Chapter 820: Work Stoppage Storm

The Zhao Group's full-scale work stoppage came faster than anyone imagined.

It was the third day after Lin Dongfan slammed the table and walked out.

Zhao Tianyu slammed the gavel at the group's senior meeting: "That's decided—all ongoing projects will halt starting tomorrow."

The conference room fell dead silent.

Several executives exchanged glances, and one cautiously asked: "General Manager Zhao, the first phase of Cloud Peak Mountain Villa is topped out, the second is sixty percent done—stopping work now..."

"Stop."

Zhao Tianyu cut him off.

He curled his lip in a cold smile: "Fully cooperating with the municipal government's investigation and audit is our corporate duty..."

Zhao Tianyu's move was ruthless—clearly he was working with Wang Qigang to pressure Lin Dongfan.

The Zhao Group had seven ongoing projects in Wuzhou.

They involved three commercial complexes, two high-end residential districts, a logistics park, and the much-anticipated Cloud Peak Mountain Villa.

These projects supported over a hundred subcontractors, thousands of material suppliers, and most crucially, more than eight thousand construction workers.

On the first day of the stoppage, the sites could still maintain basic order.

On the third day, the first batch of workers owed wages began gathering at the project offices.

By the seventh day, the wage‑demanding crowd had grown from a spark into a prairie fire. They surrounded the Zhao Group headquarters demanding their hard‑earned pay, but were eventually driven away.

As for all this, Zhao Tianyu had clearly prepared in advance.

The Zhao Group's total shutdown was like a meteorite falling from the sky—boom! It hit the stagnant waters of Wuzhou, raising not ripples but towering waves.

On the fifteenth day of the stoppage, at the Cloud Peak Mountain Villa construction site.

This project, touted as "Wuzhou's future landmark," had become a vast expanse of concrete rubble.

Tower cranes hung motionless in the air, mixers fell silent, and the site was packed with angry workers demanding wages. The air reeked of sweat and smoke, thick with irrepressible frustration.

"When the hell is Boss Zhao going to pay us?!"

"We've been dragged out for over a month and haven't seen a penny—are we even allowed to live?"

"My kids need this money for tuition next semester, and the elders at home are waiting to buy medicine—how are we supposed to get by?!"

"Damn it, if they don't pay we'll burn this site down!"

……

In the open space before the workers' sheds, three or four hundred people stood packed together.

All kinds of anxious murmurs rose from discussion to clamor, then to roaring shouts; dozens of wage‑demand banners hung from the scaffolding on the outer walls.

A man named Huang Dashan stood before the crowd.

This veteran laborer, who'd spent thirty years in construction, had every line on his face etched with fatigue.

He clutched a crumpled notebook in his hand.

It listed his and several fellow villagers' workdays: he himself 287 days, Old Wang Tou 312 days, and the newcomer Xiao Yi, who'd been there two months, 186 days…

According to the contract, each workday was worth 280 yuan.

Yet the person in charge of liaising with them had vanished the week before—his phone was dead, and the project office was locked up tight as an iron general's gate.

"Folks!"

Zhang Dashan shouted at the top of his lungs: "Just waiting around won't do! We have to go to the city—surely the government can't ignore ordinary people's lives?!"

"Right! To the city!"

"Find the leaders!"

……

The already restless crowd instantly ignited like a pile of dry tinder, and various agreeing shouts exploded on the scene.

But just as they were about to head for the municipal government, police officers arrived on the scene.

They moved to fully control the situation.

At the same time, an emergency meeting was underway in the municipal government's conference room.

Lin Dongfan sat in the chief seat, listening to department reports, his face growing ever darker.

"Currently, all seven of the Zhao Group's projects have halted, affecting roughly eighty‑three hundred migrant workers." The head of the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau read from the report: "The total unpaid wages are preliminarily estimated at around 230 million yuan. The labor inspection bureau has issued a rectification order, but the Zhao Group refuses to sign for it."

"Where is Zhao Tianyu?" Lin Dongfan asked.

"We can't reach him." The bureau chief shook his head: "The company says he's overseas on an inspection, and the lower‑level executives are keeping tight‑lipped, saying they'll wait for Zhao Tianyu to return before deciding."

As they were speaking, the meeting room door was flung open.

Secretary Xiao Chen rushed in, breathless: "Mayor Lin, something's happened at Cloud Peak Mountain Villa—hundreds of workers have gathered at the site, and… someone… someone has doused themselves in gasoline!"

