Chapter 23 Exclusive Trouble on Jinjiang
The car stopped, and a man in his forties got out.
"What are you doing here? Get back to work!"
The man looked very uncomfortable and gestured for everyone to leave quickly, appearing quite nervous.
Seeing the man's expression, the leaders became even more excited, while the others who followed were hesitant, observing from the sidelines, and quite a few were egging him on.
Zhou Huarong rushed over with snot and tears streaming down her face, wailing, "Director Wei, you've finally come! If you hadn't come, our factory would have been finished!"
Female representative Li Xiaolan also said with a worried look, "Director Wei, we don't want to cause trouble at this critical juncture, but the situation in the factory is really making it impossible to work with peace of mind."
Wei Dongsheng was so anxious that his eyes and face were contorted. He kept trying to signal to everyone to leave quickly, but no one paid any attention. Instead, the commotion only got worse.
"What are you doing! We can talk about this later."
Li Xiaolan: "Director Wei, we just want an explanation. Is our factory going to go bankrupt?"
"Who told you our factory was going to go bankrupt!" Wei Dongsheng said angrily.
"We all know what's going on at the factory, don't try to hide it from us!"
"Yes, Director Wei, can you give us a straight answer? Is the factory going to go under? You keep making us pretend, but it doesn't seem right."
Wei Dongsheng's face grew increasingly dark, and he pointed at the group of people, his whole body trembling.
"Xiao Zhao, have you told everyone what day it is today?"
Zhao Xianghong walked over, looking dejected: "I notified them, and I even cleaned up the factory inside and out."
"Everyone knows what day it is today, and you're still causing trouble here. Do you really want our factory to go bankrupt?!"
Wei Dongsheng's eyes swept over everyone present. "When we were recruiting, you weren't the best among the applicants, but the factory made an exception for you because of your family's financial difficulties. What are you doing today? You know we have important guests today, but you deliberately caused trouble at this time. You... you wish the factory would go bankrupt! What good would that do you!"
Wei Dongsheng was so angry that he could hardly breathe, and his expression was full of disappointment.
Some people left silently, but many more stubbornly insisted on speaking loudly about how bad the factory's situation was and asked if they could get paid this month, completely ignoring what Wei Dongsheng was saying.
Wei Dongsheng finally fell silent, turned around and leaned against the car window.
The car window was rolled down, and he didn't know what he was saying to the person inside; his expression was full of guilt and helplessness.
Zhou Huarong and the other troublemakers exchanged glances, knowing that their plan had succeeded, and smiles appeared in their eyes.
Su Ruyi had been watching from the sidelines the whole time and had clearly seen everything.
"Sister, I have a feeling these people are doing this on purpose?" Wang Huiting whispered.
Su Ruyi: "Yes, they want to get rid of today's big client."
The factory had just announced that a major client was coming today. When things are not going well for the factory, a major client can change its fate.
These people deliberately chose this time to cause trouble; isn't it obvious they were intentionally trying to drive away customers?
Big clients aren't like cabbages; you can't just pick and choose. If you lose this client, the factory might not survive until the next turnaround.
Someone who genuinely wants to consider the factory's interests and continue working there would never do such a thing.
Now, unlike decades later when many factories are experiencing labor shortages, there is a surplus of labor compared to available jobs, especially in Qing Province, which, unlike the rapidly developing economies of southern cities, is not filled with factories.
There aren't many private factories in Qing Province, so many people are forced to leave their homes and go to the south to work.
Therefore, most people cherish the opportunity to work in a factory.
Based on Su Ruyi's observation, the factory's benefits seem to be quite good.
You can tell from their living area that although they are all single-story houses, they are all very clean and spacious.
Furthermore, the presence of elderly people and children indicates that the dormitory can provide accommodation for families.
Unlike state-owned enterprises, private companies do not provide housing for their workers.
Even if there are dormitories, they are only provided to workers for the convenience of production. Families are generally not allowed to live there, and even if they do, everyone is crammed into one bed.
Based on her observation, there was clearly a separate family room.
