When Liu Shitang received his son’s call at midnight, he immediately demanded that his son step back from this matter, regardless of whether the person lived or died, and let him handle it. Liu Shitang told Liu Jun to have the doctor draw blood for evidence, test the blood alcohol content, and copy all hospital documents. Then, regardless of whether anyone was taking over at the provincial hospital, Liu Shitang told Liu Jun to leave immediately, not to make any verbal promises, and return to the company to manage production. The primary priority was ensuring production didn’t stop.

When Liu Shitang rushed to the provincial hospital in a hired car early in the morning, the deceased’s relatives hadn’t arrived yet, while Liu Jun had already learned about solutions from the administrative manager. Liu Jun felt sorry for his father traveling all night, but when the two met face to face, he found his father energetic and more spirited than himself. It turned out Liu Shitang had slept in the car.

“You haven’t left yet? Go quickly, go quickly. Is the person still alive?”

“Dead. Administrative manager Old Zhang is on the road with the family – they should arrive in about half an hour. The deceased was unmarried, had only parents and a sister at home. He was the only son – his parents must be heartbroken beyond measure…”

“Dead? Dead is harder to handle, but once handled well, it’s over and done with, unlike work injuries that drag on endlessly like bottomless pits. Did Old Zhang say there are regulations to follow?”

“Yes, we paid work injury insurance. Burial subsidies for employees who die on duty, pensions for dependent relatives, and one-time work death compensation are all paid by the Labor Bureau’s work injury insurance fund. But this employee had been drinking, so he might be excluded from work death recognition.”

“Never mention the drinking to the Labor Bureau people handling work injury assessment. Market price for a human life is two hundred thousand – if the state doesn’t compensate, we have to. Since someone died, we can’t escape compensation. Our work injury insurance absolutely can’t be paid for nothing.”

“He was someone who had just worked for a few years, in the prime of youth, and died like this. Should we personally give an additional hundred thousand beyond the work injury fund?”

Liu Shitang glanced around and waved to block his son’s words: “I’ll handle this matter. I don’t care how much you’re willing to give – even a million is fine with me – but such words can only be said afterward. Now is the time for bargaining, and nothing can be said. People’s hearts are unpredictable – we need to prepare for a tough battle. Besides, who will compensate our losses? Just accept bad luck?”

“Dad, even so, don’t be too cold-blooded. After all, it’s a human life.”

“I handle things according to law. Damn it, once this happens, the bank loan approval that just started will go down the drain again. We’ll have to borrow high-interest loans for several more months – who will compensate us for this interest differential loss? Bad luck… Ah Jun, work injuries are very common. You can’t be soft-hearted.”

“Yes. But…”

“No buts. This is Tengfei’s first work fatality – everything goes by the book. Don’t set a high benchmark for future handling. I’ll handle it. What comes next is who can be more shameless – you can’t do it. Find someone to cover my business. Leave quickly.”

Although Liu Jun left the hospital, he was very worried about his father’s handling methods. He could imagine that his father would very skillfully deal with the deceased’s family, then control total compensation within two hundred thousand. He had already decided on the road that regardless of the handling result, he would personally give another hundred thousand – otherwise, he couldn’t get past that hurdle in his heart. But Liu Jun also tacitly agreed that his father’s initial attitude in handling this matter was correct. On the question of how people should interact with each other, he already had a precedent – Aunt Fu – which made it hard for him to have too much hope for human conscience, leaving only advanced self-protection. He didn’t realize that, unknowingly, he was also maintaining vigilance against people close to him.

Liu Jun, who hadn’t slept all night, got on the bus wanting to take a nap, but couldn’t fall asleep no matter what. The painful expression on that employee’s face in the ambulance kept swaying before his eyes. He had to admire his father, setting aside everything else, being able to sleep in the provincial capital required such composure.

Returning to the factory, seeing the accident welding machine preserved as a crime scene, all subsequent processes after welding had to stop work and wait for materials. Liu Jun was extremely annoyed – he had always delivered on time, and production arranged according to contracts was always tightly linked. He didn’t know how long the welding machine would be sealed, but outsourcing the work made him worry about keeping up. This was a down process – if this process broke down, all previous efforts would be wasted.

Before Liu Jun could think of a solution, various government officials investigating the accident’s responsibility all arrived. Because this accident involved human life, every staff member dared not slack off, rushing to Tengfei’s accident site without even having time for morning tea. Liu Jun only had time to tell the workers waiting for materials to clean machines during their break before rushing to the conference room for the reception. Going in, he saw the office secretary already there, serving tea and water. Liu Jun quickly handed over business cards and described the circumstances when the accident occurred. He temporarily omitted mentioning that the injured worker had drunk a bottle of beer at dinner.

