"Uncle Zhou, I'm Zeng Geng's daughter. I met you when I was little. You often came to our house for meals back then. Every time my mom made dumplings, my dad would always call you over. I remember you didn't eat fennel dumplings. Do you remember me? I'm Ajin!"
Xu Keke warmly grasped his hand and shook it vigorously up and down. People passing by in the factory would glance at her curiously.
Section Chief Zhou looked at Xu Keke suspiciously, but when he saw Zeng Qiang following behind her, he gave a knowing sneer, shook off Xu Keke's hand,
"Don't give me that. The factory won't issue you any certificates. Go back to where you came from."
Xu Keke wasn't angry. "Look at what you're saying. My brother didn't handle things well yesterday, so I brought him here today to apologize to you."
Zeng Qiang stood at the back, dumbfounded. How did it turn into an apology? He should have known better than to come.
Section Chief Zhou didn't buy it, saying, "Then it's fine. You should leave now. If you cause any more trouble in our factory, I won't be polite."
"Understood, don't worry. Today, besides bringing Zeng Qiang to apologize to you, I'm also here on behalf of my whole family to thank you. Back then, thanks to you, my father was able to exchange that house. If it weren't for you..."
“If you’re here to cause trouble, I won’t be polite.” Section Chief Zhou thought Xu Keke was here to settle old scores from a few years ago.
He wasn't afraid. Even if someone could testify, Zeng Geng hadn't worked at the factory for years. No one would risk offending him for his sake.
"Why would I cause you trouble? Luckily, we moved to a new house. If we were still living in that old house, we would be in real trouble now."
Xu Keke looked at him in confusion, "No way, you...you don't know yet?"
Xu Keke covered her mouth, glanced back at Zeng Qiang, and asked him in what she thought was a low voice, "You didn't tell Uncle Zhou! You child, why didn't you listen to me?"
Xu Keke looked at Section Chief Zhou with difficulty, "You see, I misunderstood. I thought you hit him because of the investigation into that house... You know, I didn't ask clearly. Uncle Zhou, it's nothing else, I just came to say hello."
Xu Keke turned around and glared at Zeng Qiang with a reproachful look.
Then he turned around, took out a neatly folded piece of paper from his pocket, and said to Section Chief Zhou, "This is a note written by Director Liu of the Municipal Construction Committee, asking me to come and find our factory director. Let's go in first."
Although the letter was folded, the red characters on it were still faintly visible.
Section Chief Zhou was startled. Although he didn't know who this Director Liu was, Xu Keke didn't seem to be lying. Could it be that Zeng Geng's daughter has become successful?
Indeed, Section Chief Zhou felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him from head to toe. How could he not have thought of that?
He always thought Zeng Geng and his wife were honest and easy to bully, but he forgot that he had two children.
Now that both children are grown up, it's hard to say which one will amount to something. Judging from the way Zeng Geng's daughter speaks and acts, she's definitely not an ordinary factory worker. Could it be that she really knows some important person?
No wonder they moved houses; even if most people had the idea, they wouldn't be able to find such a suitable house.
Yesterday, Zeng Geng's son seemed honest, and he thought the Zeng family was still the same. He never imagined that his sister was the truly capable one in the family.
Section Chief Zhou wanted to laugh, but couldn't quite manage it. The smile froze on his face, and two wrinkles etched like deep furrows on either side of his nose.
"Is this Zeng Jin? Your dad is in pretty good health?"
Zeng Qiang's mouth was so wide open that an egg could fit inside. The section chief's face changed way too quickly this week.
“My dad is fine, but he’s started drinking again these days. It’s my fault, though. Someone gave him some wild mushrooms, and I returned them to him. My mom has been making him chicken stew with mushrooms these past few days, and he can eat a whole chicken leg in one meal.”
"Really? Your dad used to enjoy a drink or two. Does he still drink Erguotou now?" Section Chief Zhou said with a smile as he chatted with Xu Keke.
Xu Keke paused for a moment, then suddenly realized, "That's all. My friend gave me some beer, and he drinks one can a day at home now."
Zeng Qiang gasped in surprise. Beer, and a can at that. He'd never even seen a can of beer before.
“Uncle Zhou, after we move, come visit us sometime. My dad said the other day that he was so grateful to you back then. Turns out he's misunderstood you for so many years.”
The more Section Chief Zhou listened, the more uneasy he felt. "You, my niece, could you tell me about that house?"
Section Chief Zhou pulled Xu Keke to stand at the very edge.
"You really don't know? Impossible! How could you not know?" Xu Keke said, making a move to leave, as if she didn't want to talk any further.
The more Xu Keke acted this way, the more frustrated Section Chief Zhou became.
"I'll go and take care of things with the factory manager first, and I'll talk to you when I get back. My dad said that the factory has a tradition of having a meeting with the leaders in the morning. I don't want to waste time."
"Come on, I'll take you there." Section Chief Zhou wasn't about to let them leave. He took the initiative to lead the two of them to the factory director.
The factory manager was in his forties. Xu Keke had already heard Zeng Qiang mention him; he was a former soldier and didn't know much about the factory's past. So when Section Chief Zhou mentioned it yesterday, he refused to issue any more certificates.
Today, in order to get information out of Xu Keke, Section Chief Zhou took the initiative to introduce her to the factory director.
He was worried that Xu Keke might have a problem with him because of what happened yesterday, so he took all the blame for what happened yesterday.
His words implied that he hadn't understood the situation clearly yesterday and had given his superiors the wrong information.
Section Chief Zhou's explanation was actually quite difficult to justify. He claimed he hadn't fully understood the situation when the house was transferred to him.
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