The world is in your hands
After the review meeting, Lan Tongtong returned to her office in a gloomy mood. The feeling of hitting a wall with hope, only to be mocked by the other party, left her feeling extremely depressed and disappointed. She even began to doubt the significance of this review system promoted by Brother Mo.
Just as she was staring blankly at the computer screen, her phone vibrated. It was a message from Mo Zhichi, containing only three short words: "Come to the garage."
Lan Tongtong was stunned for a moment, then immediately stood up and went downstairs. Arriving at the project department's underground garage, Mo Zhichi's black car was quietly parked in a corner, the window lowered, and he gestured for Lan Tongtong to get in.
The car was filled with a faint smell of cigarettes. Mo Zhichi didn't speak immediately, but handed her a bottle of water.
"Brother Mo..." Lan Tongtong took the water and couldn't help but speak, with a tone of grievance and injustice, "Have you seen the review results? How could it be like that? Those negative reviews..."
"I saw it." Mo Zhichi interrupted her, his tone terrifyingly calm, as if he had expected everything. "It's normal, no big deal."
"Normal?" Lan Tongtong opened her eyes wide, "This is clearly..."
"It was Liu Tianyuan who did it, I know." Mo Zhichi took a puff of his cigarette and slowly exhaled the smoke. He looked through the windshield at the empty garage wall. "Tongtong, you have to remember that in this kind of environment, if you want to completely suppress someone, especially someone with a background like Liu Feng, a public review is not enough. It's at most a warning, or, like this time, a test."
"Test?" Lan Tongtong was puzzled.
"Testing their bottom line, testing how far they dare to go." Mo Zhichi turned his head and looked at Lan Tongtong, his eyes sharp and deep. "Now that the results are out, we know that they are willing to disregard their dignity to such an extent to protect Liu Feng. This is also good, it is equivalent to putting themselves on the fire."
He paused, his tone tinged with cold sarcasm. "The review results can be tampered with, but people's hearts can't be changed. After today, do you think anyone in the project department still doesn't know what kind of person Liu Feng is? Who will still truly believe that 'good' evaluation? The word 'good' is now a joke. It's a label he can't shake off."
Lan Tongtong seemed to understand a little. The review system itself might not be a fatal blow, but it was like a mirror, reflecting ugliness and leaving a mark. Liu Feng and his son won the outcome, but they may have lost people's hearts and credibility.
"Then...we have no other options now?" Lan Tongtong was still a little unwilling.
"There are many ways." Mo Zhichi's lips curled up in an almost cold arc. "When the water is too clear, there are no fish. Now that the water has been muddied by them, it is easier for fish to take advantage. What kind of person is Liu Feng? He is arrogant and domineering. You can tolerate him for a while, but not forever. After this review passed without any danger, he will only think that his father is omnipotent and will become even more complacent."
He looked at Lan Tongtong, his eyes filled with admonition: "Tongtong, calm down. This matter is over, don't let it show on your face anymore. Work when it's time to work, interact with him when it's time to interact, and even... you can be nice to him appropriately."
Lan Tongtong looked at Mo Zhichi in confusion.
Mo Zhichi said meaningfully, "Let him feel the crisis is over, that you've given in. Only then will he let down his guard and reveal his true colors again. All we have to do is wait patiently. Wait for him to make his next mistake, and it must be on a substantive issue that cannot be tampered with or covered up."
"For example?" Lan Tongtong seemed to have grasped something.
"For example, would he dare to let things slide during the inspection of important concealed works? For example, would he dare to accept bribes regarding materials related to structural safety? For example, would he deliberately delay key construction milestones just to make things difficult, causing irreparable losses?" Mo Zhichi's voice was soft, yet metallic. "If he dared, just once, and we caught him with solid evidence... then, not even Liu Tianyuan, not even the gods, would be able to save him."
Lan Tongtong took a deep breath, feeling a chill down her spine, but also a sense of sudden enlightenment. Brother Mo wasn't trying to comfort her; he was plotting something. He saw further, and was more ruthless. He didn't care about the gains and losses of a city or a pond; he wanted the chance to kill with one strike.
"I understand, Brother Mo." Lan Tongtong nodded heavily, "I know what to do."
"Well, calm down." Mo Zhichi put out the cigarette butt, "The ruler is in our hands. We have measured it accurately. When the time is right, we will fall down. Go back and pretend nothing happened."
