Chapter 95 Obstruction

Chapter 95: Obstacles

The factory's expansion and investment were already showing results—every piece of equipment in the workshops had been replaced, and recruitment and training were ongoing.

The workshops ran day and night. Besides producing clothes for the four Vilanido counters, they also began, according to Jiang Luo's original plan, to manufacture affordable clothing for places like small markets. These garments were distributed by factory staff throughout Haicheng, especially to small markets, for selection by various stall owners and small shopkeepers. The labels and tags on all these clothes uniformly read: Shengfei Apparel.

The small business owners were pleasantly surprised as they picked through the clothes: "So beautiful!" "I've never seen styles like these before."

"These look like designs you'd find in department stores, don't they?"

Boss Wang, Wang Chuang, personally oversaw the operation, a cigarette dangling from his lips, speaking with seasoned authority: "Grab them while you can, that's all we've got."

He added: "These are budget items, just ten, twenty, or thirty yuan a piece. Want them or not? If not, they'll go to others."

Within a few days, Jiang Luo officially returned to work, his arm still in a sling. Aside from a still-healing wound on his forehead, he was his usual self—relaxed and arrogant.

At the same time, he was accompanied by two additional men and an extra car. His own vehicle was temporarily replaced by Huo Zongzhuo's BMW, driven by Lao Si for the time being.

The additional black Volkswagen was driven by a man named Lao San, with Wang Junqing in the passenger seat. The two followed Jiang Luo's car, hand-picked by Huo Zongzhuo to protect him.

Jiang Luo understood Huo Zongzhuo's good intentions and didn't refuse. He valued his life and had no intention of an early demise.

Xiao Lu got nervous seeing this—one, two, three. First Wang Junqing, then another Wang Junqing lookalike, then a third, all tall, burly, and tough-looking. These three would probably eat a whole pound of rice per meal, right?

*Mr. Jiang, they wouldn’t jump me and use me as a punching bag for fun, would they? QAQ*

When Lao Si arrived at the factory, he said to Wang Junqing, who also had his arm in a sling: "Hey, Mr. Jiang's secretary is quite interesting. Soft-skinned and delicate, and he’s too scared to even look our way. Did you bully him before?"

Lao San, knowing Lao Si well, chimed in: "Is it because he’s soft-skinned and delicate that *you* want to bully him?"

Lao Si snorted: "No way. Mr. Jiang's secretary is someone to respect."

Later, when Xiao Lu brought them food from the canteen, he carried the rice in a big metal bowl. Lao Si and Lao San were shocked—*damn, does he think we’re pigs?*

Jiang Luo inspected the workshop and reviewed the latest sample prototypes for Shengfei.

Zhang Ningfu, who had also returned to work, was puzzled: "We were already selling to department stores. Why aren’t we continuing?"

Jiang Luo calmly flipped through the samples: "How many department stores are there in Haicheng? How many in the whole country? How many shoppers do they really attract?"

"We’ve bought so many machines, hired so many people, and we’re running three shifts around the clock to produce clothes. Of course, we need to sell to more people."

"Selling one piece for 1,500 yuan to one person takes effort. How many people can afford a 1,500-yuan garment?"

"Sell for 50 yuan, easily sell fifty items, and you’ll earn even more."

Zhang Ningfu listened, found it reasonable, and nodded, thinking to himself: *No wonder the materials for Shengfei's clothes are so affordable and production is so fast. That’s the goal.*

After reviewing the samples, Jiang Luo casually tossed them onto the table and moved on to the next piece, adding: "Once Haicheng and the surrounding areas know about this factory, we won’t need to haul the clothes out to sell them."

"We won’t need a dedicated sales department either. Just clear out a storage space and let the small business owners come pick themselves."

"As sales grow, people will come to buy in bulk and sell our clothes elsewhere."

"No rush, we’ll take things one step at a time."

A couple of days later, it was Jiang Luo's turn to take Huo Zongzhuo to meet various people in Haimen.

