Chapter 472 - 216: Have a Good Year

Chapter 472: Chapter 216: Have a Good Year

Faced with a heavy hitter like Hailufeng Company, these small fry couldn’t really fight back. They might have had connections, but they certainly had no way of swaying Hailufeng Company’s decisions.

A major internal housecleaning would be necessary to revive the bus company.

For now, Liu Deming was just being polite before taking action. If they didn’t resign voluntarily after the Spring Festival, then the moment the new management team was in place, they would be the first ones to face the chopping block.

After the meeting, some left with heavy hearts.

Others, however, took their bank cards to the temporary finance office set up by Hailufeng Company to start collecting their long-overdue wages.

The vast majority of those who came to collect their pay were rank-and-file employees.

Old Liu, a veteran driver, collected about half a year’s worth of back pay plus a one-month bonus, totaling a little over 35,000.

He instinctively reached for a cigarette, only to remember he had quit a few months ago.

Lin Huozhou, another veteran driver who had also just gotten paid, clapped Old Liu on the shoulder. "Old Liu, how about we grab a bite at a food stall in Linpu?"

Old Liu thought a good meal was a great idea. "Let’s go to Gao Wen’s Ma Yu Guo!" he suggested. "It’s been a while since I’ve eaten there."

"Alright."

The two of them rode their electric scooters past the deserted Xinli Electronics Factory and arrived on Tengfei Road, diagonally across from the nearly defunct Wansheng Knitting Factory.

After parking their scooters, Lin Huolin, a Linpu local, looked at the desolate Tengfei Road and sighed emotionally. "This place used to be packed with female workers from the Xinli Electronics Factory every day. Now it’s so sparse. It’s really gotten depressing!"

"Enough with the sighs, I’m starving! I have to take over a shift this afternoon, so let’s eat so I can go back and get some sleep," Old Liu said, hurrying to the entrance of the food stall.

"Hey? If it isn’t Huolin and Old Liu! Haven’t seen you guys in months. What’ll you have?" the owner, Gao Wen, asked, wiping down the stove with a rag.

Old Liu blurted out, "The usual. Two orders of stir-fried rice noodles with ma yu chun, and a pot of conger eel soup with bitter melon and pickled vegetables."

"You got it! Just a moment, it’ll be right out."

Old Liu sat down at a table near the entrance, and Lin Huolin grabbed two glass bottles of Coke.

Handing a Coke to Old Liu, Lin Huolin asked in a low voice, "Old Liu, what do you think Secretary Liu from Hailufeng Company meant by what he said at the meeting earlier?"

Old Liu took a swig of his Coke. "What did he mean? He was telling certain people to get lost on their own accord."

"Are they going to fire people?" Lin Huolin had a hard time understanding these kinds of subtleties.

"They’re definitely going to fire people, but it has nothing to do with us. The acquisition agreement states in black and white that they have to maintain the normal operation of the bus system. We’re just drivers, what’s there to be afraid of!" Old Liu said with a nonchalant expression.

"That’s true. Anyway, the ones who should get lost are that other bunch."

The two chatted while drinking their Cokes.

Before long, the stir-fried rice noodles with ma yu chun arrived.

The so-called "ma yu chun" is the roe of the conger eel.

They took a small dish of fermented bean curd mixed with chili sauce, stirred it into their noodles, and began to eat.

The shop was quiet, with only the owner and his wife working. Compared to its peak when they employed two or three waiters and a dishwasher, business was clearly tough these days.

Gao Wen wiped the sweat from his forehead and sat down next to them.

"Huolin, I heard your bus company hasn’t paid wages for over half a year?"

Swallowing a mouthful of noodles, Lin Huolin wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Yeah!"

"Every industry is struggling right now. There aren’t many people left at the electronics factory either," Gao Wen said with a wry smile, offering them each a cigarette.

Lin Huolin took the cigarette and tucked it behind his ear. "It’s alright! Our bus company was acquired by Hailufeng Company. We’re making a living under General Manager Jiang now, so things should get a little better."

"Hailufeng Company? Why would they buy your bus company? Are they running a charity?" Gao Wen joked.

Lin Huolin shook his head. "I don’t know. But we’re just taking it one day at a time."

"What about your wages?"

"Hailufeng Company paid them. They even gave us an extra month’s performance bonus. I need to save up more money from now on, so I don’t end up with nothing to eat later," Lin Huolin said, lowering his head to shovel in more noodles.

Gao Wen lit a cigarette. "SIGH... Boss Jiang probably did it as a favor to the city. You guys should really pinch your pennies. Whether the bus company can even survive in the future is a big question!"

"Yeah! I still have two kids in school. Old Liu has it a bit better; his son has already graduated from college."

"Bullshit! Don’t even get me started." The mention of his son brought a look of helpless frustration to Old Liu’s face. "That kid of mine has already changed jobs three times this year in Peng City. He’s saved less than twenty thousand all year. If I count on him to support me, I’ll really starve."

Lin Huolin cursed playfully, "Your son still has twenty thousand! My son and daughter are still in school, who am I supposed to complain to? If my wife didn’t run her own small business, we really wouldn’t be able to get by."

As noon approached, the foot traffic at the food stall began to pick up a little.

「Meanwhile.」

Liu Deming, still at the bus company headquarters, had received 36 resignation letters in a single morning. With no intention of asking anyone to stay, he accepted their resignations on behalf of the company with a stroke of his pen.

Clearly, many of them understood that Hailufeng Company was not an entity they could mess with or oppose.

If they pushed their luck after being given a chance, and Hailufeng Company decided to audit the old books, they would have to face consequences they couldn’t handle.

In less than two days, nearly 70% of the management staff had submitted their resignations. Along with them, more than a dozen shop tenants also submitted written notices to Liu Deming requesting to terminate their lease agreements.

While approving these resignations, Liu Deming transferred over a dozen managers from his own company. At the same time, he promoted a number of veteran managers and rank-and-file employees from within the bus company to serve as new temporary managers.

He quickly stabilized the bus company’s normal operations.