Chapter 86: You Useless Teammate

Four o’clock in the afternoon.
Municipal Hospital No. 8.
The special care ward on the second floor.
By the window, Director Zhang leaned on his crutch, locked in a fierce argument with Li Dawei, who sat at the bedside. Their voices rose until both realized continuing was pointless; they fell into silence, cooling their tempers.

Only when his anger subsided did Li Dawei speak, his tone slow and measured. “Old Zhang, I just don’t understand. Old Yu is our ace repairman at Hengshui Distillery, with solid skills and nearly twenty apprentices under him. Most of them hold important positions at the distillery. With all this, why did you cut off Old Yu’s medical expenses? Do you realize you’re going to kill him by doing this?”

“And you’ll kill both of us!” As he said this, Li Dawei felt his fury flare again, but for the sake of the bigger picture, he forced himself to swallow it.

Seeing Director Zhang’s regretful expression, Li Dawei continued, “Now look what’s happened. Old Yu’s son, Yu Bin, has taken dozens of people from the factory to Donghe Police Station to report you, accusing you of favoritism and neglecting human life. Tell me, what are you going to do next?”

“How was I supposed to know Yu Bin would be so disobedient?” Director Zhang muttered.

If he’d known, he would have taken action first.

“If your own father had his life-saving medical expenses cut off, wouldn’t you fight for him? Old Yu’s in the hospital because of a work accident!” Li Dawei pointed at Director Zhang, on the verge of cursing, but the absurdity of Zhang’s behavior left him speechless.

Director Zhang said nothing, sitting at the bedside, clearly miserable.

After a long pause, Li Dawei asked softly, “I’m only going to ask you three questions. Answer honestly. If you don’t, our friendship ends here. Don’t say you know me at Hengshui Distillery.”

“Don’t make it sound so serious.” Director Zhang’s voice was tinged with panic.

At Hengshui Distillery, their relationship was not just as colleagues, but also as superior and subordinate. If Li Dawei lost faith in him, his days at the distillery would be over.

“What do you want me to do?” Li Dawei spread his hands in exasperation. “This explosion in the workshop was clearly caused by Liu Changsheng smoking without permission. Instead of dealing with him, you’ve protected him, giving him good food and drink at Hospital No. 8 along with his salary. And Old Yu? You not only cut off his medical expenses, you want to fire him! The difference is too much.”

“I know you’re wary because Liu Changsheng has connections, but can’t you handle things differently in extraordinary times?” Li Dawei paused, then added.

“You think I don’t want to?” Director Zhang’s face twisted in distress. After a moment’s hesitation, he confessed, “Liu Changsheng has something on me. Otherwise... otherwise, both of us would be ruined!”

“What do you mean?” Li Dawei jumped to his feet in shock.

Now that things had reached this point, Director Zhang went all in, closing the ward’s door. “Do you remember that batch of labor protection supplies we purchased with public funds two years ago?”

“I remember! Didn’t I leave the whole thing to you?” Li Dawei’s face darkened.

After the supplies arrived, many employees complained about their quality. He had wanted to return the unused goods and vowed never to buy from that brand again. But that night, Director Zhang came to him with two thousand yuan, asking him to suppress the issue.

Seeing Zhang as an ally, and to avoid mutual destruction, Li Dawei accepted the money and used his authority as factory director to settle the matter.

He thought it was over. He never expected Director Zhang would bring it up today—and involve Liu Changsheng. This was completely unexpected.

“I was in charge, yes, but Liu Changsheng stole the original copies of the invoices!” Director Zhang clutched his head, unable to continue.

“So Liu Changsheng is using those original invoices to blackmail you?” Li Dawei staggered, nearly losing his balance.

His reputation, built over a lifetime, had been destroyed by Director Zhang and Liu Changsheng. Unbelievable!

“If Liu Changsheng didn’t have those invoices, would I risk reallocating Old Yu’s medical expenses and let Liu Changsheng lord it over everyone in the hospital? I’d have had security haul him off to jail long ago.” Director Zhang realized there was no point in hiding anything further and dejectedly revealed the whole truth.

The explosion had only made Hengshui Distillery’s already limited cash flow worse.

