used for lighting on the construction site, and was also holding a flashlight in his hand. His face looked extremely grim.

Shi Daniu also became uneasy: "This cement is much cheaper than the one at the cement factory, I was thinking of saving some money..."

"What about the steel bars?" Shi Zhen asked.

"I really don't know, I..." Shi Daniu couldn't speak properly for a moment.

Shi Zhen could tell from his expression that he genuinely didn't know.

It was mostly done by Shi Daniu's men behind his back.

"You didn't know about the steel bars, so why didn't you tell me about changing the cement?" Shi Zhen asked.

Shi Daniu's voice trembled, and he didn't dare to look at Shi Zhen: "You came here today just to talk about this..."

At this moment, Shi Daniu's legs started shaking.

The main thing is that Shi Zhen is a bit scary to him now.

When he first came out to work with Shi Zhen, he wasn't afraid of Shi Zhen at all, and that was fine before, but today's Shi Zhen...

Shi Daniu knew he was in deep trouble.

He regretted it too.

The largest cement plant in the entire Changxi City is this cement plant in Anshan Town. Most of the cement produced here is sent to Shanghai.

In other words, there's no shortage of cement sellers here.

Because of this, the price of cement from cement plants is a bit expensive, and the price has increased several times in the past two years.

Shi Daniu only bought other types of cement because he thought the price was too high, which is why he listened to his subordinates and bought other types...

Shi Zhen carefully examined the cement and steel bars, and finally said, "I'll call your wife. You stay with me tonight, and I'll call the police tomorrow."

"Shi Zhen!" Shi Daniu exclaimed, bewildered. "Isn't this a bit much?!"

Shi Daniu knew that his subordinates had embezzled money, but he thought it was enough to make them pay it back. Was there any need to call the police?

Shi Zhen said, "Shi Daniu! I know that no one is perfect, so I can turn a blind eye to my subordinates secretly taking kickbacks and bribes. But the situation is different now! This involves the quality of the project!"

Shi Zhen genuinely didn't care much; it's human nature for subordinates to be a little greedy.

But you can't be too greedy.

Most importantly... it cannot affect the quality of the project!

This is a matter of life and death!

This construction site is building factory buildings for people. Actually, even if the cement is of slightly lower quality and the steel bars are thinner, the boss won't be able to tell.

Moreover, the factory building is not tall, so there is a high probability that quality problems will not occur in the end.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, many of the houses built in various places had quality problems. After a while, many of them developed cracks in the walls and their foundations subsided. However, very few actually collapsed.

In Changxi City, during that era, there were many construction teams that would find all sorts of ways to cut corners and make a quick buck before leaving.

But he doesn't allow that kind of thing to happen here.

He wants it to last a long time, and he wants to do better than in his previous life.

Shi Zhen's anger was obvious, and even if Shi Daniu thought it was just a two- or three-story factory and there was no way it could cause any problems, he didn't dare to say anything more.

After Shi Daniu became a contractor, Shi Zhen provided him with a mobile phone. He asked Shi Daniu to take out the phone and called Shi Daniu's wife, saying that Shi Daniu was with him and wouldn't be going home that night. Then he drove Shi Daniu to Changxi City, the headquarters of Baishi Construction.

Shi Zhen needs to think about what to do about this.

On the other side, Guan Baiyu and Shi Zhen hung up the phone and felt that something was wrong.

Before Shi Zhen left in the morning, he told him that he would come to see him in the evening.

At the time, he felt it was unnecessary—it would be too tiring for Shi Zhen to do this.

But Shi Zhen thought... he couldn't possibly stop him.

But now Shi Zhen has suddenly stopped coming.

Of course, that's not the point. The point is that Shi Zhen didn't tell him why he wasn't coming.

Generally speaking, Shi Zhen would tell him about his problems, but this time he didn't say why... It's very likely that he encountered something quite troublesome.

There's also a high probability that it's a business matter.

Shi Zhen is a person who... tends to only report good news and not bad news.

Guan Baiyu thought for a moment, got up, locked the door, left a note in the outer room, and left.

He recently added a glass partition between the print shop and his desk in the back, and the door can be locked.

The key to the outer room is held by the part-time worker and Qi Xiaowu, so the printing business can continue even when he's not there.

His absence for a weekend doesn't matter much.

Guan Baiyu took a taxi to the provincial capital's bus station. Coincidentally, there was another bus to J City that would pass through Changxi City.

Guan Baiyu bought a ticket and boarded the train. After a leisurely two-hour journey, they arrived in Changxi City.

At that time, the bus station in Changxi City had not yet moved. Its location was quite close to the city center. When Guan Baiyu got off the bus, he saw a row of tricycles waiting for passengers at the station entrance.

He didn't rush to get in the car; instead, he called Shi Zhen first.

It was already 10 p.m., but Guan Baiyu's phone was answered quickly: "Hey, Xiaoyu, what's up?"

