Qiao Heping was not a reckless person. Before taking action, he had already discussed everything with his father. The guesthouse where his father was staying near the Canton Fair also had a telephone, so Qiao Heping called at the right time and quickly got in touch with him.
Qiao Heping was very protective of his own family, and Qiao Qiusheng was even more protective of his son. Over the phone, he immediately gave Qiao Heping many more instructions about the details. This time, they would not stop until they completely brought Kong Xingwang down.
As for Chen Jianming, so what if he had a brother-in-law who was a department head in the municipal government? With the way Chen Jianming behaved so recklessly, Qiao Qiusheng did not believe he would never make a serious mistake. When that time came, they would have their chance to bring Chen Jianming down as well.
Factory Director Wen, a deputy factory director, a department head, and Qiao Qiusheng, the factory’s only Level Eight master worker, were all still at the Canton Fair. They would not be returning for at least another week.
Before leaving, Factory Director Wen had instructed that matters at the factory should be discussed and decided jointly by the remaining four deputy factory directors. However, the other three deputy directors practically never confronted Chen Jianming directly. Big or small, almost everything in the factory was under Chen Jianming’s control, and he was effectively acting as the factory director.
Therefore, even if Qiao Heping submitted the evidence right now, there was a good chance Chen Jianming would suppress the matter first. He would give Kong Xingwang time to clean up all traces of what he had done, and only then would he deal with the matter slowly.
By then, it would already be too late.
Kong Xingwang was not stupid either. Given that extra time, he would definitely clean up every clue and piece of evidence he could find.
But Qiao Heping had never intended to hand the evidence and the report to Chen Jianming, the acting factory director, in the first place.
Although Factory Director Wen was away, the factory’s Party secretary was still there. Chen Jianming might be able to suppress the other deputy factory directors, but he could not suppress the Party secretary.
The Party secretary and deputy secretary were both firmly on Factory Director Wen’s side. Although Chen Jianming had a powerful brother-in-law behind him, so everyone had been turning a blind eye to his faction-building in the factory, as long as he did not make any fundamental mistakes, there was little they could do to him.
But once he actually committed a serious offense, things would be different. They would have a legitimate reason to deal with him.
Although the person who had committed the crime this time was not Chen Jianming himself, but merely a workshop supervisor, anyone who could become the factory’s Party secretary was no fool. How could they not see that Kong Xingwang was one of Chen Jianming’s people?
Anyone who genuinely wanted the steel factory to develop and prosper would certainly dislike someone going around building factions within the factory. If they could use this opportunity to curb the arrogance of Chen Jianming’s faction, that would be a good thing as well.
Therefore, as soon as the Party secretary and deputy secretary received the evidence and the report, they immediately sent people to investigate. They did not waste a single moment.
They even personally led the team. That way, there was absolutely no chance of the news leaking out. Their goal was to catch Kong Xingwang completely off guard.
And even if Kong Xingwang had not been one of Chen Jianming’s men, the two secretaries would still never have tolerated what he had done—taking advantage of his position to resell the factory’s scrap steel and illegally profit from public property.
They would investigate the matter thoroughly regardless.
Kong Xingwang lived in the same apartment building as the Qiao family. His family lived upstairs.
One day, the neighbors were sitting beneath the trees in front of the apartment building, chatting happily, when they suddenly saw a group of people rushing into Kong’s home.
Besides the personnel from the factory security department who had come with the two secretaries, there were also police officers.
“What did the Kong family do? Isn’t that our factory’s Party secretary? And aren’t those people from the factory security department?”
“There are police officers too. They must have committed something serious. Otherwise, why would the police come?”
“Could it be related to the thieves who broke into the Qiao family before? The more I think about it, the more it seems connected. We even helped send those two thieves to the police station. Could the police have gotten something out of them and discovered that the Kong family was involved?”
The neighbors looked at one another, their minds filled with questions.
There was no way they could have guessed that the investigation was actually about Kong Xingwang’s illegal profiteering and resale of factory materials.
At this time, illegally buying and selling goods for profit—especially factory materials—was no minor offense. If the crime was serious enough, a person could even be sentenced to death.
