"Do you seriously think that?"
"A hundred percent. You’re her daughter, and I’m her... son and husband. Who else would she choose to help in her own best interest?"
As Yuqi stood in silence for a second, Xiaoyun quickly grabbed her hand before helping her sit back down.
"Look, Yuqi. I understand you might have so frustration with Leyan’s way of doing things.
But you have to realize, it’s the way she does things. Good or bad. You can’t stop soone from wanting to help."
"I know that. But why don’t we just make it a formal job for her? Why keep everything so mysterious to the point that I don’t even know what she’s doing?"
"Sothing there are things better left in the dark. You don’t see trying to dig through everything for answers."
"That’s because you’re lazy. You could dig deeper any ti and even tell her to stop. I’m certain she’ll listen to you."
"As you said, that’s beside the point... Yuqi, I really hope you understand. I don’t want to hurt Leyan or any of you guys, for that matter.
And I’m being serious right now... You know, rather than us telling her no, we can be supportive of it instead."
Despite Xiaoyun’s attempt to change her view, Yuqi still didn’t look convinced by it. But at least she didn’t try to argue back.
"I hope you keep that smile... If anything goes wrong, you’re going to clean up her ss."
"I know."
---
As the next few days continued to fly by, the month of August finally ca to an end as the cabinet reforms were officially released to the press.
No one in the public was surprised by it, considering the weeks of intentional leaks and the extensive news coverage for the past few days.
Just nothingburger for the average, everyday worker living in Luoping or Guangzhou, as not a single thing changed for the directly administered cities.
However, chaos soon appeared. Foshan and Qingyuan were the two major cities that faced the biggest backlash right on the open street.
The very morning, the first day of September. Just as the cabinet reform was going into effect.
Both Xiaoyun and Yuqi were a little caught offguard when they received the phone call from the two mayors over the phone.
---
"Did the severance pay work? What did Leifeng and Lianzheng say?" Xiaoyun asked as he impetuously walked back and forth in front of Yuqi’s desk.
"They’re talking to the protestors right now. And stop walking. Take a seat and relax. Why are you more nervous than I?"
As Yuqi calmly remained in her seat, Xiaoyun eventually ca to a stop as he took a seat right in front of her.
"Did you plan to happen?" Xiaoyun curiously asked, realizing she looked way too calm for sothing that could cascade.
"Obviously not. But I was expecting it."
"Why didn’t you tell about it? Or at least wrote about the potential drawback of this into the plan?" Xiaoyun questioned.
"I thought you already knew... I an, imagine if you and your co-workers got laid off. Why wouldn’t you be mad about it?"
"Yeah, but organizing a protest? Isn’t that way too far for just being fired over a governnt job in this country?"
"Relax, Xiaoyun. I never knew you would be so scared of a small protest... Look, even I’m calr than you."
Seeing her looking genuinely calr than he had expected, Xiaoyun’s urgency finally subsided as he didn’t want to be seen as panicking.
"How are you so calm? Have you dealt with a protest before?" Xiaoyun curiously questioned.
"No. But I know for a fact this protest has zero percent of turning violent. They just want so concession, and that’s it," Yuqi answered.
"How can you be so sure about that?"
"Because all those protestors are forr governnt employees, which ans they are middle-class workers who already earn well-above everyone else."
Yuqi paused for a second, then continued.
"Do you think people who have so many things to lose will gamble everything away for a asly chance to get their old job back?"
Xiaoyun’s brain short-circuited for a second before he finally realized sothing. His mind was completely off track the whole ti.
"Anyway, why are you so scared of a protest like this? Did a protest scare you before?" Yuqi curiously asked.
"Protest? Of course, I faced protests before. I almost even died when attending one of the protests back when I was still Songming."
"Wait, you’re serious?"
Yuqi was the one freezing a little, as she didn’t expect Xiaoyun answer yes. In her mind, his reaction earlier made her think it was his first ti, just like hers.
