Li Ye had been away on business for so long that some work had inevitably piled up that simply could not be done without him. He buried himself in it for the entire morning, and in the blink of an eye, it was lunchtime.
He went to Lu Zhizhang's office to take a look, only to find that the man had gone out to coordinate relations and had not returned. He was probably drinking somewhere again, so Li Ye went to the canteen by himself.
As it happened, Li Ye also wanted to talk to Old Xie and Wu Yan, to ask why they had been arguing these past few days. Discussing such matters over a meal would make it less serious and save those two stolid engineering men from fidgeting in their seats.
As there were more and more people at the First Branch Factory, the canteen had been divided into several sections. The Third Canteen was closest to the R&D Workshop and specialized in tasty, affordable stir-fries. Most of the unkempt engineers who worked overtime all the time ate there.
They earned good salaries. Who would feel bad about spending money on food and settle for communal pot meals?
But when Li Ye arrived at the Third Canteen that noon and looked around, he did not see Wu Yan or Old Xie. Instead, he spotted Old Xie's daughter, Xie Ruonan, along with Zhou Ziqing, who had been there for several months already.
When Old Xie had first transferred to the First Branch Factory, he had been raising his child alone, so it had been agreed that Xie Ruonan could eat in the First Branch Factory canteen. Li Ye was not surprised to see her here.
But Xie Ruonan and Zhou Ziqing were now sitting face-to-face over a meal,