Qian Qing's estimate was correct. On the day the newspaper was published, Director Li of Hongxing Garment Factory was called to the office by Director Xie.

"What's the matter, Director Xie?"

Director Li still didn't realize that recently, because he had found the latest style of clothes and helped the factory get out of the crisis, the factory director Xie and deputy factory director were very friendly to him. Director Xie even mentioned that he would promote him to the position of deputy factory director next year after this year.

Director Li has been in high spirits recently, and is walking in a hurry.

When he was called over by Director Xie, he thought the factory had received another order and wanted him to organize the production. Unexpectedly, Director Xie, who had always put on a smiling face when he saw him in the past few days, now had a sullen look on his face.

"Have you read today's newspaper?"

Director Li was confused by the question. He just came to the factory at around 10 o'clock this morning. How could he find time to read the newspaper?

"I haven't seen it... Thank you, Director Xie, what's the matter? Is there any arrangement in our factory? Or is there any new policy?"

Factory Director Xie threw the newspaper in his hand onto the table, and even his voice was filled with unspeakable anger: "Look! Open your eyes and take a good look! See what others are saying about our factory!"

Director Li was stunned by Director Xie's sudden challenge and quickly picked up the newspaper to read.

Factory Director Xie gritted his teeth and said, "I received a call from the higher-ups early in the morning. They asked me where the clothing styles in our factory came from and whether we stole them from other factories! I was so embarrassed that I couldn't even hide my face."

"Didn't you say that you bought all these clothing styles? Why did you involve the Mudan Garment Factory? They've reported it to the newspapers, saying that you bribed the deputy director and workers in their factory and secretly bought the designs of the client's company!"

"Tell me if you are wronged!"

"Where did you come up with those designs?"

Director Li's mind was numb, and it seemed as if all other senses in his body had disappeared, with only his ears and eyes working.

What he saw with his eyes was an article in the newspaper titled "State-owned garment factories seek a path to breakthrough - Mudan Garment Factory shines with new glory", and what he heard with his ears was the furious voice of factory director Xie, who repeatedly questioned him where he got the styles from.

"... Thank you, Director. I... I can explain..."

But how to explain it? Director Li racked his brains but couldn't figure out how to explain it to Director Xie and the workers in the factory.

Factory Director Xie stood aside, and it was hard to tell that he was at a loss. After the shock, he was filled with rage.

"Lao Li, Lao Li, what can I say to you! Why did you come up with such a crooked idea? Those small private factories can do things like copying, but why would a state-owned factory like us do this?"

If it was a lousy design, it would be fine, but it was a private enterprise with its own unique design, why did Hongxing run ahead of others to copy it? And it was even reported in the newspapers.

"Our factory is in a recession, but we still have subsidies from the government and other options. Why did you have to copy someone else's version? You even bribed their deputy director and got caught red-handed."

Although many garment factories in the provincial capital were struggling, Hongxing was relatively relaxed among them and also the largest in scale. It had more than 200 workers and machines that could not be matched by small factories like Mudan Garment Factory.

Even if they are in trouble for a while, they can still survive by selling at a loss at the trade fair, buying more fabrics, and making some relatively fashionable styles according to market trends. Why do they have to be so competitive?

Factory Director Xie's tone was cold: "Now it's all right. The higher-ups called and asked us to give an explanation as soon as possible."

In recent years, the number of poorly managed state-owned factories in the provincial capital has increased, and the authorities have been worried about the placement of these workers after they lost their jobs. Now that private enterprises have stepped forward and placed orders with state-owned factories, it is a good thing for the authorities and is worth promoting.

But Hong Xing got involved in this matter and did something dishonorable. How could people not be angry?

Director Li understood the hidden meaning of Director Xie's words, and he was stunned: "I am doing this for our factory. If I don't do this, our factory will go bankrupt sooner or later..."

Director Li seemed to have found his own motive and spoke excitedly: "I am doing this for our factory! I am doing this for the good of the workers! If it weren't for me, our factory wouldn't have survived this year! We are already in liquidation now!"

