Outmaneuvering Manager Wang

Two weeks later,

"Ah, I'm finally out of the hospital. No more reeking of disinfectant. These past days have really been unbearable!"

Fang Bai walked out of the hospital with a travel backpack slung over his shoulder and took a deep breath.

He watched the endless tide of bicycles on the road, the clattering rickshaws, the few motorcycles, and the Santanas and Fiats weaving through traffic;

Newspaper kiosks by the roadside displayed publications such as Zhiyin and Wencheng Morning Post, while people in loose-fitting clothes filled the streets;

Small workshops lined the streets and alleys, and hawkers' cries rose and fell. The whole street brimmed with life...

This era felt both familiar and unfamiliar to him, leaving him with a strange sense of unreality.

He turned around and glanced back at the shabby hospital entrance, then lowered his head to look at the three middle fingers on his injured right hand.

Although they were no longer inflamed, they could barely move, and neither the knuckles nor the fingertips could bend.

He truly longed to upgrade his Golden Finger as soon as possible. Then these three fingers could recover completely.

He was wearing a brand-new pair of blue jeans, a white T-shirt, and a denim jacket. There were also 312.13 yuan in his pocket.

Qin Shuyu had bought him these new clothes when she left the hospital. She had said that his old clothes were stained with blood and could no longer be worn.

Before leaving the hospital, Fang Bai had changed into the new clothes and discovered three one-hundred-yuan bills in his pocket, along with a note that read, "Fang Bai, I've gone back to school. Use these three hundred yuan first. Don't worry about me; our school still gives us subsidies. You have to keep going!

"I'll write to you whenever I have time. Remember to write back, or else... Hmph!"

Other than the three hundred yuan Qin Shuyu had given him, Fang Bai also had the ten yuan his mother had given him.

After completing his discharge procedures, his mother had returned to Yongjia Middle School to work as a janitor. Her monthly salary was only fifty yuan, below the average wage for workers in Wen City.

His father farmed at home, mainly ensuring the family had enough grain to eat. Their farmland was subject to grain taxes, and during his spare time, he took on odd jobs. The income was not much, but it gave the family a little extra support.

When Fang Bai worked as a sheet-metal cutter at the factory, his monthly salary during the probation period had been eighty yuan, with meals and lodging included. However, he had not received a single yuan yet.

Wages in 1990 were generally low. The national average salary for workers was only a little over one hundred yuan.

In truth, many people did not even earn that average wage.

No matter the era, the word "average" was practically synonymous with "bullshit."

Even though his father-in-law's business was doing well and he had already become a Ten Thousand Yuan Household, several hundred yuan was still no small sum.

For most people, one-hundred-yuan bills were rare sights.

Besides, Qin Shuyu had bought him two sets of new clothes, which had probably cost quite a bit as well.

Fang Bai felt the weight of it. He knew Qin Shuyu likely had not kept much money for herself.

"That silly fool!"

After leaving the hospital, Fang Bai decided to go to the factory and retrieve his clothes, bedding, and other belongings.

Though those items were not worth much, his parents had bought them with money earned through hard work. He could not simply let them go to waste.

The other matter was collecting the wages and medical expenses that the hateful boss owed him.

Based on his experience from his previous life, he had not received a single yuan and had even been ordered out through the gate by the boss's security guards.

Even with decades of experience, Fang Bai was not confident that he could persuade the boss to pay him.

But now, he was very confident.

"Bastard, just wait."

Wen City included four urban districts and five counties, and Yongjia County was one of those five counties.

The urban district and Yongjia County faced each other across the Oujiang River. The area north of the Oujiang River was called Oubei and was part of Yongjia County.

The hospital was in the urban district, while the factory was in Oubei. The two were only a few kilometers apart.

Fang Bai did not own a bicycle. A new bicycle cost more than two hundred yuan, while even a used one cost around a hundred. He had no intention of spending money on that right now.

Taking the bus was inconvenient, so he flagged down a rickshaw by the roadside and asked the fare. Two kilometers cost thirty cents, which was not cheap.

A while later, he arrived at the riverside.

He took the ferry across the river, spending another ten cents.

After arriving in Oubei, he first found a barbershop and got a short haircut that made him look more mature.

