Yun Ruoxi rushed to Wang Kaicheng's office, her face full of anxiety, and said, "Mr. Wang, you should go down and explain. Reporters have already asked us to come in and find out what's going on."
"Don't let them in. It's already chaotic enough. If I hadn't called the street police for help, these people would have rushed in. I'll go down and explain, and see if I can get rid of these delivery riders."
After saying that, he left the office and headed for the elevator.
At the main entrance of Nanshan Building, a dozen security guards and five or six police officers from the local police station surrounded the entrance with iron railings to block the unruly food delivery riders from rushing into the building.
At this moment, Wang Kaicheng walked out of the elevator with a megaphone in his hand, and two staff members brought him a four-legged wooden table and placed it at the door.
Wang Kaicheng stepped onto a stool and onto a table to get a better view, then gently pressed the megaphone switch and shouted loudly into the crowd:
"Please be quiet for a moment and listen to what I have to say."
The noisy crowd gradually quieted down considerably.
“I am Wang Kaicheng, the CEO of Panda Takeaway. I understand how you feel right now.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a group of reporters struggled to get to the front, and then they all took out their cameras and started filming.
They are all well-known daily newspapers in Shenzhen, including Southern Daily, Shenzhen Daily, Shenzhen Evening News, and more than a dozen other media outlets in total.
"Hello, Mr. Wang, I am a reporter from Shenzhen Daily. Why are you frequently reducing the riders' per-ride price?"
Her question reflected the concerns of everyone in the crowd; as working-class people, they also wanted to know why Panda Express did what it did.
Wang Kaicheng: "The question asked by this reporter is one that everyone here is concerned about. The reason our company decided to reduce the unit price is because the company's income and expenditure have been seriously unbalanced recently."
A dark-skinned delivery rider in the crowd retorted, "You're talking nonsense. Your company can spend so much money subsidizing consumers every day, but it can't afford to pay us riders an extra 50 cents per order. Tell me, what can 50 cents do in this society?"
His words instantly resonated with everyone present, and for a moment, many people in the crowd began to curse, with all sorts of foul language pouring out.
Standing on the table, Wang Kaicheng cursed inwardly: Which bastard is causing trouble in the crowd?
Suddenly, someone in the crowd started throwing rotten eggs, fruit, and even slippers at him. In less than a minute, he was covered in egg yolk.
So he could only jump off the table and hurriedly return to the elevator. Yun Ruoxi followed behind him and asked with concern, "Mr. Wang, are you alright?"
Wang Kaicheng forced an awkward smile: "It's nothing, it just smells a bit bad, I'll go wash it off."
What Wang Kaicheng didn't know was that everything that was happening here was spreading rapidly everywhere.
"..."
In the Shenzhen government building, at the business reception area, Ye Guoqiang was discussing the latest national policies and measures for enterprises with Ma Ying-jeou.
Secretary-General Wu Tao rushed in: "Secretary, something terrible has happened! Tens of thousands of Panda Delivery riders have surrounded the Panda headquarters in Nanshan Building."
Ye Guoqiang asked in confusion, "Why are so many people causing trouble there? Did that kid Chen Ze do something to harm their interests?"
Wu Tao turned on the TV on the wall. The channel was Shenzhen's midday news, and the screen showed a huge crowd of people in the square in front of the Nanshan Building.
A short while later, he saw Wang Kaicheng being hit in the face with rotten eggs, and then leaving in a disheveled state.
“Secretary, I just called and asked. The reason is that Panda Express reduced the price for riders to deliver food to 4.5 yuan per order. Of course, the key point is that they just reduced the price by 0.5 yuan last month, and now they have reduced it by another 0.5 yuan in just one month. This has immediately aroused public outrage among the food delivery riders.”
Little Ma's mind raced, and he said, "Since they didn't resist when the price was lowered last time, why are they reacting so strongly this time?"
Ye Guoqiang immediately realized that someone must have deliberately stirred up trouble; otherwise, these scattered soldiers wouldn't have been able to unite so much to cause trouble.
Just then, Ye Guoqiang's phone rang. Seeing that the number was saved as belonging to his former boss, he got up, went to the window, and answered the call.
"Hey, old boss, what can I do for you?"
A stern voice came from the other end of the phone: "What exactly happened with that Panda Delivery company on your end? They've made such a big fuss, and the impact is extremely negative."
“Right now, people are protesting in the streets with banners in all first- and second-tier cities. You need to suppress this matter immediately and make that company boss handle it properly as soon as possible.”
Ye Guoqiang respectfully replied, "Yes, old leader, I'll take care of it right away."
"Beep..." came the busy tone from the phone.
Ye Guoqiang immediately called Li Qingzhao, the president of Shenzhen University, and asked him to notify Chen Ze to return to the company as soon as possible to deal with the problem.
Chen Ze himself was completely unaware of the company's affairs; he was still attentively listening to his counselor's lecture in the classroom.
The classroom door was suddenly pushed open, and the person who came in was none other than Principal Li Qingzhao. He called out to Chen Ze, "Chen Ze, come out here for a moment."
Chen Ze looked puzzled. Why did the principal want to see him? He hadn't made any mistakes recently. Could it be that he was reported for drinking in the dormitory last night?
That shouldn't be the case. When I was drinking in the dorm, I made sure the door was tightly closed so no one could have found out.
"Chen Ze, come out quickly, stop dawdling in there," the principal urged.
Everyone turned to look at Chen Ze, and some even whispered among themselves.
"Did Chen Baiyi from our class do something shameful that the principal personally came to arrest him and interrogate him?"
"I don't know. Maybe he took advantage of his money and molested girls at school, and the girls reported him to the principal."
The male classmate said jealously, "None of the rich people are good, especially Chen Ze and Ma De. Nobody knew they were rich before, and we could still joke and chat with the pretty girls in our class."
"Have you noticed that during class, many of the girls in the class often secretly look at Chen Ze, and after class they deliberately keep their distance from us, as if they are afraid that Chen Ze will find out that they are interested in us?"
Chen Ze's ears burned as he listened to the gossip. He pinched his earring with his fingers and muttered, "Which bastard is talking about me behind my back?"
The principal called Chen Ze to the bottom of the teaching building and asked seriously, "Chen Ze, what's wrong with you? You can't even run a small company well. How will you manage a multi-billion dollar conglomerate like Pony Ma's in the future?"
When the principal questioned Chen Ze, he was completely bewildered: "Principal, my company is doing just fine. I went to the company yesterday and there was nothing wrong. Why are you asking me this?"
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