As they say, while unlucky in love, one can be lucky in career.
Yan Xishan not only got elected as a People's Representative and appeared on TV, but he was also about to attend the People's Congress meeting.
Adding to his good fortune, some businessmen from the South had approached him recently to discuss a major deal worth 500,000 yuan.
Moreover, they suggested conducting the transaction in cash to avoid taxes, offering to sign both official and unofficial contracts.
This meant they would officially document only 200,000 yuan in the contract, with the remaining 300,000 yuan going directly to Yan Xishan - essentially opening the door for him to embezzle money from the mining company.
Previously, Yan Xishan would never have considered embezzlement. After all, he had been acquiring small mining operations and installing safety production lines. Now, his Western Mountain Company controlled 30% of Xiping City's mining resources. Since installing the safety measures, despite occasional flooding and cave-ins, there had been zero worker fatalities - which was the primary reason he was elected as a People's Representative.
If he pocketed the money, the company would lack funds to acquire other small mines, ultimately hurting his own interests.
It would be like cutting off his own flesh to eat - pointless and painful.
However, after much hesitation, Yan Xishan decided to quietly embezzle this sum.
He wouldn't waste this money frivolously. He planned to save it in case Chen Meilan got injured or disabled because of Hu Xiaohua, and Yan Zhao abandoned her. He would use this money to hire someone to deal with Yan Zhao, that heartless man.
With this in mind, Yan Xishan prepared to meet the Southern businessmen.
Before leaving, he called Chen Meilan to tell her about the Southern businessmen, adding: "Meilan, please be very careful and mind your safety. Remember, if you ever get hurt, come to me first."
"Why would I come to you?" Chen Meilan asked.
"You silly girl, if you become bedridden, I'll take care of you for life. If you end up in prison, I'll raise Zhaodi and build a small house outside the prison, waiting for you forever," Yan Xishan declared passionately.
Before he could finish, the line went dead - Chen Meilan had hung up.
This woman was heartless and stubborn. Initially, Yan Xishan felt guilty about embezzling company funds, but since Chen Meilan was so confident, he wouldn't be polite anymore. He couldn't go to prison for murder himself, so he had to embezzle this money to teach Yan Zhao a lesson!
...
Meanwhile, at Chen Meilan's side.
It was April, and Factory 271, after a quarter of preparation, was about to hold its order fair.
Whether Hu Xiaohua had real ability and was truly a sales genius would be determined by his performance during this period.
As a villager, Hu Xiaohua was well-known to everyone.
News of Meilan hiring Hu Xiaohua spread through the village within two days. Recently, many people had been trying to persuade Chen Meilan to fire him. This talk became so widespread that even the children were worried their mother might get into trouble because of Hu Xiaohua.
Today was weekend, so there was no school. Yan Peiheng, who had been on a business trip in Henan during the week, had returned home for the weekend. Seeing their stern grandfather at home, the children refused to let Chen Meilan go to work alone. They all packed their schoolbags, insisting on going with her.
Yan Zhao also had to go out today.
Recently, several strange cases had occurred in Jinnan involving local nouveau riche. The pattern was similar: wealthy men allegedly attempting to rape married women in hotels, failing, and then being caught in the act by the women's husbands.
Attempted rape currently didn't carry prison time under the law, but required compensation.
The amounts ranged from 3,000 to 35,000 yuan, and at least a dozen wealthy men in Xiping City had lost money this way.
One case might be coincidental.
But with so many prostitutes and mistresses available in the city, and most wealthy men already keeping mistresses, why would they suddenly all become so desperate to rape married women?
This was clearly a honey trap scam.
The wealthy being blackmailed wasn't the worst part - these extortion cases led to new tragedies. For instance, after one wealthy man was blackmailed, his wife believed he had actually attempted rape. Unable to accept this, she cooked porridge laced with rat poison, killing herself, her husband, and their three children in one night.
The youngest boy was about Little Lang's age. When Yan Zhao arrived at the scene, the boy was still alive, foaming at the mouth and pleading, "Police uncle, save me, save me!"
Yan Zhao was so angry he went to the shooting range and fired a ten-round burst just to calm down.
That's why he believed these honey trap cases needed to be solved and dealt with quickly.
