Chapter 8: Resolve Quickly, Handle Quickly

That night, Kong Zhenghui, Old Liu, and Bai Hongbo stayed at the Su family compound until after 11 PM, thoroughly discussing all follow-up matters before leaving together.

Early the next morning, workers from all four families - Su, Liu, Bai, and Kong - went on strike. The early morning streets weren't cleaned, and night garbage wasn't collected according to regulations. The entire Zha'nan District's sanitation system was nearly paralyzed. Except for Changqing Company and several small companies' people still working, over sixty-five percent of workers were "on holiday."

One day of sanitation system paralysis wouldn't attract public attention, much less make them think about dirty gang infighting. But for the Management Council responsible for this matter, this was a major incident that couldn't be ignored, so Management Council officials responsible for Zha'nan District held an emergency meeting early in the morning.

Setting aside the bickering and verbal sparring among the upper levels, let's talk about how much the four families - Su, Liu, Bai, and Kong - had to pay to plan this strike activity.

First, the workers' wages during the strike period definitely had to be covered by the companies, and the worker leaders below who led the instigation also had to receive tangible benefits, so spending money was unavoidable.

Second, the strike was a double-edged sword, because once you did it, you weren't just confronting the Changqing Company organization, but also the Police Bureau, Management Council upper levels, and might even provoke the district government's antipathy. Because the four families inciting workers to cause trouble and create mass incidents meant giving the upper levels a lot of trouble, so these four families also increased their operational risks significantly. In other words, if the strike couldn't produce favorable results, then all the future hidden dangers would be fatal.

Simply put, when the Su, Liu, Bai, and Kong families couldn't find a way out of their predicament, they chose to go all in, and the person pushing this matter was Su Tianyu, who had just arrived in Dragon City.

After ten in the morning, core members of the four families led three to four hundred people to sit-in at the Zha'nan District Sanitation Management Council headquarters. Their slogan was that Changqing Company was creating illegal monopolies and not giving bottom-level workers a way to survive.

This move essentially put Changqing Company on the hot seat, because this wasn't a place with stable times and healthy political structure. Dragon City's political and social environment was extremely complex and distorted. Over twenty years ago, when the apocalyptic mini ice age hadn't completely ended, there were nine major living zones globally, and because Chinese people had strong infrastructure capabilities and were the first to adapt to the apocalyptic environment, they exclusively occupied three major living zones in the Asian Alliance.

After the disaster was gradually adapted to, an even more terrible human disaster arrived. Many capable and ambitious people took advantage of the apocalypse's arrival to rise with the wind, integrate resources, control political bodies and governments, becoming modern warlords who controlled enormous resources.

Where there was division, there would naturally be unification. After decades of development, the three Chinese districts were the first to achieve unification. The defeated warlord political parties, having connections with overseas forces and attempting to make a comeback, took several million people including troops, military dependents, elite classes, and civilians with them when they fled to overseas Zone One. These people went into exile overseas, settling down under the European Union Zone One's political system, thus forming the current Dragon City, dominated by overseas Chinese.

When Dragon City was first established, the EU Zone One government wanted to directly manage it, but after several years of exploration, they found they simply couldn't effectively manage these overseas Chinese. Because these people had very low sense of belonging to the Zone One government, and some policies hadn't even been implemented before they would be criticized for discrimination, division, human rights and other issues, and everything would be discussed openly, which was very headache-inducing.

After trying various approaches with unsatisfactory results, EU Zone One smartly chose to let overseas Chinese manage overseas Chinese. So currently Dragon City's political system had Chinese people holding core power, but under Zone One government's supervision. In other words, they didn't care how things were done normally, but for major matters, the EU Zone One government's upper levels still had to approve.

This approach was convenient and effective, and facts proved that Dragon City's development had been very rapid in recent years, with Chinese people from around the world flowing here, feeling there was gold everywhere and opportunities to make a name for themselves. But under this political environment, most overseas Chinese civil servants also felt they were working for outsiders, so this led to rampant corruption, chaotic public security, violent organizations sprouting up, and various political parties fighting for power, making the situation very similar to a certain port city in the fifties and sixties that hadn't yet returned home.

Therefore, for this internal conflict, as long as it didn't escalate on a large scale, the Management Council upper levels and government departments were too lazy to manage it. But if it created some mass incident with great influence that caught the attention of upper-level supervisory departments, there would still be some trouble.

This was why when the four families went on strike, Changqing Company was also very uncomfortable. If this were in stable times, whoever dared to lead such an event would definitely be dealt with severely. But now Dragon City's power distribution was very complex, with many factions even within the Management Council, so once things got big, how could they be concluded?

......

At one o'clock in the afternoon.

Changqing Company's boss Li Hongze rode in his luxury car to a high-end apartment in Longkou District, meeting Zheng Fu'an, the Zha'nan District head of the Sanitation Management Council, in a luxurious four-hundred-square-meter apartment.

In the dining room, Zheng Fu'an ate a lunch mainly consisting of vegetables while saying softly: "Old Li, one day of strike is fine, even a week is fine, but if there's no end time, then there's a problem."

Li Hongze sat with crossed legs, frowning as he said: "All four families making trouble together, the commotion is indeed a bit big."

"I just came up, and Zha'nan already has problems, this easily invites idle talk," Zheng Fu'an drank his rice porridge. "I'll give you two suggestions: First, if you can't suppress this matter, then release the four families' leaders and make long-term plans for this matter; Second, if you have a quick and effective method, then resolve the problem quickly."

"The territory is all arranged, we've paid quite a price to set this up, let's still try," Li Hongze replied.

