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墨書 Inktalez
I had just finished a call with Wang Meng when someone knocked on the door. I called out, "Come in," and it turned out to be Liu Li.
"Oh, Wang Zong, no news?" Liu Li asked with a forced smile. I couldn't help but chuckle; her expression was a stark contrast to the one she wore when she had confronted me a couple of days ago.
"No news. Do you have any?" I replied, knowing full well what she was worried about. She was probably concerned that now that I had become the general manager, I might make things difficult for her. In truth, I had no intention of doing so. Even though Xiao Huang had been dismissed, most of the others who had once flaunted their authority alongside him were not the main culprits either. Could I really fire them all? In a world where human nature is often harsh and unforgiving, I wasn't inclined to take things too seriously.
"I... I don't have anything special to say. I just felt a bit guilty about how things were before, so I came to apologize," Liu Li said apologetically.
I responded with an "Oh," and said, "Alright, I understand. You can leave now."
"What?" Liu Li was taken aback, clearly not expecting me to let her off so easily.
"I said you can go," I repeated. While it was true that I couldn't dismiss every employee, it was equally true that I wouldn't coddle them either. Here, I only had Xiao Yi as a friend, and even he was still in the early stages of our relationship.
"Okay, okay, thank you, Wang Zong. I'll get back to work," Liu Li said quickly before exiting my office. I chuckled softly to myself and picked up the phone to call Wan Fei. Since Wang Meng hadn't arrived yet, I wasn't quite sure what my responsibilities as general manager entailed. So, I decided to ask Wan Fei how much beer we could produce in a day.
"Dong Ge, our factory isn't very large. Your beer can produce at most a hundred cases a day," Wan Fei informed me.
I responded with an "Oh," realizing that a thousand cases was roughly what I had anticipated. Tianchi only needed three hundred cases daily; the rest could be distributed to other venues as Xiong Li suggested.
I instructed Wan Fei to start production since we would need it soon. Wan Fei confirmed he would get right on it and then asked where the finished product should be sent.
" Tian Ye Gang, Tianchi," I replied.
Wan Fei paused for a moment in surprise. " Tian Ye Gang? Dong Ge, are you back in the game?"
He sounded astonished. When I had been undercover in Northeast China years ago, after the collapse of the criminal organization, I had lost my identity as a police officer but hadn’t returned to the underworld either.
Many of my former subordinates wanted me to lead them again; Wan Fei was one of them. However, having once been a police officer made it impossible for me to truly immerse myself in that life again after losing my badge. So, I had distanced myself from them.
"Sort of. Just focus on producing the beer for now; I'll let you know when we need it."
I told Wan Fei, and he was happy, saying that he could finally work under me again. I laughed at this; I had always treated my subordinates well in the past, so even now, I still had a group of loyal followers, even if we didn't keep in touch much.
After finishing the call with Wan Fei, I remembered Xu Jiao. Yesterday, when I spoke with Xiong Li, he mentioned that he wanted as many boxes as possible at ten yuan each. So I needed to get in touch with Xu Jiao.
Honestly, I didn't want to contact Xu Jiao again because her winery was in such a terrible state that it weighed on my conscience. But right now, I had no other choice since I had already discussed everything with Xiong Li.
Xiang Dong, I've called you so many times these past two days; why haven't you answered?
I dialed Xu Jiao's number, and she immediately questioned me. It had been two days, and she must have realized that the account book was missing. Since I was the only one who had been to their factory that day, she was probably suspecting me of stealing it.
As for her calling me? Of course, I couldn't answer.
I was just too busy; wasn't I calling her now?
I chuckled and said that I really didn't like Xu Jiao much, but there was no way around it—I still needed to cooperate with her.
"Did you take my account book? What do you want it for?" Xu Jiao asked immediately. I couldn't help but smile; she hadn't made a fuss about losing the account book these past two days. Her mindset was similar to Wang Meng's—if the account book was lost, Liu Fei would definitely come looking for trouble, so she kept quiet and just kept calling me.
"Can't you guess? The Tianchi General Manager has stepped down; I'm now the Tianchi General Manager. I'm just giving you a heads-up—I'll be the one working with you from now on."
I said this plainly without denying it; denying it would have been pointless. Xu Jiao sounded utterly shocked!
"What? You're the Tianchi General Manager now?"
