Chapter 384: Demolishing the Factory? Please Continue

On the first day of 1989, the era had yet to introduce the holiday arrangements seen in later years. New Year's Day was not yet considered a long holiday. Although Zhou Ming had implemented the first two-day weekend rule at the factory, that was all there was to it. After all, the times were different, and it was best not to be too forward-thinking.

As a result, the factory operated as usual on New Year's Day. Zhou Ming wanted to sleep in at home, but unfortunately, someone was determined to prevent him from relaxing. Early that morning, Wang Chen, the director of the Ba Bao Congee Factory, came to Zhou Ming's house and knocked on the door.

"Boss Zhou, it's terrible! Liang An from Linchu Machinery Company is here, and he's destroying our new factory!"

Wang Chen burst into Zhou Ming's room, urgently informing him. Zhou Ming, who had just sat up in bed to get dressed, groaned and then lay back down in the covers after hearing Wang Chen's news.

This reaction left Wang Chen dumbfounded. He quickly said, "Boss Zhou, what are you doing? I'm telling you that someone is destroying our new Ba Bao Congee Factory!"

Annoyed by the commotion, Zhou Ming muttered, "Alright, what's the situation now?"

Wang Chen quickly replied, "Liang An from Linchu Machinery Company arrived early this morning with a crew. They've already started tearing down the doors and walls at the entrance. He even declared that he's going to turn our new factory into ruins! He must have heard about our petition to the city yesterday. Now he's trying to take action first to cut off our way out!"

"Director Wang, don't panic," Zhou Ming said. "Here's the plan: You gather the cadres and workers from the Ba Bao Congee Factory. We'll go and take a look."

Wang Chen agreed and hurried out to assemble the factory's staff. Zhou Ming had no choice but to get out of bed. When he arrived at the factory monument, he saw over 400 people from the Ba Bao Congee Factory already waiting there. As soon as they saw Zhou Ming, they erupted in enthusiastic cheers.

While the crowd cheered, Zhou Ming looked somewhat perplexed. It wasn't the number of people that surprised him—he knew there were this many workers at the Ba Bao Congee Factory. Initially, he had brought over a hundred people from the Xiling Canned Food Factory, and with the factory's ongoing development, many employees' families and villagers had joined.

So the number itself wasn't surprising. What puzzled Zhou Ming was that many of these people were carrying wooden sticks and looked very agitated, clearly ready for a fight.

Zhou Ming asked with a mix of amusement and concern, "Director Wang, what are you planning to do?"

"To protect our factory, of course!" Wang Chen said firmly.

From this, Zhou Ming realized that these people were indeed ready for a fight. It seemed that his request for Wang Chen to gather the staff had been misunderstood, leading them to believe that he wanted them to do whatever it took to defend the factory. They didn't realize he had a different plan in mind.

Zhou Ming addressed everyone, "Please, don't get worked up. Violence will never solve the problem. Trust me, we don't need to clash with those people. We can still resume production, and we'll do it even better."

His words left everyone confused, looking at each other in bewilderment. While avoiding conflict with Linchu Machinery Company made sense, as it was a law-abiding society and any trouble could make things worse, they couldn't understand how avoiding conflict would lead to resuming production, let alone improving it.

Seeing their confusion, Zhou Ming added, "Please believe me. Our Ba Bao Congee Factory will not be in trouble. We're not going to the factory to cause trouble but to observe."

If Zhou Ming's previous words had only confused the crowd, his current statement completely baffled them. They couldn't figure out how they would be able to observe anything while Linchu Machinery Company was actively destroying their factory.

But Zhou Ming didn't have time for further explanations. Seeing was believing. He waved his hand and led everyone to the new Ba Bao Congee Factory. When they arrived a few minutes later, they saw that the demolition was already underway. Workers in Linchu Machinery Company uniforms were tearing down the factory's doors and walls under the direction of an official.

"Demolish it all! Tear it down completely! These things are a total eyesore and don't fit our future plans. We must tear everything down!" shouted a young man at the entrance, directing the workers with exaggerated gestures. This person was none other than Liang An, the deputy director of Linchu Machinery Company, whom Zhou Ming had met briefly a few days earlier.