"Brother, where are you?" Guan Baiyu asked.

Shi Zhen immediately realized something: "Xiao Yu, why are you asking this?"

"Just answer me, don't lie!"

Shi Zhendao said, "I'm in the company building."

Guan Baiyu hung up the phone and got into a tricycle.

On the other side, Shi Zhen paused for a moment, then said to the assistant he had recruited, "My brother is coming."

The person Shi Zhen recruited with a monthly salary of two thousand yuan was named Duan Hongming.

He is five years older than Shi Zhen and has been working with Shi Zhen for more than a month, and has already mastered a lot of the work.

He thought Shi Zhen was a very capable boss, but there was one thing he couldn't understand.

His boss dotes on his younger brother so much that he travels a long way to see him every week.

They encountered this situation today, and it turns out that when his boss called earlier, he said he was going to the provincial capital tomorrow... Even people in relationships don't usually act like this.

Now...

His boss's brother is a weirdo too; his boss didn't go, but he came late at night!

Even newlywed couples aren't this clingy!

Duan Hongming was speechless for a moment, and then Guan Baiyu arrived in less than ten minutes.

Shi Zhen was waiting at the door. As soon as he saw Guan Baiyu, he handed him a hot water bottle and said, "Why did you come in such a hurry? I didn't have anything to do here."

There were only three people in Baishi's headquarters building, and it didn't seem like anything serious had happened... Guan Baiyu breathed a sigh of relief and asked Shi Zhen, "Brother, what happened?"

Shi Zhen said, "Someone replaced the steel bars on the construction site, and the cement was also replaced with inferior quality... It was only recently that the change was made, so the matter was still easy to resolve. I thought I should take this opportunity to reorganize the company and prevent this kind of thing from happening again."

"Brother, what do you want to do?" Guan Baiyu asked.

Shi Zhen said, "I plan to call the police tomorrow and bring the TV station people over. I will smash the wall in public."

After a moment's thought, Guan Baiyu knew what Shi Zhen was thinking. He immediately rushed up and hugged Shi Zhen, saying, "Brother, you're amazing! This is a great idea! From now on, everyone will know that Baishi Construction has high standards for engineering quality!"

"Yes." Shi Zhen smiled.

He had just told Duan Hongming about this, and Duan Hongming was a little worried that doing so would damage Baishi Construction's reputation.

Guan Baiyu immediately knew what he was thinking.

Guan Baiyu said, "Brother, after this incident, we also need to tighten up the company's management. You'd better find some talent in this area."

"I will."

“Brother, I’ve already found some information. You can take a look,” Guan Baiyu said, taking out the information he had brought. “Don’t rush to look at it today. You can look at it tomorrow. Go to sleep now.”

Shi Zhen said, "I don't plan to sleep tonight, so I'll look a bit haggard tomorrow."

"How haggard can you look after staying up all night? Go to sleep! I can always do your makeup tomorrow morning," Guan Baiyu said.

Shi Zhen was stunned: "That's not necessary..."

"Go to sleep!" Guan Baiyu said again.

Shi Zhen drove everyone to the house he had bought, the one where Zhao Qiujuan lived. He then had Shi Daniu and Duan Hongming stay in the guest room, while he and Guan Baiyu slept in the master bedroom.

It was late, so the two went into the bedroom, embraced each other, and fell asleep quickly.

After a good night's sleep, Shi Zhen woke up the next day in high spirits.

The first thing he did after getting up was to shave, but Guan Baiyu stopped him: "Your beard is nice, you can't shave it!"

Not only that, Guan Baiyu also took out the clothes that Shi Zhen had worn the day before, which he had changed out of, and gave them to Shi Zhen to wear. Then he messed up Shi Zhen's hair.

good!

Shi Zhen went to his place the night before last, and rushed here yesterday morning without shaving. He still won't shave today... Shi Zhen's beard has been growing quite fast lately, and a bit has already sprouted out.

Combined with messy hair and clothes, she looks a bit颓废 (颓废 is a difficult word to translate directly, but it implies a state of being listless, decadent, or颓废).

Guan Baiyu said, "I'll go buy an onion later, and you can rub your eyes, then it'll be perfect."

Shi Zhen: "..." He really didn't want onions.

Shi Zhen's dejected appearance startled Zhao Qiujuan, who was making breakfast: "Zhen, are you alright?"

Shi Zhen said, "I'm fine. By the way, sister, Xiaoyu came back yesterday, and Shi Daniu and Duan Hongming are also staying here... Go out and buy some food, remember to buy some raw wontons, anything else is fine."

As he spoke, he gave Zhao Qiujuan twenty yuan.

Guan Baiyu is back? Zhao Qiujuan was a little curious, but she didn't ask any more questions and turned to leave.

A short while later, Zhao Qiujuan returned. Fearing that the group of grown men wouldn't have enough to eat, she bought a lot.

If you buy too much and can't finish it, you can eat it next time. It's not good if you don't have enough to eat.

