Chapter 51: The Car Dealership (End of the wonderful life of paid gossip)
The matter was almost over when the "evidence" was posted, and many well-known bloggers forwarded it, causing the incident to quickly regain popularity and remain a hot topic of discussion.
Netizens have been calling for action.
"The data is right here, anyone can check it. You see, the mortality rate is indeed higher than other brands of cars."
"Is there anyone knowledgeable who can offer some advice?"
"Why isn't the official Weibo account of XX Auto coming out and explaining this?!"
When Sister Yang saw this, she was furious. Several large blisters appeared on her lips, and she cursed repeatedly, "These people really love to stir up trouble! They have no idea how hard we've been working these past few days. Every morning we drive to the hospital to visit patients, running around doing whatever we need, more attentive than the patients' own mothers!"
Although Yunxin wanted to comfort her, netizens were criticizing the car for quality issues, while Yang Jie was mostly talking about how she handled the situation very well. The two sides were talking about completely different things.
Qiao Yun didn't dwell on the online comments, but simply reminded Yun Xin, An An, and Fu Rong, "Be careful when you go home these days. Yang Jie and I almost had a car accident a few times while driving to the hospital these past few days."
"I don't know how to put it, but I can definitely feel that something is wrong. The number of accidents that used to occur in a year is now being achieved in just one month."
"Later, I saw on the news that the government had introduced a new policy that limits the speed of all cars. I don't know if it will effectively reduce the frequency of car accidents, but everyone is being careful on the road."
An'an felt a tiny bit panicked. "Is it that serious? Does that mean no one will survive?"
Yun Xin said, "I heard that funeral homes are doing very well recently, and many places are too busy to keep up with demand."
Furong said anxiously, "Although my parents and brother are all fine for now... someone from a distant relative has already been hit by a car and died. I need to ask for leave in a couple of days to go to the funeral with my parents."
"Anyway, be careful." Qiao Yun sighed.
She wanted to offer some constructive advice, but when the words came to her lips, all she could say was to be careful, very careful, and so on.
There are just too many types of accidents.
Don't be fooled by the fact that they're all talking about car accidents now. There are countless other types of incidents online, such as falling objects from high-rise buildings, animal bites and deaths, fires, gas explosions, and so on.
Even trained elephants in circuses trample their trainers to death in an attempt to escape and gain freedom.
Of course, the elephant was eventually captured and put to death, preventing further casualties. But just hearing about such an incident is terrifying.
In previous years, there were never so many strange and unusual things happening. This year, however, there have been more and more unexpected events than one could have imagined.
Seeing that the topic was getting further and further off track and no one was willing to talk to her, Sister Yang protested in dissatisfaction, "People on the internet keep spreading lies and making up stories about the company. As company employees, don't you have anything to say?"
An An was speechless. "I'm not a technician, and I don't know if what I'm saying online is true. I don't plan to take sides until I find out the truth."
“This kind of thing needs to be handled by the company. Even if we lowly employees want to, there’s not much we can do,” Yunxin said. “Besides, sales staff are paid a base salary plus commission. If you’re only making a base salary of one or two thousand yuan, and you’re worried about whether the company will go bankrupt because of this, isn’t that too much to worry about?”
Furong nodded vigorously.
Earning the money of a cabbage seller while worrying about the work of a drug dealer. It's not that bad, it really isn't.
Even if the company really runs into problems, they can simply find another job. They are ordinary employees, not leaders or bosses, so there's nothing they'll miss.
Sister Yang was speechless.
"Alright," Manager Qiao Yun interrupted the argument. "The company has a dedicated public relations team; they'll handle it. If you're not busy, go do your work and stop overthinking."
As he spoke, he waved his hand to shoo everyone away.
Sister Yang walked away dejectedly, thinking to herself that ever since Xinxin came, this job had become increasingly unbearable...
Just as the official Weibo account of XX Auto remained silent, an anonymous insider posted, "XX Auto has design flaws. In the event of a severe collision, the fatality rate is much higher than that of other cars. In fact, XX Auto's senior management also knows this. The reason they don't recall and repair the problematic vehicles they've produced is because calculations show that the total cost of repairing all vehicles is less than the compensation paid in case of an accident."
One stone can cause a thousand ripples!
Netizens were stunned, exclaiming, "What a piece of trash company! They actually compare human lives to money?!"
"Oh my god, you should have told me sooner! If I had been informed a few days earlier, I wouldn't have ordered their car... I haven't picked it up yet, can I get a refund?"
"Can't you have a little conscience when doing business? Customers trust your brand, that's why they buy your cars, and you treat them like fools?"
"It might not be true; it could be a rival company taking the opportunity to suppress me. I've been driving cars manufactured by XX for ten years without any problems, and I think the quality is quite good."
"Upstairs, that's because you haven't been in a car accident. People say that in a violent collision, the fatality rate increases significantly. In other words, if you don't have an accident, you're fine and can drive normally. But if you do have an accident, others might only suffer minor injuries while you're seriously injured, or even die on the spot. After hearing my explanation, do you still want to gamble on the odds?"
"Others are slightly injured, but you're seriously injured?? Holy crap, isn't that describing Brother Biao?!"
The situation escalated further.
Angry crowds flooded the official Weibo account of XX Auto, demanding that senior executives come out and explain themselves.
