dognovel Chapter 1473 I escaped with my life
Chapter 1473 I escaped with my life
Chapter 1473 I escaped with my life
"...to jointly establish a rental joint venture company, and what I proposed to him was that at least 70% of the employees be resettled."
Li Xuewu, holding the phone, explained, "There's no need for us to get involved in the management; those are the professionals."
Li Huaide, on the other end of the phone, thought for a moment and asked, "Do you think this joint venture has room for profit?"
"Hehe, that depends on how it's operated."
Li Xuewu chuckled and said, "If the goal is to resettle employees, then whether we make a profit or not depends on our needs."
"However, it seems that Shouqi doesn't expect this joint venture to be profitable either."
He said meaningfully, "Shouqi pays more attention to influence and image. We can work on this aspect. We are the professionals in image management."
Li Huaide understood what he meant. There was no need for the group to get involved in this business. Shouqi had strong backing, so it would be better to cooperate and achieve a win-win situation.
The group's main focus is on resettling employees. The cost of an Aries is only a little over four thousand yuan, which is nothing compared to solving the employment problem for employees.
Moreover, by forming a joint venture, the cars and assets still belong to the group. Li Xuewu is best at making this kind of profitable and cost-effective deal.
Another point is that Aries has been struggling to gain traction in the mainland market, so this is a good opportunity for them to advertise.
All taxis in Beijing have been rebranded as Aries, and white has been adopted as the standard color. Combined with taxi-specific signs and advertising spaces, the effect is...
"Then we'll proceed according to your plan."
After hesitating for a moment, Li Huaide made a decision: "Wait until you come back for a meeting, then get ready."
“Shouqi doesn’t want Hongyun’s minivans,” Li Xuewu reminded them. “My opinion is that if they don’t want them, they don’t need them. Instead, we can build a small-scale freight network within the city through a logistics company.”
“I have no objection,” Li Huaide replied. “You should also prepare a plan for this.”
"The work regarding fuel oil supply can be coordinated by the Energy Corporation and the Sales Corporation."
He thought for a moment and said, "Recently, news about the steel city has been frequently appearing in the newspapers, and the leaders have called to inquire about it."
"You need to handle the conflict between the reporter from Northern Industry Daily and the employees properly." Li Huaide pinched the bridge of his nose, then, as if remembering something, asked, "What's this about them saying you're learning to fly a helicopter?"
As expected of Old Li, he's cunning and shrewd. He managed to frame Liu Hongmei's beating as a personal feud between a reporter and a worker, unrelated to the group.
"I will handle this matter properly."
Li Xuewu first agreed to his request, and then explained: "The last time Art came to purchase helicopters, I realized that I did not have a sufficient understanding of the relevant business."
He gave a wry smile and said, "If you're on the front lines and don't understand any of the business, how can you manage?"
"Sigh—you've had a hard time—"
Li Huaide finally understood what he meant; it was completely different from what the newspapers had written about neglecting one's studies for pleasure.
Li Xuewu went to Liaodong with the attitude of a workaholic. In less than half a year, he sorted out the situation of the group's industrial enterprises in Liaodong and made adjustments.
Subsequently, the group launched personnel and technology reforms in various industrial enterprises, consolidating its business management and disciplinary supervision over the specialized factories.
This secretary-general is ambitious and demanding of himself and others.
He doesn't need to do helicopter sales himself, but he still needs to master the technology.
Li Huaide felt this way because he couldn't do it; he didn't even dare to fly.
"You must be careful." He knew he couldn't dissuade Li Xuewu, but he still emphasized with concern, "You can gradually master the skills, but safety is the most important thing."
"Yes, I will definitely be careful."
Li Xuewu answered very seriously, which was a positive response to Lao Li's concern.
While genuine feelings may be absent from the workplace, there should still be genuine emotions, and a proper hierarchy should exist among colleagues.
"We'll discuss the Tadon Airport issue when you return. The other comrades also want to hear your proposal."