While getting his hair cut, Fang Bai casually observed the simply decorated barbershop. The walls were plastered with posters of popular female stars of the day, such as Jiang Min, some Yu, some Xun, as well as several sexy actresses in bikinis.

There were several girls in the shop, all around twenty years old and dressed rather "coolly."

Plywood partitions divided the barbershop into three rooms. The outermost area was for haircuts, the middle room was for shampooing, and the innermost room was a hidden little chamber.

Looking at this clever arrangement, Fang Bai felt that he had entered the wrong kind of establishment.

After getting his haircut, he paid and prepared to leave.

When Fang Bai took out his money from his pocket, the scantily dressed female barber accidentally saw the three hundred-yuan bills. Her eyes instantly lit up green. Then she looked him over again—his clothes were rather high-end, he was a lean 176 centimeters tall, and he looked quite handsome. She immediately forced a fawning smile onto her face. "Handsome, want to relax a little? It's very cheap."

"Hehe, I have something urgent today. Another day."

Fang Bai froze for a moment. When he saw the barber point toward the door of the innermost room, he instantly understood what she meant.

Then he recalled how he had carelessly exposed those large bills while paying.

Holy shit, she was after my money!

Not my face!

He forced a smile and hurried out of the barbershop. It was not a place to linger.

At two in the afternoon, Fang Bai arrived at the factory where he had once worked.

Jiangnan Province Hengli Valve Manufacturing Co., Ltd. The boss was named Wang Hengli.

The factory covered more than ten mu of land. It had a two-story office building, a two-story dormitory building, and two brick-and-concrete workshops. It employed nearly a hundred workers and made several hundred thousand yuan in profit every year.

Back then, machinery factories had outdated equipment and processes, low production efficiency, and low product value-added. Output per worker was generally low. The entire GDP of Wen City had been only ten billion yuan the previous year.

If factories like Hengli Company developed normally, their owners would be worth hundreds of millions thirty years later.

Unfortunately, Wang Hengli became entangled in a debt of love with his mistress and suffered a crushing blow, causing his business to plummet.

The Gatekeeper at this kind of factory was little more than decoration. As long as you did not steal anything out of the company, it was fine.

The Gatekeeper recognized him and did not stop him. Fang Bai entered the factory without trouble, went to the dormitory, took out his key, and opened the door.

Six iron bunk beds filled the cramped room, housing twelve people. The place was a mess and reeked of shoes. He truly did not know how anyone could sleep there at night.

When Fang Bai saw that his clothes and bedding were gone from his bed, replaced by someone else's belongings, his anger immediately flared.

"Fuck your mother, dorm manager!"

He had been discharged two days earlier than in his previous life, yet he still could not escape the fate of having the dorm manager throw away his clothes and bedding. In his previous life, he had fought the dorm manager, only worsening his right-hand injury afterward.

Damn it, this was just people at the bottom bullying people at the bottom!

Fang Bai did not go argue with the dorm manager directly. His injured hand was not suitable for fighting now, otherwise he truly would have wanted to beat him senseless. Whether he could win or not was beside the point; fighting was far too common in this era.

Since the man was just a dog relying on his master's power, the most fitting thing would be to let dogs bite each other.

On the way to Wang Hengli's office, Fang Bai quickly smoothed over his anger.

Along the way, he ran into an acquaintance he was not particularly close to. The man cast a pitiful and curious glance at Fang Bai's right hand. Fang Bai had long grown used to such looks and attitudes.

When he reached the second floor, he happened to see a short, fat man of around fifty holding a Big Brother and speaking loudly in the corridor outside the office. He was saying that the battery was nearly dead and that he had to end the call.

Fang Bai worked hard to put on a harmless smile and walked toward him. "Manager Wang, long time no see!"

Hearing someone greet him from behind, Wang Hengli turned around. Seeing that the man was not familiar, he sized him up. The other party was very young, had a sunny smile, and carried a backpack. He felt vaguely familiar, but Wang Hengli could not remember who he was.

Yet this young man carried himself naturally and steadily. He was no ordinary person. Could he be some salesman?

When he saw the other party extend his left hand, Wang Hengli paused. Shouldn't it be the right hand?

