Chapter 397: Two Positions
Chapter 397: Two Positions
Ding Tongping was reluctant to give up this opportunity, but he also knew that if he took the 30,000 yuan and Lu Jiaxin withheld the remaining 500,000, he would offend not only the village head, Ruan, but also the villagers. If he took this money, his family would never live in peace.
Captain Du was shrewd and noticed the struggle on Ding Tongping's face. He pointed to a big tree in the distance and said, "Comrade Ding, if you have any difficulties, you can tell me about them over there, and I, along with the organization, will do our best to help you resolve them."
Seeing this, Ding Tongping also took a step back and nodded in agreement.
Gu Wenfeng lowered his voice and said, "Jiaxin, no matter what agreement they reach, you must not get involved, so as not to create more problems."
He was truly annoyed and wondered how Captain Du and Secretary Ruan were handling this situation. With so many people, how could they not control the Ding family members?
Lu Jiaxin remained silent.
Half an hour later, Captain Du returned, and both Secretary Ruan and Ding Tongping were nowhere to be seen. He walked up to Lu Jiaxin and said, "Comrade Lu, Old Ding has gone back."
Lu Jiaxin asked, "What conditions did you promise him?"
Captain Du didn't dare hide it from her and replied, "A formal position at the construction company and a temporary position at the Second Machinery Factory."
Lu Jiaxin's face turned cold as she said, "Do you know why I donated one million yuan for this road? It's because I didn't want the Ding family to use this opportunity to extort benefits from me. By doing this, you're going against my original intention."
Captain Du sighed and said, "It's our fault. We didn't handle this matter well. Comrade Lu, today is a big day for relocating the graves, and it's not auspicious to shed blood."
The current arrangement was like plugging one hole only to open another. However, compared to losing 500,000 Hong Kong dollars, they could still afford to give away two job positions.
Lu Jiaxin's face remained gloomy.
Seeing her unhappiness, Captain Du added, "Comrade Lu, if they don't perform well, we will send them back to the countryside to continue farming."
Lu Jiaxin scoffed, "Do you really take me for a fool? It's easy to fire a temporary worker, but a formal employee isn't someone you can fire whenever you want."
After saying this, she waved her hand and said, "Forget it. This time, I'll take it as a lesson learned. He Bin will give you the rest of the money."
Dealing with these people required one to be extremely cautious, or else they would be taken advantage of at any time.
At this moment, the goldsmith informed Lu Jiaxin that the skeleton had been collected and they could leave. He had witnessed the entire fiasco and felt it was best to leave this place of trouble as soon as possible.
Lu Jiaxin bowed politely and said, "Thank you for your help."
The goldsmith politely replied, "Miss Lu, you're too kind."
This time, Lu Jiaxin did not stay in the county seat but returned directly to Si Jiucheng with Gu Lanlan's skeleton. As for He Bin, he stayed behind to handle the aftermath.
Seeing her sullen expression, Gu Wenfeng advised, "Boss, if you really let him die in front of you, it won't be good for your reputation either."
Lu Jiaxin coldly snorted, "I'm angry that they think they can take advantage of me. The Ding family only has a few members. How could they not be controlled? It's probably because they think I'm rich and should help improve their lives. Perhaps they even think I'm cold-hearted and ruthless!"
After saying this, she sighed, "Forget it. At least my grandmother's grave has been successfully relocated. I won't come back here unless it's necessary."
If she hadn't said that she wouldn't donate the remaining 500,000, these people would have continued to complain to her about how difficult it was to resolve the issue and asked her to compromise. What a joke! If she had been willing to compromise, where would they have gotten one million yuan? Although Ding Tongping didn't get the money, he still managed to secure jobs for his grandsons, indirectly benefiting from Lu Jiaxin's generosity.
Wang Lin said, "Boss, if you're still angry, you can ruin this deal."
Gu Wenfeng shook his head and said, "It was Captain Du who made the promise, it has nothing to do with the other leaders."
"Temporary workers can be let go for any reason, but it's not that simple with a permanent position. However, the construction company workers do all the hard labor, it's backbreaking work."
"That's still better than farming,"
Gu Wenfeng couldn't deny that.
Lu Jiaxin didn't give He Bin any instructions, leaving him to handle things as he saw fit.
To lay Gu Lanlan's skeleton to rest, Lu Jiaxin specially purchased a flat near her grandmother's grave, and only after making these arrangements did she finally return home.
It was already past midnight when she arrived, and the bumpy road had left her feeling sore all over. After a quick shower, she asked Miao Na to blow-dry her hair.
Before her hair could dry, she had dozed off. Miao Na carefully carried her to bed, tucking her in before quietly leaving the room.
"Miao Na," Gu Wenfeng called out, "I just asked the chef to cook some dumplings. Would you like some?"
They had been busy all night, and the men were starving. They couldn't bear the thought of eating hard bread, so they dragged the chef out of his warm bed.
Miao Na was hungry too, so she joined them for a bowl of dumplings. They had prepared two kinds of dumplings that afternoon—three-fresh and mushroom and pork.
As they ate, Miao Na said, "Mr. Gu, you shouldn't have stopped me earlier. I could have taken the knife from that man and tied him up with a rope. That way, he wouldn't have been able to harm himself, and the boss wouldn't have been unhappy."
The old man had no intention of dying, and the blade hadn't even touched his jugular. Miao Na was confident she could have disarmed him.
Gu Wenfeng explained, "Miao Na, the boss doesn't care whether he lives or dies. But Captain Du and Secretary Ruan would never allow him to die in front of them. If the old man had actually died, it would have damaged their reputations and affected their careers."
Miao Na hadn't considered all the political intricacies involved.
The next morning, Lu Jiaxin woke up at 6 a.m., glanced at her watch, and then got ready for her morning jog around Shichahai Lake. Quite a few elderly people were out exercising, but young people were nowhere to be seen as they were either at work or school.
After her run, Lu Jiaxin returned home and learned from the doorman that her second brother, sister-in-law, and Shanzi had come to visit.
Her sister-in-law immediately asked, "Have those shameless people been bothering you?"
Lu Jiaxin shook her head. "With so many people around me, how could they possibly bully me? But that old man demanded 50,000 yuan and said he would kill himself in front of me if I didn't pay up."
Before Lu Jiaxin could finish, her sister-in-law huffed in anger and started cursing. "What a despicable man! He dared to ask for money, and such a large sum at that! If it weren't for him, your mother's health wouldn't have deteriorated so badly. Let him die and face your grandmother and mother in the afterlife so they can settle the score!"
Lu Jiachong asked, "Did you give him the money?"
"No, Captain Du and the village head who came with us talked him out of it."
Lu Jiachong asked skeptically, "How did they convince him to let us take your grandmother's remains without giving him any money?"
The Ding family was good for nothing; they would definitely try to take advantage of this opportunity to extort money from Lu Jiaxin.
Lu Jiaxin explained, "They didn't get any money, but Captain Du promised to arrange jobs for his two grandsons—one as a permanent worker and the other as a temporary worker. Seeing that I wasn't going to give him any money, he accepted the offer."
Lu's second sister-in-law said angrily, "Heaven is truly blind, sparing the life of such a despicable creature and even granting his family two jobs."
If heaven truly had eyes, there wouldn't be so many evil people in the world.
With just a little over an hour left in the month, dear friends, please remember to vote if you have any tickets. They will become invalid after 12:00 a.m. Also, there's one more chapter left.
(End of Chapter)
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