circumventing the Great Firewall
Ten minutes later, the driver saw Chen Miao standing on Huang Gaoguan's shoulders, his hands reaching upwards as he struggled to climb the wall. Huang Gaoguan gritted his teeth, but still tried his best to support him.
"So your plan is to climb over the wall into your family's yard?" The driver's eyes widened as he spoke in a low voice beside the two of them, glancing at both sides of the wall from time to time, as if afraid that someone might suddenly appear on the other side of the pitch-black wall.
Huang, the executive, squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth: "I've been here for half a month and I've never seen them leave their homes. This is the only feasible method at the moment."
As he spoke, Chen Miao was already sitting on the wall. He bent one leg and brushed the hair from his forehead. "Luckily, I didn't lose all the skills I had when I was in school."
Huang, the executive, raised his arm, stood on tiptoe, and looked up at the person sitting leisurely on the wall, shouting, "Quickly pull me up!"
"What a hassle." Chen Miao bent down slightly, lifted him up with both hands with force, and easily pulled him up.
The moment he touched Chen Miao's palm, the hairs on his body stood on end. The icy touch was nothing like the body temperature a normal person should have, and a chill crept into his heart.
He looked up and saw Chen Miao preparing to jump into the courtyard, his back to him. The moonlight illuminated his sharp jawline, and his fair skin seemed to glow.
Huang, the executive, immediately thought of the American vampire movies he had seen, where vampires would appear when it was dark and stormy at night.
"Driver, please keep watch for us." Just as Chen Miao was about to jump into the yard, he suddenly turned around and whispered to the driver outside the wall.
Without warning, Huang, the executive who had been conjuring up images of terrifying vampire faces in his mind, lost his balance and fell straight down.
With a muffled thud, the noise wasn't loud, but it made Chen Miao raise an eyebrow and look at the person who had fallen with a look of disgust.
"How come you're so clumsy? How could you fall down like that?"
"You... don't come any closer!" Executive Huang squatted on the ground, supporting himself with his hands, ignoring the pain in his thigh from the fall, and kept moving backward.
Seeing the fear in his eyes, Chen Miao didn't stop, but slowly approached him. "Why are you so afraid of me?"
As he spoke, he grabbed Huang, the executive, by the back of his collar and lifted him up like a chick, saying, "Stand still."
Still shaken, the person, forced by the wire, could only stand stiffly and obediently before him, enduring the pain, and asked haltingly, "You..., are you..., a human? Or a ghost?"
Chen Miao gasped. He hadn't expected that he would forget that there was no such thing as a normal human body temperature. He couldn't sense temperature, so naturally he didn't know how cold his hands were.
"If I were a ghost, would you still be alive?" He tried to appear calm, crossing his arms and urging, "Hurry up and go, don't forget why you're here."
As he spoke, he walked into the courtyard first. It was pitch black, but by the moonlight he could vaguely see a well in the courtyard and a jujube tree next to it. From the small branches, it was not hard to tell that the jujube tree had been planted in recent years.
The door was tightly shut, and there wasn't a single ray of light. Chen Miao found it strange; he had been squatting in the tree for so long, yet he hadn't seen any lights on inside Ding Dayong's house.
Surely this family wouldn't stay inside the main room and turn off the lights just to avoid the villagers?
The villagers who were causing trouble didn't constantly surround their door, nor did they climb over the wall like they did. They weren't so afraid because things hadn't gone too far.
As a manufacturer that collaborates with Jin Xuexiao, he remained polite and gently knocked on the door, "Is anyone home? We are employees sent by Jin Xuexiao."
Huang, the executive, was still feeling fear, but the thought that he might be demoted if he failed to close the deal made him suppress his nervousness and walk over to Chen Miao.
"Don't worry, we're here to help you," he chimed in.
After knocking on the door several times, there was still no response from inside. Chen Miao and Executive Huang exchanged glances, both of them thinking the same thing, and said in unison, "Could they have already run away?"
"Hey, no, no." With a hurried shout coming from the crack in the door, the wooden door creaked open and a middle-aged man wearing a dark striped shirt with one trouser leg rolled up high, holding a candle in one hand, pushed the wooden door open with the other.
"I thought some family had climbed over the wall and broke in, so I didn't dare to say a word for a moment."
Executive Huang took out a business card from the inside pocket of his suit jacket and handed it over. "This is my business card. Please take a look. I am an executive in the production department of Jinxuexiao Clothing."
"My name is Chen Miao."
Ding Dayong took the name tag, pretended to glance at it, but his gaze kept lingering on the two of them. "Hey, good, good. I've been waiting for you two to come."
He turned to the side and gestured for the two men to come inside. "Senior Manager Huang, Mr. Chen, please come in. Let's sit down and talk about what's going on."
"Okay." Senior Executive Huang responded and stepped over the threshold, while Chen Miao, by the dim candlelight in Ding Dayong's hand, looked around the main room from top to bottom.
