Chapter 61: An Eye for an Eye!

Hearing Qin Xiaoshu’s angry rebuke, the dozen or so workers instantly grew displeased.

One by one, they pulled long faces, their eyes filled with vicious hostility.

Gu Zhixia, standing beside him, whispered, "Orange Brother, before we acquired this yard, I made it clear to Zheng Xinxin that we only wanted the venue and she was responsible for handling the workers' severance herself!"

Jiang Cheng nodded.

Only now did he roughly understand the whole story.

Instantly, a surge of anger flared within him!

At this moment, Old Third Song stepped forward and said, "Jiang Cheng, you're well aware that none of us ever signed employment contracts with Zheng Wanfu! Now that he's gone mad and abandoned us, you're the new boss of this yard, so you have to give us an explanation!"

"That's right! You must give us an explanation!"

"No one leaves this yard today without severance pay!"

Qin Xiaoshu lost his temper immediately upon hearing that!

He raged, "Old Third Song, does the fact that Zheng Wanfu didn't sign contracts with you have anything to do with us? Did we wrong you in any way? Have you no conscience at all saying things like that?"

Old Third Song said viciously, "I don't care about all that. The point is you're the new boss now, and we've lost our jobs. Either you keep us on to continue working, or you pay us severance—choose for yourselves!"

Gu Zhixia frowned and said loudly, "According to Article 47 of the Labor Contract Law of the Dragon Kingdom concerning the calculation of economic compensation, if an employee's labor relationship is terminated by the old company before the new company takes over, all compensation matters shall be handled by the old company.

After taking over the old company, if the new company still intends to employ the original workers, it must sign new employment contracts and pay them corresponding compensation. If the new company is unwilling to take on the original workers, it does have the obligation to provide economic compensation to the original workers in a certain manner.

However, regardless of the circumstances, the prerequisite for any compensation is that the original workers had an employment contract with the old company!"

Qin Xiaoshu chimed in fiercely, "Did you hear that? You don't even have labor contracts with Zheng Wanfu, and we've made it clear that you were fired before we took over the yard. What reason do we have to pay you compensation?"

Before coming here, these workers had long since been dismissed by Zheng Xinxin.

Yet, somehow the news leaked, and the moment Qin Xiaoshu and Gu Zhixia finished signing the transfer contract with Zheng Xinxin and paid the money, this group of workers rushed out and surrounded them.

They clamored for compensation, declaring that no one was leaving without it!

Qin Xiaoshu, out of anger, had shoved a few of the workers a couple of times, not expecting the situation to spin out of control so quickly. Fortunately, he only took a few sneaky kicks.

"I don't know anything about laws or contracts! Either you compensate us today, or none of you are walking out of here!"

"Exactly! Jiang Cheng, you've made a fortune now and are worth several million. Do you even care about this little bit of compensation for us? We've all worked together for four or five years—how can your conscience bear to let us freeze and starve?"

"That's right, Jiang Cheng. You've experienced unemployment yourself, can't you show some empathy? A person shouldn't be so heartless. We've lost our jobs, and at our age, where are we supposed to find good work? Can't you find it in your heart to be charitable?"

The more Jiang Cheng listened, the more he wanted to curse.

These people really had the nerve to say such things!

The moral blackmail was coming in non-stop!

Qin Xiaoshu grabbed a shovel from nearby, slammed it hard onto the ground, and roared, "Damn it! You people actually have the nerve to talk? Back when Jiang Cheng's eyes were injured and he was being played by Zheng Wanfu, carrying over a hundred slabs of material all by himself until he collapsed from exhaustion, did a single one of you go over to lend a hand? You all sat in the shade eating ice cream, chatting away, making sarcastic remarks and pointing fingers—did any of you care about Jiang Cheng then?"

"And you dare talk about being colleagues, being friends of four or five years? If you had an ounce of shame, you couldn't possibly say words like that! Orange made a fortune, what does that have to do with you? Stop pulling your moral blackmail here! What? You didn't dare let out a single peep when Zheng Wanfu fired you, but the moment you found out Jiang Cheng took over the yard, you shamelessly came crawling back to demand compensation? Let me tell you, whoever dares to brazenly hang around here, I'll smash them with this shovel!"

Qin Xiaoshu gripped the handle of the shovel tightly, exuding the imposing aura of a man holding a pass against ten thousand foes.

That fierce expression genuinely frightened the crowd.

