Chapter 766: Chapter 766: Protest
"If you choose to stay, everything I just said will be fulfilled. If you don’t want to stay, you can unload your guns now, settle today’s salary, and leave. I won’t stop you."
Among the twenty people who came for the job interview, several had intended to leave after hearing Xu Ke mention the possibility of dying. However, upon hearing the series of benefits Xu Ke mentioned, they stopped and patiently listened to him finish speaking.
"Honestly, I’m someone who’s very afraid of death, but I really need this job, so I want to stay and give it a try. If something unfortunate happens to me, I hope you can fulfill your promise. But I hope you don’t give this money to my parents; they’re not good parents. They’ll only spend it on their lousy hobbies. I hope you can leave this money to my sister, okay?"
"Of course." Xu Ke nodded in agreement.
"What do we need to do?" one young man, who seemed unsure of the situation, asked.
"It’s very simple, stop them from coming in. I’ve installed surveillance in our factory. As long as they try to come in, you can fire warning shots, but please be careful not to hit my cameras. If they still try to break in after the warning shots, you can shoot to injure them as a further warning. If they still want to continue, you can kill them. My legal team will ensure you’re unharmed." Xu Ke pointed in the direction of the surveillance, speaking.
"But you must ensure that all your actions are under surveillance, or it won’t look good in court. Also, it’s best not to have any physical contact with them; there are many of them, and I’m afraid this might pose a danger to you."
Although Xu Ke’s tone didn’t change from start to finish, he somehow earned these people’s trust, even those who were hesitant decided they wanted to stay.
They believe he isn’t a heartless businessman who breaks promises, considering he’s someone who takes care of his employees in every aspect.
"So, we just need to prevent them from coming in, right? If they sit in protest in front of the factory, do we need to drive them away?" someone else asked.
"No, as long as they don’t attempt to come in, you don’t have to bother with them."
Having received Xu Ke’s answer, all twenty bodyguards chose to stay, and no one chose to leave.
Xu Ke was prepared for some people to leave, but to his surprise, not a single person left. A smile appeared on his face as he glanced at the nearing end of work hours. He cheerfully paid today’s wages to these twenty individuals and let them leave work early.
"See you tomorrow." Xu Ke said.
On normal days, Qiao En often felt time passed too slowly, but now it seemed to fly by. Qiao En felt as if he had closed his eyes for a moment, and it was already morning.
Qiao En grumbled a bit while holding his blanket, really not wanting to get up, but remembering today’s tasks, he forced himself to wake up, crawled out of bed, freshened up, and headed towards the factory with Curly Hair.
Because Qiao En had snoozed, by the time they arrived outside the factory, quite a few people were already there, but since work hadn’t started yet, the factory gates were still closed.
"Why did you come so early?" Qiao En asked, looking at the already present crowd.
"There’s nothing to do at home anyway, so I just came early," someone replied.
The people milling outside had some with protest banners tied around their heads, some who came in a rush without breakfast were eating, and some were chatting with familiar faces nearby. The protest seemed more like a spring picnic.
As work time approached, the employees hired by Xu Ke started to take their positions. They could see the situation from a long way off, but since Xu Ke had informed them of possible scenarios beforehand, they weren’t too anxious, just looking at them strangely, not understanding why they would protest when they had such a good job.
The woman coming to work deliberately kept some distance from them, yet someone with sharp eyes spotted her.
These people had worked together for some time. Although there were many of them, they all knew each other. Seeing a stranger approaching the factory in this somewhat secluded place piqued their curiosity.
Someone approached, "Who are you? Why are you here?"
The woman, suddenly addressed, heard someone talking to her and didn’t dare turn back. Pretending not to hear, she ran forward, all the way to the main gate, pressed her fingerprint on the newly installed electronic lock, then hurried inside. Seeing the gate lock again and the protesters left outside, she finally breathed a sigh of relief, her anxiety lessened.
The people who had been protesting outside with a calm demeanor suddenly panicked when they saw the woman open the factory’s electronic lock and run inside, beginning to chatter nervously among themselves.
"How could this happen, who was that woman? How did she get inside?" Curly Hair turned his head in surprise, instinctively looking at Qiao En and dryly asking.
"You’re asking me? How would I know? It shouldn’t be a big deal; it’s just one stranger going inside. What does it prove? Nothing. Maybe she’s just going in to clean." Qiao En was also a bit confused, sensing something amiss but unwilling to admit it or believe that Xu Ke, a yellow-skinned person, could do such a thing. Yet, it still rattled him, rendering his words incoherent.
Qiao En’s explanation was baseless, yet with someone like Curly Hair sharing the same mindset, Curly Hair unconditionally trusted Qiao En’s words. Though both had uneasy suspicions in their hearts, they maintained a facade of calmness, which began to crumble as more and more people entered the factory.
The protest crowd outside grew restless when twenty security guards in black uniforms arrived.
"What’s going on? Did someone buy out this factory?" someone couldn’t help but voice their suspicion, grabbing the person next to them.
Like a virus, one person’s fear quickly spread to the group.
Various voices began emerging among the crowd. Though the security guards remained expressionless, they were perspiring behind their backs, each tense as a steel plate, especially on guard, fearing any rash actions from the crowd. Luckily, the people only speculated and lamented without taking any extreme actions.