Martin was young. Being stared at like this made him feel embarrassed, so he kept shrinking behind his mother.
"Hey, what's going on here?" his cousin's heart skipped a beat.
Old Lady Li wasn't sure what to do either. Generally, people would ask a question or two. Why did this person leave just after hearing the name?
People in the city are really heartless!
"I don't know. Could it be that Li Chuchu has a really bad reputation in the factory? Maybe they don't want to talk to us. Forget it. Let's keep calling for now."
She continued shouting.
But she didn't notice that within a radius of three zhang centered around them, no one dared to approach.
Everyone was in a hurry to go to work and was afraid of getting entangled with this family.
The guard had been keeping an eye on these old men and women outside.
These people clearly came here to cause trouble.
He thought to himself that something was wrong.
The factory director had told him yesterday that some higher - level leaders would come today. He had even put on a new uniform specially, hoping to make a good impression on the inspectors.
He never expected that someone would come to cause trouble.
This was not acceptable.
This was related to the honor of the factory, and there couldn't be any mistakes on his watch.
The guard quickly walked up. "Hey hey hey, what are you guys doing? No trouble - making here!"
When Old Lady Li saw someone coming to drive them away, she stared at the guard with a fixed glare. "I'm here to see your leader. I won't leave until I see your leader!"
The old lady looked as if she was ready to go all out with him. Her look was quite creepy. The guard could only persuade her kindly. "Look, it's very sunny outside. How about we go inside and sit for a while? I'll go and inform our leader."
He had heard about the Li family's affairs and knew that these people were just looking for trouble. He decided to stall them first.
Old Lady Li wasn't that stupid.
She suspected that the guard just wanted to smooth things over. If she really went inside and sat down, they might just be left in some corner and ignored.
Old Lady Li stiffened her neck. "I'm not going in. I'll wait for your leader right here. I won't leave until I see him!"
The guard could tell that these people were tough nuts to crack and not easy to talk to. He had no choice but to go inside and inform Director Chen about this.
He made an internal call. The person in the director's office said that the director had gone on a business trip.
The guard looked embarrassed. "Then what should I do with those two people standing at the gate?"
He was completely at a loss, just waiting for the cold reply from the other end of the phone. "You try to handle it for now. We'll talk about it when the director comes back."
The guard felt his head was about to explode.
Forget it. Since no one else cared, he wouldn't either!
...
They stood outside for half the morning.
Their clothes were almost soaked with sweat.
They had picked a bad day, a sunny day. After the rush hour for work, there were hardly any people at the gate. Standing here and shouting was useless.
Martin had been squatting at the cross - road for a long time.
He didn't see anyone who looked like a leader around. After squatting for almost two hours, he finally came over impatiently. "Mom, how much longer do we have to wait? Didn't Auntie say that the factory director would come and handle this soon?"
The cousin looked at Old Lady Li.
Old Lady Li also felt that something was fishy. This wasn't right. Even if the factory director didn't care about this matter, if there were leaders coming for an inspection today, they wouldn't just let them stay here, would they?
Could it be that Jianmin got the information wrong?
Martin thought this whole thing was unreliable. "How about we go back? Anyway, cousin is a workshop director in the factory. Let him talk to the factory director. Isn't that more useful than us waiting here?"
The cousin shared the same opinion as her son. Their cousin was a workshop director, while they were just poor villagers from the countryside. How could their words carry more weight than his?
"Nonsense!"
Old Lady Li said firmly and flatly refused.
"Do you know what your cousin's position is now? We can't let him leave a bad impression in front of the leaders because of this. He still has a chance to be promoted in the future."
She decided to wait a little longer. Maybe if she persisted, Director Chen would come out.
It was just that the sun was too strong today. There was only a cool place in the guard's booth at the factory gate.
The cousin and Martin were getting impatient because of the heat.
Old Lady Li hesitated for a moment, then walked up to the guard again and said sheepishly, "Hey, brother, it's not easy for you to stand guard here. Can you let us rest here for a while? We'll leave as soon as the leader comes."
They had refused to come in when they were invited earlier, and now it wasn't going to be that easy.
The guard glanced at the old lady. "This is a serious guard post. I don't have room for idle people."
Old Lady Li swallowed hard with her parched throat. "Then can you let us in? I'm here to see my granddaughter."
The guard scoffed. "Who knows who your granddaughter is? Maybe you're just making it up. Anyway, non - factory employees are not allowed to enter. You'd better leave quickly!"
Old Lady Li's face turned a mixture of blue and white. She supported her forehead and swayed, pretending to faint.
Old Man Li remembered his duty and was ready to call the police at the right moment.
The guard had seen this kind of blackmailing before and shouted loudly, "Hey! If you're going to faint, don't do it here! Those people over there are all watching. None of us touched you. We won't be responsible if anything happens!"
There were a few street vendors at the factory gate. Since there was not much business at the moment, they were all looking at Old Lady Li, enjoying the show.
When Old Lady Li heard this, she knew she couldn't blackmail them, so she gritted her teeth and didn't faint.
She was not willing to give up like this.
She had no choice but to go back and stand there again, wiping the sweat off her forehead because of the heat.
She cursed Li Chuchu countless times in her heart. If it weren't for her, she wouldn't have to drag the whole family here to suffer.
...
After Li Chuchu finished the broadcast, she came out of the broadcast room and took a look at them standing behind the gate.
They all looked like wilted chickens. It was such a hot day. They must be really uncomfortable.
These old men and women were quite persistent.
When the guard saw Li Chuchu, he quickly stood up and greeted her. "Comrade Li, you're here in person! Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on things here and won't let them in to bother your work."
The guard had also heard about Comrade Li's family affairs. Comrade Li had made so many contributions to the factory and was an advanced individual representative. It was a pity that she was dragged down by this blood - sucking family.
A sense of justice welled up in the guard's heart when he heard this. He was determined to keep these bad people out.
Seeing that Li Chuchu was still staring at those people outside, the guard said a few more words. "These people came early this morning and have been waiting here for a long time. I'm just afraid it will have a bad influence if someone comes for an inspection."
Li Chuchu shook her head. "It's okay. The factory director went out to pick up the inspectors this morning. They should arrive this afternoon. The factory director will take them in through the side door. Don't worry about these people."
The factory director had called her this morning and told her not to worry because he would take care of the inspectors.
There must be Chen Junsheng's handiwork behind this.
Li Chuchu thought that Chen Junsheng had really helped her a lot this time, and she must invite him to dinner.
As for Old Lady Li and the others,
It would depend on whether they could endure standing in the sun or if they could sit in the office, enjoying the fan and waiting.
...