Factory Director Xie looked at Director Li, his eyes filled with disappointment.

"You know why you did that. Maybe it was because of our factory, but you were the one who took the lion's share... During this period of time, you took out more than two thousand yuan from the account just on the pretext of buying styles. The newspaper said that the deputy director of the Mudan Garment Factory told you to spend five hundred yuan on buying styles. I also want to ask you, where did the remaining fifteen hundred go?"

"And the reason you've been going out on business lately, the entertainment expenses you've spent, the money you've spent on buying fabrics... Lao Li, I'm not a fool."

Director Li's face flushed when he was questioned, and he replied as if he had risked everything: "...You know everything, why are you telling me now? You just want to get rid of me, so you wrote down everything for me. Thank you, Director, I said it was a purchased design, and you agreed so easily. Didn't you think something was wrong? It's just that you have been eating rice for more than ten years longer than me, and you deliberately watched me jumping around. Anyway, if something goes wrong, the fire won't burn you, right? If you don't do anything, you won't make mistakes. If you don't fight for the first place, you don't have to stand out. I really learned a lesson!"

At this point, Director Li and Factory Director Xie both fell out, and Factory Director Xie looked even uglier. It had been a long time since he became the factory director and had not been criticized like this.

"Director Xie, do you think that if you push me out of our factory, we will be safe? You are dreaming! Our reputation has been ruined. We will not be able to get any contact with state-owned enterprises in the future. Private enterprises also know that Qingyue is genuine and know that they should go to Mudan Garment Factory to purchase goods. We still have tens of thousands of goods in our factory warehouse. Hahaha, I told you, our factory will go bankrupt sooner or later! It's just a matter of time!"

Director Li was almost crazy at this moment, and his words became more and more unpleasant. Director Xie pointed at him and called him "you you you" for a long time, but he didn't say a word.

Director Li took a deep look at Director Xie and said, "Director, don't worry whether I did it for myself or for the factory. At least I tried to find a solution. What about you? You sit there all day long, drinking tea and reading newspapers. You didn't panic when the factory was about to close down. You can still be the director of a new factory. I said I wanted to find a new model, but you didn't say yes or no. After the results came out, you pretended to ask a few questions... Director, I did have a crooked mind, but you have no heart at all. Let's not blame each other."

****

The results of Hongxing's treatment came out very quickly. Meanwhile, Qingyue had another burst of orders. Fortunately, after the interview, Qian Qing had a hunch that the three OEM factories were already producing at full speed and could barely handle these orders.

After the internal handling results of Hongxing came out, perhaps in order to eliminate the negative impact of the report, the other party even bought a small piece of paper to publish the handling results.

Director Li was held accountable and fired. The director of Hongxing Garment Factory was also punished internally and had his salary deducted for half a year. In addition, Hongxing also promised that this batch of counterfeit goods would no longer flow into the market.

Wen Lan looked at the newspaper and was a little worried: "Once they publish the results of this treatment, will they be able to continue doing it?"

Then how can their boss realize his idea of ​​taking over Hongxing?

Qian Qing shook her head and said, "They can't keep the business going. They copied too much some time ago and have too much inventory. All their money is tied up in the inventory. How can they keep the business going? But if they sell off that inventory, their business will just be a piece of waste paper. Their reputation will be even worse, and they won't be able to keep the business going."

Wen Lan was relieved: "That's good, then when are we going to discuss the contract?"

Qian Qing calculated the time: "Let's wait another week. Then I can contact the leader who gave us the quota for the trade fair."

She also took advantage of this week to recruit some English talents and to place an order for winter clothes.

Before she knew it, she had been in the provincial capital for a month. A lot of things had happened during this time, and Qian Qing was now spending more and more time talking to Zhou Hao on the phone every night.

Zhou Hao listened to his wife yawning on the phone and couldn't help but feel distressed: "Hang up and go to bed early."

Qian Qing unconsciously put on a coquettish tone: "I'm yawning because the weather is cold, I'm not sleepy."

“Has the temperature in the provincial capital dropped?”