Huo Zongzhuo sat to the side, watching Jiang Luo discuss the clothing factory called Hongming with others.

And Jiang Luo pulled a move right away that made Huo Zongzhuo quietly chuckle and impressed by his cleverness—

Huo Zongzhuo had previously waited until after drinking and eating before bringing out the briefcase.

Jiang Luo didn’t. As soon as he sat down, he placed a stack of RMB on the table and said: "Apologies, apologies. I’m not much of a drinker. Let’s just have tea today, alright? We’ll substitute tea for wine."

What could the other party say? With money on the table, tea it was.

Huo Zongzhuo smirked to himself, looking at Jiang Luo with a father’s pride watching his grown son—approving, amused, slightly helpless, yet full of admiration and affection.

And so, with Huo Zongzhuo accompanying him, Jiang Luo discussed Hongming with others.

What was there to discuss?

Why discuss it again?

Hadn’t they already bought shares?

Because the shares Huo Zongzhuo acquired in Hongming on Jiang Luo's behalf, replacing Chen Xianlong, amounted to only 45%. The remaining shares were held as follows: the original factory director and several management leaders held 20% collectively, the Haimen County government and the local power bureau jointly held 20%, and the remaining small portion was purchased collectively by the factory's original fifty-plus workers.

In other words, Hongming's situation was somewhat complicated.

Jiang Luo needed to secure full operational control without interference from these shareholders, which required their support.

How to gain their support?

It wasn’t complicated.

Huo Zongzhuo had already set the example—use money to grease the wheels. Money talks.

So that day, Huo Zongzhuo watched as Jiang Luo opened the briefcase, pushed it forward with a smile, and calmly negotiated terms with the other party.

Huo Zongzhuo watched with immense satisfaction. His child, taught by him, had outdone the teacher—excellent.

But soon, Jiang Luo encountered a "hurdle"—the workers who held 15% of Hongming's shares, along with several of their leaders, were giving him the cold shoulder.

Jiang Luo reached out through the factory's original director, the leaders, and local town connections, but the workers still wouldn’t see him.

Being new in town, Jiang Luo sensed there was a specific reason. He spent some money to have someone investigate.

He didn’t leave, staying instead at the Haimen county government guesthouse.

Huo Zongzhuo wasn’t there; he was busy with work in Haicheng. When he called Jiang Luo and heard what happened, he said slowly: "If you don’t win over the workers, any attempt to reform the factory's operations will fail."

"They’re shareholders, but they’re also workers."

"I suspect they’re refusing to meet you as fellow workers."

Jiang Luo stood by the window in his guestroom, holding his mobile phone to his ear, and laughed: "I knew it wouldn’t be this easy."

"Managing a factory you bought into is much harder than starting one from scratch."

He sighed, in a tone that was half joking, half serious: "It’s not like I don’t have the money. If this drags on, I might as well set up a new factory."

"In the time we’ve spent, I could’ve had a new factory up and running."

"Hongming—what an awful name."

Huo Zongzhuo shot back immediately: "Sounds like you’ve got a plan to solve this."

Jiang Luo said with a tone dripping with sarcasm, "What’s there to solve? It’s a factory that hasn't been operating for a while—if it doesn't reopen soon, everyone will go hungry. Plus, we’ve already sunk considerable money buying shares. How many days do you think those workers can last? Don’t they need to eat? Everyone goes hungry together?"

"If the factory shuts down, there’ll be no money, wages get suspended, and even if I don’t go looking for them, they’ll come find me."

Huo Zongzhuo laughed, "That’s how it sounds, but I know you won’t actually do that."

"In Juxiang Town, you took in all those oil factory workers."

"When it comes to workers, you’re a conscientious boss."

Jiang Luo: "Not half as much as you."

Huo Zongzhuo: "Are you praising me or digging at me?"

"Praising you."

Jiang Luo thought inwardly, *your company, Boss Huo, will eventually be recognized as the private enterprise with the best employee benefits in all of China, hands down.*

"I’m taking a page from your book."

