Chapter 65: Small Man (Third More, Seeking Recommendation Tickets)

  "Director Gu has been hospitalized? You're saying we shouldn't go visit him?" A petite girl looked around at the crowd and asked hesitantly.

  "What are you looking at? I think Lin Hongfei is not someone to be trifled with. With the current epidemic, it's uncertain whether he'll let Gu Guangming continue as the director of this office or not. We rushed over here in such a hurry, what if Gu Guangming gets kicked out by Lin Hongfei? Wouldn't we have wasted our money?" The person speaking was none other than Fan Wenyuan, who had been highly recommended to Lin Hongfei by Gu Guangming. Not only did his tone show complete disrespect towards his direct superior Gu Guangming, but he also addressed Lin Hongfei directly by name, showing extreme rudeness.

  Fan Wenyan's words make a lot of sense. Everyone knows that Director Gu is actually "a monkey claiming to be the king in a mountain without tigers". If it weren't for the fact that the factory's high-level leaders were "swept away", it would never have been Director Gu's turn to sit in this position. Moreover, even now, Director Gu is only an "acting office director", and his formal appointment as a deputy department head has not yet been approved.

  Lin Hongfei, having become the factory director, would naturally arrange for his own people to be in charge of such an important department as the office. The question is whether Director Gu can accept Lin Hongfei, a young upstart, getting ahead of him? The two are bound to clash, and if they really do, the one who will end up losing out is the director of the office.

  The office of the motorcycle manufacturing plant was quiet, as no work had been assigned yet. The threat from Director Lin still lingered in everyone's ears, and the 20 layoffs were still pending. No one dared to slack off, fearing they would become the scapegoat for Lin Hongfei's wrath. Unlike previous days, sneaking out to play during work hours was no longer an option. With nothing much to do, people gathered together to chat and gossip, with Director Gu's illness becoming the main topic of discussion.

  "But what if Director Gu can still keep his position?" Fan Wenyuan's words made sense and were agreed upon by several people, but the girl was clearly dissatisfied with Fan Wenyuan's statement and immediately raised doubts. "We haven't gone to see him, will Director Gu give us a good face when he comes back? I think we should all chip in some money to buy something and go visit Director Gu, after all, he is our leader."

  It's the same principle, those who just supported him are now getting a bit restless: if Director Gu can't keep his position stable, then there's no problem, but what if he can? How will we settle accounts with him in the future? Even if he can't fire us, adjusting our positions is still not a problem.

  Everyone understood the meaning of the girl's words: it wouldn't cost much, and even if it did, they could just consider it money spent for peace of mind. Otherwise, when Director Gu came looking for them to settle accounts later on, even if Director Gu was ousted in the future, since they had all gone together, the new leader couldn't use this as an excuse. When a superior is hospitalized, it's only right that their subordinates go visit them; this logic holds up anywhere. If any new leader were to make a big deal out of this, they would be ridiculed by their colleagues.

  Just as everyone was hesitating and couldn't make up their minds whether to go or not, the phone rang. Fan Wenyuan, who was closest to the phone, felt that his words were no longer as authoritative as they used to be, so he deliberately delayed picking up the phone until it had rung several times before reluctantly answering it. After a few "uh-huhs" and "ahs", he hung up the phone and said to Cao Jun, "Cao Jun, your phone! Director Gu called and wants you to go to the Second City Hospital to find him in Ward 501 on the third floor of Zone 2."

  Fan Wenyan's expression was somewhat smug when he spoke, which is normal. In anyone's opinion, it's likely that Director Gu's wife called to ask Cao Jun to go over and do some "service" work for the leader. Doing service work for a leader is not an easy job; being diligent and quick on one's feet is essential. If done well, it's only right, but if one is careless, it may invite the leader's displeasure, or even worse, their scolding, and in the future, being made to wear small shoes at work.

  If it were normal, when a leader asked a certain comrade to come over, it would be a sign of appreciation for that comrade. But at this sensitive time, letting Cao Jun come over could only mean one thing: to serve Director Gu. Fan Wenyuan couldn't think of any other reason. This was the saying "a good horse is ridden by people, and a kind person is bullied" coming true. Thinking about how he normally gave people an impression that they shouldn't bully him, Fan Wenyuan felt quite pleased with himself.

  Fan Wenyan's face was so ugly, the girl really couldn't take it anymore. She stood up in a huff, pulled Cao Jun's sleeve and walked out, "Let's go, Little Cao. University students look down on us vocational school students and don't want to associate with us or curry favor with leaders. I'll go with you."

  Fan Wen didn't expect the girl to humiliate him in public, and he was momentarily stunned. After Cao Jun and the girl left the office door, he finally came up with a sentence, "Hmph, you don't understand! You don't know how to appreciate kindness."

  Several others also felt embarrassed, looking at me and I looked at you, standing up unintentionally, "Drank too much water, going to the restroom."

  "Yes, yes, I'll go with you."

  "Wait for me, wait for me."

  Liu Xiaofang is right, everyone goes to see Director Gu, it's just a matter of spending some money, what's the big deal? On the contrary, if Director Gu can sit firmly on this issue, later because of such a small thing being calculated by Director Gu, that would be crying without coming. As for Fan Wenyuan, that little bastard, Director Gu was quite good to him before, didn't expect him to be so ungrateful.

  …………………

  Cao Jun and seven or eight others brought some fruit and nutritional supplements to the hospital, just as they arrived at Director Gu's ward door, they heard Director Gu's wife complaining inside the room, "You say you're a director, how did you become one? Look at those who are leaders, once they're hospitalized, their subordinates immediately come to visit. But look at you, by now the whole factory probably knows about it, yet not a single person has come to see you."

  "How come nobody came? Didn't Director Lin and Accountant Dong just leave?" Director Gu's face couldn't hold it, and he retorted. You're sick but no one takes care of you, doesn't that mean you have no status in the factory? This is what leaders are most afraid of.

  "Yes, yes, Lin Hongfei, this young man has arrived, shouldn't the meeting have started already?" Director Gu's wife was not to be outdone, and was quite indignant. "Since your factory director is here, why haven't the others come?"