The girl's face was flushed, and her big eyes were brimming with tears. She said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I was in a rush to get to school. I'm so sorry!" She then bowed.
"Is your leg alright?" Qin Xiaoyu looked down and saw that the knees of her pants were frayed.
"It's okay, I'm wearing thick clothes." The girl shook her head repeatedly.
Qin Xiaoyu sized her up and realized she wasn't telling the truth. The weather was already getting cold, and she was wearing thin, old nylon tracksuit pants that were so short they were showing her ankles, with only a pair of tan-colored thermal underwear underneath.
Whether from fear or cold, she shivered involuntarily in the chilly autumn wind.
"Oh no!" the girl suddenly exclaimed, walking to the front of the car. It turned out that the bicycle had dented A Lei's bike. "What do we do? What do we do? Should we paint it?"
"It's alright, you can go now." Qin Xiaoyu couldn't help but chuckle when she heard her mention painting the car. She didn't care about the car at all; she'd driven it for years, only keeping it because she found it too much trouble.
She and A Lei turned to get into the car.
"Wait a minute, please wait a minute!" the girl said, picking up her green schoolbag from the ground, taking out a small notebook, scribbling a few words, and handing it to her.
Qin Xiaoyu took it curiously. It read: IOU, owes car repair fee ( ) yuan.
This was leaving her with parentheses to fill in the amount of money—quite a generous gesture! Qin Xiaoyu almost burst out laughing again. Looking at the signature, three delicate characters: Shen Hanyu.
"Okay, I'll take this IOU. I'll come looking for you later." Qin Xiaoyu thought this girl was quite interesting and that she could be useful in the future.
She closed the car door and waved to the girl.
“She doesn’t have any money,” A Lei laughed.
"I think she's quite interesting. She has a stubborn streak and is a promising talent." Qin Xiaoyu looked at the three characters again: Shen Hanyu, a good name.
Qin Xiaoyu visited Tang Long's pawnshop once when it first opened. From the outside, the facade is unchanged, and the signboard is old, but the furnishings inside are astonishing.
"Aren't you afraid of losing this?" Qin Xiaoyu looked around. They looked unremarkable, but they were all old-timers. Only those who knew their stuff would understand.
"I keep an eye on it every day. Uncle Tang set up the surveillance system, so it's not easy to steal it. Besides, everyone in this city knows we're relatives, so who would dare to touch it?" Little Fatty had gotten even fatter. Tang Long had told him that he was married, so it must be happy weight gain.
"I need your help, Director Zhuang of the leather factory. Have you dealt with him before?" Qin Xiaoyu sat down on the mahogany chair and leaned back. If A Lei hadn't been quick enough to reach out and cushion her fall, she would have hit her head again.
"I didn't know there was such a person. I'll ask a friend. Is it really necessary for you to come all the way here for such a small matter? You could have just given me a call." Little Fatty had already brought over the tea.
"You guys are too frugal. It would be so much better to hire someone to manage it. It's so tiring to do everything yourself." Qin Xiaoyu picked up her teacup and took a sip.
"We're hiring right now, looking for someone to come clean on Sundays. A girl just came for an interview, she's got good qualifications, but she's too pretty, I'm worried my wife will get jealous."
"Chen Hanyu?"
How did you know?
"I bumped into him when I went out." Qin Xiaoyu smiled at A Lei, but it wasn't that she bumped into him.
While they were enjoying their tea, Little Fatty made a round of phone calls, and surprisingly, he actually found the right place after some twists and turns.
“This Factory Director Zhuang is interesting. He’s very stubborn and difficult to deal with. He has a bad reputation in the system. He’s infamous and inflexible. Auntie, can’t you just go around him?” Little Fatty was a bit embarrassed.
"Going around to the industrial park won't work." Qin Xiaoyu had considered this before, but the location of the leather factory was a bit awkward, and going around it was really not an option.
A Lei's cell phone rang; it was Zhou Xing's mother calling to tell them to come home for dinner, saying that they had guests.
If guests have come to the house and they need to accompany them, they must be important guests. Qin Xiaoyu didn't dare to delay and ran back with A Lei. As soon as they entered the courtyard, they saw a green car, guessing that it was Zhou Shiling's friend or subordinate.
Upon seeing the house, he immediately spotted Staff Officer Zheng.
"It's been a long time! How have you been?" Qin Xiaoyu greeted him with a smile, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone—Factory Manager Zhuang?
Factory Director Zhuang stood beside Zhou Shiling, behaving as obediently as a child, all traces of yesterday's arrogance gone.
“This is my old subordinate. He retired early and went to work at a leather factory.” Zhou Shiling introduced Factory Director Zhuang to Qin Xiaoyu.
"So you're a friend of yours, sir. I'm so sorry." Qin Xiaoyu adopted a very humble attitude.
"You're too kind." Factory Director Zhuang blushed as well.
“We’re all family, sit down, let’s talk this out,” Zhou Shiling said, and everyone sat down.
"I have my reasons," Director Zhuang said with a sigh. He understood as soon as he saw Qin Xiaoyu that she had come because of the leather factory.
"If there are any problems, let's discuss and solve them together. It's not like just because I'm involved, we're guaranteed to get things done. We're all family, let's put things on the table," Qin Xiaoyu said quickly, afraid of putting pressure on Factory Director Zhuang.
"Eighteen years ago, a fire broke out at the leather factory. Back then, we promised that no matter what, the factory would take care of the survivors," Factory Director Zhuang sighed.
The fire that year was a nightmarish memory. The fire broke out during working hours, and the burning leather was difficult to extinguish. The firefighting equipment at the time was also inadequate, resulting in severe casualties.
Later, the factory took care of more than a dozen seriously injured workers, who lived in a small building behind the factory. Director Zhuang was initially just the head of the security department, but he was gradually promoted. When he became the factory director, the old director retired and summoned him with only one condition: to take good care of these injured and disabled workers.
But things didn't go as planned. The leather factory's profits plummeted, and it could no longer support many employees. Factory manager Zhuang could only struggle to keep the factory afloat.
If he had agreed to the city's request and transferred the factory building, he could have received a sum of money.
But this meant those people had nowhere to live. The money he received wasn't enough to buy them houses or even cover their medical expenses, so he was in a difficult situation.
"I really didn't know about this. Leave it to me. Let's not talk about the leather factory for now, let's settle the people first." Qin Xiaoyu was always forthright and loved to meddle in other people's business, so how could she not care when she heard this?
"As long as their problems can be resolved, I'll sign immediately. I don't need a single penny; I just need to make sure all the employees are settled." Upon hearing this, Factory Director Zhuang immediately expressed his agreement.
“I don’t just want the land. I want to talk about cooperation and give the workers some money. They’ve also been laid off. How many years can that little bit of money last? Their livelihoods are in question. Cooperation would be different. If the factory stays, their lives can only get better.”
Qin Xiaoyu presented her plan to Director Zhuang, explaining it to him in detail. Seeing that things were looking promising, Commander Zhou called Staff Officer Zheng aside for a chat.
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