Chapter 59: I Have a Solution

The office building's gate opened slightly after the situation outside was completely stabilized. A man in his thirties, wearing black-rimmed square glasses, nervously peeked out.

Hearing the commotion behind him, Li Xian immediately turned around and asked, "How is Wang Zhiye? Was she injured just now?"

"I'm fine." The answer came in a still somewhat trembling voice from inside the building.

Li Xian looked through the gap in the door and saw seven or eight people already gathered at the entrance.

Wang Zhiye was among them, looking anxiously at him. She had a large bump on her forehead, but it didn't seem to be from being hit by a brick—likely, she had bumped into something while dodging the bricks.

Further back, Yang Hongshan, with a sullen expression, nodded at him.

Li Xian then felt reassured.

Clearly, the people inside had heard what he had said to the workers. Seeing that Li Xian had managed the situation under pressure, Yang Hongshan came over and whispered a few words to him.

The situation was similar to what Li Xian had guessed. Although the tile factory workers were resistant to private contracting, most were concerned about their future employment. Some, however, had ulterior motives, hoping to gain from the situation.

After Yang Hongshan's brief explanation, Li Xian nodded.

In the courtyard, the workers were already electing representatives. Among them, several elderly people from the sales department had stepped forward voluntarily.

These were the same people who had been stirring up the crowd earlier. If negotiations were left to them, the issue might not be resolved. Seeing this, Li Xian intervened. He insisted that representatives should reflect the interests of workers from various levels of the factory and be selected based on departments and age, ensuring trustworthy candidates were chosen.

This disrupted the plans of some people.

Before long, five representatives of different ages and departments were pushed out in the commotion. Seeing that the workers had retreated to the courtyard as required, and the police were stationed at the gate, these five representatives were allowed into the office building.

With fewer people, the objectives and needs were clearer, making it easier to address the issues.

Accompanied by the police, the Commercial Bureau quickly understood the current situation of the factory workers. From the discussions, it became clear that the workers were divided into two main groups:

One group, despite having many conditions, primarily wanted to continue working at the factory. Many workers had spouses working there, and with the current situation at the forestry bureau, losing their jobs would mean losing their primary source of income.

The other group was more complex. It consisted mainly of older workers from the distribution and warehouse management departments, who were nearing retirement. They hoped to gain some benefits from the factory's buyout, though they professed loyalty to the factory and didn't want to leave.

Understanding the complexities of the tile factory situation gave the Commercial Bureau staff a headache.

Currently, each production unit of the forestry bureau was overstaffed, and the structure was already bloated with many non-productive workers. These people had no place to be relocated, and when negotiating with Yang Hongshan about the contract, his only demand had been to lay off a significant portion of the non-contributing workers.

The problem was back to square one.

After sending the representatives out, Qian Zhenye, the head of the Market Regulation Department of the Commercial Bureau, who was the man with the square glasses, waved his hand and said, "The workers' situation at the tile factory is too complex. This approach will definitely lead to big problems. I think we should abandon this contract. The factory is already losing money; it's not going to cause a major issue, right?"

His suggestion was echoed by others.

Yang Hongshan was furious. The negotiation had been going on for nearly a month, and now, when faced with problems, they were not trying to solve them but were instead looking for a way out!

Meanwhile, Li Xian was observing Wang Zhiye absentmindedly.

At this moment, he was not admiring the beauty. Earlier, Wang Zhiye had accidentally bumped her forehead on the window frame while dodging bricks. Although it wasn't noticeable at the time, now a large bruise had formed.

At a glance, it looked like a unicorn horn.

Originally, Wang Zhiye was grateful to Li Xian for saving the day in a crisis. Now, seeing him trying to hold back laughter while staring at her painful bruise, she felt quite irritated.

"What are you staring at me for?"

She kicked Li Xian's calf and said angrily.

This sudden remark pulled everyone out of their silence.

As the person responsible for handling the tile factory's contracting issue, Qian Zhenye adjusted his glasses and concluded, "There doesn't seem to be a good solution to this problem. I suggest we put this issue on hold and temporarily terminate the factory's privatization contract."

Hearing this, Yang Hongshan was alarmed.

Now that everyone in the factory knew about the contract, halting it would mean the workers would remain workers, and the factory would remain the factory, but where did that leave him? Would he still be able to stay in the factory?

"Director Qian, how can you do this at such a critical moment? Aren't you pushing me into a fire pit?"

Ignoring Yang Hongshan's dissatisfaction, Qian Zhenye waved his hand, "Alright, it's settled for now."

Then, he smiled at Li Xian, "Young man, thanks to you for today. I appreciate it!"

Seeing Yang Hongshan's dark expression, Li Xian shook his head with a smile. He had a rough understanding of the Commercial Bureau he was about to join.

It was a place that was good at muddling through.

Just as Qian Zhenye was about to stand up and announce his decision outside, Li Xian spoke up.

"In fact, this issue is quite solvable."

Yang Zhenye, who had just turned around, stopped in his tracks. "Young man, what are you saying?"

Li Xian walked up to Yang Hongshan and said, "I mean, this issue is quite solvable."

Seeing Li Xian's serious expression, Yang Hongshan was taken aback and immediately asked, "Li Xian, do you have a solution?"

Li Xian chuckled and paced back and forth, "You don't want to use the current batch of workers because you're worried they might slack off after you acquire the factory, affecting its operation, right?"

"Yes," Yang Hongshan nodded.

"Brother Yang, actually, you don't need to replace all the workers, or you can just replace a small portion of those with negative effects to achieve your goal."

Hearing Li Xian's words, Yang Hongshan's mouth twisted into a smile that was more painful than crying, "Brother, how is that possible? You don't understand those workers. They are like slippery eel; if they don't listen, they'll face punishment. We really have no other choice. After all, they are experienced old workers. How could we possibly let them go?"

Listening to Yang Hongshan's complaints about the workers, Li Xian picked up a pen and paper from the desk. Amidst the curious gazes of everyone, he wrote and drew, then held it up.

Stopping Yang Hongshan, who was still grumbling, he said clearly, "The issues you mentioned can actually be resolved by changing the salary mechanism."