When Liang An saw Zhou Ming arriving with a crowd, he immediately stopped directing and turned to Zhou Ming with a provocative tone. "Oh? Boss Zhou is here? I'm sorry to tell you that the construction plan for this factory is quite unreasonable and conflicts fundamentally with our Linchu Machinery Company's plans. So I've decided to demolish it and rebuild. What do you think?"

Liang An's words incited anger among all the Ba Bao Congee Factory staff. They clenched their fists, glaring at Zhou Ming. If Zhou Ming gave the order, they would have eagerly beaten the arrogant Liang An, even if it meant getting arrested.

But Zhou Ming merely nodded and replied to Liang An, "That's normal. Every factory has its own construction plan."

Everyone was stunned by Zhou Ming's response. They couldn't understand why he would say this, including Liang An, who was momentarily dumbfounded, unable to believe Zhou Ming's words. However, Zhou Ming's next statement was even more confusing.

Zhou Ming continued, "But Liang, let me remind you of something. Our country is a law-based society. If I'm not mistaken, deliberately destroying or inciting others to destroy public or private property can result in imprisonment."

Liang An burst into laughter, pointing at Zhou Ming. "I thought you might say something interesting. Zhou Ming, have you gone crazy? How could you say something so naive? Who doesn't know that destroying someone else's property can lead to compensation or imprisonment? But the key point is, I'm rebuilding my own factory."

Liang An pointed at the Ba Bao Congee Factory behind him and said, "This is now my factory, and I have the policy backing me. So I can do whatever I want with it!"

At this point, Liang An seemed to have a sudden realization. He slapped his forehead and said to Zhou Ming, "Oh, I'm really sorry. I heard that you went to the city to petition yesterday, demanding that the city government give you more power and wanting to take back the factory and other projects. Is that why you're so naively saying these things?"

"Well, it's really unfortunate that I didn't think of this sooner. After all, the factory renovation has been planned by our Linchu Machinery Company for a long time," Liang An said insincerely. "You know I'm not very smart. I don't know what will happen in the future, but at least today, this Ba Bao Congee Factory still belongs to our Linchu Machinery Company. I can remodel it however I like, and you have no right to interfere. Just wait to take over a pile of ruins. Haha!"

Liang An had previously been evasive, but now he openly expressed his thoughts. His choice to start demolition today was intentional. Knowing that Zhou Ming had petitioned the city, he was unsure whether the factory would still be his in the future. Therefore, he wanted to humiliate Zhou Ming by demolishing the factory right in front of him.

Zhou Ming was fully aware of Liang An's intentions. Otherwise, Liang An wouldn't have made such a grand entrance to demolish the factory early in the morning. Now, with the demolition barely started, it was clear that Liang An was waiting for Zhou Ming to arrive to embarrass him.

Zhou Ming's staff, understanding the situation, were furious. Their gazes toward Liang An were filled with murderous intent.

Facing the hostile gazes, Liang An puffed out his chest. "What are you people planning to do? Are you going to use violence to threaten my company's personnel? Let me tell you, that's illegal. I have my phone with me and can call the police at any time!"

Hearing Liang An's words, Zhou Ming couldn't help but laugh. Liang An, noticing this, asked anxiously, "What are you laughing about?"

"Just laughing at your naivety. You think you can demolish the Ba Bao Congee Factory and leave us with a pile of ruins, and then assume it's still yours? And you're carrying a phone to call the police? You really overestimate yourself. First of all, let's not even discuss whether we, as adults, would act like you with such childish behavior. Even if we let you continue the demolition, how long do you think you'll have before you finish tearing down this factory?"

Zhou Ming continued, "Moreover, let me tell you something. This morning, the city government issued a document reversing the previous erroneous decisions. This means that the factory now belongs to our 760 Factory. Don't blame me for not reminding you, but this factory cost me over a million to build. If you damage it, not only will you face imprisonment, but you'll also have to compensate 1 million for the losses to the 760 Factory."

Liang An scoffed, "Zhou Ming, who are you trying to fool?"

"Do you think I have any reason to deceive you? Anyway, you can keep demolishing if you want. I'll be watching from here. Once the city's task force arrives, you'll have to pay compensation and face imprisonment. Everything will be subject to the law's judgment," Zhou Ming said.