Although this is partly because there is plenty of land here and houses can be built anywhere, there are still costs involved.
"Huh, how could any worker want to ruin the factory?" Wang Huiting, the second-generation factory owner, couldn't understand it.
Although she had heard many stories of workers arguing with factories since she was a child, they were all trying to improve their own welfare and seek fairness.
I hope the factory will get better and better, so that my own life will also get better and better.
What are these workers after? What good will it do them if the factory goes bankrupt?
It's so hard to find a job these days. Many state-owned enterprises are struggling to pay salaries. These people are so ungrateful.
"Could there be something wrong with this major client?"
This was the only thing Wang Huiting could think of.
Su Ruyi: "I guess they were sent by the rival company to deliberately cause trouble, sabotage the cooperation, and bankrupt the factory."
"What?! There are such vicious people? This kind of method is too despicable!"
Wang Huiting, who had never known what business warfare was, stared wide-eyed.
How can there be such a shameless person?!
Su Ruyi began to worry: could this factory survive? The management was terrible; it was being undermined from within.
It looked like a proper organization, but I didn't expect the management to be so lax.
Wei Dongsheng walked up to the crowd again and coldly swept his gaze over everyone:
"I want to ask one last question: Did you all come here on your own initiative, or were you instigated or threatened by others?"
Zhou Huarong was displeased: "Director Wei, what kind of people do you take us for! It's as if we're deliberately causing trouble. This is how things are in the factory; we're just telling the truth."
"That's the truth." Wei Dongsheng sneered, "Since you did it voluntarily, there's nothing more to say."
At that moment, the car door opened, and three people got out.
Su Ruyi looked closely and recognized one of them as a familiar face—the enthusiastic and handsome passenger from the train. She hadn't expected to run into him again here.
Is this person the so-called major client?
He was clearly the leader among the three.
Everyone's expression turned somewhat unpleasant upon seeing Lu Ting.
"Director Wei, why is it Boss Lu?" Li Xiaolan's expression turned ugly as she realized something was wrong.
As one of the first people to enter the factory, Li Xiaolan was no stranger to Lu Ting. He was one of the owners of the plastic factory and rarely came to the factory. Li Xiaolan had only appeared once when the factory was first established.
He wasn't in charge of the factory's specific operations, but he was the one who brought in all the machines. Although he was young, he was very capable.
Wei Dongsheng snorted coldly, "It's always been him. Have you disappointed me?"
Ma Hui suddenly looked at Zhao Xianghong with excitement. Zhao Xianghong also looked surprised, but nodded at her.
By this time, she had already guessed what had happened.
There were no big clients from beginning to end; it was Lu Ting who wanted to come.
Ma Hui's expression, which had been on the verge of tears, suddenly brightened.
She immediately realized that this was clearly a setup.
Wei Dongsheng looked at the people in front of him with a pained expression: "I, Wei Dongsheng, have never wronged you, so why did you do this?! I don't ask you to work together with the factory, but why did you kick us when we're down!"
Cao Fei, who got out of the driver's seat, wearing sunglasses, a floral shirt, and dress pants, and looking rather nonchalant, sneered:
"What could it be? Because they've been bribed and want to sabotage our factory. They're really asking for trouble. Don't they even know who's protecting this factory?!"
Zhou Huarong broke out in a cold sweat; at that moment, he knew exactly what was going on.
"Boss Lu, Factory Director Wei, please don't misunderstand. We are really just worried about the factory, not trying to cause trouble."
Cao Fei went straight up and kicked him: "Are you happy with that thousand yuan?"
Zhou Huarong originally wanted to argue, but upon hearing this, he was so frightened that his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
"Damn it, the factory spent money and effort to save your grandma because we felt sorry for you. Instead of being grateful, you colluded with outsiders to do bad things!"
Zhou Huarong repeatedly protested, "I didn't, I really didn't, there must be some misunderstanding here."
"Misunderstanding my foot! Do you really think we brothers are pushovers?" Cao Fei went up and kicked him again.