However, the cases occurred in Jinnan, outside his jurisdiction. The Jinnan police held old-fashioned views, considering these scams as criminals targeting criminals, preferring to let the parties settle privately. In fact, from the cases Yan Zhao had heard about, it seemed the Jinnan police were deliberately helping the scammers increase their extortion amounts, with one case reaching 50,000 yuan.
So today he was going to Jinnan to look into these cases.
He couldn't forget how that poisoned child had grown cold in his arms.
Since it was on the way, he caught a ride with Chen Meilan, and the whole family headed to Jinnan.
Chen Meilan was quite busy after leaving home. She first stopped at Chen Degong's current construction site to check on her older brother and personally inspect the steel bars, cement, and sand to ensure he wasn't using substandard materials in his construction work. After giving some additional instructions, she drove toward Jinnan.
Having a private car made things much faster - while public transport from Jindong to Jinnan would take at least three hours of bumpy riding, Chen Meilan's drive took only half an hour to reach the Jinnan Police Station.
In Xiping City, the police at Jindong Branch were quite calm when they saw Yan Zhao, as they were former comrades and brothers.
But other branches were different. On this weekend, the duty officer felt like he'd seen a ghost when he encountered the "Living King of Hell."
When he heard Yan Zhao wanted to investigate the honey trap cases, the duty officer secretly cursed him for meddling but didn't dare delay. He hurriedly led him upstairs to the archives room.
While serving tea, he thought to himself about why this "Living King of Hell" was stuck in a branch office despite his achievements.
He was simply too nosy.
Those nouveau riche deserved what they got.
If they hadn't been so desperate and lustful, how could they have fallen for the honey traps?
Of course, outwardly he maintained a smile and quickly called their bureau chief to come discuss the cases with Yan Zhao.
Back to Chen Meilan, in her office, each child sat on a chair doing homework at her desk. The children were multitasking, scribbling while waiting for Hu Xiaohua.
Finally, Hu Xiaohua arrived.
After a week of good meals and a new military uniform, his complexion had improved noticeably.
But compared to Xue Mingfang, who stood straight and appeared handsome and militant, he was lazy and sloppy, lacking both image and dignity - looking just like a traitor who guided Japanese troops in war movies.
"Hey, Little Zhaodi, Little Wang, Little Lang, how are you?" he greeted the children.
The three children immediately became alert, especially Little Wang, whose ears perked up like a rabbit's. The children were worried this man might bully their mother.
Today's task was to call the old distributors and notify them about the upcoming order fair. Hu Xiaohua, who looked down on Chen Meilan, grabbed the phone directory to show off: "Sister-in-law, say no more, I'll make the calls and guarantee all distributors will come."
Then, trying to undermine Xue Mingfang, he added: "We market veterans are different from these naive old guns. Let me show you my PR skills today."
Chen Meilan snatched the directory from his hands and, ignoring him, asked Xue Mingfang: "Among our current distributors, who's the most difficult one, the one who curses you the most on the phone? Give me that number."
There was a distributor in Kaifeng, Henan, named Shen Changqi, nicknamed "Always Angry," who had an extremely bad temper. He was also Xiong Dapao's close friend and the first to announce he would stop cooperating with Factory 271.
Xue Mingfang pulled out his phone, and when he saw Chen Meilan about to make a call, he worried she might get yelled at, so he said, "Commander, let me make the call. Shen Changqi has a bad temper, and I'm afraid he might yell at you."
By then, Chen Meilan had already dialed the number and gestured for Xue Mingfang to be quiet. She cheerfully said hello: "Manager Shen, it's the weekend, are you busy?"
"Who are you? Why are you calling me? Do I know you?" The person on the other end indeed sounded unfriendly.
"I'm Chen Meilan, the General Manager of Dongpai Clothing. How are the product sales lately? I heard from my staff that among all our distributors, you have the strongest sales ability. They all really admire you," Chen Meilan said.
After a pause, the other party surprisingly replied, "You're planning a merchandise ordering fair, right? Which day? I'll come and support you."
Chen Meilan smiled, agreed on the time, hung up the phone, and solemnly handed the contact book to Hu Xiaohua: "Xiaohua, now I've handled the most difficult one, I'll leave the rest to you."
Hu Xiaohua was stunned but said, "Sister-in-law, I've noticed you're really good at public relations. Why do you still need me?"
Seeing that he wouldn't take the contact book, Chen Meilan slapped it against his chest: "Because I'm the boss, and of course I can do everything, but my main job is being the boss, not chasing clients. Get to work."