Only a few families living in this apartment building were ordinary workers. The rest either held some kind of leadership position at the factory or were skilled technical workers. Even those who were ordinary workers had only been given apartments here because they were long-serving employees. Their monthly wages were not low either.
No one would have been bold enough to steal factory materials and resell them just for money.
It was not Sunday, so Qiao Heping still had to go to work. Naturally, he could not stay home and watch the factory security personnel and police search Kong’s apartment.
But he could already imagine what would happen to Kong Xingwang.
Whatever happened, it would not be good.
At the very least, Kong Xingwang would probably spend ten or twenty years in prison—or, if the crime was serious enough, even face execution. After all, what he had done was no small matter.
As for whether Qiao Heping had gone too far, he certainly did not think so.
Kong Xingwang had been capable of leading thieves to his own home. What was so terrible about him reporting Kong’s crimes?
Kong Xingwang had brought this upon himself.
If he had not committed those crimes, would Qiao Heping’s report have been useful?
With the courage Kong Xingwang had shown, he should have considered the consequences if he were ever discovered. Even if Qiao Heping and his father had not found out, someone else eventually would have.
A report was inevitable.
And Qiao Heping had only dared to report him because he had solid evidence.
Although he could not personally watch the search, he was not worried in the slightest that Kong Xingwang would escape punishment.
All he had to do was wait for the factory security department and the police to finish their search and come to the factory to arrest him.
The two secretaries led the factory security personnel and police away at around one in the afternoon.
It was nearly five o’clock, almost quitting time, before they finally returned to the steel factory with the evidence and prepared to arrest Kong Xingwang.
They had not only found some scrap steel in Kong Xingwang’s home that he had not yet had time to resell, but they had also discovered the ledger in which he had recorded his transactions.
The reason they had taken so long was that, after following the clues found at Kong Xingwang’s home, they had worked with the police to locate the place where he carried out his transactions.
There was still a large amount of scrap steel there that had not yet been moved.
This time, they had both witnesses and physical evidence.
Only then did the entire group return to the steel factory in force, ready to make the arrest.
No matter what era it was, stealing collective property was a crime.
What was more, at this time there was also the charge of “speculation and profiteering,” and the country was in the midst of a strict crackdown.
Therefore, this was no longer merely an internal matter for the steel factory. It had to be handed over to the police for legal action.
That was why the two secretaries had brought not only the factory security department but also the police when they went to search Kong’s home.
When the secretaries, factory security personnel, and police arrived at the workshop to arrest Kong Xingwang, he was still acting like an important supervisor.
He was standing in the workshop, loudly berating a worker whose hands and feet were too slow.
“Arrest him and take him back to the station for questioning.”
Now that the evidence was conclusive, the police showed Kong Xingwang no courtesy.
They immediately grabbed his arm, twisted it behind his back, and put handcuffs on him.
“What are you doing? Why are you arresting me?” Kong Xingwang shouted.
As the police restrained him, he wondered whether the incident involving the Qiao family had finally been exposed.
But even if it had been exposed, shouldn’t the police have arrested the thieves instead of him?
At most, he had only said a few things. Those two men had been unable to resist temptation and had willingly gone to rob the Qiao family.
The factory’s Party secretary stepped forward and said sternly,
“Kong Xingwang, as a workshop supervisor at the steel factory, a member of the factory leadership, and a Communist Party member, you abused your position for personal gain. You illegally sold the factory’s scrap steel, stole from public property, and profited from socialist resources. You engaged in speculation and profiteering and allowed yourself to be corrupted by capitalist ideas. You have completely abandoned the original ideals of a revolutionary cadre and Communist Party member. The police are here to take you away.”
Kong Xingwang felt as though he had been struck by lightning.
He had always thought he had been extremely careful.
He had been secretly reselling the factory’s scrap steel for several years without anyone discovering him. Over time, he had completely lowered his guard.
Even when the police came to arrest him just now, this was not the first thing that had crossed his mind.
“I didn’t! Someone is slandering me! I’m being framed!”
Kong Xingwang knew that under no circumstances could he admit anything.
If he admitted it, he was finished.
Several of the factory’s deputy directors quickly came over after hearing that the police had arrived.
Naturally, Chen Jianming, the deputy factory director, came as well.
When Kong Xingwang saw Chen Jianming, it was as though he had suddenly grabbed onto a lifeline.