"No joke, I’m serious. You should have seen how scary it is to face hundreds of thousands of migrant workers holding a rebar."
"Is it that bad? I feel like you’re exaggerating it..." Yuqi murmured, already doubting his claim.
"It was literally that bad... I knew one of my friends working in real estate, who was killed during a migrant workers’ protest that got out of hand."
Just as she was about to open her mouth to ask more questions, Xiaoyun had already answered them for her.
"That man had it coming, though. This dumbass thought he could get away with not paying migrant workers’ wages."
"Why would he do that? It’s like... just pennies, no? And where were the governnt and the police?" Yuqi curiously asked.
"Every penny counts in their mind. To so people, the risk was non-existence. At least that’s what they think until they realize they only have one life.
Oh, and the police didn’t expect that dumbass to spew the sa bullshit of delayed paynt and even threatening them with no paynt right in their faces."
"Sounds like that person was just stupid..."
"Exactly. Anyway, one guy went to prison, and that idiot had all of his property taken away... It was just during a wild ti back then."
"I guess..."
As Yuqi stared back at Xiaoyun’s face, she could notice it blushing a little red as if he was a little embarrassed after realizing sothing.
"Ahem, I really should have realized tis are different. Those white-collar workers could never take it that far. My apologies."
"Mhm... How about the protest you attended? What was that all about?" Yuqi curiously asked as she rembered it being unanswered.
"Sa thing, different day. I an, I didn’t take the migrant worker’s wages. But the foreman who was responsible took it and ran away."
"So you were left to deal with thess?"
"Obviously. I don’t want to tank my company’s reputation over sothing so small. I had to pay out of pocket to cover the missing wages."
"Did they ever get caught?" Yuqi asked next.
"Only a year later. By then, they already blown all of the money... At least the workers got paid for their work, though, I didn’t mind it that badly."
"Never knew you were that generous and charitable as a person."
"Huh, what makes you think I’m not a charitable person? I’m literally the nicest boss you could imagine.
I was even on the news for one of the highest rated CEO in a poll. And rember, I was the one who told you to strengthen the labor law practices."
As Xiaoyun raised his voice louder and louder, Yuqi instantly put it out with a single statent that made him blush a little.
"Well, a certain individual did tell that the whole purpose of the cabinet changes was to push any fault and responsibility over to the workers."
"Ahem, that’s different. That’s called giving your workers more freedom and allowing them to use their skills to the fullest."
As Xiaoyun desperately tried to cover himself for the double standard, Yuqi only rolled her eyes before her phone suddenly started ringing.
"Hello? Is everything all right? Mhm... Okay. Tell them there will be more opportunities. It wouldn’t be on their records."
Just as Yuqi ended one call, the phone rang again. Yuqi once again picked it up and repeated almost the sa line word for word.
"Did the protest die down?" Xiaoyun asked as she put the phone down for the second ti, looking all relaxed.
"Died down as fast as it appeared. Told you it’s not that big of a deal... Anyway, what are you planning to do now?"
"What do you think? I’m going to the logistics departnt if there’s nothing else going on."
A hint of disapproval appeared on Yuqi’s face, but she didn’t say anything else as she turned her attention back to her computer.
"Hey, don’t be jealous. I can stay here longer if you—"
"Get lost! Get out of my office before I kick your butt!"
"Okay, okay."
Xiaoyun imdiately ran out of the office, running straight past Jianlin, whose face looked a little confused by it.
"Deputy Governor, the August report."
"That idiot just left... Whatever, leave it at my desk. I’ll read it myself later."
Jianlin quickly puts the report on her desk before turning around and heading over to the door.
"Miss, do you want to close the door?"
"What do you think?"
As the door closed, Yuqi let out a hmph sound before her face blushed a little, realizing how silly she appeared earlier.
"All his fault... Dummy."
Taking the August report into hand, she set her emotions aside as she opened past the first page.
"Finally, so good news for once."
User Comments
0 comments from readers