Shi Zhen returned to Changxi City and continued working with Duan Hongming.

Last year's economic crisis and this year's economic situation are actually not good either.

They stayed in Changxi City without feeling much impact, but for the country as a whole, the impact was actually quite significant.

This year, the government has relaxed many real estate-related policies.

The domestic real estate market actually started to develop rapidly from that year, and then began to surge ten years later.

In his previous life, it was also from this year that he started receiving more and more business and grew his business bigger and bigger.

Shi Zhen was already thinking that once he had some money, he would buy land and build houses to build up his company's reputation.

Yesterday, Duan Hongming and Zhao Qiujuan accompanied Duan Hongming's parents to visit Changxi City, but today, Duan Hongming's parents have already gone home.

Duan Hongming's father hadn't retired yet and was rushing back to work, while Duan Hongming's mother was going to help her eldest son take care of his child.

"How's the site preparation going?" Shi Zhen asked Duan Hongming. The site he was referring to was the construction of the largest shopping mall and surrounding commercial facilities in Changxi City that they had just taken on for many years to come.

Shi Zhen doesn't have enough workers under his command, so he'll have to hire others to help, which means there's a lot of preparation work to do.

“People have been signing up since last week, and I’ve screened some of them. You can take a look, boss,” Duan Hongming said.

Although he inexplicably became the boss's brother-in-law and was somewhat dazed for a while, Duan Hongming did not neglect any of his work.

Shi Zhen took the documents that Duan Hongming had prepared and began to look at them.

Those at the front of the line were all local foremen from Changxi City. Some of them had worked with Shi Zhen before, and some Shi Zhen knew. They were all good people and did a good job.

However, there are some people Shi Zhen doesn't recognize later on; wait until you reach the end...

Shi Zhen's pupils contracted.

He saw a name that was so familiar... that it was etched into his memory.

The person who killed Guan Baiyu in his past life.

If you were to ask him who he hated the most in both his lives, it would undoubtedly be this person.

The contractor's surname was Shao, and his name was Shao Baitong.

Back when Shi Zhen worked for him, although he withheld wages or even didn't pay him at all, the food was poor, the protective measures were inadequate, and he cut corners during construction, Shi Zhen could only say he disliked him, not hate him. Many capitalists are like that.

In the 1990s, information flow was slow and the general public did not understand the law, so many people were cheated and had nowhere to turn for help.

After 2000, information was disseminated much faster, and news of migrant workers not receiving their wages was commonplace. It wasn't news if no one jumped off a building to demand their wages.

Even so, the problem was not completely solved. Later, the number of workers decreased and recruitment became difficult, and the situation changed completely.

As for the period when he first started working, there were indeed quite a few messy things that happened.

Take child labor as an example. Some illegal factories hire twelve or thirteen-year-old children to work, and these children are often exposed to toxic substances.

Leaving aside child labor... just take Changxi City as an example. Not long ago, a printing and dyeing factory was fined and ordered to rectify its operations because many female factory workers had miscarriages. It was later discovered that the dyes used in the factory were toxic.

To be honest, what Shao Baitong did wasn't actually that bad. There are a lot of people like Shao Baitong.

Later, when Shao Baitong's relatives were working on the scaffolding, they were not careful and injured Shi Xinghuo. Shao Baitong refused to pay for their medical expenses and even said that they were being troublesome and that he was protecting his relatives and driving them away, which was going too far.

Shi Xinghuo could have survived.

Not to mention, Shao Baitong also killed Guan Baiyu in a car accident.

Even though he hated Shao Baitong back then, he never thought of taking anyone's life. What about Shao Baitong?

Of course, Shao Baitong didn't fare well in the end either; he was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to death.

Throughout his life, Shi Zhen had always avoided thinking about this person.

After all, he gets short of breath every time he thinks about it.

He just didn't expect to see Shao Baitong's name on this list.

“This is…” Shi Zhen asked Duan Hongming.

“This Shao Baitong is from J City. I heard he has been in the construction industry for many years and is very experienced. However, I don’t know much about the situation in J City, and I don’t know him well either, so I put his name at the end,” Duan Hongming said.

Shi Zhen didn't say much. He picked out a few potential partners from the people he knew, and after thinking for a moment, he said, "Duan Hongming, we might go to J City to develop in the future. Could you help me look into the situation in J City? Also, look into this Shao Baitong."

"Okay." Duan Hongming accepted the task with great enthusiasm.

The boss wants to expand the company's business scope, which is a good thing!

As for inquiring about J City and Shao Baitong, this is a normal business practice.

After Duan Hongming left, Shi Zhen slumped into a chair and closed his eyes.

Shao Baitong...

When Shi Zhen learned about Shao Baitong, Shao Baitong was treating some people from Changxi City to drinks and dinner.

Among these people were contractors from Changxi City, as well as some people from Changxi City with complicated connections.

Shao Baitong booked a private room at the same hotel where Shi Zhen had previously treated Duan Hongming's parents to dinner, and a large table of seafood and abalone was served.

A turtle the size of a basketball was brought to the table by the waiter. Shao Baitong urged everyone to eat: "Everyone, try it! This is a wild turtle. I specially asked someone to find it. This restaurant doesn't have any here, so I brought it here to have them process it."

"Such a big turtle, that's really nice."

"Powerful".

"This soup is delicious!"

...

As everyone ate and talked, Shao Baitong brought up the project.