Still, he quickly extended his own left hand and shook it. "Hello!"

Fang Bai found it perfectly normal that Wang Hengli did not recognize him. He had worked in the workshop for less than two months and had barely interacted with the boss.

Besides, with his new clothes and hairstyle, he had completely transformed himself. Not just Wang Hengli—even acquaintances would not recognize him at a glance.

But none of that mattered.

The instant they shook hands, Fang Bai obtained information about Wang Hengli's past day, as well as his current thoughts.

While in the hospital, Fang Bai had thoroughly studied the functions of the Golden Finger.

As long as he shook hands with someone once, regardless of how long the handshake lasted or which hand was used, he could detect that person's information from the past day and know their current thoughts, provided they were within ten meters of him.

If they went beyond ten meters, he could no longer detect them. But once they returned within range, he could detect them again without needing another handshake.

[Who is this young man? I feel like I've seen him somewhere, but I just can't remember...]

That was what Wang Hengli was thinking at the moment, and Fang Bai had also learned what he had done over the past day.

Last night, Wang Hengli had gone to the love nest he had bought for his mistress.

At nine this morning, Wang Hengli had left the love nest with an exhausted body and told his wife that he was going on a business trip.

Fang Bai could see the scenes, including every word Wang Hengli had exchanged with his mistress, as though watching a recorded video. He could fast-forward or slow it down.

Moreover, whatever information he wanted to know would be retrieved automatically. He did not need to watch every scene.

This Golden Finger was insanely overpowered!

But Fang Bai liked it.

Wang Hengli feared his wife Chen Li for two main reasons. First, she controlled most of the assets. Second, her father had once worked within the system. Without his father-in-law's support, the company could never have reached its current scale.

Of course, his father-in-law had been retired for several years, but he still had some connections.

What Wang Hengli did not know was that the money he gave his mistress Zhang Qian was being used by her to support a young lover.

Two years later, Wang Hengli and his mistress were caught in bed by Chen Li. Chen Li hired thugs to beat Zhang Qian, and later, still unable to vent her anger, splashed sulfuric acid on Zhang Qian's face and disfigured her.

After being disfigured, Zhang Qian was abandoned by her young lover. Despairing, she paid people to cripple both Chen Li and the young lover. Wang Hengli escaped that disaster.

At first, the young lover had not known Zhang Qian was being kept by someone. Later, after discovering he had become trapped in a love triangle, he wanted to take down Wang Hengli.

The matter became huge. It made the local news, and everyone in the city knew about it. In the end, none of the four had a good ending.

The two women were both lunatics, while the men were cowardly and timid. Spineless wretches.

If Wang Hengli had not been such a coward, Fang Bai would have had a much harder time collecting his debt.

Fang Bai had learned about the matter from Old Master and the newspapers.

In this life, whatever happened to those four had nothing to do with him. Fang Bai only wanted his things back and, while he was at it, to screw over the dorm manager and Wang Hengli.

Suddenly, Wang Hengli noticed the scars on the three middle fingers of Fang Bai's right hand. Only then did he remember him, frowning. "Fang Bai, why is it you?!"

"Haha, it seems Manager Wang has quite a good memory." Fang Bai smiled naturally. "I thought important people tended to forget things."

Wang Hengli's face tightened. "What are you doing here?

"You're no longer an employee of my company!"

Fang Bai knew what the other man was thinking. It was impossible to directly ask this Dead Fatso for wages and compensation. If he had been willing to pay, he would have paid in his previous life.

Reason with him?

Not even a dog would buy it!

Useless!

Threaten him directly?

A man who had built a business to this scale was not someone to be trifled with.

Dragging things out, suing, pestering him endlessly, threatening to jump off a building...

Fang Bai had considered many methods of collecting the debt, but after thinking them over, none seemed reliable.

If debts were so easy to collect, there would not be so many deadbeats in later generations.

Fang Bai needed to seize on the man's cowardly nature and exploit his critical weakness. It would be best if he could make him pay willingly.

It was somewhat presumptuous, but worth a try.

Seeing Wang Hengli's fierce expression, Fang Bai simply said, "Of course I'm here to help you. I wonder what your wife Chen Li would think if she learned about Zhang Qian?"

"What did you say?"

