192: The group collapsed, and everyone can only get 30% of their wages

He stepped forward, wiped the dust off the tombstone, and murmured, "Brother Qiang, when I, Mo Daqiang, had nothing to eat, you took me in and gave me a new life."

Mo Daqiang picked up the white liquor again, took a large gulp, and his eyes became a little moist. "Actually, Brother Qiang, you don't know, but at that time, I told myself that my life would be yours from then on."

"But I never imagined that I wouldn't even be with you for a few years before you left first."

He bowed his head in silence for a while, letting his emotions settle, then continued, "Before I came, I went to find some of our old brothers. They said you were killed by the police."

"I don't hate those police officers. They are soldiers, we are thieves. It's normal for us to shoot at each other when we meet."

"However, Brother Qiang, rest assured, you won't die in vain. I won't let that culprit go."

"Once I take care of him, I'll come back and drink with you."

Mo Daqiang tilted his head back and guzzled the rest of the liquor in one go, stood up, and walked away without looking back, leaving Gu Qiang's lonely grave behind... Zhao Dashan was 30 years old and a construction worker. To be precise, he was just a laborer, earning 200 yuan a day. If he saved diligently, he could put away 4,000 yuan a month.

As he ate pickled vegetables with his steamed bun, he fantasized about what he would do with the tens of thousands of yuan—such a large sum—when he finally got paid.

Should he go back to his hometown to marry a wife? His family was too poor, and no one had ever been willing to marry him. He was already 30 and still didn't know what a woman was.

Whenever he had free time, he would squat outside the construction site, watching people walk by on the street, especially the women in the city, who were so beautifully dressed.

If he also had a beautiful wife, he would definitely treat her well.

And the house in his hometown, he wanted to renovate it. He heard that the village was currently allocating residential plots. With those tens of thousands of yuan, he could build a house, and then he would just farm at home and not come out anymore. There were too many bad people in the city.

"Dashan, hurry up, something happened!" A shout from a fellow worker startled Zhao Dashan from his daydream.

"Oh, oh, coming, coming!" Zhao Dashan hurriedly stuffed two more bites of steamed bun into his mouth, wondering what had happened this time.

Accidents often occurred on construction sites. Last time, a fellow worker missed a step, fell, and broke his leg. He wondered what it was this time.

He jogged along with the crowd, but this time, everyone was running not towards the construction site, but towards the temporary office building.

This was where the supervisors and foremen stayed. Normally, the workers didn't come here much, but now the area below was packed with people.

The office building had two floors. On the second floor stood several people in suits and hard hats, while below, nearly two hundred workers were densely packed.

Zhao Dashan found a spot and squeezed in, looking up at the second floor with everyone else.

Standing in the very center on the second floor was Manager Zhang, the overall head of their project. He had been there when the project started, so Zhao Dashan still remembered him.

Seeing that most people had arrived, Manager Zhang coldly pressed his hands down, took out a megaphone, and said,

"Everyone, quiet down, quiet down."

"The reason I called everyone here today is for one thing: our project is temporarily stopping work."

As soon as these words were spoken, it was like a stone thrown into a calm pond, immediately stirring up a wave of discussion.

"How can this be? If work stops, where will I find work?"

"Why is work stopping all of a sudden? We've been working from dawn till dusk. How can it just stop? It's too unfair!"

"We need to eat! If work stops, where will our families get money?"

"Why?"

Those who came out to work all wanted to earn money for their families. Now that work was stopping, the people below naturally wouldn't agree.

The questioning grew louder and louder, with more and more people shouting up, "Why? You can't be so irresponsible!"

Watching the crowd below grow louder, Manager Zhang showed no panic. He skillfully picked up the megaphone and continued, "This project belongs to Qiang Teng Group, but Qiang Teng Group has gone bankrupt. The government hasn't found anyone to take over yet, so we can only temporarily stop work. This is a decision from above."

"Qiang Teng Group went bankrupt?"

"No way! Didn't they say Qiang Teng Group was Yue Province's number one big company? How could it go bankrupt just like that?"

"Are you stupid? Don't you even check your phone? Didn't it come out two days ago that Qiang Teng Group was involved in illegal activities, and even had guns?" a well-informed worker whispered.

"What does his involvement in illegal activities have to do with us? We want our wages!"

"Exactly, we want our wages!"

After understanding the situation, the workers began to shift their demands. Since the company had collapsed, the top priority was to get their money.

"Wages!"

"Wages!"

Over a hundred people below began to shout, the sound waves directly sweeping towards Manager Zhang above. Some of the more timid individuals standing upstairs had already turned pale with fright.

When workers riot, it's no small matter. With money, they are workers; without money, they might resort to violence.

However, Manager Zhang was clearly prepared. He picked up the megaphone again and shouted, "You will get paid, don't worry."

"It's just that there isn't enough money, so we can only give everyone 30%. For the remaining 70%, we will give everyone an IOU. Once the government finds someone to take over, you can use the IOU to claim your payment."

30%?

Working hard all year only to get 30%? No one would agree to that.

The crowd below became noisy again.

"You officials are just liars! IOUs? Where will we find someone then?"

"Exactly, that's just a blank check!"

"This is our hard-earned money! By what right do you withhold it from us?"

"You must have eaten it all yourselves! Give us back our hard-earned money!"

"Give us back our hard-earned money!"

The shouts intensified again, a thunderous roar once more echoing throughout the entire industrial and agricultural area, making even the temporary office building feel like it was shaking.

Worker after worker raised their hands and roared in anger, powerful arms held aloft in the air. Among them was one of Zhao Dashan's hands. He was incredibly panicked. How could they withhold his money? He needed to go back to build a house and marry a wife.

Watching the crowd below grow increasingly agitated, Manager Zhang's expression also changed slightly. He had anticipated that the crowd would cause a commotion, but he hadn't expected the sound of over a hundred people shouting together to be so loud.

He quickly gestured to the few people standing at the very front below. These were the small foremen. To put it plainly, this project was subdivided by the main foreman into over a dozen smaller foremen, who then subcontracted the work.

The small foremen immediately understood, each turning to shout at the workers behind them, "What are you shouting about? Stop shouting! Everyone stop!"

With a coordinated effort, the noise was instantly suppressed.