Chapter 43: Silly Zhu Seeks Revenge, Deputy Director Li Strikes from the Shadows

"Chen Mo! Get out here! I know you are behind all of this!"

Silly Zhu's fists hammered against Chen Mo's wooden door like falling raindrops, producing loud, hollow thuds.

He vented all his resentment, frustration, and humiliation onto that door.

In his eyes, if not for Chen Mo, Qin Huairu would not have been driven to such desperate straits.

If not for Chen Mo, he never would have witnessed that most agonizing sight.

It was Chen Mo who had shattered the dearest illusion in his heart!

Chen Mo pulled the door open, and a heavy wave of dense alcohol mixed with the stench of despair rushed outward.

Silly Zhu was clearly intoxicated; his eyes were bloodshot and he could barely stand, yet he still glared fixedly at Chen Mo.

"It was you! It was all you, you underhanded villain!"

He roared, swinging his fist directly toward Chen Mo's face.

Chen Mo merely tilted his body slightly, effortlessly dodging the wild, chaotic punch.

He did not strike back, choosing instead to watch quietly as the man consumed by jealousy and heartbreak lost his mind.

"He Yuzhu, do you still not understand?"

Chen Mo's voice was calm, yet it cut like a sharp scalpel, precisely peeling open Silly Zhu's bleeding heart.

"I didn't force Qin Huairu to knock on Xu Damao's door, nor did I force her to crawl under another man's bed for fifty yuan."

"I simply gave her a choice: to earn an honest living with her own two hands, or to take a faster 'shortcut'."

"She chose the latter. That is her own cheapness, not my fault."

"And you,"

Chen Mo's gaze settled upon Silly Zhu.

"You chose to live in self-deception. You would rather believe a woman full of lies than open your eyes to reality. You let her bleed you dry for all these years, yet you still treated her like a pure, flawless white lotus."

"Your own foolishness is the root of your suffering."

Every word from Chen Mo struck like a heavy hammer, pounding fiercely against Silly Zhu's heart.

Silly Zhu's fist remained suspended in mid-air. He opened his mouth, wanting to retort, only to find he had nothing to say.

Indeed, did Qin Huairu really lack that fifty yuan?

Had he not already given her one hundred yuan?

Why on earth did she still go looking for Xu Damao?

A terrifying thought surfaced clearly in his chaotic mind for the very first time.

Perhaps... perhaps she had never intended to use that one hundred yuan to cure stick's illness at all.

Perhaps, from the very beginning, she had simply been using him.

This realization chilled him to the bone far more deeply than the humiliation of being caught red-handed in bed.

"If you can't figure it out, go back and think it over." Seeing Silly Zhu's dazed and devastated state, Chen Mo reached into his tunic and drew out a pouch of needles, pulling out a single silver needle.

"You..." At the sight of the silver needle, Silly Zhu instinctively shrank back.

Chen Mo gave him no chance to react. With a flick of his wrist, the needle pierced precisely into an acupoint on Silly Zhu's arm.

"A sobering needle, free of charge. Go back, get some sleep, and figure out who is the one truly playing you for a fool."

A cool stream of energy rushed through his arm and spread across his entire body, instantly clearing the alcohol-clouded mind of Silly Zhu.

In its place came a sharper, far more violent wave of agony.

He looked at Chen Mo, and the look in his eyes was no longer filled with anger, but rather an empty daze mixed with terror and bewilderment.

He turned around and, like a walking corpse, dragged his heavy footsteps step by step back to his own room.

...

The next day, at the rolling mill.

A conspiracy against Yang Weiguo was quietly unfolding.

Deputy Director Li sat in his office, his face unable to conceal his excitement.

He had already struck a deal with Liu San, the notorious troublemaker from Workshop Number One.

Liu San was a crafty veteran worker with decent technical skills, but his hands weren't clean, he loved to gamble, and he was drowning in debt.

Deputy Director Li promised that as long as he followed the plan, he would not only help clear all his gambling debts after success, but also promote him to the position of deputy team leader.

