Jobs were hard to come by these days. Lingtong Hall wasn't the best place to work, but it was certainly far from the worst—
Everyone had their own way of weighing things. Although the work at Lingtong Hall was tiring, the pay was genuinely good. They also handed out rice and flour during holidays, and if something came up at home, all you had to do was explain the situation and offer a pack of foreign cigarettes. Getting time off wasn't difficult.
Those benefits were far better than what the other factories in the Big Factory District offered.
Besides, they knew full well that a factory like Lingtong Hall, which required a certain level of technical skill, couldn't just hire anyone and put them straight to work.
To maintain production while ensuring the quality of its medicinal plasters, the factory needed experienced hands like them to keep the production line running smoothly.
And on top of that, with the management dead, positions had opened up. The remaining workers could get promoted and earn raises. Their lives and prospects were going to be much better than before!
These days, it was incredibly difficult to find a stable job you could hold onto in peace.
Now that Jing Tao had made such a heartfelt and sincere promise, and they knew they could keep working at the factory in peace, earning money and even getting promotions and raises, they had no reason to refuse.
That left only one obstacle between Jing Tao and reclaiming Lingtong Hall: the former security team.
At that moment, about a dozen members of the former security team stood menacingly inside the factory gates, each carrying a weapon like a club or a short blade.
They were the final barrier between Jing Tao and Lingtong Hall.
Xu Yi and Duan Hu's men stood outside the factory gates.
Neither side had brought guns. That was an unwritten rule of street gang fights—
If it was just knives, guns, and clubs, it was a personal feud.
But if anyone brought out a foreign rifle, then the moment someone reported it, the Constabulary would get involved.
The Constabulary was much better equipped than the gangs. If they got into a fight, the gangs wouldn't stand a chance.
And behind the Constabulary stood the Militia Corps.
Against an army, an individual's strength was insignificant.
Duan Hu stepped forward and clasped his hands in a salute, his voice deep and forceful:
"Today, gentlemen, you're leaving whether you want to or not! Take my advice and open your eyes. Don't make enemies where you don't have to. Let's keep things civil and go our separate ways!"
The meaning was clear:
"Today, you're leaving whether you want to or not. Take my advice and know what's good for you. Don't let things turn ugly!"
Almost everyone involved in the gangs around the 38th Shop District knew Duan Hu by sight.
Even if they didn't recognize his face, one look at his fists and the thick muscles across his back, or at the vicious gangsters behind him, was usually enough to make them take the hint and back down.
But the security guards at Lingtong Hall were different from ordinary gangsters.
They had been the chief culprits behind the persecution of Jing Hesheng's family over the past few years. They had also spent those years doing plenty of dirty work, bullying the factory workers. Their interests were firmly tied to the Jing Family relatives who had already been killed. There was no separating them now.
Xu Yi hadn't killed them last night because they weren't on the personnel list he'd obtained. The Jing Family relatives who had controlled Lingtong Hall in recent years wouldn't put a bunch of murderers on the company payroll. That would only bring trouble down on them.
They hadn't run off that morning because they were confident in their own strength.
They were greedy, too.
They figured that as long as they held the factory and kept the workers in line, they could keep making money as long as the production line kept running.
They knew trouble might come, but they didn't think they couldn't handle it. They were ruthless, hard-hearted bastards who'd do anything. Who'd dare cross them?
With that, their leader raised his knife and pointed it at Duan Hu's nose.
"Fuck you!
Kill these bastards for me!"
The two groups of thugs immediately clashed, fighting in a chaotic mass.
Both sides had drawn knives. This was a fight to the death now.
The shouts of violence at Lingtong Hall's entrance caught the attention of the nearby factories, but no one chose to call the authorities. Gang fights were far too common in the Big Factory District. Gangs fighting over territory was nothing unusual.
The crickets and frogs fell silent, and the roar of the factory machinery grew even more deafening amid the cries of the brawl.
The moon was hidden behind the clouds that night, and there were fewer outsiders than usual in the 38th Shop District. They'd heard that a war had broken out elsewhere and the railway to Puxi City had been damaged.
Puxi City had become a besieged city.
No one could get in, and no one could get out.
But some people inside didn't appreciate the lives they had. They tried to use violence to seize what wasn't theirs, putting their greed on full display.
The shouts of violence soon died away in the night breeze.
In the end, Duan Hu's men were the more vicious bunch. They lost only two lives, yet beat their opponents into a complete rout, leaving entrails, guts, and severed limbs scattered everywhere.
Duan Hu said a few words to Xu Yi, then took his men in pursuit. He'd lost men this time, and no matter what, he was going to make up for it by squeezing the losses out of those security guards.
Gangsters had all sorts of filthy tricks. Once you fell into their hands, they wouldn't stop until they'd wrung out every last drop of profit.
Xu Yi spat the blood from the corner of his mouth to one side, then called Jing Tao over from where she was waiting at a distance.
"It's done," Xu Yi said.
"I'll stay here on guard tonight."
Jing Tao nodded and went into the factory with Xu Yi. Just as she'd agreed with the managers that morning, they stopped production and gathered the employees for a meeting at the factory.
At the meeting, Jing Tao explained what had happened to her family and made sure the workers understood:
"You've had good benefits all these years because my father established good rules. But those benefits have been whittled away, a little today and a little tomorrow. That was all the work of my damned relatives."
The workers were outraged. One after another, they said she was right.
They'd long been resentful of their steadily shrinking wages and benefits.
But in times like these, how could workers dare speak up when they had grievances?
Puxi City offered good wages, but the cost of living was high, too. If they lost this decent job today, they might end up selling their bodies in a brothel before long!
They'd been angry but afraid to speak up before because the Old Security Team ruled with an iron fist and dealt with anyone who disobeyed.
But things were different now.
Boss Jing Tao was here. At last, they had someone on their side!
Jing Tao listened to the night-shift workers share their concerns, answered their questions and worries about the future one by one, made a series of promises, and offered them higher wages.
By midnight, the fully satisfied workers had returned to the production line, and the factory was running again.
Around one in the morning, the commotion along 38th Shop District's main street finally died down. In the factory's second-floor office, Xu Yi covered the window he'd smashed the night before with newspaper.
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