What followed was a lengthy and complex accident assessment. Safety regulations established? No problem. Safety training? No problem. Daily safety supervision? No problem. The Labor Bureau representatives had their specific work routines. Liu Jun responded to changes with consistency. Tengfei had Liu Jun asking former German colleagues for complete safety protection measures, including daily safety operations, all with special safety archive records and signatures from every person involved. He wasn’t afraid of inspection. If there were accident liability compensation, Liu Jun believed his enterprise could bear no responsibility and make no compensation.

The Labor Bureau staff on site reviewed the written records one by one and found no problems. Then they went to the workshop for an on-site assessment. Before completing the full entry procedures, they joked that this workshop was one of the most difficult to enter they’d ever seen – their equipment was completely changed from head to toe before being allowed in. Liu Jun watched from the side, thinking bitterly that even such strictness wasn’t enough unless they set up rapid blood testing to prevent drunk or drugged people from entering the workshop. Speaking of it, accidents were truly impossible to prevent completely.

At lunchtime, Liu Jun hesitated briefly, then took the staff to a restaurant for a meal, ordering expensive dishes and a carton of Zhonghua cigarettes. Liu Jun knew such behavior was undoubtedly bribery, knew such behavior was a rule everyone had to follow, and knew that being stubbornly principled and not doing this was asking for death, even if he had no fault. Sure enough, at such a generous dining table, everyone’s words became kind and tolerant. Someone even said something politically incorrect but practically true. That civil servant said that in investigating so many safety accidents in his career, sometimes he couldn’t help but use superstition to explain some phenomena – some places or people where accidents seemed impossible to occur, yet the parties involved seemed possessed by ghosts and crashed into them, with no real reason to be found. Everyone said Tengfei’s accident was the same – no amount of prevention could overcome the cruel arrival of small-probability events. Everyone quite understandingly comforted Liu Jun that things having reached this point, with a human life involved, they could only spend some time, energy, and money to smooth things over – there was no choice but to accept bad luck. They also told Liu Jun that regardless of whether Tengfei was at fault or innocent, procedures had to be followed step by step, not one written explanation could be omitted, and not one of the three assessment meetings could be missed. Liu Jun agreed to everything. At least the welding machine was mercifully allowed to be unsealed for use.

Just after seeing off this group, another group quickly arrived. The deceased’s family had amazing organizational ability, quickly organizing a group of people with drums and gongs to come to Tengfei Company to summon the deceased’s soul. Liu Shitang told Liu Jun to step back and not interfere – for such major human affairs, even if Tengfei’s management was strict, you couldn’t stop people from seeing the accident site. But as Liu Shitang had expected, that group refused to leave once entering the workshop, blocking the workshop entrance, crying loudly, and refusing to get up and leave, no matter what.

Liu Jun called the police officer he had cooperated with before to ask how to handle this matter, but was told that the police station wasn’t convenient to intervene in such matters – it was best for everyone to sit down and discuss properly, reaching a negotiated solution.

Liu Jun was anxious, but Liu Shitang remained measured, arguing back and forth with a representative from the deceased’s family. Only after Liu Shitang agreed to pay an additional ten thousand yuan in funeral expenses beyond compensation did the representative lead the family members away, crying.

Before Liu Jun could breathe a sigh of relief, the workshop director reported that during the post-shift roll call, an employee was missing, and the blueprints corresponding to that employee were also missing and couldn’t be collected. Liu Jun’s head buzzed again. So many companies coveted his products and blueprint designs, so he had established strict confidentiality systems – blueprints were assigned to individuals, staying with machines when people were at machines, and when people left, blueprints could only be taken out with proper transfer procedures and exit permits. But today’s scene was chaotic, and unexpectedly, someone had taken advantage to fish in troubled waters.

After reviewing that worker’s file, Liu Jun had no choice but to report to the police. The worker was from out of town, from one of those poor, remote border areas – lawsuits would be easy, but compensation would certainly be difficult. Unless police could catch the person, by the time they caught him, the blueprints would probably already be sold. For Liu Jun, whether they caught him or not was actually beside the point. But Liu Jun couldn’t help but report to the police – all the other workers were watching how this matter was handled. If he handled it too softly, the next step would probably be endless blueprint theft incidents. He had to make an example.

When father and son talked about making an example, two pairs of tired eyes knowingly met. Liu Jun made copies of all files related to this worker, put them in a transparent plastic document folder, and prepared to personally go to the police station to solidify relationships, finding the officer he’d cooperated with before for help. But Liu Shitang snatched the document folder from his son’s hands: “Your kind of relationship doesn’t count as a relationship and can’t be used. I’ll go find people.”

“Are you finding the person who helped catch Aunt Fu last time?” Seeing his father nod, Liu Jun couldn’t help asking another question: “Has Aunt Fu been released from prison?”

Hearing this, Liu Shitang was startled: “When was she arrested last time… oh, almost a year ago, so fast. She should be getting out soon. Ah Jun, you still guard the company – these few days definitely won’t be peaceful. That group was just beaten into confusion today and is still dazed. When they come to their senses, they’ll start bargaining with us. From now on, no matter what, we must hold firm and not let anyone through the door, otherwise we’ll be very passive.”