Li Huaide took the initiative to say, "The steel rolling mill must complete its relocation this month. Liaodong must make all the necessary preparations and absolutely cannot have any problems."
He didn't care if Li Xuewu learned to fly a plane, but the work in Liaodong couldn't be disrupted; that was his bottom line.
The female reporter from the Northern Industry Daily wrote that Li Xuewu, the secretary-general of Hongxing Steel Group, was living a carefree and happy life in the steel city, flying planes and leading people hunting in the mountains.
To be honest, Old Li doesn't envy either of these things; he can't do either flying a plane or hunting.
He really enjoys dancing and eating.
Li Huaide emphasized this mainly because all machinery and equipment at the Beijing Steel Rolling Mill were shut down on the 6th of this month, and workers were scheduled to go to the steel city in batches according to the established plan.
Although the Beijing steel rolling mill began shutting down, dismantling, relocating, and relocating in the middle of this year, with workers and equipment being dismantled or reassigned, none of these operations have been as concentrated as this one.
All the original machinery and equipment of the steel rolling mill were handed over to Xinjing No. 1 Plant, and the steel rolling mill in Gangcheng only needed some employees.
The new Beijing No. 1 Factory has begun trial operation, and more than half of the employees will be transferred to work at the factory.
The original workshops, warehouses, and office buildings of the Beijing Steel Rolling Mill were handed over to the group for unified management and reorganization, either for repair or reconstruction, and finally handed over to the Light Industry and Research Institute.
Some buildings and equipment facilities in the steel rolling mill area will be replanned and construction will begin next year.
The shutdown of the steel rolling mill means that the total number of employees in the group has shrunk to 7. As of now, the total number of people reassigned, resettled, or transferred by the group has exceeded 2.8.
According to the Group's overall requirements for personnel reform, the number of employees can only decrease, not increase.
In other words, when vocational college graduates enter factories next year, some employees will retire or be reassigned, either to tertiary industries or to other factories.
A major goal of the personnel reform is to make the group's overall personnel structure younger and more professional. Those who cannot keep up with the times will be eliminated.
From this perspective, the personnel changes implemented by the group seem quite ruthless. However, in order to prepare for the upcoming integration with the international market and to meet the tests and challenges of the new era, Hongxing Steel Group had no choice but to make choices and sacrifices.
Don't think that China's technological development is extremely backward and lacks any competitiveness in this era.
If we were truly so backward, how could we have accumulated such enormous strength and achieved such remarkable results over the next three or four decades?
According to what Li Xuewu learned from the newspaper, several inventions achieved breakthroughs in early November alone.
The first self-designed and manufactured oil refining industry control computer was born; the first 120-horsepower hydraulically controlled plow-type cable laying machine was successfully trial-produced; the first 80-ton heavy-duty vibratory roller was successfully manufactured; and the first new type of electric rock drilling machine for metal mining was successfully trial-produced...
Industrial technology development is like spring grass growing on lush vegetation; its growth is imperceptible, yet it increases daily.
-
boom--
Li Xuewu put down his hunting rifle, looked ahead, and spat in dissatisfaction.
"Could you please put the dog on a leash?"
He turned and glared at Ji Weidong, saying, "Is the gun in your hand a fire poker?"
"You can't win the dog fight, so you're blaming me?"
Ji Weidong, never one to mince words, reached out and patted the head of the thin dog that had brought back the pheasant, chuckling and praising, "Good dog, good dog, obedient—"
"If I were half a centimeter shorter, it would be a dead dog—" Li Xuewu smirked, turned back to continue searching for prey, and muttered, "I shouldn't have brought you here today."
"Do you think he's reasonable?" Ji Weidong didn't argue with him, but turned to Xiao Wang and raised an eyebrow, asking, "He blames my dog for not being able to catch any pheasants, and he also blames me for following him."
