Chapter 1 – Playing with people
Following a “safety” scandal, the large factory underwent a major personnel reshuffle.
Everyone from temporary workers to the factory director had disappeared. No one knew whether they had been transferred, resigned, promoted, or laid off. Even those who were close to them and had asked what happened did not dare spread the truth. Whenever the subject was raised, they became extremely guarded and kept their mouths tightly shut.
Work at the factory had slowed for some time. Perhaps the group’s headquarters could no longer afford to delay, because it finally dispatched someone to serve as factory director. Yet when that person arrived, everyone was astonished.
“Isn’t that President Xu?”
“There’s no mistaking her. You can recognize her at a glance!”
President Wei looked back, and the department managers who had been discussing her immediately fell silent, cold sweat breaking out across their foreheads.
The person who had arrived was indeed Xu Jinliang. By now, she was even less tactful than she had been when she was young. Her elevated social status meant she no longer needed to waste energy maintaining pointless pretenses.
The factory had originally prepared a modest welcoming ceremony for her arrival, but she merely glanced up at the flags fluttering in the wind before walking inside. “Show me around. Everyone not involved should return to work.”
The managers holding red flowers immediately scattered like birds and beasts, feeling as though they had been granted a reprieve.
Even after Xu Jinliang and President Wei had gone far away, they could not resist discussing her. One of them said, “How could it be her? Everyone who’s been to headquarters should know what she’s like.”
She truly was a legend. Her bearing alone could intimidate anyone who met her. Very few people who had seen her even once would ever forget her.
“Exactly. This shouldn’t be happening. As the saying goes, people strive upward while water flows downward…”
“Could she have gotten into trouble and been transferred here?”
“Don’t talk nonsense. Maybe she’s using this place as a stepping-stone.”
“Heh, you’re the one who should stop making wild guesses. Who would willingly jump downward at her age? At her age… maybe she’s here to retire? Heh. If she were younger, you could call it a waste of talent. But at her age, she’s probably here to enjoy an easy retirement.”
Their factory was already doing remarkably well. It was a fully developed large-scale factory under the group and had no need for some exceptionally capable person to be sent down and straighten things out. That was why they could not help speculating about Xu Jinliang’s appointment as factory director.
As for Xu Jinliang, who had just experienced a dramatic reversal in her fortunes—
A factory. Her career had begun in a factory, and she had never expected to end up in one again. She was highly capable and ruthless in her methods. She had firmly established herself among the upper echelons of the group’s headquarters, only to fall from that position overnight. What troubled her was neither humiliation nor resentment, but rather—she felt nothing at all.
She pressed a palm to her chest. She could clearly feel her heart beating, yet it seemed as though there were a hollow space there—a bottomless pit. Anything that entered would fall endlessly without ever touching the bottom, producing no response whatsoever.
Her secretary was tidying the conference table. President Wei had already left with the others after the meeting. Xu Jinliang stood and asked him, “Where is my uniform?”
“Uniform?” The secretary looked bewildered.
Xu Jinliang was wearing a high-end custom-made suit, presumably the attire she had worn at headquarters. Aside from special occasions when the management wore formal attire, however, no one at the factory was issued any sort of uniform.
Still, the secretary had worked there for several years and naturally knew who Xu Jinliang was. After learning from President Wei that she would be taking over, he had hurriedly researched her background. He quickly realized what she meant and said, “If you mean a uniform, our factory still has work clothes. I’ll have them delivered to your office shortly. May I ask what size you wear?”
Xu Jinliang froze, momentarily dazed. Then it occurred to her: That’s right. Times have changed.
Later, standing in front of the restroom mirror, she gazed at the older woman reflected there—a woman whose peach-blossom eyes had been honed into something sharp—and murmured, “That’s right. Times have changed.”
She slowly raised a hand. Her long, slender fingers drew infinitely close to the fine lines at the outer corner of her reflected eye. Just as she was about to touch the glass, she jerked her fingers back as if they had suddenly been licked by flames.
Her heartbeat accelerated uncontrollably. A sudden and terrible sense of grief over the passing of her life rose within her.
The sensation was deeply distressing. It was as though she had spent so long being strong, only to find herself suddenly facing permanent disability; as though the power she had always wielded was inevitably disappearing without her noticing.
The finance manager screamed inside the restroom and scrambled out on all fours. After getting back to her feet, her face flushed with anger, and she spat, “What a fucking lunatic! Why did they choose her?”
