The next morning, Zhao Jian had just entered the office when he received a call from Chen Yun. He was barraged with a tirade, leaving him utterly speechless. What on earth was going on? Where had all the Housing Management staff disappeared to?
Turns out that morning, a pipe problem had occurred at the Chemistry Laboratory building, emitting such an overwhelming odor that it made the students there sick.
The leadership of the Chemistry Department was also furious, facing heavy criticism from all sides. Eventually, the call reached the Logistics Department, enraging Chen Yun. He told Zhao Jian to use whatever means necessary to eliminate the odor by noon that day.
Zhao Jian cursed the person in charge of the Housing Management section in his mind; they hadn't been seen for days. With no other choice, he went to assess the situation himself and instructed Qian Xiaomao, "Wait until Lin Feng arrives, then you two head over to the Chemistry Laboratory together."
When Zhao Jian hurried to the Chemistry Laboratory building, he was immediately assailed by an indescribable stench, nearly causing him to throw up his breakfast.
He saw Chen Yun, the director, standing there as if he were being rebuked by someone. On closer inspection, it was Vice Principal Ning. Feeling intimidated, Zhao Jian didn't dare to approach...
"Do you realize the gravity of the situation? The entire Chemistry Laboratory building is unusable. Over a thousand people are unable to attend classes. And do you know what else? Our Professor Qin was working on a chemical project that could potentially win a world prize if successful. He's been fainted by the fumes and is currently being resuscitated. If anything were to happen to Professor Qin, could you bear the responsibility? And that so-called professional cleaning team you hired, what's with their quality? One of the cleaners has also been overcome by the fumes. How can you be so negligent as the head of the Logistics Department? Such a major incident has occurred, and it remains unsolved. If you can't handle it, just take your things and go home," Vice Principal Ning vented his fury and extreme anger at Chen Yun.
He was truly enraged. This issue had grown out of proportion, causing exceedingly negative impacts.
"Yes... I'll arrange it immediately, immediately," Chen Yun agreed repeatedly, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
He felt extremely frustrated inside. How the hell was this his problem? Dragged here early in the morning, he'd been relentlessly scolded, and the Housing Management staff were nowhere to be found, leaving him to take the fall.
Nonetheless, this was within his responsibility, and he knew he couldn't escape this time.
"Spare me the excuses. I'm going to stay right here and watch you solve this problem. You can leave when it's done," Vice Principal Ning, truly incensed, hadn't even eaten breakfast when called over to face scolding from the respected old Dean of the Chemistry Department, a treasure of the school whom even Ning couldn't affront. After the Dean left, he dropped a demand: it must be fixed by noon or else they'd continue to face trouble. How could he not be angry?
"Uh... okay, okay," Chen Yun was at a loss for words, since even the professionals had fainted, and he truly didn't know what to do.
Where was Zhao Jian?
Chen Yun began searching for Zhao Jian and suddenly saw him in a corner among the crowd, Zhao Jian cowering and hiding.
Seeing this, Chen Yun was infuriated. He had been chewed out, whereas Zhao Jian had found a place to hide.
"Zhao Jian, come over here," Chen Yun shouted at Zhao Jian, burning with anger inside. You show up but don't offer to share the burden, instead hiding away, what kind of person does that?
"Oh, Director, good morning. Vice Principal, good morning," Zhao Jian greeted them mechanically, forcing a smile, thinking he couldn't avoid this scolding after all.
"Cut the nonsense, now you need to clean up that odor. It must be gone by noon," said Chen Yun. Although he was furious and upset, at this moment he couldn't bother with Zhao Jian, as the leader's reprimand had exhausted him.
Zhao Jian hurriedly approached Chen Yun and cautiously suggested, "Director, professional personnel should handle problems here because of the numerous chemical substances present, which can be hazardous."
"F*ck, don't I know that? The problem is, now the professionals have been fainted by the fumes, what am I supposed to do? I don't care how you do it, but I want results by noon, a lab free of the odor," Chen Yun was also deeply vexed, now truly infuriated. He couldn't help but swear after being dragged over and scolded by Vice Principal Ning, who was in charge of teaching. How was this situation even related?
"Go take care of it immediately, right now. If it's not okay, then just wait," Chen Yun said sternly to Zhao Jian, showing no sympathy whatsoever.
At times like this, Chen Yun couldn't care less about pleasantries. If he was suffering, then Zhao Jian should not expect comfort either.
What? Did I hear that right? How could this be happening? Is this just to make things difficult for me? I haven't offended anyone, have I? This is a matter for the Housing Management; what does it have to do with me? Hearing Chen Yun's words, Zhao Jian felt incredibly frustrated and started pacing nervously, unable to think of any solution.
Just then, Lin Feng and Qian Xiaomao approached from a distance, and Zhao Jian's eyes lit up.
