Chapter 70: Surprise Inspection
At this moment, Ma Yuan came over with a notebook in hand, and Liu Shang immediately asked:
"Brother Ma, you're in charge of the chemical delivery lists for these teams."
"How many chemicals have been delivered, how many have been injected, and how many should be left—your data should be the most accurate."
"How is the situation with this team?"
Following Liu Shang's words, everyone's eyes focused on Ma Yuan.
Ma Yuan looked as if he'd made a groundbreaking discovery, his voice brimming with excitement.
"The chemicals for this team are all wrong!"
"Never mind that the concentration of their chemicals is so diluted and the quality so poor."
"Even accounting for their normal usage, the amount of chemicals on this well site shows a major discrepancy."
"Specifically, the most expensive polymer is a full one and a half tons short of what the records show it should be."
"Considering their construction progress, that's simply impossible!"
Song Guangyuan, Pan Qingfeng, and the others present were all old hands who had worked in the oil fields for many years. What kind of storms and trickery hadn't they seen?
There was no doubt that there was a big problem with the team at this construction site.
Afterward, Liu Shang ordered them to stop work, and the group rushed to the next construction site.
This team wasn't drinking, but the four men on shift were all watching TV in the site office.
Company regulations required someone to be on-site at all times during the 24-hour construction process.
By the time they heard the approaching cars and tried to run out of the prefab building, it was too late.
Afterwards, Ma Yuan inspected the team's chemicals and found that while the quantity was adequate, their chemical tanks were full of white, irregular, fist-sized polymer spheres.
When adding polymer, it must be done slowly and carefully to ensure it dissolves fully.
If added too quickly, the polymer fails to dissolve completely and forms these spheres, which causes immense waste.
This was a sign of the worst possible construction quality.
Upon seeing this, even the ever-good-tempered Xu Tiande was so angry his hands trembled.
This kind of work was a disgrace, an insult to the company!
As for Mr. Zhong and Song Guangyuan, known for their fiery tempers, their faces had already turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
Only then, seeing Liu Shang's calm expression, did Pan Qingfeng, Zhang Zhengmao, and the others begin to understand why Liu Shang hadn't visited the construction sites at all during this period.
The third site they visited was staffed almost entirely by relatives of company leaders like Fan Song and Yang Xu.
These men were their pawns in the fight against Liu Shang, their absolute confidants, and they acted without fear.
So their team had the biggest problems.
When Liu Shang and the others arrived, there was no one on the construction site, not to mention the four people playing mahjong in their prefab room.
And when the door was opened, the smell of alcohol was extremely pungent.
This time, Liu Shang didn't even bother going in, heading straight for the main work area of the site.
The ashen-faced Song Guangyuan and the others glanced at the stupefied men at the mahjong table, who looked as if they'd been struck by lightning, and then followed Liu Shang.
Unsurprisingly, the chemical tank contained only water; no chemicals had been added.
Then, the chemical report from Ma Yuan was even more shocking. The team had been allocated a total of 5 tons of polymer. Now, only four days into the job, all of it had disappeared.
It was gone!
"President... President Song..."
It turned out that a not-so-distant relative of Song Guangyuan's was on this team.
This was a resounding slap in the face to Song Guangyuan, delivered right in front of Pan Qingfeng and everyone else.
The relative, who had clearly been drinking, walked up to Song Guangyuan tremblingly, but Song Guangyuan simply punched him.
Knocking him to the ground!
At that moment, Song Guangyuan was so full of hatred he looked like he wanted to tear the man apart.
Just then, the people trying to comfort Song Guangyuan saw Liu Shang walk over to the rumbling, abnormally loud pump again.
He kicked off the iron cover of the oil tank at the rear of the pump, revealing the dark, sticky, unsightly mess inside.
"Before this construction cycle, the company issued brand new gear oil to you—a more expensive and higher-quality type!"
"So you haven't added any of it. Where is the new oil?"
After Liu Shang's sharp questioning, the men on the team were so frightened they couldn't speak a word.
At this time, Ma Yuan reported excitedly, "I just checked, and there is no sign of the gear oil anywhere on site."
"This is easy enough to handle. We'll just check the company's warehouse later, and everything will be clear!!!"
At this point, Song Guangyuan and the others had already guessed the answer. Whether they checked the warehouse or not was meaningless.
Behind the crowd, Mr. Zhong looked at Liu Shang's calm, all-knowing eyes, then at the extremely excited Ma Yuan, and couldn't help shaking his head with a wry smile.
Now he understood what game Liu Shang was playing.
So it turned out Liu Shang had factored him, Song Guangyuan, and even Ma Yuan into his calculations.
Like Liu Shang, Ma Yuan came from a professional background; he didn't fit in with the local clique of Yang Xu and the others in the company and was often excluded.
Therefore, Ma Yuan would never have participated in the on-site corruption.
Furthermore, if a problem like this occurred, Ma Yuan wouldn't cover it up; he'd be the first one to help Liu Shang expose it.
To disregard their past animosity, make the best use of the man, and turn Ma Yuan into his own weapon without him even realizing it... this rascal Liu Shang certainly had his methods!
By the time Song Guangyuan and the others rushed to the other teams, word had gotten out, and many problems had been covered up.
However, fundamental issues like the shortage of chemicals and gear oil could not be concealed in such a short time.
After seeing so many shocking problems, "black-faced" was no longer enough to describe Song Guangyuan.
His eyes were scarlet with anger, and he looked like he genuinely wanted to kill someone.
Finally, they arrived at the site managed by Wang Wanlin and Zhang Long's team.
Unexpectedly, this site was clean and orderly. Everything from the quality of the chemical mixing and equipment maintenance to the inventory of gear oil and chemicals was perfect.
Compared to the previous eight teams, it was the difference between heaven and hell.
At this point, Pan Qingfeng, the factory director, and Zhang Zhengmao, the geology chief, became curious and asked an unusual question: "Why doesn't your team have any problems at all?"
At this, the team leader, Wang Wanlin, just smiled wryly, unwilling to answer.
But the blunt Zhang Long didn't have such reservations and immediately said, "Those guys in the company wanted us to join them in making trouble for Engineer Liu."
"I despised them for it. The only reason I, Zhang Long, still have a job here and can support my family is because Engineer Liu pleaded my case."
"You want me to stab the man who helped me in the back? Not a chance!"
"Besides, since President Song and the other bosses are here today, I'll speak plainly."
"Our team, especially our leader Wang Wanlin, has never gotten involved in that shady business."
"We earn a lot less than them every month—thousands of dollars less, at least—but we have a clear conscience and can sleep at night!"
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