"Chaojiang, Jinghui Logistics Company will be busier and busier in the future..." Xu Zhengyang said softly, taking a drag of his cigarette.
"Um."
"I think after this matter is resolved, you should stay in Beijing or go to the provincial capital of Hebei to manage the logistics company. It's not good for you to stay by my side all the time."
"I don't understand these things."
“You can learn if you don’t understand.” Xu Zhengyang smiled and said, “Don’t pretend to be stupid in front of me. You learn everything faster than me and you’re smarter. Besides, I don’t think there’s much to learn in the logistics industry. You’ll get used to it. Furthermore, I’m here to be a leader. You can leave the business matters to the professionals. Your personality isn’t suited for running sales.”
Chen Chaojiang remained silent for a long while before finally asking, "Why?"
“I’ve said before that I wanted you to be the boss. Well, I have half of the shares in Jinghui Logistics Company, so let’s split it 50/50. I’ll be the one who does nothing, and you can help with the arrangements. How about that?” Xu Zhengyang said with a smile.
“You need someone by your side,” Chen Chaojiang said earnestly.
Xu Zhengyang laughed and said, "You know I'm surrounded by ghosts all the time. I have to let them out to show you before I can feel at ease."
"You think I'm useless?"
"Bullshit..."
"Actually, I'm just as lazy as you," Chen Chaojiang smiled and said, "I know you mean well. Well, I'll help you take good care of the company."
Xu Zhengyang nodded, patted Chen Chaojiang on the shoulder, and turned to walk into the office.
He didn't really intend for Chen Chaojiang to learn company management or operations; rather, he wanted to give Chen Chaojiang a more respectable position. The reasons... you know. Besides, since Jinghui Logistics Company was poised to grow significantly, relying solely on Zhan Xiaohui and Deng Wenjing to send trusted confidants to monitor the various branches and offices wasn't sustainable. After all, those professional talent managers were incredibly shrewd; wouldn't it be easy to fool a few rough rural folks? Even Zhan Xiaohui wasn't confident he could manage a rapidly expanding company.
How can we prevent scoundrels and scourges from appearing in our company?
Lacking both cultural knowledge and exceptional intelligence, Xu Zhengyang's approach was much more direct.
Arrange for undercover agents to conduct inspections of the company, branches, and offices every few days. Then, Chen Chaojiang will personally step in and coldly signal to those corrupt officials, or make an example of them. No need for violence; the goal is to intimidate them psychologically. Let the company's employees know that they shouldn't think they're so clever; the leadership is aware of any underhanded actions that harm the company's interests.
Using ghosts to send messages in dreams is not acceptable; it's too terrifying, and the sin shouldn't be that serious.
Since Xu Zhengyang is the kind of guy who likes to shirk responsibility, it's best to leave this kind of thing to Chen Chaojiang.
To put it bluntly, it's a leisurely job...
11:05.
The vehicle was fully loaded. The cargo bed was tightly closed, and the two drivers checked the tires and wiped the windows, preparing to depart.
The stevedores sat on the empty warehouse platform on the east side, smoking and chatting.
Wu Juan walked to Xu Zhengyang's office door and knocked. Soon, Chen Chaojiang opened the door from the inside and coldly invited her in.
Wu Juan was quite puzzled as to why the chairman wanted her to remind him to let him know when the vehicle was loaded and ready to leave that evening.
Upon hearing from Wu Juan that the vehicle was loaded and ready to depart, Xu Zhengyang smiled and said, "Manager Wu, it's getting late, you should go and get some rest. You're always busy until this time, you must be exhausted."
"Thank you for your concern, Chairman." Wu Juan said calmly, "Once the company is on the right track, we will need to hire some more staff so that every employee can have enough rest time."
"Okay, until then, every employee will receive a monthly bonus. You decide how much. Your bonus... I won't raise it. It'll be a monthly salary of 10,000! There will be more bonuses when the company's performance improves." Xu Zhengyang acted like a big boss, but unfortunately, he didn't know that this wasn't how a chairman should act.
