Su Xiucen said with some emotion, "The thing I remember most clearly in my life is when my husband went to the construction site to collect his wages. I thought the mine was too dangerous, so I told him to go to town and see if anyone was hiring.
"There was a sign at that construction site that said room and board included, 200 yuan per day.
"He was very happy. My pension at the time was only 1,000 yuan, and he told me this job paid well, so I didn’t need to worry.
"Carrying bricks, carrying cement, he did whatever they asked him to do. At the end of the month, after working 13 days, he went to the boss to collect his wages.
"But the boss said, we don’t pay wages monthly at this construction site, you have to wait until the project is completed.
"My husband was stunned. When would he be able to get his wages?
"The boss told him not to worry, saying, I’m such a big boss, would I really refuse to pay you that little bit of money?
"My husband said he didn’t want to work anymore and wanted to quit. Then the boss said, if you quit unilaterally, where am I supposed to find another worker? You have to compensate me for my losses. I can only pay you 100 yuan per day, so at most I’ll give you 1,300. He said if he agreed, he could come back tomorrow to collect the money.
"The next day, my husband went again. He explained his difficulties and hoped to collect that 1,300 yuan, but the boss said again, come back in a couple of days.
"We had no choice, so that’s how it ended.
"But even now I still can’t understand one thing. Yes, he was such a big boss, so rich, was it really necessary for him to withhold even our hard-earned money?
"I don’t understand all those big principles, but since ancient times, one is one, two is two, and paying back debts is a matter of course. Don’t you think so?
"I know it’s not easy being a big boss, but is it easy for us working people?
"For those big bosses, 500 yuan, 1,000 yuan, they can withhold it just like that. That money is only enough for them to buy a few packs of cigarettes or a few bottles of wine. But for us, this is money to put food on the table. Updates are released by ⓝovelFire.net
"A little withheld here, a little withheld there, it doesn’t look like much, but how do you know if someone is just short of that 500 yuan to make ends meet?
"Later, I heard that boss couldn’t continue and the construction site went under. My husband was so happy...
"Can you understand what I’m saying?"
Xu Tong nodded, "I can understand, Aunt Su. In situations like yours, you could actually..."
Su Xiucen waved her hand, "I know. People have told me to go to this organization or that arbitration, but how would we understand those procedures? Those things you young people know are too difficult for me.
"Little Xu, you’re still young, you have a long road ahead. Sometimes think more for yourself, and also think more for others.
"I just feel that many things, if everyone just shared the burden a little? If everyone just tried a little harder? Even if we all had to eat chaff and swallow vegetables together, what if it worked out? What if?
"You always say we must consider the big picture, but I don’t understand why I’ve never been part of the big picture in my entire life."
This sentence left Xu Tong not knowing how to respond.
Yes, people are always advised to consider the big picture, but when saying this, why aren’t those others part of the big picture either?
Su Xiucen sighed, "Well, that’s all I’ll say. You can submit whatever plan you want to submit.
"I have just one request.
"Can you submit two separate plans for that work-injured employee?
"One for special treatment, one for giving up.
"I’ll approve all the other plans.
"Only for this one, I want to wait a bit longer, think a bit more..."
Xu Tong wanted to say more, but seeing Su Xiucen’s determined eyes, she ultimately swallowed the words on her lips.
If Su Xiucen wanted to decide her own fate, and Xu Tong forcibly interfered, even if she saved her this time, what about next time? And the time after that?
Perhaps some obsessions ultimately need to be broken by oneself.
Or perhaps... what if some people are willing to use their lives to defend their obsessions?
Xu Tong left the president’s office and returned to her own office to start modifying the plans.
First was that lung cancer employee with a final cure rate of 0%. Xu Tong submitted two different plans.
One was to give up, one was special treatment.
Besides that, there was the layoff issue.
If according to Xu Tong’s original thinking, she would lean toward laying off all employees.
Although doing this wouldn’t allow them to win over Company 8 in terms of cash flow, at least they could hold on for a few more rounds.
Assuming the economic winter ended within the next few rounds, they could still clear the game together with Community 8.
No one knew exactly when the economic winter would end, but what if it was soon?
If they didn’t lay off employees and fell just before the round when the economic winter was about to end, wouldn’t that be too unfair but after hearing Aunt Su’s words, when Xu Tong clicked on each employee’s avatar, she fell into hesitation again.
"Always saying to consider the big picture, but why am I never part of the big picture?"
In her hesitation, Li Renshu and Fu Chen returned again.
"Renshu, I suddenly changed my mind.
"I think we should keep these last 10 employees.
"Even if the company goes bankrupt, at least we persisted with these veteran employees until the very last moment."
Xu Tong kept her head down. She felt that as a company manager, this approach was unqualified.
No matter what, the company’s survival should be the first priority but at least in this game, her thinking had wavered.
She thought Li Renshu wouldn’t accept her reasoning, in which case Li Renshu could still propose her own plan for Su Xiucen to approve.
Unexpectedly, after serious consideration, Li Renshu said, "Then let’s try hiring all positions to full capacity."
Xu Tong was stunned, "What? Hire to full capacity?"
Xu Tong was somewhat puzzled, "Hire to full capacity?
"You should know how much it costs to hire everyone, right?
"Although there are a few individuals who only need 1,000 minutes per month, they’re rare. Most are around 3,000 to 5,000.
"Hiring to full capacity means we need to hire 14 more people, which means we need to spend nearly 40,000 more each month! That’s over 80,000 total!
"Plus some work-injured employees who have hope of recovery, adding it all together, our money would only last one round at most."
Li Renshu nodded, "If we decide to keep employees, then of course we should keep as many people as possible.
"Let the company go bankrupt then. If we don’t do this, Aunt Su will very likely continue going to the cold storage.
"Better to go bankrupt and admit defeat, returning to the community alive is more important than anything.
"I suspect that the conditions for ending the economic winter might be related to the number of employees we hire or the number of work-injured employees we cure.
"Because the number of unemployed people in the exterior scene is directly related to the number of people we lay off.
"I think the designer deliberately created such an exterior scene, it shouldn’t just be for atmospheric effect.
"So-called great depressions are often accompanied by high unemployment.
"The best way to emerge from a great depression is through work relief programs and forcibly promoting employment to stimulate the economy.
"This should have been done by the state, but in this game, there is no state, only our two companies.
"Perhaps hiring employees is itself a necessary means to emerge from the economic winter?
"Of course, this is just speculation. If we’re wrong, the cost would be too great to bear. But since things have come to this point, and everyone has decided to share the fate with the employees no matter what, why don’t we just give it a try?"