160: Undercover in the pharmaceutical factory

Seeing the neatly stacked documents on Su Yue's desk, Meng Chao and the others were still extremely surprised.

They stood rooted to the spot, taking a long time to recover.

The next second, they heard a puzzled murmur from the doorway.

Everyone turned their heads and saw that it was Su Yue returning.

However, he was still holding a thin project proposal in his hand, just like when he left.

It seemed he hadn't found anything on his trip out.

"That's strange, who moved the Norman Pharmaceuticals research materials?"

Su Yue muttered to himself as he walked back to his workstation.

And as expected, he also saw the documents placed on his workstation.

"What's this?" Su Yue stepped forward and examined them.

Seeing the words related to Norman Pharmaceuticals on them, which were the research materials he was looking for, Su Yue was also taken aback.

How could he not find them when he went out, yet these materials were neatly placed on his desk?

"Ahem, Yue Ge... these were brought over by Yang Qingmei and some people just now."

Seeing Su Yue's confusion, Li Haoyang immediately spoke up to explain.

And the nearby employees also erupted, talking animatedly:

"Wow, Yue Ge has so much influence!"

"Knowing you were doing market research for Norman Pharmaceuticals, President Lan actually sent people directly to deliver all the materials to you!"

"And this company had previously been rejected by President Lan, yet she's still so supportive when you're looking into them!"

As the nearby employees discussed, Su Yue also understood the meaning behind their words.

"This was... President Lan, who had someone send them over?"

Su Yue muttered to himself, feeling a bit confused.

What was Lan Zijun up to?

Despite the constant rumors in the company, Su Yue knew his relationship with Lan Zijun.

It was nowhere near good enough for her to give him special treatment.

But these documents were indeed placed on his desk right now.

"Could it be because of the previous few attempts... they want to ease the relationship?"

Su Yue analyzed Lan Zijun's intentions in his mind, and the reality was not far from his judgment.

However, since they had already brought the materials over, Su Yue didn't disappoint their intentions.

It also saved him the effort of searching everywhere.

So he walked back to his workstation, ready to check the materials on his desk first.

But just as he picked up a document from the desk, before he could open it to look closely, Meng Chao, who was nearby, also made a move.

He had personally witnessed President Lan's special treatment of Su Yue.

Moreover, from Yang Qingmei's words just now, there seemed to be a hint of warning.

Especially the question asking who told Su Yue to investigate Norman Pharmaceuticals.

It was as if President Lan knew their little actions clearly and deliberately stood up for Su Yue.

Meng Chao was completely convinced this time.

Although the Director of the Market Department was still in the hospital for isolation, even if he was eager to take advantage of this opportunity, besides the Director, there was still an insurmountable mountain in the Market Department.

It was just that Su Yue usually kept a low profile, and with such a big backer as President Lan behind him, he surprisingly had no intention of getting promoted.

But no matter what, Su Yue was someone he couldn't afford to offend and could only try his best to please.

Meng Chao finally understood his position and immediately put on a fawning smile.

"Su Yue, ah no, Yue Ge..."

He approached Su Yue, rubbing his hands, and said:

"With so many documents, you must be quite tired looking at them, right?"

"How about I get you a glass of water so you can read them slowly?"

Following Meng Chao's actions, the employees in the Market Department couldn't help but cast contemptuous glances at him in secret.

Su Yue naturally understood the other party's intention and couldn't help but laugh inwardly.

This Meng Chao was digging a hole for him just a second ago.

Now, having seen Lan Zijun's actions, he came running over to curry favor.

However, Su Yue still maintained a gentle smile on the surface.

"Oh, you don't have to be so polite."

Yet, with this harmless smile, Su Yue continued:

"You seem quite free, you even have time to care if your colleagues are thirsty?"

Hearing this sentence, Meng Chao suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

Damn it, this guy looks quite kind, but there's a hidden meaning in his words?

If this implies he's slacking off and it reaches President Lan's ears...

President Lan might not have seen his previous efforts to perform well, but if it was Su Yue, with his relationship with President Lan, wouldn't it just be a matter of a single sentence?

Meng Chao was startled, and quickly chuckled awkwardly, then scurried away.

Seeing this, Su Yue didn't pay attention to the other party.

He turned back to continue examining the documents in his hand, the figures of Old Sha and Huang Mao appearing in his mind.

...

On the other side, near the Norman Pharmaceuticals factory in the eastern suburbs of the city.

