Three days pa.s.sed in a flash and the workers returned to the company after their holiday. Xia Lei also returned to Hai-Zhu from Sichuan. The cold and empty Thunder Horse Manufacturing grew lively again with the increase in people. The current situation with Thunder Horse Manufacturing was that it was not manufacturing anything but the output for the automatic skateboard was higher than before. It was entirely no problem at all to complete all the orders on time.
Xia Lei had been under pressure three days ago but he now felt delight in having a card up his sleeve; he was relaxed.
“You look good. Everything settled?” was the first thing Qin Xiang said to him when he saw him. He was smiling.
“All settled. I’ve already settled on an address for the branch company and all relevant procedures have been completed.” Xia Lei laughed. “The western region sure isn’t playing around when it comes to development. The local government is giving good benefits. I’ll take you to see our new company in three or four months.”
“Not bad. I knew you’ll be able to do it. Right, how come I don’t see Zhou Xiao-Hong back here?”
“She’s staying in Sichuan. She’s a local so she’s most suitable to look after the business there. Plus, I’m sending Yin Hao over to help her,” said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang nodded. “That Zhou Xiao-Hong girl is honest, sincere and a local there. It is indeed the right choice to pick her to watch over your company.”
For some strange reason, Zhou Xiao-Hong’s naked body surfaced in Xia Lei’s mind, and the light drizzle outside her home window… A wry smile appeared on his lips. What did she sneak into his bed in the middle of the night for? Troublemaker.
An hour later, the workers of Thunder Horse Manufacturing departed from the company again. They walked to the city government office carrying placards with the following messages: We need to eat! We want justice! My children have to go to school! This was the plan which Xia Lei had come up with. He sent almost a hundred workers out but kept over four hundred behind. These people were to walk around on the streets with placards in groups. It was a magnificent sight and made one want to look more than once. WeChat and Weibo users would be wont to miss this opportunity to take pictures and post them up on social media.
“What do I do?” asked Qin Xiang in Xia Lei’s office.
“The supermarket’s operating as usual so you’re going to be managing it, of course,” said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang laughed. “I meant if I’m going to be doing anything special, you know, like the time we took Huang Yi-Hu down.”
Xia Lei knew what he meant. He wanted to use the same method as they had on Huang Yi-Hu and leak stolen evidence of the Gu clan’s illegal activities to bring them down. This idea was not bad but the chance of success was virtually zero. Huang Yi-Hu was the Gu clan’s dog - a dog who did their dirty work. The evidence they had stolen from Huang Yi-Hu’s safe had nothing implicating or related to the Gu clan at all. This showed that the Gu clan was cautious and knew how to clean up; getting evidence of them breaking the law was easier said than done.
“Let’s not think about this for now, Qin Xiang. You know very well what sort of clan the Gu clan is. That method may work on others but it’s useless against the Gu clan. I don’t want you to take such an unnecessary risk either,” said Xia Lei.
Qin Xiang shrugged. “Fine. I’ll go back to the supermarket.”
“Wait.” Xia Lei stopped him. “There’s nothing much to do at the supermarket either. You said that you’d teach me some skills. I have some time now so why don’t you teach me now?”
“Sure. Hold on, I’ll prepare some things.” Qin Xiang went out the door.
Xia Lei stretched a little in the office. Qin Xiang came back with a basin used to wash one’s face and the basin was full of steaming hot water.
Xia Lei looked curiously at the basin in Qin Xiang’s hands. “What is this for?”
“Teaching you.” Qin Xiang put the basin on the office desk and took out an unopened bar of soap from his bag. He took it out of its wrapper and tossed it casually in the basin of hot water.
Xia Lei paused, then frowned and said, “No way.”
Qin Xiang smiled. “Start from the basics. Use your index finger and middle finger to pinch it out of the water. Either hand will do.”
Xia Lei stood by the basin and hesitated. He reached out with his right hand with his fingers acting like chopsticks but he let out a yelp of pain before his fingers touched the soap and retracted his hand.
“You’re exaggerating, aren’t you? My Master put coins in boiling oil and I picked those up immediately,” laughed Qin Xiang.
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at him. “Like I believe you. Give me a demonstration.”
Before Xia Lei had time to blink, Qin Xiang’s hand had flashed out and he held the soap in the water between his middle and index fingers.
Xia Lei felt stupid. His left eye had seen every move of Qin Xiang’s clearly and his movements did not require a lot of skill but he had succeeded where Xia Lei had not, and not sloppily either.
“Hand me that piece of paper.” Qin Xiang pointed at a piece of paper on the desk.
“What do you want paper for?” Xia Lei was curious but still reached out a hand to take it.
Xia Lei took the paper and discovered that Qin Xiang did not have the soap in his hand anymore - he had his wallet.
“You… How?” Xia Lei was very surprised.
