Wei Lan was already in a bad mood, and her face was very serious, making it impossible for her to maintain the amiable demeanor she had been putting on in public.

This woman from the countryside, ever since she learned that she was the deputy factory director, had run into her several times.

Wei Lan was quite amiable at first, but after realizing that she was completely useless, she stopped bothering to pretend in front of her.

He glanced at Zhou Lian with a hint of impatience.

She had no time to listen to her clumsy flattery; it didn't even register with her.

Zhou Lian wasn't this afraid when facing other people, but this Factory Director Wei often had a half-smile on his face, as if he had already seen through her, and she felt like she had nowhere to hide in front of him.

“I heard you also took the job recruitment exam. I suggest you appear before me after the results are in.”

She still has a bunch of messy things to deal with, but those who took bribes are easy to handle; she can just return the money.

Some are relationships between parents and older brothers; they've already promised someone, and if they don't fulfill their promise, they'll owe them a favor.

In families like theirs, personal relationships are far more important than money.

Zhou Lian took a deep breath. Wei Lan's words were a reminder to her that she was now just an ordinary family member in the family compound.

If you're not useful, don't hang around in front of her.

"Factory manager, I want to talk to you about how Director Zhang used his connections to place his own people in the textile factory."

Zhou Lian put in a lot of effort for this recruitment exam, but she knew that with her abilities, she might not be able to pass among so many people.

If I don't pass the exam, I'll have to think of other ways.

She had to get a job at the textile factory.

She wasn't familiar with Director Shen, and she had offended Director Zhang before, so she could only try to find a solution through Wei Lan.

"What's the meaning?"

Wei Lan was somewhat puzzled. Unless Zhou Lian could produce concrete evidence, she didn't want to hear just unfounded speculation.

So what if she's a nepotism beneficiary? She herself is a nepotism beneficiary, and she even wants to place her own nepotism beneficiaries in management positions.

Without evidence, relying solely on speculation is almost useless in this kind of situation.

She believed that many people in the textile factory were now gossiping about her background and identity, and that such gossip wouldn't hurt her, just as it would hurt Director Zhang.

"Timing," Zhou Lian cleared her throat and repeated, "Timing."

"Speak clearly."

Everyone in the textile factory and even the family compound knew the respective forces represented by Shen Chunjiao and Wei Lan, and knew that it would be difficult for the two to coexist peacefully.

Even if nothing seems amiss on the surface, they'll still fight behind the scenes.

Currently, the residential compound has a huge advantage. Many of the management and technical staff were transferred from the daily necessities factory, and most of the workers are also from within the compound.

If Wei Lan wants to gain the upper hand, besides having her own people in the management team, suppressing the prestige of Shen Chunjiao and Director Zhang is also a way.

That's human nature; people are happy when they receive special privileges and resentful of others' privileges.

There must have been a number of people in the family compound who didn't pass the recruitment exam. If news were to break now that the higher-ups had already placed their preferred candidates in the factory, it would be disastrous.

They don't need to study or take exams like the others, and the positions they are assigned are even higher than those that ordinary people can get through exams.

Let alone those who were eliminated, even those who passed the exam must be feeling bad.

If the news breaks immediately after the exam results are released, it will ignite public anger when those who were not admitted are most emotional.

People are most prone to making rash decisions at this time.

Wei Lan found it interesting after hearing this.