The leadership’s stance was clear: just ten thousand yuan for medical expenses, and anything more was Director Zhang’s problem. After all, the explosion happened under his staff; he had to take some responsibility.

This wasn’t heartlessness, but simply the reality—Hengshui Distillery’s total deposits this month were less than seventy thousand, with other funds still outstanding. Even if the money came in, it couldn’t all be spent on medical bills. The daily expenses for such a large distillery were staggering. One slip, and they’d face bankruptcy.

It was a sobering fact, not an exaggeration.

Li Dawei certainly understood.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have pushed for reform, determined to overhaul the distillery’s aging machinery.

“How much did you take from that last labor protection purchase?” Now that things had come to this, Li Dawei knew confronting Liu Changsheng was impossible. He could only try to patch the hole.

If they could plug the gap, they’d confess to the leadership.

He believed the leadership would forgive them, given his years of dedication to Hengshui Distillery.

Director Zhang glanced at Li Dawei, hesitating for a long time before answering, “I took ten thousand in total. Two thousand went to you, three thousand to Liu Changsheng.”

“How could you take so much?” Li Dawei shouted, furious.

Ten thousand yuan—he couldn’t raise that even if he sold himself! And Liu Changsheng got a thousand more than him. Unacceptable.

“I... I fudged the purchase of eighty thousand sets of protective gear and never took delivery.” Director Zhang stammered.

In other words, the money for those eighty thousand sets went straight into his pocket. If the scandal hadn’t broken, he would never have confessed.

“You!” Li Dawei pointed at Director Zhang, so angry he couldn’t speak.

Only now did he realize how badly Director Zhang had trapped him.

If he wanted to avoid being implicated, it seemed impossible.

Director Zhang shrank back, nervously glancing around. “Old Li, things are the way they are. Getting angry won’t help. We can’t move against Liu Changsheng—he has evidence against us, plus his connections. If we want to get out of this mess, we have to insist Old Yu violated procedures.”

If Old Yu’s violation became fact, Liu Changsheng would be in the clear. And if Liu Changsheng was safe, so were they.

It was the only way out.

Who else would dare let an injured man like Old Yu take the fall?

And who would dare twist the facts and cut off Old Yu’s life-saving medical expenses?

“The problem is, Old Yu’s apprentices have all claimed the explosion was caused by Liu Changsheng smoking—and that’s the truth. How can we twist the facts?” Li Dawei clutched his head, once again exasperated by Director Zhang’s lack of sense.

“So what do you suggest?” Director Zhang was out of ideas, rubbing his face and appealing to Li Dawei for help.

“Turn yourself in. The worst that happens is we get fired.” Li Dawei sighed deeply, collapsing onto the bed.

Yu Bin had already taken the matter to the police. The distillery leadership would surely intervene. Once they started asking questions, the truth would come out.

So—

To avoid disaster, turning themselves in was the only option.

Maybe the distillery leadership would be lenient, taking their long service into account.

Of course, he wasn’t as greedy as Director Zhang. Though he’d taken favors from other suppliers over the years, it was within controllable limits, and most of the higher-ups knew.

“No! I absolutely won’t turn myself in.” Director Zhang shook his head frantically.

If he confessed, Liu Changsheng would expose all his past misdeeds. One stint in prison and he’d never come out.

“I won’t force you. Do as you see fit.” Li Dawei glanced out the window, then resolutely left the special care ward.

To him, a person may make mistakes, but if they refuse to wake up after realizing their error and insist on marching blindly ahead, that’s not cleverness but stupidity.

“Old Li, don’t!” Director Zhang tried to chase after him, but his legs wouldn’t move.

Li Dawei didn’t soften, striding onward.

Only now did he understand something.

If not for Director Zhang, he never would have wronged Liu Xing for two thousand yuan.

Had Liu Xing personally stepped in, applying the film overlay method to repair Hengshui Distillery’s bottling equipment, none of this would have happened.

At least Old Yu wouldn’t have been so badly injured, and his daughter, Li Weiwei, wouldn’t have become estranged from him.

“Ah! It’s all my fault for trusting the wrong person.” With this realization, Li Dawei gathered his thoughts and quickened his pace.

He truly didn’t want to stay another moment at Municipal Hospital No. 8.

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