Chapter 66: Director Li is Very Good at Arguing With Others
Director Li was deeply invested in the upcoming campaign and wanted to leave his own mark on it.
“As your director, I’ll personally handle the requisition for the drawing paper, colored pens, pencils, and whatever else you need,” he announced. “And when the time comes, I can help color the backgrounds too.”
“That would be perfect!”
Director Li agreed with immense enthusiasm, looking for all the world as if he could already see a promotion beckoning to him.
The moment Sheng Wanyan finished laying out the plan, Director Li erupted into a one-man standing ovation. “Splendid! A thoroughly flawless arrangement! Everyone must execute their tasks with the utmost seriousness. Next month’s campaign is going to leave the executive board utterly awestruck! Remember: if the factory thrives, our Propaganda Department thrives. And if our department thrives, all of you thrive!”
Director Li began ladling out thick portions of motivational chicken soup, and the clerks responded with rehearsed fervor, filling the office with artificial energy.
Sheng Wanyan, who saw right through the performance, could only think to herself, Director Li is truly something else.
“I’ll head down to Logistics right now to secure the drawing paper and colored pencils,” Director Li said, turning on his heel. “The rest of you, get to work.”
He strode out of the office, his back rigid and his steps so theatrical they bordered on a cartoon villain’s march. He looked like a man who believed wealth and rank were waiting for him just around the corner. The clerks buried their faces in their desks to stifle their laughter; if Director Li caught anyone chuckling at his expense, he would undoubtedly unleash a furious lecture.
Down in the Logistics Department, Director Li’s high spirits hit a wall. The new director, Wang Chaofan, beat around the bush for ten minutes before flatly refusing to release the supplies. The underlying message of his long-winded rejection was transparent: Whoever came up with this grand idea should come down and apply for the materials in person.
Wang Chaofan had been sitting in the executive meeting when the factory director explicitly appointed Sheng Wanyan to lead the project. He knew this was his golden opportunity to corner the beautiful clerk alone in his office. How could he possibly let it slip away?
Director Li was practically vibrating with rage. He had spent decades in state facilities; how could he not see right through Wang Chaofan’s sordid calculations? Thanks to his deep network of connections, he had already unmasked the sordid details surrounding this capital exile’s sudden transfer.
“Director Wang, the factory director explicitly stated during the briefing that all departments are to cooperate fully with this campaign,” Director Li countered, his voice dripping with ice. He refused to indulge the man’s pathetic schemes. Sheng Wanyan was his subordinate—his absolute favorite rising star—and he intended to shield her regardless of the cost. Beyond that, as an honorable man, his natural instinct was to shut down a workplace predator the moment he reared his head.
“Director Li, I am cooperating!” Wang Chaofan sneered, leaning back in his chair. “Swap the person in charge, and I will release the premium inventory this very instant.”
Wang Chaofan stood up, and the two veteran administrators locked eyes across the desk, neither willing to yield an inch. The logistical clerks in the surrounding cubicles shifted nervously, terrified by the sudden, venomous atmosphere. Why on earth were these two powerful managers screaming over drawing paper?
“Director Wang,” Director Li said, a thin, dangerous smile cutting across his face. “I am entirely certain the factory director would be delighted to step in and personally settle this requisition.”
He turned toward the exit. Hearing the blatant threat of executive intervention, Wang Chaofan’s face darkened until it looked like a thundercloud.
“Director Li,” Wang Chaofan barked, his voice tight. “You certainly possess a remarkably sharp tongue.”
Director Li stopped at the threshold, turning back with an effortless, sugary grin. “The feeling is entirely mutual, Director Wang! Entirely mutual!”
Defeated by the threat of executive exposure, Wang Chaofan waved his sleeve in a dismissive, furious gesture, ordering his clerk to load the supplies onto Director Li’s cart. “I certainly hope Director Li can maintain this self-righteous virtue forever.”
Director Li didn’t care about the parting shot in the slightest. He had held his directorship at this mill for more years than he cared to count; did this capital exile honestly believe he was a soft persimmon to be stepped on? While it was true that Wang Chaofan possessed massive political backing in the Capital, this was Chengdu—the very dirt Director Li had grown up in. An empty corporate shell who had committed a political blunder and been cast down to the provinces actually thought he could suppress a entrenched local tyrant? It remained to be seen who would end up broken.
Director Li marched back toward the Propaganda wing, humming a jaunty patriotic tune about the glory of the working class. The moment the clerks saw him step through the door in a triumphant mood, they knew he had decisively won his first battle against the predatory logistics chief. After all, this wasn’t their manager’s first boardroom brawl; Director Li’s combat capabilities were legendary within the facility.