"Hehehe—" Wang Xiaonan dared not join in the jokes between the leaders, and just chuckled.
Zhang Jing's plan was even more absurd. He held up his hunting rifle for a long time, but didn't see a single pheasant feather.
The autumn wind swept through the treetops, carrying away the last few leaves that refused to fall, and also scattered Ji Weidong's dog hair... the dog hair that Ji Weidong had brought.
"There are so many pheasants on the mountain!"
Li Haiyang was truly using his hunting rifle as a walking stick, standing on a large rock by the stream, gazing out at the mountain ravine.
"Qianshan, even if there aren't a thousand mountains, there are still several hundred, with layers of peaks and ridges, and abundant resources."
Li Xuewu changed the bullet in his shotgun, turned around and asked him, "Are you alright? If you really can't walk anymore, take a break. There's plenty of time. We're out having fun."
"It's nothing, I just don't exercise enough."
Li Haiyang glanced at Zhou Xiaoling, who was following behind Li Xuewu, and straightened his back.
How can a man say he can't?
"Then let's keep going forward?"
Li Xuewu's gaze swept past him, and he looked at the others and said, "If anyone can't walk, just say so. Don't try to be brave."
"I'm fine, don't worry about me."
When Zhou Xiaoling saw that her second brother's gaze finally landed on her, she smiled and said, "I exercise regularly."
"Hehe—" Ji Weidong smiled and looked at Li Haiyang, as if he were talking about him.
Li Haiyang couldn't help but blush and took the lead, walking ahead along the path.
Banggeng took the dog leash from Ji Weidong and followed after the greyhound.
Li Xuewu never intended to bring Ji Weidong along, nor did he even expect him to return.
He's too lazy to even say "Why are you back again?" He comes back about 800 times a year.
When asked why he missed his son, Li Xuewu almost cursed him for eight generations of ancestors, asking why he came to him because he missed his son.
Autumn is the season of harvest. Even though reporter Liu wrote in the Northern Industry Daily that he was leading a yellow dog on the left and holding a falcon on the right, with a thousand horsemen sweeping across the plains, it was actually his first time going out to play. Since the other party had already written about it, he would feel like he was missing out if he didn't go out and play at least once, so he formed a group and went out.
A convoy of four vehicles—a Land Cruiser, a Tundra, and two Red Star Antelopes—headed into the mountains.
It's so convenient to go hiking in the mountains from Gangcheng; you could spend a whole year there and still not see everything.
Both the Land Cruiser and the Tundra are experimental vehicles, but all their functions are already complete; they just haven't been officially released yet.
If we follow Li Xuewu's lead, three Antelopes are just right; a small Jeep makes off-roading even more fun.
Ji Weidong insisted on driving the cruiser and Tundra parked in the yard, making his hands itch whenever he saw them.
Li Xuewu had originally only invited helicopter pilot instructor Wang Xiaonan and a few other people who were not actively working in the office.
Zhang Jing and Zhang Enyuan didn't rest during their recent holiday; they were busy dealing with the problems at Furnace No. 4.
Even if the emperor is starving, he should reward his soldiers. For them, personal relationships with their leaders provide the most emotional value.
As for Ma Baosen and Yu Zhe, these two came along to provide services; they were called by Zhang Enyuan.
Captain Jia has been feeling depressed lately and is at a crossroads on the road to no return. Li Xuewu called Zhou Xiaoling, who was visiting his home, and brought him along as well.
Bang Geng got along much better with Zhou Xiaoling this time. It was Zhou Xiaoling who reminded Li Xuewu to bring his, so he carried her water bottle like a lackey.
When he arrived, he was showing off his water bottle to Li Xuewu, saying it was given to him by Sister Zhou.
Sister Zhou is naturally Zhou Xiaoling, not Zhou Yamei. He wouldn't dare call Zhou Yamei Sister Zhou.
Ji Weidong's arrival was just a coincidence; why did Li Haiyang also show up?