Spurred by such a heavy reward, Liu San agreed without hesitation.

Their plan was simple.

In the afternoon, the municipal safety inspection team would visit the plant for an inspection.

The number five stamping press in Workshop Number One had been running overloaded recently and had minor issues of its own.

Before the inspection team arrived, Liu San would secretly loosen a couple more turns on a critical connection point of the machine.

That way, right in front of the inspection team while the machine was operating, the massive stamping arm would malfunction due to the unstable connection, creating an "accident."

Deputy Director Li had even mapped out the subsequent script.

Once the accident happened, Yang Weiguo, as the factory director in charge of production, would bear unshirkable blame.

Li would then mobilize his own connections to sensationalize the matter before the leadership, blowing a minor issue out of proportion and shifting all responsibility squarely onto Yang Weiguo.

At that point, Yang Weiguo would receive at worst a severe reprimand, and at best be stripped of his position as director outright.

And he, the "diligent and hardworking" deputy director, would naturally be the primary candidate to succeed him.

He had even specifically thought of Chen Mo.

He had already notified the medical clinic, instructing Chen Mo to remain on duty today under the pretext of "handling emergencies."

In reality, he wanted Chen Mo to play the role of the physician who "could do nothing to reverse the tragedy" once the accident occurred, preferably amplifying the impact of the incident as much as possible.

Believing his plan to be airtight, he had no idea that his every move was already under Chen Mo's complete control.

Chen Mo sat in the medical clinic, leisurely wiping his silver needles.

Through the system, not only did he know Deputy Director Li's complete plan, but he was also entirely clear on the worker named Liu San and the exact screw he intended to tamper with.

[Ding! Detected severe malicious intent from punishment target 'Deputy Director Li', a beastly act is about to take place!]

[Triggered special mission: Turn the tables against them, shatter the conspiracy, and cause severe losses to the punishment target.]

A cold, cruel curve formed at the corner of Chen Mo's mouth.

He had not wasted his morning. Instead, he had visited Workshop Number One under the guise of "inspecting workshop hygiene and worker health," taking a stroll through the area.

He had "inadvertently" strolled over to the number five stamping press and, taking advantage of a moment when no one was watching, used his finger to gently nudge an inconspicuous base-securing bolt right next to the screw Liu San planned to target.

That bolt had been shaken loose using a hidden burst of internal force.

In the afternoon, the inspection team's cars drove into the rolling mill precisely on schedule.

Yang Weiguo accompanied them beaming with smiles, while Deputy Director Li trailed closely behind with a humble expression on his face, though triumph flashed deep within his eyes.

The procession marched boisterously into Workshop Number One.

"Start machine number five and demonstrate our plant's latest production process for the leaders!" Deputy Director Li stepped ahead of Yang Weiguo and shouted loudly to the workshop supervisor.

Standing before the operation console, Liu San exchanged a glance with Deputy Director Li in the crowd, and then pressed the start button.

"Boom—rumble—"

The massive stamping press began to operate, and the heavy stamping arm slammed down onto the steel plates time and again with immense force.

Deputy Director Li opened his mouth, preparing to introduce the performance of this machine to the leaders of the inspection team.

However, right at that moment, a sudden change occurred!

A piercing, harsh metallic snap echoed through the air—"Creak!"

Everyone watched in horror as the entire body of the massive stamping press suddenly lurched forward!

It wasn't just the stamping arm; the base of the entire machine had come loose!

The screw that Liu San had loosened had indeed caused instability in the stamping arm's connection, but at the same time, the base bolt that Chen Mo had tampered with completely detached due to the violent vibrations!

The gigantic machine lost its balance!

And Deputy Director Li, eager to show off in front of the leadership, happened to be standing directly in front of the machine, the closest person to it!

The smile on his face froze instantly.

He could only watch as the stamping press, resembling a giant beast of steel, collapsed toward him with the momentum of a thunderbolt!

"Ah—!"

A heartbreaking, piercing scream echoed through the entire workshop.