Like a miracle, after a group of soldiers spent an entire week training Hu Xiaohua on walking, posture, speaking, and even tone - especially since he always liked to call Chen Meilan "sister-in-law," which everyone disapproved of and insisted he call her "Commander" - he had refused to change.
But at this moment, he suddenly stood straight and saluted: "Yes, Commander!"
Turning around, he actually marched away in military step.
Xue Mingfang was completely dumbfounded.
Wasn't Hu Xiaohua supposed to be fearless? How did he suddenly become so proper?
And that Manager Shen Changqi, who usually cursed when speaking and claimed he would never attend ordering fairs, how did Chen Meilan convince him with just three sentences on the phone to happily agree to attend?
The Commander had only spoken a few ordinary sentences, how did she manage it?
After Hu Xiaohua left, Xue Mingfang scratched his head, unable to figure it out, and left as well.
Chen Meilan was very busy and needed to check on production in the workshop, so she closed the door and left too.
As soon as she left, Little Wang nudged Yuanyuan's elbow: "Do you know why Mom just called that distributor?"
Yuanyuan said, "I don't know, but brother, Uncle Hu Xiaohua seems so annoying, I'm afraid he might hurt Mom."
"No way, he now completely admires Mom," Little Wang said, then poked Little Lang and asked, "Do you know why that distributor agreed to come right after Mom called?"
Little Lang paused for a moment and said, "Maybe Mom will buy him good food and snacks."
Little Wang flicked this silly boy's forehead, suddenly feeling that in this world, perhaps no one but himself could understand Mom.
The reason Chen Meilan called the most difficult distributor in front of Hu Xiaohua and successfully convinced him was to intimidate Hu Xiaohua, to let him know that her abilities far exceeded his.
The strong always admire those who are stronger than themselves.
Only this way would Hu Xiaohua genuinely admire Chen Meilan and stop playing games, focusing instead on work.
And the reason Chen Meilan could convince the most bad-tempered distributor with just a few words was because hot-tempered people usually love being praised. Whether or not Shen Changqi was actually the strongest distributor, Chen Meilan's flattery about his sales ability made him happy, and once happy, of course he would cheerfully agree to come.
Killing two birds with one stone - that was his mother's way.
Little Wang admired his mother not only in life but also in work.
The life of a master is indeed lonely - only Little Wang understood his mother's wisdom!
Of course, this was just Little Wang's perspective.
In his eyes, his mother was like a martial arts master, invincible in the world, but Chen Meilan had her own worries.
Walking in the workshop, suddenly, her mobile phone rang.
Immediately, all the young workers looked up: "Commander, answer the phone!"
This gadget was so novel that wherever it went, all eyes were drawn to it.
The ivory-colored mobile phone even had caller ID function - whenever someone called, Chen Meilan could see who was calling.
The number was Xiong Dapao's, so Chen Meilan left the workshop.
Getting straight to the point, Xiong Dapao spoke in a surprised tone: "Manager Chen, I heard you hired Hu Xiaohua?"
Then immediately: "Hu Xiaohua is famous throughout Xiping City for bringing bad luck to his father, mother, and bosses."
Followed by: "Let's not joke around, fire him immediately, I'll help you organize your ordering fair."
Business is like warfare - there are no eternal enemies, nor eternal friends.
People come together for money and fall out over interests - it's commonplace.
Xiong Dapao would turn against others for profit, but when life and death were at stake, he would also swallow his pride and actively seek reconciliation, because compared to profit, life was more important.
"Manager Xiong, I was wrong when you visited my home last time, I apologize to you," Chen Meilan said.
As soon as she conceded, Xiong Dapao opened up: "Sister-in-law, you said before that you didn't intentionally reject me, and I'm very grateful for that. You married the Colonel, and I'm genuinely happy about that, but I need to find someone too, and I want to find someone just like you - capable, refined, cultured, excellent in every way. Yu Xiaoqiao returned from abroad, she's a bit older and has dated others before, but she wants to build a career. She's as excellent as you, so I don't mind these things, and I'm serious about marrying her, I must show my sincerity, I can't let her look down on me. I was too impulsive that day, I should apologize to you too."
Chen Meilan didn't want to discuss this, so she changed the subject: "How about Manager Yu, can she handle Factory 291?"
Speaking of Yu Xiaoqiao, Xiong Dapao not only liked her but admired her immensely: "She's especially good at building relationships, she should be able to establish some connections and secure Factory 291 soon."
