My dream connects to three thousand years later.

Chapter 58 Friend or foe, the choice is yours!

2 p.m.

The Third District Government Office, the main hall.

The government hall was solemn and dignified, with all the tables and chairs made of fine mahogany and the floor covered with beautiful animal skin carpets.

Directly above the high platform, the dragon flag of the Great Qian Dynasty was firmly affixed to the wall.

On the flag, a crimson five-clawed dragon bared its fangs and brandished its claws, lifelike with bloodshot eyes, as if it were about to come alive.

Hai Tie walked into the hall with a gloomy expression, his secretary following closely behind him.

Beside him stood factory owners dressed in Zhongshan suits, Tang suits, and various luxurious and exquisite garments.

These factory owners, like Hai Tie, were also followed by many servants, but they all looked grim, as if their parents had died.

Hai Tie and many factory owners took their seats.

They sat in the second and third rows. These two rows were almost completely full, with a total of eighteen people.

Then, the second batch of factory owners joined the company.

The factory owners were dressed relatively simply, many wearing work clothes indistinguishable from the workers. Moreover, there were quite a few of them, filling all six rows at the back, a total of nearly a hundred people.

"Greetings, Mr. Hai!" A factory owner sitting next to Hai Tie, who was feeling rather uneasy, muttered to Hai Tie in a low voice. He glanced at the ancient artifact watch in his hand, took out a small cloth, and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "Um, when is the meeting?"

"It's 2:30! Almost there..." Hai Tie said, paused slightly, and then had a few awkward words with the factory owner next to him, but it was more like an awkward conversation.

In the end, both of them remained silent and continued to sit.

Hai Tie had never felt time pass so slowly, yet so quickly...

Finally, he heard a series of people standing up from the back row.

"!!!" Hai Tie's heart clenched suddenly, and he quickly turned around. Then he saw the young man who looked to be under twenty and whose face still had a youthful innocence as he walked into the conference room side by side with the district governor.

"Mr. Zhu! Sun Quzhengzhi."

"Mr. Zhu, your charm remains undiminished."

"Hello, Mr. Sun, and also, Your Excellency the Director-General."

The last few rows of factory owners, dressed in overalls, were mostly small factory owners, many of whom had no more than twenty employees.

In reality, the number of small factory owners like these is far greater than those present at the meeting; it's just that these individuals were selected and granted the right to attend.

The reason these nearly one hundred people were selected was often because they knew Chu Zhu.

Yes, a large portion of them even came from shantytown redevelopment areas!
Their small factory was established within the last five years.

It could even be said that their factory was established because of the union's reform of the shantytown redevelopment area—a support policy for individual skilled workers issued by Chu Zhu and implemented by Zhou Ze.

Therefore, they naturally held Chu Zhu in high esteem.

Some politically insensitive people even went so far as to greet Chu Zhu before greeting the district's administration.

Standing a little further back, Li Kang saw this scene and remained silent for a while before slapping his forehead, unsure of what expression to make.

He smiled bitterly to himself; wasn't this a slap in the face to the district government?

no……

They've all become factory owners, even if their scale is a little smaller, don't they even have this much tact?
Glancing at Sun Zhizheng, who appeared completely unconcerned and indifferent to the matter, Li Kang sighed inwardly. It seemed he would have to drink with Old Sun again today or tomorrow, and incidentally, grumble about A-Zhu's relationship with Lu Zhizheng...

He knows Lao Sun too well! His outward appearance may reflect his true feelings...

"Haha, Director-General! Please..." Sun Zhizheng smiled and pointed to the center of the platform, "You're in the host's seat today! We're just here to coordinate things for you, we don't deserve the host's seat."

“Then I won’t refuse.” Chu Zhu and Sun Zhizheng looked at each other for a while, nodded, and without any formalities, sat down directly. Sun Zhizheng smiled and sat to Chu Zhu’s left.

From the high platform, one can look down upon the vast expanse of factory owners below.

The first two rows, with large factory owners dressed in fine clothes and small factory owners in work clothes, formed two distinct groups.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Aside from the newcomers, it seems we've met before!" Chu Zhu spoke directly, his voice calm and composed. "Yes, of course..."

"It seems like this is the first time we've ever held a meeting in such a large venue, under official supervision."

Hai Tie's face darkened slightly, but he also breathed a sigh of relief.

While meeting this living devil is certainly not pleasant, this time, with official witnesses present... surely this living devil can't pull off the same tricks as he did five years ago?!

"And then..." Chu Zhu pulled out a speech draft from behind her back, glanced at it, and smiled, "This was prepared for me by a friend, but..."

Chu Zhu tore it into pieces and scattered them on the table.

The scene fell silent for a moment.

Sun Zhizheng narrowed his eyes, his expression still smiling.

Ning Linglong, sitting in the last row: "!!!"

No, that was the result of her hard work!

It took her two whole hours to write this 2,000-word speech, and she didn't even have a lunch break because of it.

So you just tore it up like that?

And in public!
Too much, too much!
"Let's speak frankly, everyone!" Chu Zhu leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, and swept his sharp gaze across the factory owners in the front row.

"I won't target very small factories with fewer than twenty employees!"

The group in the back row breathed a sigh of relief. Of course, out of admiration for Chu Zhu, even if Mr. Zhu really asked them to pay a price... as long as it wasn't too beyond their means, they would grit their teeth and accept it!

"For factories employing between twenty and one thousand workers, where the annual worker mortality rate exceeds two percent, the workers will receive an extra two months' wages as a bonus upon returning home!"

The factory owners in the middle were somewhat agitated, whispering among themselves, clearly dissatisfied.

However, Chu Zhu completely ignored them.

"For companies with more than a thousand employees," Chu Zhu paused for a moment, "there are two options: either establish a disability compensation system, or go back and pay them an extra six months' wages as a bonus."

The factory owners in the front row felt a chill. The difference in bonuses between them and the managers of medium-sized factories was so huge… this meant that Chu Zhu hadn't given them any choice at all.

We're forcing them to choose the first option!
"Agree or disagree, choose!"

Chu Zhu's tone was very calm, but to the ears of many large factory owners, his words were misheard as—

"Friend or enemy, choose!"

This time, Chu Zhu only plans to target large factories. It's not that medium-sized factories will strictly implement disability policies—the problem is that if large factory owners really do implement them all, they will definitely force medium-sized factories to do the same.

How could they possibly accept this? They'd rather suffer the loss themselves.
The only thing Chu Zhu trusted about the domineering nature of the large factory owners was their absolute trust in them.

Let the big factory owners deal with the small and medium-sized factory owners; he only needs to deal with the big factory owners!
Sun almost thought he'd misheard: "!!!"

No way, how can you do things like that?!

Sun Zhizheng did his best to maintain a calm expression. He genuinely wanted to curse—

What you're doing is clearly coercion!

It would be a miracle if these lawless factory owners agreed.

(End of this chapter)