Chapter 496: I Was Fired

Seeing that his neighbors all seemed to have the intention of backing out, Wan Furong grew anxious. He shouted, "What are you reporting? Let them report it! Anyway, I, your father, am simply not moving. If they have the ability, let them beat all eight of us in this family to death."

Wan Furong was a stubborn rogue, but his neighbors dared not say such things. As the saying goes, the gun hits the bird that sticks its head out, and the rafter that sticks out first rots first. Why should they be the ones to stick their necks out? Let the Wan family do it. If there were benefits, they wouldn't miss out on a single cent; if there were losses, let the Wan family bear them.

Wan Xinguo pushed Su Xinghui toward the door, saying, "You should go. Since you can't agree to our demands, there's nothing left to talk about."

Su Xinghui was not offended. He smiled and said, "If you let me leave, you can either wait for the Hou family to sue you, or you can live in this courtyard for the rest of your lives. Who knows, perhaps by the time your grandson grows up and gets married, he'll still be living in this shack."

This sentence struck a chord in the hearts of the Wan family. Their family of eight lived in such a house; did they really have to wait until their grandson grew up and married to still be living here? Looking at the courtyard, with sewage flowing everywhere and chickens and dogs running wild, they were sick of living here themselves, let alone letting their descendants live here forever.

But if Wan Furong were to just agree to move out like this, he was truly unwilling. He had retired from the Steel Pipe Factory, but the factory's efficiency was poor; even the workers who hadn't retired weren't getting paid, let alone a retired worker like him.

His wife had no job, his two daughters-in-law had no jobs, and the second son originally had a breakfast stall, but now it couldn't be opened, and no one knew when it would be able to open again. The whole family now relied on the eldest son's salary alone. Life was not only tight but also full of bumps and stumbles. How could it not be difficult, given this environment and this economic situation?

It was with great difficulty that Wan Furong learned the Hou family wanted to return from overseas and that the county government wanted to return the old Hou residence to them. What a great opportunity this was for the Wan family! They could just happen to blackmail the county government, demanding houses and money, and change the family's situation in one fell swoop. That would be a turnaround for the Wan family.

If they didn't seize this opportunity, Wan Furong reckoned their family would never be able to turn things around in their lifetime.

Thinking of this, Wan Furong steadied himself and said, "Even if our family has to live in this shack for the rest of our lives, we are not moving!"

Just then, a young man of about thirty walked in from outside. He looked dejected, and as soon as he returned, he sat down on a chair. Wan Furong asked, "Xinhua, what's wrong with you? Didn't you go to work?"

This young man was Wan Furong's eldest son, Wan Xinhua. He picked up a cup of cold water, gulped it down, wiped his mouth, and said, "I was fired."

Wan Furong was shocked. "What? You were fired? Why?"

Wan Xinhua said dejectedly, "As soon as I got to the construction site this morning, our project manager, Manager Wang, told me that our family lacks integrity. They don't dare to use a worker who lacks integrity like me, so they settled my wages and told me to go home."

Wan Furong said, "How does our family lack integrity? On what grounds did they fire you?"

Wan Xinhua said, "It's all because of this house business. They said our family is living in someone else's house and refuses to move out, and that we are asking for an exorbitant price—that this is a lack of integrity. They are private bosses; if they want to fire me, can you even ask why?"

Wan Furong was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, but Wan Xinhua worked at the Haimin Construction Company, which was a private enterprise, not a state-owned one. It was very simple for a private boss to fire a worker, and no one could interfere.

In this era, the Labor Law hadn't even been implemented yet. Besides, in people's traditional concepts, the relationship between a boss and an employee was free; as long as wages weren't owed, firing an employee was the boss's right, and it was only natural.

However, this incident was a huge blow to the Wan family. Currently, Wan Xinhua's salary was the Wan family's only stable source of income. Their family had no savings, so if this income were cut off, how would they live?

Wan Furong paced back and forth in a panic. After a while, he suddenly thought of Su Xinghui. He pointed at Su Xinghui's nose and said, "You surnamed Su, you did this, didn't you?"

Su Xinghui shook his head and smiled. "This has nothing to do with us. You can only blame yourselves. Who would dare to hire someone who lacks integrity and doesn't reason? What if something happens to him on the construction site and you go there to cause trouble? Would others be able to continue their work?"

Wan Furong glared at Su Xinghui. He didn't believe Su Xinghui's words. He was now convinced that they must have done this. Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that Wan Xinhua was fired today, and for some bullshit reason about integrity? Does a construction worker need some bullshit integrity?

