"We shouldn"t make wild guesses yet. We need to approach this carefully. Things are too messy and ambiguous right now so we need to gather more evidence," Skinny advised.
Fatty and I nodded.
I walked to the side and thought about how to obtain information about the old man.
There should be a lot available on the Internet since he was a public figure.
I started my computer and entered his name into the search engine.
Thousands of links popped up, information and news.
News mostly covered public welfare events that he partook in.
I went straight to the forum on his company site since forums were usually more genuine.
There were staffs who complained about getting underpaid and cursed their leader for skiving at work. They do all these under an anonymous account of course.
There were all kinds of comments but none of it mentioned the old man.
They were all talking about the company"s daily affairs or other trifling matters. I scrolled for a long time but there was nothing useful.
I found something good, however. Horse Brand Red Wine employees" group chat.
I made an account and applied for an invitation to that group chat and was quickly accepted even without any verification.
(Welcome, new member...)
(There"s been a number of new employees recently. May I know who you are?"
(Xiaow.a.n.g perhaps? He said he would come today.)
I started typing, "Yes, I"m Xiaow.a.n.g."
(Welcome, Xiaow.a.n.g!)
(Welcome!)
(How is it Xiaow.a.n.g? Taken a liking to any ladies from our a.s.sembly line?)
(Please, Xiaow.a.n.g"s so young, why would he be interested in you aunties. Come, I"ll introduce my niece to you. She"s a kindergarten teacher. Interested?)
This Xiaow.a.n.g guy appeared to be a lady-killer. "That"s very kind of you but it"s alright, thanks."
(I heard that there will be a pay increase soon. Is there any movement on your side, Xiaow.a.n.g?)
(Yeah, I heard that the leaders are going to jump a grade. What about those at the bottom? Try finding out, alright?)
I sighed. Of all the people I could pose as, it has to be a leader. "I heard that too so it should be true. Everyone will get an increase so don"t worry. But we"ll have to count on the director ultimately."
(Director? When has he ever managed the company?)
(Could these pay raise be his idea? Didn"t some of you say that he visited recently to check on us?)
(Didn"t we last saw him two years ago? When has he ever cared about us?)
"Two years ago" caught my eye. It seemed that I could really gain some information from there.
(You guys might have some misunderstanding about our director. He grew his company singlehandedly and was still busily operating the workshop up until two years ago. You newbies don"t know stuff so don"t spout nonsense.)
(Why are you here, Brother Chen?)
(You must"ve been here for at least eight years, isn"t that right, Brother Chen? Since you know that much...)
(The director personally taught me how to brew wine. Why do you think our wine is so delicious? It"s just that the director got busy over these past two years so he handed the a.s.sembly line to us.)
This Brother Chen seemed knowledgeable. "His family is facing a problem, Brother Chen. Could that be why he"s mostly been out of the company?"
Silence.
No one replied at all and just as I was about to regret my action, a message came in.
(His illness perhaps?)
The message quickly got recalled.
(Alright, we shouldn"t be discussing this. The other leaders might not have seen it. Recall your message, Xiaow.a.n.g.)
I quickly deleted my previous message and wondered if this was it, a dead end.
Brother Chen"s message came in.
(You"re still rather new, Xiaow.a.n.g. I think I need to educate you on the company"s history. Let"s chat privately.)
Sounds like a good opportunity.
I sent him a private message, "Did I say something wrong, Brother Chen?"
(You"re still new so don"t let these impede your future. It"s not a big deal to talk about these matters, but just don"t do it publicly.)
Here"s my chance. "I"m just curious. I want to know more to avoid any mistakes in the future."
(I"ve been a technical staff for eight years now - frontline staff that is. I don"t have any education, unlike you. You graduated from a university with a master"s degree and came in straight as our leader. It was really tough at the beginning and the director had always been at the front so how can it be that he doesn"t care about the company?)
I read the message and pondered over the old man"s character. If he hadn"t been acting in front of us, I would think that he had a very good personality.
"Then you know what happened two years ago, Brother Chen? Why did the director stop coming to work?"
(He fell ill. You know the smell of our brewing factory. Employees aren"t that healthy and the director started suffering from a chronic cough. In spite of this, he couldn"t bear to let go of the company. Didn"t he return recently? Actually, the company is mostly criticizing the director"s son. That scoundrel caused the company to lose 200,000,000 in just half a year. Horrendous, isn"t it?)
A chronic cough? That I do remember.
His son being a scoundrel? That was new. I jotted down that piece of information in my notebook. In Brother Chen"s perspective, the old man was a good man. "Have you heard about what happened to his son?"
(Something happened to him? He deserves it. What happened? Did he owe so much money that the director decided not to help him anymore?)
It made sense that the director chose not to publicize his family affairs. "It was just something I heard. Might not be accurate."
(It"s better if you don"t ask too much. You have a bright future ahead. The head leader is about to retire and it shouldn"t be difficult for you to take over his position. Think more about how you can contribute to the company. Stay away from the group chat if you can. Don"t get dragged down by us.)
"Thanks, Brother Chen. I"ll get back to work."
I wrote everything I found out and deduced in my notebook.
I didn"t even realize that it already had gotten dark outside.
"I"ve got major findings," I called out to Fatty and Skinny.
Fatty smiled. "What I have is great, too. Looks like we won"t have to wait until tomorrow to start our work."