"It has dropped, but there is hot water at night so it is not cold."

"I will be back in half a month. Once I finish my work here, I won't have to go to the provincial capital so often."

…

In fact, this statement is not very convincing. After all, Qingyue's focus has now shifted to the provincial capital. The OEM factory is here, the sales department is here, and the production acceptance department is here. There are only three stores and a "design department" in name only in Y City.

But Qian Qing always felt that Y City was her home, and where Zhou Hao was, that was where she belonged.

*****

We still have to wait for the report from the provincial capital TV station, because the review and production of TV programs are much more complicated than newspapers. The other party also called Qian Qing to explain that they would notify her before the broadcast.

Qian Qing didn't think it was a big deal, after all, newspapers were the biggest sellers now. Televisions weren't that popular, and she was on the show just to advertise and make herself known.

In the following time, Qian Qing worked with Wen Lan to train new employees and spend more time on management.

Recruiting employees who could speak English became the top priority during this period. Qian Qing installed telephones in the second floor of the store and in the provincial capital. Since the advertisement in the newspaper, more and more people called to inquire about the matter.

However, there are many people who can speak Russian, but few who can speak English, and even fewer who can communicate smoothly with foreigners.

In order to reduce the waste of time, Qian Qing would let Wen Lan ask a few questions on the phone first for most of the people who called, and then let the person come in for an interview if they were almost satisfied. Wen Lan's English was not very good, but she could still speak some basic conversations.

Seeing Wen Lan hanging up the phone with a complicated expression, Qian Qing gave her a few words of advice.

"If it's hard to recruit, then we'll just recruit slowly. If it really doesn't work, I'll take a part-time job at the provincial university and find a few English major students to help."

Wen Lan's face was still ugly, even a little pale. Qian Qing then realized something was wrong: "What's wrong?"

Was she scolded? Not really. The people who called were generally well-educated. Even if Qian Qing rejected the caller, most of them would hang up in a good manner.

Qian Qing poured Wen Lan a cup of hot tea. When her fingertips touched the warmth of the cup, Wen Lan seemed to wake up from a dream.

"…The person who just called to apply for the job is my ex-husband."

Qian Qing was also stunned, but after thinking about it, she felt that this matter was not that difficult to understand.

Wen Lan's ex-husband wanted to go abroad, so it was reasonable for him to know some English. Now that Wen Lan was no longer there to support the family, it was normal for him to want to find a job. Qingyue happened to publish a recruitment notice for people who could speak English in the newspaper, so it was natural for him to call and apply.

It is because of these coincidences that Wen Lan feels helpless.

"My head is going to explode when I think about him causing trouble again."

If it was just Wen Lan, she would rather die than have anything to do with the other party. But she has a child, and Wen Dongdong is now living a normal life in Y City with great difficulty. How can she let her ex-husband harass the child again?

Qian Qing patted Wen Lan's hand and said, "Did he recognize your voice just now?"

Wen Lan smiled bitterly: "He must have had some doubts. Although I hung up the phone quickly, it seemed even more suspicious... He should have come to the address in the newspaper."

Qian Qing was not afraid of the other party coming to her. She was on Wen Lan's side and would not fire Wen Lan just because the other party was making trouble. With this premise, how could the other party make trouble? Smash her store? Act like a rogue and not let her store open?

Qian Qing was not bragging. The employees in her store were not just there to eat and work. Moreover, since she opened the store, Old Ding, who may have followed Zhou Hao's instructions, would bring a few young men to hang out from time to time. So no one could cause trouble for her, whether it was the second floor or the store.

"So what do you think?"

Even if Qian Qing had a lot of ideas, she wanted to hear what Wen Lan thought.

Wen Lan's face was frozen: "I just don't want him to find Wen Dongdong again... Boss, you have no idea how crazy he is. He has tortured the child in the past few years. Normally, the child hides when he sees him. He is a psychopath! He makes a scene when he is drunk, and when he is sober, he grabs the child and tells him to study hard and go abroad when he grows up... He thinks about going abroad all the time!"