Qin Xiang gave a small laugh. “In our line, it’s very important to draw the target’s attention elsewhere. Of course, the most important thing is to have quick and steady hands. Remember these two points. Now, practice. I’ll go get a vacuum flask to bring you more hot water.”
Xia Lei was speechless.
An hour later.
Xia Lei right hand swept over the surface of the boiling-hot water and his middle and index fingers dipped swiftly into the water, accurately pinching the soap in the water. However, the soap slipped out of his fingers before he could lift it out of the water. The melting soap in hot water was just too slippery for him.
“Still can’t do it.” Xia Lei shook his head, dissatisfied with himself.
Qin Xiang glared at him. “You’re already very good, okay? You know how long it took me to successfully grab the soap? Half a month! You almost succeeded after practicing for an hour - what more do you want?”
Xia Lei’s learning ability was far above the norm but he saw this ability as an everyday thing. To others, however, he sometimes seemed like a monster.
Just then, Xia Lei’s phone rang.
It was Hu Hou. His anger burst through the phone connection and seemed to burn in Xia Lei’s office once the call connected. “What are you trying to do, Xia Lei? Tell me, what is the meaning of this?!”
Xia Lei was not one bit surprised that Hu Hou had called. Hundreds of Thunder Horse Manufacturing employees had taken to the streets with placards - something like this was simply intolerable for Hu Hou.
Xia Lei, on the other hand, was calm. “My hands are tied, Mayor Hu. You’ve had the company sealed so I had no choice but to tell the workers to go on holiday. The Trade and Commerce Bureau people said we have to suspend business for half a year, so I did. They were unhappy when I announced it and they wanted to let their voices be heard. It’s a few hundred people - there’s no way for me to stop them even if I wanted to.”
Qin Xiang, who was standing to one side of Xia Lei, let out a sputtering laugh. Xia Lei glared at him and he covered his mouth.
“Xia Lei, it’s not as if you don’t know who is targeting you - why are you creating trouble for me?” Hu Hou’s tone was soft, “Call your workers back. Don’t let them cause further disturbances on the streets. There are so many people - if something bad about public security is out there and the media gets ahold of this… You think I’ll still be Mayor?”
“Mayor Hu, it’s not that I’m b.u.t.ting heads with you but this… I really can’t do anything. So many workers need to eat, their children need to go to school, and there’s insurance to be paid. They have fires of anger in their hearts and want to vent. I can’t sew their mouths shut, can I?” said Xia Lei.
“Call them off first!”
“They’re not going to listen to me under these circ.u.mstances now, Mayor Hu. It’s useless for me to talk to them. Cancel the business suspension and they’ll come back as a matter of course.” Xia Lei’s stand was firm but his tone was amiable.
“You…” Hu Hou grew silent. “Let’s both take a step back. Get them to put their placards away. I’ll try to come up with a solution for you here on my side. Let’s meet at Imperial Kitchen in an hour.”
“All right. I’ll do as you ask.” Xia Lei spoke nice words.
He called Guan Ling-Shan after ending his call with Hu Hou. “Ling-Shan, where have you all walked to by now?”
Guan Ling-Shan’s voice came from the phone. “We’re almost at the city government building. Chairman Xia, there are a lot of policemen following us and telling us to go back. They’re also saying they would arrest us. What do we do? I’m scared.”
Xia Lei laughed as he said, “Don’t be. The one they have to arrest is me, the one in charge. Tell the workers to put away their placards now. Stay in their teams and wait for further instructions.”
“Nn.” Guan Ling-Shan made a sound of agreement.
“Also, tell the workers to eat whatever they want today. The company will foot the bill and their wages will be ten times the regular amount,” said Xia Lei.
“Wow! Okay, I’ll tell them now. They’ll be happy for sure,” said Guan Ling-Shan excitedly.
Xia Lei hung up and abruptly reached his hand into the basin. This time, he successfully took the soap out of the water.
Qin Xiang gaped wordlessly at Xia Lei and said after a pause, “You’re a natural-born thief.”
Xia Lei smiled. “I’ll go meet Hu Hou. I’ll hand this matter over to you to supervise; call me right away if anything happens.”
“Yeah, you can let me handle it. Rest a.s.sured,” said Qin Xiang.
A short while later, Xia Lei got into his black BMW M6 and entered ‘Imperial Kitchen’ into his navigation system. After the results of his search were out, he started the navigation mode and drove out of Thunder Horse Manufacturing.
Imperial Kitchen was a very famous Chinese restaurant and Hu Hou could not be without alcohol there. There was no avoiding negotiations either. However, Xia Lei could not think of anything that Hu Hou could come up with that would make him get his trouble-making workers to disperse.
‘You cannot stay quiet and appease the Gu clan on one side while making me obediently sacrifice myself, eh? I’d like to see what you’re going to say’ thought Xia Lei.