Chapter 326 Undercurrent
There was a huge fire overnight and the sky seemed to be on fire.

After Zhang Yunqi and Gao Shan hung up a face-to-face phone call, they went back to rest.

As he left, car horns blew everywhere, and countless passers-by in the city rushed over. He even saw a familiar car - Jiangchuan City Car No. 1. The license plate of Hunan O.00001 on the front of the car was particularly eye-catching. Zhang Yunqi couldn't help but think that the person at the helm of Jiangchuan in the car, his heart was probably being mercilessly burned by the raging fire in the Red Star Factory area at this moment?

On that night at the end of the year in 1994, many people were bound to be unable to sleep all night because of the fire. Zhang Yunqi was one of them. However, if he stayed here and was too enthusiastic about Red Star's affairs, it would be considered abnormal in the eyes of some people.

Although there was no evidence, he did not hesitate to suspect with the utmost malice that the fire was an "accident" jointly created by Gaoshan's Phoenix Group and Senhai Group. Yes, the truth may never come to light, and the wailing of those poor people in the snowy night will not blow away the dark clouds covering the sky.

At dawn.

Zhang Yunqi appeared at Liansheng’s headquarters.

He first called Ma Shi over and gave him a very urgent matter: "I need a report on the situation of Senhai Group, focusing on the personnel changes in Senhai Group in recent years and the personal situation of Chairman Zhao Shiming. Keep a close eye on the financial staff, pay off internal staff, or find someone outside, and get to the bottom of this as soon as possible."

Ma Shi has been with Zhang Yunqi for many years. After Wang Guibing came to the front, he was the one doing all the dirty work behind the scenes. He could smell what Zhang Yunqi said as soon as he heard it, and he would respond immediately and go out to do his work.

At this time, the phone on the desk rang.

When Zhang Yunqi picked up the phone, it was from Yang Jiarong.

At such a critical moment, he thought Yang Jiarong would talk to him about the fire at the Red Star factory. Unexpectedly, Yang Jiarong talked to him about the endless heavy snow in Jiangchuan, and lamented that he had not seen such heavy snow for many years.

Zhang Yunqi was confused by what he heard.

In the 90s, snow was quite common in Jiangchuan, almost every year. But in later times, especially after 2010, there was basically no snow in winter.

Thinking of this, he suddenly remembered that in his previous life, there were major snowstorms in Jiangchuan in 94 and 08. In 94, he was studying at a technical secondary school in Lijin, the provincial capital. During the winter vacation, he had just taken a train back to Jiangchuan when he ran into a major snowstorm. The whole of Jiangchuan was without electricity and water, and the buses back to his hometown Yunxi were also suspended. He stayed at his eldest sister Zhang Qiulan's house for a few days. Because of the snowstorm, prices in Jiangchuan City soared and were looted. He couldn't even eat cabbage. It was unbearable. Fortunately, he was extremely poor at that time and was able to endure hardships and hard work, so he walked directly back to Yunxi Village.

Looking back now, there were many memorable things at the end of the year, but he would not talk about these with Yang Jiarong. Yang Jiarong always had his own purpose in what he said. It had been a long time since Jiangchuan had such a heavy snowfall. Did this snow chill him? I'm afraid it was the fire in the Red Star factory area last night!

Zhang Yunqi brought the topic to this point: "The snow is quite heavy, but it can't put out the fire last night."

Yang Jiarong laughed and scolded on the other end of the phone: "What do you want to say, kid?"

Zhang Yunchuan felt that Yang Jiarong was in a good mood, which was meaningful. He went a step further and said, "I think the fire at Red Star last night was man-made. Of course, this is not something I should care about. We should seek truth from facts. However, this fire may prevent Red Star from resuming production. If it continues like this, I am afraid that the psychological defenses of the employees will collapse."

Yang Jiarong was silent for a moment, then calmly said, "It seems that I overthink it. You are very clear-headed. Let's discuss the specific matters with Zhao Jianqiang."

