129: Chapter 129 A staggering 800 million in resettlement fees

Da Biao's brain was buzzing a little: "Sett... settling what accounts, Brother?"

Lu Chen tugged at his collar: "The old bosses signed in from the scrapyards, and the workers who set up shacks to spend the night outside last night. Since they've signed the contract, we have to issue some relocation allowances first."

He extended two fingers and tapped the air: "Twenty thousand per head. Issue it all as a base salary advance. Pack it in sacks. Use the roster to verify, and count the money in front of them."

Da Biao gasped.

Director Li Jianguo asked, trembling: "Bo... Boss, twenty thousand? With over forty thousand people on the payroll, that's over eight hundred million to be issued. Our pile of cash isn't enough..."

"Not enough?" Lu Chen tilted his head and glanced at President Zhao Changfeng standing nearby.

President Zhao Changfeng jolted, immediately puffing out his chest and raising his head: "Rest assured, President Lu! All the armored transport vehicles from the provincial branch are reserved for you today! As you're handing this out, the vehicles behind will arrive here immediately! As long as the bank hasn't closed, your money will absolutely not run out!"

Lu Chen nodded.

"Alright, President Zhao, thank you for making the trip." Lu Chen issued a dismissal: "Take your people and go back. Don't stay here and interfere with our work."

President Zhao Changfeng felt as if he had been granted amnesty. He knew that Lu Chen hadn't signed that contract because he looked down on such small favors. But as long as Lu Chen didn't mention moving the funds out of China Construction Bank, his position as branch president would be completely secure.

"Yes! Yes! You go ahead and get busy, President Lu! I will personally oversee the delivery of the subsequent cash for you!" President Zhao Changfeng bowed and scraped as he backed out of the main gate, waving at the SWAT team: "Withdraw! Go back and mobilize the second batch of funds immediately!"

The armored vehicles roared as they withdrew from the factory grounds.

Warehouse No. 1 fell completely silent.

Da Biao stared at that pile of money, his Adam's apple bobbing: "Brother, handing out this much cash, those mud-legged folks below are going to go crazy. If there's any trouble tonight..."

"No one will shit in the pot they eat from." Lu Chen's tone was cold and hard: "Taking my money, they will only give me their lives."

He paused, turned around, and fished that transparent plastic lighter out of his pocket.

Click. A flame shot up. He lit a double happiness cigarette.

Lu Chen took a drag of the cigarette and pointed in the direction of those twenty thousand acres in the north of the city.

"Old Zhou."

"Here! Please give your orders, Boss!" Old Zhou clutched his briefcase tightly.

Lu Chen exhaled a puff of blue smoke: "Notify Zhao Tiezhu. Tear down all those three hundred acres of canvas tents in the north of the city before dark today."

Old Zhou was stunned: "Tear them down? Where will those tens of thousands of workers and their families sleep tonight?"

"Sleep in prefab houses." Lu Chen drew a circle in the air with his finger holding the cigarette butt: "Go to the market and buy container prefab houses. I want the ones with independent bathrooms, and they all need to be equipped with heating and cooling air conditioners. As long as there is stock in Jiangcheng and the surrounding areas, no matter how expensive, drag them all over here."

Da Biao's eyes widened: "Brother, that would mean dragging thousands or tens of thousands of containers over. There isn't that much stock around Jiangcheng, and there aren't enough installation technicians either!"

Lu Chen flicked the ash onto the dusty ground. He looked at Old Zhou and Da Biao, his eyes colder than ice.

"If there isn't enough stock, go to other provinces to mobilize heavy-duty trucks and pay triple the shipping costs. If there aren't enough technicians, poach them from other construction sites and pay five times the wages." Lu Chen's voice wasn't loud, but every word carried the power to smash through everything.

He pointed at the two hundred million in cash on the moisture-proof mat.

"With two hundred billion in cash on hand, if you can't even set up three hundred acres of prefab houses with air conditioning, that's your incompetence." Lu Chen threw the lighter onto the edge of the moisture-proof mat: "Buy whatever is missing; if you're short on people, go out to the market and use money to snatch them for me."

Lu Chen stubbed out the cigarette butt.

"Before six o'clock this afternoon, if you haven't recruited sixty thousand people to enter the factory and sign contracts, you can pack your bags and leave yourselves."