Old Third Song cast a complex glance at Zheng Xinxin standing nearby, his eyes seeming to ask what they should do next.

Jiang Cheng narrowed his eyes and caught this exchange instantly.

A cold smile crossed his inner thoughts.

He roughly guessed that the sudden appearance of this group of workers must have been orchestrated by Zheng Xinxin!

Otherwise, how could workers who had already been dismissed suddenly come back to cause trouble?

If they wanted compensation, they should be seeking it from the Zheng family, not demanding money from him, Jiang Cheng!

Someone was definitely intentionally stoking the flames behind this scene!

At that moment, Lin Zhou and Wang Hao pushed through the crowd, walked up to Jiang Cheng, and asked, "Mr. Jiang, do you need help?"

Jiang Cheng waved his hand. "No need!"

Then, he purposely raised his voice and said to Zheng Xinxin, "Ms. Zheng, didn't we agree last night? I gave you an extra million in compensation specifically for you to compensate the worker brothers. Could it be that you pocketed this money yourself? That wouldn't be very honorable of you, would it?"

"What? One million?"

The scene instantly erupted into chaos!

Gu Zhixia and Qin Xiaoshu blinked, exchanged glances, and looked utterly bewildered—when on earth had Jiang Cheng given Zheng Xinxin an extra million?

Zheng Xinxin, who had just been secretly gloating, instantly lost her composure.

She berated angrily, "Jiang Cheng, stop talking nonsense! When did you ever wire me an extra million?"

Jiang Cheng put on an infuriated expression. "Oh? Zheng Xinxin, I secretly transferred a million to you last night to compensate the worker brothers, not even telling Xiaoshu, and today you're turning your back and denying it? Look everyone, I still have the million-dollar transfer record right here!"

With that, Jiang Cheng feigned pulling out his phone, opened his bank transfer history to the record of transferring one million to Cheng Dong the night before, and held it up for everyone to see.

The group of workers hurriedly crowded forward, peering closely at the phone screen.

The interface indeed showed a one-million-dollar transfer record, though it only displayed a bank account number with no name attached.

Because Jiang Cheng spoke with such conviction, and it was a massive sum of one million, people are naturally greedy.

They would rather believe that Jiang Cheng had truly turned benevolent and given them a million in compensation than believe Jiang Cheng was fooling them.

Regardless of whether they ultimately believed it, all the workers would suspect that Zheng Xinxin had indeed secretly pocketed that million!

As long as there was suspicion, Jiang Cheng's objective was achieved!

This was the exact effect Jiang Cheng wanted.

Since Zheng Xinxin had the capability to play dirty and deliberately manufacture conflict between the workers and him, Jiang Cheng had no reason to be polite either!

He would use her own tactics against her.

By spinning a lie, he shifted the conflict right back onto Zheng Xinxin and the workers.

"Ten thousand, hundred thousand... one million!"

"Let me see, holy crap, it really is one million!"

It would be one thing if Jiang Cheng had no transfer record, but with the record clear as day right before their eyes, could it possibly be fake?

The entire stone-cutting yard exploded instantly.

How could they possibly know that this million was what Jiang Cheng used the night before to compensate Cheng Dong of the Bee Sect in order to save Lin Dan?

At the time, Jiang Cheng had been unhappy and unwilling, even teaming up with Qian Duoduo to heavily retaliate against Cheng Dong.

As it turned out, by such a coincidence, it had now become a card in his own hand!

Thinking about it, it was truly full of irony!

A worker wore an expression of rage, glaring fiercely at Zheng Xinxin as he hollered, "Damn you, Zheng Xinxin! Do you have any conscience? You took a million, yet you secretly pocketed it! We've worked like beasts of burden for your dad here for over a dozen years, and even if we didn't achieve greatness, we put in bitter effort, yet he couldn't even be bothered to sign a labor contract with us!"

"That's right! The moment trouble hit, you kicked us aside. You Zheng family members are all skinflints! We actually believed your deception and came to make things difficult for Brother Jiang—you guys are truly vicious!"

"No wonder your dad went crazy, it's just retribution!"

"With a heart this black, you'd better watch out you don't get hit by a car the moment you step outside!"

"Give us back our compensation!"

"Give us back our compensation!"

"Damn it! A family of black-hearted wretches, why waste words with her? Beat her!"

Chu嫣然 (Chu Yanran) narrowed her eyes, a smile playing at the corners of her lips, watching the spectacle with keen interest...