Both your salary and your salary will be as you wish.

Chapter 22: It's all about money.

Money is the breathing machine of the poor; every second without power is killing hope.

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Zheng Shanhe's face darkened immediately upon seeing these people. "What are you doing? It's so early in the morning. Go do what you're supposed to do. We'll talk later!"

"You keep turning your head back, what are you turning your head for? You've turned your head eight hundred times and you're still turning your head back! You have to give me a straight answer today, when are you going to pay me? You blame me for the rollover on the icy road? The repairs to my car are so expensive, I couldn't even sell a kidney to pay for them!" The one shouting was a driver in his thirties named Li Dashun.

Zheng Shanhe, his face flushed with anger, retorted, "Who else is to blame but you? That butcher told you to haul more, so you hauled more? Is he your father?! And your vehicle was illegally modified; the insurance company refused to pay. What am I supposed to do?!"

"If you don't modify this car, I'll lose money!"

"Then you have to give me time to negotiate!"

"We've been negotiating for a month, and you're still negotiating? And then you deduct my salary! I can barely afford to eat two steamed buns, but my daughter is waiting for me to bring money for her tuition!"

"Look at how despicable you are! You won't pay the child's tuition, and my old man is in the hospital waiting to get an arm implanted!"

An older woman pulled Li Dashun behind her and started yelling at Zheng Shanhe, "My old man broke his arm while working for you! You can't just ignore him! Our whole family depends on him as the breadwinner. When are you going to reimburse us for his medical expenses?!"

"He was driving while fatigued, so the insurance won't cover it!"

"Whose fault is it that he's driving while fatigued? The construction schedule is so tight, the roads are blocked by blizzards, and my husband is such a hard-working man. If you gave him a couple more days, would he have done this?!"

"Is it my fault? Wasn't that the client's request?! Didn't I have to negotiate too?!" Zheng Shanhe glanced at Zhang Zhishan every now and then, afraid that they would ruin this big client's business. "I'm not ignoring your problems, just wait a bit, I'll handle them one by one this afternoon, okay?"

"No! You have to solve this now, or you're not getting anything done!"

"Yes! And why can't my medical insurance reimburse those amounts!"

"My truckload of corn got stuck in cement, and the owner calls me every day yelling at me. It's because the road isn't fixed properly, it's not my fault. The road administration should compensate me. When are you going to report this?!"

"And my expense reimbursement slip has been submitted for a week, when are we going to get it?!"

Surrounded by a group of people talking all at once, Zheng Shanhe felt dizzy and disoriented. Finally, the eldest sister couldn't hold back any longer and grabbed Zheng Shanhe by the collar, refusing to let go: "Stop talking nonsense! You have to come with me to the hospital to pay the bills! My old man can't wait!"

"Hey, don't pull! Don't..."

The group got increasingly agitated from their tug-of-war, and the surrounding workers swarmed around them, each carrying a broom and pipe wrenches. In a flash, Zhang Zhishan and Zeng Jia were also drawn into the fray!

Zeng Jia screamed "Oh my god!" in fright, her soul almost flying out of her body. She had come to discuss business, so how did things turn into a fight?!

She shrank back, clutching her bag, afraid of being accidentally hurt, but upon closer inspection, Zhang Zhishan had already disappeared in a flash!

Before she could even catch her breath, she felt something flying towards her from behind! Zeng Jia turned around sharply and saw a pickaxe handle, as if it had eyes, swinging towards the back of Zhang Zhishan's head!

"Mr. Zhang! Watch out!" She shouted so hard her voice was almost split open.

As soon as Zhang Zhishan twisted his neck, that thing came hurtling towards his face. He was so frightened that his face turned pale, and he didn't know how to block it!

Without thinking, Zeng Jia swung the bag in her hand with all her might, and it clattered against the pickaxe handle. But she couldn't stop herself and fell flat on her face, landing hard and scraping both her hands.

"Ouch..." Zeng Jia thrashed about on the ground for a couple of moments but couldn't get up. Her whole body felt like it was going to fall apart. Luckily, she was wearing thick winter clothes, or her lungs would have been knocked out!