He hurriedly shouted,
“Director Chen! Director Chen! Please save me! I’ve been framed! I didn’t do any of those things!”
He had done so many things for Chen Jianming. Even if Chen Jianming did not acknowledge his contributions, surely he would at least remember all the hard work Kong Xingwang had done for him.
Now that Kong Xingwang was in trouble, Chen Jianming should help him, shouldn’t he?
At this moment, Kong Xingwang placed all his hopes on Chen Jianming.
As for the other deputy factory directors, there was no way they would speak up for him.
He had always followed Chen Jianming’s lead and had offended the other deputy directors more than once.
The fact that they did not kick him while he was down was already generous enough.
Chen Jianming did not yet know exactly what had happened, but he certainly intended to help Kong Xingwang.
After all, Kong Xingwang was one of his “key men.” He could not simply abandon him.
Chen Jianming stepped forward and said to the factory’s Party secretary and the police,
“There must be some kind of misunderstanding. Director Kong works diligently at the factory every day. How could he possibly commit a crime? Could someone have framed him?”
The secretary smiled.
“How could this be a case of someone framing him? Deputy Director Chen may not know what happened yet. Director Kong has been engaging in speculation and profiteering and stealing from collective property. He has secretly sold the factory’s scrap steel for several years and made at least a thousand yuan from it. The police have already found the evidence. Otherwise, why would they come directly to the factory to arrest him?”
At this point, the secretary gave Chen Jianming a smile that did not reach his eyes.
“Could it be that Deputy Director Chen wants to shield Director Kong? Do you believe that speculation and profiteering is acceptable?”
The charge of speculation and profiteering was extremely serious.
Chen Jianming naturally could not admit that he wanted to protect Kong Xingwang.
He immediately put on a righteous expression and said,
“Speculation and profiteering, and stealing from socialist collective property, are absolutely intolerable. I firmly support the actions of the police.”
Kong Xingwang had known from the beginning that his chances of escaping punishment were slim.
But Chen Jianming’s willingness to abandon him so quickly still left him deeply disappointed.
Just as he was about to say something, Chen Jianming shot him a sharp, threatening look.
Kong Xingwang immediately understood.
If he said anything he should not say, Chen Jianming definitely would not let him off.
Besides, Chen Jianming was still the only person who might be able to save him.
He also had a brother-in-law who was a department head in the municipal government.
Because of that, Kong Xingwang still held onto a small glimmer of hope.
So he firmly kept his mouth shut, hoping that Chen Jianming would truly help him later.
When Kong Xingwang was arrested, Qiao Heping also came over to the workshop to watch.
He was not surprised at Chen Jianming’s reaction.
After all, no one could afford to take responsibility for the charge of speculation and profiteering.
Kong Xingwang had gone too far. He had remained silent for years and then suddenly committed such a serious crime.
Qiao Heping watched with his own eyes as Kong Xingwang was led out of the steel factory.
His fate was already clear.
With so many people witnessing his arrest and the news already spreading throughout the factory, even if Chen Jianming wanted to ask his brother-in-law in the municipal government to pull some strings and save Kong Xingwang, it would be useless.
The crackdown on speculation and profiteering was extremely strict at this time.
If Chen Jianming’s brother-in-law tried to shield Kong Xingwang, he might not even be able to keep his own position.
Less than a week later, Kong Xingwang’s sentence was handed down.
He was convicted of two offenses: speculation and profiteering, and using public resources for personal gain.
He was sentenced to twenty-five years of reform through labor at a farm outside the city.
At this time, people generally did not speak of serving time in prison in the modern sense.
Even white-flour steamed buns were considered scarce, and many poor regions could barely provide enough food for their people.
How could prisoners simply stay in jail doing nothing while the state supported them?
Most criminals were sent away for labor reform.
They worked from morning until night every day, with extremely heavy workloads.
Life was brutally hard.
Even this relatively “light” sentence was the result of Chen Jianming pulling some strings.
After all, Kong Xingwang had done quite a few things for him.
If Kong Xingwang exposed everything, would Chen Jianming still have any reputation left as a deputy factory director?
Moreover, if Chen Jianming completely abandoned Kong Xingwang, the people working under him would probably feel that they too could be abandoned when things went wrong.
