Chapter 145

Chapter 145

Accountant Tan instinctively blurted out, "Impossible!"

She knew exactly what kind of grades her son usually got. Fang Shuai's current school was firmly mid-tier.

Forget Peking University—even schools like the Foreign Language Institute rarely admitted more than a handful of students from their school each year, especially from the liberal arts stream, which was notoriously weak. In the past, their top students might have scraped into normal universities at best. These were the kinds of students who had to chase after universities, not the other way around. Admissions officers from prestigious institutions never bothered to visit their school for recruitment talks or one-on-one sessions.

Fang Shuai scoffed. "Don’t believe me? Fine, go ask at our school yourself. This year’s top scorer only beat her by seven points. She’s also the district’s number one. Now you get what level she's at? She doesn’t need you playing matchmaker or introducing her to anyone."

Accountant Tan, flushed with anger and embarrassment, snapped, "I don’t believe it."

Fang Shuai shot back, "Believe what you want."

With that, he slammed the door and retreated to his room.

The older this kid got, the more rebellious he became. He wouldn’t listen to a word she said anymore.

Accountant Tan was so furious she even forgot to ask about her son’s own exam results.

Fang Shuai took his report card into his room. Not only was Cao Hongyang unworthy of Xu Meng—he wasn’t good enough for her either. Xu Meng was just that exceptional.

He was the dumb one. No matter how hard he’d tried, his grades still hadn’t improved much. This score was the best he could manage, and he’d given it his all. But Accountant Tan wasn’t one to accept defeat. She marched out of the house and headed straight for the school.

Fang Shuai’s high school wasn’t far from their home. Accountant Tan had visited often before, cultivating relationships with the school administration. She’d always been good at networking. The moment she stepped onto campus, she could tell the atmosphere was unusually lively today. A group of teachers seemed to be in high spirits.

After some effort, she finally tracked down Fang Shuai’s head teacher. Forcing a smile, she asked, "Teacher, I heard the results are out?"

Fang Shuai’s head teacher, who had been chatting with someone else, greeted her and handed over the results slip. "Fang Shuai just left. Didn’t he tell you? He did well—should make it to university."

Accountant Tan glanced down. Just as she’d expected, his score was enough for a polytechnic, nothing more.

"Mr. Zhou, what were you all discussing earlier?"

Mr. Zhou perked up, sensing an opportunity to promote the school. "One of our female students ranked third in the city and first in the district this year. The whole school’s talking about it. Isn’t it strange? In high school, you usually see boys catching up, but it’s rare for a girl to suddenly improve like this. She’s really hardworking—her grades shot up over the past year. She even scored 99 in English!"

Accountant Tan’s face darkened. She sighed inwardly. Fang Shuai was such a disappointment. They’d hired tutors for him since elementary school. Back in the day, everyone had told her boys develop later, and she’d believed her son would eventually come into his own. But after waiting and waiting, instead of her son’s triumphant rise, she had to witness the success of the last person she wanted to do well.

Liberal Arts Tanhua. Top of the district.

With grades like that, with prospects like hers—who'd be dating at eighteen and married by twenty?

And now, after all her earlier boasts, she’d have to face Old Cao humiliated.

Someone like Accountant Tan would never admit her own faults. In her mind, the blame always lay elsewhere—with Xu Meng!

Accountant Tan left the school and made a beeline for Lao Fang’s office. She needed to give him a heads-up first. This matchmaking idea was clearly going nowhere.

The moment she arrived at Lao Fang’s office, she spotted a face she recognized inside.

Accountant Tan stared at the girl for a long moment before asking someone she knew, "What’s she here for?"

The person glanced at Xu Meng. "Think she’s applying for a business license."

Accountant Tan pressed, "What kind of business?"

The acquaintance wouldn't say more.

Accountant Tan found Lao Fang and told him about running into Xu Meng. Lao Fang paused thoughtfully for a while before saying, "What can we do? We’ll just have to offend Old Cao. This is your fault—you should’ve checked properly before setting them up. Old Cao even asked me about it yesterday."

"Don’t pin this on me!"

"This mess is all your doing. My chances were pretty good before, but now we've offended Old Cao, and there's no hope left." Lao Fang said angrily, "Always dishing out useless advice."

In truth, it wasn’t a big deal. They could’ve just told Old Cao she wasn’t interested and leave it at that.

But out of nowhere, Accountant Tan suddenly said, "I saw her applying for a business license earlier. See if you can put a hold on her application? I’m not letting this go so easily."

————

And so, the processing plant’s business license got stalled on some technicality.

Zhang Mingqing personally went to the office to deliver gifts to the leaders, buttering them up with every compliment in the book. Eventually, she learned their official line: the location was near the road, and open flames were prohibited.

Just as she stepped out of the office compound, Zhang Mingqing ran into Xu Meng. At the mention of the license, Xu Meng’s expression darkened. "They claim no open flames are allowed, but that place used to be a cafeteria—since when was cooking over fire banned there? Later, I asked around and found out the real reason was—"

She glanced at Xu Meng, hesitating.

Xu Meng urged, "Is it related to me? Just say it."

After a pause, Zhang Mingqing decided to tell her. "I heard it’s because someone offended that Mr. Fang. He’s not high-ranking, but his position gives him just enough leverage—he oversees fire safety inspections for the whole district. Someone hinted I should grease his palms, but he wouldn’t even take the gifts. He outright said no factory approvals in this district—period."