To call it a coincidence would be unbelievable, but just as Li Xuewu decided to go out and have fun, he happened to receive a call inviting him to dinner.
What could Li Xuewu say? He could only suggest going out to play and ask if he wanted to come along. But the next morning, he even had his hunting rifle ready. Can you call that a coincidence?
Did you buy the hunting rifle in the middle of the night? Or did you get up very early in the morning? Which stores would be open at those times?
He didn't want to miss any opportunity to get closer to Li Xuewu, and even Zhou Xiaoling could see that.
On the way here, Zhou Xiaoling quietly told Li Xuewu that Deputy Factory Director Li and Director Li didn't actually have much contact.
When Li Xuewu asked her how she knew, she smiled and replied, "Zhou Miaomiao told me."
Why is she laughing?
She felt that her second brother was jealous and thought she had some kind of close relationship with Director Li.
Actually, Li Xuewu hadn't really thought about it that way; he just felt that she knew too much.
As for the fact that Zhou Miaomiao and Director Li's relationship remained unchanged, Li Xuewu already knew that, not to mention Han Lu.
I've heard a lot of gossip about the two of them lately, and I don't know how it got to his ears.
Li Haiyang's initiative to move closer to him was not without both practical and long-term considerations; this kid is cunning.
Having served as Li Huaide's secretary for so many years, it's impossible for him not to know any secrets.
Old Li must not get into trouble within the next three years. If Old Li does get into trouble, he won't be able to escape.
Furthermore, Old Li is now at the very top of the tower, and he could be struck by lightning at any moment. Would he dare to stand too close?
He's in Liaodong, but works in a steel city. He's the deputy director of a metallurgical plant. Why doesn't he actively align himself with the main force? Does he want to start his own business and establish his own faction?
Even if he has Lao Li as his backer, how long can he rely on that backer? By the time he actually needs the group's resources, Lao Li might have been retired for many years.
Li Xuewu is different. He's still young, even younger than him, but he has impressive experience and achievements, giving him absolute authority within the group.
Don't say that the group belongs to you and to us, but ultimately it still belongs to you.
Don't say that the group will definitely belong to Li Xuewu for the next ten or twenty years.
Even if Li Xuewu advances further within the group, his influence over Hongxing Steel Group will remain absolute.
Think about it, Old Li is almost 50 years old. If he keeps working hard, how many more years can he work? Li Xuewu is only 23 years old this year. He still has 30 or 40 years to develop.
No one dares to predict what will happen in the next thirty or forty years, but he can only see this one future. If he doesn't actively get closer to Li Xuewu now, why wait until he soars to great heights before trying to curry favor with him?
Li Xuewu likes flying airplanes, which he can't keep up with, but he can't fall behind when it comes to hunting.
Hearing the news in the office, he went to the largest shopping mall in the steel city and bought the best hunting rifle. That's called workplace investment.
You're saying he's a weak scholar who can't carry a gun?
If you can't catch a rabbit, you can still catch a wild boar!
Everyone understands the concept of a three-point line: aim and fire, hit and show off, miss and sigh.
So you just watch, the team Li Xuewu led was like a bunch of puppet troops sweeping through the mountains, the bullets were flying everywhere, it was both funny and frustrating for him.
You say Ji Weidong's marksmanship is undeniable?
In Li Xuewu's opinion, he was just average. This kid was good with a pistol, but not much with a rifle.
His parents never taught him these things when he was young, and his family didn't have any military backgrounds to influence him. He learned his current combat skills after he started working.
That was the first time I worked with Li Xuewu on a case. I led a group of people in a fierce charge and had a large number of them taken down.
Li Xuewu immediately concluded that this guy had never experienced any decent battles and was only alive today thanks to God's blessing.
That time, they blocked the pencil factory to arrest Hu Zhengquan. Hu Zhengquan ran out of the window, and his accomplices rushed out of the security room and mowed them down with a light machine gun.