The project that Shi Zhen took on was truly massive.

"I'm from J City, so I don't know much about Changxi City. What's the background of this Baishi Construction?" Shao Baitong toasted someone.

Someone who had been drinking said, "Shi Zhen from Baishi Construction is someone who suddenly appeared out of nowhere; he's not a local."

"He's not very old, but he's quite capable."

"They're quite good at promoting themselves."

...

Shao Baitong toasted everyone again: "I specially found this wine, everyone have a taste... Does he have connections? How did he get such big projects?"

"He really doesn't have anyone above him."

"He only got this project because he didn't have anyone above him."

"Everyone wanted it, and there wasn't enough to go around, so in the end, he got it for free."

"He got this project by luck... and he's quite good at stirring things up. Nobody would have thought of the wall-smashing incident before."

...

The crowd kept talking: "This Shi Zhen is no ordinary person."

"He really doesn't make mistakes... He's only in his early twenties, but he's incredibly meticulous in everything he does."

"He just got incredibly lucky."

"He and that General Manager Liang are quite close."

"Those in higher positions also admire him."

...

Shao Baitong said, "I want to get involved in this project..."

"He'll find someone to cooperate with, but he'll most likely not ask you. There are so many people here waiting! You're still new here," someone said.

"Then can we try to pull some strings?" Shao Baitong asked again.

“He has no connections himself, so how can he find connections?” someone said.

After finishing his meal, Shao Baitong had gotten to know a few people in Changxi City.

After they left the dinner table, someone confided in him and told him more details about Shi Zhen: "That Shi Zhen, actually, a lot of people don't like him. In just a few years, how many people's jobs has he taken away!"

"Don't worry, he has no one backing him."

"But be careful, you're new here."

...

Shao Baitong worked hard to make a living in Changxi City, and just as he was building a network of connections, he learned that Shi Zhen had no intention of cooperating with him.

He was staying at a hotel in Changxi City. Upon hearing about this, his face immediately turned cold: "You don't know what's good for you!"

He thought for a moment and then called some people over: "Go and investigate this Shi Zhen! And his construction site, see if there's anything amiss."

At the same time, Shi Zhen also learned about Shao Baitong's situation.

After all, it's quite easy to find out.

In his past life, he caused a scene at Shao Baitong's construction site very early on. After that, Shao Baitong, at least, didn't dare to push the workers too hard when something happened again.

But in this lifetime, without his argument with Shao Baitong, Shao Baitong never improved at all.

At first, he was lucky; although some things went wrong, he managed to resolve them all.

But in the second half of last year, a major incident occurred at his construction site.

Some workers encountered a similar situation to Shi Xinghuo due to safety hazards at the construction site, and were crushed to death.

These days, human life is cheap. In this situation, Shao Baitong is willing to pay around 100,000 yuan in compensation, which would actually settle the matter privately.

People don't really know much about this, so I can just fool them and lose tens of thousands of yuan.

In his previous life, Shi Xinghuo received very little compensation after his accident, only 50,000 yuan, and he only got it after he filed a lawsuit.

However, Shao Baitong refused to pay even this small amount of money, intending to renege on the debt.

The migrant worker who died also had companions, but they couldn't do anything to Shao Baitong. These honest and simple people, just like him back then, didn't know how to use the law to protect themselves.

Later, the migrant worker's family came, crying and pleading, but it was no use.

This man had a sick old mother, and in the end, he made a desperate decision: he went to the building that Shao Baitong was building and jumped off.

This escalated the situation, causing Shao Baitong to lose his construction work, suffer huge losses, and be required to pay 200,000 yuan in compensation.

Unfortunately, because he didn't kill the person, he was able to escape unscathed.

Shao Baitong had been working in J City for many years and had no shortage of connections, but he had gone too far in this matter. People in J City were afraid to give him projects, so he came to Changxi City to seek development.

Shi Zhen never expected that even without Shi Xinghuo, someone else would still suffer.

He stared blankly at Duan Hongming, who was telling him about it.

Duan Hongming was also a little angry: "Luckily we didn't cooperate with him, otherwise it would have been disgusting! That guy is simply inhuman!"

"Yes." Shi Zhen took a deep breath.

Duan Hongming added, "Someone injured their leg at his construction site before, and they were a local. They didn't even get any compensation. Sigh!"

Shi Zhen thought for a moment and said, "Please go and check again. If the person who injured his leg is having financial difficulties, you can offer some assistance. Also, please inquire about how the family that received the compensation is doing."

"Two hundred thousand yuan in compensation is not a small amount. That family should be fine, but the one who injured his leg is not doing well. He can't work after becoming lame, and his brother and sister-in-law kicked him out of the house..." Duan Hongming said.

These days, housing is scarce, so it's not surprising that his brother and sister-in-law wouldn't let him live in their house after he became lame.

His parents rely on his older brother and sister-in-law for their old age, so naturally they don't dare to interfere.

Shi Zhen said, "If that's the case... ask him if he'd be willing to come to my construction site to guard the gate, with room and board included."

His construction site needs someone to guard the gate.

There are many unemployed people now, unlike twenty years later when those responsible for guarding the gates were generally middle-aged or elderly people... Nowadays, there is no shortage of young and strong men guarding the gates.

The local middle-aged and elderly people all stay at home to farm.

However, this kind of work can actually be done even by someone with a limp.

If someone is unemployed, it's better to give them a job than to offer them other forms of assistance.