Of course, Shi Zhen's instructions regarding the quantity of wontons were not lacking.

If the wontons were cooked and served, they would easily become mushy, so Shi Zhen ordered raw wontons and then cooked them for Guan Baiyu.

Shi Daniu couldn't sleep at all last night, tossing and turning. Duan Hongming slept with him, but he couldn't sleep either, and only managed to doze off for a while in the early hours of the morning, which is why he woke up late.

When he got up, he saw a lot of food on the table, and Shi Zhen was cooking in the kitchen.

Duan Hongming: "..."

Shi Zhen is tall and big, and he looks rather strange in the kitchen.

Of course, the strangest one was Shi Zhen's younger brother. He was a grown man who clung to Shi Zhen and fed him steamed buns.

Then Shi Zhen ate them one after another, and in no time he had eaten about ten.

Do I have to feed her just to eat a steamed bun?

The more Duan Hongming looked, the more he felt something was wrong.

As for Shi Daniu, he was still in a daze, and his condition looked even worse than Shi Zhen's.

At this moment, Zhao Qiujuan said, "The steamed buns are on the table, you should eat them... I cooked some porridge, would you like some?"

"Thank you." Duan Hongming was somewhat surprised to see Zhao Qiujuan.

He had been working with Shi Zhen for some time, and having been in and out of the company, he had naturally seen Zhao Qiujuan.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Qiujuan was living in Shi Zhen's house!

Is this Shi Zhen's girlfriend?

It's no wonder Duan Hongming thought that way; mainly because Shi Zhen's behavior made it seem like he had a girlfriend.

He also saw Shi Zhen go to buy family planning supplies.

However, Shi Zhen doesn't seem to care much about this girlfriend; he's not as good to his younger brother as he is!

Just then, he saw Shi Zhen bring out two bowls of wontons, one for himself and one for his younger brother.

Shi Zhen still calls his girlfriend "sister": "Sister, there are still some wontons left, I put them in the refrigerator." He had asked Zhao Qiujuan if she wanted any, but she said no, so he didn't cook any for her. He put the rest in the refrigerator, and Zhao Qiujuan and Shi Ting can eat them in the next couple of days.

Recently, Shi Ting often stays at his place on weekends, but she has classes on Saturday mornings, so she comes over in the afternoon.

“Okay,” Zhao Qiujuan replied, then added, “Azhen, I’m going to work.”

"Mm," Shi Zhen responded, and ate with Guan Baiyu.

Duan Hongming and Shi Daniu also noticed Shi Zhen's stubble and messy hair.

Just as Duan Hongming was about to comfort Shi Zhen, he saw that Shi Zhen, who had already eaten ten xiaolongbao (soup dumplings), had also finished two large steamed buns and eaten the bowl of wontons.

The boss has such a good appetite; it seems he doesn't need any comforting words.

After they finished eating, Shi Zhen drove them to buy an onion...

Duan Hongming: "!!"

The boss is indeed a boss!

When Shi Zhen and his team arrived at the construction site, it was already quite late, and all the workers had already arrived.

With Shi Daniu absent, everyone was listless and lethargic. Even though it was time to start work, no one had actually begun.

It was at this moment... that the police arrived because Shi Zhen called the police...

The workers on the construction site were a bit confused. At this moment, Shi Zhen and Guan Baiyu got out of the car and explained the situation to the police.

Shi Zhen didn't intend to investigate the cement issue further. He called the police mainly because he reported that someone had replaced the steel bars on the construction site.

Just then... people from the local TV station arrived.

Speaking of which, in this era, every place has its own local television station, and these local television stations are quite popular.

Putting everything else aside... at least the local station has good signal!

This time, Shi Zhen specifically contacted people from the local TV station to come and interview him.

"Our motto at Baishi Construction is to prioritize safety and quality. We will not tolerate anyone who switched the steel bars this time!"

“The walls that have already been built use substandard steel bars, and I will have them all demolished.”

"Baishi Construction must never build substandard projects!"

...

Shi Zhen's eyes were red, his hair was messy, and his clothes were wrinkled. He spoke righteously to the camera.

After saying that, he ordered someone to smash the wall.

Shi Zhen and his workers worked together to smash down all the walls they had built over the past few days.

The reporter randomly interviewed some people, and without exception, they approached Guan Baiyu, who had a particularly good appearance.

Guan Baiyu said, "Our boss learned about this yesterday and didn't sleep all night. He finally made this decision because we have to be responsible for everyone's safety..."

Guan Baiyu spoke earnestly, mentioning a great deal, including, of course, Baishi Construction.

He heard Shi Zhen talk about this method yesterday and thought it was an excellent way to promote the product.

Moreover, Shi Zhen's actions will also deter his subordinates from acting recklessly in the future.

Of course, although they called the police, they did not intend to sue the other party; they just wanted compensation for their losses.

But we can't go too far.