Li Xuewu is so experienced that he can tell what's going on with the other side just by listening to the sounds, without even looking.
So they blocked the guards and security personnel from coming out of the alley, using their rifles as machine guns and only shooting at passing cars.
Ji Weidong, on the other hand, raised his pistol, shouted "Brothers, charge with me!" and went in like an idiot.
He was practically shouting, "It's time for you all to make a contribution and for me to receive the award!" Li Xuewu almost died laughing.
But now that he thinks about it, he can't laugh, neither then nor now. It was that time that he used a spear to kill the key figure of the other side, the man who almost became his brother-in-law.
From then on, lovers became strangers.
Li Xuewu has tolerated Ji Weidong to this day only because this guy is incredibly stupid and easy to screw over.
The woolen overcoat hanging in his house now was a gift from Ji Weidong; it's a Type 55 and is no longer in print.
The ten men and their dog walked upstream along the stream and encountered quite a few prey. However, with these bastards causing trouble, Li Xuewu didn't manage to catch any decent prey.
When you see prey, you have to aim, right? You can't just raise your gun and shoot it dead. You have to aim for its eyes, right? That's the fun of hunting. Otherwise, you might as well set up a machine gun on a flat road and nothing could escape it.
The meaty part of a pheasant is only about the size of a fist. If you aim for its belly and shoot, hitting it is the same as smashing it to pieces. Then what's the point of eating wild game?
Even wild animals with pelts like foxes, roe deer, and deer need to have their eyes pierced to preserve the integrity of their original pelts as much as possible.
Otherwise, if the leather that's peeled off is full of holes, there's no point in making leather shoes; even leather sandals would be too drafty.
You might say that Li Xuewu doesn't rely on this money to make a living, so there's no need to be so meticulous. But isn't hunting all about the fun? As a result, he's the only one who follows these rules, while the others don't care about them.
Whenever he raised his gun to aim, a series of gunshots, like firecrackers, would ring out around him.
To put it simply, even a mammoth wouldn't be enough to overwhelm these people. If Li Yunlong had had that kind of firepower back then, he would have dared to attack Taiyuan.
Li Xuewu had to be positioned upwind, otherwise the smoke would obstruct his vision, which would show how incompetent and careless these people were.
"so fun--"
Zhou Xiaoling held up her hunting rifle, looked at Li Xuewu, and chuckled. She then raised her hand to tidy her disheveled hair.
Li Xuewu glanced at her and found it amusing; she hadn't even scratched her yet she kept shouting how fun it was.
"That's fucking brutal—"
Ji Weidong tore a tattered pheasant from the mouth of the returning greyhound and showed it to everyone, his smile disproportionate to his words.
"Are you even human?!"
He said in a righteous tone, "This pheasant was just taking a stroll. What crime did it commit that warrants you executing it like this!"
"Ha ha ha ha--"
Zhou Xiaoling was a carefree person; when Ji Weidong said something funny, she actually laughed.
Li Haiyang also felt embarrassed, as the pheasant's miserable state was undoubtedly due to his contribution.
There's no need to mention Zhang Jing, Zhang Enyuan, and others; they were all writers, and we don't even know if they had ever fired a gun before.
Yu Zhe performed reasonably well, managing to fire a couple of shots in between carrying and handing bullets to Li Xuewu.
"Alright, throw it away." Li Xuewu looked at the pheasant, which was in a terrible state, and said to Ji Weidong, "Even a dog wouldn't eat it. There were at least three bullets in it, otherwise it wouldn't be so broken."
"Has it broken a divine law?!"
Ji Weidong regretfully picked up the broken pheasant in his hand, looked at it, and casually threw it into the bushes.
"Let's take turns shooting when we see prey again."
Zhang Jing scratched his head sheepishly and offered his suggestion.
Zhang Enyuan, Li Haiyang, and others nodded in agreement, while the comical Ji Weidong remained unconcerned.