Would they still be willing to work wholeheartedly for him in the future?
Therefore, whatever the reason, Chen Jianming had to help Kong Xingwang to some extent.
Originally, Kong Xingwang should have been sentenced to death.
But Chen Jianming had his wife return to her family and beg her brother for help.
After some maneuvering, Kong Xingwang’s entire family fortune was confiscated and used to compensate the steel factory for its losses.
Only then was his sentence reduced to twenty-five years of labor reform.
As for getting Kong Xingwang completely out of trouble and saving him from labor reform, that was impossible.
The risk was simply too great, and his brother-in-law would never agree to such a thing.
Chen Jianming felt that he had already done everything he could for Kong Xingwang.
After that, he no longer concerned himself with him.
However, after this incident, Chen Jianming and the people under him became much more restrained for the time being.
They did not dare provoke the Qiao family or deliberately make things difficult for them anymore.
After all, who did not know that Qiao Heping had reported Kong Xingwang?
At that time, reports were made under one’s real name. That was what gave them credibility.
The secretary had acted so decisively and immediately led the factory security department and police to search Kong’s home precisely because Qiao Heping had submitted the report under his real name.
Qiao Heping could be said to have become famous after this incident.
Even if Chen Jianming wanted to target him, he no longer had anyone under him who dared to act against Qiao Heping as fearlessly as Kong Xingwang had.
No one knew what kind of retaliation they might face.
Qiao Heping had been fully prepared for this when he made the report.
He was not afraid of people knowing that he was responsible.
In fact, he deliberately wanted to use this incident as a warning to Chen Jianming.
If Chen Jianming did not know that he had done it, Qiao Heping would actually have been worried that he had failed to achieve the effect he wanted.
Although the people in Chen Jianming’s faction hated Qiao Heping, the other workers in the factory overwhelmingly supported what he had done.
At this time, most workers had simple, straightforward values.
They had no intention of taking advantage of public property.
They deeply hated people who stole from collective resources or profited from socialist property.
They were especially furious that Kong Xingwang had secretly sold the factory’s scrap steel for more than a thousand yuan.
In their eyes, someone like that deserved to be executed.
Being sentenced to twenty-five years was already letting him off easy.
The Qiao family was also very satisfied with the result.
Qiao Zhufang snorted.
“Someone like that deserves to be sent away for labor reform. Otherwise, how could anyone sleep peacefully with a neighbor like him? You can spend a thousand days stealing, but you can’t spend a thousand days guarding against thieves. He was already capable of leading thieves to our home. If he’d stayed around, who knows what worse things he might have done in the future? It’s better that he was arrested.”
Qiao Jia Jia was rather surprised by the result.
She had not expected the punishment for selling collective property to be so severe in this era.
But of course, she did not feel the slightest bit of sympathy for him.
She was simply shocked.
She wasn’t some kind-hearted saint, was she?
After someone had done something so vicious to her family, was she supposed to feel sorry because his punishment was too harsh?
Was there something wrong with her brain?
If her family had not outsmarted them and placed animal traps that night, the people suffering would not have been those two thieves.
It could have been her mother, her grandmother, or even herself.
As for that man named Kong Xingwang, this was exactly what he deserved.
She did not feel sorry for him at all.
For the next few days, Qiao Jia Jia was actually quite happy.
She kept thinking that if Deputy Director Chen could also be arrested and suffer the same fate, that would be even better.
Although the neighbors in the apartment building did not know that Kong Xingwang’s family had anything to do with the thieves who had broken into the Qiao family’s home more than a week earlier, they were still extremely disgusted by Kong Xingwang’s speculation and profiteering and his illegal sale of factory scrap steel.
They felt embarrassed that such a disgraceful person lived in their building.
Whenever they went outside, people would ask,
“That person who was caught for speculation and profiteering is your neighbor, right?”
Only two days after Kong Xingwang’s case had been settled, Factory Director Wen and the others finally returned from their business trip.
This time, they had signed a major contract at the Canton Fair.
Once the order was completed, the factory would probably earn a considerable amount of foreign currency.
Factory Director Wen had been beaming with happiness all the way home.
And he could not stop praising Qiao Qiusheng, whom one could practically call a “jack-of-all-trades.”
