Chapter 440 - 436: Causing Trouble

Cecilia Sterling felt relieved after hearing what Monica Coleman said.

"In that case, please sell your factory to me, Miss Monica."

Monica Coleman looked at her with a smile, but didn’t forget to add a reminder. "I need to be clear with you. Since you’re acquiring my factory as an investment, profit and risk go hand in hand. If you end up losing money down the line, I won’t be able to help you."

When it comes to business, you have to keep things clear, especially between acquaintances. Things can get messy otherwise.

"Of course. Miss Monica and I are in complete agreement on this point."

With that, Monica Coleman relaxed. She gave Lawson a look, and Factory Director Lawson stood up, retrieved a file from a nearby cabinet, and said, "Miss Sterling, would you like to take this back to review?"

Cecilia Sterling thanked him and took the file, then added, "By the way, Miss Monica, I don’t want the machinery in this factory. If you don’t have it hauled away, I’ll just sell it for scrap."

Her words made Monica Coleman laugh. "You’re too much. Do you have any idea how much all this machinery is worth? Sell it for scrap, she says. Of course I’m going to take it with me."

"Don’t worry, the quote doesn’t include the machinery. The price I’m giving you is absolutely reasonable."

With that, Monica Coleman glanced at the time and stood up. "I should get going. Cecilia, once you’ve reviewed the file and everything looks good, you can sign the acquisition contract with Lawson. I’m not sure when I’ll be back."

Cecilia Sterling nodded. "Okay. Let me walk you out, Miss Monica. I drove here."

"No need. I have a driver."

But just then, a factory manager burst in, looking frantic. "Factory Director, the workers are protesting downstairs!"

"What are you panicking for?"

Holding his thermos, Lawson glared at the man, annoyed. Then, with an air of calm, he walked to the window to look down.

It was the same group of workers Cecilia had seen gathered together when she first entered the factory. Just moments ago, they were making a racket at the main gate; now they had swarmed the area below the building.

"What’s going on?"

Seeing the situation, Cecilia asked in confusion, "I saw a group of people shouting over there when I first came in."

Factory Director Lawson scoffed. "The factory’s being sold, and the workers won’t accept it. They really don’t know their place. Since when do they get a say in the factory’s business?"

"Besides, we gave them the option to apply for transfers, and those who don’t want a transfer will be compensated. The factory has done all it can, and they’re still not satisfied!"

Factory Director Lawson set his thermos down on the table. "I’ll go down and see what this is all about."

Downstairs, the workers were in an uproar. Over a hundred men and women had gathered.

The few at the front were the loudest, shouting things like, "We won’t let you sell the factory!" and "If the factory’s gone, how are we supposed to support our families?"

An unknowing observer might have thought they’d been transported back to the worker protests at state-owned factories of the sixties and seventies.

Cecilia followed Factory Director Lawson, the two of them walking out one after the other. She took a closer look and realized there were even more people than she had seen at the entrance.

"Cecilia, let’s go. Factory Director Lawson can handle this."

Monica Coleman was in a hurry, but she didn’t want to leave Cecilia Sterling lingering here either. With the workers causing a scene, it would be terrible if anything happened.

Cecilia Sterling understood what Monica Coleman meant and immediately started to leave, pulling Blair along with her.

But just then, someone in the crowd recognized Cecilia Sterling and suddenly shouted, "It’s her! She’s the one who came looking for the factory director a while back, saying she wanted to buy the factory!"

With that one shout, Cecilia Sterling instantly became the target of everyone’s anger. In a flash, she felt the furious glare of every worker land on her.

Before Cecilia Sterling could even react, a white object came flying out of the crowd, aimed straight for her head.

This sudden turn of events shocked everyone present, including the workers, who hadn’t expected it either.

They were there to stop the factory from being sold, not to get violent.

But in a large crowd, control is easily lost, and individual restraint is greatly diminished.

Yet as Cecilia Sterling saw the object hurtling toward her, her expression remained perfectly calm. She was stone-faced, not even making the slightest move to dodge.

Because she knew Blair would handle it.

Just as the object came within a meter of her head, Blair moved. She spun around, jumped, and launched a flying kick, sending the object sailing through the air.

The entire sequence, from start to finish, took only two or three seconds. It was only when the object rolled to a stop on the ground that everyone saw it was a half-empty water bottle.

Blair’s kick left the crowd speechless.

"Who threw that? Get out here now!"

Blair took a step forward, her eyes turning icy. A commanding aura suddenly radiated from her.

The rowdy crowd fell silent, completely intimidated by a woman who looked to be in her twenties.

"Don’t have the guts to own up to what you did? You only dare to hide in a crowd and pull cheap shots like that to hurt people. Looks like a crowd doesn’t just give you strength, it gives you guts, too. But when it’s time to stand up for yourself, you turn into a coward. What’s the difference between you and a rat scurrying in the shadows?" Blair sneered.

The taunt was obvious, but effective.

A burly man in a work uniform stepped out from the crowd. "I’m the one who threw it!"

"You’re fired!"

Monica Coleman’s icy voice suddenly rang out. With just two words, crisp and decisive, she made him pay the price, no further discussion needed.

The man was taken aback and blurted out, "I was doing it for everyone! For our factory!"

"’Your factory?’" Cecilia Sterling took two steps to stand in front of Blair. She looked at the man, then swept her gaze over the other workers, and corrected him, enunciating every word. "This factory belonged to your boss before. Soon, it will be mine. But it has never been yours. Who do you think you are?"

’These workers had neither the right nor the standing to interfere with any of the factory’s decisions.’

’At the end of the day, they were just employees. And yet they had the audacity to think they could walk all over the boss and call the shots.’

’How is this any different from those ridiculous tenants who demand their landlord split the demolition compensation with them? No common sense, no brains!’

Not wanting to waste any more time on people like this, Cecilia Sterling patted Blair’s shoulder, signaling that it was time to go.

This time, no one dared to stand in their way.

"Are you alright, Cecilia?"

Once they were out of the factory, Monica Coleman asked with apologetic concern, "Those people are completely out of control. Thank goodness you weren’t hurt."

Then she turned to Blair. "I know who you are. I’ve seen your livestreams. That was amazing back there."

"I’m fine, Miss Monica. You should get to the airport. We can use WhatsApp if anything comes up."

Monica Coleman nodded slightly and advised, "Don’t come back to the factory for a while. Wait until Lawson has handled things here."