People had long since grown accustomed to Xu Jinliang’s perpetually icy presence. But just moments earlier, she had stood before the mirror and shrieked with laughter, displaying utter madness. The immaculately dressed, exceptionally tall older woman had laughed uncontrollably as though possessed. Anyone would have been frightened.
The commotion drew a crowd into the hallway, everyone talking over one another as they asked what had happened. The department manager pointed toward the restroom, but before she could speak, Xu Jinliang calmly walked out.
Nothing appeared wrong with her. Her cheeks were only slightly flushed, dotted with red spots that seemed to have formed from the strain of excessive exertion causing blood to press against her capillaries. Her voice was also slightly hoarse. “Don’t block the hallway.” After saying that, she walked away with the same overwhelming presence as always, her high heels beating out a steady rhythm.
Factory Director Xu did not come to work the next day. Upon asking around, they learned that she had gone to attend a funeral.
It was the funeral of Wang Shuqin. Rumor had it that Xu Jinliang had met Wang Shuqin when she first began working, as Wang Shuqin had worked in the cafeteria at her company. After Xu Jinliang moved south, Wang Shuqin had followed her there. Over time, the two became like family.
The funeral was extremely grand, and all the attendees were influential figures. An old woman who had never accomplished anything of note could not possibly have known the business titans who frequently appeared on television and in magazines. There was only one reason they were there: Xu Jinliang.
However, every one of them wore a miserable expression and was in no mood to exchange pleasantries. Once the funeral ended and the family began receiving guests, Wang Shuqin’s son relentlessly cursed Xu Jinliang. Director Chao’s brow twitched at the sight. He hurriedly said his farewells and left early with his people.
Inside the business van, Director Zhang removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “What do we do now?”
Director Chang clutched her bag tightly and shook her head. “Aunt Wang told us to beware of her! To beware of her! She warned every one of us while she was in the hospital, but you… You stupid fucking men dismissed everything she said just because she was an old woman, didn’t you?”
Director Chao said, “She was so capable. Who could bear not to make use of her?”
Director Chang said, “And now that something has happened, you don’t know what to do? She’s so deeply entangled with our group that who would dare report her to the police and have her investigated? You? Or you?” She pointed at Director Zhang, who took advantage of the fact that he had not yet put his glasses back on and pretended not to see her.
Director Chang said, “Playing dumb, are you? Everyone knows Xu Jinliang had you completely figured out ten years ago. I refuse to believe none of the shareholders are helping her.” By “completely figured out,” she naturally did not mean any improper relationship between a man and a woman. She was referring to Xu Jinliang’s methods of threats, coercion, and bribery.
Director Zhang was unconvinced. He was not the only one who deserved the blame, so he immediately put his glasses back on and retorted, “Don’t think we don’t know that you once had a lesbian affair with Xu Jinliang. Back when you were still in charge, didn’t you frequently travel abroad with her on business?”
Director Chao said, “Exactly. Weren’t you the first one to make a move and try to win her over? Otherwise, the rest of us wouldn’t have been in such a hurry to compete for her.”
Director Chang instantly released her grip on her bag. A diamond ring adorned the ring finger of that hand. “Stop slandering me. I’m a married woman.”
Director Liu, who had remained silent with a splitting headache, could no longer bear it. “Enough, all of you. And you two—you don’t act like men at all. All you know how to do is fabricate sexual gossip about women. Stop arguing. Xu Jinliang’s goddaughter has joined headquarters now, hasn’t she? Even if we don’t take the legal route, we still have to find a way to deal with her.”
Without Xu Jinliang’s ruthlessly perceptive eye and extraordinary courage, their group could never have surged ahead amid the rapid growth of numerous industries and become a household name. Of course, her overly daring investments and acquisitions had not proceeded smoothly at first. Not everyone possessed the courage to bear such enormous risks. Yet whenever something like that happened, a turning point would inevitably appear. Either circumstances forced their hand, or they were driven into a corner and left with no choice but to risk everything. It was only after several of them put aside their differences and spoke openly that they began to suspect Xu Jinliang had colluded with outside forces, then used the power she controlled within the group to accomplish her goals.
Xu Jinliang was not displaying her abilities or pursuing fame and fortune. She was playing.
Nor was she playing for the pleasure of achievement.
She was playing with people.
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