Seeing that things were going badly, Wang Daikui tried to slip away, but a tall man picked him up and threw him onto Zhou Huarong. This man was as tall as a city wall, and although he didn't look very smart, he was exceptionally good at throwing people.
"Hey, still trying to run away?" Cao Fei patted Wang Daikui's face. "When you were gambling, did you never think about this day coming to an end?"
Upon hearing this, Wang Daikui was so frightened that his legs trembled.
"I... I was forced into it. They set a trap. If I didn't do it, they would cut off my hand! I really didn't want to ruin our factory."
Cao Fei: "Is it that you don't want to, or that you don't have the opportunity?"
"I really don't want to!"
Cao Fei kicked again, this time even harder than before, causing Wang Dai Kui to vomit blood.
Everyone present gasped. Was this some kind of factory or some kind of criminal organization?
"Why are you hitting us? We didn't do anything!" someone in the crowd shouted. "This is an illegal factory! We're going to the police station to report you!"
Others, fearing they would be reprimanded, joined in the shouting in the crowd.
"Everyone come quick! The factory is sending thugs to beat people up! If we don't obey, they won't let us workers make a living!"
Lu Ting winked at Xu Dazhi, who was tall and strong beside him. Xu Dazhi snorted and walked over step by step.
He was tall, almost two meters, and with each step he took, the ground seemed to shake.
Everyone trembled with fear at his massive size; despite their numbers, they were still intimidated and backed away.
Xu Dazhi picked out the people who had spoken earlier and threw them aside, preventing them from blending into the crowd.
Xu Dazhi's presence was so intimidating that everyone fell silent for a moment.
Su Ruyi's eyes lit up; this guy's strength was comparable to hers!
Lu Ting then spoke up: "Wang Daikui, on the 1st of this month, you tried to set fire to the warehouse, but you were discovered by the patrol and ran away. Two days ago, you tried to poison the canteen. Did you really think that no one would find out what you did?"
Wang Daikui originally wanted to make a scene, but upon hearing these words, he broke out in a cold sweat and trembled like a leaf.
Lu Ting then looked at Li Xiaolan: "Li Xiaolan, do you really think that if you're used as a pawn, someone will dump their wife and marry you?"
Li Xiaolan looked terrified and staggered back two steps.
No wonder the factory has been so quiet lately; they were waiting here all along.
Their secrets had long been known to everyone, yet they naively believed they were doing it secretly, waiting for the right moment to strike and break the factory's last straw.
Lu Ting did not call out names one by one, but instead glanced at everyone present.
When he saw Su Ruyi in the corner, he was quite surprised, but he didn't linger.
"Since you're all here today, there's no need to waste time catching you one by one. Don't let me see you in the provincial capital again, or I'll beat you every time I see you."
Lu Ting's expression was calm, but no one would believe he was just saying it casually.
Wang Daikui was terrified and scrambled to his feet, begging for mercy: "Boss Lu, I'll leave right now, I promise I won't show up in front of you again."
Cao Fei laughed: "You still want to leave?"
"Murder is illegal! You can't do this! Everyone's watching!"
Other people in the factory also came out of the workshop and watched from a distance, but did not approach.
"Killing you would be too dirty for me," Cao Fei said with a roguish grin, a cigarette dangling from his lips. "We're law-abiding citizens, how could we do such a thing?"
Before Wang Daikui could even feel happy, a group of police officers walked in through the main gate.
"It's such a waste that someone like you isn't in jail," Cao Fei whispered in his ear. "I'll put in a good word with the people inside and make sure they take good care of you."
A group of people were taken away by the police, and the factory returned to calm.
Wang Huiting was a little stunned. This scene was too exciting. She didn't expect such a reversal at the end.
Zhao Xianghong quickly came over and apologized to Su Ruyi.
"Mr. Su, we are so sorry to have startled you. It's almost lunchtime now. Why don't you stay for a meal to express our apologies? The food in our canteen is quite good. You can take a look around and get a better understanding of our factory's capabilities."
Su Ruyi was indeed hungry, there wasn't much food nearby, and she really didn't want to leave, so she agreed.
Zhao Xianghong led the two of them toward the cafeteria to explain what had just happened.