"What?!"

Lin Dongfan sprang to his feet and hurried to the scene.

Cloud Peak Mountain Villa construction site.

The scene had already spiraled out of control—three or four hundred workers had blocked the site's gates completely.

At the very front stood a young man in his twenties.

He lifted a green plastic bucket, poured its contents over himself, and the sharp smell of gasoline instantly filled the air. He then tossed the empty bucket aside and pulled out a lighter.

"Don't come closer! Don't come closer!" His eyes were blood‑red, his voice hoarse: "If I don't get paid today, I'll die right here—I can't go on living anyway!"

Those around wanted to step forward but dared not, and the police who had come to keep order were too frightened to move.

"Xiao Yang, don't be stupid!" Huang Dashan stamped his feet in anxiety: "We'll figure out the money later—first put the lighter down!"

"What kind of solution are you talking about?!"

The young worker named Xiao Yang screamed through tears: "My mother's waiting in the hospital for surgery! She needs fifty thousand, and I'm only five thousand short—Zhao Boss owes me forty‑eight thousand in wages! What gives him the right to withhold it?! What gives him the right?!"

His finger hovered over the lighter, trembling slightly.

The crowd gasped in unison.

At this critical moment, a black sedan screeched to a halt at the edge of the crowd; Lin Dongfan pushed open the door and got out, without even glancing at the reactions of the people around, and hurriedly pushed into the crowd.

"Mayor! Danger!" Secretary Xiao Chen tried to pull him back.

Lin Dongfan waved his hand, continued forward, and stopped three meters away from Xiao Yang.

"Xiao Yang, calm down, first put the lighter down." Lin Dongfan's voice was very calm, as if he were persuading an old friend, without a trace of official airs.

Xiao Yang froze, never expecting the Mayor to know his name.

Lin Dongfan asked again: "Which hospital is your mother staying in? What illness does she have?"

"City, City First Hospital... stomach cancer..." Xiao Yang's voice trembled.

"Stomach cancer surgery, fifty thousand isn't enough." Lin Dongfan said: "Postoperative chemotherapy and targeted drugs require at least two hundred thousand."

Xiao Yang froze again.

"First put the lighter down." Lin Dongfan looked at him: "I, as the Mayor of Wuzhou, guarantee you two things: first, regarding your mother's medical expenses, I can pay out of pocket and personally advance the funds; second, the wages you have been owed will be paid to you within a week."

"I... I how can I trust you?"

Xiao Yang clenched the lighter, refusing to let go, his hand trembling.

"You can choose not to believe me." Lin Dongfan said: "But if you light the fire now and burn yourself to death, what will happen to your mother? She's still waiting for you in the hospital."

Those words pierced Xiao Yang's heart like a needle.

After a moment's hesitation, Xiao Yang finally threw away the lighter in his hand.

Almost at the same time, several police officers seized the opportunity to rush forward, trying to subdue Xiao Yang. But Lin Dongfan gestured for the officers to step back; the officers, who had just pressed onto Xiao Yang's arms, then released their grip.

Lin Dongfan faced the dark, pressing crowd.

He then took the megaphone handed by a staff member and, holding the loudspeaker, shouted loudly: "Folks, I am Mayor Lin Dongfan! I know everything about your situation!"

The crowd fell silent.

"The Zhao Group has withheld your wages; this is the company's responsibility and also the government's—our supervision has been lacking!" Lin Dongfan's voice resonated powerfully: "Here, I solemnly promise you all: one week! Just give me one week! Within a week, I will definitely help you resolve the unpaid wages issue!"

"What if there's still no money after a week?!" someone in the crowd shouted.

Lin Dongfan replied without hesitation: "If after a week the problem remains unsolved, come directly to the Yun Municipal Government to find me! I, Lin Dongfan, will sit there waiting for you—I won't go anywhere! If it cannot be resolved, I, as mayor, will personally apologize to you!"

These sincere words left the scene silent for a few seconds, after which a clamor of discussion erupted.

The over-fifty-year-old Huang Dashan stepped forward: "Mayor Lin, we trust you once! But only for one week! If after a week there's still no result..."

"Come find me." Lin Dongfan took up the conversation.

Hearing such a resolute promise, the on-site workers' emotions gradually calmed. However, the heavy sense of urgency lingering in the air did not disappear just like that.