Wangzhou Mountain is just a small mountain ridge, incomparable to Baiyun Mountain. It's not far from the county seat either, only half an hour's drive away.
On the way, Cheng Yazhou whispered to Ge Dongxu that he and Wu Qianjin had discussed it: their funds were a bit tight at the mont, so they could only invest one hundred and fifty thousand—him one hundred thousand, Wu Qianjin fifty thousand.
Ge Dongxu didn't really care whether they invested an extra fifty thousand or not. What mattered most was finding two trustworthy partners, so he had no objections when he heard this. That settled it: Ge Dongxu invested three hundred and fifty thousand for a seventy percent stake, Cheng Yazhou invested one hundred thousand for a twenty percent stake, and Wu Qianjin invested fifty thousand for a ten percent stake, with the recipe trademark solely owned by Ge Dongxu. However, it would be free to use for the first five years.
The area surrounding Wangzhou Mountain is called Wangzhou Township.
The beverage factory run by Liu Lihe and the others is located on the eastern side of the township's town center, close to Wangzhou Mountain.
Wangzhou Township's town center is quite run-down and small; you can see from one end of the street to the other.
The Santana passed through the town center's street, passing by the local governnt courtyard, which had signs for the Chinese Communist Wangzhou Township Committee, the People's Governnt, the People's Ard Forces Departnt, the Discipline Inspection Committee, the People's Congress Presidium, and the Police Station. That building seed relatively new and imposing compared to the rest of the town.
At the end of the street, the Santana turned left and drove for another three to four minutes on a bumpy road before reaching a factory building with the sign "Liu Jiansheng Herbal Tea Beverage Factory."
"Liu Jiansheng" was the original tea recipe trademark brand used by Liu Lihe, nad after an ancestor from their village. According to legend, the recipe for this herbal tea ca from this ancestor, and every household in their village knew how to brew it. So villagers even set up tea stands in towns for a living. Married to Yuan Li, a woman with broader horizons than her fellow villagers, Liu Lihe was thus inspired to persuade Yuan Li to help him with a loan to start a herbal tea beverage factory.
Initially, Yuan Li disagreed because it was a significant investnt for them, but she couldn't resist Liu Lihe's relentless persuasion. Deep down, she too wanted to get rich, so she eventually agreed.
Unexpectedly, the factory ended up thoroughly trapping them in a quagmire.
Ge Dongxu had his own recipe and naturally was unwilling to use another person's trademark brand, so he decided yesterday to rena it "Qinghe," aning clear and harmonious, with the implication of cooling without harming the body.
The exterior of the factory was surrounded by a white wall and planted with trees all around. With the forest at the back, it exuded an extra touch of greenery. The factory itself covered an area of about three thousand square ters, which was decent.
From the outside, it looked quite decent, but once inside, it appeared desolate. People, dressed simply, either chatted idly in the shade of the trees or squatted on the ground playing cards. Surrounding the factory were piles of discarded herbal residue, and a complex herbal scent perated the air.
Yuan Li apparently ca to the factory often, so as soon as she entered, soone recognized her and threw down their cards, saying, "The boss's wife is here!"
Consequently, a swarm of people crowded around her, bombarding Yuan Li with questions, "Boss's wife, when will we get our wages for the past two months? Our families are waiting on this money to put food on the table."
Not far away, at the window of an office in the factory, a man and a woman looked out at Yuan Li being surrounded by the workers.
The man appeared to be in his early thirties, tall and handso. At his age, with such an appearance, he was at the peak of his charm, but his expression of schadenfreude was sowhat punchable at the mont.
The woman was younger, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. Her looks were no match for Yuan Li's, but she had a fuller figure, especially a notably large rear. Watching the scene outside, her expression revealed a slight unease.
"Lihe, are we going too far with this?" the woman asked in a low voice.