Huo Zongzhuo chuckled, "You’re getting more and more disrespectful."

As Jiang Luo had said, Hongming Garment Factory’s slumping performance was the reason it faced a wholesale reform. Because business had been bad for so long, wages had been delayed since before last Spring Festival, and the workers were grumbling loudly.

So why would the workers chip in money to buy shares in such a factory?

Jiang Luo knew perfectly well—they’d been hoodwinked by the factory.

If they hadn’t been tricked, no one would have bought the shares. How else could the factory secure funds through restructuring to cover its losses?

And precisely because no one was buying the shares, the town government and the local power bureau, which was in decent financial shape, had to step in and buy up some shares.

It was the only option left.

Just as Huo Zongzhuo had originally said, this was just a rundown factory in a small northern Jiangsu county.

If not for Chen Xianlong, Hongming would have gone under long ago—it wouldn’t even have been able to restructure.

If not for Huo Zongzhuo dragging Jiang Luo into this, who among them had ever seen a briefcase stuffed with cash? So naturally, it made sense to show Chen Xianlong the door together.

Jiang Luo understood that the workers had complaints and weren’t united. He had someone ask around, and it didn’t take long to find out.

Sure enough, the next day, while Jiang Luo was eating breakfast in the cafeteria of the guesthouse, with his arm slung, Wang Junqing—also with his arm slung—came over, bent down, and whispered in Jiang Luo’s ear for a moment in a low voice.

After listening, Jiang Luo curled his lips in understanding.

No wonder the workers didn’t want to see him—they’d heard he’d driven out Chen Xianlong, and rumors had reached them about leaders taking money, making them think he was a sharp, mercenary, and resourceful boss. They were very wary of him.

So that was it.

But what was so hard about that?

Jiang Luo had run factories in two lifetimes and had dealt with workers in both. He knew exactly what workers were thinking.

Calmly eating his breakfast, he waved Wang Junqing over.

Wang Junqing leaned in, and Jiang Luo said calmly, "Go to the bus station and charter three buses with drivers. Have them drive to the entrance of Hongming."

"Then go buy a bullhorn."

Wang Junqing thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Jiang, today is Sunday. The factory is closed."

Jiang Luo said lightly, "The factory is closed, the workshops are closed, the machines are idle, but the workers would jump at the chance to work."

"Just go. Have the buses pull up at the factory entrance. I’m sure there will be workers at the factory today."

"You go first. Later, Lao Si and I will meet you at the factory gate."

Soon, three buses slowly came to a stop at the entrance of Hongming.

Along with them were two cars carrying Jiang Luo, Wang Junqing, and the others.

As soon as the buses stopped, the car doors opened, and Lao Si stepped out with a bullhorn. Walking toward the factory gate, he raised the bullhorn to his mouth and shouted, "Get on the bus! It’s free! No charge!"

"We’re taking you to Haicheng to tour a state-of-the-art factory!"

"Come take a look!"

"Free tour! Food and drinks on us!"

"Free! Meals included!"

"After the tour, you’ll get a cash bonus when you come back!"

"Cash bonuses! A hundred bucks each! One hundred!"

"Everyone who goes on the tour gets one!"

"Tour! Meals! Cash bonuses!"

"Complimentary rides both ways!"

"Cash bonuses! Cash bonuses!"

"One hundred! One hundred!"

"Meals provided! Meals provided!"

A head popped out from the factory guard shack, looking on with curiosity and surprise.

Soon, workers began trickling out of the factory. Some came in small groups, others ran alone toward the buses, queuing up to board.

Lao Si held the bullhorn, and Lao San also urged them on: "Get on, get on, come take a look."

"Free! Meals! Cash bonuses!"

"One hundred, one hundred."

Lao Si even called out to the old security guard who had just peered out from the factory gate: "Come on, come on, get on."

"Free grub and a hundred yuan—no reason to say no."

"Everyone else gets a hundred, you don’t want it?"

The old man scampered over and hopped on the bus.