The moment Wang Hengli heard the name "Zhang Qian," his heart began racing and his palms started sweating. He stared at Fang Bai, wondering how this guy knew such private information.

He believed he had been cautious enough. The two had never appeared together in public, precisely because he feared his wife would find out,

If his wife accused him of cheating during their marriage, he might end up leaving with nothing.

That was absolutely unacceptable to him. As long as he had money, he could always find another mistress.

"Then there's no point in talking, Manager Wang. 156 Changxin Road."

"You followed me?"

"You're overthinking it. I just happened to see you."

"What exactly do you want?"

The moment Wang Hengli heard that address, his heart skipped a beat. It was precisely the apartment he had bought for his mistress.

Fang Bai looked utterly calm, as if every detail of Wang Hengli's life was in his grasp.

"Manager Wang, won't you invite me into your office for a chat?"

"Come in."

Wang Hengli replied coldly, casually shut the door so passing employees would not overhear, then sat across from Fang Bai with an unhappy expression.

Fang Bai sat calmly opposite him and said evenly, "Manager Wang, I truly can't understand why you told Zhang Qian about your tax evasion!

"And yet you don't know that Zhang Qian is using your money to keep a young lover!

"Letting a woman and her young lover get leverage on you—what exactly are you trying to do?"

What Fang Bai said contained far too much information for Wang Hengli.

Zhang Qian was using his money to support a young lover?!

The young lover was planning to go after him?

He really had engaged in serious tax evasion, and he had boasted about it to Zhang Qian. He hurriedly asked,

"How do you know?"

"Don't you think it's funny?

"You don't know what you've done or who you've told yourself? Do you think I was hiding under your bed eavesdropping?

"Manager Wang, get this straight. I'm here to help you!

"If I weren't repaying you for letting me into the factory back then, I wouldn't give a damn!"

After hearing Fang Bai say that, Wang Hengli basically concluded that Zhang Qian had leaked the information, likely to that young lover, who had then told others.

Otherwise, how could Fang Bai possibly know?

Thinking back to Zhang Qian's attitude toward him lately, she had been far too perfunctory. Something had felt wrong. With Fang Bai's reminder, he immediately realized it.

Fuck!

What kind of woman had he been keeping? She was actually keeping a young lover too!

Still, he had some doubts.

Fang Bai seized on his doubts and continued, "Don't ask how I found out about that mess of yours.

I don't have time to fool you. Just send someone to investigate Zhang Qian.

Don't really think you can still rely on that father-in-law of yours who's been retired for years. If they really wanted to take you down, they'd definitely investigate your affairs and background thoroughly.

Besides, with your father-in-law only being a deputy county-level official—and retired, at that—the people in Wen City wouldn't consider him enough at all!

Think about it yourself. Doesn't what I'm saying make sense?"

Wang Hengli saw Fang Bai's sharp gaze and imposing aura. Every syllable he spoke was taut with tension, like a sharp blade cutting through the silent air and shaking Wang Hengli to his core.

He suddenly realized that Fang Bai knew far too much about his private affairs, and probably quite a few others knew as well.

If his wife found out he was keeping a mistress, he'd be finished.

As for tax evasion, if someone reported him, his losses would be enormous.

Those were the things Wang Hengli least wanted to happen!

And looking at Fang Bai's eyes again, he was no different from a desperado. Wang Hengli knew full well that people like that would risk their lives when pushed.

If things went wrong, he might get himself dragged down with him. Besides, Fang Bai said he had come to help him, so he probably wouldn't harm him.

Fuck.

The more Wang Hengli thought about it, the angrier he became. He wanted to go confront Zhang Qian immediately.

Fang Bai could not help but laugh. "What, you want to go confront Zhang Qian right now? You really can't tell what the situation is, can you?"

Wang Hengli froze for a moment, then sat back down. In his anger, his mind had already become muddled, but Fang Bai's words immediately brought him back to his senses.

Fang Bai had told him that Zhang Qian was keeping a young lover and preparing to blackmail him together with him. He should have been thanking Fang Bai.

When he looked at Fang Bai again, he found him much more approachable.

"Then what do you think we should do?"

Although Wang Hengli was furious and uneasy, he also knew that panicking now would not help.