Chapter 2030

"I think Director Jiang is telling the truth; let's just go back."

Jiang Zhiqing said: "I guarantee to everyone here that if you don't find work after these enterprises start production, come to my house to eat and drink; I promise you'll have wine and meat at every meal. Let me tell you, once you work in those enterprises, the working environment will be much better, and the wages won't be low either, so what are you afraid of?"

Tang Chaoxin said: "Don't let yourselves be used as pawns by others. Go back quickly; if you keep causing trouble, I'll have to make arrests!"

The workers dispersed after hearing what the two men said, leaving only a few bosses and managers at the scene—a sparse group of a dozen people who suddenly lost all their momentum.

Chen Changqiao knew that the situation was beyond saving; he glared at Jiang Zhiqing with resentment, turned around, and left, while the others, having no other choice, also left the management committee office.

Jiang Zhiqing and Tang Chaoxin exchanged a glance and wiped the sweat from their brows together; it was already the end of December and the weather was very cold, yet they had broken out in a cold sweat in such temperatures.

Today's situation was too dangerous; if those fifty-plus people had really started a riot in the management committee, they would all have been held accountable, and if anyone had been hurt, the situation would have escalated to a point they couldn't handle.

Jiang Zhiqing felt especially fortunate; if something had gone wrong today, he would have betrayed Su Xinghui's trust, and to have caused such a huge embarrassment for Su Xinghui just days after taking office would have left him not knowing how to face him.

Jiang Zhiqing immediately rushed to the county government to request an audience with Su Xinghui.

As soon as he saw Su Xinghui, Jiang Zhiqing reported everything that had happened that day in full detail; after listening, Su Xinghui frowned, feeling that there was something suspicious about the matter, though he wasn't sure if his intuition was correct.

He said to Jiang Zhiqing: "Zhiqing, your handling of the situation today was excellent; you didn't escalate the conflict while still upholding your principles."

Jiang Zhiqing said: "Chief Tang played a significant role; he is very familiar with those workers, so he did a lot of persuasive work."

Su Xinghui said: "Have Chief Tang investigate and ask those workers who instigated today's incident, then talk to them again to ensure they don't cause trouble in the future; I will take responsibility for their employment."

Only then did Jiang Zhiqing breathe a sigh of relief; although he had promised to help those workers find jobs, he was truly unsure of himself, as there were at least a hundred workers from those factories, and finding jobs for so many was no easy task.

Now, Su Xinghui's words served as a reassurance and an endorsement of his promise, which made him even more grateful to Su Xinghui.

This was where Su Xinghui differed from Yuan Yifu; if Yuan Yifu had known that Jiang Zhiqing had promised to find jobs for the workers, his first reaction would surely have been that he was talking nonsense and making reckless promises, and that such unruly people should be taught a lesson rather than given such promises.

Yet Su Xinghui felt that Jiang Zhiqing's approach was correct, and after Jiang Zhiqing made the promise, he even backed him up; how could one not be wholeheartedly loyal to such a leader?

After returning, Jiang Zhiqing asked Tang Chaoxin to investigate the matter, talk to the workers, and appease them so they wouldn't listen to others' instigation and cause trouble at the management committee again.

Tang Chaoxin patted his chest and promised to get to the bottom of the matter, then set off.

He returned in less than half a day and told Jiang Zhiqing that those workers would never come to cause trouble again; today's incident was orchestrated by the bosses who paid them fifty yuan each, and they didn't actually want to cause trouble.

Additionally, a worker from Chen Changqiao's factory told Tang Chaoxin an important detail: when he asked Chen Changqiao for his wages, Chen received a phone call, and after someone on the other end said something, Chen told him to go find people to cause trouble at the management committee.

Jiang Zhiqing immediately called Su Xinghui to report this important information; Su Xinghui said he understood and hung up the phone.

After hanging up, Su Xinghui sat behind his desk in deep thought; the matter was exactly as he had expected—there was someone behind the scenes pulling the strings, and he could roughly guess who it was, so there was no need to investigate or solve a case.

Su Xinghui was very confident; he intended to rely on his own strength and use upright, transparent strategies to crush the opposition, as no conspiracy could stop him—it would only be like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

Even if he didn't investigate, those behind the conspiracies would eventually reveal themselves one by one, and when that time came, he would naturally settle the score with them.

This time, Jiang Zhiqing's handling of the situation truly satisfied Su Xinghui; he was reasonable and measured, and he knew how to grasp the main contradiction—to cause a riot, relying on bosses like Chen Changqiao wasn't enough, as it required more people to be effective; by persuading the workers to leave, the riot couldn't happen.

As for Chen Changqiao, he was a man who didn't know when to advance or retreat; he had offended everyone he could, and his recent actions were simply irrational; Su Xinghui had already contacted a buyer for him, but he didn't intend to inform Chen immediately.

This was because if he notified him right after the riot, Chen would think his troublemaking had worked and might not appreciate the help.

Furthermore, given the state of his factory, it wouldn't fetch a good price right now, and since the buyer wasn't a philanthropist, once the price was quoted, Chen's personality would lead him to believe that the buyer was taking advantage of his situation to rob him.

Su Xinghui could see that Chen was the type of person who wouldn't turn back until he hit a brick wall, so he would wait a few more days until he hit that wall before letting the buyer approach him.

By then, Su Xinghui would have the buyer raise the price slightly, enough for Chen to at least recoup his investment after accounting for the past few years' profits; when he was at his wit's end, such a price should be enough to make him settle down.

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was the end of December, with 1998 just around the corner.

1998 was a very special year, most notably for the catastrophic flood that occurred; whenever Su Xinghui thought of this flood, he felt as if a sword were hanging over his head, so he frequently visited the levee construction sites in Chongjin County to check on the progress of the reinforcements.

The levee construction sites in Chongjin County were always bustling with activity; except when it rained, the machinery was always roaring, and the levees were taking shape day by day, which gave Su Xinghui much peace of mind.

In his previous life, Su Xinghui had experienced that terrible flood of 1998; it was truly horrifying, and he wouldn't be at ease unless the levees were built to be impregnable.

One day, he went to the construction site again, this time to the river levee northeast of the county town; while walking along the levee, he received a page from the county government office number, so he immediately borrowed the project manager's mobile phone to return the call.

While returning the call, he thought that once mobile phones dropped in price next year to around three thousand yuan and became less conspicuous, he would have to buy one, as the current situation was truly inconvenient.

In his memory, mobile phones started to drop in price that year, becoming affordable for ordinary people.

He returned the call, and it turned out the page was from Duan Qi, who told him that a college student named Xia Song had come to the county government, claiming to be a fellow townsman of Su Xinghui's and looking for him.

Upon hearing that Xia Song had arrived, Su Xinghui told Duan Qi to host him first, and that he would be back immediately.

Last time Xia Zhu came to Chongjin County, she had mentioned wanting Xia Song to come and work under him; so much time had passed that he had almost forgotten, but now that Xia Song was here, he immediately remembered and certainly wouldn't neglect him.

He immediately took a car back to the county government, and upon arriving at the office, he saw a young man sitting there talking to Duan Qi.

He asked: "Are you Xia Song?"

He had met Xia Song before, but back then Xia Song was still a high school student, not yet fully grown, sallow, thin, and wearing ragged clothes; he was like a different person compared to the handsome young man before him, and he almost didn't dare to recognize him.