48: Call people

"Screech—"

Before Wang Dalong could finish pouring out his grievances, a piercing sound of brakes exploded at the factory gate.

A dilapidated van, which made noise everywhere except for the horn, came crashing in, kicking up a cloud of choking yellow dust.

The car door was pulled open with great force. With a loud 'clatter', I was afraid the rickety door panel would fall right off.

Whoosh!

Seven or eight brawny men jumped out of the car. Every one of them looked like a misbegotten wretch, and they were all carrying gleaming pickaxe handles in their hands.

The leader was a bald man with a large gold chain as thick as a pinky finger around his neck. It was clearly brass and had already faded. His face was full of fat and he had a fierce expression.

As soon as this group entered the yard, their noses were up in the air, looking at everyone as if they owed them eight million.

"Where's that guy named Wang Dalong? Get the hell out here!"

"And that bullshit boss of yours! Where is he? Is he dead? If not, come out and take a breath!"

The bald man took his pickaxe handle and slammed it hard against the iron railing of the gate nearby.

Clang!!

The sound was so loud it made people's eardrums ache.

The workers, who were already scared out of their wits, shrunk their necks and hid back, afraid the pickaxe handle would land on their heads.

Lin Chuan stood there, unmoving and unfazed, even taking a slow puff of smoke and blowing a ring.

"I am the boss here."

Lin Chuan flicked the ash from his cigarette, his eyes as calm as a pool of stagnant water.

"Are you gentlemen in a hurry to be reincarnated? Such a huge temper."

"Oh, what the fuck?"

Hearing this, the bald man's triangular eyes widened, and he swaggered over swinging his pickaxe handle.

He sized Lin Chuan up. The kid was dressed decently enough, but his face was too young, lacking any air of the underworld.

"Kid, you're the boss?"

The bald man spat on the ground.

"You look like a pretty boy. Is your hair even fully grown before you dare to come out and open a factory?"

"Listen up! I'm from neighboring Liushu Town. People on the streets call me Brother Zhao San."

"Your factory has been collecting fruit quite happily lately, hasn't it?"

"You must have made a lot of money, right?"

Lin Chuan smiled. "What, do you want to invest?"

"Invest in your mother's ass!" Zhao San slammed the pickaxe handle into the ground. "I don't have the spare time to talk nonsense with you!"

"From today on, all the fruit in this area must pass through the hands of our brothers!"

"You want to collect? Fine!"

"Give the money to us! We'll find people to load the trucks for you!"

Zhao San held up two fingers and waved them in front of Lin Chuan.

"Sixty cents a catty! Not a penny less!"

"When the money is in place, that's when the fruit enters the factory!"

"Stop the bullshit! If you don't pay up, your factory can just wait to close down for good!"

He said this with such righteousness, it was truly shameless.

Lin Chuan was so angry he started laughing.

"Two hundred percent markup?"

"Normally, collecting large yellow peaches from farmers only costs thirty cents."

"You guys just barge in, do nothing, don't farm, don't put in any labor, and you open your mouths wanting to take all the profit?"

"The way you do business is truly something else."

"With the glass jars, the sugar, the labor, and the utilities, a jar only makes a profit of a bit over one yuan."

"If I collect at your price, it turns out that my factory is just running to work for you guys?"

"Then what am I after? Am I after your ugly faces? Am I after the fact that you don't bathe?"

"Pfft—"

Chu Tianbiao, who was standing nearby looking serious with a flushed face, almost spat out laughing at Lin Chuan's biting sarcasm.

"Fuck your mother! Who do you think you're talking to!"

Zhao San was poked in his sore spot. The fat on his face trembled, and he raised the pickaxe handle to intimidate Lin Chuan.

"Kid! Don't refuse a favor when it's offered!"

"In the Northern Farm area, who doesn't know this is my, Zhao San's, territory! I'm the one who makes the rules!"

Zhao San's eyes turned fierce as he scanned the surrounding workers.

These fifty-plus workers didn't look like easy targets either. If a fight really broke out here, the manpower he brought this time was indeed insufficient.

However, the orchards were on his side; he had plenty of means.

"If you dare not to pay, you can try!"

"Let's see how your crappy Jiefang trucks drive into the orchards, and see which fruit farmer dares to sell you fruit."

His group of lackeys also started shouting, waving their weapons, looking very intimidating.

Wang Dalong: "How can you be so unreasonable!"

"Unreasonable? Hehe, we came here specifically to reason with you," the bald man grinned savagely.

Lin Chuan said coldly, "I won't give you a single cent of this money."

"If you think your heads are hard enough, then go ahead and try."

"Good, good, good! Fine kid! You've got guts!"

Zhao San pointed at Lin Chuan's nose, gritting his teeth in anger.

"You just wait!"

"You refuse the easy way, so we'll do it the hard way! We'll see!"

"Brothers! Let's go! Tomorrow we'll come back and give this Boss Lin a proper lesson!"