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Yunqi looked at the snow outside the window and thought for a long time. His tentative words had already led to Yang Jiarong's basic attitude towards Red Star's bankruptcy and reorganization.

Perhaps this is also the purpose of Yang Jiarong making this call.

The current situation of Red Star is complicated, but Zhang Yunqi can still grasp the main contradiction. The bankruptcy and reorganization of Red Star Electronics Factory is difficult to move forward. Why? The problem of the resettlement of hundreds of laid-off employees cannot be solved!
The employees of Red Star are making trouble and opposing Sennheiser, which is forcing Red Star to go bankrupt and undergo restructuring. It is not out of love, but to save their jobs, because Sennheiser cannot provide them with a satisfactory solution to relocate redundant employees.

Now, the new industrial park of Longjingyuan has expanded its scale of operation and is capable of solving the problem of reemployment of laid-off Red Star employees. However, if he easily agrees to solve the problem of resettlement of Red Star's redundant employees and resolves this biggest contradiction, then this means that there will be no obstacles to the bankruptcy and reorganization of Red Star, and Gaoshan's Phoenix City Group will be able to easily take over this piece of low-priced state-owned land that is about to produce gold.

The question is, why did Zhang Yunqi do this? For the equipment of Red Star Electronics, the price was too high. The land was indeed valuable, but he was not interested in participating in commercial real estate development at this time. For Ai Fadian to accept the laid-off workers of Red Star and willingly make wedding clothes for Gao Shan? To be honest, the current situation was not very realistic.

You know, he and Yang Jiarong had reached a consensus that the city would help him solve the loan needed to introduce the production line in Longjingyuan, and he would accept hundreds of laid-off workers. But this was just a formality. In his heart, Yang Jiarong definitely did not want to see him accepting the laid-off workers of Hongxing.

The reasons are complicated. The main reason is that the method and purpose of Red Star's bankruptcy reorganization run counter to Yang Jiarong's thinking, and it was not led by him. Zhang Yunqi has no doubt that Senhai Group's bankruptcy reorganization plan is a thorn in Yang Jiarong's heart. Last night, Jiangchuan City's No. 1 car appeared at the fire scene of the Red Star factory area, and Yang Jiarong's phone call just now has proved this point.

Based on this, he should have followed Yang Jiarong's path. Moreover, he was the one who provided Yang Jiarong with the plan to set up Jiangchuan State-owned Holding Shell Company to manage the city's state-owned enterprises and prevent the loss of state-owned assets. If he accepted the laid-off workers of Red Star at this time, it would be equivalent to completely overturning the plan he gave Yang Jiarong, which would be equivalent to solving the biggest obstacle to swallowing up Red Star for Gao Shan for free. This was a slap in his own face and a slap in the face to Yang Jiarong.

How could Zhang Yunqi do such a stupid thing? However, Liu Dongsheng, the director of Red Star Electronics Factory, repeatedly approached him, hoping that he would do so; Li Yuehua, who was suffering from an incurable disease, sent Yang Wei and Yang Jin away and knelt in front of him to beg him, hoping that he would do so. They could not see that far, they could not see the undercurrent behind them, their idea was simple, that is, to find a way out and a job for hundreds of Red Star employees who were desperate and could not make ends meet!
Zhang Yunqi has been caught in this huge contradiction.

More importantly, the Red Star Electronics Factory seemed to be about to explode all the problems. He knew clearly that what would follow would be a showdown between two completely different ideas on the reform of state-owned enterprises. The message conveyed by Yang Jiarong's phone call seemed to be that he, Zhang Yunqi, was going to step to the front and compete with Gao Shan.

This moment didn't come too early.

After all, he had already said last night that Gao Shan would definitely not be able to get the land at No. 24 Xiangshan Road.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yunqi picked up the phone and asked Li Jilin to inform Liu Dongsheng to come over.

Liu Dongsheng arrived in a hurry at noon.

