Chapter 141: The Photograph

"Ring, ring, ring."

The telephone on the desk rang urgently. Lu Kun, his mind deeply immersed in the documents spread out before him, reached out to answer it without even lifting his head.

"Hello? Who is this? What’s the matter?" Lu Kun picked up the receiver and asked, his tone concise and direct.

"Boss, it’s me, Chen Xiangyang," a man replied respectfully from the other end.

"Oh, any definitive news about the equipment?" Lu Kun leaned back, stretched his neck, and asked hurriedly.

"Yes, there is!" Chen Xiangyang replied, sounding somewhat excited. "After more than a month of negotiations, our procurement team has basically figured out their bottom-line price."

"Good. If this goes through, I’ll credit you with the top achievement," Lu Kun said loudly.

"Thank you, boss! Thank you, boss!" On the other end, Chen Xiangyang’s hand trembled as he gripped the receiver, overcome with excitement. *How long has it been? Another promotion?* he thought, his eyes lighting up.

"Boss, but we don't even have a factory building yet. If we buy the equipment now, where should we put it?" Chen Xiangyang asked cautiously.

In truth, the price negotiations had been essentially completed long ago. The instant noodle equipment procurement team had been in constant contact with two different equipment suppliers.

"As for that... don't place the order yet. Keep stalling them until the land for the factory is approved," Lu Kun said after a moment of contemplation, sounding a bit awkward.

Chen Xiangyang: "Huh?"

...

In this matter, Lu Kun had truly overestimated the integrity of those people. Before he had left for Guizhou, the registration for the "Master Kong Food and Beverage Company" had been fully completed; all that remained was for the provincial authorities to approve the land for the factory. When Lu Kun was in Angui, he would call to follow up whenever he had a spare moment, and the progress of the approval process had been decent. But once he left for Guizhou, the process slowed to a crawl.

Lu Kun had initially suspected that someone was meddling, but upon investigation... the "lazy governance" prevalent in this era was even worse than in later generations.

"Hello, Director Hong? What exactly is going on? The planning documents for the Master Kong factory were sent to your bureau a long time ago. You don't have a personal grudge against me and are trying to make things difficult, do you?"

"..."

"Well, you need to speed up the progress. It’s been stuck at your office for over half a month now."

"..."

"There's no need to invite me to dinner. Just work a little harder and help your brother get this done. When I have some time later, I’ll treat you to..."

*Sigh.*

Lu Kun called the remaining departments one by one to push the procedures forward. Only after receiving their assurances did he manage to exhale a sigh of relief. It is easier to deal with the King of Hell than his mischievous little devils. Once these troublesome matters were settled, Lu Kun felt completely drained.

...

"When did you get here?" Lu Kun asked, lifting his head from a mountain of documents to address Stone, who was standing there like a wall.

"Just arrived." Stone didn't say another word; he simply pulled a cigarette from his pack and handed it to Lu Kun.

"Thanks. The weather has been changing too much lately; I can never get enough sleep," Lu Kun said, yawning.

"Summer heat is good for napping," Stone suggested, gesturing for Lu Kun to join him on the sofa.

"How did that investigation go, the one I asked you to handle last time?" Lu Kun asked, tucking the cigarette behind his ear.

"Aren't you going to smoke?" Stone asked, puffing on his own cigarette with a puzzled expression.

"My wife is about to give birth. She can't stand the smell, so I'm quitting for a few days," Lu Kun replied with a smile.

Stone nodded slightly before continuing, "I’ve basically obtained all the evidence."

Lu Kun’s breathing hitched, but he steadied himself and said, "Alright, we wait for the right moment."

"How long do we have to wait?" Stone raised an eyebrow, the centipede-like scar on his left forehead looking rather menacing.

"Six months, at most," Lu Kun said, looking Stone straight in the eye with a heavy tone.

"Good," Stone nodded.

"Here are the photos. They should count as one piece of evidence." Stone pulled a thick stack of photographs from his inner jacket pocket and slid them onto the small coffee table, face down.

"I’m afraid that’s not enough," Lu Kun said, pursing his lips. "We need the victims to come forward and testify."

Xie Biao had been running wild in Angui for years. To think he could be brought down by a few photos alone would be pure fantasy. Both Lu Kun and Stone had been scraping by in society since they were young; they were far from that naive.

"Finding witnesses is very difficult," Stone said, his expression darkening. "Many of them had their tongues cut out right from the start. After so much time has passed, hoping for them to recover is as difficult as reaching the heavens."

"Then... is it possible to find those who are literate?" Lu Kun asked, unwilling to give up.

"Difficult, difficult, difficult," Stone sighed three times, swallowed hard, and continued, "Xie Biao’s men are seasoned experts at this business. Whenever these traffickers discover a victim can read or write, they ruthlessly cripple their hands..."

Lu Kun fell silent. He rubbed his face with both hands and said through gritted teeth, "Keep searching. We wait for our moment."

...

Stone didn't say anything more. He gave a faint, almost imperceptible nod and left Lu Kun's office.

Lu Kun spread the photos out, face up. Each one showed a face of utter misery. What kind of past had they once had? What kind of abuse were they enduring now? They were living in this world, yet they were living in hell.

Lu Kun’s heart ached. Every photo was truly shocking.

It was still morning, so the air conditioning in the office wasn't turned on, yet despite the sweltering heat, Lu Kun felt a chill. It was a true, heavy, and profound misery.

The first photo: A tiny figure, her right sleeve hanging empty, her left hand reaching toward a trash bin to scavenge for plastic bottles. Her whole body seemed to be leaning against the stained, mottled bin...

The second photo...

The third photo...

Lu Kun felt as though he had fallen into an ice cellar; his body grew cold. Reality is often crueler than imagination. To have a peaceful and prosperous world—how easy is that to say, and how hard to achieve?

Many times, you clearly see the cruel truth with your own eyes, yet you are still forced to listen to others whitewashing the peace. Lu Kun couldn't help but think of how Lu Xun’s works had been largely purged from textbooks in later generations. Lu Xun is the person everyone hates most in their student days, yet the one everyone respects most after experiencing the trials of society. Even if you list the poems of ancient scholars a thousand times over, they still cannot compare to a single finger of Lu Xun.

Memorizing Tang and Song poetry by heart is not as beneficial as reading one article by Lu Xun. Because he ripped open the ugly curtain and exposed the bloody, visceral reality right before your eyes.