Huang Mao rode his bicycle, carrying Old Sha, all the way back to the pharmaceutical factory.

The two looked at the factory gate and whispered a few words.

"Are you ready? If we can really get hired, the rest is up to fate."

Following Old Sha's reminder, Huang Mao nodded affirmatively:

"Don't worry, Bro Sha, I've thought it all through."

"Then let's do it," Old Sha said in a low voice, then patted the dust off his clothes.

The two walked directly towards the pharmaceutical factory.

They arrived at the gate of the factory, and the iron gate was tightly locked.

It seemed it would only be opened when trucks entered or exited.

"Clang clang—" Old Sha shook the iron gate and shouted loudly inside.

"Anyone there? Come open the door!"

Hearing the noise Old Sha made, two people immediately ran out of the factory building.

The one leading was wearing a blue uniform and looked like part of the factory's management.

At first, seeing Old Sha and the other person outside, he was a bit puzzled.

As he walked over, he observed the two men's attire, and seeing no vehicles behind them, he felt relieved and asked with a frown:

"Who are you two, and what do you want coming here?"

Seeing this, Old Sha showed a fawning smile on his face.

"Brother, we're construction workers, and we haven't found any work recently."

"We wanted to ask if your factory is still hiring? We can do manual labor."

Hearing this, the man sneered.

Pointing to the words "Pharmaceutical Factory" at the entrance, he impatiently waved his hand.

"Construction workers? Do you know what our factory does?"

"Can you read? Do you understand 'Pharmaceutical Factory'?"

"You don't know anything, and you want to get into our factory? Hurry up and leave."

As the man chased them away, Old Sha was still trying to persuade him.

"Don't be like that, Brother, our brothers haven't eaten for several days either."

"We don't ask for much, just enough to get a meal and a place to stay."

Hearing Old Sha's sincere request, the man seemed to soften a bit.

He raised an eyebrow and re-examined Old Sha and Huang Mao.

"Hmph, your demands aren't high, but what can you do?"

"Can the two of you handle the work in our factory?"

Just as the few people were talking, the employee who came out with the man also heard the commotion.

Looking at Old Sha's sturdy build, it was clear he had strength.

He immediately leaned in behind the man and suggested:

"Wang Ge, our recent shipment volume is quite large, and we are indeed short of people who can move goods."

"I see this tall guy is quite strong, and he doesn't ask for much. Why not use him as a laborer?"

The man called Wang Ge heard this and seemed to have a change of heart.

Old Sha also quickly spoke up when he saw this:

"Oh, you're Wang Ge, right? Our brothers really don't have any demands."

"As long as we can get by and get a thousand or so a month to live on, that's fine."

Seeing Old Sha mention money, Wang Ge instead dispelled some concerns.

Furthermore, Old Sha's attitude made the man quite satisfied.

Only then did he relent: "Alright, alright, open the door, let them in."

As the man nodded in agreement, the employee behind him opened the tightly shut iron gate.

Then the gate slowly opened, and Old Sha and Huang Mao exchanged glances.

Then they stepped into the pharmaceutical factory.

...

"Here, this is the environment."

"If you have no objections, the two of you will stay here for now."

Lao Wang led them to a small room, which looked like an abandoned small warehouse.

Besides some miscellaneous items piled inside, there were also two folding beds.

Two bundled sets of bedding were also stuffed on the shelves, emitting a faint musty smell.

Although the conditions seemed indeed difficult, in the eyes of Old Sha and Huang Mao, it was a different scene.

They were originally homeless; what kind of situation hadn't they experienced?

They had even slept in deserted old houses and dark, damp bridge underpasses.

And this abandoned warehouse now had walls on all sides to block the wind and a roof overhead to keep out the rain.

Moreover, the two of them came here specifically to gather information; what extra demands could they possibly have?

"Okay, our brothers have no demands for this place to stay."

"Wang Ge, I just have one question."

Under Wang Ge's puzzled gaze, Old Sha asked:

"When does our factory serve meals?"

"Heh heh," Wang Ge chuckled twice and replied:

"Don't worry, when the bell outside rings, it's dinner time."

With that, he moved to leave the room, seeming not wanting to stay for another moment.

And when the other party left, Old Sha and Huang Mao exchanged glances.

After confirming from the doorway that the other party had really left, they breathed a sigh of relief.

"Bro Sha, I just took a look at the general layout of this factory."

"Besides the pharmaceutical factory building, the east side should be the dormitory building for the official factory employees."

Huang Mao described his observations, clearly having observed carefully.