Fang?

Xu Meng thought for a moment before realizing who it must be—Tan the accountant’s husband.

She sighed. "It might be my fault."

Then she explained how Accountant Tan had tried to set her up on a blind date, only for her to show him the door.

"I knew it! Everything was going smoothly with the paperwork until I happened to run into her at the office that day. Then suddenly, things changed. Her family must be twisting arms."

At the time, she had only caught a glimpse and hadn’t made the connection. Now the pieces fit—Tan the accountant was behind this.

"How can people be like this? We’re living in modern times—playing matchmaker is one thing, but petty revenge? It shows what kind of family they are. If this district’s a dead end, we’ll try elsewhere. Let’s talk to Director Liao first—maybe he has connections to help sort this out. Don’t sweat it."

Zhang Mingqing patted Xu Meng’s shoulder reassuringly.

Xu Meng, still upset, nodded.

The two decided to go straight to Director Liao.

They headed to Factory No. 2 and explained the situation to Director Liao. Zhang Mingqing didn’t beat around the bush. "As a major local enterprise, your government relations must be solid. I’m not asking Factory No. 2 to step in—just for your advice. If this Director Fang is really blocking us, can we still get this processing workshop running?"

She was testing the waters.

Leaders of large state-owned enterprises had pull in the district, especially at a massive operation like Factory No. 2. Director Liao might look like an unassuming old man, but he likely had the right connections.

After a moment’s thought, Director Liao said, "You and Hongqi were classmates—I consider you family. I won’t mince words. I’ll make a call to see what’s going on, but I can only open the door. The rest is up to you."

Zhang Mingqing broke into a wide smile. "Of course. If you can help us get through, I’ll take care of the rest—whatever it takes."

She didn’t spell it out, but if Fang’s being difficult, he probably wanted something. Since Zhang Mingqing was serious about renting the space, she’d deal with the complications.

Director Liao went to make the call while Xu Meng and Zhang Mingqing waited outside.

Xu Meng fidgeted nervously. "Qing-jie, do you think Factory No. 2 can really fix this?"

Zhang Mingqing replied, "It’s not like there’s some deep grudge. It shouldn’t be a big deal."

Truthfully, as she said this, she wasn't very confident herself and couldn't help but doubt to herself, "Is this really possible?"

The two stood in the hallway chatting for a while and waited for about half an hour before Director Liao finally came out. As soon as he saw them, he shook his head and said, "This Director Fang is a real hardass. I asked someone to plead with him, but he flat-out refused to budge. Did you have any conflicts with him before?"

Her eyes flashed with resentment in Zhang Mingqing's slightly anxious eyes. This Fang character plays way too hardball. She squeezed Xu Meng's hand, signaling that it was okay.

Director Liao continued, "I won’t give you a hard time. Since you came today, and it didn’t take up too much of my time, I’ll deduct a thousand from the deposit for the property. This money isn’t for me—I’ll have to give an explanation to the factory."

Getting the deposit back was already a lucky break, but it also meant that even Director Liao couldn’t resolve the issue, indicating how hardline the other side was.

Zhang Mingqing immediately looked grateful. "Then we really appreciate this. We’ll treat you to a meal another day."

Director Liao waved his hand. "I didn’t help much, and you didn’t cause any delays. Even if we calculate the rent, it’s only about ten days’ worth, and we might not have rented it out during that time anyway. If anything, the factory came out ahead."

Zhang Mingqing quickly agreed, "Yes, yes, big state-run operations like yours always follow procedures. Dealing with you is always straightforward."

She discreetly signaled Xu Meng.

Xu Meng nodded repeatedly, gushing thanks.

Getting 2,000 yuan of the deposit back had cut their losses. Not wanting to drag the matter out any longer, the two quickly followed Director Liao inside to complete the formalities and retrieve the money.

Once they stepped out of the factory gate with the money, Xu Meng began to worry. "Given this situation, this area’s a dead end. We’ll have to find another place. Where would be better?"

Zhang Mingqing started calculating. "I plan to hire about fifty workers, and we might need to provide meals and accommodation. We’ll have to look for a bigger space."

Xu Meng suggested, "The suburbs? If there’s a ready-made factory like the Second Factory, that would be ideal."

Zhang Mingqing replied, "Not necessarily. Renting or buying is fine. I’ve thought about it—renting carries the risk of the landlord backing out midway, so buying would be best."

Xu Meng asked, "But where can we buy?"

Not far away, a man in his thirties, squatting by the roadside smoking, overheard their conversation. He glanced at them, turned away, then looked back again before finally mustering the courage to approach.

The two were startled when they saw the disheveled guy in work clothes walking toward them and both froze, eyeing him warily.

The man spoke up, "Name’s Gao. I’m the village chief of Gaojia Village. Couldn’t help overhearing—you’re planning to set up a factory and hire people?"

Zhang Mingqing hesitated but nodded.

Xu Meng looked at him expectantly.

"Are you looking to buy land for the factory?" the man asked. "Gaojia Village isn’t far from here. I wonder if you’d consider setting up your factory in our village. As for government policies, our district is currently encouraging businesses to set up factories and hire locally to boost the economy. If you’re willing to come, I can help you handle the red tape and land deal."

Xu Meng’s eyes widened. *No way, is this for real?*