"Yes, is there something wrong with that?" I asked with a smile. This was the crux of the matter—now that I was the Tianchi General Manager, even if I had stolen her account book, she wouldn't dare say anything. Xu Jiao quickly replied that there was nothing wrong and that she was happy to work with me. Hearing this made me smile; now that I was the general manager, it was a done deal, and she wouldn't say much more.
Then I told Xu Jiao to continue producing beer as usual, but there might be some changes regarding where it would be delivered. Xu Jiao readily agreed and listened to my instructions.
After finishing my call with Xu Jiao, Wang Meng arrived. His first order of business at Tianchi was naturally to come to the general manager's office to see me.
"Xiang Zong, I'm here."
When Wang Meng saw me, he initially called me Xiang Zong and seemed a bit unaccustomed to it. I smiled; I understood his discomfort since before this, I had only been a small service worker needing his protection. Suddenly becoming his superior must have startled him.
"Please sit."
I gestured for Wang Meng to take a seat on the sofa and then asked him what kind of matters a general manager like me would need to handle daily.
Wang Meng informed me that there weren't many issues to deal with each day. After all, Tianchi didn't have any particularly complicated matters; it was mostly about opening for business each day and managing inventory and accounts.
What I needed to do was collect the month's revenue and expenses from accounting at the end of the month and then report them to Xiong Li. My job also included managing any issues that arose when someone came looking for trouble—simple as that.
I nodded after hearing this and continued to ask, "So what should I do if someone comes looking for trouble? Is just showing my face enough? Do I have any real authority, like a little brother?"
"Well, actually, most of the time, no one dares to come here looking for trouble. Even if they do, as the general manager of the Tian Ye Gang nightclub, your presence is usually enough to resolve any issues. If there are really some blind fools, you can call another department of Tian Ye Gang, and they will naturally help you handle the problem," Wang Meng explained. After listening, I understood that I didn’t have any substantial authority; aside from showing my face, I would have to rely on others' strength.
But even so, it wasn't too bad. At least I had some connections, right? Having connections meant there would be interactions, and with interactions came understanding. Gradually, I would blend in and become one of them!
After Wang Meng finished speaking, I had a rough idea of what my role as general manager entailed. My position wasn’t very high, but the workload was light—much less than that of my previous supervisor. There weren’t many emotional issues for me to deal with, and there were no strict requirements on working hours. I could come in whenever I wanted.
So after chatting with Wang Meng, I felt good about becoming the general manager. I needed to tell my friend about this news so that once he recovered, he could come to work with me. Otherwise, I would have no friends in Tianchi, and that would be quite boring.
"What? Dong Ge, you're the general manager now?"
My friend looked surprised when I told him. I smiled and said, "Yes, now I'm just waiting for you to get better and come to work. I've saved a supervisor position for you."
I chuckled at the thought; actually, Manager Wang's position was better. But since I had just become the general manager, I couldn’t dismiss Manager Wang right away. With him around, my job would be easier; without him, I'd be much busier.
"Okay, thank you, Dong Ge!"
My friend replied happily. I smiled and told him not to mention it. We chatted a bit more because I still needed to know him better.
During our conversation, I learned that my friend wasn't as simple as he seemed; he had been practicing martial arts since he was young! The last time he got beaten up by Xiao Huang and his gang was because he couldn't hold back anymore when they attacked him! But by then, he was already seriously injured and outnumbered, so he couldn’t escape the tragedy of being bullied.
"Why didn’t you fight back from the beginning? Why wait until they hurt you before retaliating?"
I asked in confusion. He sighed and said, "Dong Ge, I'm different from you. I'm just a nobody without power or background. Back then, when others bullied me and I fought back, I ended up in prison. My dad died from the stress because of me. Since then, I've rarely fought back."
His face bore a sorrowful expression as he spoke. Looking at him made me feel a sense of shared suffering; we both faced our struggles without our families' understanding.
"Brother, from now on I'll be your backing. If anyone bullies you, just go after them!"
I told him firmly. He nodded heavily and said, "From now on, if you tell me to go after someone, I'll do it!"
After chatting with him, it was already evening when I returned home. As soon as I walked through the door, Linna was sitting on the sofa with a big bag of chips watching a movie.
"Hey! How did it go? Did you take care of that Liu Fei?"
As soon as she saw me walk in, Linna put down her chips and asked with interest. She no longer looked unhappy like she did in the morning. Hearing her made me smile; having such a wife truly made life less lonely.
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