He brought another piece of bad news to Zhang Yunqi.

After the fire broke out at Red Star last night, taking advantage of the perfect opportunity to put out the fire, the demolition team followed the fire truck in, cleared the heavily guarded roadblocks, bunkers and trenches inside the gate, and forcibly demolished the house. The extremely angry Red Star employees all lay on the snow in front of the excavator, threatening to die! During this time, Yang Wei rushed to the excavator cab and was stabbed by the driver during the fight. He is still lying in the hospital and has not woken up.

The huge office suddenly became very quiet.

Zhang Yunqi stood outside the window and stared outside for a long time, until the cigarette butt burned his hand. He then turned to Liu Dongsheng and said, "Let's not talk about this, Director Liu. I can accept the laid-off workers from Red Star and let them find jobs again."

The anxious Liu Dongsheng was shocked.

For him, this moment came so suddenly.

The fire in Hongxing has made the employees determined to fight the Sennheiser Group to the end, because apart from staying in this factory that was destroyed by the fire, they have no idea what to do in the future.

Like Li Yuehua, she is lying in the hospital with a terminal illness. Her husband died long ago. Her son Yang Wei is facing the college entrance examination and is also in the hospital because of a conflict over demolition. The situation is so miserable that Liu Dongsheng feels sad just thinking about it.

There is also Liu Guoqing who is in the hospital due to burns caused by fighting a fire. Both he and his wife work at the Red Star Factory. Their daughter is still young and has just learned to walk. Liu Guoqing's wife ran to the trade union today, wiped her tears, and asked Liu Dongsheng what to do in the future?
How to do?
Liu Dongsheng didn't know, he didn't even know how to transfer his job! Su Donghong, director of the Municipal Mechanical and Electrical Bureau, the competent department leading the bankruptcy reorganization, had already told him at the Red Star Staff Representative Conference that if he didn't handle the bankruptcy reorganization of Red Star well, he, the factory director, would have to pack up and leave!
Now, Zhang Yunqi finally gave the answer.

As long as the factory workers are settled and everyone is given a job, all conflicts will be resolved.

However, what Liu Dongsheng couldn't understand was that he had been racking his brains to make this happen for months. He learned from Li Jilin that Zhang Yunqi also wanted to set up an electronics factory, so he proposed that as long as Zhang Yunqi accepted the laid-off workers of Red Star, all the production equipment could be transferred free of charge, and he could even apply to the district for a piece of land to build a factory. But Zhang Yunqi didn't seem to like the equipment at all, and getting the land was easy for him, so he never agreed.

So, why did Zhang Yunqi suddenly agree to accept the laid-off workers of Red Star?

Before Liu Dongsheng had time to think carefully, Zhang Yunqi's next words made him feel like he was falling into an ice cellar: "Director Liu, there are some things I have to tell you in advance. Accepting the laid-off workers of Red Star is just my personal promise. It cannot be counted as part of the resettlement plan for laid-off Red Star workers issued by the city."

Liu Dongsheng was not slow to react, and immediately felt that there was something wrong with these words, but he still had a little fantasy about this young and experienced entrepreneur. Just based on what Zhang Yunqi did to Yang Wei's family, "Mr. Zhang, what does this mean?"

Zhang Yunqi made him a cup of hot tea, sat on the sofa opposite him and said, "What I mean is that after the Red Star employees receive the resettlement allowance, they can find employment on their own and choose Liansheng. Therefore, you must continue to negotiate with Senhai Group and strive for the resettlement allowance that belongs to the employees. You can communicate with me at any time about the standard of the resettlement allowance."

"Until you are satisfied?"

"You can understand it this way." Zhang Yunqi's voice was calm and firm: "If you can't get this laid-off resettlement fee for the Red Star employees, then don't take my promise to you to heart."

Liu Dongsheng sat in the chair for a long time. When he went out, he had a forced smile on his face, but he was staggering all over.

He knew he was done.

******
(End of this chapter)