But the official Weibo account remained silent, as if it were dead.
"Why aren't you refuting this? Does this mean you're already admitting that what netizens are reporting is the truth?"
Just as public sentiment was running high, another major incident occurred—someone driving a car under the brand XX collided with another car, resulting in the driver's immediate death!
Let's rewind to thirty minutes ago.
Xu Yan hurriedly got into the car, carrying her suitcase.
He was going on a business trip by plane today, and he had set his alarm in advance to allow plenty of time to get to the airport.
But he was still half asleep and turned off the alarm as soon as it went off. When he woke up again, he was already 40 minutes late.
Xu Yan glanced at the time, immediately jolted awake, and hurriedly washed up, grabbed her suitcase, and rushed off.
It never rains but it pours.
The traffic jam on the road is extremely bad.
Passing vehicles moved at an incredibly slow pace, like turtles crawling.
Xu Yan kept glancing at the hands of his watch, his expression growing increasingly anxious.
Finally, he couldn't wait any longer and decided to change lanes.
As luck would have it, a car was traveling in that lane.
Xu Yan didn't notice the car behind him and abruptly turned the steering wheel to change lanes, forgetting to turn on his turn signal. This series of actions left the other driver with no time to avoid him.
With a loud bang, the two cars collided.
Xu Yan's forehead was bleeding profusely, and his consciousness was gradually fading.
At the end of his life, he suddenly remembered his driving instructor's words: "When driving, never rush."
Before the matter of Brother Biao could be resolved, a few days later, another accident occurred involving the same brand of car, and the owner died on the spot.
The crowd was in uproar and demanded that the government thoroughly investigate XX Automobile.
Watching the unfolding events, even Brother Biao's expression changed. He had always believed it was his fault that he was seriously injured and hospitalized.
However, it now appears that the car accident was indeed caused by his negligence, but the serious injuries and hospitalization may not be.
If there are indeed design flaws in the car, then in the same accident, a car with better safety features might only result in minor injuries.
With that in mind, Brother Biao refused to negotiate compensation with XX Auto anymore, and instead waited for the government to finish its investigation and announce the results.
"What kind of mess is this?!" Sister Yang complained incessantly, pacing around anxiously like an ant on a hot pan. "How can you change your mind so easily after we agreed on something?"
Qiao Yun's expression was grave. "Let's wait and see."
If it really is a quality issue with the company's products... she wouldn't have the face to go up to them and beg for forgiveness.
One day later.
The government sent specialists to inspect the vehicles and discovered that the XX brand car did indeed have problems! Just as insiders revealed, the fatality rate after the crashes was extremely high. And the higher-ups, fully aware of this fact, deliberately ignored it because of considerations of profit and loss.
The investigation revealed that the owner of XX Auto was arrested overnight and will be prosecuted and sentenced to prison to reflect on his mistakes.
The victims, Biao Ge and Xu Yan's family, will receive a huge sum of money in compensation.
XX Automobile was required to recall all problematic vehicles. Only after repairs and inspection by government personnel to confirm that there were no issues could the vehicles be put back into the market.
All stores under this brand must be temporarily closed until the repairs are completed and the cars pass quality inspection before they can reopen.
However, even if all the rectification is completed, the damaged reputation and crisis of trust will inevitably make the brand's future development difficult.
Nobody wants to risk their life.
At the same price point, people will definitely choose other brands of cars.
The boss, who had taken over the mess, understood the precarious situation and decided to lay everything out in the open, allowing the employees to choose whether to stay or leave.
If you stay, your salary and benefits will remain the same. If the company achieves further success in the future, we will definitely not treat these long-term employees who have shared weal and woe with us unfairly. However, during the repair period, you will only receive the basic salary.
If you leave, the company will provide an extra month's salary in addition to the normal settlement. I wish you all the best in your future work.
Yunxin, who had only been with the company for a little over half a month and hadn't done anything but memorize materials, was speechless.
She felt a strange sense of regret; her wonderful life of paid gossip was over.
She didn't even have a chance to meet her male colleague!
I didn't even have time to sell the car!
It felt like they just went there to memorize texts and gossip...
On the day of settlement.
An'an hugged Yunxin and cried, "The company is closed, but I'll miss you so much!"
Yunxin: ...You can't bear to part with your future boyfriend, can you?
An'an continued, "I'll never change my phone number in my life! If you ever meet a nice guy, you have to remember to let me know!! Don't worry, no matter how much time passes, I'll always answer your call."
Yunxin: There's no need to be so insistent on waiting for her call.
An'an chatted with Yunxin for a while before finally letting her go.
Qiao Yun stared blankly at the shop, forgetting even about her ideal spouse.
"Manager, are you alright?" Yun Xin asked with concern.
"I'm fine." Qiao Yun smiled bitterly. "It's just that I joined this company right after graduation and worked hard here for four or five years. I never expected it to end like this."
"Who would have thought that the boss would risk public safety to save money?" An'an sighed with melancholy. She privately thought that this was absolutely outrageous; most people wouldn't do something like that.
As the music ends and the crowd disperses, even the most reluctant farewell must be said.
Yun Xin waved goodbye to Qiao Yun and An An. Qiao Yun simply said, "After we part, I wish you all well."
This is probably the most simple, sincere, and appropriate blessing for the current environment.
(End of this chapter)
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