Two tall red-lacquered tables were placed directly opposite the door. On the tables were incense burners with unburnt incense and blank memorial tablets. In front of the incense burners were piles of biscuits and peaches. It didn't seem like a prayer for divine protection, but rather like an offering to the deceased.
The main room contained only a wooden table and three chairs. The walls were old and peeling, making it an extremely shabby room. This instantly dispelled Chen Miao's suspicion that he was greedy and deliberately withholding wages from the workers.
"Please have a seat, both of you. The conditions here are simple, and there's nothing much to offer." Ding Dayong ran to a room on the side, lifted the curtain, and carried a kettle of hot water in one hand and a teacup in the other.
"The failure to supply the silk fabric on time this time was my fault."
Huang, the senior executive, took the water glass handed to him and gripped it tightly with both hands, as if the coolness of Chen Miao's hands had not yet dissipated. He said, "I can understand the weather, but Director Ding, you know we urgently need this batch of fabric. If we can't produce it, then we'll have to deal with it as a breach of contract."
The moment the words left his mouth, Huang, the executive, understood that two-thirds of the silk fabric had already been produced. The best solution would be for Ding Dayong's factory to resume production, which might be a quick fix. They didn't have time to sign fabric production orders with other factories.
Ding Dayong looked troubled and hesitated before speaking: "The machine is being repaired urgently, and we don't know when it will be fixed. Besides, the villagers who used to work in the factory will probably have a hard time going back to work."
Executive Huang: "Why don't you just pay them the back wages first? Once you complete the order with Jin Xuexiao, you can definitely make more profit."
Chen Miao chuckled and said, "If it were really that simple, do you think he would stay indoors all the time?"
Ding Dayong smiled apologetically, "I really had no other choice. Look at my house, and look at my clothes, I really can't afford it."
He held up his ripped shirt and showed it to the two of them without any hesitation.
“If I could pay them wages, would I keep delaying it? We’re all from the same village, and the friendship between neighbors is there for all to see. How could I possibly want to be the bad guy?”
After frowning and thinking for a moment, Huang, the executive, said, "If the machines are repaired and you can bring them back to produce fabric, Jinxuexiao can give you an extra 5% on this order."
Ding Dayong's expression changed slightly, a fleeting look of excitement crossed his eyes, but he still pretended to be troubled and said, "It's not about the price. The key is that right now, I really can't let them go back to work in the factory. I'm not sure I can persuade them to."
"We can help you." Huang, the executive, understood the meaning behind his words and excitedly patted Chen Miao's shoulder. "President Yu sent us here to solve this problem. We will definitely do our best to help you, and we also hope that Director Ding will do his best."
Ding Dayong had been waiting for him to say those words, and a smile instantly appeared on his face. "Of course, I believe that with the help of Executive Huang and Mr. Chen, this batch of fabric will definitely be completed before the delivery deadline."
By subtly emphasizing the delivery date again, Ding Dayong made those who had been waiting for the production of this batch of fabric even more anxious. He had taken advantage of this and was subtly giving them a heads-up.
This was the first time Huang, the senior executive, had encountered such negotiations with a client since taking office. Not only did the client not adopt the humble attitude of a supplier, but they even managed to get the client to raise the price on the spot and send in employees to help.
"This is the result we hope to see, and it is also clearly stipulated in the contract." Executive Huang retorted without backing down, reminding himself that he would be in breach of contract, and the compensation for breach of contract would not be a small amount.
Ding Dayong, knowing when to stop, smiled and agreed, "Of course, I really don't have the ability to pay the penalty for breach of contract right now. I will do my best to help you both."
As the two talked, Chen Miao observed Ding Dayong entering and leaving the west room. Although the lights were off, he felt as if something was locked inside. His keen hearing from when he was a ghost had not completely disappeared, and he could faintly hear the constant whimpering and the sound of cloth rubbing against the pile of straw.
“Starting tomorrow, I will go with the two of you to persuade the villagers.”
"good."
A muffled thud came from the west room, interrupting their conversation.
Chen Miao stood up and subconsciously walked towards the west room, but before he could lift the curtain, Ding Dayong, who had caught up in time, blocked his way, blocking the narrow doorway.
He casually remarked, "This old house isn't like the high-rises you city folks live in; there are tons of rats here. It must be some rat that knocked things over again."
"Really?" Chen Miao tilted his head and looked inside, but his view was blocked by Chen Miao's movement.
"Of course it is. Besides, Mr. Chen, my house is a mess, so I won't invite you in for a tour."
The matter had been settled, and Executive Huang said, "Let's go, Xiao Chen, don't bother them anymore."
"Okay." Chen Miao turned and left, a vague guess forming in his mind.
Seeing him turn and leave, Ding Dayong glared at the west room, then smiled and said, "I'll open the door for you two. The conditions are simple; there's not even a light bulb at the entrance of the main room. I'll have to trouble you to let me hold a candle to light your way."
"It's nothing," Executive Huang said casually.
As Ding Dayong opened the door, a person rushed out of the main room, muttering incoherently and running urgently toward Chen Miao and the others.
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