It wasn't that Chen Meilan had evil thoughts.
When men associate with a beautiful woman who has no background, they definitely harbor other intentions. Would someone like Xiong Dapao help Chen Meilan purely out of loyalty? No, he just wanted to show off his abilities in front of her, and in the darkest corners of his heart, he wanted her to regret not marrying him.
Yu Xiaoqiao was so good at building relationships, could it be that those men truly appreciated her abilities?
When men and women drink together, could there really be no dirty jokes at the table? After drinking, could all men really remain gentlemanly and keep their hands to themselves?
Unfortunately, although Xiong Dapao was worldly, his military background meant he didn't encounter the world's darker side and thus didn't think about these things.
Moreover, thinking ahead, although Xiong Dapao was currently the richest man in Xiping City.
But in the future, Chen Meilan had never heard of him - did this mean that after he married Yu Xiaoqiao, he angered some of her powerful patrons and was consequently eliminated by them?
In business, being wealthy for one year is chance, for ten years is luck, and being wealthy for decades like Lu Jingyu requires being the craftiest of the crafty. Xiong Dapao was loyal and good-hearted, but ultimately, he probably died halfway due to Yu Xiaoqiao.
Thinking about this, although difficult, Chen Meilan naturally wanted to persuade Xiong Dapao to think carefully and observe Yu Xiaoqiao more closely. After consideration, she said: "Manager Yu must attend many drinking occasions since she's so good at building relationships. You should advise her to take care of her health with all that drinking."
"She does attend quite a few drinking occasions, but she told me it's mainly to build resources in the early stages, after all, we're not like you who naturally have high-ranking officials as backing. Once we secure Factory 291, she'll do business properly like you, and also..." at this point, Xiong Dapao suddenly chuckled, then continued, "take care of my son as well as you take care of Little Lang and Little Wang."
Chen Meilan was already quite worried about Xiong Dapao, and her heart ached when he said that.
As a single father, like Yan Zhao, he didn't ask for much. He just wanted to find a good woman who would take care of his son, just as Chen Meilan cared for Little Wang and Little Lang, to be a good stepmother.
"Your son must like Manager Yu too, right?" Chen Meilan asked.
Xiong Dapao sighed, "My little troublemaker has met Xiaoqiao a few times, but you know how kids are - who likes a stepmother? He's making a huge fuss, doesn't want me to get married."
This made sense. If Chen Meilan remembered correctly, Yu Xiaoqiao had never had children because she particularly disliked them, to the point where she didn't even bother hiding it.
"How about this - bring your son and Manager Yu to the order fair? My kids will be there too. Let's have the children meet each other," Chen Meilan suggested.
"That would be great, my son really wants to meet your daughter," Xiong Dapao agreed immediately.
Yu Xiaoqiao and Xiong Dapao had just started dating, and already the child didn't like it. At the order fair, they would have to spend half a day together, and Chen Meilan was certain that Yu Xiaoqiao wouldn't have that much patience.
Since Xiong Dapao cared most about his son, if things went wrong between Yu Xiaoqiao and his son, he would probably seriously reconsider getting married for now.
Chen Meilan put this matter aside for the moment.
Speaking of which, while Hu Xiaohua lived a pitiful life, his reputation as Manager Ke had now spread overseas.
Just as she returned to the office after hanging up the phone, Little Wang came with the phone: "Mom, Grandpa Gu is calling."
Though Gu Xiao was far away in Singapore, he knew everything about Factory 271, where he held shares.
After all, with Yan Dongping in Xiping City, he would immediately report everything Chen Meilan did to Gu Xiao.
Yan Dongping couldn't speak without exaggerating, and he had greatly embellished the story about Hu Xiaohua being born under an unlucky star to Gu Xiao.
Chen Meilan thought Gu Xiao was calling to persuade her to fire Hu Xiaohua.
But that wasn't it. Gu Xiao was an old businessman with the eyes of a fox, and he saw things differently: "Miss Chen, it sounds like Hu Xiaohua is a very cunning person. Though he has ability, I'm worried you can't control him. I have a solution for this..."
"Please tell me." Chen Meilan was naturally polite to her investor.
