Chapter 554: Employee Uprising

In the Jiang family’s backyard, Li Yi saw how frantic Jiang Xue looked and immediately stood up from the stone bench.

“Xiao Yi, go check it out right away and see what’s going on!”

Clearly, the old man had also sensed something was wrong.

Li Yi didn’t dare delay and immediately jogged over to meet her.

When he reached Jiang Xue, Li Yi hurriedly asked, “What’s the rush? Has something happened?”

“Second Brother is here. He says he needs to talk to you, and he looks really anxious!” Jiang Xue said, slightly out of breath.

“I know. You go help Grandpa, and I’ll go see Second Brother!”

With that, Li Yi strode toward the front courtyard, while Jiang Xue headed toward the pavilion to tend to the old man.

When Li Yi returned to the front courtyard, he indeed saw Jiang Longyin sitting in the living room of the main hall, his brow furrowed with worry.

Seeing Li Yi enter from outside, Jiang Longyin immediately stood up.

“Second Brother, I heard from Xiao Xue that you were looking for me?”

“Yes, there’s been a bit of trouble at the Yanjing TV Factory. I wanted to talk to you about it!” Jiang Longyin said straight to the point.

“The TV factory? What’s going on there?”

“We received word this morning that the workers have staged a collective disturbance. Not only did they assault the factory leadership, but they’re also shouting that they’re coming to the municipal government to file a complaint!” Jiang Longyin said in a grave tone.

“Why would the workers cause a disturbance for no reason?”

“Sigh, it’s all because the factory hasn’t paid everyone’s wages and keeps pushing them to ramp up production, which has caused a lot of discontent among the workers.”

As he spoke, Jiang Longyin couldn’t help but feel a sense of disappointment.

He had originally placed high hopes on the candy factory and the television factory. After all, he had entrusted full authority over both factories to Li Yi, hoping he could continue to work miracles and bring them back from the brink of collapse.

The candy factory certainly didn’t let him down. Under Li Yi’s leadership, in less than three months, it managed to make a spectacular turnaround from a factory on the brink of bankruptcy.

Not only had it turned a loss into a profit, but last month’s profit had actually reached 1.1 million yuan, making it a dark horse among all the enterprises in the district.

However, the situation at the Yanjing Television Factory—which was in far better condition than the candy factory—caught him completely off guard.

After taking over the factory, Li Yi merely replaced a few executives, issued a bizarre order to the staff, and then left it to its own devices.

It was precisely this order that plunged the factory—which had already been struggling—into a full-blown crisis.

By this point, Li Yi had figured out exactly what had happened.

The problem likely stemmed from the order he had issued to the factory: the target of producing 80,000 televisions by October.

But he wasn’t yet sure exactly where the problem lay.

Without hesitation, he said, “Second Brother, don’t worry. I’ll head over to the North Suburbs right now to see what’s going on!”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

“No need. You go back to work first. I’ll call you if anything comes up!”

“Alright!”

After that, Li Yi said goodbye to Jiang Xue, then took Zhang Ziqiang with him and drove to the Yanjing Television Factory in the northern suburbs.

……..

The car sped along the road, and by the time they reached the northern suburbs, it was already 2:30 p.m.

As soon as they arrived at the factory gate, they saw hundreds of workers pouring out of the premises, carrying banners.

Seeing the slogans “Pay Our Wages” and “Down with Li Yi” on the banners, coupled with the workers’ impassioned demeanor, Li Yi realized they were genuinely preparing to file a complaint with the municipal government!

Moreover, with the situation having escalated to this point and no factory leadership stepping in to stop them, it was clear that the Yanjing Television Factory’s leadership had effectively collapsed.

Li Yi immediately ordered Zhang Ziqiang to park the car across the middle of the main road, blocking the crowd’s path.

Then, he opened the door and got out!

Seeing this, Zhang Ziqiang immediately followed suit.

At first, the employees of the Yanjing TV Factory were puzzled. Where had this car come from? Why was it suddenly blocking the middle of the road? Wasn’t this just being a bully?

But when they saw that it was Li Yi getting out of the car, they were instantly enraged.