"You guys are really planning to put some meat in the diet? Eating this stuff could make you sick."
He gestured around the surrounding mountains, reminding everyone, "Some animals carry viruses."
"But you were touching it just now—"
Li Xuewu glanced at him, not paying much attention to his words.
That's right. Wild animals may carry unknown deadly viruses, and eating them could easily lead to death.
But they didn't venture into the deep mountains and forests, nor did they hunt bats or rats; they weren't that unlucky.
We won't eat it, and there's no way to cook on the mountain. Eating too much would just give us a stomachache.
"Hey, is that girl from your workplace?"
Ji Weidong lagged a few steps behind and walked alongside Li Xuewu. He leaned closer and whispered a question, pointing ahead.
Li Xuewu glanced at him but didn't reply, because this kid had nothing good to say.
"What? Your favorite?"
Sure enough, Ji Weidong immediately started flirting, winking and asking with a smile, "You have good taste!"
"You have good taste too—"
Li Xuewu smirked and said, "One Afen isn't enough, there's also Cui'er and Laura."
"Holy crap! You've been investigating me!"
Ji Weidong nearly jumped up as if his tail had been stepped on, his eyes bulging as if he was about to bite someone.
Li Xuewu sneered, looking him up and down and reminding him, "Don't forget what Han Yating's background is. She was involved in those cases back then."
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
Ji Weidong waved his hand and said with certainty, "How could she possibly know what I did in Hong Kong?"
"Yes, how did she know?"
Li Xuewu chuckled as he walked and said, "Is it possible that she found out from some other source?"
"You betrayed me, you little brat!"
Ji Weidong pointed at him and whispered, "You're so disloyal! You even betray your own brothers!"
"I have no time to bother with your trivial matters—"
Li Xuewu turned his head and said, "Think about it yourself. If you can't even find this much, you shouldn't be working in the investigation department. It's too embarrassing."
"I fucking—it must be you!"
Ji Weidong, who had been standing still, pouted and waited a while before catching up. He then began to ramble on about his connections with the mainland, making it impossible for him to be wrong.
"You only remember your good brothers, but you've forgotten your good colleagues." Li Xuewu raised his gun to aim, but seeing Zhou Xiaoling and Banggeng raise their guns and fire, he gave up.
He turned to Ji Weidong and said, "Don't you have a few enemies at work? Or colleagues who can't stand to see you doing well? That can't be, can it?"
"Damn it—"
Ji Weidong finally realized what was happening, cursed angrily, then looked up at Li Xuewu and asked with a frown, "Did Han Yating tell you this?"
"What do you think?" Li Xuewu looked at him amusedly and asked in return, "Do you think Han Yating would tell me these things? Doesn't she understand the principle of not airing family dirty laundry in public?"
“Impossible—” Ji Weidong still looked at him suspiciously and said, “She hasn’t acted strangely these last few times she’s come home. She doesn’t seem like she knows these things.”
"You're so naive, how have you survived this long?" Li Xuewu looked at him, smiled, and shook his head, saying, "Don't you know that a woman's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea?"
"You can have as much fun as you want outside now, but when you get old and are in a wheelchair, she'll push you around to play with other old men. She'll have plenty of ways to get back at you."
"Damn it—" Ji Weidong looked at him speechlessly and said, "What you're saying is starting to scare me."
"Be a good person, have some serious business to attend to."
Li Xuewu earnestly advised him, "When a man gets married and starts a career, he should think more about his wife, children, and elderly parents."
"You should learn from me. How can I remain untainted by the mud?"
"You're kidding me—"
Ji Weidong glanced at him, a smirk playing on his lips, and said, "You seemed to be enjoying yourself soaking in the mud, didn't you?"
"Look at you, what kind of person do you take me for?"
Li Xuewu gestured to Zhou Xiaoling, who was laughing in front of him, and explained, "We are just platonic comrades. She came to Gangcheng to visit a friend."
