Chapter 40: The Factory Is Complete, and the Arms Company Is Ready to Launch!
Someone wanted to speak up, but... seeing the solemn gaze of Wu Youhai, the city bureau director standing beside Lin Wendong, everyone instinctively swallowed their words.
They could only suppress their frustration, lower their heads, and leave.
"Damn it!"
Once they stepped out of the square, away from the police and the villagers of Tazhai, Wang Dalong and his men finally felt their nerves ease just a little.
"Damn it, what a disgrace! If this gets out, how am I supposed to survive from now on?"
"Boss, we can't just swallow this humiliation!"
"Yeah! We’ve always been the ones extorting others, but today we got extorted five million by these people? This village has to pay for this!"
...
Though Wang Dalong and his gang spoke with indignation, they all kept glancing nervously over their shoulders, as if afraid the people of Tazhai might overhear.
The shock Lin Wendong had delivered today was immense. None of them had ever, from birth until now, truly grasped the meaning behind the phrase “the law is your best weapon” so clearly and profoundly.
Manager Wang’s forehead darkened with anger as he walked silently, irritated by the noise around him. He waved his hand impatiently.
“Quiet! We can’t just let Tazhai off the hook this time. Let’s go back and talk to the boss. If we can’t do it openly, we’ll have to be sneaky.”
...
At the village entrance, Manager Wang cast a sidelong glance at the park near the village gate of Tazhai, then spotted Uncle Hai—the one they had intimidated so badly he suffered a heart attack.
He was performing an inverted hang on the pull-up bars!
‘Does this guy really have a heart condition?’
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Suppressing his fury, Manager Wang reminded himself that the money had already been paid. There was no use dwelling on it now.
He just wanted to leave this godforsaken place quickly, formulate a plan, and come back for revenge.
As they arrived at the village entrance, near five minibuses they had parked, a traffic policeman was issuing a ticket.
“Comrade, parking is not allowed here. That’s a fine of two hundred yuan and three points off your license,” the officer said to Manager Wang and his group.
“You...!”
At that moment, those words nearly became the final straw that broke the camel’s back.
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But then, the traffic officer added, “We just received a report. You have over a hundred people crammed into five minibuses, suspected of overloading.”
“Six points off and a fine of one thousand yuan.”
“Pfft!”
One blow after another came crashing down. At that moment, Manager Wang finally lost it. His body swayed, his vision darkened, and he collapsed face-first onto the ground!
‘This Tazhai village is damn ruthless!’
That was the last thing Manager Wang said before losing consciousness, his voice soaked with bitter grief.
“Manager? Are you okay?”
“What’s the emergency number? Call an ambulance quick!”
...
Watching this scene, the traffic officer sighed helplessly and offered some comforting words, “It’s just a few thousand yuan. How can people’s nerves be so fragile nowadays?”
A few thousand yuan?
Hearing that, Manager Wang could have been revived by sheer outrage. What few thousand yuan? It was a full five million!
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In the square before the ancestral hall.
“Thank you, officers. If it weren’t for your timely arrival, us honest and simple farmers would have been seriously harmed by these criminal gangs,” Lin Wendong said with a bright smile, sincerely thanking Wu Youhai.
‘Honest and simple farmers? Criminal gangs causing harm?’ Wu Youhai’s lips twitched involuntarily, speechless inside.
He thought to himself, ‘If we hadn’t arrived when we did, these hundred-plus criminals might have been victims of those so-called “honest and simple” farmers.’
...
“Well, since you’ve reached a reconciliation, we should be on our way,” Wu Youhai finally said.
He had wanted to inquire more about what kind of “industry” Tazhai had that could undergo such a radical transformation in just a month or two—from one of the poorest villages to what it was now.
He also had a lingering suspicion that Tazhai might be involved in illegal activities.
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Otherwise, he couldn’t imagine where a poverty-stricken village without any industrial base could have gotten so much money.
“If I question them directly, it might raise their suspicions and alert them,” Wu Youhai shook his head, then left with the dozen or so officers remaining to maintain order.
After everyone dispersed, a dozen of Tazhai’s young thugs eagerly approached Lin Wendong.
“Brother Dong, how was our acting this time?”
“Pretty good,” Lin Wendong nodded, then added, “Thanks for taking the beating for us.”
“It’s all for the development of Tazhai. Not a hardship at all.”
Hearing this, Lin Wendong raised an eyebrow and looked at the one speaking—a young man named Lin Wenli from their third family branch.
‘This kid’s got it—he’s got real awareness.’
“Ten thousand yuan each for medical expenses. Don’t think it’s too little!” Lin Wendong waved his hand and said.
“Ten thousand?!” The young thugs were stunned, then realized Lin Wendong’s status in their eyes instantly rose several notches.
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Undoubtedly.
The best way to win people’s hearts is by giving them tangible benefits!
Other methods—empty promises, coercion, and so on—are not sustainable. Over time, resistance will inevitably build.
Lin Wendong and Uncle Dong had just returned to the village committee office when they received a call from Lin Yaohua.
A month ago, Lin Yaohua and some others were sent to Jianpu Village to oversee the construction of a factory there for Tazhai.
Now, a month had passed. Lin Wendong figured the factory should be completed by now.
Sure enough, Lin Yaohua reported over the phone that the factory was finished, and all the production line equipment had arrived.
“We’re already preparing to hire workers. Labor in Jianpu is cheap. It’ll only take a few days before production officially starts,” Lin Yaohua said at the end of the call.
“In the blink of an eye, our arms manufacturing company will be up and running,” Uncle Dong murmured softly, sitting in his chair, a distant look in his eyes.
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