“How else will they make trouble? Isn’t today enough?”

“Of course not enough – a human life, and the life of an only son. How could they easily let us off? Now that the person is dead, what else can they seek? Of course, it’s to squeeze out as much compensation as possible. I’ll hurry to the police station and talk to you more later. Go eat at the cafeteria quickly, then sleep immediately. You haven’t rested all day – I can see your eyes aren’t right. I’ll tell security to watch the gate closely tonight when I go out, releasing two Rottweilers to patrol – you don’t need to go around them later.”

“Those aren’t called wolf dogs, they’re Rottweilers.”

“Same thing, all German dogs.” Liu Shitang went out hurriedly with a frown, muttering continuously: “Damn it, terrible luck. We suffered heavy losses because of him, and still have to take their compensation claims, as if it’s still our fault.”

Liu Jun also frowned, following his father out: “Forget it, the person is gone – let’s not worry about those things.”

“How much do we lose by stopping work for one day?”

“Don’t mention it, I don’t want to calculate. These things can’t be calculated anymore. Think positively, Dad. Don’t tire yourself too much either – finish early and go home to sleep early.”

Liu Shitang thought to himself, sleep early for these few days? Dream on. But to let his son sleep peacefully, he didn’t mention a word, only kept muttering about bad luck. When about to part with his son, Liu Shitang remembered another matter: “Ah Jun, go to the temple early tomorrow to pray. Listen to me – go no matter what, and pray for me too. I might not have time tomorrow. I’ll find monks to perform rituals later.”

Liu Jun exhaustedly agreed, saw off his father, forced down a few bites of food, and thought he needed to report today’s events to several people. He prioritized romance over friendship, first reporting to Yu Shanshan, then telling Qian Hongming. These two people had almost identical tones on the phone, unanimously comforting him that running factories just involved so many troubles. Only then did Liu Jun think of Dong Qiyang, whom he rather admired, and quickly called for advice.

Dong Qiyang said matter-of-factly on the other end: “Our experiences are similar. The day before yesterday, we had migrant workers laying colored steel sheets on steel structure roofing, and one fell…”

“High-altitude work without safety harnesses?”

“Here’s the coincidence – he was harnessed, but the strap was somehow cut by a steel beam. The steel structure company boss was chased into hiding by the deceased’s fellow villagers, so that group pestered me for money. How could I possibly pay? I handed this matter to Miss Yang to handle. Want to ask her? I think she handled it quite sharply.”

“Does sharp count as reasonable?”

“To say something heartless, everyone feels bad when encountering such things. But how much responsibility the company should bear and how much compensation should be paid must all follow written regulations. Even if I finally want to compensate, it can only be from personal pockets, not the company’s. If there’s even a bit of womanly kindness during handling, this matter never ends – you can’t see the finish. Miss Yang is second to none among women in administrative work. Haha, this can’t be your first time handling such matters.”

Liu Jun stirred the rice in his bowl back and forth with a spoon – it seemed his psychological quality wasn’t as good as Yang Li’s. “There’s another matter, Mr. Dong. I have an employee who took advantage of the chaos to steal a blueprint and disappeared. Please help me keep watch – if he comes to your door selling it, give me the blueprints and the person.”

Dong Qiyang laughed: “Haha, when Qin lost the deer, the whole world competed for it. Can you reveal whether this missing blueprint is useful? If useful, I’ll send signals overnight offering big money for stolen goods.”

“Just a drawing of one component. But I’m willing to personally give you fifty thousand – please help me set a trap in Shi Yiji’s name. What I need is to catch this person and make an example. The missing employee probably couldn’t imagine in his wildest dreams that I’d conspire with Mr. Dong of Shi Yiji.”

“This matter… I’m willing to help you, but you know my position is rather difficult. How about you find Miss Yang? I think she’d be very willing to do you a favor and reduce some guilt. What do you think? Or I could call Miss Yang and have her find you.”

Liu Jun quickly laughed: “My face is thick enough – I’ll find Miss Yang myself. Thank you, Mr. Dong. You always help me at critical moments.”

“Manager Liu, I declare again that I’m a professional manager. My responsibility is to increase shareholder value, not be the shareholders’ lackey. Haha.”

Liu Jun said sincerely, “If my Tengfei could someday hire talent like Mr. Dong, I could focus on my technical R&D. Now, most of my time goes to miscellaneous affairs – very unfortunate. Mr. Dong, can I make an appointment with you?”

Hearing this, Dong Qiyang was surprised and, with a senior salesperson’s quality, said very smoothly and amiably: “I’m very honored. I hope there will be such a day.”

Dong Qiyang just drew an illusory pie in the sky, but Liu Jun took it seriously in his heart.