Right now, all Xiao Liang wanted was to pull together the nine remaining employees at the juice factory with at least a high school education—and bring them under his command.

The reasoning had already been laid out in the restructuring plan. He had also gone over it in detail with Gu Peijun the night before.

The factory’s most urgent task was simple: clear the inventory.

Until cash started flowing back in, until debts owed to fruit farmers were settled, there was no way they could procure a single batch of fresh fruit. Nor could they afford to source concentrated juice from elsewhere—domestic concentrate was mainly produced for export, and the purchase price alone was astronomical.

As for talk of resuming production? That was a fantasy.

They still owed the township credit cooperative five million yuan. No matter how much face Mayor Wang Xingmin had—or how much trust he placed in them—there was no way the bank would float another one or two million just to keep this sinking ship afloat.

So Xiao Liang’s priority was clear: mobilize every usable person and build a sales team prototype at maximum speed.

The formal restructuring plan hadn’t even been approved yet, but training and preparation couldn’t wait. Every hour mattered.

First—this factory was already hanging by a thread. Before survival was secured, there was no such thing as “job descriptions.” Everyone capable had to be thrown into the fight, cutting through the mess of inventory and fighting for cash flow.

Second—these nine people were the backbone of what remained.

Once the sales team took over inventory clearance, the profits would inevitably tilt toward them. Pulling these nine into the core group meant forming a shared-interest alliance—instantly reducing internal resistance within the factory.

Third—of the thirty-two Party members in Nanting Village, seven of the nine people he intended to recruit were Party members themselves. Add Gu Peijun, and that was already a quarter of the village’s Party membership.

If any major decisions came up later—especially if a Party branch meeting had to be convened—having this group aligned would carry real weight.

Fourth—he needed to use this early phase of cooperation to personally build a core team that truly understood operations.

These nine had all held relatively important posts in the factory before. Their ties to Xiao Yujun weren’t distant—but they weren’t especially close either.

The truly trusted inner circle had either been taken away by county police for investigation—the two deputy directors and the office chief—or had already been reassigned by Xiao Yujun to another juice plant in Xikou Town.

Over the past few months, Xiao Yujun had clearly sensed that Mayor Wang Xingmin might come after him. His goal had shifted—intentionally dragging Nanting Juice Factory into collapse, forcing restructuring on his own terms.

After the old sales staff left, the factory’s entire distribution network had collapsed. The market had dried up overnight.

And now these nine people—like everyone else—had gone two months without pay.

They hadn’t received any special favors from Xiao Yujun either. Just normal wages and bonuses. At this point, why would they still feel loyal to him?

Gu Peijun gathered Zhang Feli, Liu Weiwei, and the other seven into the sales department’s main office and announced:

“After discussion with Deputy Director Xiao, we’ve decided the factory’s top priority is rebuilding the sales department and clearing inventory by any means necessary to recover funds. This is the lifeline of Nanting Lake Juice Factory’s survival. If we can’t do this, the factory won’t last the year—maybe not even one or two months.”

He paused, then continued more firmly.

“From today onward, Deputy Director Xiao will concurrently serve as Sales Manager, fully responsible for inventory clearance. Regardless of your previous positions, all of you are temporarily reassigned to the sales department until this task is complete. Aside from essential duties on your original posts, you will all follow Deputy Director Xiao’s instructions.”

Before he could finish, Xiao Liang cut in.

“Alright, Director Gu, you can get back to your work. I’ll take over from here.”

He looked around the room. Shock, confusion, disbelief—every expression was written clearly on their faces.

“Give you fifteen minutes,” Xiao Liang said calmly. “Bring your cups, pens, and notebooks. Meet in the conference room.”

His tone sharpened slightly.

“Anyone not there in fifteen minutes will be treated as voluntarily resigning. You can hand your resignation to Director Gu directly.”

A faint smile crossed his face, but there was no warmth in it.

“If you don’t have the resolve to fight this battle with us—then there’s no point staying.”

No one could afford to think much of Xiao Liang or Gu Peijun based on age alone. In this era, youth was an unavoidable disadvantage.

But Xiao Liang represented the township government as a dispatched official, and Gu Peijun was acting village head and interim factory director. With those official roles in place, no one could openly refuse unless they were truly ready to walk out the door.

And that was all Xiao Liang needed—for now.

The conference room was on the third floor.

The table was made by pushing four office desks together and covering them with a patterned plastic cloth. The walls were lined with old banners and certificates—remnants of the factory’s former glory. A worn wall clock ticked steadily in the corner.

The room was plain, even shabby.

But Xiao Liang sat at the head of the table, sipping Liu Weiwei’s freshly brewed Longjing tea, gazing out the window toward the broad waters of Nanting Lake.

And strangely enough, it didn’t feel bad at all.

“Zhang Feli, you and Liu Weiwei sit next to me. You’ll handle meeting minutes.”

He pulled out the chair beside him.

Zhang Feli instinctively tried to retreat toward a corner with her notebook, but Xiao Liang stopped her.

“Sit here.”

Then he added, “This meeting may take a while. You two take notes separately. We’ll reconcile them afterward.”

Zhang Feli was only a year older than Xiao Liang and had been married to Zhou Bin for two years. Though her marriage was unhappy, she still carried herself with the quiet elegance of an educated family—her father the principal of the township middle school, her mother a primary school teacher.

A gentle, bookish upbringing had given her a calm, refined temperament.

Today she wore a long dress that outlined the soft curves of a young married woman. Her delicate features and fair skin made her striking in a restrained, understated way.

Xiao Liang, however, knew another layer of her story.

She was not just a disgruntled wife.

In his previous life, Zhang Feli had been one of the publicly acknowledged victims in Xiao Yujun’s case of sexual misconduct against minors. After divorcing Zhou Bin, she had remained within Xiao Yujun’s corporate orbit, even rumored to be his mistress.

In reality, she had lived quietly, raising her daughter alone while working as a mid-level manager in Xiao Yujun’s company.

In 2007, she reported Xiao Yujun for attempting to assault her underage daughter. In response, he struck first—accusing her of bribery and embezzlement, and sending her to prison.

Her daughter, taken in by Zhou Bin, later fell into the wrong crowd, becoming the mistress of a local thug, and eventually died in a staged car accident.

Zhang Feli, upon hearing the news, took her own life in prison.

And even after all that—Zhou Jianshi, Liang Aizhen, and Zhou Bin’s family still clung tightly to Xiao Yujun’s side. In fact, Zhou Bin himself had given testimony favorable to Xiao Yujun during his 2007 case, helping him escape punishment.

Thinking of all this, Xiao Liang felt a faint heaviness in his chest.

He had called Zhang Feli to sit beside him not out of distraction—but as a declaration.

Even after being framed and dragged through mud in this life, beautiful women would not become his weakness.

Not again.