However, Wu Juan didn't find anything wrong with what she heard. Instead, she assumed that the young chairman was simply outspoken. In Wu Juan's mind, Xu Zhengyang wasn't some rich kid who recklessly squandered money; he was a promising young man with exceptional abilities. Otherwise, how could he have suppressed the Speedy Logistics Company, which had ties to organized crime, within a single day of arriving in Beijing, without triggering any violent conflict? Clearly, he possessed both ability and connections.
After Wu Juan left, Xu Zhengyang said to Chen Chaojiang, "Go ahead, be careful."
"Light or heavy?" Chen Chaojiang asked coldly, completely disregarding his own safety, which was something he didn't need to consider at all.
"We'll see how it goes. If they grab weapons, then cripple them!" Xu Zhengyang said calmly. "Remember, don't call the police this time. After you're done, let the driver go first, so as not to delay the freight shipment."
"Mm." Chen Chaojiang nodded.
"Oh, call Zhang Shihong in," Xu Zhengyang said again.
Chen Chaojiang responded and walked out without looking back.
A moment later, warehouse manager Zhang Shihong walked in with a smile: "Chairman, you wanted to see me?"
"Okay. Have a seat, thank you for your hard work." Xu Zhengyang said with a smile as he sat behind his desk.
"Thank you, Chairman." Zhang Shihong sat down on the sofa with some gratitude.
Xu Zhengyang tossed a cigarette over and said, "These past few days have been busy, and the company is short-staffed. You've worked hard. I've already spoken to Manager Wu, and he'll give you an extra 500 yuan bonus this month..."
"Chairman, it's only right that I'm busy, it's only right." Zhang Shihong said with a happy expression.
Xu Zhengyang smiled and nodded, saying nothing more. He smoked, seemingly lost in thought. Zhang Shihong was puzzled; should she leave or stay? The chairman remained silent.
Hearing the roar of trucks outside and their departure from the company, Xu Zhengyang smiled and waved his hand, saying, "Well, that's all. Go get some rest. You'll have to get up early tomorrow. You'll need to take good care of the goods coming from Fuhe City and the provincial capital of Hedong!"
"Yes, Chairman, please rest assured! I will definitely work hard!" Zhang Shihong stood up, made a promise, and then left.
Xu Zhengyang got up, made himself a cup of tea, then sat back on the sofa and closed his eyes to rest.
A large, high-sided truck dispatched by Jinghui Logistics' Beijing branch headed west from Jingfang Road toward the Jingming Expressway.
In the driver's cab, which usually only has two drivers, a pale-faced young man sat in the passenger seat today. His expression was cold, and his narrow eyes were icy. The dim yellow light from the street lamps shone into the driver's cab, making the young man's cold expression seem even more frightening in the dark environment.
As the vehicle approaches the Jingfang Roundabout, the entrance to the Jingming Expressway will be just past the roundabout.
There were no streetlights on this section of the road, while the area around the Jingfang Roundabout in the distance was brightly lit. It was almost midnight, and there were few vehicles on Jingfang Road, but the headlights of cars on the Jingming Expressway and the Fifth Ring Road could still be seen flashing in the distance.
A white van suddenly overtook from the side, its right turn signal flashing in front of the truck.
Upon seeing this, the truck driver slowed down, muttered a few curses under his breath, and then turned the steering wheel slightly to the left, intending to overtake the van on the left when it turned right.
Just as he slowed down, the van suddenly braked and stopped.
The truck driver slammed on the brakes, and with a screeching sound, the truck came to a stop more than three meters away from the van.
Then another van rushed up from the left, blocking the truck's left turn route.
"Get the fire extinguishers ready, and be prepared to go to the back of the truck to put out the fire at any time!" Chen Chaojiang said coldly, then pushed open the car door and jumped out.
Both the driver in the driver's seat and the driver sitting in the back sleeper were stunned. What... happened?