Zhang Zhishan, unusually, came over to give her a hand. Zeng Jiacai stood up, and the two of them rushed back to the Maybach as if fleeing a disaster, their hearts pounding wildly as they held onto the car door.

"Mr. Zhang, why don't we go back to the company first? This is too scary."

Zeng Jia's palms burned with pain. Looking down, she saw that not only were they broken, but the wounds were also mixed with mud and pebbles. Forgetting about the 16-yuan bottle of mineral water, she unscrewed it and poured it onto her hands, grimacing as she poured it over the wounds. The lingering effects of the alcohol from the previous night vanished in the pain.

Zhang Zhishan, panting heavily and looking unwilling, said, "I won't leave yet. I'll wait a while. You can find a place to get your injury checked, and then I'll have Lao Liu drive you to the hospital."

"Don't bother Master Liu, I saw a pharmacy right next door when I arrived, I can fix it myself!" Zeng Jia wiped her hands haphazardly, ignoring the pain, and turned to rush towards the pharmacy.

But as soon as she burst into the pharmacy, she almost bumped into someone. Zeng Jia looked closely and saw Wang Haowen!

"Good heavens, what are you doing here? You scared me!"

"I came right after you called. I just got to the entrance of the logistics park and saw you running here like you were being chased by a dog." Wang Haowen saw that she was covered in dirt and had injuries on her hands. "What happened? Did you wrestle on the ground for fun? And you got hurt?"

Zeng Jia blurted out in a few words: "We came to discuss cooperation, but unexpectedly a fight broke out inside. I slipped and fell flat on my face while running away, and Zhang Zhishan almost got his head cracked open by a pickaxe handle!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Haowen's hair stood on end. He quickly asked the shop assistant for iodine, gauze, and Yunnan Baiyao, pulled her down to sit, and carefully disinfected, applied the medicine, and bandaged her up.

The alcohol rubbed against her wound, causing Zeng Jia to hiss in pain, her face turning deathly pale. Only when her bottom touched the plastic stool did she feel a sense of relief. But her eyes kept glancing towards the door, afraid that Zhang Zhishan and the driver might suddenly burst in.

"Were you free this morning? Did Yu Li refuse to let you go even after she managed to grab onto you?"

"I'll go later."

Wang Haowen silently bandaged her hands, his hands trembling slightly. He'd received the phone call that morning, and hearing her cries, he'd forgotten everything else and rushed over. He was actually seething with anger on the way, but seeing the blood on her hands, he swallowed his words. What could he complain about? If he were truly capable, would she have needed to risk her life like this? Besides, he had indeed been late getting home…

"You're injured at work, why don't you hurry up and ask for leave and go home to stay home?" Whether it was out of heartache or guilt, Wang Haowen wrapped her hand up like a big dumpling, making it difficult for her to move even a little.

Zeng Jia also wanted to go home and lie down, "It's not right to just leave like this. I have to go and tell him. I don't even know how badly my leg is stuck." In the middle of winter, she couldn't take off her pants to get medicine at the pharmacy, but her knee was sore and bruises were inevitable.

"Then I'll wait for you here?" Wang Haowen stared at her expectantly, his eyes glued to her face, unwilling to look away.

Seeing his expression, Zeng Jia really wanted to ask about what happened last night, but before she could say anything, Zhang Zhishan's WeChat message popped up.

"Don't wait any longer, Zhang the Skinflint is negotiating the contract. I need to go take a look. We'll talk when we get home tonight."

Ignoring her aching hand, Zeng Jia grabbed her bag and rushed out the door. Zhang Zhishan had clearly seized the opportunity of the logistics strike to stab Zheng Shanhe in the back again, driving down the price to the bone. She had been following this Northeast route the whole time; she couldn't leave, otherwise all that drinking and suffering yesterday would have been for nothing!

Watching her disappear like she'd been injected with adrenaline, Wang Haowen forced a bitter smile, unsure whether he was laughing at her or at himself.

"Wang Haowen, you're not even as good as a contract." He hailed a car and went straight home.