Chapter 158 Is This How You Test the Deputy Factory Director?

Shen Cuiyue’s upbringing prompted her to stop asking at just the right moment, turning instead to inquiring leisurely about what made the hotel so special.

This was flattery handled in entirely the reverse direction—she made no attempt to probe into the man’s inner thoughts.

Keeping him comfortably served was enough.

"Surrounded by towering skyscrapers, yet right behind them are old hutongs. Look at how these buildings of varying heights form a circle, with a landscaped garden and pond right in the middle, and resort-style balconies facing the water. How cozy..."

Of course, she truly believed that the ideas of "environmentalism, nature, and leisure" expressed by Rang Weidong were entirely the influence of that military-uniformed secretary.

She simply listened slowly, tasting the pastries on her plate.

This allowed Rang Weidong, riding a slight wave of alcoholic warmth, to release an emotional reserve that he had never once let down, not even with Dong Xueying.

Even though he didn't realize it himself: "Grand and magnificent things are made for people to look at. Just like how we seize opportunities to fight and hustle now—some people constantly have to chase fame, seeking recognition and support from above. We don't need that. As long as we solidly sell our goods and make ordinary people's lives comfortable, our scale will grow quietly... Ah, I remember a saying: 'The best warriors have no illustrious reputation.' I'm beginning to understand what that means."

A woman of the rivers and lakes understood traditional culture better than he did, which made her a great companion for chatting with her wealthy patron: "The best warriors have no illustrious achievements. Mmm, that's exactly what you mean. Those who truly know how to fight quietly manage the situation well and prevent trouble before it starts. Fighting always damages the foundation—much like how a skilled doctor focuses on maintaining health rather than treating illnesses. But even knowing the principle, how many people can actually put it into practice? You've done exceptionally well."

Perhaps very few people truly understood Rang Weidong's mindset.

Seeing an opportunity to make a fortune and yet choosing not to greedily hoard every penny—donating thirty thousand, sharing profits with the laborers and the manual packaging line—all of this was done for the long term.

Of course, Rang Weidong’s train of thought stemmed from those years of imprisonment, followed by forty years spent lingering in the tax bureau compounds.

Hearing this explanation now, he was quite pleased: "Mmm, that's precisely the logic."

And so, a little past ten in the evening, this young man and woman felt no rush to engage in passionate romance; instead, they sat leisurely at the open-air poolside café in the courtyard, chatting at ease.

It genuinely drew quite a few passing glances.

The young man was sturdy, sharp-eyed, and full of vitality, while the young woman wore a bright smile and a relaxed posture.

Both possessed a rare, uninhibited air uncharacteristic of the times.

Shen Cuiyue shook her head with rare amusement: "In the past, when the uncles and granduncles talked about such principles, I didn't understand them. For the past twenty or thirty years, they’ve always kept things hidden, and the matriarch often scolded them for overthinking. It took you to bring me along to truly make sense of it all."

Rang Weidong smiled and set down his coffee cup: "It's just that we happened to run into this golden era; otherwise, I’d be a nameless old bachelor, and you might have vanished during some routine sweep. So cherish it. Come on, let's see if the money I have on me is enough to buy you a bag."

Hearing the plural pronoun "you," Shen Cuiyue raised an eyebrow, almost resorting to her old tricks, but she lowered her head, suppressed the expression, and stood up.

At that moment, to the mild surprise of them both, the café manager politely offered a small tray displaying a card: "It is an honor to have your appreciation and patronage. We have complimentary upgraded your accommodation to an executive suite. Would that be acceptable?"

The confidence born of making money hand over fist allowed them to be utterly unconstrained at that moment. Rang Weidong even laughed as he gave Third Sister Shen a review: "This is the finest service—it fits precisely what we just said about the best warrior having no illustrious..."

Shen Cuiyue chimed in: "...achievements. Thank you."

With that, they exchanged their room keys and strolled over to the indoor commercial street.

True to its design, apart from a ten-story guest tower facing the street, the rest consisted of single-story restaurants, lounges, and shops. In an era full of emotional fervor, it was easy for people to feel it lacked grand momentum.

Yet strolling through it was remarkably comfortable. There were several imported brand clothing boutiques and even a home goods store.

Shen Cuiyue's eyes were undoubtedly opened to a whole new world, while Rang Weidong spotted many familiar items.

He enthusiastically introduced them to her, and the underworld-trained woman naturally assumed he had witnessed such things down in Guangzhou.

Although it was late and the shops were closed, the two of them mainly window-shopped along the displays.

As they passed, a customer service manager informed them that if they genuinely had any needs, they could request other staff members to retrieve the items beforehand and settle the account at the counter later.