"Who are you looking at? It's not you, is it?"
Ji Weidong looked at him and asked, "You dare say you didn't sleep with her? Swear it!"
Do you still remember Wang Yajuan?
Li Xuewu raised his eyebrows and looked at him as he explained, "Both of them were originally in a dance troupe."
"Oh—no wonder—"
Ji Weidong gave a knowing "oh," looked at Zhou Xiaoling in front of him, nodded, and said, "I knew she had such a great figure; she's a dancer."
"Oh, right, Wang Yajuan, isn't she?"
He suddenly realized something, turned around and asked Li Xuewu, "Your ex-girlfriend? She was transferred to Steel City?"
"You arrived before me," Li Xuewu said helplessly, "Can't you think straight for once?"
"I'm more serious than you, okay!"
Ji Weidong glared at him, then gestured to the girl in front of him and said, "Since you two have a purely platonic relationship, wouldn't it be nice if I went to get to know you?"
"Go ahead and do it if you don't mind the embarrassment."
Li Xuewu casually said, "Han Yating may tolerate your philandering outside, but she might not be able to tolerate you having affairs on the mainland."
"You're going to tell on me, aren't you—"
Ji Weidong pointed at him and said, "That's really not fair. This is the only hobby I have."
This kid is wicked enough. He rolled his eyes and looked at Li Xuewu with a smirk, saying, "Li Xuewu, you're the one who provoked me this time. Don't blame me for being unethical."
After saying that, without waiting for Li Xuewu to say anything more, he went straight after Zhou Xiaoling.
The two spent half a day playing on the mountain, chatting and laughing together, as if they had really hit it off.
On the way back, before Li Xuewu could ask, Zhou Xiaoling said with a smile, "Second Brother, Brother Ji wants to introduce me to someone, and said I can choose as I please until I find someone I'm satisfied with."
"That's a good thing!"
Li Xuewu replied with a smile, "But this way of addressing you... was it him who told you to call me that?"
“Hehe—” Zhou Xiaoling covered her mouth and laughed, “He probably minds. Whenever I call him that, his lips twitch, as if he’s trying to hold it in.”
"Hehehe—" Li Xuewu chuckled and emphasized, "He's actually not that much older than you. Next time you meet, don't call him too old. Just call him Brother Ji."
"You're so naughty—" Zhou Xiaoling's eyes were on him. When she saw him teasing Ji Weidong, she couldn't help but cover her mouth and gently pat his shoulder.
A girl who knows how to be charming and is also knowledgeable about everything—isn't that a treasure?
"Damn it, don't even mention it—"
Ji Weidong poured half a cup of bitter wine into his mouth and complained, "Ate is a brainless pig."
"What? The goods are lost?"
Li Xuewu picked up a peanut and ate it, then glanced at him and asked, "I was wondering why you came back so quickly. Turns out you had someone cook it for you."
"The goods weren't lost, but we almost lost our lives."
Ji Weidong picked up the wine bottle, filled himself with wine, and pulled open his collar to show Li Xuewu, saying, "See that? Shrapnel cut him. A little deeper and you'd see his heart."
"Oh, it really is—"
Li Xuewu raised an eyebrow in surprise and asked, "Weren't you supposed to be delivering weapons? Did you just die?"
"Pretty much, I almost died there."
Even now, Ji Weidong still curses At for being brainless.
"Did he and the other side set this up together?"
Li Xuewu frowned and asked, "Don't be fooled by his several trips to the mainland to make purchases. We haven't had much contact with him. Goods don't reflect a person's character."
"Of course I know that, but he definitely didn't do it on purpose, I can tell."
Ji Weidong threw off his clothes and said definitively, "My injuries are nothing compared to his. He was shot three times in the stomach and shoulder."
He gestured to Li Xuewu, saying, "If I hadn't kicked him, that shot would have hit him in the chest, and he would have died instantly."