If not for Qiao Qiusheng, the negotiations this time might have failed.
How could they have signed such a large contract with foreign buyers without him?
While they were at the Canton Fair, Factory Director Wen had personally decided to reward Qiao Qiusheng with a bicycle.
And not one that Qiao Qiusheng had to pay a single cent for.
A bicycle factory was among the companies exhibiting at the Canton Fair.
Factory Director Wen placed a small order with them for fifty bicycles, which would be given to steel factory employees as a welfare benefit at the end of the year.
Of course, the bicycles themselves were not free.
The workers were merely given the opportunity to purchase one.
They still had to pay for the bicycle themselves.
At this time, bicycle coupons were extremely difficult to obtain. A bicycle coupon could practically be worth as much as the bicycle itself.
Being given a quota to purchase a bicycle without needing a bicycle coupon absolutely counted as a valuable benefit.
And Qiao Qiusheng had directly received a completely free bicycle.
Factory Director Wen had certainly been very generous.
The group had been in high spirits on their way home.
But as soon as they returned to the steel factory, they received the news that Kong Xingwang had been arrested by the police for illegally selling the factory’s scrap steel.
As the factory director, Factory Director Wen was naturally furious that such a thing had happened.
But this was not the time to focus on Kong Xingwang’s punishment.
After all, the main culprit had already been arrested, so his part in the matter was over.
But that did not mean the problem itself was over.
The fact that Kong Xingwang had been able to sell scrap steel for several years without being discovered ultimately meant that there were serious problems with the factory’s management.
Those weaknesses had allowed him to take advantage of the system.
The factory would have to undergo a thorough reorganization.
Supervision in every department needed to be strengthened, and the security department would also need to increase its patrols.
As a result, the factory’s leadership had plenty of work ahead of them.
Of course, Factory Director Wen also knew what Chen Jianming, the deputy factory director, had done during the more than two weeks he had been away.
First, Chen Jianming’s family had used his position as deputy factory director to bully people outside the factory.
Then Chen Jianming himself had deliberately made things difficult for workers inside the factory.
And on top of all that, Kong Xingwang, who had just been arrested, was also one of Chen Jianming’s men.
Factory Director Wen felt deeply troubled.
Chen Jianming was like a poisonous tumor in the steel factory.
Unfortunately, he had a brother-in-law in the municipal government.
Because of that, Factory Director Wen had previously turned a blind eye to Chen Jianming’s faction-building. It was difficult to deal with him directly.
But Chen Jianming was simply too narrow-minded.
He would retaliate against people and deliberately make things difficult for them over the smallest matters.
Factory Director Wen had also heard some of the rumors circulating around the factory.
Given what he knew about Chen Jianming’s character, it was entirely possible that Chen Jianming was also involved in the theft at the Qiao family’s home.
Qiao Qiusheng had accompanied him on the business trip to the Canton Fair and made a major contribution.
Yet while Qiao Qiusheng was away doing important work for the factory, his family had been bullied at home.
Factory Director Wen felt that if he did nothing, it would be terribly discouraging to someone who had contributed so much.
Although he could not remove Chen Jianming from his position as deputy factory director, as the factory director, there were still certain work assignments he had the authority to make.
As it happened, there would soon be a month-long management exchange program at a factory in the south at the end of the month.
It was perfect.
He could send Chen Jianming there.
Sending him away would also allow the factory to remain more peaceful.
Unfortunately, opportunities for business trips like this were still too rare.
Otherwise, Factory Director Wen would have loved to send Chen Jianming away on business trips all year long, just to keep him from staying in the factory and stirring up trouble.
As for Qiao Qiusheng, he had now practically become openly opposed to Chen Jianming.
He had repeatedly embarrassed Chen Jianming in front of other people.
Yet with Factory Director Wen around, Chen Jianming could not really say anything.
After all, Factory Director Wen placed great importance on Qiao Qiusheng, the factory’s Level Eight master worker.
Chen Jianming secretly looked down on this.
In his eyes, the steel factory could run perfectly well without Qiao Qiusheng.
So what if he was a Level Eight worker?
If the factory lost one Level Eight worker, weren’t there still Level Six and Level Seven workers?
He refused to believe that Qiao Qiusheng was truly that important.