“Alright, comrades, let’s map out the visual narrative for each canvas,” Director Li commanded, dropping the heavy reams of paper onto the center table. “Lin Hongjie, you and Wu Jiaxiu take this manifest down to the lumber mill and secure a master carpenter to construct the display frames.”
Sheng Wanyan stepped forward, sliding a meticulous blueprint across the wood. It was a clean, minimalist design for a display easel, modeled after the scannable promotional stands common in her past life. While it was incredibly simple to draft, she wasn’t entirely certain if this particular style had been invented yet in the mid-1970s.
Director Li’s eyes widened as he studied the sleek, novel design, his artistic passion ignited all over again. The piece was brilliant; he could instantly see how useful such a stand would be inside his own office for corporate presentations.
“This is an official procurement voucher,” Director Li announced, scribbling his signature onto a slip. “Take it straight to the Finance Department for an immediate cash advance. Have the mill manufacture exactly thirty units.”
“Understood, Director!”
Lin Hongjie and Wu Jiaxiu grabbed the authorized forms and sprinted toward the administrative block. Backed by the factory director’s explicit morning mandates, the finance clerks cleared the cash advance without a single bureaucratic delay. The accounting office harbored zero worries about fraud; after all, the lumber mill would furnish an official state receipt bearing their registered corporate seal. State facilities maintained ironclad communication networks, making financial malfeasance a swift ticket to a labor camp.
Back in the office, Sheng Wanyan and the remaining clerks debated the visual allocation for the five primary display walls and the thirty smaller easels.
“We should designate two main canvases to depict agricultural labor in the fields, and three to showcase industrial triumphs on the factory floor,” Chen Kangming suggested.
The veteran clerks nodded in agreement, but Sheng Wanyan held a different perspective.
“I believe we should dedicate two full canvases to illustrate the domestic and industrial labor of women,” Wanyan countered firmly. “The remaining three can be divided between two industrial workers and one agricultural farmer.”
Sheng Wanyan was determined to force the workforce to acknowledge the grueling, invisible labor of women. She refused to let the male laborers coast on the arrogant assumption that because they brought home a state wage, their contribution was superior to all else. The immense sacrifices women made behind the scenes were routinely dismissed, treated by society as an assumed, mandatory duty.
Director Li considered her point for a moment and nodded his approval. As the designated lead for this state project, Wanyan’s creative direction was absolute. “Agreed. For the thirty smaller easels, select a diverse array of supportive everyday scenes. Let’s begin production.”
Chen Kangming closed his eyes for a brief moment, visualizing the heavy machinery of the steel mill, before his pencil touched the paper to trace the first raw outlines. Across the aisle, Niu Fangli was staring blankly at her notepad, trying to draft inspirational dialogue for the characters—a task she found agonizingly difficult. Her imagination simply wasn’t built for creative writing. She bit her lip in bitter regret; if she had known the assignment would be this mentally taxing, she would have happily volunteered for the simple coloring task alongside Wu Jiaxiu. Following a pre-numbered grid required zero cognitive effort. But it was far too late to swap roles now; the director had already formalized the roster.
Sheng Wanyan ignored the silent resentment radiating from her colleague’s desk. Her singular focus was to execute this municipal campaign flawlessly, firmly cementing her professional value within the firm. She needed to elevate her standing until she became entirely irreplaceable—a permanent fixture that couldn’t be easily sabotaged or dismissed by a corrupt executive like Wang Chaofan.
Her fierce, disciplined focus left Director Li feeling profoundly satisfied. He loved nothing more than seeing his subordinates display absolute devotion to a project; it made his administrative duties a genuine pleasure. If this performance somehow triggers my own executive promotion, I’ll be even happier, he mused privately. Though, realistically, climbing higher within the current factory hierarchy was an incredibly steep climb. Shaking off the distraction, he cleared his throat and focused on managing the immediate tasks at hand.
Three hours later, Wu Jiaxiu and Lin Hongjie returned to the office, reporting that the master carpenter at the lumber mill required exactly three days to complete the order.
“Director,” Wu Jiaxiu whispered, leaning over Director Li’s desk while darting a cautious glance toward the room. “The managers at the lumber mill were absolutely obsessed with the blueprint. They kept begging us to leave the sketch behind so they could replicate it. They have their own municipal campaign launching next month and want to deploy the exact same easels, but I refused to hand it over.”
Director Li nodded gravely, tapping his desk. “You handled that correctly. Keep this under wraps.”
The design belonged exclusively to Sheng Wanyan. Whether she chose to release her intellectual property to a rival facility or hoard it for their own glory was a decision that rested entirely with her.