***

Rang Weidong suddenly remembered: Oh right, we haven't made our phone call yet.

Consequently, they returned to their room, completely devoid of any thoughts about clandestine romance.

Third Sister Shen had indeed seen the world at the foreign-affairs hotel above the Queen Restaurant, so she wasn't surprised by the lavishly decorated bathroom, but the exquisitely packaged shampoo and skincare products still captivated her.

She insisted on having a "beauty emerging from the bath" moment immediately.

Meanwhile, Rang Weidong curiously inspected the interior and exterior rooms of the executive suite: "Now this is a high-end hotel. The Swan Hotel is probably just up to the aesthetic standards of a Hong Kong tycoon; this right here is true taste."

Comfortably seating himself outside with one leg crossed over the other, he requested the front desk to connect a long-distance call—never mind that hotel call rates were undoubtedly doubled.

Any problem that could be solved with money wasn't a problem.

Dong Xueying was indeed waiting by the phone, laughing as she mentioned she and her sister were watching the pre-Olympic opening ceremony reports, reminding him not to miss it past eight o'clock tomorrow morning.

Rang Weidong let out an "Oh, oh, oh" and said it was fortunate: "The telegraph and telephone building in Beijing is simply too crowded; you have to wait in line for hours. I figured I'd just make the call from this foreign-affairs hotel outside the factory—it happens to have a television so we can watch it tomorrow morning, otherwise there really aren't any TVs back at the plant... I'll have to figure out a way to get them one."

Had it not been for the strict management of the foreign-affairs hotel, he would have loved to call all those fellows over to watch television.

On second thought, though, foreign opening ceremonies were pretty much standard fare; the real focus would be winning Olympic gold medals.

He teased Dong the Second that someone who had to go to work couldn't possibly be as free as they were, which instantly provoked the phoenix fledgling on the other end to let out an outraged howl!

Today, the little baby was making a fuss again, leaving Rang Weidong puzzled as to why the child wouldn't sleep so late.

Dong Xueying explained that the baby had taken a nap after dinner.

She didn't elaborate on why, but the reason was painfully clear.

After chattering for a good long while, they finally got down to business regarding work: today, a shipment of sanitary napkin equipment along with a batch of raw materials had been dispatched by truck, accompanied by two thousand packs of finished products, five thousand cameras, two hundred radio-recorders, and five hundred pounds of small snacks. Moreover, the two thousand cameras sent by train the day before should be arriving soon as well.

Additionally, after finally persuading his parents to travel to Beijing today, they had specially dispatched two of the lads to line up for train tickets. As it turned out, they were still standing in line, which proved that the task of ticket-purchasing truly required dedicated personnel.

Rang Weidong also reported that the *Sunshine Daily* newspapers should be monitored and collected, that the new rolls of film would soon be shipped back to Jiangzhou by train with priority given to Manager Zhang’s photo studio, and that tomorrow they would go to the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives to reconfirm the inclusion of sanitary napkins in the product catalog...

As they chatted away, Rang Weidong suddenly realized that the bedroom inside... was equipped with a damn king-sized bed?

His speech stuttered for a fraction of a second. Naturally, his immediate thought was: *With a room this expensive, am I supposed to sleep on the living room sofa?*

Dong Xueying, however, offered tender concern: "You must be exhausted. Rest early, we'll talk tomorrow. Xiao Qing, say a few words."

Rang Weidong tried to shoo her away: "Not her, let the little one speak. *Mwah*... Right, I saw disposable diapers at the hotel supermarket earlier, I'll bring a few packs back when I return."

Demoted to the very end of the line, the phoenix fledgling was so furious she was ready to undergo a secondary growth spurt: "I'm not the one washing diapers, I am! I'm the one washing them!"

Rang Weidong and Dong Xueying both burst into hearty laughter—it was truly domestic bliss.

After hanging up the phone, he saw Shen Cuiyue wrapped in a bathrobe, quietly leaning against the doorway and peeking in: "You two get along exceptionally well, don't you?"

Rang Weidong nodded with satisfaction: "Your hair is still wet, and leaving it like that is bad for your health. Go find a hair dryer... Wait, damn it, I could have our electrical appliance factory manufacture hair dryers! What kind of high-tech content does this gadget even have, yet the demand for it is massive."

With that, he let out a hearty laugh: "So as I told you before... when we go to places like Guangzhou and Shanghai, we see advanced things and bring them back to the Southwest to manufacture, sell, and make a fortune. Who would've thought staying in a foreign-affairs hotel would spark inspiration too?"

The fleeting sense of déjà vu scattered away with the wind, and he didn't dwell on it further.