As a deputy factory director, having to be pressured by an ordinary worker and constantly swallow his anger toward one was extremely frustrating for Chen Jianming.
But Factory Director Wen was, after all, the actual factory director.
He was above Chen Jianming in every matter.
No matter how dissatisfied Chen Jianming was, there was nothing he could do.
He could only swallow his anger and endure Qiao Qiusheng’s occasional blunt retorts.
Kong Xingwang had already been sent away for labor reform, while Chen Jianming had been assigned a difficult business trip by the factory director.
Naturally, the Qiao family was delighted to see their enemies suffer.
And now there was another reason to be happy.
Their family had a brand-new bicycle—and it had cost them absolutely nothing.
Originally, the Qiao family had only one bicycle.
They had even needed to use connections to buy it from the department store.
Bicycles were extremely scarce at this time.
Getting a bicycle coupon was already difficult enough.
And even if someone managed to obtain a coupon, they still had to wait until the department store had bicycles in stock before they could buy one.
Quite often, there were more coupons than bicycles, so people simply could not get one.
The Qiao family already had one bicycle, which was enough for their daily needs, so they had not bothered trying to buy another.
Although they had never planned to purchase a second bicycle, getting one for free was certainly something the whole family was happy about.
Most of the time, the original bicycle was used by the young couple, Qiao Heping and He Yingying.
One would ride while the other sat on the back, and they would go to the steel factory together.
Qiao Zhufang had not been working before, while Qiao Qiusheng was alone, so he had never competed with his son and daughter-in-law for the bicycle.
Now that the family had two bicycles, Qiao Qiusheng could ride one to work every day instead of walking.
As for Qiao Zhufang, she did not know how to ride a bicycle.
When the family first got their bicycle, she had naturally tried to learn.
But no matter how hard she tried, she simply could not master it.
She had even fallen several times.
After that, Qiao Qiusheng refused to let her ride.
Whenever she needed to go somewhere far away, he would simply ride the bicycle and take her.
Now that the family had another bicycle, however, Qiao Zhufang’s desire to learn began stirring again.
She had completely forgotten how painful her previous falls had been.
Qiao Qiusheng did not want his Amei to fall and hurt herself again.
It did not matter if she could not ride a bicycle.
If she needed to go somewhere far away, she could simply send him to take care of it.
But he could not bring himself to directly reject her.
So he secretly signaled to his son and daughter-in-law to hurry up and persuade her.
At the same time, he casually changed the subject.
“Isn’t tomorrow Sunday? I ran into Yingying’s two nephews at the factory today. They said they were coming over tomorrow.”
Qiao Zhufang slapped her forehead.
“I almost forgot! I was planning to tell Yingying to bring the two boys over for a meal.
“This is their first week working at the steel factory. I wonder if they’ve gotten used to it.
“That nephew from your second brother’s family is only about fourteen, isn’t he? He’s so young, yet he’s already working in a factory. I wonder if he can handle it.”
He Yingying smiled and replied to her mother-in-law,
“With Dad and Heping looking after them, they’re doing very well at the factory.
“Tomorrow, as their aunt, I was also planning to take them around the city and show them some places.
“They haven’t been here many times, and they’re still unfamiliar with the area. I should take them around more and help them learn their way around.”
The two cousins, He Chengwen and He Chengliang, were both literate.
They were also healthy and strong-looking.
A week earlier, they had successfully passed the factory’s recruitment process and entered the steel factory as workers.
With Qiao Qiusheng and Qiao Heping looking after them, they had both been assigned fairly good positions.
Of course, as newly hired workers, there was no way they would be given their own apartments.
Even many workers who had been employed at the factory for several years had not been assigned housing.
The two brothers had instead been assigned to a young workers’ dormitory in a tenement-style apartment building about half an hour’s walk from the steel factory.
Four or five people shared a room, so it looked somewhat crowded.
But to the two brothers, these conditions were already very good.
Back home, they had also shared a room with several brothers.
The workers’ dormitory in the apartment building had electric lights, and there were public water taps outside.
Compared with the conditions at home, it was better by countless times.
How could they possibly complain?
Not to mention that the factory even had a free bathhouse.
After the two brothers arrived, that became their favorite thing.
They did not even have to heat the water themselves before taking a bath.