Lan Tongtong got out of the car and watched Mo Zhichi's car leave the garage. Her mood had completely changed. The previous disappointment and anger were replaced by a calm anticipation. She looked up at the project office yard, as if she could see Liu Feng's face, which might be full of smugness at this moment.
The controversy over the review seemed to have ended with Liu Feng's "victory," but this "victory" had clearly gone to his head. That evening, Lan Tongtong was sorting through documents in her dormitory when there was a knock on the door.
Standing outside the door was Liu Feng, whose face was flushed and smelled a little of alcohol, apparently he had just finished celebrating.
"Mr. Lan, you haven't rested yet?" Liu Feng leaned against the door frame, the pride in his tone almost overflowing, and his previous disguise was gone.
Lan Tongtong's heart tightened, and she remembered Brother Mo's instructions. She suppressed her disgust and forced a calm expression on her face: "Engineer Liu, what's the matter?"
"No big deal," Liu Feng chuckled, lowering his voice with a lewd tone, as if sharing a secret, "I just came to see you. How is it going? Are you satisfied with the results of the afternoon review?"
Lan Tongtong remained calm: "The results were summarized by the leaders. I don't have any satisfaction or dissatisfaction."
"Tsk, still pretending?" Liu Feng took a step closer, the smell of alcohol hitting his face. "I know you must have said something bad about me. But it doesn't matter, I don't mind. I just want to tell you that in this place, there are some things that can't be changed by a few nonsense words written by you little technicians."
He became increasingly smug as he spoke, and began to boast, "You think anonymous comments work? Naive! My dad can just make a phone call, and there's no negative review that can't be deleted? No result that can't be changed? That's power, don't you understand? Someone like you with no background, working like crazy for ten years, can't do as much as my dad with just a few words!"
Lan Tongtong's heartbeat began to accelerate. She quietly reached into her trouser pocket, felt for her phone, and quickly swiped it to unlock it based on her memory, then clicked on the recording function. She needed evidence, she needed him to personally admit these dirty deeds!
"Engineer Liu, you've had too much to drink." Lan Tongtong deliberately used a calm tone to guide him, hoping to record more. "The review system was set by President Tang. Isn't it a bit inappropriate for you to say that?"
"Boss Tang?" Liu Feng sneered, completely lost in thought. "Boss Tang is retiring next year! Who's going to have the final say on Tianma Investment then? It's still my dad! Let me tell you, let alone something as trivial as a review, even if there's a huge problem on the construction site, as long as my dad wants to, there's nothing he can't solve! Last time, there were some minor flaws in the pile foundation inspection, and what about that? Just one phone call and the report became beautiful? And the time before that..."
Liu Feng talked incessantly, and in order to show off his father's "power", he even blurted out several quality problems or illegal operations that seemed to have been covered up in the past. Although he spoke vaguely, he mentioned some key words such as time, place, and the subcontracting teams involved.
Lan Tongtong was frightened when she heard this, but she tried to stay calm, occasionally agreeing with "Really?" and "Is there such a thing?" to guide him to continue.
Liu Feng showed off for more than ten minutes until his roommate came back. He stopped with a feeling of being unsatisfied. Finally, he patted Lan Tongtong on the shoulder (which Lan Tongtong dodged), and said proudly: "So, Engineer Lan, he who knows the times is a hero. Follow me in the future, and I guarantee that you will have smooth sailing on the construction site! Let's forget about the past!" After that, he walked away staggeringly.
As soon as the door closed, Lan Tongtong locked it and leaned against it, her heart still pounding. She quickly pulled out her phone, stopped recording, and backed up the file to the cloud. Listening to Liu Feng's clear and arrogant voice in the recording, she felt a mixture of anger and excitement.
This is a godsend! Liu Feng, that idiot, actually delivered himself to my door!
Without any hesitation, she immediately sent the recording to Mo Zhichi, adding a note: "Brother Mo, Liu Feng just came to me and said this. I recorded it."
A few minutes later, Mo Zhichi called directly. His voice was filled with suppressed excitement and incredible seriousness. "Tongtong, I listened to the recording. You did a great job! Very timely! Don't tell anyone about this, including Zhang Biao. Back up the originals on your phone and delete the chat history. I'll handle this matter."
"Brother Mo, some of the things he mentioned here seem quite serious..." Lan Tongtong reminded.
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