After saying that, Zhao San led his group back into the dilapidated van.

Before leaving, he specifically rolled down the window and spat a thick glob of phlegm toward the factory area.

"Bah! What a piece of work!"

With a puff of black smoke, the van sped away.

The yard returned to a deathly silence.

Wang Dalong slumped onto the ground as if his soul had been sucked out.

"It's over, Boss. This time it's really over."

"These people are local thugs, they're like dog-skin plaster! Once they stick to you, you can't shake them off!"

"If they cause trouble every day and scatter nails on the only road, how are we supposed to collect fruit!"

Lin Chuan brushed the dust off his trouser legs.

"Factory Director Wang, put your heart at ease."

"When you open a business, how can you not encounter a few ghosts?"

"As long as there's profit, flies and mosquitoes will swarm toward it. This is normal."

"I can handle this small matter."

"But these local thugs are really different. I've heard they've even caused deaths!" Wang Dalong still had a face full of misery.

"No more 'buts'."

As for deaths, Long Wu, who was by Lin Chuan's side, had just kicked someone to death yesterday.

Lin Chuan pointed at the drivers squatting on the ground nearby, repairing truck tires.

"While there's no work right now, go and recruit people immediately."

"Recruit what kind of people?" Wang Dalong was dazed.

"Salespeople!"

Lin Chuan's eyes were resolute.

"I want the kind of young men and women who are eloquent, thick-skinned, and can endure hardship."

"Our canned goods have been produced; we can't just let them pile up there, we have to sell them."

"Go to every supermarket, supply and marketing cooperative, and shop to promote them!"

"This must be done quickly. Don't wait until the problem is solved and we can't get the goods out."

Wang Dalong's eyes widened, looking at Lin Chuan as if he were an alien.

"Boss, production is about to stop, and you're thinking about hiring salespeople now? That'll be another huge expense. If the funds don't return in time, how much money are you going to lose!"

"Boss, your family doesn't own a gold mountain. You can't spend money like this!"

Wang Dalong was very worried that if Lin Chuan's capital chain broke, the entire factory would be beyond redemption.

"Do as I say. There's plenty of money." Lin Chuan didn't explain, his tone brook no argument.

Wang Dalong sighed and shook his head.

In his view, this boss was young after all and hadn't been beaten down by society yet, so he didn't know the power of these local snakes.

But since the boss had spoken, he could only comply.

Wang Dalong left with a sigh.

In the yard, only Lin Chuan, Chu Tianbiao, and Long Wu, who hadn't spoken, remained.

Long Wu cracked his neck, a cold light flashing in his indifferent eyes.

"Boss."

"I'll go there."

"I'll take them all down tonight."

"A bunch of lazy trash, they don't deserve to shout in front of you."

Long Wu's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a chilling killing intent.

If he made a move, it wouldn't just be a fight; he would be aiming to dismantle them limb by limb.

Lin Chuan hadn't spoken yet.

Beside him, Chu Tianbiao suddenly took a step forward, threw his unfinished cigarette butt on the ground, and crushed it hard.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Brother Long! Brother Long, calm down!"

The playful look on Chu Tianbiao's face was gone.

It was replaced by the ruthlessness characteristic of a top-tier hooligan from Harbin.

The hostility that had been suppressed in Hong Kong Island finally found an outlet.

"Why would a master like you need to personally deal with these low-life country bumps?"

"Isn't that like using an anti-aircraft gun to swat a mosquito? A waste of talent."

Chu Tianbiao turned his head to look at Lin Chuan, his eyes filled with a fierce determination and an urgency to prove his loyalty.

"Brother Chuan."

"Leave this matter to me."

"I, Chu Tianbiao, might be a little brother in front of you, but in this territory of Harbin, dealing with these country thugs who don't know life from death is just a matter of snapping my fingers."

"If I can't even settle this, how can I have the face to call you 'Brother'? How can I have the face to take a share?"

"Leave it to me!"

"After tonight, I'll let them know exactly who calls the shots in Harbin!"

Chu Tianbiao gritted his teeth, staring in the direction where the van had disappeared. His gaze was like a hungry wolf eyeing a flock of fat sheep.

These bastards actually dare to cut off my path to wealth?

And they dare to act tough in front of the big brother I just acknowledged?

It's only because I, Young Master Chu, have been cultivating my character lately. If it were before, these people would have been fed to the turtles in the Songhua River by now!

Lin Chuan looked at Chu Tianbiao's eager expression and nodded with satisfaction.

"Fine."

"A-Biao, since you're willing, I'll leave this to you."

"I only have one requirement."

"No matter what means you use."

"Tomorrow morning, I want to see our fleet able to go and collect fruit smoothly."

"You just watch!"

Chu Tianbiao gave a savage grin and pulled out his brick phone from his pocket.

"Hello? It's your Brother Biao!"

"What's up?"

"Call the men!"