Five or six menacing young men, carrying machetes and steel pipes and iron bars, suddenly jumped out of the two vans and walked towards the driver's cab, cursing and swearing.
The slender Chen Chaojiang jumped down from the side door alone and walked to the front of the car to meet it.
The driver in the driver's seat suddenly realized something and immediately reached into the small toolbox on his left-hand door, pulling out a screwdriver. He gripped it tightly, pushed open the door, and was about to jump out when the driver in the back berth grabbed him: "What are you doing getting out? Looking for trouble! Can't you see they're all carrying weapons?"
The driver, who had intended to get off the bus to help, paused for a moment, then stared wide-eyed, just like the passenger in the back berth, at the scene unfolding in the headlights, his ears ringing with angry curses and piercing screams...
The two drivers didn't even see how Chen Chaojiang made his move; they only saw him rush forward with a cold face and without saying a word, and then everything went wrong.
Time flies, extremely fast, so fast that it's almost impossible to keep up.
Just as the driver in the driver's seat finally decided to get out of the car to help Chen Chaojiang fight those people, he noticed smoke and sporadic flames coming from a corner of the tarpaulin above the rear of the vehicle through the rearview mirror. He shouted, "Oh no, fire!" As soon as he finished speaking, he grabbed a small fire extinguisher from between the seats, pushed open the car door, turned around and climbed onto the roof from the ladder on the outside of the driver's side. Then, disregarding whether the roof of the vehicle was flat and dangerous, he rushed to the parking space, forcefully pulled off the tarpaulin, and sprayed the fire extinguisher at the fire.
Volume 4, City God Chapter 159: Now that it's started, don't sleep!
The fire at the rear of the truck had just started. It wasn't large, so the driver quickly extinguished it with a fire extinguisher.
However, after extinguishing the fire, he noticed a person standing in the darkness at the rear of the truck, looking up at him with surprise, holding a sharp, gleaming knife. The driver suddenly realized that the tarpaulin he had easily ripped open earlier had been slashed, and that person had climbed over the guardrail, cut open the tarpaulin, and set the cargo inside the truck on fire.
Thinking of this, the driver became extremely angry, cursed "Damn it!", and then swung the fire extinguisher down.
This driver, a middle-aged man nearing forty, must have often played with clods of dirt in the village as a child, hence his excellent aim. Having also secured a high vantage point, he smashed the fire extinguisher squarely over the head of the bewildered man, who was still staring blankly at the spot. A loud bang was followed by a scream. The driver quickly scrambled down the railing, then leaped down, disregarding the knife in the man's hand. He kicked the man clutching his head to the ground, then picked up the fallen fire extinguisher and proceeded to smash it over his head repeatedly.
The young man had already dropped his knife. Unable to withstand such a brutal beating, he cried out in pain, cursing and crawling to avoid the blows, but his hands slipped, and he fell headfirst into the wheat field, tumbling down more than three meters below the road. Ignoring the pain, he got up and ran into the darkness, cursing his men for being such incompetent fools—why hadn't they dealt with the people in the car?
The driver grabbed the fire extinguisher and ran back to the front of the car, his heart filled with ruthlessness, determined to break the legs of these guys!
No wonder this driver was so hot-tempered, audacious, and aggressive. He'd finally found a good job—high pay, not tiring, and he could go home to visit his family every few days. If his load of goods got burned on the road, forget about liability and compensation; he'd definitely lose the job. This was outrageous! This was cutting off his livelihood!
Unexpectedly, by the time the driver, filled with rage, ran to the front of the car, the fight had already ended.
The thin, taciturn young man who always followed the chairman around was standing by the window next to the driver's seat, twirling a sharp dagger in his left hand. He said to the other driver inside, "Don't think about anything, just do your job and deliver the goods on time." After saying this, he saw the driver carrying a fire extinguisher rushing over from behind, then stood in front of the truck, stunned, staring at the scene before him. Chen Chaojiang coldly reminded him, "Let's go, just pretend this never happened."