"Then handle it quickly," Zheng Fu'an nodded.

Half an hour later, Li Hongze left Zheng Fu'an's home and returned to his company.

In the conference room, over ten men wearing suits but with unfriendly expressions were talking among themselves.

"What do you think?" Li Hongze asked while smoking.

Lu Feng, with an IV drip attached, replied concisely: "They want to strike? Then whoever leads it, I'll beat them. I don't believe all three to four thousand workers are willing to risk their lives for these four families. Cripple a few, put a few in hospital beds, let's see who still dares to shout!"

"The Police Bureau and Police Department's request is that making trouble is fine, but don't make things difficult for them," Li Hongze made his point in one sentence.

"Don't worry, there won't be any loose ends," Lu Feng replied calmly.

......

In Zha'nan District, at the Su family compound.

Since returning to Dragon City, Su Tianyu had been constantly involved in family matters, barely getting any rest. However, he had already seen clearly this Zha'nan District sanitation worker conflict from an observer's perspective, and he didn't think the matter was very complex. If not considering Su Tiannan's righteous and steady character, and the Su family's great concern for their reputation, then if their operational style were a bit more ruthless and cold, perhaps the Su family would have already gotten out of their predicament.

Of course, these were just Su Tianyu's personal thoughts. Having just returned to Dragon City, his plans weren't focused on the family, so he wouldn't explicitly say some things, and his operational style wouldn't completely follow his own wishes.

In the evening, Third Sister Su Miaomiao, who doted on her brother, prepared a table of good dishes to formally welcome Su Tianyu. Several dozen family members gathered to eat and chat, filled with warm domestic atmosphere.

Actually, even if Su Tianyu hadn't returned, the Su family always ate like this. With many people and many children, the whole family gathering together looked very joyful. It's just that today, thanks to Su Tianyu, they could eat something better.

"Little Yu, today the family is officially welcoming you," Su Tiannan held up his wine glass, smiling as he said: "It's good timing that you've graduated, no matter what you do in the future, our generation of brothers must stick together, unbreakable and inseparable, helping each other do things."

"That's absolutely necessary," Su Tianyu smiled and replied in their hometown dialect.

From the main seat, Second Aunt looked at Su Tianyu and said softly: "Our old Su family has always been united, your previous generation all fought on battlefields together. As the old saying goes, even broken bones are still connected by tendons. No matter how long you walk outside, when you come back, you're home, understand my meaning?"

"I understand, Second Mother!" Su Tianyu grinned in reply: "I'll also drink to you, don't worry about Second Uncle, we'll all work to make things turn out well."

Second Aunt was also very forthright: "I don't worry about him, this line of work inherently has risks. If he gets executed, I'll bury him; if he gets life imprisonment, I'll wait for him."

"Second Aunt truly is a heroine among women!" Su Tianyu heard Second Aunt's words and felt deep respect.

The Su family's previous generation had all lived through that very turbulent era, their psychological quality was extraordinarily good, they could all bear up under difficulties.

After Su Tianyu toasted Second Aunt, he turned his head to see Su Miaomiao wearing a short skirt and black stockings, her figure alluring as she brought over a dish: "Here, this is carp I made for you, knowing you like this. I ran to four markets before finding it."

Su Tianyu smiled and replied: "Third Sister, your stockings look really nice, you'll have to find a Third Brother-in-law with strong hands."

"Making fun of me, I'll beat you to death!" Su Miaomiao tugged at her brother's ear.

Among the brothers, Su Tiannan was somewhat older, while Tianyu, Tianbei, Su Miaomiao and others were close in age, always hanging out together when they were young.

As the family was talking and chatting, the cultured person Bai Hongbo came in with two brothers. His left hand gripping a flip phone symbolizing his status, walking with a swagger, his head wrapped in bandages as he came gracefully: "Hehe, eating?"

"Hehe, Brother Bai is here!" Su Tiannan stood up. "The family is having a meal together, quick, come sit."

"I came to discuss what happens next," Bai Hongbo turned his head and seeing Su Miaomiao in black stockings and short skirt, his eyes immediately lit up: "Miaomiao ah, your stockings look beautiful!"

Su Miaomiao and Bai Hongbo had known each other for a long time, and she was extremely annoyed by this pretentious person, immediately replying with a twisted mouth: "Brother Bai, that white bandage on your head is quite distinctive too!"

"Damn it, mentioning this makes me angry," Bai Hongbo burst out cursing: "I'll kill Lu Feng sooner or later! If I can't get him, I'll go to the nursing home to get his mother, I'll definitely get someone!"

"Everything's out in the open now, don't be angry," Su Tiannan politely invited Bai Hongbo to sit, smiling as he instructed: "Little Zhan, go get Brother Bai some bowls and chopsticks."

Bai Hongbo turned to look at Su Tianyu, unconsciously touching the wound on his head: "Little Su ah, Little Su, you really didn't play fair! That knife of yours directly tied all three of our families into this. In the yard when Lu Feng was chasing you, you just ran in front of me, running so fast you left afterimages, you're really something! I just want to ask, how did Brother Bai offend you...?"

......

In a villa in Dragon City's Longkou District, a handsome middle-aged man wearing a white shirt sat in a chair reading a book.

"Zha'nan District is having a strike," a man on the sofa said softly.

"Let's observe for now. If anyone from those four families comes looking for me these few days, no need to receive them, just turn them away," the middle-aged man replied calmly.

Downstairs, two young and beautiful women walked into the villa's hall, one of them being the owner of the red car, that big-eyed beauty.