Qian Qing certainly couldn't understand this kind of person. A son doesn't dislike his mother's ugliness, and a dog doesn't dislike his family's poverty. Most people who go abroad also have a pure heart for their country. They go abroad to study and then come back. Didn't I say that even if dozens of people go abroad and only one person comes back, it will bring some changes to the country.

But it is undeniable that people like Wen Lan’s ex-husband, when they go abroad, they carry with them deep resentment and hatred towards their country.

Qian Qing was unwilling to let such a person enter Qingyue, even if the relationship with Wen Lan was put aside.

"Then let's discuss what to do..."

Qian Qing also found it difficult to deal with. Some people are like Xu Saner, who will be completely frightened if you scare him. Some people are like Wan Zhenzhen, who will be helpless if you avoid her. But people like Wen Lan's ex-husband, you seem to have no way to deal with him. He will chase you like a dog-skin plaster.

When Wen Lan mentioned the things that had happened to her that were ruined by her ex-husband, she felt helpless.

"I was doing accounting for a bicycle shop, and he would come to test the bikes every day, changing bikes. He didn't make any noise or fuss, but he just wouldn't leave. The boss didn't dare to stop him. If he was touched, he would fall to the ground and say he was beaten. He wanted to get his injuries examined and to call the police... In the end, I had no choice but to quit this job."

"I was doing the accounting for a restaurant, and he would go eat, twist a fly and put it in the dish, saying that the restaurant was not clean and he had to pay for it."

"I was also doing accounting for a clothing company, and he used a tricycle to block people's way in and out of the door."

…

Qian Qing was simply astonished. She had seen many top-quality things in her life, but she had never seen something so purely disgusting.

However, Qian Qing soon came up with an idea.

"You said that you can't have a criminal record when applying for a visa to go abroad."

Qian Qing didn't know much about this, but she had read in the newspaper how difficult it was for students from top universities in Beijing to go abroad, and she also knew that this so-called visa was difficult to obtain.

Wen Lan nodded. Her ex-husband had forced her to learn a lot of information about this. "It needs to be checked. You need a notarized certificate that you have never committed a crime in the country. Otherwise, you can't leave."

Qian Qing put her hands together and said, "That's it!"

People are most afraid of having weak points. Wenlan's ex-husband has made trouble for Wenlan so many times, but each time he just did some harmless little things to annoy her. Obviously, he also knew that he had a criminal record, so he would never be able to go abroad in his life.

Qian Qing pulled Wen Lan and said, "Come on, let's go talk to Lao Ding."

She had no experience in this matter. But Lao Ding had been in the underworld for a long time and had seen a lot of things. He knew how to hold someone's handle and make him afraid. This was something Lao Ding should be best at.

Sure enough, after listening to Qian Qing's words, Old Ding first looked at the pale woman next to his sister-in-law with sympathy.

"Girl, you have really bad luck." You are a college student and you look good, so why did you blindly choose such a man?

Qian Qing slapped Lao Ding on the head with a slap: "You're calling me a bad guy!"

Wen Lan is much older than her, and Old Ding is also older than her in a strict sense. But he calls her sister-in-law because of Zhou Hao's relationship with her.

Old Ding felt a little subtly dissatisfied. If he followed Zhou Hao's advice, how many people would he have to call "sister"?

"…This isn't that difficult. We can trick him and leave some evidence. If he comes to cause trouble again, we can hand the evidence over to the police. This way, he won't dare to come again."

Qian Qing looked at Lao Ding with a bit of surprise, which made Lao Ding look puzzled.

"I thought you were going to come up with some murderous idea."

Lao Ding: ...

"Sister-in-law, who am I in your eyes?"

He was a pure and honest citizen, who usually recruited a few younger brothers to maintain order and pay tribute to the local bosses. He had been a law-abiding person all these years, so how come in his sister-in-law's eyes he was like a person who wandered between the black and white worlds?

Qian Qing laughed out loud: "Okay, don't be stingy, I'll leave this matter to you, you can figure out how to find something to use against us to hand over to our accountant Wen."