Big fish eat smaller fish, and smaller fish eat shrimp. Chen Yun had been scolded by the Vice Principal and sought someone to take the heat off himself. It seemed that today, Zhao Jian would have to find someone else to take the blame in order to get out of this mess. Glancing at Lin Feng, an idea struck him; it would be him.
Who let him be that way, never schmoozing when things are calm, and then not showing any appreciation when they got busy? He thought he could just keep his head down and work hard. Compared to Lin Feng, Qian Xiaomao was much better—at least he knew to treat me to a meal once in a while.
Moreover, the director personally assigned him so much work, this person must have offended Director Chen. Using him to put out fires and take the blame would kill two birds with one stone—it would be a great favor to win over the director, so why not?
With that in mind, Zhao Jian chastised Lin Feng in front of Chen Yun as soon as he arrived, "Lin Feng, didn't I tell you about the situation here? Why didn't you handle it properly? Look at the mess you've caused, it has had a terrible impact, how on earth do you work? You're so irresponsible. Look at what you've done to the situation now, you've made the vice principal and the director angry."
Zhao Jian had already figured it out—if the kid tried to explain, he'd accuse him of shirking responsibility, but if he were wise and admitted his wrongs, that would be considered smart.
Watching Zhao Jian shout and rage, with an authoritative air of bringing charges, Lin Feng immediately guessed his petty thoughts. Having no friendship or fondness for Zhao Jian, Lin Feng certainly wasn't about to take the blame for him for no good reason, so he neither explained nor admitted fault but instead directly said, "Section Chief, I've been busy with the park's affairs these past few days, you never mentioned this matter to me at all, so how can you talk about provoking the leaders' anger?"
This was not only a blatant slap in the face but also a stark sabotage.
Lin Feng's words completely foiled Zhao Jian's plan of diverting disaster elsewhere, especially in front of Chen Yun. It made Zhao Jian feel the embarrassment of being caught lying, awkward and as if he had been firmly slapped across the face several times, burning with shame—humiliating.
He never expected Lin Feng to… to actually say such things.
"What nonsense are you talking about? I didn't tell you? If I said I did, then I did. Do you think I can't remember clearly? Now, both of you quickly go and sort out the laboratory issue," demanded an infuriated Zhao Jian, his face twisted in anger as he barked at Lin Feng.
Furthermore, his voice rose sharply, clearly a cry of agitated emotions.
Simply getting a scolding from the leadership had already dampened his spirits, and he didn't expect Lin Feng, his subordinate, to be so disrespectful, puncturing his lies in front of both leaders.
Even though the facts were as such, as a subordinate, couldn't you cover for me a bit as a leader? It's one thing to not save face, but to sabotage me in public? Do you still want to work in this department? I'm really ****** depressed—how did I come across such a clueless young hothead?
In front of the leadership, he could actually speak so directly, without any nerves, not the least intimidated by my reprimand. Instead, it made me incredibly embarrassed. Damn it, the more Zhao Jian thought about it, the angrier he became.
Zhao Jian didn't dare look at the vice principal and director's faces. He wished he could kick this guy out right now, tell him to get lost.
"Quit the nonsense, go deal with it now," Zhao Jian glared at Lin Feng with eyes shooting fire, grinding his teeth as he said, "I want results. It must be done by noon, or you don't need to come to work anymore."
"The school isn't owned by your family; whether I come to work is not for you to casually decide. Vice Principal, Director, I'm right, aren't I?" As Zhao Jian shouted and made a scene, Lin Feng didn't even look at him, instead turning to face the Vice Principal and Chen Yun as he spoke.
Wow, so awesome. Standing aside, Qian Xiaomao was dumbfounded seeing Lin Feng embarrass Zhao Jian in front of the Vice Principal and Director. Where did Lin Feng get this courage to challenge his immediate superior like that? So fierce.
Such words, he dared to say them, impressive!
Not just Qian Xiaomao—even Vice Principal Ning and Chen Yun were stunned hearing Lin Feng's words and seeing him put the question to them.
They naturally saw Zhao Jian's clumsy performance, but they didn't expect Lin Feng's response to be thus.
Watching Zhao Jian getting visibly annoyed and the atmosphere already quite tense, with Lin Feng seemingly not about to back down, continuing to talk could lead to an unpredictable outcome.
Qian Xiaomao knew that if this kept up, Lin Feng would definitely be in trouble, and he might end up in a bad spot too, so he grabbed Lin Feng and said, "Yes, yes, Section Chief, we're on it right away."
With those words, he hurried Lin Feng towards the laboratory's entrance.
As Lin Feng was led away, Vice Principal Ning and Chen Yun both frowned deeply at Zhao Jian, clearly seeing that Zhao Jian was looking for Lin Feng to take the fall, who in turn was not playing along.
This young man was truly strange.
However, at that moment, their minds were on the situation over at the chemistry building, so they were not inclined to fuss over this issue any further.
Seeing Chen Yun lost in thought beside him, Zhao Jian cursed Lin Feng hundreds of times in his heart, helplessly standing by Chen Yun, head bowed...