Of course, Su Xinghui had done this. He had called Xu Haimin last night and asked him if there was a worker named Wan Xinhua at the Nanmen Street residential construction site. Xu Haimin couldn't possibly remember every worker's name, so he asked Su Xinghui what was going on.

Su Xinghui told him the situation and said that if there really was a worker named Wan Xinhua, he should fire him. Xu Haimin, of course, agreed readily. This was too simple for him; he called the project manager, and it was done.

This couldn't be blamed on Su Xinghui for being ruthless. To deal with such scoundrels, if you don't use some unscrupulous methods, you really have no way to handle them. If you want to blame someone, you can only blame the Wan family themselves for being unreasonable, asking for exorbitant prices, and making unrealistic demands.

Wan Furong said, "You definitely did this, and now you won't admit it, right?"

Su Xinghui was not in a hurry now. He said leisurely, "Whether I did this or not, first of all, it was your family that did the wrong thing first. People still need to have some integrity and reason. Since you don't reason with others, why should others reason with you?"

Wan Xinguo glared at Su Xinghui and said, "So, you're admitting that you did this?"

Su Xinghui walked outside, saying, "Forget it. This matter had nothing to do with me in the first place. Whether you move or not doesn't have much to do with me. If you are happy living here, then live here. I'm leaving. If you ever figure it out, come find me again."

Wan Furong said, "I won't figure it out. Do you think I'm afraid of you just because of this? Xinhua, go find work elsewhere tomorrow. I don't believe that in our Shangjun County, with so many construction sites, we can't find work!"

Su Xinghui smiled faintly, parted the crowd, and left the tenement courtyard. Behind him were many complex gazes.

Wan Furong jumped and cursed, "Get lost! If you come again, I'll break your legs!"

Su Xinghui walked on as if he hadn't heard.

Su Xinghui went straight to Zhang Kaishan's house and told him about his experience at the Wan family's home that morning. Zhang Kaishan laughed, "Xinghui, you're something else. You have plenty of devious ideas. You told Xu Haimin to fire his eldest son, right?"

Su Xinghui nodded and said, "Yes, such scoundrels don't reason with us, so we don't need to reason with them. Not to mention that he happened to work at the Xu family's construction company, no matter where he worked, I could have ruined his job."

Zhang Kaishan said, "That's a ruthless move. But what about the lives of his family?"

Su Xinghui said, "Since he doesn't reason, he should have thought of the consequences of not reasoning. He should bear these consequences. Besides, this is a business action by a private enterprise, which has nothing to do with us, right?"

Zhang Kaishan burst into laughter. He hadn't been in a good mood for the past few days, but today he finally felt relieved.

After laughing, Zhang Kaishan said, "But what if he stubbornly refuses to move? What if he goes to find work elsewhere?"

Su Xinghui smiled and said, "Uncle Zhang, don't worry. As long as he is still in Shangjun County, it's impossible for him to find work. In addition, I think the court should also play a role. Sometimes, you can't just be soft; you also need to be a bit hard, otherwise, people won't appreciate it."

Zhang Kaishan, of course, understood what Su Xinghui meant. If the court exerted some pressure on the Wan family, it would be much easier to do the work.

Zhang Kaishan nodded and said, "Xinghui, you're right. Sometimes, you have to use both soft and hard tactics!"

Su Xinghui said, "Uncle Zhang, then I'll be going first. I'm returning to Pengwan this afternoon. The Wan family's matter probably won't be resolved in a day or two. You should have the court exert some pressure on them. After his eldest son hits a few more walls, I reckon he'll come to us voluntarily."

Zhang Kaishan said, "Good, let's do that. Let's try to resolve this matter before Hou Dali goes abroad."

At noon, while Su Xinghui was eating at home, he received a call from Lei Ming. Lei Ming told him that he had already found out how Wan Furong knew the Hou family was returning.

It turned out that Wan Furong's son-in-law's classmate worked in the United Front Department. This matter was revealed when they were drinking together. After his son-in-law heard about it, he went to the Wan family and told Wan Furong.

As a result, as soon as Wan Furong heard this, he treated it like a treasure, feeling that they had the capital to blackmail the county government, and believing that the county government would be anxious to have them move out. Therefore, he demanded a high price, wishing he could dig a well with one shovel.

After hearing Lei Ming's words, Su Xinghui finally understood the ins and outs. He despised that staff member from the United Front Department who leaked the secret. He immediately called Liu Xiancai and told him the name of that staff member.

Liu Xiancai was also furious. Hearing that it was this person who leaked the secret, he and Su Xinghui decided they must teach this person a good lesson.