18: Chapter 18 Multi-party negotiation, each party relying on its own methods

It turns out you really shouldn't casually set a flag.

Just as Chen Sheng drove away from the scene, his phone rang.

"Hello, Chen Sheng. This is the XX Road Police Station. Regarding the matter of Lai Yong owing employee wages, our superiors attach great importance to this, and have personally coordinated with relevant departments to initiate multi-party negotiations. The negotiation time is set for 2 PM this afternoon, so please organize the relevant personnel to attend..."

So...

He was definitely going to end up in this police station today; not even Jesus could stop him.

Chen Sheng found a spot to park, posted the news in the group chat, and told those who wanted to come to arrive at the scene by the designated time.

After finishing these tasks, Chen Sheng restarted the car, found a nearby street-side shop to grab lunch, and then called An Xiaonuan to inform her that he had to go to the police station in the afternoon to negotiate the unpaid wages... No, it would be more appropriate to call it service fees now. He reminded her to rest, hung up, and headed straight to the XX Road Police Station.

At 2 PM, as one of the labor representatives, Chen Sheng walked into the mediation room provided by the XX Road Police Station, accompanied by the eager gazes of his colleagues—or rather, former colleagues—along with supplier representatives, police representatives, and labor arbitration Staff Member, etc.

The mediation began.

First, Lai Yong, as the involved party, gave a speech. He expressed his willingness with a sincere attitude and took the initiative to offer all his funds to repay the debts.

However, it was precisely because of this earnest speech that the atmosphere of the mediation became tense and confrontational.

Although Lai Yong's attitude was sincere, the funds he possessed were not enough to pay off all the debts. Otherwise, why would a perfectly fine company CEO run away? It was obviously because the company's capital turnover wasn't working.

He was facing a choice: either use the money already in his pocket to fill the hole—a hole that might not even be filled—or take a gamble and run away with the money in his pocket. As long as he could escape, he could preserve his current lifestyle and the capital to make a comeback.

He simply chose the path that most people would choose.

However, things didn't go as planned. He didn't escape, and because he would be sued for the debts, he didn't want to carry the label of a deadbeat debtor, which would lead to a series of negative consequences like a drop in his credit rating, restrictions on high-end consumption, or even prison time.

At this point, only one path remained for him: to actively cooperate with the relevant departments in handling the aftermath.

But then the problem arose: Lai Yong only had so much money, which wasn't enough to pay off all the debts. But who would get paid first and who would get paid later?

The suppliers argued that they should be paid first because, due to Lai Yong's arrears, their companies were lacking liquidity and were on the verge of collapsing. If the funds couldn't be recovered soon, their companies would have to declare bankruptcy, and at that point, their own employees would become unemployed.

Several supplier representatives chimed in one after another to express their stance, making Chen Sheng exclaim internally, "Damn, I learned something."

This was using their companies, their employees, and the families behind those employees as bargaining chips to emotionally blackmail the Staff Member, forcing them to lean in their favor.

But isn't that just moral blackmail?

Who doesn't know how to do that!

Besides, when it comes to the suffering of wage slaves, can those high-and-mighty CEOs and managers understand it more deeply than they, who were also wage slaves?

Soon, it was the turn of their group, primarily focused on wage recovery, to speak.

As one of the representatives and the organizer of the Wage Recovery Mutual Aid Association, Chen Sheng stepped up without hesitation and spoke first: "Respected leaders, CEOs, and friends, hello! The speeches from the bosses just now were very sincere, and I can feel that you truly need capital turnover."

"But surely, even without this money, your companies can still operate. I believe that with your connections, it would be quite easy to borrow a sum to tide over this small immediate difficulty."

Chen Sheng's strategy was to first prop the suppliers up high so that his subsequent speech would form a sharp and strong contrast.

Chen Sheng paused for a moment to let everyone digest his words, then spoke again in an earnest, slightly hoarse, and low voice: "However, compared to all of you who have connections, resources, and channels, we, who rely entirely on this meager salary every month to survive, are in more urgent need of this money to maintain our lives."

"Among us, there are those whose family members are sick and waiting for wages to pay for medical treatment, those who have mortgages on houses and cars and are waiting for wages to repay loans, and those whose children are in summer tutoring classes and are waiting for wages to pay tuition."

"If we cannot receive these wages in the near future, not to mention the inability to see a doctor, repay loans, or have children attend tutoring, we, now unemployed, won't even be able to cover our basic living expenses."

The other wage recovery representatives who had come in to negotiate quickly chimed in:

"That's right, leaders. My family of four relies entirely on my salary to live, and I don't know how long it will take to find a new job..."

"My elderly mother has diabetes and needs long-term medication; we really don't have a single cent of spare money at home." As this person spoke, he even empathetically wiped his slightly reddened eyes.

Seeing this, Chen Sheng quickly reached under the table and pinched his own thigh hard. The pain made him gasp, but it successfully stopped the corner of his mouth from curling upward.

The guy who just said "my elderly mother has diabetes and needs long-term medication" was Old Ma. Like him, he was a team leader at Qicai Technology, but he was from the Technical Department, while Old Ma belonged to the Sales Department.

As a company that had gone through a special period, the importance and uniqueness of sales were self-evident. As the team leader of the Sales Department, not to mention that Old Ma's base salary was higher than Chen Sheng's, his commissions were on a completely different level, not to mention the kickbacks he usually got from projects...

When he said he didn't have a single cent of spare money at home, Chen Sheng didn't believe a single punctuation mark of it.

However...

Then again, Old Ma really lived up to being in sales. His silver tongue was indeed better than his, the one in charge of technology. His performance was passionate and moving; his expression, micro-expressions, and even body language were flawlessly coordinated.

Look, Old Ma's eyes were red, and the female Staff Member in charge of the mediation also had red eyes. When Old Ma finished speaking, she subconsciously nodded in agreement.

Chen Sheng, with his hand under the table, gave Old Ma a thumbs up. He slightly lowered his head, turned to the side, and silently mouthed the praise: "Awesome~"

Old Ma lowered his head, raised an eyebrow, and returned a smile. When he lifted his head again, his expression had already changed back to the sorrowful and dejected look from before.

This scene moved everyone again... No, it made the suppliers grit their teeth.

The suppliers thought: "We're both thousand-year-old foxes, don't try to pull that act on me."

Just as the suppliers thought, everyone knew exactly what was going on!

But it was the same tactic.

The Wage Recovery Mutual Aid Association side not only knew how to use moral blackmail, but they were also better at playing the victim. This was a significant bonus point. No matter how unwilling the suppliers were, no matter how hard they tried to argue for their own interests, they could only watch helplessly as the Staff Member's attitude tilted bit by bit in favor of the Wage Recovery Mutual Aid Association.

Until...

...