They were all familiar with Li Yi. Although he had appeared at the TV factory fewer than five times, he had managed to throw the place into chaos every single time.

The first time he came, he had the old plant director, Li Linyou, removed and installed the meek deputy director, Jiang Chengping, as the new director.

The second time he came, disregarding the opposition of the vast majority of the factory’s management, he directly issued a production quota of 80,000 units in four months.

It was precisely this absurd target that led to a massive backlog of televisions—which were already struggling to sell—unable to pay suppliers for raw materials, and unable to pay workers’ wages. The factory was now on the brink of bankruptcy.

Consequently, the factory’s workers and management hated Li Yi with a passion.

Now, upon seeing him, they all charged at him with a fury as if they had encountered their father’s murderer.

This scene startled Zhang Ziqiang. His mission was to ensure Li Yi’s safety at all costs, but with so many people charging at him, he had no confidence he could prevent Li Yi from being harmed—let alone guarantee his life.

In that moment, he reacted instantly. When the workers were still more than twenty meters away from Li Yi, he suddenly drew the pistol from his waistband.

Then, as everyone stared in stunned silence, he fired several shots into the air!

“Bang, bang, bang…”

Three gunshots rang out in quick succession, and the scene fell instantly silent.

Everyone stared at Zhang Ziqiang in terror—including Li Yi.

Amidst the shock, Li Yi suddenly realized that this “brazen bandit” was actually reliable—when push came to shove, he really meant business!

In fact, Li Yi had anticipated this situation before getting out of the car and had already come up with a plan.

His original plan was to jump onto the roof of the car when the workers charged over, and then have a proper talk with them.

After all, they were just after their wages, not their lives.

So Li Yi really hadn’t expected this guy to suddenly open fire. True to his name, “Zhang Ziqiang”—regardless of whether it sounds good or not—he was damn “hardcore,” with a real gangster vibe!

But the effect was undeniable!

Seeing that everyone had been stunned into silence, Li Yi seized the moment and strode to the front of the crowd.

He looked out at the hundreds of people and shouted, “What on earth are you all doing here, making all this noise?”

The workers hadn’t yet recovered from the shock. Faced with Li Yi’s question, the hundreds of people fell silent, and the scene was suddenly deathly quiet.

“I hear you beat up Factory Director Jiang and are planning to file a complaint with the municipal government?” Li Yi asked again.

At that moment, someone in the crowd finally spoke up: “That’s right, we’re going to file a complaint. So what?”

“That’s right, we want our wages, and we’re going to sue you for ruining our factory!”

“You’ve ruined our once-thriving factory until it went bankrupt—the city authorities have to give us an explanation!”

“That’s right, they have to do us justice…”

…….

Seeing the workers in front of him getting worked up again, Zhang Ziqiang, worried that Li Yi might be in danger, stepped in front of him once more.

However, Li Yi pulled him behind him and faced the workers head-on.

“Quiet!”

Li Yi’s voice wasn’t particularly loud, but it carried great authority and an inherent sense of pressure, causing the hundreds of people present to fall silent involuntarily.

“Do you really think that causing a commotion at City Hall will get you your wages and solve the problem?”

Li Yi continued, “Go ask around—how many workers are showing up at the district and city governments every day to demand their wages? And how many factories have actually resolved the issue?”

Hearing this, the workers fell silent.

Ever since policy adjustments three years ago, many factories have struggled. Now, more than three years later, some have reached the end of the road and are on the verge of bankruptcy.

Most workers naturally didn’t want their factories to go under, so it was common for groups of workers from a particular factory to go to the government to apply pressure—either to demand their wages or to get the factory back up and running.

However, in terms of results, the approach hasn’t been very effective.

Just as the crowd fell silent, Li Yi’s voice rang out again: “I’m here today specifically to resolve your wage issues. If you’re willing, let’s go back to the factory and have a proper discussion. If not, you’re free to head back to the city!”

With that, Li Yi turned and got back into his car, driving toward the factory grounds, leaving a group of workers standing there dumbfounded, staring at one another…

……..

PS: There’s one more chapter coming up. Sorry for the late update!