She didn't mince words and directly revealed that their factory had recently been targeted. They were being sabotaged in various ways, and this incident was intended to expose and eliminate these individuals.
“Our factory’s situation isn’t as bad as it seems on the surface; it’s just a facade,” Zhao Xianghong said, trying to save face.
Su Ruyi simply smiled and did not offer any opinion.
This factory is clearly well-planned, but whether it's as bad as it seems is hard to say.
Clearly, they didn't know who they had offended, and were being surrounded and harassed.
Not only did they sabotage my business, but they also instigated a worker disturbance, and did so with such ruthlessness. There must be something serious going on behind the scenes.
"Who did you offend?" Wang Huiting asked curiously.
Zhao Xianghong smiled bitterly: "We've always run our factory honestly and diligently. Everything was fine for the past two years. I don't know what happened this year. Suddenly we've been targeted."
She knew that saying this would damage the factory's reputation, but she still told the two of them honestly.
"But it's good that Boss Lu is back. He'll definitely be able to find out what happened. Our factory isn't just taking the hits passively! You can rest assured."
Upon entering the canteen, the workers lined up in an orderly fashion to get their meals. Among them were many disabled people, a number that was clearly not typical of a factory, suggesting that they were deliberately recruited.
Su Ruyi: "Are there many veterans in your factory?"
“Yes, half of our factory workers are veterans and their families, and the other half are local workers. So we are under military-style management with strict requirements. Otherwise, we would have been scammed several times over.” Zhao Xianghong said with lingering fear.
"Therefore, our factory has very high production standards, and this is by no means an exaggeration."
After Zhao Xianghong left with Su Ruyi and Wang Huiting, Lu Ting called Ma Hui over and asked about the two of them, why they were here today.
Their factory has been ripped off repeatedly lately, resulting in a bad reputation. Rumors are circulating that their factory is going to go bankrupt, and they have hardly any customers.
It's too much of a coincidence that these two people happened to appear today.
Ma Hui explained one by one, and then said with concern:
"Brother Lu, are they here to scam us too?"
Ma Hui didn't think so before, but now she's not so sure.
If they actually start making this new thing, and then the two girls run away, what will they do with all this stuff?
Unless you pay most of the money when you start working, it's easy to be scammed, but nowadays it's rare to find companies that cooperate like that.
Lu Ting: "Hula hoop?"
"If I remember correctly, that's what it's called. I don't know what it is either. Sister Zhao told me to go into town to buy it later and find out about it while I'm at it. Brother Lu, do you know what this is?"
Lu Ting actually knew that when he went to the south before, he saw many people playing there.
However, he didn't pay much attention to it; he only knew that such a thing existed and never thought of it as a plastics factory.
Although he owns shares in the plastics factory, he doesn't get involved in its daily operations and management; he just bought a few machines along the way.
If the plastics factory hadn't run into a series of problems and was on the verge of collapse, and Wei Dongsheng hadn't asked him for help, he wouldn't have gotten involved in this mess.
But now, reminded of this, especially after Su Ruyi mentioned the Asian Games, Lu Ting's eyes lit up.
"Perhaps this really is an opportunity."
Ma Hui's eyes lit up: "Really?!"
As the office secretary, Ma Hui knew all too well the current situation in the factory. Otherwise, those moles wouldn't have chosen this time to cause trouble, because their factory couldn't afford to lose a major client.
This was their last chance, but it turned out to be just a fishing opportunity.
Although the troublemakers were dealt with, the factory's problems remained unresolved.
If things don't turn around soon, their factory will be in serious danger.
This industry is highly competitive, with competition not only from local factories but also from factories in other regions.
Although Lu Ting has returned, he is not in this business and rarely stays in Qing Province.
So he can deal with people who deliberately cause trouble, but if the factory wants to stay afloat, they still have to find their own solutions.
Lu Ting nodded affirmatively: "Her analysis makes a lot of sense."
When he returned this time, he found that the plastics factory still had quite a few problems.