Pulling over the notepad on the desk, he jotted down a few notes and turned on the television. As expected, foreign television stations were filled with reports about the Olympic Games.

Only this time, there was no one to translate the English for him, so he simply muted the volume, suddenly feeling that the office area of this executive suite wasn't half bad. Perhaps he should just rent it long-term.

***

Whether for daily rest, entertaining important clients, or even hosting a dinner party right here in the restaurant—Rang Weidong instantly realized the effect would utterly demolish today's banquet.

No matter how one boasted about time-honored traditional restaurants, at least in this era, the dining rooms of five-star hotels offered a luxury and shock value that completely subverted conventional perception.

And so, he mapped out tomorrow's hosting schedule to test it out and see for himself.

Shen Cuiyue, who had been puttering around in the bathroom, felt no hesitation whatsoever about the king-sized bed. Instead, she wrapped herself tightly in her bathrobe, walked out, and sat on the sofa: "Did you call the Feiyan factory? Even if we aren't going back, we should at least let them know."

Rang Weidong snapped back to reality and made the call, taking the opportunity to remind them that tomorrow morning featured the Olympic opening ceremony.

To his surprise, the crowd over the phone shouted in excitement, saying no problem at all—they'd rush back to school bright and early to watch it collectively.

Rang Weidong teased them: "If you can find a ticketless way in, I'll go buy a television tomorrow and put it in the factory for everyone to watch."

Even more jubilant, the group declared they would definitely find a way.

Only He Yuemei came on the line to ask about tomorrow's handover of funds for the ten thousand rolls of color film with the film factory. Since the cash brought to Beijing had been largely spent on the vehicles and was no longer enough, she wanted to know if they should arrange an electronic bank transfer from Jiangzhou.

*Ah,* Rang Weidong had completely forgotten to mention that just now. Yet, remarkably, he didn't want to disturb his wife and child's sleep again: "The new batch of cameras should arrive tomorrow. We'll pick them up and sell them—let's see if we can cover the payment directly with those funds."

The college students immediately responded with passionate enthusiasm, declaring they would get the matter settled while watching the Olympics tomorrow.

In truth, nobody quite grasped what level of event the Olympics actually was at that point in time.

In the eyes of Chinese citizens in the 1980s, the world championships won by the women's volleyball team over the past couple of years didn't feel much different; the Olympics were probably just about the same.

Nor did Rang Weidong realize that he was actually influencing things all the way up to the Olympics.

Satisfied, he hung up the phone: "Even if they come to collect payment over there, waiting a day or two until we collect the cash from selling the cameras won't be a problem."

He sat down in the executive chair—which was undoubtedly an imported piece—spun around twice, and voiced his idea about long-term renting the suite.

Shen Cuiyue gently deflated his expanding ego: "We only booked this temporarily for a few days during our stay in Beijing; we aren't here most of the time. Are we just going to leave it empty or let other people use it? Or perhaps you're planning to keep a concubine here?"

Rang Weidong let out an "Oh, oh, oh," stood up, and tried to shoo her away: "It's almost midnight, go inside and sleep. I'll take the sofa. We originally booked a standard room—you really lack that bit of situational awareness."

As he spoke, he flipped open the television cabinet to retrieve the pillows and bedding.

Shen Cuiyue rolled her eyes a few times: "If I really used my charms, I could definitely win you over. But I don't want you to feel forced, and even more so, I don't want you keeping secrets from Sister Dong, so I'm not going to seduce you."

She even made a theatrical gesture of placing her hand on the belt of her bathrobe, as if she could activate her alluring arts at any second.

Rang Weidong felt not the slightest ripple in his heart: "Oh-ho-ho, I thank you, sincerely thank you. No need to test me with this. Go to sleep. I won't play any sneaky games with you either; that wouldn't be interesting."

Shen Cuiyue agreed.

However, she proceeded to drag the bedding off the bed inside and laid it out neatly beside the sofa: "Still, keeping you company is something I must accomplish. Besides, you're also my boss; if anyone's going to sleep on the bed, it should be you. I'm very happy today."

With that, she genuinely slipped off her bathrobe, wrapped herself snugly and matter-of-factly in the bedding, and went to sleep.

Rang Weidong caught a fleeting glimpse, and his heart finally gave a sharp thump. Even a simple undershirt and white cotton briefs could somehow be worn with an alluring charm. *Sleep, time to sleep.*

Fortunately, he was no longer the inexperienced old fellow he had been back in Guangzhou. Turning off the lights, leaning back, and flipping through channels with the remote control, he gradually drifted off to sleep.

He was entering the post-marital state ahead of schedule.