Once, Ding Lei was working the night shift and preparing to sell cables. He'd been getting a lot of press from his friends, saying a friend in another county wanted a shipment of cables at a high price. He was very careful, always selling cables in small increments. But cables were a problem; if they were cut short, they wouldn't sell for a good price. Longer cables fetched more money.
Ding Lei arrived at the gate just in time for his evening shift. He saw the guards changing shifts, and tonight, Old Li was on duty. Ding Lei had carefully scrutinized the three guards. Old Li was particularly interesting: every night on duty, he would just sleep and snore loudly. If you wanted to leave the factory and open the gate, he wouldn't hear you unless you knocked loudly on the window of the guard room. Ding Lei had a good idea of what was going on and decided to act tonight.
At that time, everyone was a revolutionary comrade with a high level of thinking. They truly considered the factory their home. Their focus was on contributing to socialist development wherever they went, and they would not tolerate petty theft.
Although Uncle Li loved to sleep, it was daytime. Who would dare to steal things during the day? Night duty required him to keep a close eye on the police. Uncle Li's work code of conduct was to prevent bad elements from taking even a single needle or thread from the public, and to prevent internal personnel from embezzling even a single flower or plant from the unit.
Just a little after one in the morning, even the smallest sound in the quiet power supply bureau yard would be amplified infinitely. Uncle Li heard someone approaching the gate and was still wondering who it could be at this time.
Before Uncle Li could guess who it was, he saw Ding Lei sneaking out on his bicycle with a large sack on his back. Uncle Li looked at him and thought, "Such a large sack? This guy is really strong!" He just sat there without moving. Anyway, Ding Lei couldn't get out unless he opened the door.
Ding Lei came to the gate and tried to push it, but it was locked as before. It didn't matter. Ding Lei was very "familiar" with this place. He had inspected it many times and knew how to open the door. He had done it several times in the past year when transporting large items.
I had originally planned to sneak in and grab the key to the main door hanging on the wall. I walked to the key in the moonlight, and just as I reached out, Uncle Li suddenly turned on the light. In those days, lights were turned on with a cord, but the guard at the power bureau had a long cord, so he could pull it open from a chair.
As soon as the lights turned on, Ding Lei, standing at the doorway, reached for the key on the wall and froze in his tracks. Uncle Li sneered at Ding Lei's reaction. "With this kind of mentality, how dare he steal from the power company?" "Who gave him the guts?"
"What are you doing?" Uncle Li asked Ding Lei, motionless, sitting on his old, polished rattan chair. He held a rope in his hand, and Ding Lei knew that if he didn't answer well, the rope might be used to tie him up.
"Nothing. Uncle Li, something happened at home. I just received a message. Could you please open the door? I need to go back home." Ding Lei was still thinking that it was not impossible that the old man could be easily fooled and get away with it.
"Don't lie to me, tell the truth." Uncle Li had a sullen face and no expression, and his tone was much colder than the previous question.
"It's nothing, I just have to go home for an urgent matter. Please be flexible." Ding Lei put his hands together and rubbed them vigorously towards Uncle Li, nodding and bowing as he rubbed.
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