"What's too far about it? They say a couple owes a hundred days of grace for one night of marriage, but damn, as soon as she divorces , your cousin turns her back and plays dumb. She's clearly a bank leader, yet she lets the bank push us to death. Fine, since we both don't have formal jobs, and our only fixed assets are a rundown house in the village and this factory, let them auction off the factory, and take that shabby house. I couldn't care less about the rest; what can the bank do to us anyway? In the end, they'll still go to her. As for these workers, let them go to her also. Let her taste what it's like to be hounded for debts. Isn't that just perfect?" The man, naturally, was Liu Lihe, his handso face revealing the shaless and vile sneer only a scoundrel would possess.
"But…" The woman hesitated before speaking; she was naturally Yuan Li's cousin, Yang Hong.
"There's no 'but' about it. It's clear that we can't save the factory. By doing this, I'm also making her and the bank realize, we indeed don't have a penny left. Otherwise, if they actually found out about the fifty thousand in cash we have stashed, we wouldn't be able to protect that money," Liu Lihe interrupted.
Upon hearing Liu Lihe ntion the fifty thousand, Yang Hong fell silent.
"I've divorced Liu Lihe already, this factory has nothing to do with . If you want to collect your debts, go find Liu Lihe and Yang Hong. What's the aning of surrounding ?" Yuan Li said with furrowed brows and an annoyed expression.
"Yuan Li, you're being too heartless with your words. No matter what, you and he were once husband and wife. Now, Liu Lihe and Yang Hong are saying the bank's debt has co due, and the bank is forcing them to sell their factory buildings. They really can't co up with a single penny right now. Even though you're a leader in the bank, it's one thing if you don't help with the bank's money, but you should at least help pay back the hard-earned money of our fellow villagers. Everyone agrees, right?" a very brassy woman said.
"Right, right! You need to pay back the money!" the others clamored in agreent upon hearing this.
Wu Qianjin and Cheng Yazhou both frowned at this scene, looking at Yuan Li with a hint of sympathy in their eyes, while Ge Dongxu's face had already darkened.
As a cultivator, his senses were much sharper than normal people's. When Liu Lihe and Yang Hong hid in the office to watch, Ge Dongxu sensed them, and when he focused his energies on his ears, he even vaguely heard so conversation between them. Although the distance ant the sounds were unclear and fragnted, with Ge Dongxu's intelligence, he could roughly infer the aning from those fragnts after a little deduction. Continue your saga on empire
"Utterly shaless!" Ge Dongxu was extrely angry in his heart.
Not only had he cheated on his ex-wife, but he also seed to think she was heartless and ungrateful for turning her back on him. Ge Dongxu found people like Liu Lihe even more despicable than Duan Qiaoxue and Jin Ma, who had previously conspired against Jiang Lili's father, mainly because they were so disgusting.
Yuan Li naturally couldn't ntion the affair between Liu Lihe and her cousin, and the one leading the commotion was actually Liu Lihe's sister-in-law, Han Zhen, notoriously brazen in their village. She knew the real reason Yuan Li and Liu Lihe divorced. At that point, not speaking up for Yuan Li was one thing, but to take the lead in instigating, Yuan Li naturally felt very annoyed, and reached out to push her away, saying, "Get out of my way, where are Liu Lihe and Yang Hong? We need to find them."
"Ah! You owe money and hit people, how dare you! You think you're justified!" Han Zhen, caught off guard by the push, nearly fell on her backside and imdiately shrieked, lunging forward to tear at Yuan Li's clothes in a frenzy.
Yuan Li, also caught unawares, had buttons on her shirt ripped open, causing her ample bosom to stretch the fabric, revealing a glimpse of skin.
Scrambling to cover her chest with her bag, Yuan Li's eyes began to redden.
"What are you trying to hide? If you won't pay back the money, then let everyone have a good look at whether a city girl's skin is whiter than ours country folk's!" said Han Zhen as she reached to snatch Yuan Li's bag.
Seeing this, others also started to jeer along.
ps: At the request of Mo Wenqing, a friend from the Ying Long's Threads ssage board, despicable Liu Lihe makes a grand appearance. Congratulations to my friend Mo Wenqing.
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