"Find a charge to have Yan Zhao arrest him, detain him, and then you bail him out. He'll remember your kindness." After a pause, Gu Xiao continued, "At the same time, you must spread the word about Hu Xiaohua's unlucky fate throughout Xiping City, until everyone knows about it. Make it so no boss in Xiping City except you dares to hire him. Then he'll have no choice but to work devotedly for us!"
As expected of an old business fox - his thinking perfectly aligned with what Yan Zhao had done.
It was somewhat cruel, but although Hu Xiaohua had ability, he was like a defeated dog - no one would give him a bowl of rice to eat except working desperately for Chen Meilan.
It was almost lunchtime, and seeing that Hu Xiaohua hadn't left his office, Chen Meilan personally brought him lunch. She found him sitting on the floor, holding the phone, listening to a customer.
The customer was cursing on the phone: "Are you an idiot or what? Is something wrong with your brain? I already said I refuse to cooperate anymore. If you keep calling to harass me, I'll curse your father to die early and your mother to be unfaithful, and your children to be born without anuses."
"Oh my dear brother, how did you know about my father dying early and my mother being unfaithful?" Hu Xiaohua held the phone, smiling as bright as spring: "You really are my dear brother! Come to the order fair, give your brother a chance to earn a meal. Though my father died early and mother was unfaithful, children can't be born without anuses, brother."
The other party was stunned by his response, said "fine," and hung up.
Successfully closing a deal, Hu Xiaohua sat on the floor, looked up at the ceiling, and let out a long sigh.
Father died early, mother was unfaithful, sister became someone's mistress as soon as she grew up - Hu Xiaohua had grown up under people's contemptuous looks. When being looked down upon became a habit, he not only didn't fear being cursed at, he would feel itchy if he didn't get cursed at for a day.
"Oh, sister-in-law, why are you personally bringing me lunch?" Seeing Chen Meilan come in, he quickly stood up.
Chen Meilan handed the enamel cup to Hu Xiaohua and said deliberately: "Your mother and sister didn't do much wrong except for being unfaithful. Murder requires paying with one's life, breaking the law requires serving time, but after serving the sentence, one can start anew. If customers curse too badly, just stop calling them, find another one. We're the manufacturer, customers need our clothes to make money, we should be the masters. Don't be so subservient."
Hu Xiaohua was stunned: "Losing one customer means losing money."
"We can make money with other customers. Dignity is more important than money, understand?" After saying this, Chen Meilan left.
Hu Xiaohua took a breath, suddenly feeling that he probably couldn't outlast this boss Chen Meilan.
Because she was different from all the other bosses he had worked for - other bosses would rather have money than life.
Only she would rather have dignity than money.
Chen Meilan was the culprit who sent his mother and sister to prison, but she was also the only one who said that Qi Dongmei and Hu Xiaomei could start anew once they got out of prison. When Yan Zhao had said these words about starting anew, Hu Xiaohua felt nothing.
But when Chen Meilan said it, his heart suddenly ached.
Picking up the food cup and phone, he knew he could win over ten more difficult distributors today - this was his instinct!
After the children had lunch at the factory and Chen Meilan finished her work, Yan Zhao called to say he was done with his work, so Chen Meilan took the children to pick up Yan Zhao at Jinnan Branch Bureau.
The bureau chief of Jinnan Branch, named Huang Hong, had spent half the weekend discussing honey traps with Yan Zhao.
After spending so much time talking and having to smile and speak nicely to see this living King of Hell off at the bureau entrance.
After waiting for a while, Chen Meilan's champagne-colored Crown arrived, nearly blinding their eyes.
Chen Meilan needed to take a call, so she parked by the roadside, giving Huang Hong another chance to observe the luxury car up close.
Seeing Huang Hong sighing continuously, the duty officer thought he was upset about being bullied by Yan Zhao, so he tried to comfort him: "Chief Huang, anyway, Yan Zhao is stubborn and has offended many leaders, he won't get promoted, what are you worried about?"
"You don't understand. Luxury cars and beautiful women go together. If I had such a wife, I'd be willing to be a beat cop forever, never getting promoted," said Huang Hong.
Recently, Deputy Bureau Chief Zheng from the city bureau was about to be promoted to the provincial department. Huang Hong had given many gifts and flattered well, and was about to be promoted to deputy bureau chief at the city bureau.
But he envied Yan Zhao more - having such a beautiful wife who was also business-savvy, could drive, picked up and dropped off her husband for work, and was Xiping City's first female nouveau riche!
How infuriating.
That damned living King of Hell!