"Huh?" The driver snapped out of his daze and nodded. He then opened the car door and got in, saying, "Let's go. Once we get on the highway, we'll have to take the tarpaulin off the back again. Damn it, it's got a huge hole in it. We'll have to fix it properly when we get back to Fuhe City. Those bastards."
Muttering curses, the driver started the car, shifted gears, reversed a few meters, then turned left, bypassed two white vans, and drove straight towards the highway entrance at the Jingfang roundabout.
Although there were very few vehicles on the road late at night, one or two cars would still occasionally drive by.
However, passing vehicles didn't stop to see what was happening on the roadside. Instead of slowing down, they accelerated and drove around the scene, carefully avoiding this troublesome place. As the saying goes, "If it doesn't concern you, don't get involved." When you're out and about, it's always better to avoid trouble!
Two vans were parked in the open space between them, one in the middle right lane and the other on the side of the road. Five young men in their twenties and thirties lay sprawled on the ground, surrounded by machetes, iron bars, and steel pipes. All five were curled up, groaning, and convulsing to varying degrees… Chen Chaojiang didn't even glance at them again, coldly twirling the dagger in his hand, and walked across the road, slowly back along the sidewalk.
A small van turned from the Jingfang roundabout and drove this way. Its headlights were particularly bright in the darkness. It stopped briefly when it passed Chen Chaojiang, and then sped away.
On the pitch-black road, apart from the occasional flash of light, there was no one else around.
After a while, a black Hyundai sped up from the east, its headlights tearing through the dark night and illuminating the people lying, squatting, or leaning against the van on the roadside. The Hyundai stopped, and three young men got out, hurriedly helping the groaning people into the van. Then they drove off at high speed.
With a dark expression and gritting his teeth, Zhang Tianshun drove his Hyundai behind the two vans, dialing Huo Zhendong's number as he did so.
"Brother Dong, Xiao Si and the others are dead here, they've been beaten to a pulp!"
"What?"
"Xiao Si and the others said that after they stopped the car, a young man got off the Jinghui Logistics truck and started fighting without saying a word. The young man was quite skilled and knocked down all of Xiao Si and the others with just a small dagger!"
"The other party got wind of it beforehand..." Huo Zhendong said in a gloomy voice, not even thinking about the skilled young man; he wasn't unfamiliar with such people. He even had them around him. But the person who leaked the information beforehand was definitely from their Speedy Logistics Company.
Traitors, whether among good people or bad people, are unforgivable.
Zhang Tianshun gritted his teeth and said, "Not many people know about this. Xiao Si and the others are all dead!"
Is your nephew reliable?
"Brother Dong, I know Shi Hong well."
"Is that so?" Huo Zhendong's tone was somewhat cold.
Zhang Tianshun's heart tightened, and he said, "Brother Dong, only you, me, and he know what Shihong is going to do. If you don't trust him, just wait and see how he performs tomorrow morning."
"good!"
"What happened tonight..."
"Come back first. Maybe Jinghui Logistics has been being careful all along, so they arranged for someone who can fight to accompany the vehicle," Huo Zhendong said coldly, and then hung up the phone.
In the bedroom on the second floor of the villa, Huo Zhendong disgustedly pushed away the sexy, naked woman in his arms. He sat up, naked, on the edge of the bed, lit a cigarette, and took a deep drag. He was inwardly furious, thinking, "No one's too powerful for Jinghui Logistics! They really have some connections!" These days, it's not uncommon to hire someone capable of fighting and killing, but to have someone like that single-handedly take down several thugs and have him constantly escorting a freight truck... isn't that overkill?
But... this is the capital city. Even if you were a dragon, you'd still have to coil up like a snake here!
Huo Zhendong took a few more deep drags on his cigarette, stubbed it out hard in the ashtray, picked up his phone and dialed a number: "Dapeng, come stay with me for a few days, there's a tough one here."
People who do a lot of underhanded things are often worried that others will use the same methods against them.
Isn't this a kind of irony for those self-proclaimed powerful and daring big shots?
Well, better safe than sorry.