Outside, Song Qiao watched the security guard stop him and shook his head helplessly, signaling to Mayor Liu.
Mayor Liu understood, stepped forward, and said to the security guard:
"I am Liu You, the mayor of Xinfeng Town. I need to see the head of your newspaper, Xu Qingshan. Please inform him again."
Hearing the mayor's name and realizing he was someone sent by the processing plant, the security guard did not dare to be negligent. He quickly went in to inform Director Xu.
A moment later, Song Qiao and Liu You were allowed upstairs and met Director Xu Qingshan.
"Old classmate, if you're here about the processing plant, please turn back." Xu Qingshan said directly as soon as he saw Liu You.
Having been in the industry for twenty years, he had always upheld the conscience of a media professional. Although his personal relationship with Liu You was good, he would absolutely not retract a report for that reason.
"Qingshan, I'm not here to ask you to retract this news," Liu You shook his head and said helplessly.
"Changing the story won't work either," Xu Qingshan refused again.
"Director Xu, hello, I am Song Qiao, the person in charge of Xiangpiaopiao." Song Qiao couldn't help but speak up as Xu Qingshan had rejected Liu You twice.
As he spoke, he extended his right hand, intending to shake Director Xu's hand.
Xu Qingshan glanced at him lightly, with no intention of shaking Song Qiao's hand, and said indifferently, "Boss Song, I advise you to give up this idea."
"Oh?"
Seeing his attitude, Song Qiao couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. He casually withdrew his hand and said with a half-smile:
"Director Xu, can you guarantee the truthfulness of every report your newspaper publishes?"
"What do you mean by that?" Xu Qingshan's face fell when he heard this.
"Your newspaper's reporter, Lin Sheng, is clearly engaging in false advertising and malicious defamation." Song Qiao said, taking out photos of the accident scene and the work injury certificates from his briefcase.
"Our factory only had a minor accident with two minor injuries. How did it become two lives lost in his report?"
By this point, Song Qiao's voice had turned cold.
He was already trying his best to suppress the anger within him.
"Is that so?"
Xu Qingshan took the materials from Song Qiao with a look of doubt and began to read them carefully.
"If Director Xu doesn't believe it, you can send someone to investigate the specific situation at the factory immediately."
"Besides, your old friend Mayor Liu is here. He can also provide testimony for our Xiangpiaopiao."
As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Qingshan looked at Liu You in confusion.
"Old Xu, I, Liu You, stake my life to guarantee you that Boss Song is not lying." Liu You said in a deep voice.
"Please wait a moment, I'll call Lin Sheng over to confront you."
Looking at the irrefutable evidence in his hands, Director Xu began to doubt the truthfulness of the report.
This Lin Sheng from his newspaper had always been good at taking shortcuts to attract attention, and he had never liked him.
Today, seeing him risk his life to personally investigate the truth at the accident site, he had felt a bit touched, thinking he had misunderstood Lin Sheng.
Now it seemed there must be something fishy behind this report.
A few minutes later, Lin Sheng was brought to see Song Qiao by Director Xu.
He was very flustered at this moment, his head bowed, not daring to confront Song Qiao at all.
"Reporter Lin, may I ask what evidence you have that our factory accident caused two deaths?" Song Qiao asked calmly, suppressing the urge to beat the man in front of him.
"I, I investigated and interviewed people, of course."
In front of the director, Lin Sheng gritted his teeth and answered.
"Reporter Lin, I think you understand that information heard from others cannot be used as evidence for your report."
Song Qiao directly exposed his lie.
"Little Lin, what's going on with you?"
"You dare to publish unverified information. Have you forgotten the standards of a media professional?"
Xu Qingshan looked at Lin Sheng's stammering and already understood the situation. He couldn't help but reprimand him.
After saying this, he turned to Song Qiao and apologized, "I'm sorry, Boss Song, this is our newspaper's mistake. Please rest assured that I will give you a satisfactory explanation."
"I will immediately have Lin Sheng publish a public apology in the newspaper for Xiangpiaopiao, and then have someone else re-report on this accident, how about that?"
Song Qiao then nodded with satisfaction. He was quite pleased with the director's handling of the situation.
"No, I will not apologize. This guy must have used some means to fabricate false evidence."
Seeing that the situation was not going well, Lin Sheng quickly argued.
As a reporter, if it became known that he had such a stain on his career, no newspaper would dare to employ him in the future.
"Then we will have no choice but to sue you personally as the victim," Song Qiao said calmly.
In his previous life, he had an in-depth understanding of China's commercial laws.
He could have sued Lin Sheng directly from the beginning, but it would have been time-consuming and troublesome. It was better to confront him directly.
Since he was now refusing to budge, he would have to resort to legal means.
"This..."
Lin Sheng was suddenly shocked by Song Qiao's threat.
If the other party chose to pursue legal action, not only would he have to apologize in print, but he might also be punished according to the law.
After all, given his clear guilt, he was bound to lose this lawsuit.
"Alright, I will apologize to you in the newspaper."
Lin Sheng said weakly, like a deflated ball.
From the moment he published the report, his career was likely over.
At this moment, he felt a deep sense of regret. If he hadn't listened to the instigation of his prodigal wife, he wouldn't have ended up like this.
"I want to see your apology in the newspaper headlines tomorrow morning. Then we'll see each other in court," Song Qiao snorted, bid farewell to Xu Qingshan, and left the newspaper office.
Although he was angry about the newspaper's inaccurate reporting, he felt a sincere respect for someone like Old Xu who possessed a strong professional integrity.
He even thought about asking Mayor Liu to invite him out when he had the chance, so they could get to know each other better.
On the way back to the factory, Song Qiao called Director Pan. He explained the accident situation to him again and assured him that a clarifying report would be published in the newspaper tomorrow morning.
This made Director Pan overjoyed, and he couldn't help but praise Song Qiao for his efficiency.
The slight unpleasantness between them during their previous phone call was also forgotten as this matter was smoothly resolved.
When he returned to the factory, the workers had already resumed work smoothly, and the factory's production efficiency had returned to its usual scale.