Da Biao and Old Zhou's scalps tightened.

Outside the main gate, the first batch of workers coming to work and get food had already gathered in a dark mass on the open ground. They were stretching their necks, looking at that glaring red mountain inside the gate of Warehouse No. 1.

The first fuse to ignite the whole city was completely lit.

The two of them stood at attention in unison, their voices cracking as they roared.

"Understood!"

Lu Chen strode forward, stepping over that pile of cash that looked like waste paper, and headed out the main gate.

Lu Chen stepped out of the factory gate.

Outside the gate, it was packed with people.

Over a dozen large iron pots were set up on the open ground, the firewood crackling as it burned.

The fat chef was shirtless, wielding a large iron ladle in his hand.

"Don't fight over it! President Lu has given the word, there's enough meat for today! Eat your fill!"

The workers held their aluminum lunch boxes, squatting in the mud, shoveling braised pork into their mouths.

Director Li Jianguo leaned against an armored police vehicle, holding a half-smoked cigarette in his hand.

His eyes were bloodshot. Having stayed up all night, and then escorting eight cash transport trucks over, his bones felt like they were falling apart.

Seeing Lu Chen walk out, Director Li Jianguo threw the cigarette butt into a puddle and stamped it out.

He strode up to meet him.

"President Lu, the perimeter is sealed off. Not even a fly can fly into Warehouse No. 1." Director Li Jianguo lowered his voice.

Lu Chen nodded. "Thank you for your hard work."

Just then.

A screeching sound of brakes rang out.

A pure black Audi A6 forced its way into the edge of the crowd.

The tires rolled through the mud, splashing the pant legs of several workers nearby.

The workers were just about to curse, but when they looked up and saw the license plate, they all retracted their necks.

The license plate was Jiang O, ending in 002.

A special car from the Provincial Party Committee compound.

Director Li Jianguo's eyelids twitched violently, and his spine instantly stiffened.

"It's someone from the provincial level." Director Li Jianguo gritted his teeth, "Secretary Zhou."

The car door pushed open.

A pair of shiny black leather shoes stepped into the mud.

Secretary Zhou was wearing a slim-fit suit, gold-rimmed glasses, and holding a kraft paper bag with the words "Top Secret" tucked under his arm.

He looked at the yellow mud on his shoes, his brow knitting into a tight knot.

Secretary Zhou raised his head, his gaze crossing over dozens of large iron pots, locking directly onto Lu Chen's face.

He strode over.

The few workers blocking his path quickly moved aside, holding their lunch boxes.

Lu Chen didn't move.

He walked to a temporarily built sink nearby and turned on the faucet.

The cold groundwater washed the dust off his hands.

Secretary Zhou stopped behind Lu Chen, his hands behind his back.

"Factory Director Lu, you have quite an appetite." Secretary Zhou spoke, his voice not loud, but carrying immense penetrating power.

Lu Chen turned off the faucet and shook his hands.

"The factory is big, and there are many people to feed. If the appetite is too small, it's easy to starve to death." Lu Chen casually grabbed a piece of rough toilet paper and wiped his hands clean.

Secretary Zhou pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose.

"Two hundred million in cash dumped in the warehouse to be issued. Sixty billion in foreign exchange for cross-border hedging. President Lu, this isn't called eating; this is called swallowing gold." Secretary Zhou smiled without warmth.

Lu Chen turned around, crumpled the toilet paper into a ball, and threw it accurately into a trash can ten meters away.

"Legal business, paying taxes according to the rules. What, does the province not allow me to run a factory anymore?"

Secretary Zhou didn't respond, his eyes turning cold.

He pulled out the kraft paper bag from under his arm.

Slap.

The kraft paper bag was slapped onto the oily tin table nearby.

The edge of the table shook, and a pair of chopsticks rolled onto the ground.

Secretary Zhou reached out, untied the string on the paper bag, and pulled out a red-headed document several pages thick.

The paper was very white, with a glaring red seal printed on the top.

"《Guiding Opinions on Restricted Development and Environmental Review of Land in the North of Jiangcheng City》." Secretary Zhou stared at Lu Chen, "It was specially approved by the Provincial Party Committee this morning."