After sleeping through the night, Liu Jun woke up, exercised briefly, and then immediately rushed to the Shi Yiji suburban branch factory. What surprised Liu Jun was that Yang Xun was already standing energetically by the time clock at the factory gate, supervising workers as they clocked in. Such vigor impressed Liu Jun.
“Mr. Yang, you didn’t get eight hours of sleep.”
“Eight hours of sleep? Who mandated that?” Yang Xun looked at the time on the clock – exactly seven-thirty. Then he looked at the cardholder behind him, which still had a few sparse cards remaining. Without hesitation, he collected all the remaining cards and told the security guard, “Tell attendance to find me in the workshop.”
In the workshop, Yang Xun combined last night’s situation and gave the workshop management personnel another scolding. Liu Jun listened – it was almost a repeat of last night’s tone, but it was effective.
Yang Xun was busy with many affairs after all. He came early to establish rules and fire his shots, then left, leaving Liu Jun at the branch factory. Liu Jun could feel the isolation from these middle management personnel, but he had to admit that when he made demands, the middle managers completed them with complaints. But Liu Jun had a headache about this adversarial relationship. Every time he opened his mouth to speak and make demands, it became extremely difficult – he had to grit his teeth and forge ahead despite the difficulties.
The middle management feared Yang Xun’s attitude, but the workers didn’t have as many concerns. Before long, Yang Xun’s outbursts from yesterday and today spread throughout the entire branch factory, and Liu Jun became a thorn in everyone’s side. When Liu Jun was inspecting near worker, that person spat and shouted, “What are you looking at?”
Liu Jun had to pretend he didn’t hear and picked up a semi-finished product to examine. In his entire life, he had never suffered such humiliation. But that worker continued cursing. “Get lost, don’t block my light. Will you compensate me if I mess up? Don’t you know a good dog doesn’t block the road?”
“Watch your mouth.”
“What, want to fight? Come on then, aren’t you just throwing your weight around with someone backing you? Others might fear you, but I don’t…” That person said nothing more, ignoring the component he was processing, brutally shut off his machine, grabbed a wrench and lunged at Liu Jun.
That worker was indeed a practical fighter, which was why he jumped out, thinking dealing with a scholar would be no problem. Unexpectedly, Liu Jun had not been a pushover since childhood and had formally trained in combat sports. So if it was a fight, then fight – Liu Jun also had a belly full of depression from returning home with nowhere to vent, and both fought desperately as if their lives depended on it. At first, some people wanted to play peacemaker to deal with Liu Jun, but seeing this intensity, they were afraid of being caught in the crossfire and only dared shout from the sidelines. This brought management running to break up the fight.
But neither of the two tangled fighters would give up – they had to determine a final victor before the entire workshop returned to calm. That worker was pinned to the ground by Liu Jun’s single leg. The worker had blood at the corner of his mouth, gasping, “Damn, a trained fighter?”
“Watch your mouth. What do you want to do – settle this privately or officially?”
“Privately.”
“Good. I’ll ask you a question…”
“Don’t ask, I’ll answer you. Why should we work ourselves to death while the money we earn gets taken by you people to live it up and keep mistresses? Who the hell are you?”
This was exactly what Liu Jun wanted to ask, but the answer left him completely baffled. Still, he released his leg and pulled that worker to his feet. “Remember, you’re my defeated opponent. If you have any guts, you should know what to do. Also, I earn money through my skills and hard work – my money doesn’t come shamefully, so you don’t need to resent me.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes, that’s it. Problems that can be solved rationally don’t need violence or shouting. But – that – doesn’t – mean – I – can’t! Wipe off your nosebleed and get back to work.”
That worker used cotton cloth to wipe the blood, watching Liu Jun return to continue inspecting his products, saying nothing more. He was just a hotheaded youth, stirred up by a few scheming veterans in the workshop to show some spine and stand up for everyone. Since he was defeated, he naturally had nothing to say – privately settled meant settled, and from now on, he could only be completely obedient when he saw Liu Jun.
But although Liu Jun won and was quite chivalrously magnanimous, his heart wasn’t happy. He wanted to sit on the loser’s back and beat him until his face bloomed with blood – his heart was full of violence. He’d been frustrated lately, seemingly incompatible with this society where anyone could look down on and bully him. Even this kind of hothead cursed him, yet he had to consider the big picture for the smooth production of products, couldn’t be unrestrained, and had to pretend to be magnanimous. No, this wasn’t his personality.
Liu Jun knew that hundreds of eyes were watching him from all directions at this moment. He buried his head in work, pretending to be calm, acting like he didn’t see. But his heart was very annoyed – so annoyed he almost missed the vibration of his phone in his pocket. When he noticed and hurriedly pulled it out, fortunately, the other party was patient and hadn’t hung up. What warmed his heart even more was that the voice on the other end was his girlfriend, the person he most wanted to talk to right now.
But he still said into the phone, “It’s already midnight, why aren’t you resting?” He suddenly felt so hypocritical – how had he become so locally adaptive after just a few days back in the country? He was about to change his tone when the other end leisurely said Sorry to him. Liu Jun immediately understood. The hand holding the phone slowly slid down, his face turning toward the window. Outside the clean window was nothing but sunlight filling heaven and earth. Liu Jun’s heart also had nothing at this moment, but no sunlight. He didn’t know that two lines of tears slid down his face, falling on his chest like a string of pearls. His complexion also became deathly pale. At this moment, Liu Jun was like a small, pale youth, at a loss when faced with setbacks and blows pressing in from all directions.
