The Official Ladder: I ascend to the pinnacle of power, wielding the power of life and death.

“Without substantial evidence, it is illegal for you to publicly slander Secretary Jiang in this setting.”

Zhao Zhenlin emphasized, "I hope you will speak carefully."

“Minister Zhao, since I dared to say this in front of everyone, I naturally have substantial evidence.”

Qiu Tian said, "Hao Qiang, the former technical director of Yusha Winery, is a witness. Please invite him to speak."

"Greetings, leaders. My name is Hao Qiang, former technical director of the winery."

Hao Qiang said, "The original winery could not continue to develop, and the county carried out reforms. As an employee, I welcomed and supported it 100%. So I cooperated fully in the reform process, and when the winery was raising development funds, I contributed 50,000 yuan to support the winery's development."

"Who would have thought that my 50,000 yuan would be like throwing a meat bun to a dog—gone forever. The main reason is that Jiang Yiming, Wang Weifa, and Jiang Yongchen colluded to squander the winery's development funds. You might not believe it, but everyone painstakingly raised 4 million yuan for the development fund with their hard-earned money, and they just took 2.5 million yuan for advertising and even had a prize-winning promotion! This caused a serious loss of collective assets."

“I have good reason to suspect that they took the money and squandered it, but just reimbursed it under this pretext.”

"On behalf of more than 100 employees, I demand that Wang Weifa, Jiang Yongchen, and other management personnel return our hard-earned money!"

"Hao Qiang, I didn't charge you back then, but you insisted on paying me. Now you're causing this mess. You're being too despicable."

Wang Weifa was furious.

"Hao Qiang, we have a contract that we can only repurchase your shares at the end of next month. Are you sure you want them now? Otherwise, you will lose 10,000 yuan."

Jiang Yongchen sneered.

"Hehe, of course I want it now. If I wait any longer, you'll probably have squandered all the money!"

Hao Qiang said, "Not only me, but also the money of more than a hundred employees, must be returned."

“I can return your money to you right now, but as for the money of the more than one hundred employees, you have no right to represent them.”

Jiang Yongchen quickly wrote a note and immediately instructed the finance staff to transfer the money to Hao Qiang's account.

"I may not be qualified to represent them, but they can represent themselves, right?"

Hao Qiang laughed and said, "You must return the money to them today, otherwise they will not let it go."

As Hao Qiang finished speaking, a chaotic commotion suddenly erupted outside.

"what happened?"

Ma Qiyun frowned.

"Secretary, the employees of Yusha Winery have come to petition. They are demanding that Yusha Winery return their hard-earned money, accusing the winery of squandering their money, and demanding that the county government hold the management of Yusha Winery accountable."

Someone immediately came to report it.

"I told you, they came to ask for money, didn't they?"

Hao Qiang said smugly.

boom!

Ma Qiyun slammed his hand on the table, startling everyone.

"Controversy aside, I will never forgive anyone who incites ordinary people to petition collectively!"

Ma Qiyun's face darkened as he said, "What kind of behavior is this? This is a criminal act!"

"Old Liao, immediately arrange for an investigation. Make sure you find out who instigated them to petition. Whoever is involved, pursue them to the end!"

"Secretary, I'll go investigate right away."

Director Liao left in a hurry.

"The meeting is adjourned. I'll go and meet with the petitioning employees first."

Ma Qiyun stood up and walked outside.

"Secretary, I'll stay with you."

Jiang Yiming stood up and followed.

"They're after you, so it's best if you don't show up."

Ma Qiyun said.

“Since they’re targeting me, it’s more appropriate for me to step in and resolve the situation.”

Jiang Yiming smiled and said, "Secretary, don't worry, I'm confident."

"Okay, I'll wait for you here."

After thinking for a moment, Ma Qiyun nodded in agreement.

"Hello everyone, I am Jiang Yiming from the Enterprise Reform Team."

Jiang Yiming, holding a megaphone, shouted, "Everyone, please be quiet and listen to me."

"You lied to us, squandered our money, and you still have the nerve to show your face? Everyone, let's beat him up!"

"Yes, it's because of him that we lost our identities and our money. It's all his fault!"

"What's the point of hitting him? We're here to find the government to solve our problems. Hitting people is illegal, so please don't act impulsively."

More than a hundred people were discussing it.

"Don't believe the rumors. Your money has not been wasted; it has been put to a real purpose."

Jiang Yiming shouted, "Because of your support, Yusha Winery has weathered its most difficult time. You shouldn't be in the county government compound right now; you should be at the Yusha Winery office to collect your wages!"

"Heh, you still want to lie to us? The distillery is barely making ends meet, where would we get the money to pay our wages?"

"Exactly, if they want to trick us into going back, they should at least come up with a better reason. We're not stupid."

"You bastard, you're still trying to lie to us even now! We have elderly parents and young children to support, and we're barely surviving. You're still bullying us. Are you even human?!"

The group didn't believe Jiang Yiming at all.

"Everyone, please don't get angry. There's a phone in the guardhouse. You can send a representative to call your colleagues in the factory and ask them about the situation."

Jiang Yiming said, "If I am lying to everyone, I will let you deal with me as you see fit, and I will have no complaints."

"Fine, I'll go make the call. If I don't get paid, I'll settle the score with you!"

A leader entered the guardhouse.

A moment later, he ran out with a look of great joy: "Great! Director Jiang didn't lie to us! The factory paid our wages! We really paid our wages!"

"Did they really get paid? Where did they get the money?"

"I don't care where they get their money, as long as they get paid."

"Everyone, hurry back home, or we won't get paid if we're too late."

Just as the group was about to leave, Jiang Yiming called them back.

"Don't rush off, everyone!"

Everyone turned to look at Jiang Yiming, wondering what he was going to do.

"According to the winery's regulations, leaving one's post without proper leave procedures will result in a deduction of three days' wages!"

"And you will face a three-day wage deduction."

Jiang Yiming said, "Of course, I know you didn't leave your posts voluntarily, but were misled. In this situation, I think it's understandable!"

"Director Jiang is right. We were indeed deceived. We really didn't leave our posts on purpose."

"Director Jiang, please put in a good word for us and don't punish us. We'll go back to work now and never petition again."

"Director Jiang, we're sorry, we misunderstood you and we know we were wrong. Please help us plead for leniency."

Everyone apologized.

“I understand you, but you say you were fooled, without any evidence.”

Jiang Yiming shrugged and said, "Even if I wanted to plead for you, I have no basis whatsoever."