Old Sha nodded and said in a deep voice:

"Although we're in now, the people who truly know the inside story are that group of them."

"We need to find an opportunity to get close to the official employees in the pharmaceutical factory."

As he spoke, Old Sha also reported the situation to Yuan via text message.

He informed him that they had successfully infiltrated the pharmaceutical factory.

After briefly tidying up the abandoned warehouse, the two went out.

They originally planned to wander around, but they were explicitly forbidden by Lao Wang.

He told them not to run around unnecessarily and to only move around in this vicinity.

And to avoid attracting attention, Old Sha and Huang Mao could only make other plans.

During dinner time, the factory employees successively entered the cafeteria.

Looking at the uniform blue and white uniforms, Old Sha and Huang Mao were arranged to sit in a corner.

Seeing that no one around was paying attention to them, Old Sha seized the opportunity.

He struck up a conversation with a nearby employee who looked relatively kind-faced.

"Brother, how long have you been working here?"

The employee who was asked looked at Old Sha and casually said:

"About a week or so, why?"

About a week? Isn't that exactly when the black scale disease was rampant?

Old Sha's gaze swept across and he continued:

"Oh, nothing, I didn't notice there was such a factory in the suburbs before, what did it do previously?"

"You wouldn't know about this," the employee chatted.

"This was originally a newly built branch factory, and it just started operating recently."

"So that's how it is..." Old Sha listened for information while exchanging glances with Huang Mao.

...

Just like that, Old Sha and Huang Mao gathered intelligence within the pharmaceutical factory.

Later in the evening, the official factory employees returned to their dormitories to rest one after another.

The factory's production schedule was two shifts. Old Sha originally wanted to follow the employees returning to the dormitory to take a look.

However, when he mixed in with the crowd returning to the dormitory, he was stopped at the dormitory building entrance because he didn't have a work uniform.

After being questioned by the other party, Old Sha was told to leave quickly.

Old Sha looked at the strictly managed dormitory and exchanged a glance with Huang Mao.

The two immediately discussed in the small warehouse: "The pharmaceutical factory dormitory is strictly managed, we really can't blend in with our current identities."

"They are guarding tightly, likely afraid that the factory employees will leak information."

"We need to think of other ways..." Huang Mao mumbled.

Old Sha also spoke up at this point: "Okay, let's start investigating the things we can access."

"Didn't they ask us to move goods? Let's carefully check their goods."

As the two discussed, the night deepened.

...

Old Sha and Huang Mao originally planned to wait for an opportunity to investigate the trucks, but the next morning, a vehicle stopped at the factory gate.

Hearing the sound of the vehicle outside, Old Sha and Huang Mao ran out to check.

They found that Wang Ge was already standing at the entrance, surrounded by a few people.

And parked outside the gate was a police car.

"Open the door, we need to come in and investigate."

Hearing the voices of the people outside, Old Sha and Huang Mao found them strangely familiar.

And when they clearly saw the police officer standing at the gate, the two immediately exchanged glances.

"Bro Sha, isn't that..."

Old Sha coughed twice, interrupting Huang Mao, and secretly squeezed his shoulder.

He naturally recognized the person at the door; it was Liang Yuzhu.

Soon, at Liang Yuzhu's command, the factory gate slowly opened.

"Why is your gate so tightly shut in broad daylight?"

Liang Yuzhu asked, and Wang Ge quickly replied.

"Ah, Officer, you don't know, there are some stray dogs nearby, we're afraid they might run into the factory."

As the few people walked into the pharmaceutical factory, Liang Yuzhu looked around and her gaze caught sight of something not far away.

Standing at the entrance of a warehouse were two people, one tall and one short.

When she saw the figures of these two people, Liang Yuzhu recognized them at a glance.

"Is that... Old Sha and Huang Mao? Why are they here?!"

Liang Yuzhu was a bit surprised in her heart.

But she didn't show it on the surface, only pausing her steps for a moment.

Previously, when investigating the information Yuan provided, Liang Yuzhu had a deep impression of Old Sha.

Especially his left arm which seemed injured, which made Liang Yuzhu particularly concerned.

They seemed to have some connection with Yuan, and now they appeared at the Norman Pharmaceuticals factory...

It seemed their appearance was also related to Yuan.

"Did Yuan arrange for them to come in and investigate?"

With this thought in mind, Liang Yuzhu made eye contact with Old Sha and Huang Mao not far away.

All three understood tacitly, pretending not to know each other at all.