Workers came and went, passing in front of Liu Jun. Seeing Liu Jun’s tears, they were all surprised – wasn’t this the person who had just won the fight? Why was the winner crying like a little girl? People exchanged glances and walked away, and the news spread crazily throughout the entire workshop, soon reaching the main factory as well.
Liu Jun was in a daze for quite a while. When he came to his senses and realized he had lost composure, he said nothing and tried to act as if nothing had happened. But when he looked up, he saw people pointing at him, some laughing so hard they fell backward, even making crying gestures. He instinctively wiped his face, not expecting to wipe away a handful of tears. Liu Jun’s head “buzzed” and filled with blood. Without thinking, he flew up with a kick toward the aluminum alloy window beside him. With a tremendous “crash,” two rows of aluminum alloy windows collapsed completely, thunderously falling, even startling Liu Jun himself. But the shattering and splashing glass also stimulated Liu Jun, and he hysterically roared, “What are you looking at? Get to work!” His voice was hoarse, like a wolf’s howl. People’s faces showed shock, disdain, and some were still watching the show, but none dared laugh anymore, afraid this person would go crazy and start throwing punches and kicks. Surprisingly, no one organized to drag away this dangerous element, nor did any management personnel come to talk with Liu Jun.
Liu Jun stepped on broken glass, charging left and right like a madman, expecting people’s retaliation, but people all adopted an attitude of indifference, leaving Liu Jun with strength but nowhere to use it. He lifted his foot and kicked down another aluminum alloy window. In the chaos, a voice told him to leave quickly, leave quickly, don’t cause more trouble. But some unknown brute force held him back, encouraging him to continue wreaking havoc. Finally, glass shards on the ground pierced through his shoe sole and stabbed into Liu Jun’s foot. The pain made Liu Jun calm down. He stood still, took deep breaths, and reason gradually returned to his body. He bent down to remove his shoe, pulled out the glass, looked at no one, and walked out of the workshop. He tried his best to keep his back very straight, hoping to leave people with a strong silhouette.
In the car, Liu Jun forced himself to calm down. But he wanted to vent, wanted to find someone to talk to. His girlfriend’s number flew around in his mind, but he knew it was useless now. Unless he immediately chased after her, but at this critical moment, could he leave? Could he get away? He couldn’t leave even for three days. He could only call Qian Hongming. But when Qian Hongming answered, he immediately said urgently, “I’m in a meeting, I’m in a meeting.”
Liu Jun said rudely, “I have something to say. My girlfriend… It’s over.”
“Hey, wait, let me go outside to talk.” Qian Hongming hurriedly walked out of the conference room. “Ten minutes. I never thought well of you two anyway – so far apart, and you’re not the Cowherd and Weaver Girl. You can be sad, but you don’t need to be sad for too long. This result was inevitable.”
“I shouldn’t have left Germany.”
“Did you have a choice?”
“No.”
“Can it be salvaged?”
Liu Jun thought of how no one answered when he called his girlfriend’s home early in the morning recently. He sighed, “No.” After a pause, he said, “I cried publicly in the workshop and also went crazy publicly.”
Hearing this, Qian Hongming felt the problem was serious. “Give me an hour, I’ll come find you later. Stay calm, calm, don’t do anything, wait for me to come pick you up.”
Qian Hongming’s concern warmed Liu Jun. He hesitated for a moment, then decided to be self-reliant. “You don’t need to come. I’ll find a nearby hospital to bandage up, then immediately go back to work. I’ll find you tonight.”
“Liu Jun, can you handle it? Don’t be stubborn – when you’re in bad shape, it’s not suitable to work.”
“I can do it, I’ve already vented completely.”
“You’re not a little boy – don’t you even have the ability to control yourself from venting publicly? What else happened to you?”
“Nothing… no, many things. Many things make me feel very suffocated. I won’t talk about it – my blood is almost drained. Hongming, you’re my good friend. Fortunately, I have good friends.”
“Go then. Head west on the national highway – there’s a hospital. Remember to get a tetanus shot.”
After hanging up, Liu Jun silently drove to the hospital for bandaging. When he returned, he threw himself back into workshop duties as if nothing had happened. Strangely, although those people looked at him with very odd gazes, as long as he spoke up and made demands, those people, though grumbling, all complied. He didn’t even need to work hard explaining the reasoning.
It wasn’t until nearly quitting time that Yang Xun appeared hurriedly, seeing a calm Liu Jun. But Yang Xun had already heard about Liu Jun’s loss of composure and was led by subordinates to see the kicked-over windows. He couldn’t help gesturing by the windows, shocked – such thick aluminum alloy, how much force would it take to kick it over?
Yang Xun found the busy Liu Jun, patted his shoulder, and asked, “Did they provoke you again?”
“It’s nothing, settled privately. Mr. Yang, I’ll compensate you for the aluminum alloy windows.”
Yang Xun nodded, “Not getting off work? Or leaving with the middle shift?”
“I’ll leave a bit later – the middle shift is starting two new processes. Mr. Yang, nothing happened.”
“Good, that’s good.” Yang Xun left relieved, but had even less respect for Liu Jun in his heart. A man crying publicly – what was that? His self-control was too poor – not leadership material.
Liu Jun was also disappointed in Yang Xun. Regardless of whether he pursued it or settled privately, an incident had occurred at the branch factory, yet as the top manager, he could allow private settlement without investigating thoroughly and taking it as a warning. With such rough management controlling such a huge factory, could it work?