Celestial Master： I Have an Otherworld-Chapter 96 - 42: Friends

Wen Lei was driving the car, slowly pulling out of the park.

"That guy just now was Zheng Kuo, the young master of Fuhong Steel Factory. I heard he's very willful, probably because Boss Zheng only has this one son."

Fang Zheng smiled but said nothing.

He had personally witnessed Zheng Kuo's willfulness. Thinking about it, he asked:

"How much is Fuhong Steel Factory actually worth?"

"How could I possibly know?" Wen Lei shook her head:

"Not to mention anything else, just the land owned by Fuhong is worth tens of billions, and with so many years of accumulation, it must be over a hundred billion."

"Such a massive enterprise, yet it's going bankrupt." Fang Zheng shook his head:

"Inconceivable."

An enterprise with assets worth over a hundred billion is often a pillar of a local economy, and currently, there are only two or three such companies in the vast Qu City.

One of them is a real estate company with a city investment background.

"There's nothing strange about it." Wen Lei said:

"Fuhong Steel Factory is not a private enterprise, but a public one. The leadership lacks business acumen. When it used to have a monopoly in Qu City, everything was fine, expanding everywhere. Now, with backward technology and no progress, they've been running at a deficit for years."

"Adding to that, the bloated structure, terrible operational efficiency, and the recurring corruption reports, it's long ceased to be a star enterprise in the city."

"It has become a burden!"

"Look!"

She lowered the car window, gesturing outside:

"The protesting workers."

Fang Zheng turned his head to see a group of people gathered in front of a factory gate, shouting something.

There were several banners among the crowd.

"Selling public assets for a pittance, deserves death!"

"Zhang Yongfeng takes bribes, falsifies accounts, should go to prison!"

"Resettlement compensation agreement cannot be implemented, forcibly evicting workers, outrageous!"

"..."

The words on the banners weren't neatly written, but they were filled with the workers' honest anger. A group was shouting angrily but was blocked by security personnel outside.

"Zhang Yongfeng, if you have the guts, come out!"

"Twenty years of service, why only ten years of severance, and it's still delayed? Even after signing the resignation agreement, we're not getting it!"

"Get out!"

A figure in the crowd made Fang Zheng's eyes flicker:

"Stop the car."

"What's wrong?" Wen Lei hit the brakes, turning her head to look over:

"The matter here is complicated, don't get involved impulsively."

"No," Fang Zheng shook his head:

"A friend of mine is down there, I'll go take a look." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"You go on ahead."

"Alright." Wen Lei nodded:

"Don't forget to ask if anyone's interested in the Fugui Porcelain Factory; we can talk about the price. If it's successful, I can apply for a commission from the company for you."

"Don't worry." Fang Zheng got out of the car, waved:

"I won't forget!"

He watched Wen Lei leave before slowly walking towards the crowd, gently patting a familiar shoulder:

"Dapeng, what are you doing here?"

"Fang Zheng!"

Dapeng, who was red in the face and shouting angrily while waving his arms, turned around at the sound. Seeing Fang Zheng, he couldn't help but smile, then pointed over with his hand:

"My third uncle and second uncle are both employees of Longgang Steel Plant. They've dedicated half their lives to the factory, and being treated like this is unacceptable."

"What happened?" Fang Zheng looked up, his brows furrowed:

"Resettlement fee?"

"Partly due to the resettlement fee." Dapeng nodded:

"According to the rules, laid-off employees should receive severance pay based on their years of service times their monthly salary. But Zhang Yongfeng gave a discount on the years of service."

"Some got seventy percent, others got sixty percent, and some even got fifty percent, meaning someone who worked for twenty years only gets severance pay for ten years."

The employees of Longgang Steel Plant earn about five to six thousand.

At five thousand, twenty years of severance would be five thousand times twenty, which is a hundred thousand. For ten years, it would only be fifty thousand, a cut of half; who can endure that?

Fifty thousand isn't much for the rich; even Young Master Zheng's Divine Dragon Set costs more than that.

But for ordinary workers, fifty thousand is already a year's hard-earned money.

Moreover, the factory workers haven't been paid for over half a year, and the severance offered now is even less than the unpaid wages.

Additionally,

Longgang Steel Plant has over eight hundred employees. With this calculation, they can save tens of millions on severance alone, which is a considerable amount of interest.

"Charge!"

At this moment, someone shouted:

"I saw Zhang's car go in; let's rush in and find him to make things clear in person. I don't believe there's no justice left in this world."

"Yeah!"

"Rush in!"

"Boom..."

The scene erupted in noise, and they pushed toward the gate, making the security guards at the entrance sweat, tumbling left and right amid the throng.

"What are you doing?"

Someone emerged from the factory and shouted at the sight:

"Gathering to cause trouble, do you know what you're doing?"

"Old Wu!"

He pointed to the leader among the crowd, a Great Han, saying:

"Believe it or not, I'll call the Public Security Bureau right now, and as the ringleader of public disorder, three to five years in prison is lenient for you."

Upon hearing this, Old Wu instinctively stepped back, and others' movements became hesitant.

They were all honest folks, and upon hearing the word 'arrest', they instinctively felt fear.

"Manager Tian."

Old Wu straightened his neck and said loudly:

"Zhang has been stalling us for at least ten days. We can't be delayed like this forever; there needs to be a solution."

"Haven't we already given you a resolution?" Manager Tian frowned:

"What more do you want?"

"The severance is discounted, some even cut to fifty percent, and the money is delayed without any definite schedule." Old Wu, extremely agitated, said:

"Is this your resolution?"

"Exactly!"

"That's outrageous!"

"We've dedicated our lives to the factory with families to feed, and in the end, when we're of no use, we're just thrown out."