"I knew it was hopeless when you first came here."
Li Xuewu calmly took a sip of his wine and said to him, "Since it's weapons procurement, there's no need to be secretive, and it's not smuggling."
"Anyway, when I think back on it now, I can't find anything wrong with it." Ji Weidong picked up his wine glass, shook his head, took another swig of wine, and slurped.
"Do you think Gaddafi genuinely wanted to buy our weapons?" Li Xuewu raised an eyebrow at him and asked, "Didn't you find out who supported his rise to power?"
"You mean—" Ji Weidong suddenly thought of a possibility, looking at Li Xuewu with wide eyes, full of disbelief, "He actually dared to lie to people!"
"So what if I lied to you?" Li Xuewu shrugged and said, "What can you do about it?"
"He didn't come to our house to scam us; he just connected with Art, an international arms dealer."
Li Xuewu picked up the wine bottle and filled it for him and himself, saying, "He must know that what's free is the most expensive, but now he has no choice but to choose the most expensive. This is the condition and significance of his coming on stage."
“So—” Ji Weidong hesitated before speaking, “Ate is a complete idiot—”
"Well, you're back safe and sound." Li Xuewu raised his glass in a gesture of respect, "I wish you the best of luck in life."
"Damn it, they started shooting at me with a light machine gun before I even got off the bus. Luckily, I'm quick on my feet."
He downed the wine in his glass in one gulp, let out a burp, and then said to Li Xuewu, "It was only when the bullets whizzed past my eyes that I realized I still have so many things I haven't done in my life."
"Li Bai's poem is so well written: 'When life is good, enjoy it to the fullest; don't let the golden goblet face the moon empty.'"
Ji Weidong reached out and patted his arm, saying softly, "A man's life is only carefree for a few years. Once it's over, it's over. If you want to experience it again, you can only reminisce."
"Are you fucking that weak?"
Li Xuewu looked him up and down and warned, "Be more restrained, or someone will die."
"Go away—what am I afraid of—"
Ji Weidong blushed and waved his hand, saying to Li Xuewu, "At that time, my definition of life changed. You can't get rich by following the rules."
He tapped the table with his finger and said, "I have to be proud, I have to enjoy myself to the fullest, I have to enjoy what I deserve."
"You don't have to eat a year's worth of food in a month," Li Xuewu scoffed. "Looking at you now, it's like you've eaten a lifetime's worth of food."
"Come on—" Ji Weidong drank a little too fast and got a bit tipsy. He waved his hand and said to Li Xuewu, "Keep your knowledge to yourself. You can find the old lady to enjoy yourself when you're seventy or eighty."
"You know that no girl stays eighteen forever, but don't you know that there are girls who are always eighteen?"
Li Xuewu patted him on the shoulder with a smile and said softly, "Once you're over thirty-five, you'll only be able to look on with envy at this kind of guerrilla warfare."
"Damn it, you want to compare this with me!"
Ji Weidong said impatiently, "You're better than me at everything, even when it comes to picking up girls, you have a better eye than me."
"That won't work either, I stopped a long time ago."
Seeing that he was about to get drunk, Li Xuewu stood up and waved to the driver who was sitting at the door waiting for them.
Ji Weidong came with a driver, a burly man who was already used to his drunken state.
"Secretary-General Li, I'll escort the leader back to the guesthouse."
The driver hoisted Ji Weidong onto his shoulder, not caring whether Ji Weidong would vomit from being carried like that. After saying goodbye to Li Xuewu, he turned and left.
Banggeng peeked out of the room and, seeing that Uncle Xiaoji had really left, came to the restaurant to clean up the mess.
Zhou Xiaoling didn't come tonight. She knew Li Xuewu was entertaining friends, so she went to find Wang Yajuan instead.
We're best friends, it would be a shame not to see each other when I come to Gangcheng. And when we do meet, I have to say I came because of her.
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P.S.: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to all my friends!
(End of this chapter)