Chapter 1563 Is this a mass exodus?

Faced with Li Ye's questioning, Geng Yunping could only look away embarrassedly, not daring to argue with Li Ye.

After all, the fact that Zhuo Minglan took a plane is not something that can be easily argued. The excuse of "taking care of a young girl" is untenable. If Li Ye really takes it seriously, it will only make Geng Yunping, who is in charge of handling this matter, take the blame.

[Damn it, I'm just an assistant. I already said it was Shang Bin's idea. Li Ye, stop making things so difficult for me!]

Li Ye glanced at Geng Yunping, whose face was full of embarrassment, and felt that he was also unfortunate, so he did not continue to make things difficult for him.

Upon arriving at Chuncheng Airport, Qu Qingyou and Jiang Shiqi, who had set off earlier, were already waiting for Li Ye in their car at the airport.

After Li Ye got into the car, he completely ignored Geng Yunping and Zhuo Minglan, and the Mercedes-Benz roared away.

Zhuo Minglan stomped her feet in anger and said to Geng Yunping, "Assistant Geng, look at Li Ye! The car is using public fuel, yet he's abandoned us. This is outrageous!"

Geng Yunping gritted his teeth and said, "Secretary Zhuo, that's Li Ye's car. It's a favor for him to give us a ride, and it's his right not to. Besides, it's not appropriate for them to know where we're going."

“.”

Zhuo Minglan was stunned for a moment, and finally swallowed her anger.

Shangbin's decision to allow her to participate in the prototype comparison test project was ostensibly a sign of his trust in her, but in reality, she had other important matters to attend to.

Geng Yunping and Zhuo Minglan got into a taxi, and after driving around for quite a while, they finally arrived at an inconspicuous private residence.

However, Geng Yunping and Zhuo Minglan never expected that a Jetta with local license plates was following their taxi, and inside the car were Jiang Shiqi, Qu Qingyou, and Li Ye.

Fenghua Clothing has channels and stores all over the country, so getting a car is easy for them. Qu Qingyou's tracking skills are also quite good, so they only used a sleight of hand to fool Geng Yunping.

Geng Yunping escorted Zhuo Minglan inside, and soon after he came out and left. Qu Qingyou then asked Li Ye whether he wanted to follow.

Li Ye slowly shook his head.

Jiang Shiqi asked Li Ye in a low voice, "Uncle, should we continue investigating? I can find a few reliable brothers to come over and make sure we can confirm whether that woman is having an affair with the man surnamed Shang."

Sigh~

Li Ye sighed, unsure of what to say.

I don't know why, but successful people in this era have a habit of doing this. They know that once it's exposed, they will be ruined, but they still do it willingly. In the following ten years or so, every single bombshell that was exposed was no exception.

Don't they understand how greedy and troublesome female animals can become once they have something on you?

"Forget it, let's get down to business first!"

Li Ye told Qu Qingyou to turn around, and they asked for directions all the way to Stalin Street, where they found the home of Zheng Qiang, a technician at the No. 1 factory.

Zheng Qiang was a talent "poached" from Jilin Automobile by the factory director to solve the Isuzu project. Later, he joined Li Ye and was assigned to Zhucheng Vehicle Factory as the technical head.

This time, since Geely Automobile was in charge of the comparative test evaluation, Li Ye asked Zheng Qiang to come over, firstly to visit his parents, and secondly to find out about the specific situation from his former colleagues.

When Li Ye entered Zheng Qiang's home, he was immediately greeted with a warm welcome. Zheng Qiang's grandmother held Li Ye's hand and thanked him with tears in her eyes, while Zheng Qiang's parents stood aside, happily rubbing their hands together.

"Thank you, Director Li. When Xiaoqiang left, we were all worried sick. Who wants their child to go so far away? But now it seems the old saying is true: a tree dies when transplanted, but a person thrives. Xiaoqiang has found a wise master by joining your ranks."

"Grandma, please don't say that. I'm not some enlightened ruler. These are all state-owned enterprises. Zheng Qiang and I are equal colleagues."

"He's a colleague, and also a boss. You absolutely must stay for dinner today; this old woman wants to toast you three times."

"Today won't work, we have important business with Zheng Qiang today. How about the day after tomorrow? We'll definitely come and bother you again then."

Li Ye was truly touched by the warmth of the northerners, but he still declined the old lady's offer.

After coming out, Zheng Qiang said apologetically, "Director Li, I had arranged a dinner with some former colleagues. I only invited a few people, but there might be quite a few people showing up."

Li Ye smiled and said, "Isn't it good to have a few more people? It just proves that you, Zheng Qiang, are a good person."

Zheng Qiang shook his head and said sincerely, "It's not that I'm a good person, but that I've earned a lot of money in the past few years. I bought a new house for my family and even got a taxi for my younger brother."

The better you do, the more drinking buddies you have. When I was forced out of Jilin Motors, only two colleagues saw me off.

As Zheng Qiang spoke, he himself began to sigh.

That's just how society is. The better you live, the more kindness your relatives and friends show. But when you're down on your luck and at your lowest point, even drinking cold water can be a struggle!

When Li Ye and Zheng Qiang arrived at the agreed-upon restaurant, they were surprised to find that there were nearly twenty people there.

Seeing that Zheng Qiang's face was turning red, Li Ye smiled and told the restaurant to open an extra table and bring out whatever good wine and food they had.

Returning home in glory! How could it not cost a few taels of silver?

After sitting down and chatting for a while, Li Ye learned that the reason so many people came was not only because Zheng Qiang had been doing well in recent years, but also because Zheng Qiang's old colleagues had clearly not been doing as well as before.

So everyone wanted to ask if Li Ye needed any more people.

Is this a mass exodus of employees?

Li Ye was surprised. Although the three northern provinces were experiencing the biggest growing pains of the 1990s, Jilin Motors should have been doing alright, right?

It wasn't until everyone had a few drinks and opened up that Li Ye understood what "a single tree cannot support a forest" truly meant.

If the whole family works at Jiqi, then life will definitely be alright.

But what if the whole family only has one employee at a large factory? Or what if the rest of the family works at a supporting company for Jilin Motors?

To put it bluntly, these nearly twenty people haven't had such a hearty meal at a restaurant in a long time.

"Hey, our lives are tough, but we're doing alright. My aunt's family is in a much worse situation! Thousands of people in her entire workplace have lost their livelihoods. The capable ones either went south to make their fortune or resorted to petty theft, while the uncapable ones just starve."

“My fifth uncle works at a similar company. A few days ago, he came to borrow money from me. He loitered around my door for three hours but didn’t dare to knock. He used to be such a proud person; he couldn’t bear to lose face.”

"What's this? We've opened a canteen at home now. Every day at mealtimes, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law bring their families to eat, and after they're done, they bring a portion back for my father-in-law."

The two elderly people are too shy to come to my house for a meal. What a predicament!

“.”

A group of burly men shed tears as they talked, which also brought tears to Zheng Qiang's eyes.

He turned to look at Li Ye, opened his mouth, but couldn't say a word.

The current light vehicle company certainly has the capacity to provide jobs for some people, but there are far more people waiting in line to join the company. The number of re-employed workers from Beijing alone could fill all the positions in the first factory.

What on earth is going on here?!

(End of this chapter)