Wei Dongsheng is technically skilled, and Zhao Xianghong has a good system for managing the internal affairs, but they are not so good at expanding the market and external sales. Overall, they are still quite rigid and still follow the old ways from their time in state-owned enterprises.
"If there's no other breakthrough, we can try this. It's not expensive and quite flexible. We can have people ride bicycles around selling it. Anyway, a lot of workers are idle right now, so we can get them all mobilized."
Once it becomes popular in the provincial capital, people will naturally come to pick up the goods.
How exactly to proceed depends on the results of market research; Lu Ting is merely offering his opinion.
"We could also organize a hula hoop competition with high prize money, advertise it in the newspapers, attract everyone's attention, and make hula hoops popular quickly, thus creating a market."
Ma Hui was stunned. You can do that?!
Lu Ting speaks his mind freely, much of which he has learned from his experiences in the South and Hong Kong. People there are quick-witted and can come up with all sorts of ways to promote their products.
Ma Hui hurriedly wrote it down with pen and paper, afraid of making any mistakes.
Lu Ting spoke for a while, and Ma Hui was still looking at him expectantly. He said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry:
"Is it lunchtime now?"
Ma Hui immediately realized what was happening and quickly patted her head.
"Oh dear, I almost forgot about that. Let's go to the cafeteria now; Uncle Liang will definitely be happy to see you."
Uncle Liang is the head chef of the canteen; he used to be in the army's mess hall.
His stir-fry skills might be just okay, but his cooking skills for large pot meals are absolutely superb—fast and delicious.
Lu Ting walked into the cafeteria and immediately saw Su Ruyi.
It wasn't that he was specifically looking at beautiful women; rather, many people were looking in her direction.
The bowls next to Su Ruyi were stacked high, but she was still eating with great interest, clearly very satisfied with the food here.
When Uncle Liang saw Lu Ting, he quickly waved to him.
Lu Ting walked over, and Uncle Liang, seeing his gaze, smiled and said:
"Were you also shocked? This girl can really eat! She can rival Dazhi's appetite. If I wasn't worried about her being shy, I would have gone over to take a look."
As a chef, he was very happy to receive such praise from diners.
Looking at Su Ruyi's calm demeanor, Lu Ting realized that she didn't seem like the type to be shy about having a large appetite.
Cao Fei gasped, "Eating so much and still so thin, could it be that there are leeches in his stomach? There's a story in 'Story Collection' about a kid who probably ate them, he kept stuffing them into his mouth without caring about the heat, his dad couldn't stand it and slapped him, and as a result, his head was knocked off, and his neck was covered in leeches!"
Cao Fei felt a chill run down his spine whenever he recalled that scene.
From then on, he never dared to drink unboiled water again, fearing that leeches might take root in his stomach.
Although he had farmed when he was a child, his family didn't have this kind of thing; he only learned about it from a book. Normally, he wouldn't even blink if he got slashed in a fight, but he was most afraid of these little gadgets.
Lu Ting also told him that there are leeches in the forests of the south, which can accurately smell human scent from a long distance and then fly onto people to suck their blood. There have been cases of hunting dogs encountering a group of leeches in the mountains and being sucked to death.
No matter how well the soldiers guarding the border protect themselves, they still cannot completely stop the mountain leeches.
"No," Lu Ting said firmly.
Uncle Liang: "I also think it doesn't seem like it. Although the girl looks thin, her complexion is rosy. She probably just has a small frame, not worms in her stomach."
"She can eat a lot probably because she's strong."
Cao Fei was even more curious: "Strong? Brother, how did you know?"
Xu Dazhi, who was standing to the side, perked up his ears and began to look at Su Ruyi, who had previously shown no interest in her.
Lu Ting recalled the scene from a few days ago and couldn't help but smile slightly: "I've seen her fight with someone; her strength is comparable to Da Zhi's."
Xu Dazhi looked at his hands, then glanced at Su Ruyi's small, palm-sized face.
Cao Fei glanced at the pretty girl not far away, then at the handsome Lu Ting, and his eyes darted around.
"Brother, it turns out you two are old acquaintances. Let's go over and say hello."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
