Chapter 1826

As soon as the four of them were seated in the fourth-floor conference room, the woman got straight to the point: "Deputy Division Chief Liu, the state currently places great importance on the issue of migrant worker wage payments. If our wages are delayed again and again, you know how serious the consequences will be once we take this to the government! Director Zheng said the construction funds, including the migrant workers' wages, were settled with our boss, but we haven't received a single cent, so we can only come to your Construction Committee to ask for it!"

Zhao Desan's expression changed, and he hurriedly asked, "What did you say? You mustn't act recklessly!" Zhao Desan knew clearly that if these people were to take this to the government, the Provincial Construction Committee, as the client unit, would be held accountable by the government—this was no trivial matter. Moreover, the Construction Committee had already settled the construction funds; they couldn't possibly pay twice, could they? Zhao Desan felt a bit dizzy...

The reason Zhao Desan was somewhat bewildered was not because Zheng Tulu had withheld information from him; rather, when Zheng Tulu had told him about this matter, he had already taken his words with a grain of salt. He knew Zheng Tulu would certainly not tell him the whole truth and would hold back at least a little. However, what he hadn't expected was that this withholding had distorted the nature of the problem. If things were truly as the middle-aged woman described, this matter was indeed no small affair!

Zhao Desan's silence made the middle-aged woman feel very uneasy. She let out a long sigh and said languidly, "What, didn't the Director tell you about it?"

Being asked this by the middle-aged woman, Zhao Desan immediately reacted and followed up: "Oh, no, it's not that. The Director mentioned several possibilities to me. This matter is a very serious one for the Construction Committee, so we must have absolute certainty and evidence before we can handle it."

"Deputy Division Chief Liu, could you please stop dodging the question? We are here to find you to solve our wage problem. As for the Construction Committee's responsibility, that's an internal matter for you; don't waste time talking nonsense with me. Hurry up and tell us how our problem will be solved!" The middle-aged woman was indeed formidable. Zhao Desan had originally intended to use a delaying tactic to stabilize them and buy himself time to find the Director and clarify the matter, but it was clearly impossible now.

"This elder sister—oh, please allow me to address you as such, as I don't know your name." Zhao Desan hesitated for a moment, just about to continue, when the middle-aged woman interrupted him: "My surname is Li, and my given name is Fang."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Desan hurriedly corrected himself: "Oh, so it's Elder Sister Li Fang. I think you shouldn't be too anxious. After all, this matter isn't as simple as you or I imagine. If the Construction Committee doesn't investigate the cause and effect, it is absolutely impossible to make any conclusions casually. This is a matter of principle. If you just bring two people here to make a scene and demand money, how could that be possible? So, you don't need to pressure me; otherwise, I'll have no choice but to be unable to help." Zhao Desan's meaning was clear: he was indirectly telling Li Fang that if she continued to pressure him, he would stop caring, and she could do whatever she wanted!

Sure enough, Zhao Desan's slight show of firmness had some effect. Li Fang's tone softened slightly as she said, "Of course, we can understand that, but it can't be like you said, just dragging it out and ignoring it! It's not easy for us to go out to work and earn a little money, and we still have to go home to support the elderly and the young! We simply can't afford to wait!"

"Sister Fang, rest assured. Since I have promised you, I will definitely be responsible to the end. But you must also give me some time to get at least a basic understanding of the origins of the matter. Then, we can sit down and resolve it satisfactorily, right?" Zhao Desan began to pull his words back.

"Then tell me, how much time do you need?" Li Fang's words followed closely, allowing Zhao Desan no room for thought.

Seeing an opportunity, Zhao Desan said without hesitation, "At least a week."

"A week?" Li Fang's eyes widened as if she had been startled. She pointed at Zhao Desan and said, "It seems you're trying to play us, aren't you? Now that the project is over, we have to eat and drink while staying here, and everything costs money. We can't afford to drag this out!"

Zhao Desan hadn't expected this woman to turn hostile so quickly, and he was taken aback by her actions, but he hurriedly made amends: "Then three days must be enough; that's the bottom line."

Li Fang looked at the two men sitting beside her, exchanged a glance, and said to Zhao Desan, "Fine, we'll trust you one more time. Three days later, if you still can't come up with a way to solve the problem, don't blame us uneducated migrant workers for being impolite. You'll have a hard time then!"

Zhao Desan said nothing more; he didn't dare to. After all, his understanding of this matter was too superficial. If he had known it was this serious at the time, he would never have taken it on, even if it killed him! His current thought was to first send this Li Fang away, then go find Director Zheng, clarify the situation, and absolutely not get involved in this matter again. After all, the project was nearly finished when he became Deputy Division Chief, and the previous matters were the responsibility of Division Chief Lan; they had nothing to do with him.

Having finally sent away a grandmother-level figure and two fierce-looking men, Zhao Desan hurriedly knocked on Zheng Tulu's office door. Just as he had imagined, Zheng Tulu was indeed not there. Just as he returned to his own office intending to call Zheng Tulu, a young secretary from the Comprehensive Office's secretarial group knocked and entered. She held a stack of forms and said politely to Zhao Desan, "Deputy Division Chief Liu, these are Division Chief Lan's evaluation qualification materials. Director Zheng said this matter was your responsibility last time, and since you were away for training, I thought I should give you a heads-up."

Zhao Desan's eyes went wide. His heart felt almost twisted upon hearing the secretary's words. He cursed inwardly: You turtle-grandson Zheng Tulu, I'm out there on the front lines charging for you, and you're stabbing me in the back? It seems you really don't take me seriously! You're really looking for trouble! The evaluation work for unit employees ended long ago, and now you're suddenly submitting Division Chief Lan's materials—isn't this just sowing discord?

Thinking of this, he urgently asked the secretary, "What's the reason?"

"It's because of this migrant worker protest issue; this is already the third time they've come to make a scene!" the secretary answered quite readily.

"What?" Zhao Desan's head buzzed. Isn't this just the old guy wanting to fix Division Chief Lan and using me as his blade...

Without another word, Zhao Desan couldn't even bother to find Zheng Tulu. He rushed out of the office like the wind, heading toward Division Chief Lan's office upstairs. His only thought now was to find Division Chief Lan and get to the bottom of the situation. If this matter really had a direct connection to her, then he would have no choice but to get involved, even if he didn't want to.

He ran to Division Chief Lan's office in one breath, not even bothering to knock.

Zhao Desan pushed the door open and went straight inside. He leaned against the doorframe and looked in, but there was no sign of Division Chief Lan. So, Zhao Desan went to the room next door, pushed the door open, and asked Xia Jian, "Where is Division Chief Lan?"

"You're looking for Division Chief Lan too? She's already been called to the fourth-floor conference room." Xia Jian had a gloating expression on his face.

Zhao Desan nodded to him and turned to run upstairs. Arriving at the door of the fourth-floor conference room, Zhao Desan again didn't bother to knock and went straight in. But this time, he was truly given the cold shoulder. Because Zhao Desan hadn't realized the conference room door would be locked from the inside, he slammed into the door due to momentum. Hearing a 'Bang!', Zhao Desan immediately felt stars spinning and drifting before his eyes, and he nearly fell to the floor.

After recovering slightly, Zhao Desan raised his hand and pounded hard on the door that had left him seeing stars. The 'Bang, bang, bang' could be heard clearly throughout the entire hallway. ===== CHAPTER 1827 =====